SFA-goers this weekend beware

SFA was extremely crowded today. We're talking the whole thrid parking lot (overflow) was filled. Cars were parked anywhere they could make a spot, which was often on the grass. People were already queued up about twenty deep at the ticket booths when I pulled in this morning at 9:30. The overflow queue of Joker's Jinx was almost filled, and I can't remember the last time I saw that. It was a beautiful day, as it should be tommorow also, so who can blame anyone who visited today or will tommorow. Hopefully Two-Face will be back up, as it got stuck in the afternoon on the 2nd lift.
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.

I-Fan,did you hear about the power outage at SFA today? I'm glad I went last weekend instead.

Sure it was a bit wet last weekend,but at least the power stayed on although JJ was the only ride that failed to reopen after the storm,from what I just heard on the news alot of people had to be walked down from most of the rides & they're not happy at all but what can you do? the parks power loss was caused by a brown out,not by the park itself.

Was anyone on 2 face when it got stuck today? from what I heard no emergency rescues had to be performed by fire officials during the outage.

The power outage was on the news in Baltimore just now. According the the news, the problem was with the power company outside the park and was not a problem with any of the parks electrical gear. There were no reports on the news of anyone stuck on rides, but somone must have been stuck somewhere.

I left around 5 to 5:30, and didn't hear anything about a power outage, but I also remember seeing Roar stuck on the lift. I'm pretty sure they had that fixed also by the time I left. I heard they had to evac Two-Face, although for once I wasn't working Speedway during that time to confirm this.
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.

The power outage occured exactly at 5 PM,so it happened just as you were leaving the park.

Good thing I went last weekend, & didn't havee to deal with a power outage ruining my day,I'll take 2 hours of rain over that anytime.

Here is a little blurb on the story.

http://wjz.com/localstories/local_story_235223945.html

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Army Rangers lead the way

It sounds like SFA delt with this as best they could considering the problem which was beyond their control. They closed down in an orderly manner and gave people free passes to come back another day. SFA did this a few years ago when I was there and they closed early due to severe weather. In that case, they even gave out free passes to season pass holders as they left.

I heard problems started around 5pm and they closed down the park at 9pm. It's a real shame after I heard the attendance numbers from yesterday. In contrast to yesterday, the park was fairly moderate in crowd size today. With the "cool" temperatures for August, it would've been the perfect day to ride.
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.

In the Washington media, they played up a mob of people wanting full refunds. How do you give a mob of people a full refund to a park and do it fairly without loosing money. You can't give everyone $36 back, because you don't know who used coupons and who didn't use coupons without a receipt and how many people do you know actually keep the receipt (I don't know if you are even given one) and how many people would actually present the receipt for a refund provided if they knew they could get $36 back from the park when they only payed $21. Comp tickets is the fairest way to go.

Coasterguts, I agree completely. I'm sure they give out receipts to those who pay at the ticket booths, but who actually keeps theirs is another story. Plus, you have people riding Renegade Rapids or Shipwreck Falls, and you might have a receipt that's useless. This power problem has got to be solved, as obviously it's having a major effect on businesses.
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.
*** This post was edited by Intamin Fan 8/24/2003 10:09:03 PM ***

Coasterguts, I agree completely. I'm sure they give out receipts to those who pay at the ticket booths, but who actually keeps theirs is another story. Plus, you have people riding Renegade Rapids or Shipwreck Falls, and you might have a receipt that's useless. You have no idea either who showed up at what time without a receipt. Is it fair to give a person who showed up at 3pm a full refund versus a person who was there at opening? This power problem has got to be solved, as obviously it's having a major effect on businesses.
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.

There was some mention of angry customers on the news in Baltimore too, but I'm not sure it was really a large number. Giving comp tickets certainly seems the best way to go to me.

The power problem at SFA was very local, not a part of a large scale network breakdown. Hovever, it may be a result of the same lack of capital investment in distribution which recent government policies have encouraged.

The lighter crowd on Sunday may in part have been a result of the power outage in part. It may have also been a result of the cooler weather. While it was great for coaster riders, it was a bit cool for people going to the water park. Especially if you stepped out early thing mornig, you might have changed your plans when you felt the chill.

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*** This post was edited by Jim Fisher 8/24/2003 11:08:45 PM ***

I went to the park late Sunday evening and noticed that two of the lots was full and about a 1/4 of the third was full. I would say that was about average size for the park on Sunday afternoon the day before school starts. I don't think this will have any ill effect on the park. If it does, oh well, a few less people in the Batwing line wouldn't upset me.

One note on those who complained that they didn't get cash back. Think how long it would have taken to process thousands of cash refunds (assuming that the park still had that much cash on hand) and thousands of credit card adjustment slips. The same people would have been complaing that they were still waiting for their refunds at 2:00 AM.

It looks like people have the ability to get their money back after all:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37983-2003Aug24.html

My applause to Six Flags America for a job well done.

Nice article in the Post. Objective and has more real information than you see in most newspaper ariticles. Told me several things that I wanted to know that other media articles had skipped. IE. No serious evacuation problems though it took about 20 minutes which isn't bad. Also, that the power outage wasn't just the electrical entrance to park, it also effected a fair amount of the surrounding area.