Six flags is changing direction
Intamin Fan said:
Gardner14, how can you say that it's not the employees fault that they are bad at what they do? There has to be some sense of personal responsibility. Everyone goes through the same training. It's what you do with that training that matters.
It is the management's fault. Where I work, most of us have been there for a long time and we have a sense of committment to the company. It's kind of like a family if you will, and I think most of us feel responsible for our jobs and the success of the company. This is not because we all just happen to be great employees. It is because of the way we are treated, respected, and compensated.
I have worked for other companies in the past where people were not treated with the same respect and it showed in the employees' attitudes and job performance. I believe I did a good enough job under those circumstances, but I did not feel the need to go above and beyond like I do for my current employer. Others, who may have needed more motivation then they could muster for themselves, did not perform as well as customers may expect.
Other theme parks brag about their customer service and rightly so. I always have a sense that I am appreciated when I visit Hersheypark, Lake Compounce, and Anheuser-Busch parks. I never hear the rave reviews of SF as an employer that I hear about Holiday World, Dollywood, or until recently, Disney.
There are some employees at SF that probably wouldn't last under more astute management, but I belive it is primarily the management that needs to get its priorities straight when it comes to customer satisfaction and the employee situation will take care of itself.
In defense of employers, it's hard to find a lot of good help when your financial resources are limited. It's not as if they can pay people $15/hour, or that $15/hour guarantees better workers. The caveat: if someone doesn't want to do a good job for the salary you're offering, you need to dismiss that person and find someone who will.
I've seen extremely quick and friendly ride ops at SFGAm on a Friday in mid-September for a corporate buyout, and I've seen slow and grim-looking ride ops at BGW on an October weekend. It's tough to find good help year-round.
Six Flags will never compete with Holiday World or Knoebel's in terms of customer service, but hopefully, someday they'll be able to compete with the likes of Cedar Fair or Paramount.
-Mark
Never Has Gravity Been So Uplifting.
You should have fun at an amusement park, that's what they were built for, and that is what most enthuiastasts should do.
Overflowing trash bin? Maybe the park was addressing that problem right then, just walking over to seek it out. Same with other things. Point being, us enthuiasts have not much clue as to what is going on behind the scenes.
Here is a little story.
1- My brother and I were enjoying the day at SFGAm in line for American Eagle. 10 minute line. Not bad for a ride with the worst lap bars in the world (buzz-ratcheting). Anyways, right before we were about to get on, the ride shuts down. Backwards blue. Trains were stuck on the blocks, and on the lift. Mechanics were there within 5 minutes. They got the people stuck on the final block off easily. Then they got the one on the lift to go. Then it stopped at the next block and so on. Once they got them off, they immediately gave them exit passes and a voucher for a free drink. Not bad. However, we didn't get to go on the ride, but it was amazing how Great America handled the problem.
So, don't just start bashing parks. You have no idea what is happening behind the scenes. "Have some fun already!"
>>That's the thing, I was treated with respect, as was everyone else at SFA. I was thanked on a nightly basis for my work. I can't speak for everyone, but I think we all had a committment to our job, or we wouldn't have been there. Listen, you try working out in the heat and humidity, the pouring down rain, or in the freezing cold, doing a repetetive job-sometimes working double-shifts. I will agree that the compensation sucks, but you know what you're getting into when you sign on. You can go and work anywhere and probably make more money under better working conditions, but a lot of people choose to work at a themepark. Maybe it's not the best fit for them.
There are some employees at SF that probably wouldn't last under more astute management
>>That's a possibility, but who do you get to work the park then?
Simply put, if most other parks can operate near capacity and ensure that I leave feeling a sense that my time and money was well spent, then SF could do that too if they put their mind to it.
It has nothing to do with the selection of rides or entertainment and everything to do with how they operate their business, and I think they might be beginning to realize this for the very reason this thread began.
-Mark
Never Has Gravity Been So Uplifting.
Just an idea.
