Photo TR: SFMM - July 4th!

[M_Force_4_ever]

Superman: Ultimate Flight wasn't much better on Friday at SFGAm. You'd think that they'd be doing SOMETHING different to try and improve throughput on a signature ride. Line was back into the queue mazes all day, and it took well over an hour to go that distance.

ok, yes lets blame the guests stupidity on ride operators...so when too many people go through the airgates and the operators have to re-open them then close them again before being able to check restraints its defenitly the operators faults. or when guests don't exit out the platform meaning the train can't be dispatched, meaning the operators have to tell the person to leave the platform its still the fault of the operations department. sorry to go on a rant like that but its not usually the operator's faults. Finally you don't have to wait in line that long, nobody's forcing you too

[RaptorBoyASU]

^The things you just mentioned can be part of the reason for slow loading, but not everything. A lot of us in here have worked at parks, and know what's normal delays that can't be avoided, and what's worker apathy.

[BeemerBoy]

Token Yankee: Oh, okay...I gotcha. That makes a little more sense to me now. I can agree with that. Sorry, didn't mean to jump on your case there.

[robbalvey]

Superman: Ultimate Flight wasn't much better on Friday at SFGAm. You'd think that they'd be doing SOMETHING different to try and improve throughput on a signature ride. Line was back into the queue mazes all day, and it took well over an hour to go that distance.

ok, yes lets blame the guests stupidity on ride operators...so when too many people go through the airgates and the operators have to re-open them then close them again before being able to check restraints its defenitly the operators faults. or when guests don't exit out the platform meaning the train can't be dispatched, meaning the operators have to tell the person to leave the platform its still the fault of the operations department. sorry to go on a rant like that but its not usually the operator's faults. Finally you don't have to wait in line that long, nobody's forcing you too

No offense to you if you work at SFGam, but I agree with Paul. And yes you can blame the stupidity of the guests on the ride operators, well, at least how the ride ops deal with the guests.

 

When I worked at theme parks you were always told "you have to expect that the guests leave their brain at the front gate." As well they should. They aren't there to know the intricate workings of how a B&M operates, they are there paying good money to assume the ride ops are going to help get them on and off the ride as quickly as efficiently as possible. THAT IS THE RIDE OPS JOB! Some of the guests even purchase upcharge coupons or systems to expedite that process. And when it's obvious that's not happening, they have every right to be upset.

 

If the employees aren't compensating for the fact that guests aren't expected to go through the park as though they are Albert Einstein then the employees aren't doing their job.

 

It's really simple. It's up to the ride ops to keep throughput as high as possible, regardless of how stupid some guests might be.

 

--Robb

[coasterjunkie91350]

Hey robb have you noticed when the idea first broke sfmm was going to be on the chopping block the ops staff stopped careing thats a bad sign.I was at the park last tues with my younger brothers and we saw international employees smoking on the midway with the guests instead of the breakroom or oasis cafe behind food etc .I am really sad about this downward plunge thats happening.Any thoughts? I am at a loss for words here

[arrowfanman]

^Psh...most of the ops staff don't even know the park may be sold, or dont care. This "downward turn" is all from the inside. We didnt' hear that the "park will be closing" and now we all of a sudden dont care.....we didn't, to be quite honest.

 

 

 

Truth is, we dont have enough staffing to do the job half-assed, and we dont have the training/supervision to do the parts that we can, half-assed....therefore, we end up doing a quarter-assed job!

 

 

-Jahan

[haiderodes]

Interesting turn of events. I was there the middle of May and it wasn't this bad.

 

As for all the trash in those pictures, why weren't the ride ops sweeping the station areas. I mean with one train waits, there's plenty of time for them to at least hit the areas immediately next to the platform/gates.

 

I know at least in the parks I have worked at, cleanliness was always paramount because cleanliness reflects saftey in the minds of customers. And the blatant sitting and cell phone use! Most service jobs PERIOD dont allow you to do that.

[Deadnight Warrior]

^Psh...most of the ops staff don't even know the park may be sold, or dont care. This "downward turn" is all from the inside. We didnt' hear that the "park will be closing" and now we all of a sudden dont care.....we didn't, to be quite honest.

 

 

 

Truth is, we dont have enough staffing to do the job half-assed, and we dont have the training/supervision to do the parts that we can, half-assed....therefore, we end up doing a quarter-assed job!

 

 

-Jahan

 

You speak the truth.

 

By the way, sorry about Deja Vu breaking down before you got a chance to ride. That error was completely unexpected.

[M_Force_4_ever]

Superman: Ultimate Flight wasn't much better on Friday at SFGAm. You'd think that they'd be doing SOMETHING different to try and improve throughput on a signature ride. Line was back into the queue mazes all day, and it took well over an hour to go that distance.

ok, yes lets blame the guests stupidity on ride operators...so when too many people go through the airgates and the operators have to re-open them then close them again before being able to check restraints its defenitly the operators faults. or when guests don't exit out the platform meaning the train can't be dispatched, meaning the operators have to tell the person to leave the platform its still the fault of the operations department. sorry to go on a rant like that but its not usually the operator's faults. Finally you don't have to wait in line that long, nobody's forcing you too

No offense to you if you work at SFGam, but I agree with Paul. And yes you can blame the stupidity of the guests on the ride operators, well, at least how the ride ops deal with the guests.

