Six Flags Great Adventure 4/11

[shepp]

/"Never go to a park for one coaster."

 

I'd revise that to say "If you go to a park for one coaster, understand the risks."

 

One Friday coupla years ago, on an East Coast trip, we drove hundreds of miles to SFNE for That One Coaster. It was, without warning, down, and despite frequent rosy predictions, was down all day (during which time we rode everything else in the park). But because we had the time and the foresight, we'd already planned on a day of Saturday sightseeing in the area, followed by an optional Sunday at SFNE, just in case. Keeping fingers crossed, we went back Sunday and were able to ride S:ROS 13 times. That's a somewhat extreme case, maybe, and I usually don't plan that well. But I don't think, much as I love El Toro and Nitro, I'd embark on a seven hour round trip to SFGAdv if the weather were even a bit iffy.

[Electerik]

well, isn't it a little early in the season to be bashing Six Flags without reason?

 

Isn't it a little early in the season for Six Flags to be alienating its customers?

 

I never promised to change my attitude about the worst park chain in the nation. Haven't they been promising to improve?

 

Ever looked for an open restaurant a major snow storm? Would you expect a tanning salon to be open during a hurricane in Florida? Ignoring the weather issues, businesses close because of low turnout all the time- and they always have and always will. Why do stores have a closing time? It's because they know there is "low turn out" after a certain point. If businesses did not close because of "low turn out", then everything would be open 24 hours.

 

You're spot on on this one. But it still could have been handled better.

 

Six Flags is a business, and as an university instructor of business strategy, I can assure you that businesses have a responsibility to make decisions in the best interests of their shareholders.

 

You mean, like, treating your customers well so they'll come back? Oh wait, you don't mean that at all, do you? You mean, "Make as much money as you can today, with no thought of tomorrow."

 

Seriously, you worked at Six Flags and now you're teaching business strategy? Hooray, we're saved!

 

It's a shame you don't accept blame by doing what would seemingly come easy to many people, like:

 

Is that what you teach in your business strategy classes? Blame the costumer?

 

The kid had every right to complain publicly, and you have every right to try and defend the park. But is there seriously anyone on this board who is more eager to go to this park now that everyone has explained how Six Flags did the right thing?

 

/"It's their fault for choosing us."

//"Ignorant."

[Sue]

BTW, Sue, the park closed early the weekend Nitro opened. So it's not like this has *never* happened before. I also want to say we had one other visit where the park closed early, but I honestly can't remember if that was SFGadv or SFNE. It was one of the two parks and it was back in '01 or '02. I'm willing to bet they would have also closed early during our visit in 2008 but they had a concert that night, and I'm *sure* had they not had that event, there is no way the park would have stayed open.

 

I wasn't saying it never happened--I was saying it's never happened on any day I was there in the rain and the park was empty. The main thing I was responding to was Jedimaster's statement of saying the park closes when it rains.

 

Believe me, I do understand the decision behind it, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it or agree with it. It especially irks me when people have the initiative to call ahead and get told the park is going to be open, only to find it closed when they get there. They may not know at the time, but the person answering the phone should at least suggest to people that it *might* close and that they wouldn't recommend driving a distance.

[alpengeist04]

Sorry folks, park's closed. The employee who just took your $15 dollars for parking should have told ya.

 

Seriously, I took a chance two weekends ago at SFOG. It was really bad weather the day before and the day I was going called for a cold and windy day. I was lucky the park stayed open, but I also was preparing myself the day before in case it wasn't. Sometimes you take a chance and it pays off and sometimes it doesn't.

[KDCOASTERFAN]

Has anyone ever heard of a park closing due to poor turnout? I think it's beyond ridiculous. It's like a restaurant closing for the day because no one came for breakfast. I've been to plenty of parks when very few people showed up and they ALL still stayed open... until the scheduled closing time.

 

I remember once being at SFNE on mothers day a couple years back, it was raining lightly all day and there were maybe 1 or 2 dozen people there. I was with a friend and we rarely saw any other visitors, yet most of the rides/coasters were open and the park didn't close early.

