SFWOA in jeopardy?

I think SFWOA can learn something from SFMW. These parks are alot alike and they both combine parks, wild life and theme parks. SFWOA just needs to invest more in the wildlife side. Since they lost the star attraction Shamu they had to rush 4 dolphins from where else SFMW. I think a rollercoaster on that side would do the trick, but some more theming and other things would help also.
-----------------
The Jokes on You!! Ha Ha Ha

What about moving rides from the ride side to the life side (Batman show thing, move Mr. Hydes, Go Karts, Skycoaster, maybe even the log ride) and fill in their spaces with animal shows ? That would make more of a difference than adding rides to the old Seaworld.
-----------------
CP! Still the coaster capital of the world in 2002!
My fellow Americans; Let's Roll!
WoodenCoaster.com

Six Flags would have a hard time putting in tall structures ( I think the park has to file with the city for structures over 35 feet in height, but I could be mistaken) on the "life" side of the park because the local residents seem to be against ride expansion in that area.

I always did think they should tear apart Mind Eraser and re-build it on the life side somewhere. I think there is too much stuff in the Superman area of the park anyway.
-----------------
Jes
Webmaster, Jes's Roller Coasters
"Thank You Jeff Putz"

I always thought parks would share cash flow for capital and spread it around to other parks for building coasters or rides so they wont have trouble.
-----------------
Cedar Point Americas Rock N Rollercoast!

*** This post was edited by The Beast on 12/1/2001. ***

I think the park is very likable and to me has the best variety of coasters and flatrides in Ohio.

Now for operations?  Quit making people wait 2hrs for a ride that could move in only 45 minutes and maybe, just maybe people would return more often.

SFWOA, A beautiful well planned park that is operated poorly but not as bad as some other SF parks.

-----------------
Charles Nungester
Park Jockey :)

I will agree with anyone here who believes that SFWOA has a good assortment of attractions. They do. Their rides are of high quality and provide "fun"tastic thrills.

However, you balance out good rides with crappy service and dirty midways, and people won't visit your park.

Customer service is the key in ANY business.

yeah they have a good selection of rides..But I agree spreading them out would help on crowded ride side.,  but only quite rides like the ferris wheel , the yo-yo and such should be moved over to the Life side. 
-----------------
You really need to get some more BRAN in your diet

While I can't answer the question if the park is in trouble or not, I can say from my times there after May or early June, the park wasn't all that pleasant to be in.  I really like the rides at that park, but if there isn't reliable workers running them, then it really doesn't make sense to me.

 I went there probably 3 times after June, hoping to have a better time than before it, but left the park within 3 hours because of how I was treated by employees. The rides are great, and that is the major reason I went back, but when I hear many people who aren't into rides as much as I am come back and say that the employees were horrible, says something in my book.

 At the beginning of the year, they were great. A couple of months later, things started to really slag. It's too bad because with the rides they have now, they could very well be on par with some of the 'bigger boys' in terms of guest satisfaction IMO.

-Sean

Of course, when I say YES to them being in "trouble" It doesn't actually mean that they will close or are not making enough income. I also don't have any source telling me that they are in trouble. Its just a keen observation skill I have picked up in so many years of my career in advertising and customer service. They most certainly are making ends meet. However, unless they get their act together, they will find that no one is going to visit due to bad customer service.

Just showing ya'll where I stand

With the economy the way it is right now,I highly doubt that people are going to spend their hard earned money at a place just because of it's great customer service.They'll more less take their cash and spend it at a place that offers more value for what they pay for.That folks,is what SFWoA offers.

DirtyVern, interesting name for a guy defending SFWOA.  (It's a joke).  I agree with you to a degree.  To the extent that the economy remains sluggish into the 2002 operating season, people may choose to attend the cheaper parks.

However, that won't solve the long term problem.  The powers that be at SFWOA appear to be short-sighted.  Customer Service will win people over in the long term.  If they want to be mentioned in the same breath as Disney and Cedar Point then they have a lot of work to do.  I don't deny that WOA has a great selection of rides and attractions.  I insist that they don't have a great selection of management.

Well said Skipper.

Even during economic distress (the Great Depression is a good example) Parks will succeed and do well.

I hate to repeat myself, but in the end, customer service matters over anything else. Period.

---

Sean F. said:

  At the beginning of the year, they were great. A couple of months later, things started to really slag. 

