Theme parks don't have to be dirty!

See my trip report to Hershey.  We attended the park on 2 very busy days, and somehow they managed to still keep the park very clean! 

 

A.  Trash cans everywhere, which they emptied throughout the day.  You have to be lazy not to use one there as they are always in proximity.

B.  In general, a better class of customer.  They seem to respect the rules and cleanliness of the park.  Also keeping the park clean keeps people motivated not to litter.

C.  The only item we saw being sold in line queues was at the pop machines.  Food and drink sales in the line queues, what do you know, the litter ends up on the ground!

 

Paramount, Six Flags could really learn something from Hershey.

Cedar point is the same way, for such huge walkways they keep the park spotless.

---

super7 said:

Keeping the park clean keeps people motivated not to litter.
Paramount, Six Flags could really learn something from Hershey.

---

If we say it often enough, they STILL don't seem to hear us.  Regardless, thanks for this thread, needed to be said, some need to be led, or hit in the head, their parks will be dirty 'til we're all dead!  BGW, HW, Hershey are all way ahead. 
SF thinks trash cans are to be emptied ONCE a day, no more, for ANY reason.  A clean park with nice theming and landscaping TENDS to stay that way - people aren't perfect, but it makes people think before dropping their trash on the ground.  SF at night, WOW,  makes you think the city dump exploded in their park.  If the trash cans are ALL overflowing, where ARE you supposed to put your litter?
-----------------
rollergator - intent on improving the "guest experience" - coming soon to a park near you

*** This post was edited by gatorwoodie on 8/27/2001. ***

I agree, I have been to a few parks were if I wasn't there on a mission I would have left. Then again I have been to parks where I could spend all day because of how neat and how clean the park was. At Silver Dollar City, there are people who do nothing but pick up cigarette butts, thats it! They have people who scrap gum off the roads. Very cool, I wish Six Flags would take a lesson from them and Disney (found their parks to be pretty clean as well)
-----------------

It is not even a question of themeing but rather basic landscaping.

Talon at Dorney park, while being new this year, has bushes and mulch landscaped around it and it looks very nice. S:ROS at SFA still looks like it was just plopped down in the middle of a field (which is what it was actually) and looks kind of dumpy.

And it doesn't even have to be at night when you see the garbage piling up. The queue line for Two Face at SFA this past friday was filthy and littered at 11:45 am... the lone garbage can in Mind Eraser's station was over flowing at 3:00pm. The park itself was pretty dirty when we arrived at 11:30am... only an hour after opening.

I will go back to SFA, but only because I have yet to ride S:ROS (it was down all day when I was there... nothing out of the ordinary from what I understand). However, if it were not for that fact, I would not be in any hurry to return to this park mainly because of the state of filth that existed there.

-------------
"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 8/27/2001. ***

I have to object to the comment about a "better class of people". That sounds very racist and classist. When we visited HP in July, we noticed our friend Paul was one of about 5 African American people, and it was fairly crowded. Are you saying that only lily-white yuppies can have a clean park?

-------------
Batwing-Bow Down

Most people don't like messy. Maybe I have a chemical imbalance in my brain, but I am a complete slob. I always have more trash in my house than they have at the sloppiest park in the country and I don't really care, but that is just me.
-----------------
www.geocities.com/urbanaindiana
Your Guide to Indiana beach

I just remembered when leaving Day 2 of my first (not last) SRM this year, I see Will Koch stooping down to pick up a cigarette butt.  I dare anyone to say they've seen the Chairman or CEO of SF (or ANY other chain) do that.  Cleanliness, friendliness, etc. ARE good business.  BGW and Hershey are also cleaner and when you add in great rides, it's a place you don't hesitate to recommend to someone.  I hope someone from the chains READS that last part, it DOES affect the "bottom line".
-----------------
rollergator - intent on improving the "guest experience" - coming soon to a park near you

yeah, i am surprised with some parks. Especially, BGW, holy crap, that park is huge with big paths. And I only managed to find 5 cents in pennies. Compared to the 20cents found overall at PKD. So you can tell how clean some of these parks are.

