parkjunkie
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Posts posted by parkjunkie
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I don't understand all the pessimism. Why are so many people thinking that everything is going to go downhill?? This isn't Six Flags buying out Cedar Fair, its a merger with Cedar Fair and Cedar Fair having majority share/ say... 51/49. If anything, this could be great in the fact that newer smaller parks that SF recently acquired or have had but arent producing will probably be sold off which means paying off debt more quickly and an getting rid of thorns. Next, Cedar Fairs business model is leaps and bounds above Six Flags, so they'll stick with that model which means SF parks will slowly improve. As of now, the board is 6 SF members and 6 CF members, but I guarantee over the the first year, youll see CF replace some of those members with members they want. If it wasnt for this merger, SF would have been in major trouble the next few years and you would have seen parks closing and being sold off to companies that couldnt run them any better. It will take a few years for things to come together, but overall, I see this being a great move.
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12 hours ago, prozach626 said:
The problem with our park is that it treats general maintenance as a substitution for new or additions. Sometimes this comes along with a budget addition. You shouldn't have to hit the brakes and take a breather every couple years to do the shit you should have been doing all along. If there isn't enough maintenance staff for this during the off season then contract it out. Landscapers, painters, carpenters, etc. Hire them yesterday.
Rookie Racer wasn't a hand-me-down like Boomerang. It was a reallocation of resources, and a damned good one. There shouldn't be any grievance there. Joker will be a great addition. We're one RMC and a lot of TLC away from being a good park again.
I'm not even going to mention the other thing.
After working at the park for almost 15 years, late 90s in to 2000s, the biggest problem is exactly this, maintenance. Its been an issue ever since Premier took over. Premier would dump every penny they made, and then some into rides, rides rides, and of course only at select parks. Maintenance was just a memory for many years. Put a bandaid on everything... instead of dropping X amount to fix something, lets spend 3x X over 5 years with bandaids. Then you move forward to the bankruptcy and Shapiro days. Shapiro was brought in to focus on just this, maintenance, upkeep, paint, flowers.... He was brought in to get SF back on its feet and continue his motto. That didnt last long before it was back to wasteful spending, neglect of the parks, and so on.... but yet corporate cant figure out why things are so bad..... SMH
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I was just curious if anyone knows when the park normally releases their upcoming year calendar. We will be planning a trip out east in the next month or so. Thanks in advance
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On 8/11/2022 at 9:26 AM, Manic Monte said:
Actually, if anyone is coming off upset, it's you.
LMAO, quite the contrary, I think its hilarious. I'm coming off harsh about those who are trying to defend corporate Six Flags. This board came in years ago saying they were determined to keep Six Flags going in an upward direction. They say they wanted to do so with input from the employees and clientele from each park. As they continued to say they wanted this input, they did the complete opposite. Management that had been there decades started leaving, park presidents retiring, the masses out the door, guests complaints more and more by the years. Those of us that decided to leave warned exactly what would happen if they continued, and look at where its at. This was a long time coming, even before the pandemic, the pandemic just made whats happening now premature a few years. I said it would be 2025 of what we're seeing here in 2022. I just don't get how people are defending corporate Six Flags, a few people here are prime examples. Many Six Flags parks were once top notch parks, some even world renowned... can't say that now at all. So many people get pissy with Six Flags or other parks because the park didn't build a 600Ft, 180mph rollercoaster. I can give 2 craps less about things like that. What makes Six Flags utter crap now a days, is corporate not allowing the parks to run individually as they did for 20, 30, 40 years. They wanted to make them identical across the board... you just can't do that. Next, these parks LOOK horrible and run down. They refuse to spend money to fix things properly, instead patch, glue, and ghetto fix things over and over, which in turns end up costing just as much over time, and still not getting the job done. The lack of care of broken promises to employees affects employees negatively, in return, you get less enthusiastic employees. Employees aren't given tools and resources needed to do their jobs correctly.... you can go on and on with the issues with this corporation. It is so bad that it is literally funny.
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17 hours ago, boldikus said:
It's not whether anything you said is true or not, I'm just tickled by your... passion on the topic.
LMFAO, you my friend are hilarious. You're upset by the truth, but not by what has caused this truth to happen. I'm not sure why you're so butthurt by the truth. Six Flags has been and still is being run in to the ground. Its been talked about for years that this was going to happen and how it would happen.... and here it is.
