On the contrary

When I was at the Point last year, we had a great time. Helpful staff, okay food.
Overall, the closest park i've seen to flawless was Dollywood. That was the best park experience i've ever had.

Bill Sphen is awesome and GL ride ops rule. I guess after working at an amusement park you subconsiously go to a different park and look at the employees there and "judge" them. I did that when I went to CP, the only ride where the ops were unenthusiastic I think was at Disaster Transport. At first I was glad to be working at GL, because it was a smaller park, but now that I saw how much fun those employees have and how they always make the guests smile and the guests always look happy and are enjoying themselves, it makes me sad that I don't work there. But then I look at GL employees and they are coming very close to beating out the CP employees.

Okay, Mr Seifert, it wasn't called "Potato Patch" exactily..."Happy Friar" or something? I don't remember the name of the place but it was the fries stand beside Chaos. I don't want to get out my CP map right now. 8^P

Bill Spehn may do his job well, but he is a meanie.

The park still does have a good foundation of rules, and they are pretty good at recovering lost articles.

I’d say most major lost articles are found eventually and they all get turned in. Any major lost article found on the midway (keys, wallets, purses, eyeglasses, etc) or any bills $5 or higher must be turned in immediately to lost and found. Other junk, like stuffed animals, hats, etc, are usually bagged and turned in at the end of the night. All change found ($1 or less) gets thrown into the children’s fund. Failure to do so results in immediate termination. Even if an employee pockets a $5 bill they would terminated. Quite an incentive to turn stuff in, especially when a $1000 bonus is waiting.

I’ve found a wallet, eyeglasses, a misplaced purse, and what added up to around $100 in bills (all which I eventually got to keep after no one claimed after a few weeks ) my year working there. What we were instructed to do is if we found an important item, find someone to cover your position and get it to the lost and found ASAP. When a guest reports an important lost article, the area where they reported it lost is immediately searched. For instance, a man once lost his keys on Raptor and we found it within 5 minutes. Also if you call the lost and found after your visit and they recoverd something, they will usualy send it back to you.

I wouldn’t call what they did to help extraordinary, as it’s something I would expect from a well ran park. Unfortunatly thats far from the norm it seems, but it's good to see CP still carry on with this old yet effective policy. A system like CP has is something EVERY park should have.

I stress though, still it's just 1 thing out of 1000 that needs to be done to run a place like Holiday World..... err i mean perfectly :)

Have you sent a letter or filled out the online form about your experience? They usually hear about when something goes wrong, but when they hear things go right I think that gives them more incentive to keep things how they are.

BTW, if anyone wants to make some quick change, stand underneath Raptor's MCBR drop, you’ll get pelted with coins ;)

i'm not real sure about how good GL is about getting people their lost items back, but I think it's safe to say it's not very good. Well from what I see at least...

A good place to stand at GL to get some change is under the cobra rolls at the entrance of Headspin. there's no where else really because they have safety nets up. But sometimes change falls through those.

Showing "Sin City " to the employees? Why? I just watched it the other night and let me tell you, it's the most violent and graphic movie by far that I've ever seen (and I've seen plenty of horror movies). At first the violence felt comic book-like, but then as the movie went on, it started to feel [for a lack of a better word] '"different." Don't get me wrong, I'd gladly watch it again in a heartbeat, but some sensitive viewers should definitely stay away.

^That would be Mr. Potato near Wicked Twister. Happy Friar is near Gemini. :-)

Hot Potato is on the main midway is my favorite out of the three. :-P

Anywoo, I haven't had anything but positive experiences with all the staff at CP. Anytime I have had a request or problem they were always on top of it, including a security issue I had a few years ago.

All parks have their issues with staff, etc., and some are worse than others, but we can only expect that.

I don't complain much but it MAKES all the difference in the world when customer service is top-notch. Even a smile and a few words go a long way.

-Tina

*** Edited 8/21/2005 8:48:34 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

CP fanboy has become Disney fanboy... :-)

I agree that once a certain set of standards become the norm, then failure to meet those expectations certainly can be upsetting! We've experienced the rapid decline of the once-famous Disney Magic over the past 10 years. I hope, for CP fanboy sake, that this year is just a minor glich in operations rather than the start of a trend like Disney Eisner era has been. Consistent understaffing of concessions, late openings, etc are all the signs of internal cost cutting moves to maintain profit margins (or improve). This is flawed thinking for the long term in my opinion...

But the only thing any business wants is to make money hand over fist. Forget about passion for the industry or a sincere desire to give paying guests the quality they expect.

I'll repeat a word I find very important but ignored, PASSION.

And let me repeat again that I had no problem at CP earlier this year. I'm talking about businessess in general.

I agree with you 100% dexter...but...I can't help but think that a dollar saved/earned today through tactics such as understaffing/etc do not cost the company 2 dollars next year...?

This goes back to a perceived value argument. I have cut back my Disney visits over the past few years due to some of the stuff that it appears CP is now doing! It did not affect them 2 years ago when they opened their food stands so late in the day (for example)...but they certainly missed out on my spending this summer when I did not visit at all! I can only guess that they believe that the savings from service cuts offset the losses from people like me who choose to decrease length of stay and/or not visit at all in the future...? I wonder how many people like me ther are...? *** Edited 8/22/2005 3:34:29 AM UTC by Jeffrey R Smith***

Take a look at a lot of SF parks. They do those kind of things all of the time and they have lost a lot of loyality because of it.

FLASHBACK-----In 2000 I visited the now infamous SFO on a fall Friday. They were supposed to open at 5, but I stood there waiting for the gates to open until a little after 6. When I finally gain entrance to the park, a lot of the rides, including coasters, were still closed. 3 hours into my visit, with the park closing in an hour or 2, I stood in a very long line at the Guest Service window to make my complaint, because I had only got to ride 1 coaster due to long lines and closed rides. the lady at the window cut me off mid sentence saying, "Okay, Bie. Next!." That was my last visit there. I paid $30 or $40 for ONE COASTER RIDE.

A lot of people have those kind of stories about whatever business. We all know what became of SFO within a few years of that crap. All they needed to do was apologize and give me a ticket for another day, with hopes that the next time I visit it would be a much better experience. Maybe they didn't think that the next time would be any better.

If I am paying more than $30 or $40 to someone to entertain me, they better do what is expected. I will ask for my money back if necessary.

-----

I worked at CP during 2000. Halfway through the season they cut a few employees per day at each ride and food stand. We needed our people to help with breaks and operating the rides. I asked what the reason was and the reply was, "So the shareholders get their money."

People had to wait longer to get lapbars checked, wait longer in line for food, and had to put up with dirtier pathways and restrooms. Less quality, same great price. My fellow employees and myself had to work a little harder. All of this so that the business could make more money. Aren't they making enough money already?

(I know that FUN pays great. No offense is intended to shareholders of FUN on this site. If I could ever get an extra Grand or Two, I might just become one of you as well.)

...Don't EVEN get me started. :)