NEWS: Six Flags L.O.C.K.E.R.S. now optional

[PSiRockin]

La Ronde has cubbies on every single ride, and I never found it a problem. They don't have any three train rides though, but Goliath, Vampire, and Ednor would stack for like 20 seconds at most. It wasn't that bad as guest were used to them as the day went on.

[downunder]

I don't understand those people who seem to not mind winning a stuffed animal the size of an ACEr early in the day and carry it around everywhere but I guess they don't understand either, and unfortunately for them they don't have !_ockers the size of bank vaults.

 

As for lockers, I think in general Locker policy, is an irritable revenue raiser. Down with ride lockers, no more lockers - lockers, lockers, lockers!

 

TPR Australia trip peeps be warned, Superman Escape has the most draconian !_ocker policy I have ever come across, nothing in your pockets, not even your back pocket. I've even had my back pockets padded down by one girl. I haven't been there in 3 years, but I doubt it's changed.

[Lenaapple1974]

I think that the lockers are great. Well, for me, I always have an expensive camera, and I would totally hate it if it were stolen because someone decided to take my bag. But what about those hour lines, where it is hot...I want to hold my drink!! IMO, Nitro had the best set up. Cubbies that had a three way scenario for the three trains. ONLY your train can get the stuff from that cubby. No additional employees needed, and really no time to switch it out.

[chadster]

^^ TSA pat downs in Australia? I'm sold!

[1pizza14]

I personally think FFBFWMAG are hit and miss. They have to be used on rides where you enter and exit on a different station... but on rides where you don't they should not be necessary. At Canada's Wonderland bins in the station slow down dispatches quite a bit. Especially on Behemoth.. at the exit platform people are all scrambling to put there stuff away and than seats are taken and there is a huge dispute. They should be used on some.. not on others.

[Gav]

Personally, out of all the approaches to dealing with loose items my favourite has been the method used at Alton & Thorpe on newer rides...Providing a cloakroom. The way I see it is if you're going to pay the wages to have a lоcker goon out the front of the ride, you're better off just moving them to a cloakroom and have them perform a positive function with respect to guest services.

 

I'm also a big fan of the Disney method, just let people take everything with them, even on looping coasters.

 

Even though people seem to think that Universal's are mostly "free", their free time is VERY short.

Granted, I haven't been to a Universal park for a while, but 1 hour is the standard time they allow right? (Only used them on RoTM at USH, and I was able to use them for free just fine within the hour)

A quick search on google says the Potter ride has 75 minute lоckers.

 

Do they vary it on busier days to allow for longer queues and breakdowns?

(On that last point, surely yes right?...I doubt the lоcker attendants would be able to keep up with hundreds of people exiting the ride every few minutes on a busy day, needing to be manually unlocked because they weren't able to get back in time)

If the time frames Universal allow for usage are reasonable to allow them to be truly free then I see their approach as fine, and common sense.

They do indeed sting you if you overstay the time limit (And that is a necessary evil to stop people using them as a personal all day lоcker), but can anybody point me to widespread stories of people being caught out in this manner?

 

You can't really avoid drinking at a park. You can't really avoid parking.

Drinking fountains/bottles, and buses/trains/staying at a hotel within walking distance.

Never paid to park at a park in my life.

 

 

I always thought that it might end up providing motivation to people to stop bringing so much crap with them. Guess it hasn't.

I think the average enthusiast (And as an extension of that, passholders who would get to know their parks polices) has no excuse for not having some sort of strategy for visiting a park with minimal crap, so they can hardly complain.

Problem is, the vast majority of visitors aren't in this category. As far as they are concerned, they are going on a day out, so it's kind of natural they will fill a bag with sunscreen, drink bottles, ponchos for water rides, cameras/camcorders etc without really thinking about it, as you would naturally expect people to do in preparation for a long day outdoors.

It's easy to make fun of people who carry excessive amounts of stuff , but I think it's hardly unreasonable for people to be taking even a small daypack worth of stuff.

"Think like a guest" basically.

 

The notion that visitors in general would be "trained" over time not to bring stuff doesn't really hold because every theme park is different. One day they might visit a Disney or Universal park and have their loose items well catered for, then some time later they might be at a SF park and face an entirely different set of rules.

 

So this is what I find fascinating...

 

There are now three pages of people complaining about a policy that costs... ONE DOLLAR... a dollar... a buck! That's it!

I think it's really a perceptual thing, since it "feels" like you are paying to ride each ride when you've already paid admission to be able to do this in an unlimited manner (And the reason they came in the first place) and as they progressively ride throughout the day it would feel as if they are being chipped away at. The point about buying a drink bottle, and then having to store it every time would be another perceptual thing.

Again, for enthusiasts can sort of take a step back and see $1 is not a lot of money in the scheme of things.

But the bulk of guests, who are the main ones potentially whining/arguing, it's just another added expense that they'd rather not pay. That's the thing management need to be aware of with polices like this....The perception rather than the way they want to spin it.

 

I'm all for methods which ensure guests are free of items when they board the ride....capacity FTW! But it does need to be as guest friendly as possible, and I don't think the approach of charging to store items is in fact the best way.

[d34thstrik3]

Do they offer all day lockers? I know one of the parks here when I go I hire an all day locker (not out of choice) and everyone in the group puts everything in it and access it though the day when needed. I don't get why it is such a big deal! Suppose with the park being the way they are with one of the rides (absolutely nothing in pockets at all, even if they zip, button or Velcro shut) it is somewhat natural to get a locker now and there is a staff member on entry advising people of the policy so complaints seem to be minimal I have noticed when there. I know I would rather walk around without carrying anything for a small cost than have to lug stuff around all day. Suppose the only downside to a policy like the one mentioned is when a ride exits into a shop and no one can purchase anything due to everything being in a locker :\

[ernierocker]

^Yes, you may rent all-day lockers at most if not all Six Flags parks.

[chadster]

^ yep, I belive all of them offer all day lockers. The last time I went for an all day locker I thought to myself, why am I paying 12 dollars to walk up front everytime I want to get in it, which was only about 5 times. Should have paid the dollar and left my stuff in ride locker while I was "riding".