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5 hours ago, boldikus said:
Tell us how you really feel.
Sorry if you don't like the truth
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Six Flags corporate has been absolute SH!T for the past 8-10 years or so. They have ran this chain right back in to the ground after Shapiro and his crew did so much to get it back on its feet again. About 8-10 years ago, you saw the mass exodus of hundreds of both long time full times and part times, chain wide, including me. We saw the direction the company was headed and ran before it got to the point its at now. Corporate Six Flags is an absolute joke. They have NO CLUE what the hell they are doing, and the people paying the price are the workers down in the trenches, which corporate can give 2 sh!ts less about. Six Flags parks aren't even amusement parks anymore, corporate has turned them into permanent carninvals.
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5 hours ago, Mike240SX said:
+1. I think if we were seeing similar posts in other SF threads (hint: almost every park has employees on these forums), there might be cause for concern that something is going south at the Corporate level.
Also, consider that its quite a regular thing in the corporate world for a new boss to give the boot to all of the old people occupying key positions and bring in their own people. Just because these individuals were fired, it doesn't necessarily mean their positions have been eliminated.
Unfortunately it has nothing to do with bringing in new people, the positions are being eliminated altogether. Anyone who works in the industry will tell you is this not only a bad move, but almost suicidal. It may not seem like it to the regular Joe, but trust the rumors you are hearing... they arent rumors, its whats happening. Put it this way, departments that used to have 5,6,7 managers are down to 2 and 3, others with 3 and 4 are down to 1 and 2, and others are gone altogether. It was already next to impossible running these departments the past few years, well, it now just got worse. Why do you think Six Flags parks have been having the problems they were having the past few years precovid? Because of understaffed management. Understaffed management led to many other problems all the way down the staffing chain.
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49 minutes ago, bert425 said:
still not seeing any news (at all, not even on sites that track major company layoffs) saying there has been any layoff other than at Corporate Level the other week - with analysis saying that now the individual Park Presidents will be direct reports up to the highest level folks.
so . . . not saying y'all are *incorrect*. . . but I will have to wait and see and will be more willing to believe it when I see news on it as to how these Corporate cuts are affecting individual parks.
(and yes, SFStL has been firing lower level employees whom have been commenting negatively online - but that seems restricted to those who are commenting about the company they work for. Not saying that's right of Six Flags, but those are unique situations and not a mass layoff)
guess I just dont' really care what goes on behind the scenes, as long as it's invisible to the consumers, and I just don't really think the average consumers are going to notice these things that y'all seem convinced are going to tank/destroy/flush Six Flags.
they did great during the Pandemic years 2020-2021 (better than Cedar Fair). . and maybe I'm just spoiled in that the Texas parks are run so well?
but I just do NOT see any need to "panic" or go all "doom and gloom"LOL, its not major news to be made public, it RARELY is. But even when they do, its shared with the parks first before making headlines to the general public lol. But youre right, since someone who is part of that staff has no clue what they are talking about. Boy, I thought I'd get more push back about everything else other than the layoffs.
These decisions affect the general public in every way possible, without these heads on site for immediate decisions, decisions will be delayed, communication will be non existent. This is beyond bad
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Six Flags is sinking and sinking FAST, they REALLY just shot themselves in the foot this time. Major layoffs for fulltimes chain wide. Yes, this has happened in the past, consolidating of some departments heads, maybe too many managers in a department, but they have done this multiple times, leaving department managerial staffs running BEYOND thin... well now its horrific. This week, the director of Ops, the director of Food/ Games/ Retail, and Safety manager and a handful of others just got chopped, but yes, you read that right, they eliminated the director of Ops, the director of Food/ Games/ Retail, and Safety manager!!! Horrible horrible horrible move. There is now no 1 person in charge if the departments and the supes and lower managers report either straight to corporate or to the park president. That is exactly how to NOT do things, but they are doing it. Not to mention, the ops and retail directors have been with the chain for decades and were some of the more recognized in their position in the chain. I have stayed VERY silent the past few years on here as Six Flags is sinking faster and faster. They are hemorrhaging and it isnt going to stop any time soon. When corporate decided to start running all parks the same across the board 6 or 7 years ago, many people jumped ship then knowing what happening now was coming, hence why do you think Dave Roemer left when he did? Yes, Dave had retirement coming regardless, but he left whwn he did for a reason, and thats why many others followed him. I have always loved Six Flags, but at this point, theres not much to love, and I fear in the next few years, you will see parks closing or being sold off... its not so much a fear as a fate that is inevitable. The majority of Six Flags parks are nothing but permanent carnivals, and that is SAD, considering what this chain once was. I know there will be many of you that disagree with what I am saying, but Ive been told Im wrong before, and what Ive said in the past unfortunately always becomes a reality. I have been with this corporation FAR too long to just give what I "think" is going to happen.
