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Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread


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People will always try to sneak it. Paying for a fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo just for one ride absurd.

You can have the all day lockers which work well.

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No, the bag policy has been around for years. GADV strictly enforces its bag policy so absolutely no one is allowed to leave any bags on the side of the station unless it's a medical bag. We do occasionally have grouper people in the station that only height check. They usually deal with people who brought bags up but that's usually only on busy days where we are staffed for that. You'd actually think explaining the bag policy to people who slip by would be simple but it isn't actually always with the city people the park attracts. haha I've gotten a lot of attitude from people who slipped bags through the entrance. This one dude who was a Six Flags America local actually got furious with me and told me his home park was better just because I told him he couldn't ride El Toro with his fanny pack or leave it on the side.

 

Take it from someone who's worked at a roller coaster that had a completely different bag policy from every other coaster in the park, it's difficult to manage something like that without the proper staffing. GAdv needs to either have the proper staffing to manage the policy or drop the policy altogether and allow people to leave their bags on the side. The way everything is set up now seems to be counteractive of what the park wants (instead of making the lines move quicker, people getting in fights with employees holds the line up for everyone).

 

It also helps to work as a team in situations like this. Have one person explain the policy and have the other coworker as backup in case the guest gets into an argumentative mood.

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The way everything is set up now seems to be counteractive of what the park wants

 

I feel like it's exactly in line with what the park wants... which is to make money. Everything they said about speeding up the loading process is just their PR spin on it because they can't just come out and say "we found another way to make more money off of our guests" (even though they're a business and there's really nothing wrong with that).

 

If they were so concerned with efficiency that they decided they had to implement this new policy to make the lines move faster then they most likely wouldn't stand for such crappy operations on the rides that have lockers. Nitro and Bizarro both have lockers and their operations have been embarrassingly bad this year (well... Bizarro is terrible every year). If those rides were at a park like Cedar Point where they actually cared about efficiency on every coaster not named Mantis and Iron Dragon they would be putting out trains at a much faster rate even with guests having to store items on the platform. There's no way efficiency is a big concern at Six Flags because if it was they wouldn't stand for some of what's been going on this year.

 

**Oh, and because I hate to make overly negative posts I do feel the need to point out once again that the crews on many rides (Especially Batman and El Toro and the Skyride) are awesome. Slow operations are not a park wide problem but they're really bad on the rides I mentioned before.

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The way everything is set up now seems to be counteractive of what the park wants

 

I feel like it's exactly in line with what the park wants... which is to make money. Everything they said about speeding up the loading process is just their PR spin on it because they can't just come out and say "we found another way to make more money off of our guests" (even though they're a business and there's really nothing wrong with that).

 

The park only gets a very small percentage of the storage money, the vendor keeps practically all the money.

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You're right, but regardless it's still a new revenue stream. I would think they're still getting a substantial amount of money from those lockers.

 

Again... I'm not complaining about them as I understand that any business would look for new revenue streams, I'm just saying that I feel like the PR spin is nonsense.

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Read the last few pages and was wondering when we became so pissy?? Seriously - A park that has El-Toro, Nitro, Ka, the Tallest Drop Tower in the world - and we are complaining that two weeks into a season -trains are stacking?? Really? Yeah - the locker policy sucks - we beat the crap out of that dead horse years ago

 

As far as us deciding how to have Six Flags make the BRAND NEW teams more efficient - lets back up for a second.

 

All of us know - the area around the first Entrance to a ride is always a MESS. The person standing there cannot possibly measure every kid and check every person for bags while they are also answering 100's of questions about the ride. The people in the station have to be the 2nd set of eyes - period.

 

Unfortunately - some people find it necessary to bring the entire contents of their house with them to an amusement park - and decide that they can just take their luggage on any ride they want . Although we know better - the General Public isn't as queued-in as we are.

 

Just thought I'd mention these things - this thread has gotten a little "dark."

 

P.S. - does me bitching about us bitching qualify this post as META?? And thanks to Ryan for responding to everyones suggestions and questions. It is nice to hear the behind the scenes information. This post was meant to bring up a point in a sarcastic manner - so please take it as such.

