When is SFGAdv going to open the drop ride and Kingda Ka?

Lord Gonchar said:
You mean like this:

https://www.sixflags.com/greatadventure/attractions/kingda-ka

I trust you are not claiming that the way to improve customer satisfaction (and, in the long run, attendance) is to make people click 53 different links to see which ones the park plans to have available to paying customers?

Remember, this is not down due to weather or mechanical or staffing problems. It is down due to a decision by the park.

Heh. So you'd put information about Kingda Ka on a different page than the Kingda Ka page?

It's 4 clicks deep.

sixflags.com > Great Adventure > Rides > Thrill Rides > Kingda Ka

I suppose an argument could be made for having an area that is specifically updated with ride closures, but in lieu of that, I don't see the issue with mentioning the status of Kingda Ka on the Kingda Ka information page.

It's easily accessible to anyone who would care.

Gonch, you are assuming that someone is going to the park to ride ONLY Ka. Otherwise, you have to check ALL 53 links to see which ones are open

I guess. But wasn't the argument that by not telling people that Ka was closed, that they were somehow ripping people off? The fact is they did have the information readily available for anyone wanting it.

I dunno. How do you find out what rides are closed on other park's websites?

Or, God forbid, how did people survive before park websites? How did we manage to have any fun at the parks without knowing exactly which rides would be operating and when?

Sarcasm aside, when did this really become such a nitpicky issue? Seriously, you're suggesting someone visiting the park is going to be so anal that they need to know the status of all 53 rides. I mean, I know my day isn't going to be ruined if I show up and Bugs Bunny Barnstormer is down for the day.

I suppose that if you're that guy, then yes, Six Flags expects you to click 53 links. Welcome to martyrdom.

No Gonch, next thing that needs to happen is to sign up to receive up to date automated texts and phone calls informing you what rides are going to operate and which ones wont.

Lord Gonchar said:

Or, God forbid, how did people survive before park websites? How did we manage to have any fun at the parks without knowing exactly which rides would be operating and when?

Probably the same way parks survived without Fast Pass/Flash Lane/whatever, premium parking, etc :)

Sarcasm aside, when did this really become such a nitpicky issue? Seriously, you're suggesting someone visiting the park is going to be so anal that they need to know the status of all 53 rides. I mean, I know my day isn't going to be ruined if I show up and Bugs Bunny Barnstormer is down for the day.

Your day may not be, but a toddler's might. Conversely, said toddler is unlikely to complain about Ka, Toro or any "thrill" ride being down.

Assume two 40 year old parents, 15 year old son, 13 year old daughter, 8 year old daughter, 3 year old. Feel free to add in 60+ year old grandparents.

Again, not talking about unexpected closings, but planned closings are another matter.

The only reason I care about whether Ka is open is that it helps make the line shorter for Toro....

Captain Hawkeye said:

Assume two 40 year old parents, 15 year old son, 13 year old daughter, 8 year old daughter, 3 year old. Feel free to add in 60+ year old grandparents.

Cool. So each person only has to check 9 links to assure their visit isn't ruined.

And I'm still curious as to how other parks handle this, because to the best of my knowledge, none offer a simple front page list of rides that will be closed for the day.

Like most things they catch crap for, I don't think this is a Six Flags specific issue.

Again, not talking about unexpected closings, but planned closings are another matter.

Yeah. You keep saying that although I'm not sure the 'why' matters. If a ride is closed, it's closed. The website out front should have told you.

Just tear down Kingda Ka and build a Starbucks.

A planned closing is something the park knows will happen and can plan for. Posting this (or as Chitown astutely notes, sending out "automated texts and phone calls ") is simply a part of the process. No different than posting "closed" signs or butting up barriers. Unplanned requires more, although not exactly significant, effort.

BTW, Chi is right--having a signup service to receive notices about closings (either daily or on a specific day) is simply 21st Century. Airlines send out notices for flights cancelled by hurricanes or blizzards. If you buy baseball tickets online, they send out notice as soon as they know a game will be rescheduled. And it goes up on their web site.

If you're concerned as to whether a ride is open or closed....pick up your phone and call the park. Why should a park have to invest time and money in creating a notification system catering to the sliver of its annual attendance that coaster enthusiasts represent?

When someone buys baseball tickets online, they're going to see a baseball game: it's the very reason for their purchase. When someone buys tickets to an amusement park, for most people, roller coasters are just one of a number of reasons they're buying tickets. Kingda Ka being down just does not matter to many people.

Same reason they put up "CLOSED" signs & barricades.

