Wonder why SF's got complaints?

I never heard of the rule "No gum on this ride" before...

It got headlines a couple of years ago when a kid had a heart attack and died on Raging Bull. The initial theory was that she'd choked on a bit of hard candy or gum, though months after the incident that theory was disproven.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I see...

I agree with RubberDucky that people will always litter, and if SF has so many trash cans, then maybe it's just they don't hire enough sweepers, or the ones they have don't do their jobs.

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razore86 said:
I never heard of the rule "No gum on this ride" before...

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I can not speak for all SF parks, but I know that at SFEG, right after that incident on Raging Bull, "No candy or gum allowed on this ride" were added to all the signs, and have not been taken down. Either way, I think it is definitly a good rule.

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RubberDucky said:
I myself work at a SF park, and let me tell you, no matter how many trash cans you put out, there will always be litter.

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Nonsense. I very rarely see it at Cedar Point. I'm sure that has everything to do with the fact that sweeps are every where, garbage cans literally every ten feet, and when the CEO of the company can be seen picking up trash, you sure as hell better follow his lead.

Then there's Disney, where the trash disappears via fairy dust or something.

LOL! You got me Putz, you really did....ice water is now being towelled off the monitor.

(And for you sick minded people...leave all nasty comments aside concerning the ice water, ok!?)

In the PBS video "Sweet Memories" which is about the old days of Hersheypark, they said that Mr. Hershey would go around picking up litter--all except for Hershey bar wrappers which were left sitting with the logo face up. That was a smart man.

I remember in the Cedar Point video from years ago that was on Discovery/TLC (don't remember which), they were talking to a girl who had decided to move to park clean up, instead of ride operations. She had a pretty small area to patrol if I remember correctly, and she seemed to enjoy her job. I think that's the key to keeping a park clean. Keep someone in a smaller area instead of having someone coming through every few hours (I believe I've seen this concept in Roller Coaster Tycoon). And, if you know you've got an area that will naturally get dirty, such as a restaurant or food stand with tables, there should be someone assigned to that area all the time. *** Edited 4/7/2005 2:49:43 AM UTC by Intamin Fan***

I remember my visit to holiday world, it was kind of creepy how the asphalt literally shined. I didn't know it could do that...

Not that it was a bad creepy.

-- alan jacyszyn

Wanna know what the real problem is at Six Flags parks..or SFOT anyways? Alright, here it goes.

Park Services (which generally, from what i have seen at most of the parks, does a decent job of keeping the streets swept) does not do the ride queues at all. The Queues are up to the Ride Operators. Now, heres the problem. We are kept at minimum (or next to minimum) staffing most of the time due to break running, bathroom breaks, Vomit Cleanup, Other Cleanup (You probably don't want to know. If it can come from the body, I've cleaned it up).

So the problem is such:

When faced with shutting down a ride or cleaning up the queue, the choice is obvious. The other day in our leadership meeting, I brought up the fact that it is big on guest perception to have clean queues (obviously) and asked for:

1) More Trashcans
2) Another person on my schedule so I can have a cleaner.

I am also going to go to management this weekend and point out that 4 out of our 9 guest complaints for rides for the month of March are due to Height Checking. I'm going to ask for the implementation of a height checker at the entrance to Batman, Mr. Freeze, Superman, and Titan. I think they'll realize the advantages and other rides will follow.

I guess my point is...We really are trying, whether anyone sees it or not. I'll step down off of my soapbox now.

Xander-

I hope they have you guys go though some type of biohazard training to deal with that stuff. If not they certainly should.

As far as height checking...Does SF offer wristbands like some places do where you get your height checked once and then get the appropriate wristband for your height?

Xander....SFoT was*infinitely better* than the majority of SF parks out there. The fact that you could, and would, bring up the cleanliness issue in a *leadership meeting*, speaks VOLUMES about the way SFoT is run...trust me, you are AT the right park in the chain for you....

