Horrible Park Operations

[mattnz]

Six Flags Over Georgia was pretty bad on my recent visit, the main problem being simple understaffing. One person processing Flash Passes at the start of the day, which held us up for a long time; no staff to actually check your Q-Bots on Goliath and other rides; two staff members at Papa John's during the lunch hour, while the rubbish bins started overflowing... And we visited Disney World the week before so it seemed REALLY bad!

 

Other annoying things: One train operation on Batman and Mind Bender ALL day long, with subsequent long queues. Then every single ride in the park closed because of a two hour-long thunderstorm - that's EVERYTHING including the Carousal. And earlier our train on Dahlonega Mine Train was dispatched without the lap bars closing!

 

Staff improved toward the end of the day and were actually really friendly. And I had a blast regardless of some annoying moments. Goliath took my breath away!

[coastersfosho]

Ride operations on Tatsu: I personally think its a waste of time to run the duel station with only two trains running. I think it slows things down.

[Gav-]

Well, Walibi belgium was pretty crap last year. There were just too many people in the park and the ops were incredibly slow. The 2nd Loup Garou train was standing on the blocks longer than it was on the track. They were just so slow in the stations.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

Goliath at SFMM cannot run unless there ar 15 riders due to weight distribution when the train hits mid-course and main brakes.

 

I'm tempted to believe this is more of a SFMM operational policy versus a manufactuers rule due to the sheer braking force that is exerted on the train in the MCBR. When the ride first opened, the brakes were never on that hard...now the train nearly stops. This is probably why they now want 15 people minimum in the train so it wont valley.

 

At the same time, I'm not buying that it has something to do with the final brake run. Not only is it on a slope, there are drive wheels at the ready brakes/transfer.

 

So with that I have a question...when doing morning testing do they fill the trains with sandbags/water dummies to get to that 15 person weight minimum?

 

 

Nope. Ghost trains.

[coasterferg]

I visited Indiana Beach 2 weeks ago and 3 of the 5 coasters were closed along with some flat rides...WTF!!1!

 

2/5 open = 40% open= failing percentage...

[cfc]

Happy Valley Beijing gets pretty low marks for operations, thanks to its bizarre staggered opening times that seem designed to guarantee hideous lines for guests all day. Then there's that Spinning Mouse coaster that apparently hasn't operated since 2008 or so.

 

A park that is fair of face but foul of temperament.

[XII]

Mt. Olympus definitely gets my vote for worst park operations. Only one train is running on everything despite the long lines, and employees still aren't trying to make the line move faster, instead taking time to play on their phones or talk to each other. Wasn't impressed at all.

[ArundelHigh Coasters]

Probably at Six Flags America. I remember once in 2010 on the Mind Eraser, the ride op's. were racing to the back of the train, and carelessly checked our restraints. I doubled-checked mine, and my friends myself, just to make sure they were locked.

[Intaman]

I would now like to share a moment of silence with the Mt. Olympus ride-ops.

[GreatAdventurer]

You want terrible operations one word PLAYLAND! Playland (Rye) is my home park kind of but once I was on their flume and I saw someone sleeping on the job mid ride. They give the slightest tug when they check the restraints and the park is a dump. Honestly if you are in the area only go to this place if its for credits as it is home to two classic coasters. If you want a quality park thats not a Six Flags or Cedar Fair go to Lake Compounce its got charm good rides and even good food.

[ArundelHigh Coasters]

You want terrible operations one word PLAYLAND! Playland (Rye) is my home park kind of but once I was on their flume and I saw someone sleeping on the job mid ride. They give the slightest tug when they check the restraints and the park is a dump. Honestly if you are in the area only go to this place if its for credits as it is home to two classic coasters. If you want a quality park thats not a Six Flags or Cedar Fair go to Lake Compounce its got charm good rides and even good food.

 

Lol, they are mentioned a lot on the negative side. *Note to self, If I ever travel to Playland, make sure I self-check my restraints *

[willh51]

Cedar Point's rain policy is irritatingly over-the-top. The worst operations I've personally witnessed were on SFOG's Mindbender. The staff stopped loading a train for a full 10 minutes so two members could argue about what time they got off. The remaining staff chose one side or the other. We were stuck on the train with closed restraints and had to literally yell at them to hurry the **** along. I think this is just an example of people screwing around when there is no supervisor making sure things are going well. The rest of the park's employees certainly weren't that bad.

[Voxelmatic]

Hersheypark was taking about 5-7 minutes to load a train on Sidewinder... Only one switchback took about 45 minutes!

