Six Flags definition of line jumping

To cut a long story short, I was in line for X2 at SFMM (150 minute line) and a group of four people tried to cut the line. I wouldn't let them pass and when they refused to leave I went and fetched security who removed them from the line. As soon as the scurity guard left they walked down the flashpass line to try and cut in. The flashpass guy (who I initially reported the line jumping to) then sent them back. Later, I was queing at the bottom of the stairs and noticed they were back in line again at the top of the stairs!

I went and told the security guard, (Jose his name was) and he told me he let them in because they had left the line to go to the toilet and it was none of my business anyway. I said it states in the park rules you are not aloud to leave the line and return for any reason and he said I didn't know what I was talking about, he knows his job and I don't. I told him it was listed in the park guide and he called me a liar! I also told him the people were now making threatening jestures at me and he told me to go and queue up the other side. I told him I was going to guest services after my ride to report him for not doing his job.

After my ride on X2, which was awesome BTW, I went to Guest Services and told them what happened and he said that people are allowed to leave the line to go to the bathroom or to get a drink, and people can save a place for them whilst they do this!

Since when? This is a quote from the park guide "Guests are not permitted to save places in the line or exit the line and return for any reason", and in another place "line-jumping, holding places in line etc is strictly prohibited and will not be tolerated"

I pointed this out to guest services and he said "I don't know why it says that."

Have they changed their policy or was the guest services just covering up for Jose (who probably spoke to guest services before I got there)?

Oh well, I got a meal voucher and an exit pass for x2, so at least guest services did something, but why have rules if they are not going to enforce them, and actually lie and say those rules don't exist! And why take you name and address when you know full well they will never contact you.

To top things up I got "TatsFLU" from some girl coughing in the Tatsu line behind me.

When was that? Opening day of x2 in 2008? Have not heard of 3 hour lines at x2 for quite some time..

Sorry can't add up it was 150 minutes (not 180 as I originally put), so 2 1/2 hours, on the 28th December 2009. The line was all the way to the bottom of the bridge. It was Christmas holidays, sunny weather (10 degrees above average someone said) and both Goliath and Batman down for painting, so I guess that made the line longer than normal - I don't think it broke down, and they were running two trains.

Tatsu and Terminator were both 90 minutes.

I had a similar experience at X2 in it's second year of operation - 2003 I think. it was a family of four barreling their way through the line. When they got to where the line splits there was an operator holding back the line. He knew full well what they had done, and the guy just let them through. I asked him why they didn't have to wait in line like everyone else to which he told me "they were in a hurry". Pissed me off big time. I never went to guest services; I probably should have.

I figured it was a California thing when a family plowed past us in line for the log flume at Knott's the next day.

Wow, just.....wow! When guest services is disputing something written in the park's guide then there are all types of things wrong. Good for you though Grant! I never let line jumpers by. I put my foot up to block the path and refuse passage. If they try to get rowdy, I play the Bronx NY, angry, loud, black man routine and they scamper away 1-2-3! Of course I make sure I have my "peeps" with me for backative! hehe

Grant said:

This is a quote from the park guide "Guests are not permitted to save places in the line or exit the line and return for any reason", and in another place "line-jumping, holding places in line etc is strictly prohibited and will not be tolerated"

I thought that it would be important to reiterate what the rules were concerning line jumping...

I pointed this out to guest services and he said "I don't know why it says that."

Have they changed their policy...?

...why have rules if they are not going to enforce them, and actually lie and say those rules don't exist!

Okay. This is Six Flags. Their line jumping policy HAS changed. They didn't change it in their park guide because if they wrote the new rules for line jumping in there, people would see through their Flashpass scam and probably get irate.

They can't enforce a line jumping policy because if they did, they wouldn't be collecting money from most line jumpers. Line jumping rules really do not exist anymore at Six Flags.

...I got "TatsFLU" from some girl coughing in the Tatsu line behind me.

TatsFLU? HAHA! That's a good one.

How did I know LK was going to bring in Flash Pass?

Grant, that's a serious flaw in Guest Services and a rather unacceptable encounter with a park employee.

