SFNE 9/15 a day of good and horrid

My friend/boss and I decided that Sunday would be a good day to visit SFNE. We got in the car at quarter to 7 and began the three hour drive up. We stopped for breakfast and got there at around ten thirty.

The good...

We headed directly for SROS and we were treated to a 2 train wait with one train operation and the worst dispatch intervals I have ever seen.

Sros- 10/10 The ride was running pretty well if not a lil rough, the backs of the trains where the metal lip sticks out between each car were cracked on some and rusting and it was making bad vibrating noises. Sixflags, take care of this thing, it is the only reason to go to the park. 6 Laps

The only other thing I am going to note is Cyclone, I took my first backseat ride on this thing and OMG... The air is nutso. I wish they didn't reprofile it cause WOW. I was not exactly CCI smooth but it was tolerable and gave me the sensation of iminent death. 7/10 1 lap

Batman was the same as usual. 7/10

The Horrid

Sros developed a bit of a line by around two in the afternoon. After waiting thirty minutes we got into teh station. Before riding I asked the op if they might add the second train. His answer- there are not enough people. Me-I just waited thirty minutes for a middle row. Him- Eh.... I don't want to do the extra work, besides you are going to get to ride. Me- But I would be able to ride more and I would be much happier if I didn't have to wait. Him- Kid be quiet I am not going to put it on.

I was totally amazed that he acted in such a manner. I saw him say something to an attendant and the attendant laughed. When the attendant checked the train he JUMPED on my lap bar. With the bar slamming into my legs and crushing something that should not have any presure put on it, I nearly puked from the pain. The op grinned at me and said something like, This train holds you in better, and walked away. I suffered through my ride and marched down to guest relations.

Guest Relations basically told me that what they did was wrong but I was at an amuesment park so I should expect to wait. This REALLY pissed me off. I should expect to wait with less then 200 people in line and 4 minute intervals... Ok. I told the woman at guest relations that the point was that the ops were not working hard and that people would be happier if they didn't have to wait. The job of the park is to ensure that all guests are having a good time. She basically told me that if i didn't want to wait I should buy a q-bot. I then thanked her for her superior's buiness card and stormed out of the park. I got my six SROS rides in the morning when there was no line really so I was happy to leave.

I don't think I am going to return to SFNE after that. I might come back next year with my Sfgadv season pass to ride superman but after that thats it, I am out.

Sfne rating overall, 1/10

Hurray for Six Flags!

They are sure to get out of the red soon with things liek that going on

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If I was part of a coaster, I would be an upstop pad on an Arrow Mine Train.
MAGNUM HAD MY BABY!

I make it sound like all Six Flags Suck, I love SFGADV and they have the best and most friendly staff of any SF I have been to. I am friends with many of them on a first name basis just because they themselves are enthusiasts.
*** This post was edited by arlok2 9/15/2003 8:07:51 PM ***

That sucks you had a bad day..

I really give you credit for going to guest relations and give them a piece of your mind. Its not like there are any other places you can go to get in contact with Six Flags, I mean its not like they have a comment box likes Cedar Point does on their website.

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http://sfdlmania.thrillnetwork.net

Six Flags Darien Lake Mania! Your #1 source for DL and other parks!

But too many of the SF parks have these kinds of problems and it cuts stright to the bottom line.

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If I was part of a coaster, I would be an upstop pad on an Arrow Mine Train.
MAGNUM HAD MY BABY!

That sucks about the SROS crew, when I was there they had two trains going and the crew was "great" for a Six Flags park. They were dispatching fast and were quite friendly. I've never worked at a park so I might hate it if I did, but as of now I would absolutely LOVE to have the pleasure of working on SROS or something. That would be so cool to actually "run" the coaster.

I dont like your bashing of my SFNE...First of all which ever train wasn't operating may have been due to repairs...and a 30 min line isnt that bad. Six Flags may be trying to save money by running one train instead of two.

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#1 Canobie Lake Park Fan!!! My top 7 coasters:
1. S:RoS @ SFNE 2. Montu 3. Yankee Cannonball 4. Kumba 5. Gwazi 6. Cyclone (SFNE) 7. B:DK

True, but couldn't the ride op have just said that. On another note, if they load a train really fast, will it not crest the lifthill until the other train is in the station?

The Blue train was the one running. They told me the red one was fine. DON'T tell me a 30 minute wait isn't bad, anything over a station wait with one train operation is not acceptable. A park is obliged to run two trains in that case. Even if there was no way they would put the second one on, there was no reason to yell at me and or crush me. It was basically the worst possible experiance.

BTW, Six Flags is hauling in tons of cash no matter what. The costs of matinence on the red train that was just sitting there were NOT digging into profits. What digs into profits is people only going once and then never comming back because of the lines.
*** This post was edited by arlok2 9/16/2003 6:11:10 PM ***

I agree completely. There is absolutely no excuse to run a one train operation with lines consistently out of the station if the second train is operational. This is my biggest problem with SFNE. The park is not crowded, you decide to attend, doing them a favor and helping their bottom line, and they run a one train op. You should be rewarded for showing up on light days with minimal waits. The attitude at SFNE however is to screw the customer and make them wait in lines longer than need be.

The comment from guest relations to "get a Q-bot" further proves the real reason behind this terrible device. It is not to help the customer, but rather to drain every dollar possible from their pocket. Six Flags does not seem to see the big picture. If you keep the guests happy they will return and they will spend money. Their attitude seems to be the following: Milk the customer for every dollar possible, because the odds are that they will leave dissatisfied and probably won't return. Time to wake up Six Flags. Build a loyal fanbase with good customer service and you won't have to find a new customer to milk each and every season. You keep the guests happy and they will return, you will help your bottomline, and everyone will be happy.