 

Ta

 

D.

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I agree... We expect perfection from teams that have not done this in either months, or ever for the new members! It's just not fair... If this convo was going on in august, I would agree that the teams need to get there act together, but we are not, please give them a chance.

 

In regards to bringing their entire lives onto the ride, I may have to find a but of the blame on Disney, as almost all of their rides have a location to keep personal belongings... Unfortunately, the ride styles and levels of intensity are drastically different, the GP doesn't see it that way!

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Read the last few pages and was wondering when we became so pissy?? Seriously - A park that has El-Toro, Nitro, Ka, the Tallest Drop Tower in the world - and we are complaining that two weeks into a season -trains are stacking?? Really? Yeah - the fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo policy sucks - we beat the crap out of that dead horse years ago

 

As far as us deciding how to have Six Flags make the BRAND NEW teams more efficient - lets back up for a second.

 

All of us know - the area around the first Entrance to a ride is always a MESS. The person standing there cannot possibly measure every kid and check every person for bags while they are also answering 100's of questions about the ride. The people in the station have to be the 2nd set of eyes - period.

 

Unfortunately - some people find it necessary to bring the entire contents of their house with them to an amusement park - and decide that they can just take their luggage on any ride they want . Although we know better - the General Public isn't as queued-in as we are.

 

Just thought I'd mention these things - this thread has gotten a little "dark."

 

P.S. - does me bitching about us bitching qualify this post as META?? And thanks to Ryan for responding to everyones suggestions and questions. It is nice to hear the behind the scenes information. This post was meant to bring up a point in a sarcastic manner - so please take it as such.

 

Ta

 

D.

 

I have a theory with this because I think you're 100% right. I think we're just spoiled. We have KK, Nitro and El Toro in our home park on top of living in a major area of the country. I always think other people not from Jersey, So Cal, Florida or Ohio and arguably Pennsylvania think the enthusiasts there are spoiled. And I think they're right being an enthusiast from New Jersey.

 

We just have a higher set of expectations because we're use to having elite coasters and better parks. We're not use to seeing what worse parks are like so when great local parks aren't on their game, we look at that as worse than others because we haven't seen it as bad as often.

 

This opinion may come across the wrong way but it's just my theory from speaking with out of town locals and traveling.

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I have a theory with this because I think you're 100% right. I think we're just spoiled. We have KK, Nitro and El Toro in our home park on top of living in a major area of the country. I always think other people not from Jersey, So Cal, Florida or Ohio and arguably Pennsylvania think the enthusiasts there are spoiled. And I think they're right being an enthusiast from New Jersey.

 

We just have a higher set of expectations because we're use to having elite coasters and better parks. We're not use to seeing what worse parks are like so when great local parks aren't on their game, we look at that as worse than others because we haven't seen it as bad as often.

 

This opinion may come across the wrong way but it's just my theory from speaking with out of town locals and traveling.

 

New Jersey counts as a major area of the country now?

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I have a theory with this because I think you're 100% right. I think we're just spoiled. We have KK, Nitro and El Toro in our home park on top of living in a major area of the country. I always think other people not from Jersey, So Cal, Florida or Ohio and arguably Pennsylvania think the enthusiasts there are spoiled. And I think they're right being an enthusiast from New Jersey.

 

We just have a higher set of expectations because we're use to having elite coasters and better parks. We're not use to seeing what worse parks are like so when great local parks aren't on their game, we look at that as worse than others because we haven't seen it as bad as often.

 

This opinion may come across the wrong way but it's just my theory from speaking with out of town locals and traveling.

 

New Jersey counts as a major area of the country now?

 

Talking coaster wise, as the original poster is. YES!

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I have a theory with this because I think you're 100% right. I think we're just spoiled. We have KK, Nitro and El Toro in our home park on top of living in a major area of the country. I always think other people not from Jersey, So Cal, Florida or Ohio and arguably Pennsylvania think the enthusiasts there are spoiled. And I think they're right being an enthusiast from New Jersey.

 

We just have a higher set of expectations because we're use to having elite coasters and better parks. We're not use to seeing what worse parks are like so when great local parks aren't on their game, we look at that as worse than others because we haven't seen it as bad as often.