-------------
NEW - 35 Michigan's Adventure Photos at G-Screams
http://gscreams.cjb.net

Park cleanliness depends more on the employees than the guest.When the gp is at a park they are totally uncivilized .This happens at every park in the us.How ever if you have a strong sanitation crew and a desire to keep your park clean you can.Herhsey get all kinds of guest,including minorities.Do not tell me they dont,I go to hp at least 5 times a season,plus hp in the dark,and christmas candy lane,I am one of those minorities.Hershey park has very high standards,guest of every type litter you canot  break them into catagorys.When i worked at dp for 3 years i seen this,But if u have an ecology crew that cleans up after the guest your park is clean,sf parks they lack that,your lucky if u can even find a sweeper or sweeperette walking the midways,if u do manage to find one they are dragging there butlers around not cleaning anything.Basically the clealiness of a park comes down to the standards that park has.Basically,when i was a sup of my rides and we had no lines,if i tell my employees to clean,the outcome is we would have a clean area,if every sup in the park does this,u have a clean park,but on the other hand,if u dont do this,You can imagine the out come.I dont think sf parks set there standards for cleanliness too high,well at least sfgadv  does not,but it has some good rides.But this all starts in upper mgmt,and filters down to the rest of the employees in the park,But for those guest that do litter,use the trash can there is one just about every 5 ft and just about every park

The "better class of customer" does not refer to anyone because of race, ethnic background etc.  Yes is is a classist remark.  To me, what class of people you are in is dictated by how you act, not by what you have or where you come from.  Rude, inconsiderate people who smoke in line directly in front of a no smoking sign with total disregard to others or the rules, and people who choose to throw their garbage down on the ground instead of walking their lazy behinds to the nearest garbage can, etc. are CLASSLESS.  I have found this type of person in line in front of me on SOB (for some reason) almost every one of my 10 plus short trips to Kings Island this year........

---

Intamin Fan said:
I have to object to the comment about a "better class of people". That sounds very racist and classist. When we visited HP in July, we noticed our friend Paul was one of about 5 African American people, and it was fairly crowded. Are you saying that only lily-white yuppies can have a clean park?

Dude, don't look into things anymore than what was said. I understand clearly with what Super7 is saying. A better class of people are the ones that respect the rules and are considerate of all the other patrons in the park. I myself agree with him I feel that CP has a better class of patrons compared with the likes of SFWoA. Of course the patrons can only be as clean as the park enforces. That's all he was saying. Nothing to do with race.

---

Class 2. a group of people considered as a unit according to economic, occupational, or social status

I would have used the phrase "better behaved group of people" rather than "better class of people". Let's not insult people based on their backgrounds, upbringing, or economic status.

*** This post was edited by Intamin Fan on 8/28/2001. ***

I agree Super 7.  Hershey Park does have a different class of people.  They are located in PA farm country, and really don't target the cities as much as say, Great Adventure.  GAdv has a huge amount of customers from NYC and Philly, and I will say that Philly people are better than those from NYC.  They come in and have no respect for the park and litter be on control.  If you've noticed, it seems a lot like the city.  No one is trying to be racist or anything like that when they say this, it is just what happens.  I always joke around saying that Batman TR at GAdv is the best themed coaster in the park because the themeing only gets better with the litter, vandalism and defacing that goes on in the park.  The theming for Batman TR is a city scene.
-----------------
http://greatadventure.0catch.com
1)Batwing 2)S:RoS-SFNE 3)Nitro 4)Medusa-SFGAdv 5)Steel Force

it think six flags great america needs to work on cleaning up. in all the water ridess there are hundreds of school ID's and trash thrown in and it isnt cleaned out until the end of the year.

-------------
1)Raging Bull 2)V2 3)Alpengeist
R.I.P. Aaliyah :(

Would you guys stop generalizing please? Better class? Give me a break. "Class" is a state of mind, not how much you have in your wallet or what area your from. I have seen well to do,  supposed "proper" people become a wrecking crew when they get into a park. People make a conscious decision to be dirty and wasteful, nothing more.
-----------------
And then Jerry said, "Take care of yourselves, and each other".

*** This post was edited by DWeaver on 8/28/2001. ***

Thank you all for the lesson in grammar.  God, even after i explained what i meant, some of you are still being stupid and technical about the word class.  My guess is that you fall in this group of people who do not know how to behave, or you would not be nit-picking grammar.  What i really meant to say is that the people at Hershey don't act like trash like people at other parks that i have been to this year.   IS THAT LOUD AND CLEAR?

How does the park factor in to the "class" of guests? That's not something they can control. If you put an amusement park right in the middle of New York, you're gonna attract New Yorkers.

---

goonsta said:
"How does the park factor in to the "class" of guests? That's not something they can control. If you put an amusement park right in the middle of New York, you're gonna attract New Yorkers."

---

Location and "class" of guests has nothing to do with the fact that during a recent visit to a Six Flags park I saw not one "sweep" picking up trash or any crews emptying garbage cans (which themselves were few and far between).

No matter how messy guests may make a park, the park should still police itself to try and keep things as neat and tidy as possible.

-------------
"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

I agree about trash pick up, but the way its being presented in this thread is that the park controls the way people act. I see the same kind of reasoning here as those who lower their opinion of a park because it has metal detectors