SFGAdv article with a couple surprises.

Chitown said:
It seems from what I have read, that the previous SFGADv general manager was just fired by Shapiro, so they moved Ron Sevart to assume that role.

That doesn't surprise me. Wasn't his name Rick something and wasn't he the former GM of SFWOA?

calcajun said:
Well, so far it has not been advertised. Sure, Shapiro mentioned something very general.
Does he actually mean all those in line, or those stuck on the ride. It certainly is common to clear a queue and or close a ride for a down time. No laws broken there.
Frankly, it most likely will never be advertised. This is something that only those who have been inconvenienced will experience. at the moment it happens, thats when compensation will be given on the spot. Only those involved know about it, and only later will we hear about it when they tell how cool Six Flags was to give them a ticket for thier inconvenience. *** Edited 3/5/2006 1:04:15 PM UTC by calcajun*** *** Edited 3/5/2006 1:09:34 PM UTC by calcajun***

Disney has a similar policy, simply put, ***** enough and you'll get free stuff. My guess is that Shapiro sees that someone who goes out of their way to go to Guest Relations to complain should be given free admission (plus remember, they still have to fork over $15 for parking again!)

JDB said:
it's really too bad the old regime didn't hang on long enough to get the hotel built, who knows now if it will ever happen

Look for it to happen, just not on Six Flags' dime. Like Great Wolf and CBS at PKI (where CBS is getting a 16% interest in the Great Wolf Resort going up at PKI for leasing out the land that Great Wolf will build on).

I think Shapiro is going to take a look at how Great Escape Lodge performs this year. That may be what dictates whether he decides to go it alone or farm it out. Even the mighty Disney once wasn't sure about this on its own property (it's how the Swan and Dolphin were born).

" Disney has a similar policy, simply put, ***** enough and you'll get free stuff. "

LOL, actually that can work in other places besides parks. :-)

Disney *is* a different deal being year-round, and I think SFGE isn't necessarily "predictive" either....GAdv clearly straddles the line between day-trip location and destination resort. IMO, the hotel pushes GAdv toward the latter, which as we have found to be the case, can be HIGHLY profitable.

You still have Zoidberg.... You ALL have Zoidberg! (V) (;,,;) (V)

Putting the hotel on hold, I think is a good idea. Clean up the operations in the park itself and create a demand for it. Then you can build the hotel.

If you build a 500-room hotel that is mostly unoccupied, people will think there's a problem with the hotel, even if that's not the case. That would doom the place indefinitely.

But if Red Zone wants to make Six Flags a "destination" and not just a place to visit for a day, the hotel will be needed somewhere down the line. I can't imagine them building up demand, then sending everybody down to the Motel 6 or EconoLodge and losing all that income.

Isn't the Town of Jackson waiting for this hotel? Haven't they delayed permiting other hotels because it's well known SF wants to build one at Great Adventure?

A day at the park is what you make it!

Does anyone think we will finally see SF parks start using their old dusty 2 and 3 trains that havent seen the light of day in years to increase capacity?

The one peeve that really gets me is waiting in a line only to see that one train is running. If its broken, understandable, but most of the time, they just dont staff for it. Well see.

Krypton, the past few years, I've noiced the same thing, which is even worse when you consider the Fastlane lines as well. Worse o me is having all trains on the track, but not sending them out at the normal intervals (ie after the last train clears the block), which makes them only a tiny bit more efficient than single train operations, but not by much. I can't tell you how irritating it was to see Superman not even checking restraints until the other train came in and locked on the brakes. Real efficient there.....

Rick McCurley was the previous GM at SFGAdv.