[VinTheAttendant]

It's been a long time since I've been to a park that had universally horrid operations. While my last trip to Hersheypark did have a lot of idle employees, somehow all the lines moved orderly and the longest waits were for Skyrush and Fahrenheit (since we were expecting this, it never fazed us). I think the last time I was really bothered by a park's operations was during my trip to Six Flags America back in 2009. We only had four hours to spend at the park as it was mostly just a credit stop. Well, it took half an hour to get our passes because one guy was having a ridiculous argument with the only clerk at guest relations. A seemingly 20 minute line at Batwing took an hour thanks to one train and employees who look like they hate their lives and walk as fast as zombies. And while no other ride crews were particularly bad that day, we didn't get to see much of them because it was time to go after only four rides.

I will give them this: The operator of Jokers' Jinx was rather enthusiastic and was actually trying to get his attendants to work faster. Kudos to him. I've heard a lot that the park has gotten better, and I really hope it has. SFA left a really bad taste in my mouth, and it's only by word of mouth that I have any interest at all in returning.

[Aaronupsidasium]

I was in a slow line for Gwazi (they were only running Lion side with two trains, probably 30-45 minute wait in a moderate day) and when I got to the station I noticed that checking all of the seat belts before lowering the lap bars and then checking them. That made dispatches twice as long as that I'm used to since ops usually check both at the same time.

 

Is this a GCI policy (I don't remember dispatches being so slow at Hershey GCIs) or just inefficacy Busch training?

[Angry_Gumball]

Something I noticed this past weekend at the Global Winter Wonderland...our group was getting ready to hop in the Zamperla mini tea cups when the ride op says that we need a kid. After leaving, we noticed the ride with 2 adults seated in one of the tubs...so I guess as long as you have a kid but don't sit with them it's ok? If it were a regular park running it and not a carnie company, the rules would have been a lot clearer. And there was no signage saying about max height..in fact all rides had the same sign reprinted...A funhouse sign read "All single riders will be paired with another rider" and "you must secure lapbar" when it was a walk-thru

[rcdude]

Overall, La Ronde is the only park I've been to with universally poor operations. I will give them credit for running two trains on a few rides (Goliath, Monstre (two trains on each track with both tracks running), and Vampire), but other than that operations were awful. The worst offender was Ednor...one train operation, a capacity goal of 300 people per hour (according to the sign behind the operator's booth), and a 45 minute wait WITH a Gold Flash Pass. Dispatch times on the park's other coasters (except Goliath) were often 60-90 seconds longer than those on similar rides elsewhere, and it routinely took over two minutes to load the 12 person S&S tower (most parks I've been to can do this in about 90 seconds).

 

Other parks where I've experienced isolated incidents of poor operations include:

 

Busch Gardens Williamsburg: Everything at this park was run efficiently except Alpengeist. Only two trains running and they stacked more often than not (the ride is over three minutes long and therefore should not be stacking).

 

Knott's Berry Farm: The park has improved a lot recently (on my visit a couple weeks ago, everything except Xcelerator was running two trains, I didn't see any stacking on GhostRider or Silver Bullet, the Calico Mine Ride had three trains running, and Supreme Scream was using all three towers despite the longest lines in the park being in the 15-20 minute range), but Sierra Sidewinder and Pony Express still have pretty slow operations. Pony Express gets a pass as they are inherent to the ride, but it seems like Sierra Sidewinder shouldn't require 1:45 to dispatch as there are only 16 seats per train.

 

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom: During my 2008 visit, Medusa was running two trains. Usually, the train would return to the station and stack before the loading gates were even open (the ride is over 3 minutes long). Whether it is a coincidence or not, this did not occur on the trains containing Flash Pass users, and those would almost always be dispatched with no stacking at all.

 

Six Flags Magic Mountain: The Tatsu crew cannot seem to get it together, and even though they are supposed to be doing 90 second dispatches (according to the timer in the station), I rarely see the trains dispatched in under three minutes. I've seen other B&M flyers (namely Superman: Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Great Adventure) operated with no stacking, so it should be possible to do the same on Tatsu. Green Lantern: First Flight and Superman: Escape from Krypton also tend to have very slow operations, but this is more due to the design of the attraction and not the crew operating the ride. Other coasters tend to be hit or miss, except for Goliath (which never seems to have bad operations).

 

Also, it's no longer operating, but Speed-The Ride in Las Vegas used to only launch once every 10-15 minutes. Understandable when nobody is riding, but this policy was in effect even when the station had at least two trains worth of people waiting.