Oh, yeah. Hiring operators daily costs the park more than putting a "CLOSED" notice online or by text message

^^^You're right. It IS kind of a good idea.

But, still, this is not a Six Flags-specific issue.

The ride was closed by choice of the park and it is noted on their website.

At first the issue was that there was no notice. Then it became an issue of the notice not being enough. Then it turned into blaming the park for not doing things that no parks do.

Seriously, what exactly IS the problem at this point?

I'm not the biggest fan of Kingda Ka, I'll ride it if it's not busy. But waiting in-line for an hour or two just for a 30 second ride is not my cup of tea.

My day wasn't ruined because Kingda Ka was down, but I can't just take a drive to SFGAdv whenever I have a day off. I knew in advance that the new drop ride would keep Kingda Ka from running until it was opened. I had to plan my visit months in advance to coincide with my vacation to Wildwood. I think it was very reasonable for me to think it would be open by June. How long should it take? I'd say a professional theme park would have a new ride open by at least Memorial Day.

As for letting visitors know on their website, I watched the internet closely while I was on vacation to see if the new ride and Kingda Ka were going to be open while I was there. I checked the normal coaster enthusist websites like this one, Screamscape, Newsplusnotes, ect. I bought my ticket online weeks before, so I was going, Kingda ka or no Kingda ka. I even tried to call the park the day before I went just because I was curious, but they did not answer.

If Kingda Ka was broken on my visit, it would have been much easier to accept than the fact that they just didn't plan on opening it that day.

I thought that Six Flags was supposed to have changed. It was not a good value for the amount of money I spent there.

To be fair, I did enjoy most of the other rides. El Torro was also on my "must ride" list, and I got to that one even though I had a scare when it was closed that morning. Most of the employes were friendly. A few were not.

I also blame Intamin. Stupid, stupid Intamin.

LostKause said:

I also blame Intamin. Stupid, stupid Intamin.

This should be the website slogan.

Once upon a time, Cedar Point had a "Today in the Park" page that listed show times, any special events, and known ride closures. I'll link to it in the Internet Archive because that page went away when Charlotte took over the web development.

(Edit: The forum doesn't like the address, so just go to http://archive.org and put this link into the Wayback Machine: http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/visit/today/index.cfm)

(Another Edit: A version of that page still exists when you click on Plan A Visit from the main site, but it doesn't list ride availability anymore, as far as I can tell.)

For what it's worth, thanks to the magic of CoasterBuzz, my friends and I canceled a trip to Indiana Beach after HoliWood Nights a few years ago because both Cornball Express and LoCoSuMo were closed (not that anyone but me had any real interest in the latter -- I just wanted the credit because it was closed on my first visit too). Trying to call the park and ask if Cornball was still closed was a bit of an obstacle.

Surely Indiana Beach has other things going for it, but it's not exactly on the way home from Holiday World, so we were going out of our way; with a top-10 wood coaster closed and still not being able to get an elusive credit, I had no problem saving my IB visit for another year. If we hadn't known about the closure in advance, I'm sure we'd have been disappointed upon arrival but probably would've just replaced it with more rides on Hoosier and Hawg. And the flyers. And funnel cake.

Captain Hawkeye said:

Airlines send out notices for flights cancelled by hurricanes or blizzards. If you buy baseball tickets online, they send out notice as soon as they know a game will be rescheduled. And it goes up on their web site.

...and I'm sure it'd be up on the front page of the website if the entire park was closed, which is the equivalent of what you're saying.

What we're talking about here is the equivalent of going to a Pirates game and McCutchen is out of the lineup for a planned day of rest. That won't be on the website, you're not getting a discount. Even if you flew in for one game and he's your favorite player.

Exactly. We're here on Coasterbuzz because we love coasters, so it's all too easy to look at park decisions with our enthusiast sunglasses on. It's so easy to forget we're a very small percentage of any park's annual attendance.

I was chatting with a woman today who won't ride roller coasters -- she said she gets motion sickness in a slow-moving automobile, so forget about coasters -- but loves to go to amusement parks with her family.

The issue is with the State of NJ who oversees amusement rides and devices (in NJ). Whenever a park modifies a ride in NJ, the State requires, and has to approve a complete engineering review of the modification (manufacturer or park initiated). Like many governmental agencies, you are at their mercy and once you submit your documentation, it can take weeks or months or even longer for final approval, and that doesn’t factor in any changes the State comes back to you and requires you to make. Than the process starts from the beginning.

There are some ride manufactures who simply won’t sell rides to NJ parks because the bureaucracy is so daunting and often times expensive. I am actually for oversight at the State level, this is just one of the drawbacks.

The ride(s) could likely be down all season.