Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[jamesinclair]

That is bring a friend free weekend for the theme park which will make the park extremely crowded. What could happen is if a lot of people are passholders with Hurricane Harbor included, they might just go there instead rather than deal with the crowds in the theme park. It is also likely that Hurricane Harbor won't be running at full capacity (at the minimum I would expect part of the lazy river closed and probably at least 1 slide tower closed) so even if it isn't that crowded, lines could still be long with fewer rides open.

 

Ugh. WTF would Six Flags charge full price and not run at full capacity? A broken ride is one thing, but we cant be bothered to staff is quite another.

This isn't just a "Six Flags things." A lot, I mean a LOT, of larger parks have staffing issues when high schools/colleges go back in session. Cedar Point lists on their website that some coasters and rides are closed on Fridays during Haunt. Don't be so quick to blame.

 

That makes sense, does Six Flags also advise customers?

 

To think it is a "can't be bothered to staff" issue is just ignorant.

 

Ok, incompetent, better?

[DirkFunk]

Regional theme parks generally get a pass from a lot of people for being unable to find employees. I honestly don't know why: If you're paying people to do a job that requires no actual talent aside from the capability of autonomously breathing and pressing a button occasionally, you shouldn't be having a tough time filling those slots. One could even say that the inability to fill those positions suggests that amusement parks aren't competitive in the labor market. But alas....

[larrygator]

^^ I was referring to your comment, not the park's hiring practices. As two others have already alluded to. A high percentage of workers at regional parks are college students who return to college, if you no longer reside within a commutable distance to SFGAdv, you are not physically able to work there.

[JRice92]

Hey guys, I'm seriously considering buying a Gold Pass in the flash sale and there's 3 days I can go to redeem the pass. Monday the 3rd Monday the 10th or Wednesday the 12th in October. The Wednesday would be the easiest for me since its in the middle of the week, but I wanted to ask what's the special occasion that they're open on a Wednesday?

[jamesinclair]

Regional theme parks generally get a pass from a lot of people for being unable to find employees. I honestly don't know why: If you're paying people to do a job that requires no actual talent aside from the capability of autonomously breathing and pressing a button occasionally, you shouldn't be having a tough time filling those slots. One could even say that the inability to fill those positions suggests that amusement parks aren't competitive in the labor market. But alas....

 

Yeah NJ has a somewhat high unemployment rate, so Im a bit confused. Maybe dont hire college kids if they cant work the entire season? And Rutgers, a giant college (40,000), is like an hour away. So its not like these kids evaporate.

 

Regardless.

 

The consensus is that Hurricane Harbor may not be so great next weekend?

[Password121]

Regional theme parks generally get a pass from a lot of people for being unable to find employees. I honestly don't know why: If you're paying people to do a job that requires no actual talent aside from the capability of autonomously breathing and pressing a button occasionally, you shouldn't be having a tough time filling those slots. One could even say that the inability to fill those positions suggests that amusement parks aren't competitive in the labor market. But alas....

 

Yeah NJ has a somewhat high unemployment rate, so Im a bit confused. Maybe dont hire college kids if they cant work the entire season? And Rutgers, a giant college (40,000), is like an hour away. So its not like these kids evaporate.

 

Regardless.

 

The consensus is that Hurricane Harbor may not be so great next weekend?

Serious question--have you ever heard the term "summer job"?

 

Adults, especially those with college degrees, generally don't look for minimum wage positions in amusement parks. These are low paying, seasonal jobs with iffy hours after daily operations come to a close. And college students don't drive an hour away three days each weekend to go work 6 hour shifts at a minimum wage job, so yes, they do evaporate. I don't know how to respond to "don't hire college kids" because I think it's been covered and should really be common knowledge why parks hire who they hire.

 

Anyways, moving on. It's not the parks responsibility to operate ride they own, you're paying just to get in. If you don't want to pay for reduced operations, don't go.

[larrygator]

Hey guys, I'm seriously considering buying a Gold Pass in the flash sale and there's 3 days I can go to redeem the pass. Monday the 3rd Monday the 10th or Wednesday the 12th in October. The Wednesday would be the easiest for me since its in the middle of the week, but I wanted to ask what's the special occasion that they're open on a Wednesday?

 

October 12th is a major Jewish Holiday (Yom KIppur) and public schools are closed in NYC, not sure which districts in New Jersey have school closings, but someone at SFGAdv must have that insight.

[danielesp616]

Any predictions as to how the park has been this long weekend, particularly Monday? Haven't visited since early in the season and am itching to go.

