SFOT opening weekend - new policies

I wore my glasses with a strap on BTR and Giant. No one said anything.

Freeze and BTR share the same lockers. I didn't think there were enough lockers to accommodate those waiting in line for just one of the rides, let alone two. I usually avoid the park on crowded days, but I may have to go some weekend just to watch their poorly thought out locker system break down. It should be more entertaining than any of their recent show offerings.

RCT247 said: These are all bad things that you have noticed (which is good, because I personally want to hear about changes), but did you notice anything good?

BTR was painted. The landscaping looked pretty good for this early in the season. The two ride attendants on the Giant were really hustling and doing a great job checking the bars.

*** Edited 3/4/2008 2:46:26 PM UTC by Jeffrey Seifert***

---

masterblaster said:
the locker isnt mandatory. not bringing stuff into the station is.

---

:)

---

Dusa65 said:
The example of the ride op yelling over the mic asking who the hat belonged to - should not have happened. The ride ops on the platform should have caught the guest before they put it on the bin and returned to their seat.

---

She didn't bother using the mic, she just yelled.

---

And whoever said that they will be selling souvenir bottles in line, give me a break. They won't. Any moron will tell you that has disaster written all over it.

---

They don't sell them in line, but they do sell souvenir bottles that are refillable all season for 99 cents. Of course now if you plan to ride, you need to tack on an extra buck to that bottle for every ride you take. Either that or drag a non-riding stuff-holding friend along to the park with you.

---

Give the ride ops a chance (more than opening weekend, please) to find their groove, and things will get better.

---

I saw these same things last year on Goliath at SFOG at the end of the season. Inattentive employees at the ride entrance, and ride ops yelling (without the mic) for owners of various items left in the station. How long does it take employees to "find their groove"?

I know that patrons carry far too many items into a park these days, but I don't think a small bank of small lockers with a fee and a an entrance gestapho is the best way to solve the problem. There are better solutions out there.

*** Edited 3/4/2008 3:44:44 PM UTC by Jeffrey Seifert***

I was never a ride op, but seeing the way people act when they get to the station, especially at most Six Flags parks makes me want to prevent them from taking anything up there to begin with.

At SFGAdv I remember avoiding and tripping over bags and shoes that people left on Nitro's station platform.

I am all for the lockers, $1 is cheap enough, but they should really be free IMO. Its all about education, if the park makes it known that you can not take crap into line, then there should be no problem.

---

Dusa65 said:

And whoever said that they will be selling souvenir bottles in line, give me a break. They won't. Any moron will tell you that has disaster written all over it.

---

I meant regular 20 oz bottles of soda. Unless they remove the vending machines from the lines, they won't let you bring a drink in line yet will allow you to buy one

Ok, lets clear some things up about the lockers. First of all you do NOT have to put your stuff in a locker. Your options are to leave it with a non rider or you could put it in a locker. At Six Flags we are not telling you that you have to put your stuff in a locker. We are saying that you cannot take your items in line with you. What you do with your items is your choice. Another misconception is that you can not take food and drink in line. You can, but you must throw it away before you ride the ride. Ok in all honestly, many people are complaining about the $1.00 dollar fee for the lockers. If you want be to be honest about it, we (Six Flags) is loosening money by havening lockers. Before you flip out on me, here are the facts. It takes an extra person from rides to staff the entrance of the ride. Also, it takes an extra event staff person at the rides to help enforce the policy. Then on top of that we have extra security guards roaming the area to make sure that the policy if flowing smoothly. In actually, we have at least 2 extra people that we are paying to help enforce this policy that we did not have to pay last year. That is not counting the extra security that we have stationed in those areas. So, we are loosing a little money on the lockers. That is the fact. I know that this point has already been brought up but the policy is not to make money but to speed up the ride lines and to help keep people from loosening their articles on a ride. Our manager of Ops told us a story. He used to be the lead of Batman and when the ride first opened they could dispatch a train before the other train stopped behind the one in the station. If you have ever worked a Batman ride, then you know that it is a little bit of a challenge to do. I personally was a sup over Batman last year and I can say from operating the ride that the biggest thing that would slow us down is people bringing all of their stuff on the ride dock. Ok stopping here, the bins, are Not a good idea. I know people praised the bins but in all actually, it caused a big traffic jam. We would open the gates and people would load off of their stuff in the bins then the attendant would move the door for the next train of riders. Once the next train of full riders came in then everyone on the train would jump off and get their stuff as the next group would try to put their stuff in the bins. It was traffic jam and it slowed us down. Once people were loaded on the train they would forget that they had to put their hat up and we would have to unlock the lap bars and let them get out to put it up then re-check their lap bars. Not trying to be funny but in today society people bring so much stuff to a amusement park that when they take all of their stuff off, its like they are basically undressing on the ride dock. If we did not have to deal with loose articles on a ride dock, it would save us countless minutes. You can have to fastest rides crew on the planet, but if you have to wait on people to put their stuff up then you have lost that time that you cannot make up. Even with the bins people still loose their stuff on rides. You would be amazed the amount of stuff that they loose. In all actually, again if we wanted to truly make money, then we would be charging $5-$6 dollars a pop for a locker use. But we do not. The lockers are designed to speed up the ride lines and to help with people loosing their articles on a ride. The lockers will greatly help with the ride lines and help with people not loosing their stuff so much.

I'm a fan of no-loose-articles as well. CP's efficiency seems to have gone down now that guests are up/down/in/out of the trains 2-3 times before dispatch. Yes, the old policy was less "friendly", but the trains ran on time, so to speak.

Dollywood does this well---you sit in the train, and the ride ops take your stuff and put it off to the side. If they hustle, it's faster than walking through the train, and going back to sit down again.

