TexasParkman

It should be open- It was open last weekend. The Park looks good. Maybe we are back to normal. May Saturdays can get busy with School trips, etc. Overall shouldn't be too bad.

TPR's extraordinarily bad visit aside- and a real bad stretch of operations in July- IMHO, there is not a good reason to not visit SFOT. My experience over the last 5 years has been good. Operations are decent, the park is clean and there is really not much difference between SFOT-heavily discounted and the price that SFOTSA charges. SFOT has coasters as well, etc. The thing working against SFOTSA was the location. That is not a great neighborhood. Parking and safety can be an issue. People from North Dallas are not going to go to that area because of it reputation. I have never had an issue there- but the reputation is not good. It was a decent idea and I wish they would have given it one more year to work. It was always going to be an uphill struggle for attendance.

I hope this is the correct thread. Glad TPR got a chance to try State Fair of Texas Summer Adventures while it was open. There will be no Summer Adventures in Fair Park this summer — or any other By Robert Wilonsky rwilonsky@dallasnews.com 1:27 pm on February 18, 2014 | Permalink Shortly before Summer Adventures at Fair Park opened its gates, State Fair of Texas President Errol McKoy told the Dallas City Council that it would serve as “a good alternative to Six Flags for all our citizens.” But, in the end, it wasn’t: There won’t be a Summer Adventures at Fair Park this summer or any other. “There are a lot of choices out there for summer entertainment — a lot — and those are tough to break,” says Sue Gooding, spokesperson for the State Fair of Texas. State Fair officials say the Waveloch Flowrider may stick around for the fair. (Rex C. Curry/Special contributor) The State Fair isn’t releasing attendance numbers, says Gooding, “other than ‘less than we’d hoped for.’ ” That was clear to anyone who went out to ride the 500-foot-tall Top o’ Texas Tower when it was 104 degrees. Despite a handful of expensive new offerings, and the chance to ride most of the Midway without having to wait in line, ghost towns are still busier in August. “We used social media, we did advertising, we even cut our rates in half hoping there at the end we could introduce it to a lot of people,” says Gooding. “But this just wasn’t a viable opportunity this summer to make that work. We were passionate about it. State Fair employees put their heart and their souls into this.” Gooding spent Tuesday morning calling season pass-holders and telling them to expect refunds. The State Fair spent $30 million on Summer Adventures, a fraction of which went toward electrical needs in a Midway that’s dark most of the year. And it’s not clear, for instance, whether the WaveRider will stick around come fall. But, if nothing else, the Top o’ Texas Tower is a welcome addition; it was packed during the State Fair, more so than during Summer Adventures. In the end, says Gooding, it just wasn’t wet or wild enough for folks. “There are a lot of water features all over the area,” Gooding says. “Cities are into their water parks. There’s a lot of stuff out there. And there are a lot of camps. We had hoped desperately it would work. We are behind Fair Park, more people are moving into the downtown area, and we were hoping access by light rail would make a difference. “But when we looked at the numbers, they just didn’t add up.”

These events are nothing new- just more public than normal. I can guarantee you that Disney, Universal, Cedar fair and others have followed this exact model. When there is an accident is not uncommon for a vendor and a buyer to sue each other to find blame and share the payout. Neither company will pay a penny. Their insurance companies will take a hit and premiums will go up. In the end the ride will be safer, both companies will be more careful, the family of Rosa will receive financial compensation and least try to recover from devastating event. I know she will be warmly remembered. The family's loss will not be in vain.

I love the atmosphere generated by SF Parks. I greatly respect the way CF maintains thier grounds and buildings. If SF would maintain their properties in an identical fashion to CF I would be most happy. Both are very good regional chains.

I am curiuos about the opinions on here regarding the season pass food deal. We purchased season pass food deal- combo -SFOT and HH. We were pleased with the payback. I wondered if anyone else had thoughts about thier experience.

Our Company picnic is in November- They have already given us flyers for the season pass deal and it will be available for our picnic. Not sure about the GP however. Our season pass deal at the picnic is $59.00 for a Gold combo pass- SFOT and HH. That is a tough deal to beat. Parking is included.

My two best are: Blue Bayou @ Disneyland and The Rose and Crown @ World Showcase. On a similar note- we bought Season Food passes at SFOT this year and found some improvement in the quality of the food- not great for the $, but improvement. It is at least up to average or better. The barbeque at "Jebs" is actually quite good.

