SFOT opening weekend - new policies

^Are you saying they might inflate the number of hours spent in an effort to increase SF's take from all these marketing agreements? That would be....untruthful....yet somehow also quite credible. :)

P.S. You're FAR too "average" to call yourself an enthusiast...

/snags Gonch's credentials... :)

Not at all. I'm just saying consider who the numbers are for and who they're coming from. They may or may not be representative of the industry in general or as a whole.

I do suspect they're accurate and indicative of what the industry sees, however.

And in the interest of getting my credentials back let me add, "High prices are a ripoff! Parks a looking to nickel and dime me at every turn!" :)

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Lord Gonchar said:

The whole thing seems weird to me because since I sort of transitioned over to "enthusiast" I tend to spend less time in the parks now than I did back when I was strictly GP.

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That seems to make sense to me, though. If you're an "enthusiast" you tend to go to more parks, and go to them more often. You also probably know what kind of rides, etc. you're in for ahead of time, and may go to the park just to hit a few specific attractions. (Or to take pictures of cups, for example...)

The GP, on the other hand, treats the trip to the park as an annual special event, and wants to get everything out of that yearly trip. They also will probably not be as familiar with the place and may spend more time wandering between attractions, or not know the layout of the park and when certain lines may be shortest. I'd imagine they spend much more time than an enthusiast or even a pass-holder on a per-day basis.

I don't think it's an amusement park phenomenon, either. We have friends who have season tickets to the Penguins. They'll often leave before the game's over or go wander around with their kid while it's going on. I go to 3 or 4 games a year. I'm there from the time the puck hits the ice until they announce the 3 stars after the game. I don't go as often, so it's more of a thrill and a unique experience for me. (Also probably why I buy more $8 beers in three games than they do in the other 27 combined.)

*** Edited 3/7/2008 9:28:40 PM UTC by kpjb***

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ThrillRider22 said:
If u cant follow the RULES GO SOME WHERE ELSE!!!

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Wow. Did you read the rules for coasterbuzz? Move along, now.

Today was the first day of spring break and there were some pissed off people at SFoT. In spite of the plentiful signs, there were lots of people who were surprised when they got to the entrance of Titan by the policy. Many were having trouble with the lockers and fitting stuff into them and I was kind of curious to see what people would think about having to pay a dollar at every ride and again if they wanted to re-ride. I was also surprised at how many people just turned away from the rides when they heard the policy.

^I figured as much. Seriously, those things even if it is supposed to help the guest they still will see it as a rule that is trying to get them to spend more money.

And that is why I really don't think it is worth it. Yes, it is nice to do things like reduce wait times for guests, but not at the cost of customer satisfaction.

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Brian Noble said:

The parks are selling service, ultimately. They are selling a good time. The rides themselves are a surprisingly small portion of that good time---the employees play a big big role.

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I think I know what you're trying to get at, but you just worded it all very poorly.

You're pretty much suggesting that everyone that goes to a park is paying to chat it up with friendly employees. Not the case. People visit amusement parks mainly for their rides, which accounts for about I'd say 90% of their visit. Definitely NOT a small portion.

Good service and friendly employees is there to maintain a comfortable environment, which makes up a small percentage of the experience, but is incredibly noticeable when it's not there.

I disagree. Lots of parks have "neat rides". The difference between a park that's okay and one that is great is not based on who has the most or best coasters. It's based on who provides the best overall experience. And, the courtesy and professionalism of the staff is one of the drivers of that experience.

Let me follow up with an observation. There are six southern california theme parks: DL, DCA, SFMM, KBF, Legoland, and SWSD.

Of those six, four are in the north american top-20 in terms of attendance: DL, DCA, KBF, and SWSD. But, one of the missing two has arguably the best ride line-up (and absolutely the best coaster line-up) of the bunch.

So, at least in this market, it's not the rides.

^It's not your market. ;)

In all of Orlando, how many "rides" are there? NOT many. Billions of people. SeaWorld on Saturday was particularly a zoo (pun completely intentional). Kraken (aka, one of the TWO adult rides at the park) was down for quite awhile, and the guests weren't really upset. They just went to another show.

I've said almost the same thing Brian said, and I think most enthusiasts think the rides are more important than the average guest does. The rides play a big role, but they aren't all-important. The staff needs to star. Busch, HFEC, and esp. Disney seem to "get" that better than SF/CF does. Paramount played the middle, and I loved them for that.

Every person is different and every person is expecting something different from a theme park. The only thing that will help on every front is the staff being friendly and service-oriented as well as the park being clean and safe. If you take any of those out, you have a serious pitfall.

I personally like the idea because loose atricles are a big problem at parks and if you dont think so try going into the lost and found at parks. I know for a fact that at SFGradv they have 50 to 100 cell phones a day that are found from the coasters and thats a high # and thats just phones that does not include keys or hats.

I go to my home park (SFNE) at least 50 times during the season and last year they ejected 190 guests for pulling out cameras and cells while on SROS. Each time someone pulls out said item they stop the train on the lifthill and have to send someone up to retrieve the item, so is that fair for the guests waiting in line to ride? I would say there is at least one idiot on every train that doesnt put their hat in the bin and an op has to do it. So that does slow the line even more when the op is trying to do his job and check seatbelts and lapbars and now he has to play mom for some idiot and put his hat away. If you bring a loose article and it cant be secured in a pocket you should have to pay the dollar for the locker which i consider the stupidty tax.

Re-read the thread. This doesn't make people who bring an item into the station pay. It makes people who bring items into the park or buy them in park (like a purse or souvernier sports bottle) pay.

Well... yesterday I took a youth group of 48 to SFOT from Oklahoma City. I hadn't been to a Six Flags park since Shapiro began working. I have been really curious to see the changes at SFOT that I've read ya'll talk about for so long. I must say the experience was mixed. The lockers sure didn't please any in our group, and our pastor's son (who is a great kid) got yelled at and threatened ejection from the park for trying to leave a hat at Batman the Ride. An adult who was with him almost had her eye glasses confiscated (she was told she could pick them up at Lost and Found) until she convinced them she couldn't see without them. It's funny that they go to such lengths for "safety" and shortening the lines when on the Acme Rockin-Rocket a persons cell phone fell out and broke open below, and on another flat the attendant didn't even notice the 4 single riders who never got off despite a line!

That was frustrating. However, I was pleased to see all the new flat rides and think they have diversified well allowing more folks with different dispositions to have a bigger variety (although I love the coasters). The crowds were light and I laughed at the suckers who bought the Flash Pass and didn't save anytime at all!

I did like the free refills on the Souvenir Cup and popcorn and cotton candy... that added a lot of value for our group. Overall it was a great trip for us especially with the group rates of $25 per person.

One final complaint: I went to buy nachos and found NO JALAPENO PEPPERS ANYWHERE IN THE PARK. Come, on... this is Texas!!!

Another thing I do