SFA & KD (4/6 - 4/7) BAD Days! KD CLOSED

A couple of friends of mine that I work with at Cedar Point came down to Maryland to visit me for the weekend and I took them to SFA and KD. What a mistake that was. We had a better time outside of the parks than we did in.

SFA's opening day was Friday the 6th. We got to the park in the morning right when they opened. Prefered parking was free, but the price to park at all was $15. Talk about crazy. Nothing listed on the Rides Closed board except BLizard River and Skull Mountain We got in the park, and the only rides open were Mind Eraser, Tower of Doom, and a couple of flats! Craziness. They were cycling Wild One and Roar for the first hour, while Two Face was stuck on Lift 1, and no movement from the back of the park at all.

We headed over to Mind Eraser after waiting a little bit for the Wild One. One of ME's trains is still somewhat in pieces on transfer. Still the normal Vekoma Hang & Bang. After that, we headed over to Roar. Both trains were running but they were only loading every other one and they were still training people that morning on the ride. I'm thinking that most of their rides weren't certified to run yet by the state because clearly they had no idea what they were doing.

Next up was the Wild One. I LOVE this ride. Its my favorite at the park for some reason. It was running both trains and the ops on this one seemed pretty confident with what they were doing and they seemed to be having fun with it. Best crew of the day in my opinion.

By this time Two Face was running, so we grabbed a ride on that. Next up was Gotham City. Jokers Jinx was closed, but was cycling constantly for majority of the day...again, probably not yet certified with not enough running hours. They had a sign up that said Superman was closed due to weather....It was 40 Degrees and sunny...and they had water dummies in the seats, so clearly it was not the weather (I've seen MF run in far worse conditions). They were working in the eletrical room as well.

We walked over to Batwing, but it went down, so we decided to leave the park for lunch and then come back.

After we came back, Batwing was running pretty good. Dispatch intervals were running between 4 and 6 minutes, but the crew seemed to be trying. After that and a couple of flat rides, we decided to leave at that point, and while we were leaving, we noticed that they had added SROS and JJ to the Ride Closed board.

Drove to VA...Stayed the night at the Best Western Kings Quarters.

Next morning we wake up...there is a little bit of snow on the ground, but it was quickly melting away as it warmed up. We check out and are informed that the PARK IS CLOSED DUE TO WEATHER!
WHAT? They were turning busses and cars away at the toll booth and the big digital highway sign had changed to PARK CLOSED TODAY, while another sign at the toll booth said OPEN FOR SPRING BREAK APRIL 7th. I asked about why the park was closed and the man said "We have all these linear coasters that won't make it in this weather and these winds" There was no wind...and it was quickly warming up. I was like, you have 3 linear coasters, 1 is indoors, 2 have more than 1 launch, and its getting warm, why not just a delay? And on top of all that, they told us we couldn't get our money back because the tickets were good all season.
Well after talking to a few of the right people, we got a refund and just spent the day at malls and such.

All in all, not a good weekend park wise, but a very good easter weekend with my best friends from CP. I hope things get better with SFA and I hope that KD makes some better decisions in the future as well!

Well it has been unseasonably cold around here so what can you expect?

JJ & supes simply don't run well in cold weather<anyone remember when supes valleyed on the camelbacks on opening day,2005?> so they simply can't run either coaster when it's that cold out...not to mention the winds.

If I can just get over this cold before saturday I'll be heading out to the park on the 14th & hopefully supes will be up & running by then....I hear that they've also moved the on ride camera from the camelback near the brakes to the bottom of the second hill near the first helix.

I was at Six Flags America on Saturday for the day and it sucked. I arrived around 11 am figuring that the park would not be crowded.

No wind at all and a little snow. It was cold but not artic cold. After paying the parking fee and realizing that premium parking was free I was happy. That soon changed the instant I walked into the gates.

The staff were all milling around playing and goofing off. Many of the staff that were walking around continued to ask me "why are you here? You know were closing at 2 today right?" Great business ideals Six Flags.

