Six Flags Over Georgia Free Admission!
halltd said:
I'm just saying the park said they were at capacity at 15,000 people and we all know their capacity is probably three or four times that. They just weren't able to control the crowds.And, if they were at capacity at 6:00am, why did they open the gates hours later for the paying public?
Dude, you need to worry more about getting your facts straight as less about looking for an opportunity to make SF the bad guy.
Here's the actual quote:
"As a precaution, officials opened the park in sections between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., Poore said.
The first section -- an area stretching from the Georgia Scorcher to the Shake, Rattle & Roll indoor ride -- reached capacity within 15 minutes of opening. By then, there were about 15,000 people inside the park..."
There's no scam or conspiracy. The area initially used for the free promotion reached capacity in 15 minutes.
Well, I don't know why we're blaming SF in the first place. I was under the assumption that this was a Q100 promotion that just happened to be at SFOG. Not a Six Flags promotion.
Am I mistaken?
Actually yes. This idea was not conjured up by the radio station, but Six Flags. From the news story:
The amusement park staged the free admission promotion as a season kickoff.
There is no one to blame BUT Six Flags.
Who is to know more about park capacity and crowds better, the radio station or Six Flags? Please. This is just another example of Six Flags management ending up looking like complete idiots. Not to mention all the people close by who they absolutely infuriated. The people will blame SFOG, and they should. It's their park, and therefore their responsibility to handle something like this. Like it says above, the park was attempting to promote itself through this gimmick, using the radio station as a medium to attract kids and their parents.
The only mentions of such promotion come from Q100.
Why would SF hold a free entry promotion but not advertise it anywhere but one radio station?
Still doesn't quite add up to me.
My guess is Q100 went to SF with the idea, not the other way around.
There is a link to an Atlanta-based news article above where I got that quote.
But think, what better way to promote the opening of your park than to stage a "free" admission stunt aimed at Spring-breakers. And what better medium to use than the station the teeny-boppers all listen to?
It says:
The amusement park staged the free admission promotion as a season kickoff.
But regardless Gonchar, how could the radio station be held accountable, as if the park didn't know what was coming? My point is, didn't they work together on this (regardless of who "started" is, which I would bet was the park)? If they only advertized it on the station, then it had to be some sort of agreement. You get the on-air listeners, we get all the marketing, and so on.
It sounds like you are expecting the radio station to know the ins and outs of park management: crowd size, parking, traffic.
That's the job of the park, not the station. *** Edited 4/5/2007 10:31:35 PM UTC by OhioStater***
Let me point a few things out:
"Q100 morning host Bert Weiss is always trying to come up with ways to boost the radio station's image and build goodwill."
"He conjured up a simple promotion he did many years ago at a Washington D.C. radio station: set up a free day at a local amusement park. That one went smoothly, he recalled."
"This one with Six Flags Over Georgia, he acknowledged, did not. "I think it became a viral thing," he said. "Based on the e-mails we were getting, it seemed to be a mixture of our Bert Show listeners and people who had never heard of us just getting e-mails about it and wondering if it was true."
"He felt the station did a good job warning people to come early or be locked out. Days before, DJs on air suggested people try to get there by 7 a.m. He said talk with Six Flags officials gave him the impression the consensus was the park would fill up by 8:30 a.m., not 6 a.m."
"It was just impossible to predict that many people would show up that early," he said.
So the blame should rest with the station and Six Flags not Six Flags alone! In the end, IMHO, it was a radio station ratings promotion that went awry and no one had any idea that it was going to be this big.
I don't recall how Six Flags America did it a few years ago, but then again, he didn't have blogs and websites that promote things like discount promotions to Six Flags.
In the end, a lessons learned will be conducted. Any future promotions like this will be one where you go to Six Flags website, key in a promotion code and the first xxxxxx people that can print a ticket will get in and everyone will be prepared, police, fire, ems, the park and perhaps Bert will get their earlier.
*** Edited 4/5/2007 10:41:31 PM UTC by coasterguts***
A day at the park is what you make it!
"...talk with Six Flags officials gave him the impression the consensus was the park would fill up by 8:30 am, not 6 am"
Well there you go. You can't tell me someone actually was shocked that so many people would come? Free admission to your local huge theme park, which you have specifically timed for EVERYONE's spring break, and you just expect a ho-hum la-dee-da morning? That's exactly the stupidity I was referring to.
He also mentions, "There's a learning curve" to these sort of things. Yes, and at Six Flags you really have the bar set high.