 

When I worked at theme parks you were always told "you have to expect that the guests leave their brain at the front gate." As well they should. They aren't there to know the intricate workings of how a B&M operates, they are there paying good money to assume the ride ops are going to help get them on and off the ride as quickly as efficiently as possible. THAT IS THE RIDE OPS JOB! Some of the guests even purchase upcharge coupons or systems to expedite that process. And when it's obvious that's not happening, they have every right to be upset.

 

If the employees aren't compensating for the fact that guests aren't expected to go through the park as though they are Albert Einstein then the employees aren't doing their job.

 

It's really simple. It's up to the ride ops to keep throughput as high as possible, regardless of how stupid some guests might be.

 

--Robb

its really not the operators faults that the guests choose to ignore the safety signs/speils given at the entrance, at various points in the queue, in the station, and right before boarding. all the operators can do is correct the actions if they were done incorrectly, and that may take a moment. and it may cause the crew to stack for a moment or so. its not like the operators are trying not to hit intervel or trying to get a low throughput, but dealing with guests sometimes makes that impossible.

[Jew]

^...Or maybe the operators aren't doing enough to make sure the guests are aware of all the safety restrictions/boading instructions/etc...

[Eunuch Provocateur]

With this type of report, I say F**k it! Build some houses! What's the point of decent roller coasters if the place they're at sucks!

[robbalvey]

I really do hope that some people understand that we don't post the negative TR's just to bash the place. It's actually a park that has it's good days and bad days. We are always hopefull that things will improve. If we really had the attitude of "Just F**K it!" we wouldn't hold events there, we wouldn't go there so often. But remember, we do post just as many (sometimes if not more) positive TRs as well. But not everything is going to be seen through rose colored glasses. I hope the park understands this.

 

--Robb "looking forward to when we can post a postitive TR." Alvey

[robbalvey]

its really not the operators faults that the guests choose to ignore the safety signs/speils given at the entrance, at various points in the queue, in the station, and right before boarding. all the operators can do is correct the actions if they were done incorrectly, and that may take a moment. and it may cause the crew to stack for a moment or so. its not like the operators are trying not to hit intervel or trying to get a low throughput, but dealing with guests sometimes makes that impossible.

I really hope you don't work at a park, because with that attitude, you shouldn't be.

 

--Robb

[runnerodb83]

yeah really, I know some people in the SCV want the park to stay...apparently its not most of the workers. I feel bad for guys like Jahan who do a good job and take pride in their work (and also the white-haired older gent that works at scream alot, he's hilarious); it just seems like they are the minority. It would be nice if the park was purchased by a firm who closed it for a year, fixed it up (because it really can be spruced up into an amazing park) and hire and train quality employees, and then reopen it. I do really like they way DejaVu is ran sometimes with a ride-seater attendant like disney does.

 

It's just sad to be truthful, I'm not sure even a disney takeover could fix it up. I truly can see shapiros views, its like a car that got in an accident, is it worth it to try and repair it, or just total it and get the money from the insurance company

[the_rock401]

By the sounds of the TRs, it sounds like SFMM is the ultimate feast-or-famine park. Either everything goes fantastic, or everything goes to hell in a handbasket, with very little room in between.

[pvcoasterguy]

It's disappointing to see a park with some great rides turn into this dump. Magic Mountain has everything most parks want. A huge attendance area (SoCal? It's giant), very expensive rides, and a huge park area. But it's unfortunate that the park sucks just because of the employees. Employees can make or break a park, and we all know which way SFMM goes.

 

It kills me when I see workers like that. Why are you there if you aren't going to give 100%? What are you paid for? To sit around all day? I believe that there are some good workers there. There are always a few good apples in with the bad bunch, and I feel sorry for those good workers. It has got to kill you about how things are at SFMM. In fact, if it was me working there, it would destroy all my pride in SFMM. People should be proud to work at a good organization or place. SFMM isn't so good.

 

It has got to be a problem with the management that is directly involved with the front-line employees. They need to do something about this situation- it's getting dire. If they still want to have a job next season, they have to.

[CoasterFanatic]

The condition of that park is rediculous. I also noticed the Riddler queue and it looks HORRIBLE. You should not have to step over trash to get to the coaster, or maybe that is just too much too ask.

 

I am glad that Catrina and I's visit to Darien Lake last weekend was nothing like the two SFMM visits that you documented in the past week. Instead we found a plethora of cordial employees (most workers at the park were in the 40+ range except food and ride-ops) and decent operations. Even with one train ops on Predator and Mind Eraser, they tried their best to keep the crowds moving.

 

If I went to SFMM on the 4th, it may have been my last visit.