---

It seems like this is the way the past 2 seasons have started.  When the park first became SIx Flags Ohio, it seemed like the people that worked there genuinely cared about its guests.  I even commented to one of the managers there that this is the best employee service I had seen in a LONG time at the park.  They thanked me for my comments and said that they had spent more money on employee training that year.  Unfortunately, by mid-June, the employees were rude and even threatening to guests.  So much for employee training. 
This year was similar.   The people at the parking booths would greet you with a smile and the ride ops seemed to be pleasant enough.  By June, you'd be lucky to get a grunt out of the parking attendants and the ride ops (in many, but not all areas) were just downright rude.  Add in the trash that seemed to be everywhere on the midways and it just made for a bad time.  I only visited the park 10 times this year- down from 25 or so in 2000. 
I can't say the park is in jeopardy.  They do a good enough business and have some excellent coasters... but unless things turn around in the guest service (and to a lesser extent, the cleanliness) department, the attendance numbers will keep declining.... It's amazing what word of mouth will do. 
ProgRay

*** This post was edited by ProgRay on 12/6/2001. ***

How were the employees "threatening" ProgRay? I had seen rudeness galore there. Your right, the seasons seem to start off well but by June it becomes well......bad.

---

john peck said:
How were the employees "threatening" ProgRay? I had seen rudeness galore there. 

---

Well, I saw employees actually yelling at guests in line for the Big Dipper and when one of them got in a young child's face and screamed at said child to stay behind the yellow line, I was taken aback and said "Jeez... could you be any more rude?".  She glared at me and said "I suggest you shut your mouth if you want to ride".  Yes, that is exceptional customer service.  I also saw ride ops on Serial Thriller making snide remarks to guests and threatening to "physically remove" guests if they sit on a rail.  Now I know that visitors were breaking park safety rules in each of these instances, but was there a need to be that rude to the guests?  A simple "Please do not sit on the railings" would have sufficed.  Instead we get "If you do not get off the railings now, I will come over there and do something about it." 
It just seems that many of the park employees feel this sense of "power" when they are in a ride op position.  When I was a ride op, I never had that attitude... but some of the people they let through the employee entrance I have to wonder about.  Don't get me wrong, there were some very nice people there this year also... but they always got overshadowed by the ones who didn't care about their job at all.
ProgRay

Damn. And I wondered why I took SFWoA off my list of parks for next year. What ever happened to SFWoA's manager? Doesn't he ever listen in to his employees?
-----------------
Buckeye Lake's coming back! :)
My fellow Americans; Let's Roll!
WoodenCoaster.com

ProgRay, I agree that yelling at a guest like that is taking things a little bit too far.  But remember, ride ops DO have the "power" to determine whether someone rides or not.  They are not joking when they say no smoking or no standing on the yellow line, etc.  Getting in a guest's face is certainly not the way to accomplish anything.  We usually handled the yellow line by doing a "yellow line spiel," then if someone was ignoring it, telling them personally.  Most times, they obeyed and stood back.  Once in a while, you get someone who will test you and back up and then step on it again as soon as you turn around.  These are the people that we make walk through and not ride.  There are reasons for the rules and if you don't obey them, you'll have to pay the consequences.

There is one thing I remember hearing during my training at CP that sticks out right now and SFWOA will either learn soon or die a slow painful death because of this.  "It is at least five times as expensive to gain one new customer as it is to keep one existing customer."  Customer service is important and bad word of mouth is certainly not a good thing.

-----------------
-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

DirtyVern wrote:"I highly doubt that people are going to spend their hard earned money at a place just because of its great customer service"

So your saying people are going to flock to SFWoA because of their world-class coasters (which they have), but they are not going to pay attention to the 1-train operations and other mediocre operations they implement?

-----------------
Dayuum, Your HOT!

It's all about making the guest happy when they leave.  If the Customer Service is bad, nobody will want to return.  They will go somewhere that makes them happy, and spend their money elsewhere
-----------------
Try Flight of Fear version 2.0: It's great!

Customer service/guest relations have been a lost art at SF for quite some time.  For some reason, they think that their attendance will go up faster by building more rides than by building a good rep for treating customers as "guests".  If they prove to be correct, whose fault is it?  OURS!  Go to the smaller parks...let your dollars speak for you...

MDOmnis, couldn't agree more.  Word-of-mouth is the best advertising money CAN'T buy, and as I recall:  "One bad (customer-service) experience is shared with ten others, while a good experience is shared with one".  The other form of free advertising is souvenirs.  I have a room FULL of souvenirs (mostly from  parks I enjoyed).  Parks with great rides I'll visit once, parks with great employees I will return to, advertise for, and sing their praises. 

-----------------
PoTP acolyte - remove fear to reply
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!