 

Last year Great Adventure had trouble and started to close earlier. When I visited the park, they closed an hour early... without advertising it. They just closed the rides at 9pm and told everyone the park was closed. Needless to say, there were a LOT of angry people, so the park decided to just hand out free tickets.

 

Back in 05 on SFA's opening day the same thing happened with the park closing around noon or so due to poor turnout & it wasn't even raining...just chilly with high winds.

[ginzo]

[Tchu]

For the sake of those who would travel a great distance only to find the park closed 20 minutes after arriving, I hope emailing guest relations leads to something. But it should never come to that.

 

As a customer that has been inconvienenced, I shouldn't have to go out of my way or chasing an appropriate apology.

 

Again, I have no problem with Six Flags (or any park/park chain for that matter) closing early. And I have no problem with them closing early simply because of low attendance, even as the weather could be clearing up. The park has every right to do that, and it's smart business.

 

But they should have been offering guests tickets as they left the park. They should have been refunding parking as you leave the lot. That sort of thing. The responsibility shouldn't fall on the customer to think "hey, maybe if i go to guest relations, they would probably gimme a free ticket"

 

There should be no probably about it. And there should be no need for the customer to have to assume that and go out of their way to try.

 

Since people continue to insist on comparing this to all other jobs, restaurants, movie theaters etc (as if a restaurant closing at its advertised time b/c people don't really eat dinner later than 10:00PM is the same thing as a park closing 8 hours before its advertised time b/c of attendance)... look at other industries.

 

- When I go to a restaurant, and they screw up my meal... I don't have to go walk back to the kitchen, find the head cook and ask if they'll make me another meal. A manager/waiter/waitress makes trips around the restaurant makins sure everythign is alright and offering up a new meal in the cases where they've screwed up. The responsibility isn't put on the customer who's been inconvienenced.

 

-I've been to movie theaters on a couple of occasions where there have been problems. Once due to a power outage, and once due to trouble with the reel for the particular film my wife and I wanted to see. In both cases, an announcement was made, many apologies were offered, and free tickets to for a movie at anytime/anyday were handed out at the door to everyone who was turned away.

 

Again, no problem with Six Flags closing down the park. Problem is with the park apparently doing little/nothing to offer tickets etc to all who were turned away...unless those people thought it on themselves to take a detour and swing by guest relations and argue their case. And it should never come to that for the customer. The park should be on top of offering everybody tickets/refunds.

[Electerik]

^ Agreed!

 

[ginzo]

- When I go to a restaurant, and they screw up my meal... I don't have to go walk back to the kitchen, find the head cook and ask if they'll make me another meal. A manager/waiter/waitress makes trips around the restaurant makins sure everythign is alright and offering up a new meal in the cases where they've screwed up. The responsibility isn't put on the customer who's been inconvienenced.

 

You forgot about the part where they spit in your food. Or worse.

[nathanhillinbl]

I think that if you're dissatisfied with your experience (ex. the park closing early), and want a refund, you should take the initiative to go to Guest Relations or Hospitality to get the refund.

 

The same goes with in a restaurant or any other hospitality field. They're not going to stand at the door asking if your steak sucked or your hotel room smelled like cheese. Some people's days aren't ruined when the park closes early. Take a family with small children for example. At my home SF park, if they make it into the park before it closes, they WILL have the chance to meet a character at least, which for some families is good enough, and makes their day, and a good memory of their day. Sure they didn't get a chance to ride some of the rides, but for some people, its not all about the rides.

[coastakid]

^ I already stated that I wrote the park an e-mail explaining what happened...

 

 

This forum is getting pathetic :]

 

-Jon

[nowaymang]

Sorry folks, parks closed. The moose out front should have told you.

 

This has been a spirited read here on an extra slow work day. I can understand how frustrating it can be when things don't go as they are planned and how the OP felt the need to vent about it.

 

Since starting my job here at a worldwide corporation, I have paid much more attention to the cost side of business. I can completely understand why the park made decision to close early for the day. Most businesses right now cannot afford wasteful spending, such as keeping a large amusement park open for 20-50 carloads of guests.

