Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom part of an attitude overhaul

More TALK about how they will concentrate on the guest experience. I'll let some of you guys tell me how it is working and maybe I'll hit a Six Flags next year if this is sincere.

This year I plan on hitting Holiday World for 2-3 days and driving right through Louisville on my way to PKI. SFKK has not earned another repeat visit from me.

I do hope the entire chain is sincere about the sudden concentration on guest services. I just have a tough time believing that the attitude and poor service that has become a trademark for the chain can be fixed in one year through a few commercials and press releases. Hope I'm wrong!

I am going at least one more time this year- on my way back from Holiday World- I will let you know. I didn't notice happy employees on opening weekend.

At Six Flags Marine World it was all talk up until this last weekend- then they put their butts into gear. The ride operators were RACING to see who could check restraints faster. I don't know how many of you know the layout of Roar or usual load times, but they had the second train checked and ready to dispatch before the train in front of it was in the shed. Zero-stacking on it. Almost the same could be said for Kong, the stacking was very short (about 30 seconds max) and so from a sign that said "45 minutes from this point" it only took 30 minutes!

I know this is a different park, but both being smaller sized Six Flags parks, but I bet regulars to SFKK will notice a similar change.

Last weekend @ LaRonde( Six Flags), the employees were so happy! I've never seen them so kind and joyous. I actually saw them smiling, laughing, having a good time. They really enjoyed themselves. When I would say thank you to a ride op for checking my restraint, a quick "Your welcome" followed by a smile was always given to me :).

Had they started this philosophy a few years ago, they may still be in Ohio.

When I was at SFKK 2 months ago, I noticed that employees were a lot more cheerful than I remembered, and earlier that week, at SFOG, I was blown away! The employees were awesome, they were all friendly and interacted, and all said please and thank you. They were also running the rides very well, not much stacking anywhere. They even had 3 trains and 2 stations running on Superman with a line only out to the 1st curve-around. I was very impressed, I hope they keep it up chain-wide.

I visited SFKK last weekend and the service just sucked! The game ops were just sitting in there booth with a frown on there face, not even trying to get you to come over and play. Just seemed like they were going to sit and do nothing for 8 hours! This was my first visit to SFKK and unless they get some major top of the line coaster put in, it will be my last.

I must give credit where credit is due however. I did not catch the ride ops name, but there was a young man operating the "Flying Dutchman" who really knew his way around the park. The Flying Dutchman use to be at PKI and I remember riding it when I was just a little guy (31 years old now) and then they moved it to SFKK. The ride-op was pretty suprised to find out that it use to be at PKI. We chatted for a good 20 mins about parks and rides and such. VERY nice guy! IF the whole park was full of that kind of employee, it would be a totally different place!

I love the site by the way!

Bill

My Park Pics - http://www.waitingtoprint.com*** This post was edited by BillBeast 6/2/2004 1:02:44 PM ***

Most employees were indeed friendly when I was at SFKK May 1st.

But weren't some SF employees already following the first principle of the Fish Philosophy (Play)? ;)

I don't know if I care to see anyone else dance to their theme song though. Every time it was played in the park, you could look around and see at least one person dancing, both guests and employees.

I made my first visit to SFKK on Sunday and made the comment that the park has such potential, all it needs is some decent staff. The rides were extremely understaffed (even though everything was walk-on), and most seemed angry to be there. There was one very helpful gentleman in Guest Services. Of course, I had been to Holiday World the day before, and after that all other park's employees appear surly. I was absolutely apalled at their lack of emergency procedures during the tornado warning; we asked several different employees for suggestions and all but one said they had NEVER been trained for any weather-related situations.

We were informed that SFAW employees went through this "overhaul" last year....apparently it only LASTS for one year, LOL...

Seriously, SFKK has improved each time I visited over the past few years (being close to HW gets you repeat visits)...cleanliness, friendliness, and attention to guest satisfaction was *on the rise* before this year, IMO....and this was a park I did NOT find to be that enjoyable on my first visit.