I would agree that the blame goes to both.
What kind of response do you think SF will have? Dicounts? Free admissions? Is there anything they really can do? *** Edited 4/5/2007 10:44:39 PM UTC by OhioStater***
If a kid always cheats on tests, the day he does well and didnt cheat on a test he will probably get accused of cheating.
This is what I am trying to say:
A. Six Flags reputation is in the gutter.
B. New management arrives with promises of glitter and gold.
C. This means they need to be very careful about what moves they make in their parks, etc.
D. This was botched. From both ends.
E. In the end, Six Flags' reputation just got worse. You have to see this from a consumer's point of view. I was promised free stuff by this park, and they just left my kid stranded in the parking lot on a cold day.
OhioStater said:
There is a link to an Atlanta-based news article above where I got that quote.
Yeah, I know.
I think the first mistake is thinking the press got the details correct.
Still not sure how Q100 running a free promotion makes SF to blame when the crowds got huge. If crowd control was needed wouldn't that be the responsibility of the people in charge of the promotion.
Still sounds like SFOG is merely a victim of circumstance. They agreed to let Q100 use the park for their 'free entry' promotion - which makes perfect sense. Q100 didn't do their homework or take the necessary percautions to prevent this from happening and SFOG gets the blame.
I was promised free stuff by this park, and they just left my kid stranded in the parking lot on a cold day.
But they weren't promised anything free by the park. They were promised freebies by Q100. Q100 advertised that everyone getting to the park by 9am got in free. SF (as far as I can tell) never advertised such promises. That's the point here.
*** Edited 4/5/2007 11:01:10 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***
I would argue that the park was indeed advertising free admission...through the station.
The park is the object of desire, and joe consumer hears it on the radio, and thinks, "awesome...all i have to do is show up and Six Flags is going to let me in!"
Not, "awesome, all I have to do is show up early and the guys from the radio station are going to buy me tickets into the park."
Everything about this reeks of Q100 handling their promotion incorrectly.
SF just stood their and got hit by the proverbial truck and were expected to compensate for Q100's mishandling.
It was a missed chance to come out a hero, but it also wasn't their fault in the first place.
I would argue that the park was indeed advertising free admission...through the station.
Yeah, but you'd be wrong. ;)
I'm still willing to admit it if I'm mistaken, but there are absolutely no signs that this was SF's promotion and they used Q100 to promote it. I think it's pretty clear it was Q100's promotion.
I see what you're saying. I think park-enthusiast in me is slightly bummed, as it actually would be great to see Six Flags get "better", and this was just a step backwards. That said, if you don't live in the area and don't frequent sites like this, you'll never be the wiser. I would assume this will have some interesting local consequences...at least in the very short-term.
What type of response do you think Six Flags will have? (note I didnt say "should" have).
:)
come on.. do you wanna be 'right' or do you wanna be 'happy'? uh.. wait a minute, if we all did that, this forum wouldn't exist!
too bad what happened. bad especially for all the kids that didn't get in.
A day at the park is what you make it!
Essentially, I have one setup for Six Flags, Cedar Fair, etc.... when google finds information that matches my google alert, I get an e-mail message alerting me to the information.
A day at the park is what you make it!
But, the point still stands that it is Six Flags' park, not Q100's. If you let people have a huge party at your house, would you just stand idle and let them do whatever they want? Or, would you institute some type of rules, number of people permitted, liability clauses, backup plan, etc... I'd also be willing to bet you would stick around to help coordinate the party. You definitely would be responsible for any kind of disturbance in the neighborhood because its YOUR house. Plus, I'm guessing you'd want to do whatever possible to protect your house, its contents, and your reputation in the neighborhood.
That's what didn't happen here. Sure, Q100 deserves some of the blame. But, it is Six Flags' park. They deal with huge amounts of people on a daily basis. Traffic control, unruly guests, overextending the capacity of the park, etc... Its THEIR job on a daily basis. The radio station's job is to gain listeners by offering over the top promotions. So, by agreeing to host this promotion for the radio station, they also took on the responsibility for the operation and control of the event.
If in one of their meetings no one ever said "what happens if thousands and thousands of people show up?", they need to hire better event coordinators. If they did ask that question, they obviously didn't follow through with an answer. If only for the simple reason of any fiasco makes the PARK look bad, Six Flags should've done a better job. If it were my company and my image was at stake, I'd do whatever I could to control situations like that.
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