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Jim Hansen
Number of coasters ridden: 313
*** This post was edited by SJCoasternut 9/17/2003 12:13:43 AM ***

I can see you anger and understand your point about being "crushed" by the ride op and then belittled by customer relations. Your disatisfaction about that is understanable. However, your disguist of the 1 train operation is not as acceptible, a park is not "obliged" to run 2 or all trains. Their capacity and wait times are up to them and it is their option to add trains to the circuit. Your upset about a half hour wait. Go ride SOB and PKI. They only run 2 trains all the time (because the third train fell to its demise ;) ). Voicing your opinion isn't all that bad, but honestly when talking to a ride op they may not have the answers (other than the top secret ride they are building in the year to come). I would base my anger on the attitude of the park employees that you were in contact with and not the wait or the park itself. Most employees are seasonal, give it a second chance next season. Personally I do take bad experiences very personal as you did, however, you are depriving yourself of quality rides by boycotting a park. You are the one losing out. SF won't notice a difference.

It's the economy, it's always the economy. It has nothing to do with "Customer Relations". lol

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Is there life out there? Help us find out, http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu

You're right ldiesman, Six Flags won't notice if he doesn't return. They are used to disappointing so much that they expect to lose business. See my previous post. Six Flags is always looking for new customers, but it's not to increase business, it's to replace the old ones who are fed up.

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Jim Hansen
Number of coasters ridden: 313

Sorry, but I'm unsympathetic to some of those comments.

They are not obligated to add an extra train at all (especially if the train may have been having maintainence done on it.). I should also note that the adding of another train will take time to add in and if the line has not been growing steadily, the ride ops do not have to feel that adding in a second train will help. I've seen it happen plenty of times at SFGAdv over the years. It's not unique to either park.

Dispatch times can be slowed down due to other reasons you might not be aware of (handicapped seating or computer problems stemming from single train instead of two train op). I can complain about the really slow dispatch times of Superman: Ultimate Flight over the three times I've been to the park this past summer. Q-Bot people also have priority to get in, so that can slow things down into the station as well. And how about people trying to get their just too short kids onto the ride?

I can support you on the treatment by the attendant but I notice you didn't mention that part to the customer relations rep. Instead, you sound like someone who doesn't know how much goes into runing a park.

"I told the woman at guest relations that the point was that the ops were not working hard and that people would be happier if they didn't have to wait."

The rep might have thought the first part was because the line moved slowly (Did you give the reasons why you thought so?) and might have only been a reaction because of the wait. The second part sounds like you expect no lines at all and were outraged at the fact that you had to wait.

If you had quantified your statements with the whole experience such as the treatment you got, the timing of the dispatches, and so on, including if it was a different experience than earlier in the day (with a different crew, or was it the same crew?), and she gave you the same reaction, I'd say you were justified fully. As it sounds, you seem to be a bit misdirected with your anger. You're right to be mad at the ops, but not the park or the customer service rep unless you said more than that to the rep.

Ok, Fine Defend the park, the dispatch times were four to five minutes per train. The Red train was not having matinence done on it. The ops would check a row and have a conversation, they were the problem and I was told my guest relations it is up to the lead on the ride to asdd the second train. That is the lead who told me off and told the attendant to crush me. The same Lead was there all day with different attendants, all of which had 4 to five minute dispatch intervals. I will be returning to Six Flags, Just not New England.

How do you know the train wasn't having a maintenance issue? Just because it's sitting there innocently on the transfer track doesn't mean that there isn't something on-going with it. For instance, one train of Mr. Freeze at SFoT didn't run because it had too many stress fractures that were dangerous. So they just didn't run it the rest of the season.

There are lots of underlying reasons you may not be aware of.

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Panther Modern
SixFlagsHouston.Com
An Astroworld Tribute Site

I know it cause Guest relations told me, besides the point I was treated like slime...

I will never understand why SF, and especially SFNE, doesn't care about customer satisfaction and why they don't realize how that affects their bottom line. Customer satisfaction seems to be the focus of other well run parks. Doing what it takes to make the customer's experience pleasurable seems like an obvious way to run a good business. I too have had enough of SFNE's poorly run park and I also have decided not to return. Learning of your experience just supports my own experiences. I am very happy with Lake Compounce, Canobie Lake and Funtown here in New England. They aren't as big as SF, but they provide an enjoyable experience worth repeating. By the way, I believe Dollywood's company motto is "create memories worth repeating." Imagine what SF could be like if they strived for that goal.

Your complaints are legitimate, arlok2. It's a poorly run park with an agenda - sell you a Q-bot.

The people here defending the park more than likely have an attachment to the park, and have a hard time being objective.

If it wasn't for a couple of good rides, I wouldn't go near the place.

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Without the chaindog, you'd never get up the lifthill...

Chain: The only thing I have seen defended is the questionable reaction of 1 train operation. Everyone has stated that all the other actions taken by park employees was inexcusable. I have absolutely no ties to SF at all except as an enthusiest.

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Is there life out there? Help us find out, http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu

I went there and I thought the park was nice and clean, with nice employees. (Although a tad slower than SFGAm) and the closed ride board said 10 rides were closed when only 4 were actually. I consider that good customer service. I wouldn't have complained about the rude employees not adding a second train, because all parks do that and it may have been for a safety reason. Maybe they just want to have their customers safe. Even when I was on penguin's Blizzard River, someone stood up on my half-empty boat, and they still caught him and his girlfriend- they got ejected from the park. Good customer service huh? I think the Six Flags parks are the whipping boy from enthuiasts. They make them out worse than they really are.

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"If you're thirsty, it's too late to go get a drink." Chinese Proverb