1 Million? Either they have an incredibly bad Lawyer or there is more to this story than we are being told. I would think that SF's insurance company would pay that TODAY and walk away content. Something is not right here.

I love this year's additions. It will really help the overall appearance of the park. The Looney Tunes area is in much need of a refurb. I am hoping for a Bulldozer as well. That area would be perfect for a small wooden Twister Coaster ( maybe like American Thunder)- then JRS goes away in favor of a Wing Rider ( or something big and custom) out and over the Lake.... It would provide an impressive first impression like CP's Gatekeeper.

I agree- 2 parks should be no big deal. Here in the DFW area we have 8 million people and 8 to 10 waterparks- They are all crowded. I would not think 2 would be a big deal. Hurricane Harbor in DFW is SF most attended waterpark. Competition does not seem to hurt it at all. I like SFFT's water that is included in the Park admission. I wish ours was like that. Probably would not work here as SF only owns half of SFOT.

If you hang around a park long enough- it does not matter which Park- sooner or later they will have a "Lets forget about this year" year. SFOT had a tough year all the way around. Shockwave's mishap could not be foreseen. Neither could the NTAG issue. Seems like the NTAG issue just completely deflated the morale around the place. I think everyone is looking forward to next year. Not sure what SFOT is getting- maybe only infastructure upgrades- but even those would be greatly appreciated!

I live only 8 miles from the Park. I am very upset that the Park performed so poorly for your visit. Early in the year- up until July the park was running great- great Customer service, high ride hours, etc. July came and it was like something drastic happened. Trust me- day in and day out this is usually great. SFOT has always been run very well. I am positive that Mr. Martindale will fix these issues. I am glad that you enjoyed Summer Adventures. It is the creation of Errol McCoy- former President of Six Flags Inc. Errol is old school Six Flags and know his business. The park may not be around for long if it's business does not pick up. The local paper reported that attendance has not been what they hoped for. They earlier had said that The Fair Board had low expectations for attendance for the first 2 or 3 years. Its major drawback is the location. Not a great part of town. Competetion is good though- hopefully it will spur SFOT to make positive steps in thier PR / Group sales efforts. Sorry again for the bad visit. When you come back- try for June- its much cooler!!!!

Rob, Sorry to hear about your poor visit to SFOT. Earlier in the year things seemed to be running very well. I have been hearing reports lately about poor operations. I am not sure what is happening. You would think that with Corporate across the street things would be run pretty tight. The GM is really good there- hopefully he will get a handle on things. Thanks for the great TR!

Great trip report. I am surprised to not see more pics from SFOT. What was the common review of Texas Sky Screamer?

