You have proven to me that you are the most selfish enthusiass on these boards. SFGAm is a family park. It will never survive as a thrill park. Marriott created this park as a family park and things went sour when they sold it.
If you don't like my opinion of you, oh well, deal with it. I am actually a mod that tolerates B.S. on this site but you have gone to a new level with all of your posts saying you hate this, and you hate that.
Keep stalking Jack from Love at First Fright. You are very creepy.
People tend to forget that Great America was a family park when it opened. I've heard a few on here wish they could have seen the park in its early years. Well, in a way, you are seeing that now. Chitown is right when he says that GA will never survive as a thrill park. Burhke tried it with the chain, and see where it got the company. Jeez, how many people you think were complain when CP got their new kids section.
You may not personally like what the park adds, but keep in mind, somewhere, someone does.
If it walks like socialist, quacks like socialist, smells like a socialist, .... it's a socialist. Hope, and change we can believe in.
I agree too much focus over the last 10 years has been about the thrills and not about the budgets and who really gives the park money. However, I don't think concentrating on families only for the next several years will be enough. You need to reprioritize the company by selling parks that drain the budget (MM), enforce better customer service at ALL parks (if possible), have at least one season where no park addtions are made (saving money) & realize you can't expect big sales at gift shops and food courts (souveneir bottles) if every year things go up by a couple bucks. That way maybe you won't have to offer them at such low prices at the end of the season because you would have sold more by then. Six Flags 2008 would be a good topic for any business/econ class. There is so much to discuss and lots of good ideas to turn things around SLOWLY. At this rate no matter how positive their cash flow is next year, the debt will still be piling up and bringing the compny into bankruptcy by 2010.
People tend to forget that Great America was a family park when it opened. I've heard a few on here wish they could have seen the park in its early years. Well, in a way, you are seeing that now.
They did however build some of the worlds biggest thrill rides such as Tidal Wave and Demon. The year after Demon they built the worlds tallest & fastest wooden coaster. They also built the Edge, etc. Then after Marriott sold the park they built worlds tallest, fastest, and most inverting coaster with Shockwave. 2 years later built Iron Wolf, then 2 years later built the worlds first suspended inverting coaster.
Granted different times different industry, and in the Marriott days were still filling out the park...just trying to get the full picture.
You know what's craaaaazy? The fact that even with such unimaginable debt, they still build rides every year. Every year a park gets a coaster. Am I wrong?
onyxhotel08 wrote:You know what's craaaaazy? The fact that even with such unimaginable debt, they still build rides every year. Every year a park gets a coaster. Am I wrong?
Cedar Fair is in debt as well and builds coasters as well. Six Flags goes back to what it knows, build rides and draw people.
Coaster Justin wrote:Every Park should be Treated like how Kings Dominion is
This statement is wrong in so many ways
Kings Dominion is one of my favorite parks (at least with the paramount stuff still in place). They have a lot of fun rides and there's a ton of stuff to do there. I went there in 2007 with my family and everyone had fun things to do there. They had some new waterpark addition in 2007, so most of them checked that out during the hot part of the day while I did the coasters. It was one of the best park experiences I've ever had. I think they're going to lose that by being under Cedar Fair.
That was way off topic, so I'll get back to the Six Flags rant. I think they're on the right track and hopefully they'll have everything the way they want it in five years. I'm sure there will be some interesting/ unique coasters being built at some of the parks in the next few years.
Also when I call the park I don't want to hear someone say "can you hold for a sec"? What is that...A "SEC"? "OK...1...a waited a sec". Seriously, they really need to train there staff to be more professional.
I think that's kind of an ignorant comment to make. Most of the time, you call to a general line, and not everyone that works at the park knows 100% about everything or they can't give you a definitive answer, so they either put you on hold to try and find your answer, or they transfer you to the department/person who can try to give you an answer to what you're looking for.
Then you also have to consider that maybe (just maybe) you weren't the only person who was calling at the time, and if you get transferred, they answer the phones in the order of the calls...that's no different than any other number you call to get information answered.
Does Six Flags have some poor guest service...yes, but (I hate to tell those that don't/won't believe it) I've seen my fair share of poor guest service with Disney and Universal as well, and there isn't a theme park/resort out there that's completely "immune" from poor guest service.