The only coaster to run all day was Batwing. Mind Eraser, SROS, Wild One, Roar, Joker and many of the other rides were all closed with no explination.

Finally after several more employees looking at me and asking why I was in the park I left. The thing that outraged me was that on the way out at 1:45 with the park closing they were still taking money from people at the toll booth to park!

This is the last time I will ever visit Six Flags America. Never again will I waste my money at this park.

^ Not a good start for the season. I thought the beginning of the 2005 season was bad, but this is even worse.

Shapiro should work extra hard on this park.

Geez, are we going to start this already. The temperature barely got out of the 40's on Friday, all in all the park ran pretty well. The employees were friendly, the shows were great, everything opened (, if only briefly), with the exception of Superman. The temperatures didn't even make it above 45 on Saturday (if that) and Sunday wasn't much better. Every mid-atlantic amusement park (BGW TR HP TR GADV TR) had problems running rides this weekend. Some parks didn't even bother opening (PKD) and I highly doubt SFA was still collecting money at 1:45 as you enter the parking lot (Mr. 1 post pkdTurbo). Given the amount of management in that area of the park opening weekend, I highly doubt if anyone was saying 'why are you here, you know we're closing early'.

*** Edited 4/9/2007 8:05:58 PM UTC by coasterguts***

At Busch Gardens over the weekend, AC and Alpie never opened... I don't see how it is that much worse that SFA had JJ and Superman closed on the 6th... I mean, these coasters just arn't designed to run in the cold! As far as rides not being certified to run, they have the certifications to run the ride in clear view, that obviously was NOT an issue...

It's funny how you complain abuout KD being closed, but yet you understand the bad experience at SFA. I don't get it. SFA just shouldn't have opened. You would've complained also. They probably had low staffing-Good Friday, and thus many of the flats were closed. They were prepared to open (most likely) all the roller coasters, but what happens when you can't run them all?

What happens if Two-Face suddenly opens later in the day? Where do those workers come from? They probably would come from a flat ride. Think about what they have to do to have some ride closed for 5 hours, and than open an hour later with low-staffing.

Scenario for low-staffing perfect day: The park is open, and all the roller coasters are staffed. Maybe, 10 flats are staffed at most. It's low-staffing day.

That scenario: 3 roller coasters are open while the other ones are closed because of weather. So, what happens to those employees? After a certain amount of time for those coasters not being open, Six Flags will probably send those people home. If all the rides in that area (flats) where the roller coaster is broke are open, what else do with those people. The employees probably are only trained for a number of rides. What can those employees do?

They should train employees to work more rides. That's the only thing I can think of. Considering it's early in the season, maybe the employees are only trained for one ride, and later, they can do more rides. I don't know.

I was at SFA on Friday, Spinout, the number of employees probably exceeded the number of guests by a long shot. Just about everything was set to open, the crews were in place. The exception might be Shipwreck Falls and only because I didn't see a boat anywhere in the ride.

So SFA had trouble with the weather. Gee, I guess KD, BGE and the other parks in the area were NOT affected by the weather (something out of the park's control) and had perfect openings! SF does have problems, but this constant bashing is really getting old.

^It's true that there is alot of bashing going on but if you were in the same position as scoaster and had driven all the way down to PKD, paid for a hotel, and had planned the whole day at the park with your friends, just to find that the park was closed (on opening day!) would you just say, "Oh well, I guess they aren't open, good thing I just paid all that money for nothing! Now let's go home without a refund and have a pleseant evening!" ;) I think NOT.......

In instances like that, where weather might be an issue, try calling the park and finding out their plans. Sometimes decisions aren't made until late, as I'm sure the parks do all they can to open.

