Tmcdllr Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 This was to be expected as it has already rained once this year. Yup, you called it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatdan Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Not that this disproves your criticism, but believe it or not there is a "logical" method to the 1 train madness. The ride may have extra trains sitting on the transfers, but operates with one train on slow days because it is one less train mechanics have to inspect before the next operating day. Does it make guests wait 20-30 minutes instead of just walking on? Sure. But it keeps operating and resource costs low. It also keeps guests in the park later in the day to buy merchandise and food instead of just riding everything in the first 3 hours and heading back home. For example, it doesn't matter if a train cycled only one time with guests...that train cycled with the public, and will need to be inspected as if it were running all day. That is why sometimes you will see "empty" trains cycling in the beginning of the day. The train is there to operate immediately if the park gets busier than expected and ride central ok's it --but-- it cycles empty to avoid having to inspect the train the next day if they don't. Interesting post. Agreed, but it is also worth pointing out there are two schools of thought on doing this. While the AM maintenance inspection is an issue, you can find other parks that pretty much never run one train. The theory behind this is that there are regular maintenance that needs to be done on the trains weekly or whatever it is, and if you run them all all the time, you can keep them on a schedule so that maintenance doesn't have like five trains needing things at the exact same time, and then other times when they don't have anything. Neither theory is wrong. Believe it or not, there was a study too a while back where people want to wait between 10-20 minutes to ride a ride to feel like they got their "money's worth." If everything is walk on, they get through the day quickly and feel like there wasn't enough to do. If everything is really long waits, it wasn't worth it. But hit that middle and suddenly everyone is really happy with their experience. Odd, as I'd rather walk on stuff, but I get it - they don't make parks for me, they make parks to make money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Clinksalot Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 It just never ceases to amaze me that these parks who have actual weather to deal with can get rides open by Memorial day (or earlier) but SFMM can't. By the time Full Throttle opens it will be almost 2 years from the time Log Jammer closed to Full Throttle opening. That's just ridiculous for a major park and for a plot of land that is so significant. I guess it shouldn't amaze me, but it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azza29 Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 ^True, especially given that there's not all that much track to build. Maybe it'll go vertical quickly and then they run into issues with the multi-launch system that delay opening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thestripedtaco Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 I really don't feel like cutting Six Flags Magic Mountain any slack on this issue cause other parks have problems with their rides too and yet no other park comes to mind who is so notorious for late ride openings and painfully slow construction on their projects overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Perhaps the person in charge has something to do with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theonetheonlyJT Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 ^ What, do you mean the secret society of trolls that really run Magic Mountain! if you thought they were gone you were wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatdan Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 It just never ceases to amaze me that these parks who have actual weather to deal with can get rides open by Memorial day (or earlier) but SFMM can't. I wonder if there is actually some strategy to it. Like maybe they purposely hold off the opening to try to grab some press in the summer, because they know that Disney / Universal / Knotts will suck up all the press earlier in the year? I don't have any actual knowledge of that, but it seems like they are always so ridiculously "behind" that maybe there is something more going on there than what meets the eye. Then again, this is Magic Mountain we're talking about, so who knows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 ^ Any strategy that means not having your big new ride open by the start of summer vacation is dumb. Magic should realistically try to have their yearly additions open by Spring Break (like they used to under the Warner/Premier days). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 (edited) How is it that a park like Alton Towers, which has several difficult factors to deal with during construction, like cold sometimes snowy weather, blasting through rock to build a ride, county height & zoning restrictions, building prototype rides, obnoxious neighbors and British people can manage to consistently open their rides in the spring, but most US parks can't? And Alton doesn't really have that much of an "off-season" for construction either... Air - Opened 3/16/2002 Nemesis - Opened 3/19/1994 Oblivion - Opened 3/14/1998 Rita - Opened 4/1/2005 Sonic Spinball - Opened 3/27/2004 Thirteen - Opened 3/20/2010 Some of these were really MAJOR projects that required a lot of tweak and adjust. And look when they opened! Edited November 28, 2012 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSum1_55 Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Even comparing SFMM to other US/Canada parks is still pathetic. CGA has done an excellent job building Gold Striker, and much of the work was done before the season even ended. As I recall, Leviathan and Skyrush were almost finished before LL:DOD even started to go vertical. The reason why European parks are better is probably for the same reason European food is generally better than the US. Take a European pizza, for instance. In America, we dump loads of cheese and sauce onto a pizza, but Europeans tend to mix just the right amount of cheese and sauce for the perfect pizza combination. Sure, I will not be as full if I order a pizza in Europe, but the far superior taste makes me feel more like I got my money's worth. Now, look at this in the same way enthusiasts look at parks. I would rather have a complete park experience than a glut of coasters, but SFMM is clearly not catering to that audience. They are metaphorically caring to the fat Americans who want mounts of cheese on their pizza, and come for the coasters. The audience just does not care if they take too long to build a ride, just, as long as they have the most coasters, everyone is happy. SFMM is going to do few things in the future that will satisfy full on theme park fans, and not necessarily because the critics are overly picky, but because they will, for at least a few, probably many for years, not cater to our specific audience. *I am American Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy* Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 ^^^ That's true, but the US takes longer to do everything now. We have been left behind in so many thing. I think its a case of poor construction management. There's absolutly no reason a coaster this small, with the tunnel is already created, in sunny southern California, to take so long. I would not be surprised if Six Flags is trying run this construction site as they do there rides, save money by having few workers as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 ^ Well, to be fair, it's not a "small" ride by any means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 How is it that a park like Alton Towers, which has several difficult factors to deal with during construction, like cold sometimes snowy weather, blasting through rock to build a ride, county height & zoning restrictions, building prototype rides, obnoxious neighbors and British people can manage to consistently open their rides in the spring, but most US parks can't? And Alton doesn't really have that much of an "off-season" for construction either... Air - Opened 3/16/2002 Nemesis - Opened 3/19/1994 Oblivion - Opened 3/14/1998 Rita - Opened 4/1/2005 Sonic Spinball - Opened 3/27/2004 Thirteen - Opened 3/20/2010 Some of these were really MAJOR projects that required a lot of tweak and adjust. And look when they opened! And British people..... LOL!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 ^ It makes me giddy when people notice the little things I sneak into my posts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeoplemoverMatt Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 (edited) If Six Flags would just move their Fiscal Year-End back a few months, these problems of construction timing would be far less frequent. If they don't want to build their 2013 ride with their 2012 capital budget, they should move the Fiscal Year-end back a few months in the calendar like many other companies. Had they done that this year, Full Throttle could be being built with the 2013 capital budget right now, and be much more on track to a Memorial Day weekend opening. Why haven't they done this already? It's a choice they've made to keep Fiscal Year-end at calendar year-end. This creates a situation where they usually wait until after New Year's to start hardcore construction since they can then start using the new year's budget. But, that then forces them to either pay extra for expedited construction, or not have their ride open until 6 months or so into the year. We know which one of those alternatives Six Flags usually chooses. Edited November 28, 2012 by PeoplemoverMatt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 ^ Ahhhh.... that actually makes a lot of sense...from a corporate business perspective. But not from a "how to run your park the best way possible" perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 ^Which is exactly why they do it! Six Flags wouldn't be back in the black making a profit if they didn't cut corners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark549 Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 I recall last year a discussion, perhaps here, that the reason Six Flags was staging the opening of their 2012 rides was perhaps they have an engineering crew that finalizes the projects and they had to be rotated from park to park. I can't recall the exact sequence of their 2012 openings, but Drop of Doom was last in the