[Genx24]

Tomorrow will probably be packed. The weather report might keep many people away on Sunday and Monday. But if the storm is as strong as they're calling for, they may not open at all.

[JRice92]

Hey guys, I'm seriously considering buying a Gold Pass in the flash sale and there's 3 days I can go to redeem the pass. Monday the 3rd Monday the 10th or Wednesday the 12th in October. The Wednesday would be the easiest for me since its in the middle of the week, but I wanted to ask what's the special occasion that they're open on a Wednesday?

 

October 12th is a major Jewish Holiday (Yom KIppur) and public schools are closed in NYC, not sure which districts in New Jersey have school closings, but someone at SFGAdv must have that insight.

 

Thank you, I've never been to Great Adventure, but I've been itching to ride El Toro for years now and this flash sale with the Oct. 31 deadline is the perfect excuse to make it out there this year and some more next year.

[TBpony414]

Hey guys, I'm seriously considering buying a Gold Pass in the flash sale and there's 3 days I can go to redeem the pass. Monday the 3rd Monday the 10th or Wednesday the 12th in October. The Wednesday would be the easiest for me since its in the middle of the week, but I wanted to ask what's the special occasion that they're open on a Wednesday?

 

October 12th is a major Jewish Holiday (Yom KIppur) and public schools are closed in NYC, not sure which districts in New Jersey have school closings, but someone at SFGAdv must have that insight.

 

Thank you, I've never been to Great Adventure, but I've been itching to ride El Toro for years now and this flash sale with the Oct. 31 deadline is the perfect excuse to make it out there this year and some more next year.

 

I am scheduled to be in NJ and will stop by the park Oct 12 too and thought the same thing - why the random Wednesday?? Thanks for the info, Larry! JRice you should definitely go - El Toro is worth the hype!! I'll arrive around 2pm and if you want to meet up just send me a message.

[KBrylczyk]

Yeah NJ has a somewhat high unemployment rate, so Im a bit confused. Maybe dont hire college kids if they cant work the entire season? And Rutgers, a giant college (40,000), is like an hour away. So its not like these kids evaporate.

 

I'm gonna assume you've either never attended or not yet attended college. You wanna pay gas to commute an hour either way from school to a minimum wage, part time job? Hell no. When I was in college I had an issue driving 10 miles to my weekend job, let alone ~45 miles.

[jamesinclair]

I'm gonna assume you've either never attended or not yet attended college. You wanna pay gas to commute an hour either way from school to a minimum wage, part time job? Hell no. When I was in college I had an issue driving 10 miles to my weekend job, let alone ~45 miles.

 

You know what they say about people who assume. Rutgers has a huge commuter population. That is, many students commute from places like Freehold, Toms River and Camden. And so Six Flags is actually closer to many of them than school is.

 

Oh, by the way, I actually work at Rutgers and currently employ 10 students in my department, so Im acutely aware of their travel and job habits. 3 of my current kids live in Jersey City and commute to New Brunswick to work for me, and thus spend $21 round-trip to work.

 

Nice try though.

 

I also, at one point, worked at a near minimum wage job where many of my coworkers drove over 70 minutes to. Some people just have a better work ethic than you.

 

 

Back on topic: If I take advantage of the flash sale, which includes free parking, am I charged for parking on the first visit, or can I show the receipt and they let me into the lot for free?

 

Thanks.

[Genx24]

Just show them the voucher that says you bought Season Parking and they'll let you in.

[tykunkel1031]

^ I'm just gonna let you know now, as I notice you're new to the site: attitude on this website will get you nowhere.

 

I'm not sure who you're employing, but I know through a mix of a college workload, I wouldn't even think about driving 70 minutes to a minimum wage/part time job. And I'm only in high school, with that being enough on my plate for now. Any person with the slightest bit of common sense wouldn't even consider a job like that, IMO, so I'm not too sure your experiences are exactly a great representation of what most people would do for a job like the ones offered at SF. But really, if you were to ask most any college student, they'd say "hell no!" to an offer like that, at least I'd think.

[BigBad]

Do I need a printed ticket, or would the link in the emailed receipt be enough?

[larrygator]

^ I'm just gonna let you know now, as I notice you're new to the site: attitude on this website will get you nowhere.

 

I'm not sure who you're employing, but I know through a mix of a college workload, I wouldn't even think about driving 70 minutes to a minimum wage/part time job. And I'm only in high school, with that being enough on my plate for now. Any person with the slightest bit of common sense wouldn't even consider a job like that, IMO, so I'm not too sure your experiences are exactly a great representation of what most people would do for a job like the ones offered at SF. But really, if you were to ask most any college student, they'd say "hell no!" to an offer like that, at least I'd think.