It appears that the Dallas/FortWorth newspapers are at least attempting to be fair- I hope you find this atricle interesting: By JEFF MOSIER JEFF MOSIER The Dallas Morning News Staff Writer jmosier@dallasnews.com Published: 30 July 2013 11:23 PM Updated: 30 July 2013 11:43 PM Major Texas amusement parks had a poor history of reporting accidents the last time a customer died on a Six Flags Over Texas ride. About 14 years later, after the park’s second guest fatality, a review of state documents and lawsuits found that local amusement parks are doing a better job. But their reporting, available online at the Texas Department of Insurance website, is still not perfect. A search of lawsuits filed against Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor, both in Arlington, found three claimed injuries in the past five years that weren’t reported to the state. During that same period, Six Flags reported 104 injuries to the state, including the July 19 death of Rosy Esparza, who fell from the Texas Giant roller coaster. Hurricane Harbor reported 79 injuries. Six Flags, which owns Hurricane Harbor, did not comment on the three incidents that were not reported to the state. In 2001, Six Flags officials questioned whether some unreported injuries actually happened at the parks or met the narrow reporting requirements. Texas law requires amusement park operators to report more serious injuries that happen on rides. Minor bumps and bruises don’t count, and neither do injuries that only require first aid. Jerry Hagins, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance, which has jurisdiction over amusement parks, said the reporting requirement isn’t part of the agency’s regulatory role. But it is mandated by law and serves a specific purpose. “It’s for consumers to get a sense of how safe the various parks are,” he said. Hagins said the agency doesn’t receive a large number of complaints about unreported injuries. He said that if a ride operator refused to report accidents, the agency could take the case to local law enforcement or the Texas attorney general’s office. That’s never happened, though. Ride safety in Texas made national headlines after the death of Esparza, a 52-year-old Dallas woman. A review of lawsuits did not find any unreported injuries at the NRH2O in North Richland Hills, at any of the four area Hawaiian Falls water parks or at Grapevine’s Great Wolf Lodge. Texas’ system generally relies on amusement park operators to ensure the safety of their rides. The parks’ insurance companies hire contractors to inspect rides. And the parks are relied on to keep the state Department of Insurance informed about injuries. That self-reporting system hasn’t always worked well. Only in the last five years has the information been available online. Newspaper investigations more than a dozen years ago found large numbers of injuries claimed in lawsuits that weren’t reported to the state. There were more than 30 unreported injuries at Arlington parks, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The San Antonio Express-News found more than 100 at three amusement parks in its area. State law says amusement parks must report injuries if they happen on the rides and require treatment from a physician or “registered professional personnel under the standing orders of a physician.” First aid or “one-time treatment” for minor scratches, cuts, burns, splinters and other minor injuries are excluded from the law. In one recent case against Hurricane Harbor, a Dallas County woman claimed she was hurt during a summer 2012 visit. The lawsuit claimed that Yulma Molina was injured on an inner tube on a water slide. Her attorney, Michael Pierce, said his client has been treated by doctors for neck and head injuries. The lawsuit is pending, but the injury hasn’t been reported to the state. In another lawsuit, Keyvan Moslemi and his son, Pejman, said they were injured on the Mega Wedgie at Hurricane Harbor in 2010. Their attorney, Magdalena Villalobos, said the tube the father and son were riding on was pushed too hard by an attendant. That caused them to bump into each other, and Keyvan Moslemi struck his head on the slide. She said Keyvan Moslemi had a dental bridge broken and both were treated for neck strains. Despite the injuries, Six Flags won a motion for summary judgment, which dismissed the case. “That hurdle we had to get over was proving that they [Hurricane Harbor] knew or should have known that a dangerous condition or hazardous condition existed,” Villalobos said. She said that’s difficult to prove even when there is an injury. The reporting requirements aren’t contingent on whether the park is at fault. An injury caused by the negligence of a person on a ride would still have to be reported to the state. But if someone was standing in line for a ride and was injured, even if it was caused by park negligence, that wouldn’t have to be reported. Despite that, parks often report injuries they don’t need to but also fail to report ones they do. “We get reports of people falling down in line or getting ice on their ankles,” Hagins said. IN THE KNOW: Information on rides The Texas Department of Insurance regulates the state’s amusement parks and rides. The agency ensures that every ride is inspected annually, has insurance and is issued a sticker certifying it can legally operate. The following information is available on the Department of Insurance website at www.tdi.texas.gov/commercial/indexamusement.html: Name of every amusement ride operator and home city. Name of every ride and serial number. TDI sticker number and expiration date. Lists of injuries reported on rides, including age and sex of individual allegedly hurt, name of ride, date of alleged injury, brief description of alleged injury, and date injury was reported to state. The ride’s owner is listed by state registration number and not name.

I visit the Park on a very regular basis. I do not believe that attendance has been hurt much. I have still seen some very decent crowds.We are into 100 Deg + weather and attendance always suffers some this time of year. The Park may be taking a small hit from 2 major coasters being down. I do not believe that it is enough to be a concern. SFOT was very busy in May and June on several days.

My Dad was Director of Maintenence at SFOMA back in the 70's. We had a Skyway accident that killed 3 people. Most people have no idea how something like that haunts you. My Dad had nightmares for the rest of his life. When things like this happen on your watch it stays with you. My heart goes out to the Family. It was Ms. Garza's first trip ever to an amusement park. The Giant was one of the first coasters she ever rode. My heart also goes out to Steve Martindale. I have met Steve- like some of you have. I can tell you- this will be with him for a long time.

The local paper just published this under the title "Coroners inquest": One day after saying that Rosy Esparza died from “multiple traumatic injuries” caused by a “fall from [a] roller coaster,” the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office has released further details concerning her death on The Texas Giant Friday evening. According to the inquest, the 52-year-old Esparza — also referred to as Rosa Irene Ayala-Goana, believed to be her maiden name — was seated in the third row of The Texas Giant. “As the carts began the steep descent from the first large hill of track, she ejected from her seat falling freely for an approximate distance of 75 feet, striking a support metal beam and then coming to rest on the metal roof of the tunnel,” says the coroner’s office. The autopsy revealed “extensive trauma of the torso,” says a release from the coroner’s office. “The cause of death is attributed to multiple traumatic injuries due to fall from a roller coaster. The manner death is ruled as ‘Pending’ further investigation and laboratory studies.”