Of course, no one else will do this, because their lawyers have told them it increases liability for loss/damage to personal articles...

---

Freeze235 said:
He used to be the lead of Batman and when the ride first opened they could dispatch a train before the other train stopped behind the one in the station.

---

When BTR opened it had a much larger crew, as did all of our rides. I think if you took the extra personnel required to man the lockers and the front of the line and had them checking lapbars or taking items from your patrons (like Holiday World or Dollywood does), you would find a significant increase in capacity, and your guests would be a lot happier. But what do I know? I'm not an overpaid SF executive nor a ride operator. Who cares what the guest thinks?

You may think that not allowing a patron to leave something on the ride platform will speed things up, but that has not been my experience. If your ride operators (grooved or ungrooved) insist on finding the owner of every item left behind, it slows things down much more than the previous policy of allowing patrons to place items in bins.

How about doing what SF does on one of there Huss Top Spins? You have one person with a bin, and people put what they have in that bin while the person goes down the line. Than, they leave the bin near the exit, and people pick up there stuff. How about hiring an extra person for the bin person for these rides that have the no-loose article policy?

If you were to listen to the Six Flags conference call awhile ago (I forgot what quarter.), Shapiro said the real reason of why it's good to have no loose articles. He said something like this, The people are going to be totally bored in line. They can't even have I-pods to listen in line. That's why we are going to have advertising in our parks with our tvs, and the people will be forced to watch them. What else are they going to do? We took everything away from them. Ha Ha Ha (evil smirk). Maybe, take out the Ha Ha Ha, and that's basically what he said.

How does this help them get more revenue? Well, now you have the money from the lockers, and you have the advertising. He can charge more for advertising on the tvs because he tells the people that are advertising that the people in line have nothing else do, and thus it forces them to watch the tv. There's always a reason.

On some of Disney rides, what they did is that they put little pouches in front of the riders so they can put there belongings there. Is this a better idea? People don't get off the train, and it doesn't seem to cause problems. Of course, you can't put a stuffed animal in them, but I imagine you could put a water bottle in them.

---

Jeffrey Seifert said:
I think if you took the extra personnel required to man the lockers and the front of the line and had them checking lapbars or taking items from your patrons (like Holiday World or Dollywood does), you would find a significant increase in capacity, and your guests would be a lot happier.

---

Busch Gardens Williamsburg does this and their operations are not very fast at all. Better than Six Flags, but no where near Cedar Point or Disney efficiency.

---

Spinout said:Well, now you have the money from the lockers, and you have the advertising. He can charge more for advertising on the tvs because he tells the people that are advertising that the people in line have nothing else do, and thus it forces them to watch the tv. There's always a reason.

---

I think your reading into it too much.

*** Edited 3/4/2008 7:50:04 PM UTC by eightdotthree***

Why should Six Flags or any other Park be responsible for your stuff?

Also, do you need to take a backpack full of stuff with you when you go to a park?

It says on the websites of most of their parks, if not all of them, that no carry on items are permitted on the high level thrill rides and that it is a new policy for 2008. I think this is a great policy as it will make loading times at the rides shorter since guests don't have to leave things to the side of the platform, deal with finding them, etc.

I do not understand why loose items in line are a problem that parks need to address. Loose items on the ride is a different issue all together and having shelves with sliding doors and dividers and free lockers on the platform is a decent solution. I have seen that system work with incredible dispatch times at a park.

BGE still lets you bring stuff with you in line, the attendant is at the front of the line (much like CP) to screen for guests who might be too short (or too round for some rides) to ride. And they try their best to get trains off fast, I have see a BBW crew literally running up and down the train to get that ride through its intervals, but loose articles always seem to doom Alpengeist to stacking (and from what I saw down in Tampa Im going to go out on a limb and say Griffon too, even though I haven't been there since that ride was put in.)

---

otterkpr said:
Also, do you need to take a backpack full of stuff with you when you go to a park?

---

Spending time and money by going to a park is, by nature, not a matter of need. There's a lot of things I technically don't need to do when I go to a park but I'm going to have a pretty lousy day in that case. Not a great argument.

What's more, if you have young kids, then yes, you do.

Touchdown, the Busch parks did indeed add a no loose articles in line policy some time last season. I had a very unpleasant experience with the no loose article policy in the lines there last fall. It is enforced on each of the coasters. It was a tragedy to see this virus spreading to good parks....

I still can't understand why some of the big 'corporate' parks don't look to the awesome ride crews at places like Holidayworld and Dollywood.

Those folks know what they're doing - they have integrity, follow rules and care - and it really shows!

I can understand the "no loose items" policy, as it *MIGHT* reduce my risk of getting thwacked in the head by some yahoo's cell phone, but I kind of agree that the pay-for-lockers idea just sounds like more of a money-making idea than a real convenience for patrons. Why not have lockers, for people who are worried about their stuff, *and* bins for things like jackets, hats, etc? Just have ride ops remind people waiting in line that they need to secure all loose articles.

And a question about what constitutes "loose articles"-- what about belt/waist packs? There are certain things I HAVE to carry (keys, wallet, certain medications, sunglasses) that I'd rather not carry in my pockets (ever get stabbed by keys?) but that I need to have with me. I also really, really WANT my camera with me, to catch photo ops. Just about everything I've ever ridden (I can't think of any exceptions, actually) has had enough leeway that I could just swing my bag out of the way if I was paying attention. (To keep the restraints from crushing things in the bag.)

While a dollar may seem cheap, if you ride multiple rides and have to put a dollar in a locker for each one, that can really add up.

I may seriously think twice about visiting some parks if I can't keep essentials with me.

CatPurrson