Six Flags Gets A Clue - Huge Improvements to Customer Service at SFGAdv

Shouldn't all the rides be scheduled to be open anyway? I am cynical, if only for the fact that they are saying they will actually provide the services they are supposed to!

Is the lifeguard chairs in queues common? I never heard of this system but I like it. Does it cut down a lot on line cutting?

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coasterguts said:

First, I don't think I have ever seen Wild One run with one train. In fact, some of the complaints I've read were they were running one train full and running the second train empty.

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Umm, as best I can tell, Wild One CANT run with only one train. The track of the coaster appears to be seven boards thick while the track of the storage shed is only five boards thick (or vice versa, I cant remember since I didnt go to SFA this past year). With the difference in track depth, it'd be really hard to transfer a train off without heavy equipment.

My only problem with the operation of Wild One is that they have decided to not release the train from the final brakes until the other train departs the station, even though there is another set of block brakes just uptrack of the station. This artifically increases the ride time and results in much less than optimal efficiency. I wish I knew one good reason why they would do such a thing....

lata, jeremy

--who thinks Wild One is the best out and back woodie he's ridden

I'll have to agree with you, Fun. As many rides and shows as possible should be open and running at full enough capacity for any theme park. Non-Season pass holders spend a lot of money and drive time just to be able to spend a day at the park, and should assume that they will get what they have paid for.

As good as all of this "park improvement" talk sounds, I have to repeat what X flight stated in his previous post; This park is now being run by the guys who killed SFWoA. I think that it is time that they redeem themselves and do what they say they're going to do. Just maybe corperate will give them a budget to get the park working the way it is supposed to.

I am planning my first trip to SFGAdv in years this spring. Wouldn't it be nice if I was impressed with how the park was running and wanted to return very soon, maybe even visit again this season?

KK is looking like a lot of fun, by the way. I hope Mr. Six is still around this year; He's cooler than Batman.

Jeremy, the thickness of the track is not important, so long as the top board lines up. Then there is the transfer table on Mean Streak, where the storage tracks don't have any boards at all...when the train rolls onto the transfer table/storage track, it actually rolls on its upstops, which are supported on angle-iron. That leaves the road wheels completely clear for service.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Who, admittedly, has not seen Wild One since the place was still called Adventure World...

When Wild One runs with one train empty and one full, it is usually because the crowd is light early in the morning. This avoids half full trains that don't give as good a ride. Also avoids the wait while they pull a trian or add one later. Real frustrating at Kennywood when you wait over half an hour for them to pull a train that they could have just left on. No problem at Knobels where they add a train in 5 minutes.

Zamperla Rotoshakes don't seem to follow the classic bathtub curve for reliability. They seem to be equally unreliable at all protions of their life span.

Jeremy: I would guess that they are keeping a block open for extra safety. SFA doesn't do this on all coasters, but some parks do. Maybe they have less faith in the reliability of Wild Ones brakes. I think I have on rare occasion seen the second train on the storage track

Hey didn't Six Flags spend millions "improving customer service" last year? I guess all of that was just thrown down the tubes.

If the brake can serve as a block why not just add a third train? it would improve capacity in a big way.

Since the SF branding I've never seen a train on the storage track,I'd see a train(usually the red one) on the storage track all the time however prior to the SF conversion because the old skid brakes weren't very reliable....especially in the rain & in regards to cycling trains or single train op I was told over at superman that they don't generally add the 2nd train unless there are a minimum of 100 guests in the queue when I questioned one of the ops last season.

SF,or any park chain can spend millions on implementing better staff & operations as well as service but if the employees just aren't up to the task then all the money in the world won't solve that problem any more than ignoring it & just throwing in an expensive coaster will.

Extra safety? Sorry, I dont buy it. Not at a park that has a Superman: Ride of Steel with brakes that *have* failed (albiet in another park). With the final brakes bringing Wild One to a dead stop, I would *think* they could at least advance the train to the other brakes while the opposite train is still in the station.

Just seems dumb to me...

BTW: Dave, I dont believe the top board line up at all, nor do I think they are designed to ride on the upstops. but I *could* be wrong....

jeremy

--who wonders if RGW's Gators are going to pull off the upset tonight

BTW...did anyone else read on Screamscape that KK won't be open until May? I wonder if they (SF) is doing all this customer service work to appease the park-goers until KK opens, give the general public a good experience until KK opens anyway, something to bring them into the park before May.