[synaesthetique]

havn't posted in awhile, gotta get back on the forums

 

 

Robb, you were right that picture in the sky tower elevator was horrible. The first time in years my attempt at a goofy picture face backfired

 

 

We decided to screw the flash passes for Tatsu since we had experienced the 4 riders at a time, 1 row flash pass experience before. Except that time, one of the people in the flash pass line cussed out the op and after returning the compliment with a blank stare, the op opened up two rows. Great, double capacity. Of course one of the trains broke so we ended up waiting about an hour and a half anyway. It wasn't a big deal since we didn't go to ride on the 4th anyway, just wanted to see the fireworks really. But the Tatsu crew had it together during opening. Now they were having conversations over the mics and poking fun at eachother instead of working on loading the trains constantly. Needless to say: lame.

 

I think the number of sensors that ride has drives the Tatsu ops nuts because if 1 sensor is stubborn, the train ain't going anywhere. This is probably the reason for most breakdowns (stuck sensors) since it seems like maintenance techs never fiddle with the trains, they just press some buttons on the control board and voila!

 

In other news.... watching the fireworks from the skytower was awesome. I've never seen fireworks at nearly eye level before. The huge bangs at the finale shook the hell out of the skytower windows and made multiple babies cry. The only downside was between the small skytower elevator and everybody trying to leave the park all at once, we didn't get back to I-5 until almosst midnight, two hours after park closing. And then I had another 60 miles to drive...

 

Also, I havn't gotten the picture off my phone yet (i'll post it soon), but has anybody noticed that the OSHA permit on the skytower is 6 years expired? It expired sometime in 2000, the last time the tower was open. I would think that you're supposed to get it inspected BEFORE re-opening it, not a few months after. Or was the new paint job good enough to meet all the safety requirements??!!!?

[Coaster Palooza]

I can't believe the change in the park in just a couple of months!

 

When we were there for West Coast Bash and the Tatsu ACE event, the park was operating great. It does seem that the upper management is not caring about enforcing what Shapiro wants and it might be because of the announcement of getting rid of SFMM. It is really sad too when we saw what they are capable of.

 

I can't believe the one train operations. This is in direct contrast to what Shapiro wants. That does come from upper management and it looks like they are saying, "We're going to run the park our way now." It just isn't right, especially on a Holiday when you're going to have a huge crowd.

 

I'm glad we were in Texas.

[RaptorBoyASU]

Well, at least the crowds were really light. The one train ops only made a big difference on X and Batman.

[Token Yankee Guy]

I really do hope that some people understand that we don't post the negative TR's just to bash the place. It's actually a park that has it's good days and bad days. We are always hopefull that things will improve. If we really had the attitude of "Just F**K it!" we wouldn't hold events there, we wouldn't go there so often. But remember, we do post just as many (sometimes if not more) positive TRs as well. But not everything is going to be seen through rose colored glasses. I hope the park understands this.

 

--Robb "looking forward to when we can post a postitive TR." Alvey

 

I assume that SFMM does read your site, so I'm hoping that the management of SFMM does read this thread and realize that they got some issues that need to be resolved. Because I would hate too see a park the size of SFMM just vanish off the map if shapiro does decide to proceed with the plan and have the park sold off.

 

I can't believe the change in the park in just a couple of months!

I agree with you, when I was also there for the West Coast Bash, I found the operations to be running smoothly, plus with management giving us our exclusive ride time on X when we didn't get it in the morning was great.

 

It's a shame everything has just gone downhill.

[BeemerBoy]

^ I think that's just the "best foot forward" syndrome. I too was inspired by the potential turn-for-the-better after attending SFOG's Goliath Media Day early in the season. As it turns out, I was stupid to believe it was nothing more than the park going through "event mode."

 

Now I know there are good examples of Six Flags operations scattered out there somewhere across this great land, but for the most part, it's just a strange annual vortex or something that the biggest parks (SFMM, SFOG, SFGADV) are pulled into from early June through late August. Subsequently, the weather heats up, line jumpers break out brass knuckles, ops begin to not care, parks catch on fire, gang fights rage out of control, drive bys start to happen, and Looney Toons characters punch out early. It's like the Santa Ana winds, hurricane season in Florida, or any other predictable annual occurance.

 

Not to worry though, because at least everything will be suger coated again come season pass appreciation day.

[Token Yankee Guy]

^ SFNE has great operations and a good group of employees that work there. Shapiro also commented how SFNE was one of the nicest parks in the chain with friendly employee's, and it's true, out of the 10 visits so far I never had one bad day or where I've seen employees having behavior issues. And when I was at SFGAdv their operations were going swell also, even one of the ride supervisors asked how my day was going and how the operations were that day (I was wearing a TPR shirt) then he gave my friend and I direct access onto Nitro for a ride.

[BeemerBoy]

^ SFNE has great operations and a good group of employees that work there. Shapiro also commented how SFNE was one of the nicest parks in the chain with friendly employee's, and it's true, out of the 10 visits so far I never had one bad day or where I've seen employees having behavior issues.

 

Yeah, I agree. That's why I didn't include them in my list. I actually thoroughly enjoyed my visit to SFNE in early June. But then again, that's probably because I've always found (caution, generaliztion ahead) New Englanders to be more hospitable during any of my visits there.

 

I'm sticking with my views on SFGADV though.

[Token Yankee Guy]

New Englanders to be more hospitable during any of my visits there.

 

Yeah, that is true, the only thing we suck at is driving on highways.