Don't CP employees get SOME sort of discount (if not completly free entrance) to other Cedar Fair parks? But seriously folks... you can't expect the park to control the weather. I understand how you'd be upset, but given that weather forcasts are usually good for up to ten days in advance now, that's PLENTY of time to change your plans. I knew I had watched the weather for SFA's opening day since nearly a full week before I went... I knew full well that it was going to be COLD. When push comes to shove, if you know it's going to be cold, ask the park what their cold weather policy is. I'm sure they could tell you just what rides to expect to be running or not running if it is exceptionally cold.

I mean, would it have been better if you would have gotten into KD only to see most of the rides closed due to the weather? SFA and KD just took two different routes... KD stayed closed, SFA opened with all the rides open that would run in the weather.

If you go to Dollywood for their "Winter Wonderland" do you complain when Thunderhead or TN Tornado are closed? Of course not... it's just something you have to expect when the weather is that cold.

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DantheCoasterman said:
...all the way down to PKD, paid for a hotel, and had planned the whole day at the park with your friends, just to find that the park was closed (on opening day!...

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Actually opening day at KD was March 31st and it was a really nice day. :)

The reason coasters where late openeing or nover opened was the cold it the trains don't get moving fast enough it's not safe to open the ride. You can't compare S:ROS to MF when the rides originaly opened the trains where close to the same now they are totaly different.

What's even more funny, he's a member of Coasterbuzz club, he's a Team Lead on Mantis, has buddies that work at Cedar Point yet his track record shows he's never rode a coaster at the park.

WoW! I just spent all day Sunday and most of today (Monday) at Six Flags America and I had some of the greatest fun of my life. Of course I was with two of my bestest freinds so that may have sweetend things.

All the rides were open both days exept: Skull Mountain, and Superman's Ride of Steel.

The park employee's were more polite and helpful than I have ever seen them!

Although SROS was not open, they were desperately trying to open it on Monday, but as of 4pm the ride was still closed. There were several employee's assuring guest that maintainece was working on opening SROS. They were very very freindly and helpful.

Everything ran wonderfully, even the Mind Eraser didn't seem as jolty!

Pop Evolution, and Desperate Horse Theves, were the only shows that were playing, and they were wonderful. We really enjoyed them.

All of the characters were out, including some I had never seen before like: Grandma, and The Girl Version Of Bugs Bunny!

WoW, sorry you guys had such a sour time, but me and my party had a GREAT TIME!

Don't Forget - YOU ARE HERE!

Here's my thing with SROS, and I understand if the cold was really what was keeping it from opening, but there is no excuse not to have the park's signature attraction open for opening day. As I recall, SROS did not run last opening day either. Unless something happened the night before, then the park was ill-prepared for the season. That ride, above any, should be well-tested and prepared for opening day. Weather, freak-break downs, etc. aside, if the ride wasn't open because SFA failed to do the preseason work, and I'm not saying they did, that is poor business.

What makes you think the ride wasn't ready to open on opening day? You said yourself the cold was really what was keeping it from opening. If the trains don't move fast enough to complete the circuit in a set amount of time they can't open the ride.

Looking at the trip reports from last season, I don't know if Superman opened on opening day last season or not, it was pouring the rain down but it did open the following day which leads me to believe Superman was ready to open on opening day.

I can only think of one time that Superman didn't open on time, that was in either 2004 or 2005 after it vallied during a cool morning test run on opening day.

Here is someone else that had a good opening day. It's amazing what can happen when you don't have a vendetta against the park.

*** Edited 4/10/2007 7:21:35 AM UTC by coasterguts***

That would be in 2005 when Supes valleyed....I was there the day it happened but since it happened during morning test runs they weren't letting anybody into GC past JJ.

It looks like my first trip of the season is gonna have to wait til next month,it seems like my friend had a minor accident with his car<fortunately nobody was hurt though but it's gonna take some time to repair the damage however so instead of going this weekend we're now shooting for may 5th instead.

At least most of the rides should be up by then & I should definitely be over this stubborn cold that's been plauging me for about a week now.

Sorry to hear that, man. But it might work out. The weather still stinks. (raining)