Magic Mountain Park President Jay Thomas ALWAYS wants feedback from his guests, he makes this very clear if you have a legitimate complaint, he would like to know about it. More often than not, these kinds of things flies under his radar because he can't possibly be aware of everything that occurs inside his park on any given day. Write him a letter! Make sure you give him all the details, including everything that was told you by Guest Services (contradictory policies) and the name of the employees involved.

Jay Thomas

Six Flags Magic Mountain
26101 Magic Mountain Parkway
Valencia, CA 91355

Grant said:
Oh well, I got a meal voucher and an exit pass for x2, so at least guest services did something,

That's classic. So guest service's reaction to a report of someone cutting the queue is to let someone ELSE cut the queue with an exit pass.

That's so wrong.

I hate going to bed angry...but reading this has gotten me angry/frustrated, and I'm too tired not to get some rest.

Any idea what the general age-groups of the line jumpers that you had these unpleasant experiences with were?

At Great Adventure last fall, a group of jerks cut in line at Superman when the guard was changing the path of the line to allow the line into the switchbacks. They were reported to the guards that were 10 feet away (with their backs turned since they were talking to each other) and the line jumpers weren't removed. Another visit, I witnessed the same thing, people cut and were reported and weren't removed from the line.

They need security guards in the lines at all times for the major coasters watching for line cutters and throwing them out of line. It works well at Dorney.

Sometimes I feel guest services doesn't want to be bothered with complaints. I wrote a complaint letter in 2008, got a response back but not the answer I wanted. I wrote another complaint letter last year to the park with totally different issues (a ride op with a cell phone texting before opening up the gate to let people in line, a very rude ride op and a few other problems) and they didn't even respond to the letter. They probably figured since I wrote a letter the past year, they don't want to bother responding to the complaints.I did not ask for free stuff so it wasn't that they were ignoring my letter because they thought I was only writing it to get something back.

LostKause said:
Okay. This is Six Flags. Their line jumping policy HAS changed. They didn't change it in their park guide because if they wrote the new rules for line jumping in there, people would see through their Flashpass scam and probably get irate.

If that is the case why did the security guard remove them in the first place? He took my details down as he needed a witness to file the report, he then asked me to point the line jumpers out, then he spoke to them and the four people who cut in were removed, leaving the two behind "who saved their place".

Also seems coincidental that four adults all needed the bathroom at the same time! More likley they went to Panda Express or something and told the other two to get in line, becuase no one left the line whilst I was in there so they were never in it in the first place.

Is threatening behaviour now allowed as well? I was on my own, it was dark, and the park was closed when I got off X2, the group could have easily been waiting for me. They actually shouted something at me when they got off the ride. Yet all Jose said was "go queue up the other side then."

I have never had ANY problems at SFMM before, I will just put it down to a rogue member of staff.

Just some tips when writing a letter of complaint to a park (or any business).

1. Make it about them, not about you. For example, if you're going to complain about a ride op texting, don't mention how you were inconvenienced. Rather say that you think it's a situation that could compromise guest safety. Let them know that the employee's behavior could affect them negatively, and they'll be more likely to react or respond.

2. You could tell them they're losing your business, but if you do, be willing to back it up. They might just look at you as a little drop in a big bucket as far as the bottom line goes, but most savvy businesses know that they can't afford to lose or alienate customers. They also know that each disgruntled customer tells a lot of people what a bad experience they had.

3. Above all, be nice. You stand a better chance of getting a satisfactory response if you're polite and courteous in your dealings with the business-- whether in person, on the phone, or through the mail or e-mail. Sometimes it seems like the whiny person gets their way, and you hear that the customer is always right. But sometimes all whining gets you is your money back and a request never to come back again. Plus, if you come off like a jerk, customer relations will assume that's how you always act, so either your behavior contributed to the bad situation in the first place, or nothing they could say or do could satisfy you, so they don't bother.

LuvRaptor said:
You'd have to wonder just how many SFMM employees 1st names are Jose ;)

That's not an ethnic stereotype made in poor taste or anything.

Yeah, did not like that little throw away line either....

My above post was predictable, I will admit, but what if I seriously told you that I believe that line-cutting "perks" are totally taking away from a majority of people the self-policing integrity of waiting one's turn.