[Angle O. Descent]

I had a bad experience with Phantom's Revenge, they had a school visiting with fast passes etc, it just so happened that we were waiting in the front row line, and the fastpass holders were being placed in the front row seats... so the front row ran twice as slow as the other rows as a result. If I were Kennywood, I'd alternate the fastpass rows each ride, so that way one particular line doesn't get screwed. But in the end the ride was worth the wait

[Looty]

MT. OLYMPUS!!!!!!! Sorry to yell...

[Ed Farmer]

Poor operations don't really bother me. Things that would typically piss people off could probably elicit a shrug out of me, but not much more. One train-ops, park employees who are complete strangers that aren't smiling like idiot Cheshire Cats and asking me about my day, technical problems, a piece of trash here and there (as long as it isn't blatant and disgusting), expensive and awful food, etc. just really haven't ever taken away from my day. I think Busch Tampa is the best park in the world, yet Gwazi ride-ops are hands-down the worst I've ever encountered.

 

I've actually seen someone with a stop-watch time dispatch intervals in the station of a coaster (I want to say it was WoA's X-Flight, but it may have been Batwing). That's unbelievable, and awful.

 

The one thing that would get my attention is the designation of a particular row on the train of a coaster exclusively for Q-Bot/Fast Pass riders. I haven't personally encountered it, but I recall reading on this message board that the last row of a coaster was open only to Q-Bot users. That would be a good way to lose my business forever- and I'm all for Quick Queue services as long as they're implemented correctly. This would be Exhibit A of incorrectly applying that service. I guess the practice of overwhelming guests with ads bothers me too. I was waiting for Batman in STL this past season and couldn't even hear the music I was listening to on my iPod through the buds with the volume maxed out, because someone decided that I should be listening to some Disney Channel pop instead. At decibels typically encountered on the active runway of an airport.

[GayCoasterGuy]

Mt. Olympus, hands down.

 

Six Flags is very random and inconsistent ... whenever I got to any of them, always a gamble. (I don't know why people single out SFOG as above par in terms of operations. I've had several *facepalm* situations at that park... but I must go - they have Mind Bender!)

 

Unfortunately, in the last 4 years, we gotta add Indiana Beach to the "bad" ops list. Under the new management, everything has quickly gone downhill... very sad for what was formerly one of my favorite places anywhere.

[andybarnes84]

Gwazi was pretty darn bad, they need to get rid of the seat belts for a start. Superman:UF at SFGAdv was equally shocking, 4 to 5 min dispatches in June.

 

As for a general park, I'll say Six Flags America. Made SFMM look like Europa Park. I've yet to experience the wonders of Mt Olympus and probably never will.

[australianalex]

10 minute cycles on Arkham Asylum at Movieworld.

Once a train full of riders arrives in the station.

Step 1: Let riders off.

Step 2: Let people in queue line through to air gates. (This could've been done while the ride was going through its course).

Step 3: Once everyone is positioned behind air gates, let riders on.

Step 4: Riders lower harnesses, but are told NOT to do up their seat belts.

Step 5: A single ride operator does up everyone's seat belt and then double checks everyone's restraints.

Step 5.5: If someone's harness is for some reason not on "right", unlock everyone's harnesses to adjust a rider's harness, then repeat step 5.

Step 6: Finally let riders go.

 

There was a very short queue for the ride, but it took 45 minutes due to these horrendous operations. Plus, the park was only running one train because they only HAVE one train!

Edited November 30, 2012 by australianalex

[rctneil]

The not letter riders into the air gate area thing I have seen occur at quite a few places. It bugged me when I was queueing for Perilous Plunge at KBF and we were told it was the procedure there and they were not quite sure why but they had to stick to it. That was a short queue that took the best part of an hour too!

 

Mount olympus is pretty much the only park I would say I have experience bad operations at, oh and on a couple of rides at Indiana Beach. There was one guy that was working his **** off to be super nice and get people on efficiently but he was the exception. The best operations I have seen have to be at Disneyland. Load and unloading guests from Space Mountain at a most perfect rate and in pretty much perfect sync that it just worked!

 

Also, at Happy Valley Chengdu, I wouldn't say it was bad operations at all but more like they were doing as they were told by not dispatching trains until EVERY seat was filled. The queue for it (Mega Lite) was very short but due to the fact that people wouldn't be split up to get the ride going meant that the train would sit in the station for ages waiting for single riders to appear. But they did entertain you by making you do your exercises first!

[cfc]

^Operations seemed a bit variable between the Happy Valley parks, with Beijing's being the worst (at least that's how I remember it).