queue. Since they have the longest operating season (all year) a July opening was less of a problem for Magic Mountain than Goliath (aka Deja Vu) would be for SF New England. With only two big coasters in 2013 perhaps Six Flags Engineering Department will have a smaller work load, especially as Iron Rattler is well into its construction. I like Magic Mountain for the diversity of coaster experiences. None of them are my favorites but it is a nice coaster museum and I appreciate it for that. I've never been in the summer, it's strictly a winter and early spring experience for me. I'm guessing the finale of the new coaster whose name cannot be uttered here will be a big airtime experience on the outside of the loop, ensuring no one could ever again say there's no airtime at SFMM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singemfrc Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 I'm guessing the finale of the new coaster whose name cannot be uttered here will be a big airtime experience on the outside of the loop, ensuring no one could ever again say there's no airtime at SFMM. They say it now and it's not true, so I don't expect it to stop regardless. SFMM, SFDK, and SCBB all have airtime if you know where to find it. Granted none have the sheer amount that is found in east coast parks, but a lot of people act like its completely non existent which isnt true. I actually got significant ejector airtime in row 5 of Superman: Ultimate Flight the other night much to my surprise and pleasure. I'll have to ride that row again and see if it happens every time or it was just something about the way I was sitting or the conditions that night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 SFMM never ceases to amaze me. So many other parks are able to put in rides so much faster, and with so many other barriers. And then to have the operations that they have just adds to it. SFMM really seems to be the Carnival of the Six Flags Parks. They may have impressive and nice ships/rides, but everything else is lacking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 ^ It makes me giddy when people notice the little things I sneak into my posts! I have learned to read your posts very carefully because usually there is one or two gems hidden in them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Clinksalot Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 I like how people claim that SFMM, SFDK, etc have airtime "if you know where to find it". Oddly enough, I never had to "know where to find" airtime on I305, SkyRush, etc. The fact remains, CA Screamin' at DCA has more airtime than any ride at SFMM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GigaG Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 I recall last year a discussion, perhaps here, that the reason Six Flags was staging the opening of their 2012 rides was perhaps they have an engineering crew that finalizes the projects and they had to be rotated from park to park. I can't recall the exact sequence of their 2012 openings, but Drop of Doom was last in the queue. Since they have the longest operating season (all year) a July opening was less of a problem for Magic Mountain than Goliath (aka Deja Vu) would be for SF New England. With only two big coasters in 2013 perhaps Six Flags Engineering Department will have a smaller work load, especially as Iron Rattler is well into its construction. I like Magic Mountain for the diversity of coaster experiences. None of them are my favorites but it is a nice coaster museum and I appreciate it for that. I've never been in the summer, it's strictly a winter and early spring experience for me. I'm guessing the finale of the new coaster whose name cannot be uttered here will be a big airtime experience on the outside of the loop, ensuring no one could ever again say there's no airtime at SFMM. YOLOcoaster? I'm curious about what other words this forum changes for the sake of humor. Is there a list? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GigaG Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 I recall last year a discussion, perhaps here, that the reason Six Flags was staging the opening of their 2012 rides was perhaps they have an engineering crew that finalizes the projects and they had to be rotated from park to park. I can't recall the exact sequence of their 2012 openings, but Drop of Doom was last in the queue. Since they have the longest operating season (all year) a July opening was less of a problem for Magic Mountain than Goliath (aka Deja Vu) would be for SF New England. With only two big coasters in 2013 perhaps Six Flags Engineering Department will have a smaller work load, especially as Iron Rattler is well into its construction. I like Magic Mountain for the diversity of coaster experiences. None of them are my favorites but it is a nice coaster museum and I appreciate it for that. I've never been in the summer, it's strictly a winter and early spring experience for me. I'm guessing the finale of the new coaster whose name cannot be uttered here will be a big airtime experience on the outside of the loop, ensuring no one could ever again say there's no airtime at SFMM. YOLOcoaster? I'm curious about what other words this forum changes for the sake of humor. Is there a list? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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