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BigJim4Life said:
BTW...did anyone else read on Screamscape that KK won't be open until May? I wonder if they (SF) is doing all this customer service work to appease the park-goers until KK opens, give the general public a good experience until KK opens anyway, something to bring them into the park before May.

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SFKK Opens up as it usually does the weekend before Louisville schools go on spring break. SFKK's opening Day is April 2, 2005 and chances are Bond and I will be there as it's the best day to visit the park because the park is dead and everything is a walk on.

Have Fun

Paul Drabek

BigJim4Life, I've read reports from EastCoaster that say that the Great Adventure PR folks said that it would open in late April or early May.

Funny how a thread about SFGAdv turns into a SFA gripefest and SF in general discussion...

To get on the SFGAdv topic... I have seen the lifeguard chairs there long ago and do the work... only if the Guy or Girl sitting in it does something will they do the job of policing the lines.

Visibile security is only so much a deterent. Toss offenders from the park quick and take away season passes if they have them and see the effects. I don't care if you only did it once... You cut line you are gone. That would be a deterant.

Also it would be kinda nice to have both chiller tracks and both Rolling Thunder tracks running and racing again. If they can't run the Chiller at the same time make them alternate where as soon as the one comes back the next is ready for .... 1...2...3.... Goodbye....

BTW Bring that back that was so fun to have the person in the control booth say goodbye as they hit the button. and so much better than just having them hit the button like happened to me last season. *** Edited 2/8/2005 4:51:11 PM UTC by dragonoffrost***

I've ranted about this since last summer, but unless they are more diligent about keeping the lines moving on the coasters, they're not doing a good enough job.

When you see coasters designed to run 3 trains safely (and which have been run safely that way for years) be operated with a single tain running the entire course and completely stopped on the brakes before the train in the station gets checked and dispatched (essentially running sighty faster than single train operation), you don't feel like going back. When it happens on *EVERY* coaster, you feel ripped off.

And I agree about having line guards who actually will eject linecutters and taking away the day passes/season passes if you're caught. I only see linecutters get kicked out of S:UF these days, but I recall long ago when the guards were active that it helped speed the lines and made it a pleasant stay. Here's to hoping that it actually helps.

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UBRhino said:
I think he meant Kingda Ka not SFKK.

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D'oh! My bad.

^^^ Very simple:the policies & plans set forth by SFGRADV should be implemented chainwide for the entire season(not just the first few weeks/months) which will,if implemented help boost guest satisfaction & potential return visits throughout the year.

This time I can't be blamed entirely for mentioning some of SFA's operational problems,someone else posted their opinions first & I just contributed to it.

I'm very skeptical about how determined the park is to implement those policies AND maintain them throughout the entire season but I have to say that I don't think the park is as bad as some people make it out to be. It's far from the dirty, gang-filled concrete jungle that people make it out to be.

Yeah, Chiller and RT should run both sides all the time but I have to say that the park is pretty good at running the rest of their coasters to capacity. I always see two trains on Superman & Batman and three on Medusa, GASM and Nitro. And I continue to stand by my claim that Nitro has one of the most efficient loading crews in the industry. Line jumping... they could use some help. But not as much help as a dozen or so other parks I've been to in the past year.

If the park can manage to keep the bathrooms a little better, the employees a little more friendly as a group (instead of as select individuals) and all rides running all of the time, the park would be world class. Oh yeah, and do something about that wood coaster!

Rob, you see two trains? Have you rode the rides when they are running two trains?

In my experience, four visits in two years on various crowd/weather days including an awfull weekend trip, Medusa and Batman were stacked sometimes up to three trains. One loading and two in the brake run. Seriously. I sat in the hot brake run of Batman, waiting for two trains to load, Medusa the same thing. I wont even ride Batman again the experience is so frustrating.

Nitro is the best operation in the park for sure, but how can you not be efficient on a long ride like Nitro? Especially when there are no seatbelts to check.

They have a long way to go, I hope they get there.

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The Mole said:
To prepare for Kingda Ka, SFGAdv is going to overhaul their customer service. First and most importantly, they will have every ride, and every track, and EVERY FOOD SERVICE PLACE WILL BE OPEN! ......

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... but then on the day after Kingda Ka's grand opening, it will be back to the same old routine.

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2Hostyl said:My only problem with the operation of Wild One is that they have decided to not release the train from the final brakes until the other train departs the station, even though there is another set of block brakes just uptrack of the station. This artifically increases the ride time and results in much less than optimal efficiency. I wish I knew one good reason why they would do such a thing....

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How about, "That's the way the State wants it run"?