Six Flags - Guest Satisfaction hits all time high.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NYTH02512072007-1.htm
"Our Guest Code of Conduct and Non-Smoking policies are being enforced and being well received. As we sustain this atmosphere in our parks, word of mouth will continue to spread and Six Flags will reclaim its position as the pre-eminent summer entertainment value the whole family can enjoy together."
Seriously, with a few exceptions, the actual contact with employees has been much better for me this year. Much better.
But all the nickle and diming (more like 10 and 20 ing) going on, the quality of a day at a Six Flags park is still way low when compared to ANY park in Indiana or Penn....
I think maybe Great Adventure is going for quality and not quantity. What I did have the opportunity to enjoy was very good. The crews were great - every one of them. Runaway Mine Train was excellent, the crew was excellent, and the new trains were super. Runaway Mine Train crew even kicked two little boys off who were both too short despite protests from waiting riders. I greatly respected that - safety rules are in place for a reason!
The Sky Ride was open - out of five trips over the past four years, this is a first for me. Sky Ride always had long lines too!
Superman went down for a matter of 15 minutes - lots of people bailed out of the line immediately, so my wait for the coaster was shortened significantly.
El Toro was - what can you say? Amazing.
The Tiger Show was wonderful.
The park looked pretty clean. There were some unsupervised munchkins running around terrorizing/screaming at the wildlife, and I had to put on my Mommy Cape on a few occasions, but that's not the park's fault.
So, park employees were doing very well on July 12th - ride crews, food service, customer service - and the rides that were open were open very well - I would say highly satisfactory.
I can accept Quality rather than Quantity any day of the week. Therefore, I'm saying that I'm more satisfied with Great Adventure.
And even though Scream Machine was not open, the paint job looked excellent and the structure was very pleasing to admire. I'm not complaining that it was closed - that coaster is awful. They could rip that coaster out and put in three or four flat rides :-).
And hey get this - Rolling Thunder was open - both sides!!! And it looked - healthy! For the first time in four years, it looked healthy. That was impressive. AND it was running concurrently with El Toro. Cool!!
The park actually felt like more than a link in a chain - it felt like a park for families and friends.
- Erin
... I still did not get on their Big Wheel. That ride is scary looking. the Big Wheel as well as the Merry Go Round could use alot of love. *** Edited 7/14/2007 4:12:02 AM UTC by ErinGoBraugh***
Y'all know that this story was written by SF marketing dept. and sent out as a press release, right? And y'all know that a marketing group whom felicitates the surveying can easily fudge anything to put it into their perspective, right?
I'm just saying it's all bs if you ask me.
And the above is MY opinion and I consider it to be a very worthy contribution to CoasterBuzz.
And so I don't come off as Mr. Negative, I DO see an improvement in service. They ARE putting forth effort. If they keep up the good work, they may be in the same awesomeness as, say, Hersheypark.
...And their pr dept is doing a good job at getting the park going public to notice, which is their job, and not such a bad thing.
*** Edited 7/14/2007 4:52:05 AM UTC by dexter***
When Six Flags improves, it is good for the whole industry. *** Edited 7/14/2007 4:34:57 AM UTC by Lift Walk***
i agree the non-smoking in the park helps, but that's expected at every major park nowadays.
But saying guest satisfaction his an all time high, probably is giving them more credit. But it probably is high seeing as the park wasn't enjoyable in the past years. I did enjoy my trip last week, but the park(s) still need more work.
-Why is Wicked Twister closed?
~Biting Flies.
-Biting Flies...
But saying guest satisfaction his an all time high, probably is giving them more credit. But it probably is high seeing as the park wasn't enjoyable in the past years.
Yeah, that's the old "there was no where to go but up" theory. It may be true, but the cold, hard numbers mentioned in the article say:
-96% would recommend the park(s) to a friend
-92% will definitely visit again this year or next
-guests rated their overall visit an 8.6 (of 10)
Basically, the people they surveyed are VERY satisfied with their visits to SF parks. :)
(in other words, the high prices, broken down rides, conspiracies to force q-bot purchases, uncaring ride-ops, slow operations, dirty parks and whatever else people claim aren't turning people away ;) )
The parks are turning around thanks to improved operations, new ideas and policy enforcement. Give the credit to whomever you'd like, but this kind of response never happened while Burke & Co. were at the helm.