I'm so glad to work for a park who cares about and values their employees like most departments in SFOT do. I have friends who work for other parks and it is sad to hear them talk about the way they are treated. SFOT has had the most time to streamline operations and such I guess and it shows. Thats why we got #1 in Safety and #1 in Guest Satisfaction this year. And my ride got #1 in cleanliness and #1 overall best ride crew so ;) i'm going to take credit for everything! :-P. I always tried to make sure my crews were in good moods even if nobody else seemed to care. I'd take them food, we would go out to eat after the park closed, go to hang out, go see movies, etc. etc., Just simply getting to know your crew can REALLY help your entire ride's friendliness. SFOT now has a customer service trainer (which believe it or not most parks dont, they just stick us out there and tell us how to op the rides) to teach us how to deal with guests in certain situations. Next year shall be interesting, come visit us after we get the ball rolling :)
CoastersBolts said:
Perhaps Six Flags needs to become a franchise, you know that if this were the case, each park would be a bit independent from the next. While Six Flags (the franchiser) would still have a lot of control over each park,Just an idea.
But you must realize that if they did franchise it out, SFI would lose the kind of control it needed. Parks would be run different, and most franchises only supply the startup and uniformity to the franchise, but if you franchise something, you've put up the money for it, so the ultimate decision is yours. SFI could lose parks this way, and things could go down.
I get what you're saying, but I think that would definitly be a bad Idea. I think that what we're seeing this year(not alot of major coasters, lots of improvements planned, etc.) is a step in the right direction. Maybe they should just do this for the next 5 years, build up the exp. for everyone, and then go balls out for new, expensive, thrilling rides.
Thanks,
DMC
But, SFI does have the ability to transfer funds from their cap-ex budgets into staffing. Is that something a park GM decides? Likely not....but corporate is where these kinds of decisions HAVE to be made, and made correctly, or the bottom line will suffer...
The old expression goes like this: "You have to spend money to make money". Well, that's the EASY part...the hard part is knowing where and how to spend money so that it *will* make money. Otherwise, you're just "throwing money at the problem", and if you're gonna do that, you should give it to ME instead...;)
You still have Zoidberg.... You ALL have Zoidberg! (V) (;,,;) (V)
If they were to franchise, or at least give the individual parks a lot more control over their own destiny, budget, etc. not only would it encourage the individual parks to do better (cause big daddy company won't come bail them out unless they're about to go under) but they could add their own local flavor. Parks that need bigger maintenance budgets like SFGAdv and SFMM could pull some money off character appearances or something or games and put it towards getting their rides in order. SFWoA could put maintenance money which isn't a major problem for them into hunting for some real high quality management (perhaps raid their highly rated neighbor? I'm sure some of us would be willing to offer a certain higher-up ;) )
Seems like a good idea to me, although I'm sure the logistics and economics of it would make it impossible without a couple of these no-new-rides-keep-it-low-key years.
Well first off let me say the problem is not at all Six Flag's parks. I have had quite a good time at a fair number of them. Fiesta Texas is one of my favorites and seems very well run. The ones in Europe were some of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen. Maybe you are relating to one of those better run parks. Instead, I am talking about the poorly run Six Flag's parks and in particular SFMM which I think is the worst run one out of all of them. Have you ever been to SFMM? And recently? If so, then maybe you would understand my issues.
There are horrible infrastructure issues there that not only look bad, but if things are allowed to deteriorate could become a safety problem at some point. Even if that was not the case, put it this way: Would you rather live in a nice house or one that is falling apart and looks like crap where some things no longer work?
And again...there are rides sitting there that have not been used in quite some time and two more of them have not been used for several years now. They just sit there. Justify THAT to me. You might feel that since those are flat rides that it doesn't matter, but now even some of the coasters sit dormant for long extended periods of time. When their closed attraction sign out front is running out of room, that's a problem. And in my mind it's also inexcusable. And adds to the park's run down feeling. Like the Long Beach Pike on it's last days. It's just sad. Why would I want to walk around a park half closed and rundown when I could easily go to well maintained ones like Knott's and Disneyland right up the freeway?
And as for staffing problems...I don't buy that either. Other parks seem to be able to staff their parks just fine and even the Six Flag's parks themselves USED to have all their rides open with no staffing issues. So what has changed? Even the on ride photo booths have been closed lately at SFMM. That's just sad!
Coasterbuf said:
Even if that was not the case, put it this way: Would you rather live in a nice house or one that is falling apart and looks like crap where some things no longer work?
I know I wasnt asked, but I want to say something to that. I would rather have a house that is falling apart and looks like crap where some things no longer work than to not have a house at all. Just be happy that some of the things are there for you to have. Not everything in life is going to be nice, you have to take what you can get.
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