Six Flags America 04/07/13

Does anyone want to hear my theory as to why SFA dispatches their trains so slowly, seemingly on purpose? ;)

Seems everyone can have different opinions on a park based on what employees were there that day and what mood they were in - perfectly understandable. When I went to SFA I was with a friend whom I adore, but he isn't always a very 'up' person, so energy and excitement is low when I'm around him. Plus, it was a redunkulously hot day (oh man, the smell of those harnesses on the SLC... ugh!).

I look forward to going back, wouldn't be my first choice, but I'm sure I'll be back and hopefully the experience is better.

I've visited the park...3-sih times I think, twice in the late 90's and then once a few years after RoS opened. 2001 or 2002 maybe.

It was always a pretty mediocre to bad experience. I think during the 2002 trip I was subjected to a 3 or 4 train wait on Roar that took around 30 minutes, and I believe this was with 2 trains running (sensing a pattern here).

I now I have been living in Washington, DC for nearly 2 years and I haven't been yet. I feel like I should since it's so close and I feel obligated and I hear it's gotten better but I just haven't made the effort yet. In the same time I've been to KD once and BGW 5 times so obviously my tastes and priorities are in different places.

Jeff said:

Not sure if I mentioned this, but when I was there in 2000, I was on Superman when the lift chain broke.

How long were you stuck?

matt. said:

I now I have been living in Washington, DC for nearly 2 years and I haven't been yet. I feel like I should since it's so close and I feel obligated

Obligated? I've lived here my whole life and have never felt obligated to go there. Or any amusement park, for that matter.

LostKause said:

Does anyone want to hear my theory as to why SFA dispatches their trains so slowly, seemingly on purpose? ;)

From my observations (not specific to SFA,) it's because the ride ops are more interested in flirting with the cute girls than doing their jobs.

^^ That is not LK's theory. Don't get him started.

Luv ya, Travis! ;)

My observation is that most people controlling the ride board at SFA are frustrated DJs/MCs...I doubt any of them actually "makes it" in the music industry, but there's apparently no one in management willing to stop them from trying...

Vater said:

Obligated? I've lived here my whole life and have never felt obligated to go there. Or any amusement park, for that matter.

Sure, that's fine. But I don't think it's unreasonable to feel obliged to give a park a 2nd chance when you suddenly live 30 minutes away. Obviously I'm not in that big of a hurry.

I think the key word in Vater's post was *obligated*.

My theory about slow ride ops for our amazing new friends here, and "I'ma goin keep this short", is that the park can't sell very many Q-bots if the lines are moving fast. I also think this could be the case when a park runs one train on a very busy day. I know I run straight to the nearest pay-to-cut location with my money already out when crap like that happens.

(And here is the catch phrase...) Even if I am wrong and that is not the case, it could seem that way to some people, and that is just as bad.

No need to reply. It's just one man's opinion. I know it's all a lost kause.

I think gator's assessment is far more accurate, and I say that as a SFA alumni. I worked there the fall after my summer on X-Flight at Geauga Lake so I could make a little money on weekends during the school semester. I was assigned to Batwing, where, on one evening, another ride operator and I would dispatch a train off our side of the station before a team of four got theirs out once. That happened several times at night.

There's no grand conspiracy afoot, Travis. The few of us who worked quickly were never in trouble for it. The crews are just as slow as death. Simple as that.

According to this Flash Pass was only added in 2010. Was there a virtual queue before that at SFA? I can't remember.

There was, but it was ticket-based rather than Q-Bot-based.

I honestly do not know the answer to this particular question. Does SF as a company, and specifically at SFA, promote a culture of fast ride operators? I mean do they teach their employees to hustle the trains out of the station like Cedar Point does (or did when I worked there a long time ago, anyways?)

I'm not saying that I completely believe my stupid theory, but even if it isn't true, it can seem that it is, and that's just as bad. That's the biggest point I wish to make.

I think they do promote fast service usually. I've actually heard them announce how many trains have gone out within the hour on both Toro and Nitro. I've only been to the two parks though, and one is usually excellent and one was crappy, so I think it has something to do not so much with the company but perhaps with management and allocation of resources and some other stuff.

I used to go there for opening day every year to get my SF season passes. I am only 90 minutes away, and to me the poor experience I know I am going to have isn't worth the drive. I just dealt with it because their pass prices were one of the lowest in the chain. It was so bad getting season passes processed that probably could've made money selling a front of the line pass for that.

Last season I bought my pass at SFNE, visited there twice, and went to Great Adventure once. The only reason I'd want to go back to SFA is to ride the couple good coasters they do have. No one mentioned Roar. One slow day i was lucky to get 12 laps in a row. That was one of my best visits there.

You know, Cedar Fair parks have a tendency to opperate faster. You see Intimidator at Carowinds as an example. The head ride opperator says through the intercom: "Please hurry up and get in your seat as fast as you can. We're trying to load this ride in under a minute."

I always wondered what makes riders get situated so fast at Cedar Point. They must use some kind of mind tricks. The ride operators don't even know why, but riders just see to know that they are supposed to hustle.

Of course, the fast pace could be a little nerve-wracking for some. No one likes to be rushed.

Magnum comes to mind. "Ready ready!" I think that the ready announcements might help riders to want to hurry as well as the ride hosts.

I've always been interested in why CP's riders tend to hurry, but no where else that I have seen. Do they just know what is expected, subconsciously even?

I think part of the reason they hurry is because the whole loading/unloading environment seems fast-paced. If you see the ride operators hurrying and trying to move things along, you wind up doing the same. If you see them taking a week and a half to check your train, you move at a snails pace to get situated.

I think it also helps that guests at CP are somewhat conditioned to it if they've visited the park previously. CP has always been super efficient at moving people for as long as I can remember, I'm sure that helps.