Grant said:

Also seems coincidental that four adults all needed the bathroom at the same time! More likley they wen tto Panda Express or something and told the other two to get in line,becuase no one left the line whilst I was in there so they were never in it in the first place.

If they would have had a Flashpass, they wouldn't have needed those two other people to save their place. They could just "wait as long as everyone else is waiting, but not in line". They could "enjoy" their "free time elsewhere in the park". (quoted directly from SFMM website.)

RatherGoodBear said:
You could tell them they're losing your business, but if you do, be willing to back it up. They might just look at you as a little drop in a big bucket as far as the bottom line goes, but most savvy businesses know that they can't afford to lose or alienate customers. They also know that each disgruntled customer tells a lot of people what a bad experience they had.

I'll agree with your three pointers on how to complain to any business that you are using. In saying that, SF has proven that they look at some people as a "drop in the bucket". When you say that "most" businesses know that they can't afford to lose or alienate their customers, you're not talking about SF at all. I assume that you are like me, and would rather not pay a visit to SF?

...Isn't Jose a pretty common name in CA? I didn't think anything about the Jose comment that LuvRaptor made until it was pointed out that it was evil and racist. I guess I am colorblind... or something.

The same comment could have been made if his name was Mike or John. I, too, thought nothing of the comment.

You two are obviously not very familiar with Southern California demographics and the Los Angeles area. Or just do not catch on very quickly.

LuvRaptor was alluding to the stereotype that due to Magic Mountain's close proximity to L.A., the park's hourly wage earners are all of Hispanic descent, which is far from true.

RatherGoodBear has some great advice. We had a horrible experience at SFGadv 5 years ago, wrote an intelligent, kind, informative letter, and got 2 free passes and a free q-bot for anytime we wanted to visit (and they extended that offer for another 2 years since we live in Ohio).

The Jose comment was just uncalled for.

You'd have to wonder just how many SFMM employees 1st names are Jose

Translation? You'd have to wonder how many illegal Mexican immigrants they have running their rides. No wonder you had such a bad experience.

The same comment could have been made if his name was Mike or John.

That's actually incorrect. If I made a similar post about an experience I had at Cedar Point and mentioned the name "Nick", there would never be a comment made that read...

"Makes you wonder how many employees first names are Nick!" with a cute little wink.

You may have thought nothing of it, that stood out quite a bit, and I was happy to see Jeff's comment.

RatherGoodBear said:
Just some tips when writing a letter of complaint to a park (or any business).

1. Make it about them, not about you. For example, if you're going to complain about a ride op texting, don't mention how you were inconvenienced. Rather say that you think it's a situation that could compromise guest safety. Let them know that the employee's behavior could affect them negatively, and they'll be more likely to react or respond.

2. You could tell them they're losing your business, but if you do, be willing to back it up. They might just look at you as a little drop in a big bucket as far as the bottom line goes, but most savvy businesses know that they can't afford to lose or alienate customers. They also know that each disgruntled customer tells a lot of people what a bad experience they had.

3. Above all, be nice. You stand a better chance of getting a satisfactory response if you're polite and courteous in your dealings with the business-- whether in person, on the phone, or through the mail or e-mail. Sometimes it seems like the whiny person gets their way, and you hear that the customer is always right. But sometimes all whining gets you is your money back and a request never to come back again. Plus, if you come off like a jerk, customer relations will assume that's how you always act, so either your behavior contributed to the bad situation in the first place, or nothing they could say or do could satisfy you, so they don't bother.

I did mention in the letter than I felt if the ride op was taking out his phone to text, that I was concerned he could take out the phone while the ride was running. I just looked at the letter and I even mentioned he had his phone out and texting while walking around the ride to check everyone's lap bar.

I also try to be nice when I write a complaint letter but it never seems to help because it seems most of the time the letter is ignored.

I know that last sentence makes it sound like I complain all the time to companies but I really don't, maybe two or three letters a year at the most and not over minor issues (I wouldn't have sent the letter just for the ride op taking his phone out but combined with other problems throughout the day I mentioned it since I was writing the letter anyway).