TR: SFMM July 9, 2006

[Corkscrewed]

I haven't really had a bad experience at SFMM in a while, but yesterday's was probably my worst in years. Although it could have been a lot worse if the afternoon hadn't made up for a lousy morning.

 

Four friends and myself (including one SFMM virgin) arrived at 10. We ended up leaving at 8. The day was relatively crowded and VERY hot (it had to be 100 up there). Operations, however, left much to be desired about half the time.

 

 

 

Took about ten minutes to get into the park. Hit up Tatsu, which already had a long line. Ended up waiting an hour. Ride was running THREE trains (no idea why), but was doing a horrible job, since they were stacking like crazy. Every once in a while, we'd get a three minute cycle, but it was usually more like five. The crew was pretty lazy and inefficient, and the whole "back three rows roped off for Flashpass" didn't help either, since they had to load Flashpass people first, then let the rest in. Some people say that Disneyland's FastPass really hurt the standby line, but I rarely thought it was anything really drastic. At Six Flags, it DEFINITELY hurts the Standby line a lot. But what can you do? It's easy money for the park, and most of the employees certainly don't care about the guest experience.

 

Anyway, the ride itself was pretty nice. That zero-G-roll after the pretzel still got me a tad woozy though. It's funny that I can take the pretzel loop fine, but the zero-G afterwards is what gets me.

 

Onto Viper, which had the bottom switchbacks closed and a line that stretched to the entrance gates. We get to the stairs and witness one of the greatest examples of theme park guest herd mentality I've ever seen. People who've been on the ride should know that it divides to three lines, with the left going to the front cars, the right going to the rear cars, and the middle leading to the middle cars. Well, EVERYONE was in line to the right. The left and center lines were empty.

 

ME: Hmmm... are they reserving those for the Flash Pass people? Nah... HEY WES! RUN UP AND CHECK!

MY FRIEND WES: *runs up and checks* Yeah, it's open.

ME: Okay, lets go.

 

So that cuts a 30 minute wait (if we'd been sheep) down to a ten minute wait. Pretty funny stuff.

 

We wanted to ride X, but the line was past the point where it divides to each side, and I noticed they were running only one train (wtf?! on a summer weekend? considering they'd run two trains just two months ago on a dead weekday in May?!), with about six minute cycles. Yeah, that's like an hour at least. No way.

 

Onto Revolution: the crew of idiots. We arrive at 12. Line goes down to the "waterfall" area. I notice they're running one train, but curious as to how the ride's been (and having not ridden it in a while), we wait anyway. The crew manages to somehow pull off SEVEN MINUTE CYCLES ON A REGULAR SITDOWN ROLLER COASTER.

 

WOW.

 

We get into the actual station, an hour later, and THAT'S when they decide to add a second train. Way to go guys. You wait till 1:00 PM on a busy summer Sunday to add a second train. Now normally, this should take ten minutes to add the train, cycle the three test runs, and start letting riders on again. Nope, TWENTY MINUTES. They were STACKING TEST RUNS. Yup, rather than send the the next train before the other hits the brake run, they were waiting for the train to hit the brake run and stop before sending the train in the station.

 

Head.

Hit.

Queue fence.

 

The most inefficient coaster operation I've seen in years. And to top it all off, on the very last test run, the train "valleys" on a hill. Ride closed. Over an hour of waiting down the tube.

 

Great job, Six Flags.

 

Lunch was at the Six Flags Plaza Cafe or whatever it's called. And *gasp* I finally found a place with okay food! They've got some deli sandwiches in there that are not bad. I was pretty amazed. I mean, I was convinced that there was no restaurant in SFMM with good food. So to find one with okay food was pretty incredible. I split one with a friend (wasn't too hungry) and then we were on our way to Goliath. We arrive to find guests funneling out, because a train got stuck on the brake run before the station.

 

Alrighty then...

 

We pass and go to Colossus and encounter efficient ride ops for once. Finally, a bit of normalcy for me. The three ride ops ran two trains on the coaster, did not stack, and kept the line at a walkon capacity. And they were smiling and nice. That warranted a compliment.

 

SCREAM was also a veritable walkon. Crew was pretty friendly and enthusiastic ("Crew of the Week" apparently). Took two rides on that. The ride seems to have smoothed out a lot since it opened. There's still that rattle on the trains, but it no longer translates to head banging. So it's a rather smooth ride for the head now. Which is good.

 

We came back out to Goliath being opened and walked onto a ride. Goliath is still fun, but it's like a relaxing ride for me now. I don't feel the drop, the airtime hill is fun, and the "centrifuge" merely partially browns me out. Good stuff though.

 

We took a break, and I played a game of DDR and stunk up the place. Not a good day to DDR, considering the exhausting heat.

 

Batman the Ride was next, running two trains and going just as strong as it did twelve years ago. This baby is still intense, still strong, and still awesome. A classic, really.

 

Riddler's Revenge presented us with the second most idiotic crew of the day. I never thought a coaster running two trains could cycle as slowly as a coaster running one, but this was what they were doing. What should have been a half an hour wait was 1:15 instead, and trains stacked almost every time. The crew was lazy, non-communicative, and overall totally unfit for their job. There was also an interestin case of the train stopping on the lift hill every few runs, perhaps to allow a ride op to retrieve a camera someone had smuggled onto the coaster? Even if that's the case, shouldn't that mean they should be checking more closely every time? And I'm serious: the train stopped on the lift at least five or six times while we were in line outside. Pathetic.