Man I need to move to TX...:)

edit: As far as height checking, for now Hershey sets the standard IMO. But if park GMs "really read" the stuff here (I know they read, Jeff, but I mean REALLY read, LOL), then the whole height-check issue woulda been cleared up about 3-4 years ago...;)
*** Edited 4/7/2005 2:33:14 PM UTC by rollergator***

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Xander said:
Park Services (which generally, from what i have seen at most of the parks, does a decent job of keeping the streets swept) does not do the ride queues at all. The Queues are up to the Ride Operators. Now, heres the problem. We are kept at minimum (or next to minimum) staffing most of the time due to break running, bathroom breaks, Vomit Cleanup, Other Cleanup (You probably don't want to know. If it can come from the body, I've cleaned it up).

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The same issue exists at CP, where quite admittedly, ride queues do end up looking like crap toward the end of a busy day. The midways are usually kept pretty spotless, but ride locations do not have the staffing anymore to keep on top of the queues like they probably should. While we do try to get ride hosts out there to clean as much as possible, the fact remains that when you're talking about one person, it takes a while to do the queues and the area around the queues where people throw stuff. We weren't able to clean as much as we probably would have liked without getting behind on breaks and going over budget.

It's just up to the leads to do the best they can with the situation they've been given. Two of the things we tried to do last year were as follows: First, keep the line moving as much as possible so people are walking by those garbage cans at regular intervals. Hit your intervals, fill all of your seats, etc. I tried to teach people to do turnstiles so that when a train went out, approximately 36 more people were let in. I got mad when people would let the platform get completely empty and then fill it up to capacity. I know I don't want to be standing in one spot for that long! :) The second thing was to get the crew to take ownership of the ride. Make it theirs and get them to take pride in its appearance and everything that happens there. True, some people just don't care, but if you can get everyone to pick up the trash along side the queues, rather than just ignore it as they are going to break, it makes a big difference and the guests see that you care.

Xander, I wish you luck with getting an entrance person at those rides. I think increased staffing on major attractions is the single biggest step SF should be taking in their new "customer service" approach. Any ride that has a wait of more than 5 minutes really should have a height checker out front so people don't wait in line only to be told they can't ride. If you think it's problems at entrance when they find this out, wait until they've waited an hour in line!
*** Edited 4/7/2005 4:24:29 PM UTC by MDOmnis***

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RubberDucky said:
no matter how many trash cans you put out, there will always be litter.

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Jeff said:Nonsense. I very rarely see it at Cedar Point.

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So if you rarely see it, then you have seen it which means there is litter. His point was that while some parks are very clean, it's inevitable that people will litter. Where is the nonsense in that statement?? Or were you "disputing" something else?!

I have only been to CP once, and one of the memories of my visit is a certain piece of "litter" which was so disgusting that I won't mention what it was. I don't mention this to say that CP is a disgusting place, but rather to point out that litter happens. CP was rather clean on my visit, but it was far from being litter free.

NOTE: I don't normally mention that part of my visit to CP when talking about CP since I know it was an aberration..but it was appropriate for this discussion.

OK, let me rephrase then, you don't see what was pointed out in the photos. Sure, you could come up with exceptions, and I could too, but making excuses for the deplorable condition of some of the parks is LAME.

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RavenTTD said:
That is what makes the Batman: The Rides work so well...all the trash in the line becomes part of the theming. ;)

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You sir, should be rewarded for that comment. lol *** Edited 4/7/2005 11:30:31 PM UTC by SnakeEyes***

I am not making an excuse, I am simply stating my belief that there will always be some trash, no matter how hard CF or SF does try.

Xander-I couldn't have said it better myself. I only wish that managment and the other's lucky enough to be off a ride had the time to go clean queue lines. Unfortunatly, bigger priorities do come up that we must address. And I totally agree with you that SF is trying.

What makes me mad is when a pile of garbage is on the ground 2 feet away from a garbage can. Some people are so damn lazy.

Another thing that gets me mad is people that eat and then leave the tray and garbage on the table when there is a garbage can next to the table.

I wonder if the same people do that at home?