 

~Brian 'Zen as hell (and extra bored) @work' Teyssier

[ajinaz]

 

You forgot about the part where they spit in your food. Or worse.

 

Where in the hell are you eating?

 

A few years back we were at Sea World SD and it closed after two hours because of rain. They were at the gates on the way out handing us free passes.

 

I found out long ago

It's a long way down the holiday road

Holiday road

Holiday road

 

Going out to do yardwork with this stupid song in my head now.

[robbalvey]

It's a shame you don't accept blame by doing what would seemingly come easy to many people, like:

 

Is that what you teach in your business strategy classes? Blame the costumer?

I think he's talking about the fact that -

 

1. As a theme park enthusiast he understands he's taking a chance going to the park when there is a bad weather forecast.

 

2. He was just there the previous week in bad weather and saw rides close.

 

3. People on this forum in just the past week warned against going to the park this weekend in bad weather.

 

Knowing all this information, and he still went to the park, IMO I agree that he should have known this was a possibility.

 

He's not talking about "blaming the customer" for the park closing. He's talking about the kids reaction. He's bashing the park for something he should have known better about and shouldn't be suprised about.

 

I know damn well that if it's raining outside here in So Cal, I don't go jump in the car and make the two hour drive down to Knott's because I know there is a GOOD chance they will be closed or most of the rides will be closed. Even if I called ahead and someone at the park told me they were open.

 

As a park enthusiast and a member of this site, you have a great volume of information that is not available to that person answering the phone at Six Flags. Yes, in many ways, we actually KNOW BETTER than the person at the call center.

 

Had this kid not been aware of ANY of this, and been a totaly newbie to the site having just registered to share his experience, I as well would have been more compasionate to his situation, and tried to make him understand why parks make these decisions.

 

But when it's the 2nd week in a row? C'mon man! You should know better! I'm not buying you crying wolf.

 

Again, I think he's more pissed at himself for making the trek out there, KNOWING this could have been a possibility, and instead of putting some blame on himself, he just wants to blame the park. Honestly, him driving 3 1/2 hours to a park that he knew could have led to dissapointment because of the weather was a dumb move, IMO. And I've made dumb moves too, not trying to slam this kid...we all do it. But I tend to take responsibility for my dumb actions instead of trying to blame someone else for them.

 

I think Elissa said it best...when you only have 20 cars in the parking, clearly that seperates the smart people from the dumb people!

 

In short, GatorChris isn't saying the kid is to blame for the park closing, he's saying he's to blame for going in the first place.

 

--Robb "I don't agree with parks closing early, but I think it was the best business decision they could have made." Alvey

[HEADCHEEZ]

^ Amen to that.

 

I just read the story and I agree with Robb. I would be just as pissed off as you if this happened to me but I can understand why the park chose to bail.

 

Knott's and Fuji-Q, Thats a whole different story.

[GatorChris]

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[Team Thriller]

After reading all the pages I can see where most people are getting at and I think I agree with the move they made. I just wonder if they should have given out free passes to those without season passes?

 

--James

[GatorChris]

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[robbalvey]

Knott's and Fuji-Q,

OMG! Fuji-Q! Of course! How has it not been mentioned yet in this thread?

 

That's a GREAT example. One of the biggest parks in Japan (I'd say #3 behind Disney and Universal) and it closes ALL THE TIME in the rain! And they have HORRIBLE customer service. "Free ticket for closing early in the rain? FORGET IT! IN fact, we're going to charge you to leave!"

 

If you want to complain about any park, Fuji-Q is a perfect example. Great Adventure and all of the Six Flags parks are light years ahead of this place.

 

...yet I don't see Fuji-Q losing ANY guests because of it.

 

After reading all the pages I can see where most people are getting at and I think I agree with the move they made. I just wonder if they should have given out free passes to those without season passes?

I have to believe they DID give out free passes to those who were in the park. But our original poster never made it that far, nor did he ask the correct person about his parking refund. (Which, dude, why don't you have a parking pass if you go as frequently as you do?)

