SF never ceases to amaze me. Arg!
Why do you need more staff to operate 2 trains?
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SFGAm: 1)DV 2)V2 3)AE Blue 4)Viper 5)Bull
Fierce Pancake said:
I'll tell you why they are only running one train operation. It's the end of the season and the operating budget for the year has been pretty much exhausted. The Six Flags parks simply don't have the allowance necessary to run the rides efficiently and are eeking by on a bare bones staff. I'm sure it's not how management at the individual park want to operate, but they don't have much choice in the matter. Blame the boys in Oklahoma City.
Weird that they charge extra for the haunted houses at your park, they don't do that here in Houston.
If they're on such shoe string budgets this time of year, how come they're paying all the "characters" to walk arond and attempt to scare the park guests?? Take a couple of them and put them on ride ops. Or hire a few more folks, I'm sure that with what they pay them that if they moved an extra few people through the lines and they went to one of the paid "haunted" attractions that they would more than cover their expenses for the extra personel. If you're standing in a line, you can;t be spending additional money, not only at the haunted rides, but also at the concession/souvenir stands.
Wow, seems that SFSTL is the ony one who had a good fright fest, I went twice on two weekends, each time less than 10 min waits for every coaster, a walk on for BTR. Each coaster except Screamin' Eagle was running 2 trains, well, maybe not Mr. Freeze and the Ninja, but they never run 2 trains. (and ofr obvious reasons on Mr. Freeze).
-RCTyrant
Intamin Fan said:
Why did they have three rides in July running one-train operation last year Jeff at Dorney Park? I'd like an answer.
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Dude, you're getting an Intamin!
I can answer this one as it is pretty easy. Cedar Fair corporate doesn't decide how many trains each park runs on each coaster, that is usually a specific ride location supervisor/team lead decision (with the almost always approval from the park's Operations management) based on the crowds. If they think that the crowds aren't busy enough.
Dorney Park, or any Cedar Fair park for that matter isn't going to be cutting it that close with their operating budget not to allott themselves the ability to run 2+ trains whatever they feel its needed.
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Fav Steel: Millenium Force Fav Wood: Viper
*** This post was edited by Feel the Strike on 10/20/2002. ***
At SFA, SROS, Wild One, and Roar were all in multi train operation last weekend. Joker's Jinx was down for the season as usual in October. I believe that Batwing had 2 train operation though I didn't ride. I don't know about Mind Eraser since I wasn't interested, but the queue was short.
All parks face a challenge running Halloween events. Most summer employees are gone, and any new ride ops are still a bit green. This can impair operations. Especially bad since Halloween crowds around here can be as heavy as mid summer crowds.
Guess What?
There's no Six Flags conspiracy to run only one train on the coasters. Get over yourselves.
Each park's operation AND maintenance departments will determine how many trains are run, varying each day. NOT corporate HQ. Just like CF, supes and managers in each park will determine how the ride is run. At SFOG, the primary reason we take trains off for the day is due to maintenance issues more than anything else. Even this close to the end of the season we still have enough staffing to run all the trains on all the coasters. SUF, for example, will not run three trains because one has had many bugs since it began service this season. Mindbender's problem iss have ot due with its lift, so only one will run for the season and the lift will be overhauled in the offseason. Acrophobia was down due to a lightning strike which really fried a lot of components despite lightning protection.
Keep in mind it is for your safety. Stop whining. If you hate SF so much, "vote with your feet" and don't go. I'm sure life would be a lot worse for the enthusiast community if Six Flags wasn't around at all.
BTW, someone referred to the fact that they have a budget for costumed characters and not to run the rides. Well, each department is alloted money each season. The characters are in the entertainment department. Rides are not in the entertainment department. Unforseen things happen in every organization that can cause a loss of money in a budget, and your particular SF park may be excperiencing that. It sucks, but it happens.
It's not that we don't think we have problems. Lord knows we do... but these conspiracy theories and the whining have just gotten plain ridiculous.
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the member formerly known as MisterX
*** This post was edited by General Public on 10/21/2002. ***
DrJeff said:
Fierce Pancake said:
I'll tell you why they are only running one train operation. It's the end of the season and the operating budget for the year has been pretty much exhausted. The Six Flags parks simply don't have the allowance necessary to run the rides efficiently and are eeking by on a bare bones staff. I'm sure it's not how management at the individual park want to operate, but they don't have much choice in the matter. Blame the boys in Oklahoma City.
Weird that they charge extra for the haunted houses at your park, they don't do that here in Houston.