No park is immune from bad service, but when bad service is the "norm" which is often the case at SFGAM, then the park needs to work on this BIG TIME IMHO.
I just spent 11 days at WDW/USF/BGA and had excellant service at each park, and I think the big difference is that these parks had a employee's that were older than the majority of employee's you find at SFAGM, and they IMHO cared more about there jobs, which was evident in there job performance. And good customer service come's from management stressing it, and supervising the employee's so they meet standards and getting rid of those that dont. You can easily see the difference when you spend the time in parks where ther employee's go out of there way to make sure you have a enjoyable experience. I also found simliar treatment at DW/SDC in the past, but havent found it on a consistent basis in a SF park for many years.
Like at Silver Dollar City the majority of people working there are retired and needed something to do since they got really bored, And honestly which would try to make your visit more enjoyable, a teenager who just works there for some extra cash (but I will be working there for the love of the park) or a retired person who always has a smile on their face and actually comes up to you if you look lost.
On a slightly related note I was at GA over the summer and there were about 5 employees just standing and talking when there was a group of people that you could easily see needed help (they were looking for the entrance to Hurricane Harbor (but the stupidity of the GP is not the point of this)) So I went over and asked what the needed help with and I told them how to get to HH (we were up by IW). And after that the employees came over to me and told me that it was their job to help the guests and I just simply said "Well if you were doing your job that would never had happened" and then left to ride AE.
"The rides are GREAT, The shows are GREAT, the fun is GREAT. At Marriott"s GREAT AMERICA!"
onyxhotel08 wrote:You know what's craaaaazy? The fact that even with such unimaginable debt, they still build rides every year. Every year a park gets a coaster. Am I wrong?
Cedar Fair is in debt as well and builds coasters as well. Six Flags goes back to what it knows, build rides and draw people.
They do, it's just not the rides some people on here want to see.
If it walks like socialist, quacks like socialist, smells like a socialist, .... it's a socialist. Hope, and change we can believe in.
Customer service is NOT the #1 thing needed to be fixed. Here is my top 3:
#1 Having stable, realistic prices year-to-year #2 If you charge so much for flash passes, make sure ALL rides are available on it #3 Before we get anything new in the future, fix what is wrong/needed to be done with rides already inside the park
demonbulleagle wrote:(but I will be working there for the love of the park)
Good luck with that!
First off, this thread is filled with so much crap, and people trying to look good it's sick. If you really cared about an opinion you wouldn't change it five seconds, instead of just trying to sound smart.
Also, customer service SHOULD be the the number one priority. Guest experience is what should matter the most at the park, at least from the standpoint of public operations.
Sure onyxhotel, let's make admission $30. Then we wont be able to keep the rides maintained, so then they can't even be open for the flash passes. Now we have a bunch of angry guests, wanting a refund of their $30 admission, and they then go home and tell all of their family and friends how horrible their experience was, and now they wont come to the park either. You have efficiently killed of your market, and everyone hates your park. Congratulations.
Some of the employees that actually interact with the guests at the park, are very good at it. The majority of them are Supervisors, Leads, and a few select norm's.
You can gain at least three new customers for each guest that has a good day. You can lose eleven or more for each guest that has a terrible day.
onyxhotel08 wrote:#2 If you charge so much for flash passes, make sure ALL rides are available on it
All coasters would definitely be nice. However, all rides would be a disaster. If you want proof of that, take a look at Giant Drop's Flash Pass mess on busy days.
Why would anyone buy a suvineer cup in the first place? Really not a good deal, especially since you cant bring them in line and have to pay another $1 to store them every time you go on a coaster . Unless your addicted to soda or something, dont see a value in it. Cups of water = free, unlimted, doesnt make you thirstier like soda, and can bring it in line.
rct2wizard360 wrote: First off, this thread is filled with so much crap, and people trying to look good it's sick. If you really cared about an opinion you wouldn't change it five seconds, instead of just trying to sound smart.