 

--Robb

 

EDIT - GatorChris and I were thinking the same thing at the same time!

[jbarner14]

I have to believe they DID give out free passes to those who were in the park.

 

I was there and I don't believe they handed out free passes on the way out. Maybe they did and I just missed it. I mean I wasn't really looking for one as I have a season pass.

[rawrtotheargh]

"Free ticket for closing early in the rain? FORGET IT! IN fact, we're going to charge you to leave!"

 

Simply brilliant Robb.

 

And personally I can tell you that I've done a 3 hour drive to go to six flags magic mountain and as I was about to enter the san fernando valley I was stopped because a fire that closed down the freeway. But that was my fault for not checking the "weather" when I woke up. I didn't get mad at the park for not posting anything about it on their site. They can't tell the things that mother nature will do. i.e, storms (fire and rain)

 

And on a second side note. One time my family and I were eating at Johnny Rockets and they ran out of hamburger pattys! Yes a burger joint out of meat!! But they were super nice about it and they gave us free sodas while they tried to track down some meat from another location.

 

My point being that six flags is TRYING to be a better park chain. And as an enthusiast you clearly love the rides that these parks can offer. Now by not supporting your local parks they are only going to go into further debt and possibly shut down all together. And a world without amusement parks would be quite a dismal place. So forgive and forget and love Six Flags and any other park for the amazing experiences they can give you when they are having good days.

[Tchu]

But, how do we know they didn't do that? The OP mentioned he never stepped foot in the park.

 

Really? He was at least on park grounds, well within property lines, at the official ticket booths, it sounds like.

 

we headed into the park.

 

As we arrived at the ticket booths we saw the few people ahead of heading back to their cars. As we continued walking, we were stopped by the security guard, telling us that the park was closing at 12 pm due to the weather. Absolutely stunned, and the time being 11:45 am, we walked back to our car without refund of our parking, and drove 3 1/2 hours back home.

 

 

If you were the director of operations, where are you going to station a representative to handle customer issues as they leave the park? Outside the exit gate?! That makes no sense.

 

Why does it make no sense? Does the employee melt if he's standing five feet outside the park exit gate instead of five feet inside. Besides, at the end of the day, the original poster said he was at least at the ticket booths and was on park property. It's not like I was saying Six Flags should have stationed someone out on the highway handing away free tickets.

 

And I'm sorry that you feel the guest didn't have the responsibility for going to guest relations. Domestic parks have only had some form of a guest relations window since, say, 1955.

 

No, I don't believe the responsibility should be on the guest. Typically, that's what separates a 'host' from a 'guest'. The service and responsibility falls on the shoulders of the host. I think it's a necessity to have guest relations. We're not talking about the Park should staff dozens of employees who just walk around the park and ask people if they have any complaints that need to be taken care of.

 

This is an entirely different issue. This was a small number of guests who were all inconvenienced by an unplanned, fairly rare occurence. Guests shouldn't have to go out of their way to have that properly taken care of.

 

Further, supervisors exist in any type of a business... for the same reason!

 

I know. I spent two summers in a supervisor position myself.

 

When I receive a poor service at a restaurant, should I assume that the manager can read my mind to know that I am dissatisfied? No. I'm sorry many people like to avoid any sort of conflict, and that's fine, but if that's your choice then don't expect resolution.

 

No, but in 25 years of going out to eat, I've never been to a restaurant where a waiter/waitress/manager didn't check in at a couple points during the meal and specifically ask "Is everything with the meal ok?" Or... "is your meal satisfactory?"

 

Seriously, what restaurants are you going to where, at the very least, your waiter/waitress doesn't check in every few minutes and make sure everything is done to order and pleases the customer? It's standard operating protocol of the dining industry.

 

And as I mentioned above, the same goes with other industries. When the movie theater's film reel crapped out... I didn't have to go chasing down a manager to complain. It's pretty obvious that when I pay to see a movie and then can't watch the movie cuz the reel is no good... that I'm unhappy and have been inconvenienced. If a manager needs to be told that... the manager needs to be fired.