If they're on such shoe string budgets this time of year, how come they're paying all the "characters" to walk arond and attempt to scare the park guests?? Take a couple of them and put them on ride ops. Or hire a few more folks, I'm sure that with what they pay them that if they moved an extra few people through the lines and they went to one of the paid "haunted" attractions that they would more than cover their expenses for the extra personel. If you're standing in a line, you can;t be spending additional money, not only at the haunted rides, but also at the concession/souvenir stands.
1. The monsters are paid by an outside company (at least at SFMM). This goes for any ride that is ran specifically for fright fest as well (Colossus backwards).
2. As someone else said, budgets are exhausted at this point in the year. Every ride is only able to run with a minumum ammount of people. Yet, at least at SFMM, we continue to run rides with at least 2 trains...
2.
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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew
*** This post was edited by MDOmnis on 10/21/2002. ***
Fierce Pancake said:
The Six Flags parks simply don't have the allowance necessary to run the rides efficiently and are eeking by on a bare bones staff. I'm sure it's not how management at the individual park want to operate, but they don't have much choice in the matter. Blame the boys in Oklahoma City.
When I was at Six Flags America yesterday, there were two trains running everywhere, but batwing, and the obvious Two Face. (the park chooses to close Jinx for FrightFest, as it runs so poorly in the cold) Your summation of the entire chain is false, and/or seriously flawed. There was no evidence of barebones staff at SFA either. In fact every bathroom had at least one attendant (something PKD hasn't had most of the year) and sweepers were everywhere. I believe what is happening is simply a lack of employees available to work the jobs available at SFNE, which is not uncommon at SFA. But this year many of the Brazilian import employees have stayed thru frightfest, and made things alot more easy to operate.
I *do* have to commend SFA for this this year. They had multi-train operation on everything Saturday, inclunding Batwing. Problem was Batwing is a heap of trash and kept breaking down. But I dont fault SFA for that as we all know Bat-junk is an engineering "adventure".
But ya'll all know I'm a SixFlagsBrat so take your proverbial "grain of salt" if desired.
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"To get into this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
SFGAMDie HARD said:
The truth is that 35 minutes is not a long wait to the gp.
(snippet) The above statement is false.
By snipping, I managed to make this a valid statement...;). IMO, the "GP" does recognize the same 25-minute limit that the rest of us do. After about 25 minutes (less if the line is stopped, more if it's moving), most people become a little *antsy*. That's when the place starts becoming trashed, vandalized, etc. I've already written several *treatises* on capacity, so I won't bore you AGAIN. But, waiting does NOT make for a good time....
bill, who saw Hulk stay above an hour wait ALL night at HHN...
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"CCXXVI....will the drop ever stop?"
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle....unless you've got a spare planet!
If they're on such shoe string budgets this time of year, how come they're paying all the "characters" to walk arond and attempt to scare the park guests?? Take a couple of them and put them on ride ops.
Hello, different department. You don't really have to train the minimum wage kids they hire off the street to come in and walk around as ghouls like you do someone responsible for heavy machinery. It's a much bigger investment to get employees capable of running the rides than it is someone to roam aimlessly in the park in a zombie outfit. Ride ops have to go through a whole certification process, ya know.
At SFKK in line for Chang - the conversation went something like this...
*him "This sure is a long line..."
*me "It would be a lot shorter if they put on a second train..."
*him "They can't run two trains at once, it would be dangerous..."
I've overheard / been involved in this type of conversation at several parks (not to single out SFKK). The "GP" recognizes a long line, but does not "get" the fact that it COULD be shorter...
As long as we're complaining about Six Flags can I mention how corporate always screws SFAW year after year?
Moosh - giving Fierce Pancake his cue...
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Tired or searching for amusement park Xmas cards? Check my sig for a big announcement coming VERY soon!
Mamoosh said:
Tired or searching for amusement park Xmas cards?
So, these are holiday cards based on the 4-d coaster at SFMM, 'moosh. Seems like the market would be limited to SoCal enthusiasts....;)
'Gator - no, we'll have four designs: two wooden coasters, two flat rides. All four are B&W photos with touches of Xmas color. Check yer email, Gator...I've sent you a sneak peek!
Moosh
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Tired or searching for amusement park Christmas cards? Check my sig for a big announcement coming VERY soon!
*** This post was edited by Mamoosh on 10/21/2002. ***
Mamoosh said:
As long as we're complaining about Six Flags can I mention how corporate always screws SFAW year after year?
Moosh - giving Fierce Pancake his cue...
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Well, the reason Astroworld isn't running more than one train on most coasters during Fright Fest is they ran out of operations budget. Maybe it isn't the same scenario at all the parks, but AW wasn't given enough cash to work with.
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Dude, you're getting an Intamin!
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