X2 is closed because the music isn't working??

sirloindude said

Sirloindude, who says that aside from the occasional shortcomings , Six Flags parks can actually be pretty fun places to go.

Yes i will admit that six flags (when in its prime) was a great place to go.
It just seems to me that every time i go to a Six Flags Park they treat there guest like a fly.

I have only been to 1 Six Flags park SFA and was pleasantly surprised with the park. I had read so much negative about the place that I went in with low expectations. That being said the park was clean, the shows were excellent and the rides were great.

We will be heading to SFKK on Sunday, then to SFGA on the following Sunday.

ridemcoaster said:
ok.. that one got a prolonged chuckle outta me.

Uh. That's what she said?

I think that this is a good example of why ride ops give canned responses when asked why a ride is down. They are trained to give a generic answer for whatever the reason (mechanical, weather, guest illness), and not give an exact time frame of when the ride is expected to go back up. The less the guest knows, the better, because imaginations can run wild, and rumors can be spread as fact.

I too have only been to one SF park (Geuga Lanke doesn't count because it was CF-owned at the time) and that was SFNE. The only gripes I had (besides the prices for lunch and parking) was the condition and the S-L-O-W ops on Thunderbolt.

I just find that their customer service is really crappy I mean when you have a question about where a ride or a Bathroom is they give me a look like "hey stupid look at your park map" or they straight out tell me to check the map! I find it to be like that at most Six Flags parks. I can understand that they get aggravated about answering the same questions over and over, but its there job!

I have been to many parks in different chains including the smaller independent parks. I have found that the little independent parks seem to be a lot nicer and more guest friendly. All though Cedar Fairs customer service is really well with the exception for all the food service.

I just have never had a really good experince at a Six Flags park as to coustomer service, ride operations, and food. Its always sub par or worse.

Trying to cleverly beat the naughty word filter is a solid way to get booted from here permanently. Don't do it.

sorry Jeff i fixed it personally!

Did any of these people who got seats where the speakers weren't working go to their local TV station's consumer reporter and complain?

I got in trouble here once for putting a naughty word in my sig. Seriously, I didn't even remember doing it..

Six Flags sucks...blablabla. According to several CBers, their coustomer service isn't as bad as it used to be.

Maybe they have changed their ways. I have not been to a Six Flags park in a year or so because of my bad experiences....

If this is going to turn into a general Bash the Flags thread, I'll throw in my two cents.

The only SF park I've visited/will visit this year was SFKK. Just a short, four hour tour on a day trip away from Kings Island a couple weeks ago. It wasn't really long enough to post a trip report, and I didn't even get on Chang or T2 (ridden them both two years ago and was unimpressed). The main reason we went was to see if Ava would ride Greezed Lightnin' for her first looper (she backed out).

The 'in use' portion of the park was clean -- although seeing the area around and including the Twins and the flume in such terrible shape definitely hurt. - 5 points.

The staff was on the whole very cheerful and ready to help. + 10 points

All non-SBNO rides were running. +10 points.

The real kicker was that not only were all coasters running one train only (despite a healthy crowd), but the ride ops were so sluggish they gave a bad name to the word 'mosey'. We waited 45 minutes for Thunder Run in one-train operation. I timed a number of ride intervals for TR (out the station to out the station again); the average was seven minutes. -25 points.

Incidentally, Thunder Run has gone noticeably downhill in the two years since I rode it last. Definite jackhammering; some of the laterals the train felt like it was going to tear itself apart. On the other hand, Greezed Lightnin' was as fun as ever.

It will be interesting to read Moosh's trip report from MM.

Wow, Smith. It sounds like nothing has changed.

In order to feel like I am getting a good value at a park, I need to know that the staff is doing everything that they can when it comes to moving the lines as fast as possible. if they already have your admission money, what incentive do they have in the short term to provide fast moving lines? I believe this is one huge reason why they failed the first time around.

Long term, it's a great idea for them to move the lines, because it will creat repeat visits.

I bet if they charged for each ride given (ticket system, for example), they would run more than one train, and they would have a lot more ride ops checking restraints, because of the money. The more riders, the more money.

This is one of the major drawbacks to pay-one-price schemes. The park's only incentive to proividing fast service is return customers.

Even if they have changed their ways, I still don't feel comfortable putting my time and money on the line to find out. Especially KK, which is the closest SF park to me now. 'Never been there either. I've already rode a Thunder Run clone at Carowinds, a Hang 'n' Bang at many other parks, many different mouse coasters, and Mantis. What could the park offer me that is unique?

Plus, I'm still not convinced that the park is any safer than it was after the Superman tower incident.

I haven't been to a SF park since the year Kinda Ka opened at SFGAdv, which was broke down, by the way.

Raven-Phile said:

ridemcoaster said:
ok.. that one got a prolonged chuckle outta me.

Uh. That's what she said?

You must pay for that ;)

--- but good one..

After years of experiencing poor service at SF Im gun shy about going back too. I currently live somewhere (Ohio) that I dont have to "deal" with SF to get my coaster fix, and Im not about to seek them out. However, if/when I break my streak of skipping SF parks its going to be at a place that I actually enjoyed due to good service: SFoG, SFoT, SFFT. I haven't been to SFGAdv or SFMM, and Im in no rush to go to either place (although El Toro is making a trip to SFGAdv more palitable but its still too far away for a day trip and Im not going to blow a hotel room on a visit there when Hershey, Kennywood, BGW, KD, Dollywood, and Holiday World are all options for an extended stay.)

Ensign Smith said

Thereal kicker was that not only were all coasters running one train only(despite a healthy crowd), but the ride ops were so sluggish they gavea bad name to the word 'mosey'. We waited 45 minutes forThunder Run in one-train operation. I timed a number of ride intervalsfor TR (out the station to out the station again); the average was seven minutes. -25 points.

That is a great example of ride ops doing a really really BAD job!

Here is a great example of ride ops doing their best to get a line moving.

I visited Kings Island July 13th, 14th, and 15th, and all four days the park was pretty crowded. In fact on Monday the line for Diamond Back was full. With out checking the estimated wait time we got in line and I figured we would wait an hour or so. Well to my surprise we only waited 35 min. It was great to see a crew work so hard to get a line moving. They were taking the lose articles from the riders and put them in the bins for them. They were double a triple checking restraints but were doing it quickly.

That to me is a great example of ride ops working their hardest!
Go Diamondback crew!

I've been to oT a couple of times this year and GAdv. and oG for an afternoon stop and have nothing but positive feelings for the staff and operations. Sure things went down and sure the lines weren't moving at Disney speed, but I never saw a situation and thought, "I can't believe someone would do that."

Andy, I share you feels about the staff at SFNE. ALL of them (from the young lady who took my ticket at the gate) to the cool ride op on Pandamonium, to the guy empying tradh cans in Hurricane Harbor, were VERY polite and friendly.

I was expecting FAR worse from the horror stories you (my fellow Buzzers), had told me about OTHER SF parks.

I can always find something that isn't "right" at SFGAm or SFStL if I look hard enough but I generally don't see the problems there that I read about at other SF parks. I've never had a bad experience at SFoG either come to think of it.

I've been to SFMM a couple times in the past few years and it was a night and day difference in terms of customer service, ride experiences, etc. between there and the other SF parks (5 or 6) I've visited. Apparently that applies to the SF parks out east as well.....

Ensign Smith, as I recall, Thunder Run has only one train. It's been nine years since I was there, but it sticks in the back of my mind that there was no transfer track on that ride when I was there. It took forever to get on it on a day in mid August, a week before the State Fair opened.