 

This opinion may come across the wrong way but it's just my theory from speaking with out of town locals and traveling.

 

New Jersey counts as a major area of the country now?

 

 

NJ, the cesspool of america

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If this convo was going on in august, I would agree that the teams need to get there act together, but we are not, please give them a chance.

 

At least in Bizarro's case I assure you that this conversation will be going on in August. It's been this way for 3 years now. It always gets the worst ride ops on the park.

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If this convo was going on in august, I would agree that the teams need to get there act together, but we are not, please give them a chance.

 

At least in Bizarro's case I assure you that this conversation will be going on in August. It's been this way for 3 years now. It always gets the worst ride ops on the park.

 

 

well if its been like that for 3 yrs, then the management in ride operations dept need to hire better skilled people. but being that its been going on for yrs, then maybe SFGadv needs new ride management. if the rides are not making the capactitys , they need to do something, NOW. before the season gets into full swing

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I think I know why they are so slow. Since it is a station wait they probably do it to lengthen the line. In the last year it was running I went to GASM and they were only running one train. The ride op said it was to make it seem popular. So since they have a history with this maybe they're doing it purposely

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I think I know why they are so slow. Since it is a station wait they probably do it to lengthen the line. In the last year it was running I went to GASM and they were only running one train. The ride op said it was to make it seem popular. So since they have a history with this maybe they're doing it purposely

 

That's not the case with Bizarro. The ride opens with 3 trains everyday and then reduces if needed. Bizarro is actually one of the hardest rides to hit its capacity on in the park. With most rides, the next train is advanced into the station only seconds after the train before it was dispatched but Bizarro's next train doesn't actually fully park with the floor up until the train before is half way up the lift hill. And then when we dispatch the next train, there's like a 5 or 10 second delay while we wait for the floor to drop. I know the crew there could be a little faster but those factors slow things down. haha I recently got trained on Bizarro so if I ever work at it, I'll see if I can make things any faster for you guys. And honestly, I think it's time we all stop complaining about the park. haha Be grateful for what you have!! I'm sure there's people who live hours away from the closest theme park who would love to call GADV their home park.

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^ Since I'm not a ride operator I don't pretend to know the intricacies of ride operation but I do know that for the first 5 or so years after that coaster opened trains generally dispatched as the train on the course was somewhere near the mid course brake run. Since no new restraints have been added and since loose article policies have become stricter over time (and for awhile the ride has 2 less seats to check per train) it's frustrating to see how the ride is operated now. It seems to an outsider that If anything the crews should be faster now than they were when the ride opened.

 

If you do get a chance to work there though I'm sure you'll help things along a little. I'm always amazed by the El Toro crew... you guys do a great job getting trains in and out and everyone there seems to really enjoy their job which absolutely comes across to the guests. It also seems like El Toro is one of the most irritating coasters to run since it's so sensitive about lap bar positions. On every other coaster you lock and check the restraints and that's usually it. On El Toro you have to lock and check the restraints, then wait for the person at the panel to give you the car numbers that haven't verified yet (which because of the nature of the ride is usually at least 2 or 3 of them) and after you check those then finally you can dispatch the train.

 

You guys make the Bizarro crew look worse than they already look because they don't have to deal with any of that and they're still ALWAYS slow. They do have 4 across trains to deal with... but I'd rather have that than those El Toro lap bar sensors.

 

Edit: And as far as the last part of your post goes, I'm very grateful for Great Adventure. It's far from perfect but they have an amazing collection of coasters.

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^I don't know how they were when the ride opened but having ridden it quite a few times last summer I noticed they were WAYYYY slower later in the night than during the rest of the day. As I had flash pass platinum I got two rides in a row and for both of them I had to sit in the brake run while the two trains in front of me were dispatched and it took a very long time. I mean, I assume they were tired but if they could be much faster earlier in the day why did that happen?

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^^ I'm sure the reason behind slower dispatches now verses the first 5 year of the rides operation is because less ride attendants. When the ride opened it most likely had 4 attendants, not the two it almost always has. The amount of attendants can drastically change the speed of dispatches.

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