 

Backseat moderating will get you nowhere. And the poster has been on the site for 5 years. And not to belabor the point has was saying that their are Rutgers students who commute to school and live close to SFGAdv.

 

I would counter that is is difficult to hire for positions that need training if these employees will only be working a total of 20-25 days.

Edited September 4, 2016 by larrygator

[Genx24]

Do I need a printed ticket, or would the link in the emailed receipt be enough?

I don't know if you need one, but I would bring a printed voucher just to play it safe.

[Satans Hockey]

I'm gonna assume you've either never attended or not yet attended college. You wanna pay gas to commute an hour either way from school to a minimum wage, part time job? Hell no. When I was in college I had an issue driving 10 miles to my weekend job, let alone ~45 miles.

 

You know what they say about people who assume. Rutgers has a huge commuter population. That is, many students commute from places like Freehold, Toms River and Camden. And so Six Flags is actually closer to many of them than school is.

 

Oh, by the way, I actually work at Rutgers and currently employ 10 students in my department, so Im acutely aware of their travel and job habits. 3 of my current kids live in Jersey City and commute to New Brunswick to work for me, and thus spend $21 round-trip to work.

 

Nice try though.

 

I also, at one point, worked at a near minimum wage job where many of my coworkers drove over 70 minutes to. Some people just have a better work ethic than you.

 

 

Back on topic: If I take advantage of the flash sale, which includes free parking, am I charged for parking on the first visit, or can I show the receipt and they let me into the lot for free?

 

Thanks.

 

Are you paying them minimum wage? They are also working for you to gain experience in whatever field. The sacrifice is worth it in that case. There isn't a lot of room to move up at six flags in pay, between gas and tolls I'd be working for next to nothing for terrible hours and pay. It makes more sense to just go work local retail or fast food then at six flags, it has nothing to do with work ethic.

[Sluggo77]

Thinking of going to the park tomorrow since the weather should be fine. First time going sole so could you let me know which coasters have single rider lines? Any other rides have them too? Any advice on how to hit them up? Tnx!!!!

[Genx24]

The only coasters with SRL's are Green Lantern and Joker. GL's is worthless because you shouldn't be riding Green Lantern. Only other ride with one is Zumanjaro, but that one is also worthless because the ops usually just ignore it.

[Sluggo77]

The only coasters with SRL's are Green Lantern and Joker. GL's is worthless because you shouldn't be riding Green Lantern. Only other ride with one is Zumanjaro, but that one is also worthless because the ops usually just ignore it.

 

Wow that's it??? Would have thought there would be more.

[BigBad]

I don't know if you need one, but I would bring a printed voucher just to play it safe.

They said all I need is my confirmation code. I'd like to think that they'll also ask for my ID.

[bill_s]

Thinking of going to the park Sunday 9/11. Only open 'til 9:00 that night and may be a bit hot, but I'm presuming less crowds than Sunday 9/18, first weekend of Fright Fest. Am I overlooking anything? Toro and Ka been running well? One chance to go, reasonably. Also might go Saturday night if I get into town early enough, don't know if that would be worth the energy if the crowds are bad though.

[DirkFunk]

Are you paying them minimum wage? They are also working for you to gain experience in whatever field. The sacrifice is worth it in that case.

 

 

This. If you have "kids" working on obtaining degrees in, I dunno, urban planning, working in an environment where they gain experience pertinent to that is the very reason they attend a 4 year university in the United States. That experience is valuable to them later on when they graduate and start applying to work for some transit planning group in Omaha or whatever. Being in a wet lab if you are going for a degree in several of the STEM categories is valuable and worth some sacrifice. Having experience working as a scare actor in a theme park is not valuable to that end and thus is not. This is even before mentioning that most people I've employed in the university setting make more than their theme park peers unless they're doing basic office stuff like making copies or filing.

 

There isn't a lot of room to move up at six flags in pay, between gas and tolls I'd be working for next to nothing for terrible hours and pay. It makes more sense to just go work local retail or fast food then at six flags, it has nothing to do with work ethic.

This is what theme parks are up against. Do you want to work at Six Flags for 9.25 an hour every weekend night outdoors, or do you want to work days at Macy's and maybe get something that resembles health benefits and 10.15 an hour? If they can't adjust their business model, that's the industry's problem.