 

Instead, the movie theater did things correctly. They announced the situation, apologized, and stationed someone, holding open the door out of the building (where everyone would have to pass), handing out free tickets.

 

Parks are NOT going to know something is wrong unless you tell them. Why is it that I doubt that I would need to make these common sense arguments if we were talking about another park?

 

If a park, closing 8-10 hours earlier than advertised cuz they aren't happy with turnout, doesn't know that the customers they're kicking out of the park after only an hour or so inside the gates are unhappy... that park truly truly needs help, and deserves to be ripped far worse than anyone in this topic has done.

 

Again, you're comparing one apple to a huge basket of oranges. Is the park going to know that I was personally offended by a curse word that flew out of the mouth of a ride operator? No. I should have to go to guest relations to deal with that issue. That affects just me, and is a small problem that park management wouldn't even be aware of unless made so by a customer.

 

If the entire park shuts down 9 hours earlier and kicks out all the customers who paid to park and get in, after only 1 or 2 hours... should the park know something is wrong? Yes. A million times over. Yes.

 

And I have no problem with Six Flags. Hell, I'm a huge Cedar Fair fan. And that chain gets ripped on pretty consisentantly on this site as well. I don't hate park or like a park because any "industry insider" or "park enthusiast" tells me to. I like what I like... and I'll debate why with someone who disagrees. I don't hate a park, park chain, or coaster just cuz its "cool" to do so. I actually think that's pretty lame.

 

 

It's like the self fulfilling prophecy so many people on here seem to have. If you go in the park expecting a lousy time, you'll find a way to make your dream come true. Don't fault the park for your inactions.

 

I don't fault the park for my/any customers inaction. I fault the park for their inaction.

 

And again, no problem with Six Flags closing the park early. Just think they should have done a better job of making sure to offer tickets/refunds to those inconvenienced. That's proper customer service. And based on the original poster's story... if they weren't doing that, it was in poor form in my opinion.

[/i]

[GatorChris]

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[robbalvey]

Guys, guys, guys...

 

PLEASE...stop the back and forth bickering...it's getting us nowhere. And besides. I think you all have forgotten the MOST IMPORANT thing which makes the rest of this argument totally invalid...

 

...I was not expecting the park to have the fryers in the restaurant off, and Johnny Rockets not to have cheese...

[Electerik]

I get it, so everyone that worked at Six Flags should be automatically discredited. Why stop there? Why not discredit everyone who visited a Six Flags, also?

 

Um...because that doesn't make any sense...?

 

Actually, I'm sure working at Six Flags could teach a person quite a lot. I was simply drawing a line between the two pieces of experience that you cited. And I was being snarky--but perhaps undeservedly so, and I apologize if I offended you.

 

However....

 

I'm glad you're not one of my students, although, it's always more fun teaching when you have someone to poke fun of in class.

 

Honestly, do you really think that statement makes you sound like a good teacher? Or even a good human being?

 

But perhaps that makes us even.

 

Also, the fact that you equate 'doing something in the best interests of shareholders' with 'lousy customer service' calls into question your understanding of any business strategy.

 

But I did no such thing. Just the opposite, in fact. You are the one who defended the parks actions, and subsequent bad service, by implying it was in the best interest of the shareholders.

 

In my view, good guest service is very much in the interest of the shareholders. But if Six Flags is really in such a bad position that they are now forced to think only in the short-term, then I suspect they're doomed anyway--since it was an over-abundance of short-term thinking that got them into this mess in the first place.

 

But, admittedly, my argument is academic, since I can't actually prove that I could do any better.

 

Parks are NOT going to know something is wrong unless you tell them.

 

Perhaps not in general. But, in this case, and considering the circumstances, I think the park really should have had an inkling.

 

Going back to this imagined restaurant: If there was a kitchen fire one night that forced all the guests to evacuate, would you assume that everything was fine if no one complained about it? More to the point, do you think those guests would have no doubts whatsoever about coming back again--even if the kitchen fire was completely not your fault?

 

Because I'm thinking you'd need to fight for those folks, regardless.