-- Overall safety;
-- Ride safety;
-- Park cleanliness;
-- Employee service;
-- Character presence in the park;
-- Thrill rides;
-- Rides the whole family can do together;
-- Speed of ride lines;
-- Number of rides you were able to go on in a day;
-- Variety of things to do in the park;
-- Shows;
-- Restroom cleanliness;
-- Food quality;
-- Variety of food.
I like this one at SFOG: "Kids' or children's rides" How many kids rides do they really have? 7
I think for this survey, they like to get season pass holders. Isn't that a bias? I always seem to see the people getting it having a season pass. They seem to be always standing near those people when I look. Thus, would you come back again. Duh??
I've been to Great Adventure like 5 times, and all but one, I just had to get the heck outta there!
It could be nice.
Thankfully, I have Great America!
J7G3 said:
When you REALLY WANNA LEAVE AN AMUSEMENT PARK with COASTERS, there is a problem! Specially for a coaster geek like me.I've been to Great Adventure like 5 times, and all but one, I just had to get the heck outta there!
quote]
I've only been to Great Adventure Twice, in 2000 and again in 2006. My 2000 Visit was quite pleasant, I was able to get in all of their Coasters in a single day, along with a few of their shows, and find time to give Hurricane Harbor a once-over.
2006 was a totally differant story. It was Columbus Day, and the weather was PERFECT! (Sunny, high temps in the upper 70s). I guess it was a little TOO Perfect, as it seemed like half of Philadelphia and New York City showed up that day! The Park was PACKED! It took me EIGHT HOURS go get one ride each on the four Coasters they had built since my last visit! Once I got those rides I decided to AMSCRAY!
Answer my Prayers, Overbook my next Flight!
But all the nickle and diming (more like 10 and 20 ing) going on, the quality of a day at a Six Flags park is still way low when compared to ANY park in Indiana or Penn....
True...BUT, if you look at the big picture, perhaps for now it is a necessary evil to get the company back into working order. Maybe when all the dust settles and things are steered in a better direction, some of the prices can come down a bit. Change takes patience and money, so hopefully this is kept in mind once things are becoming more profitable.
OhioStater said:
True...BUT, if you look at the big picture, perhaps for now it is a necessary evil to get the company back into working order. Maybe when all the dust settles and things are steered in a better direction, some of the prices can come down a bit. Change takes patience and money, so hopefully this is kept in mind once things are becoming more profitable.
Whats funny is everyone else QUICKLY raises their prices too, they just keep them a tad lower than Six Flags.... thus keep SF the bad boy, when indeed everyone is jacking up the prices.
These smaller parks know their clientile and they know that runaway pricing would drive much of their business away. So they stick to modest increases that reflect their rising costs.
Arthur Bahl
Edit-I haven't been to a Six Flags this year, but that's what I would've said last year at least.
Unfortunately, I'm guessing a lot of amusement park patrons don't leave the park thinking just Six Flags is too expensive, but that amusement parks in general are too expensive. *** Edited 7/16/2007 4:19:34 AM UTC by TayTay***
All their coasters rock, and they are always open. The lines are NEVER long, and its much cheaper than going to a Six Flags park.
Going to Great America, which I have to say I'm lucky to live next to the best run Six Flags - I still have to wonder what will shut down, be shut down, bad employee experience, etc.
It is those little things that give employee's the "pick-me-up" to keep delievering quality. As mid-summer can be the peak and cause exhaustion from the monotony and heat of the job. However the incentives, and the recognition of a job well done is always a good way to get an employee to keep delievering. This is something I rarely saw in the older days (in the past 3-4 years I have been working).
Even when I stop by the park after my other job (a 8-5 engineering firm job) on the weekdays I have been amazed to never see the crews let up, esspically on the major rides such as Boss, Eagle, Freeze, etc. all the crews are always having fun with the guests and working quickly. The park has also focused on shifting its best employees to the most visible rides. If there is an employee who works great with kids, most likely he/she will be working at the kid rides in Bugs Bunny National Parks. Because if the kids are having fun, the parents are happy, and if the kids want to come back, most likely they are coming back. Its a good formula which is working quite well.
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