I'll leave you with this, how come chains such as Cedar Fair do so well, but not Six Flags... up until 10-15 years, they were the same type of parks... Its because Six Flags corporate is absolute;y clueless.
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1 hour ago, SharkTums said:
^I believe you, and it's not just Dollywood. The parks have to get it together again by next summer. I think everyone gave them a pass this year cause we were all just so happy to have things open and get back to a little normalcy but people aren't going to keep putting up with these operations everywhere.
I have been to numerous parks this year and yes, they all have issues, some different than others, but they all lead back to finding help, I get it. But what Dollywood is doing is just plain ignorant. Sad to see such a highly awarded park operating in this manner.
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We had a week in the Smokies last week, and I was so excited to get back to Dollywood, it has been 4 years since I last went. Now, I hate to be one to complain, but Dollywood needs to get it together. We bought tickets on Tuesday and went on Wednesday. Now, I know its busy for the fall fest, I've done it before, but I did not expect what happened next. We arrived at 10:30 to the parking lot, it was already parking in the back, so we got preferred/ premier. We then went to metal detection and waited 20 minutes to get in, Now its 11AM. We had the app and saw that 5 rides were closed, including LR which I expected, but not 4 more. We also saw on the website that select food locations may be affected. Anyway, we did a lap around the park since my girlfriend had never been before. As we walked and she looked around at what she wanted to eat (we skipped breakfast to eat at the park), we were shocked to see that at least 2/3 of the parks food locations/ stands were closed!!! Now don't get me wrong, I completely understand the ongoing work crisis/ Covid crisis and all, but man Dollywood couldn't accommodate at all. We ended up going to Red's Drive-In and waited 95minutes to order and they only had burgers, wow. Then after you order, 10 minutes to wait in line for soda. By the time we were done eating, it was 1:50PM. While we waited in line, people were very impatient, numerous times we saw and heard guests voicing their unhappiness with staff. Now, I know its not the staff's fault, they're getting slammed... It's Dollywood's fault, they can not handle the amount of people they are letting in. So we went to guest relations and voice our concerns and see if their was the slim chance on getting a refund. Well, guest relations had a 45 minute wait, the majority in line for the same thing we were. I was talking to the man in front of us, he said he was a pass holder for 8 years and this would be his last. Anyway, I finally got waited on at GR and explained the situation.... they didn't even hesitate and gave us a full refund!! Dollywood is just going for a money grab at this point and its a shame to see that.
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Drove by the park early this morning, pre daylight, but from what I could tell, Superman looks to be gone already
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My first stint at SFSTL was in the mid to late 90's... those were the days. This was when they still had the "themed" uniforms. I worked in Britannia, so I wore the oversized baggy Robin Hood shirt. We were issued 2 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts and or pants. Anything besides that you had to buy. There may have been a refundable deposit on coats, but not fore sure. Anyway, that's when we had an entire wardrobe department, complete with locker rooms and showers. The locker rooms are underneath wardrobe. Here too you had the option to wash your own uniform or turn in dirty to get new/ fresh.
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14 hours ago, bert425 said:
^ yes, it IS a rare ride.
the Version at SFOT is a double seater -as is the version that is not yet open as SFNE.- so the one at SFStL is the same as the one at SFOG (single seats).
That means TWO parks have this ride in the USA. . so yes, it's a rare ride.
you want to whine, so nothing I give you as a fact is going to change that you feel the way you do.
In my eyes, it's a great park, and in the eyes of my Spouse, who *isn't* an "Enthusiast" - and doesn't ride roller coasters (the only one he rode there was Pandemonium with me) - it's a great park.