 

Gold Rusher was a no-wait "relaxation" ride. Then we dragged our SFMM-virgin onto Psyclone, which happens to be one of my other friend's favorite ride (he's gotta be a masochist).

 

OH.

 

MY.

 

GAWD.

 

I thought my last ride couldn't be any worse because it was in the back car, but it seems like all the cars are the same now. My SFMM-virgin friend came off the ride complaining of sore thighs, sore back, and a general loathing of us for having dragged her on. bigggrin.gif I took one for the team.

 

Anyway, highlight (or lowlight) of Psyclone comes at the second turnaround, when the train literally slams left, then right, then left again, before finally levelling out and banking right to finish the turn.

 

ME: OLY s**t WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?!?!

 

So yeah, I heard Son of Beast beat the crap out of riders yesterday, and while this wasn't *as* serious, it was still completely unacceptable. You know how in the Autopia at Disneyland, if there's a turn and you don't turn with it, the track will catch the car and slam you in the direction you're going, then slam you the opposite direction if you don't compensate, and so on until you're driving straight again? Well, imagine the same thing, except about twenty five times more violently.

 

Seriously, just burn this coaster down already. Maybe the fireworks can land on it.

 

Skipped Deja Vu because it had a long line. Walked onto Ninja and got peed on by Jet Stream.

 

Sky Tower was actually open when we passed (apparently, it was closed in the morning and early afternoon, though, proving that its operation really IS completely hit or miss). So we went up there and got some nice views. This was my first time ever up there, and I do indeed wish they'd let people onto the outdoor portion of the deck. It's understandable why they don't, though; just a shame.

 

We ended the day by trying Revolution again. This time, having been running two trains for about six hours now, the line was a walkon (what?! you mean more trains = more efficiency?). But the curse strikes again. Someone throws up on the train before ours. The ride ops look at each other, close the train down, and run it away, empty. We get into the clean train, get strapped in, and are ready to go, but THEN the ops make decision to close the whole ride down to clean up the mess on the second train.

 

So for the second time that day, we are denied right before we get on and right after we get on the ride.

 

That was that. We called it quits and left the park after filling out a lost item report for our Psyclone-loving friend who lost his phone while riding Tatsu. Incidently enough, earlier, right after lunch, we were walking by the plaza when a cell phone lands out of nowhere. Turns out some guy lost it on that final turn on Tatsu after the fourth inversion. Craziness.

 

 

 

 

Anyway, in looking at how operations ran, I've figured out that the park really has too many roller coasters and definitely not enough ops that know how to run a coaster. So many people carried an attitude that stacking trains was perfectly okay, and in fact normal. I wouldn't be surprised if they were trained that way.

 

So if Magic Mountain wants to help ease things, they really SHOULD tear down or relocate some of their roller coasters so that you can have your best ops on coasters while the others man the other rides. That's easier said than done, of course, but I think that's part of the problem. The Flash Pass also hurts numbers as well. Which kind of sucks.

 

Finally, not that this really means anything, but a couple of times, to make smalltalk while waiting, I asked some ride ops if they knew anything about the whole Magic Mountain potential sale situation and if management had told them anything. No one knew anything beyond what's been said on the news, but most seemed to share the mindset that the park wouldn't actually close. That it would be the small parks sold, but Magic Mountain should stay.

 

Take that for whatever it's worth (probably two cents), but maybe the park's not going anywhere.

 

In any case, it's clear to me that even if SFMM can attract the larger crowds and family clientelle, it won't even matter if its employees don't know how to treat them or service them. When half of your park is operating at such an abysmal quality, maybe it certainly is a write-off. Although in this case, don't blame your clientelle. Blame your employees, and blame yourself for failing to train them properly.

[robbalvey]

*sigh* At least you guys got on Tatsu.....

[jamesdillaman]

"stacking trains on the test cycles!"

 

just FYI, while performing block checks on a multi-train coaster, you have to stack the trains to test the computer systems on the ride. Basically you're trying to send another train into a block already occupied by a stopped train. It shouldn't allow the train to move, and if it does, that's bad. Just thought I'd let you know.

-James Dillaman

[Corkscrewed]

Oh.

 

I stand corrected then.

[Louise]

Riddler's Revenge presented us with the second most idiotic crew of the day.

 

JAHAN!!

 

It's really kinda sad to hear so many bad reports about a park you haven't visited, kinda puts you off a little bit to be honest. Sounds like SF have some work to do if they're gonna sort the place out.

 

I wonder do the GP have the same opinion of the park?

[Ed]

Riddler's Revenge presented us with the second most idiotic crew of the day.

 

JAHAN!!

 

 

Haha I just thought that! He must not've been there if Riddler was running ops badly!

 

SFMM sounds... Crap. Sad to say, a park i've always seen as insanely cool and stuff when I saw the trailers for 'X' 4 years ago. And now.. It's getting worse?

 

I wouldn't be suprised if SF did sell it off to someone else, it's obviously got serious problems. Hell even the Rct2 scenario of it has problems!

[okinawaboy11]

I say we all write letters to Shapiro telling him how his parks are so $hitty.

 

Oh wait, nvm, He'll say he's going to fix it, but it never happens.

 

anywho, sorry your day was bad.

 

The one time I went to SFMM my visit was surprisingly...ok.