I couldnt agree more, That is why This is the very last "My Six Flags Rant" thread. I don't care if you've been on this board for 6 years or 6 seconds, The very next "My Six Flags Rant" will be deleted.
onyxhotel08 wrote:Customer service is NOT the #1 thing needed to be fixed. Here is my top 3:
#1 Having stable, realistic prices year-to-year #2 If you charge so much for flash passes, make sure ALL rides are available on it #3 Before we get anything new in the future, fix what is wrong/needed to be done with rides already inside the park
Problem with addmission is the same with a baseball team, different times of the year have different demands.
The flash Pass idea is something they don't need to do anything with. They already sell out fast everyday, so adding more rides would just be a paid when it comes to adding que lines for them.
Customer Service really is the backbone of a theme/amusement park. Look at Holiday World. The place, without great employees, would be nothing more then a 2nd rate theme park with 2 great coaster and decent water park. The people help make that place special.
I really think the whole family thing is good. I am still happy with all of the roller coasters, I just honestly think SFGAm is lacking thrilling flats, like Giant Drop.
If a new roller coaster goes in within the next couple years, I would pray that they put in another B&M, or one of the new Intamins. Those roller coasters seem to attract a lot of people, and would do good for the park. The B&Ms in the park are all doing well, except for the poor Iron Wolf who is slowly dying. Otherwise, the other 3 are doing just fine. And the park only has 1 new-age intamin, V2, and another new concept like that would really be good marketing.
I think a new Intamin (few inversions, above 90 degree drop) would be perfect for the park. I absolutely love Fahrenheit. Not that I think it'll happen any time soon.
I think SFGAm has pretty good customer service, especially compared to what other theme parks offer. As far as prices go, they are ridiculous, but people are willing to empty their wallets. So let them. Why I only visited the park twice last year was the lockers. That drew the line for me. One employee even asked me to step out of line and put a book that I was reading in the locker. I tried to explain that it would comfortably on the ride but that wasn't good enough. Most likely I'll only go about twice this year as well. As soon as the lockers go, the park will become attractive to me again.
rct2wizard360 wrote: Also, customer service SHOULD be the the number one priority. Guest experience is what should matter the most at the park, at least from the standpoint of public operations.
Sure onyxhotel, let's make admission $30. Then we wont be able to keep the rides maintained, so then they can't even be open for the flash passes. Now we have a bunch of angry guests, wanting a refund of their $30 admission, and they then go home and tell all of their family and friends how horrible their experience was, and now they wont come to the park either. You have efficiently killed of your market, and everyone hates your park. Congratulations.
Some of the employees that actually interact with the guests at the park, are very good at it. The majority of them are Supervisors, Leads, and a few select norm's.
You can gain at least three new customers for each guest that has a good day. You can lose eleven or more for each guest that has a terrible day.
Think about it.
I agree that customer service should be a very high priority. The park did almost the $30 admission last year. It might have been $54.99 in theory, but admission was quite cheap. Maybe, the cheapest it got was $34.99, but that's close to $30. That is not the solution in my opinion.
What about flash pass though? The people that pay to get it have to pay more money to get on the ride faster. It seems like you are going against caring about the customer. It's there to make money. The regular people that paid to get in feel jipped because those people are getting in line in front of them.
The same goes for parking by having a standard, and a premium. You have to pay more to get up closer. Why do they have no single riders on the Antique car rides? It's to maximum capacity per car, and to save money. Let's face it, it's more about saving money. How about having more tubes for the waterpark instead of waiting a long time in line for a tube? For lockers, it might maximize capacity but how many people are going to say forget Six Flags this year because they don't want to pay to money to store something in the locker?
Are these things involved with making money hurting the business by getting rid of customers?
What about when you come to the park in June, and there are tons of rides down? We think it's because of low-staffing, but why couldn't the park just hire more people to run those rides? It's about saving money. If the park can run 30 rides, are you telling me they couldn't run 37 rides? People come to the park, and certain rides might be ones they really like (as in their favorite), and having them not open for no apparent reason other than not hiring enough workers is a poor excuse. Six Flags has done this though yearly.
Why has our parks attendance gone down for awhile? Maybe, people feel it has to do with their disappointment in new rides, but maybe it's because of these things.
Last edited by Ilovthevu' on February 9th, 2009, 4:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
. Unless your addicted to soda or something, dont see a value in it.
( hopewe get a neww bm wingrider for next year!11!