We plan a trip back so I can ride Excalibur, as it was down for refurb while we were there.
so you have a great park, you just want to complain because you don't get "new" things.Do you think the GP cares about a small flat and the model it is?? Not... One.... Single... Bit!! I see what you are getting at, but in this case it doesn't mean anything. The refurb for Excalibur wasn't as costly as you'd think, and of course they'd want to refurb it, its the only one of its kind in the world. Look, the park has potential, we all know it, we are just sick of getting the shaft.... trust us, many of us work or have worked there and know how it all works.
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21 minutes ago, prozach626 said:
What are your ideas for why they would have pushed it back?
Trying to pinch every penny they can, sounds harsh, but just the truth
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3 hours ago, prozach626 said:
^^ The 50'th anniversary means nothing as far as additions go. It wouldn't have made a difference. Guests don't care if it's the 50th anniversary or the 5th anniversary.
I have always thought the same thing, but corporate unbelievably actually had plans for the 50th, but that has all been scrapped. Unfortunately due to Covid, the amusement park industry as whole is going to see side effects from this for many years to come
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6 hours ago, liltrekkie said:
I hope this isn't true. We all knew everything was pushed back a year, but to push it back that long is just wrong.
Its true, Cat Woman's Whip is being pushed off til 2022. 2021 is SFSTL's 50th Anniversary, and we're getting nothing.
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19 hours ago, Danrarbc said:
Out of curiosity I ran the numbers on what an addressable RGB LED system could cost for Eagle a couple weeks back. Which would be overkill for chasing alone (much more complex effects could be run, and you could do seasonal colors).
For 12V RGB LEDs a DIY system is less than $6000 in parts. Including all of the 11.5ft strands needed, the ESP32 boards needed to drive them all and 4000ft of ethernet wire. Enclosures for everything and weatherproofing can likely be done with the tools the park already has on hand. There are alternatives to the ethernet runs since this kind of distance would need switches to deal with the ~300ft length limit of ethernet and I didn't price switches into my estimate (WiFi-only boards are actually cheaper, but then you need enough access points to cover the layout and ethernet would likely be more stable).
From what I can tell this is actually price-competitive with the cost of simple white chaser hardware. Commercial basic light strands cost more than you'd think, chasers would be even more. You can imagine the scale of this project though. At least 330 strands of LEDs - with one ESP32 board needed per 20 strands and power taps every other strand. At least 182 connections to weatherize, along with the 17 boards.
Don't forget SFSTL maintenance workers are union, so don't forget about the 100's of hours in labor at about $30 an hour lol
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2 hours ago, prozach626 said:
Look at all that fresh paint. Was that during the Shapiro days? Wasn't he less concerned with more attractions and more concerned with park maintenance and presentation?Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Yes, the majority of these are from the Shapiro days when Shapiro was brought in to get the parks back in shape. His short stay was all planned ahead, then once he got things to where they needed to be, the new top dogs would then be brought in to continue building on what he started... instead, they demolished what he started and put them further behind than what they were before he came in. He went to each park before the start of the season for a conference with all the dept managerial teams, I was there, and he said "EVERYTHING IS GETTING FRESH PAINT, TULIPS ARE COMING BACK, LIGHTS WILL BE ON, COASTERS WILL BE RESTORED... WE WILL BRING SIX FLAGS BACK TO THE TOP!" He was a man of his word and really pushed for all that, but sadly, the new corporate bigwigs after him had other thoughts in mind....
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6 hours ago, TrippinBillie said:
Always loved those chaser lights, too! Not sure why they can't do them again......there's not much of a cost there.
Easy explanation, because corporate Six Flags just doesn't care about anything anymore unfortunately
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On 1/27/2021 at 5:43 PM, CP_RULES said:
Am I the only one who always has these images under the "posted images" greeting them on the right side of this thread? They give me a small heart attack every time I open the thread thinking someone is posting current images and the rumors are true...
Heres some of many other pics I took from over the years. These are all from 2006-2009
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On 1/27/2021 at 5:43 PM, CP_RULES said:
Am I the only one who always has these images under the "posted images" greeting them on the right side of this thread? They give me a small heart attack every time I open the thread thinking someone is posting current images and the rumors are true...
Holy crap, I never paid any attention to those... Here's some more pics that I took from that day. GOD it was an awful paint scheme
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I spotted Quimera/ Triple Loop on the move from Mexico to Indiana today headed north on I-55 in southern MO.
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Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
I find it sad that they didnt make it swing over Thunder's reservoir. Would have made it so much better, great ride none the least