Seriously bad theme park days

[caffeine_demon]

Have you ever had a complete disaster day at a theme park?

 

I'm currently doing a tour with another forum, and today we were due to do Coney island (yeah, I know it's not really a theme park), possibly one of the worst days ever...

 

woke up and discovered 2 of the 3 hire cars had gone (presumed towed), and as we didn't know the reg,it was really hard to get info on whether they'd been impounded. Decided to get to Coney island and sort that out later.

 

90 mins later we arrive at Coney to find it closed - we asked when it would open and were told "tomorrow, cos of the weather" (it was only a moderate shower) you'd think they didn't want the place to survive!

 

After a disappointing lunch bagel at dunkin donuts we went back for sightseeing and lots of walking - finished up in toys r us on times square. were we saw 2 Elmo's outside - one was shouting at people to avoid leapfrog as it was an "international jew toy", then someone approached us and asked if we liked stand up comedy, and one of the group started a 20 minute debate!

 

Shortly after this - I lost the rest of the group, and decided to get back to the hotel... Subway back was interesting too - got on "track one" instead of "line 1" and ended up going back and forth a couple of times!

 

On the plus side - the cars have been recovered!

[IrishBuckeye]

wow.... crazy day. Glad u got the cars back.

[ginzo]

Sometimes days on the road just suck. But at least you weren't stranded out in the middle of nowhere. You were in NYC where there is tons of stuff to do.

[ambe_bambe]

^^^ and this is why you stick to tours with TPR! Robb and Elissa know there stuff and take the time to do the research.

[caffeine_demon]

well - the park shoulod have been open 12-8...

 

and of course, unforseen circumstances always happen - an ECC trip a few years ago had to abandon a day because the coach hit a cyclist..

 

hope to get on a tpr trip sometime though!!

 

bizarro at sfne was incredible!

[Trevannosaurus Rex]

Even my bad days at parks are still fun in places.

 

I had some incidents years back when I was a teenager...

 

I've been robbed at Chessington in the queue line for Samurai, which wasn't too exciting.

 

One time at Thorpe Park in the queue for Vortex I reported some queue jumpers to the ride op. Who tried to deal with the situation. Unfortunately the queue jumpers were part of a large London Gang. As we went past the ride booth we asked him to call security as there was going to be trouble. We board the ride (we'd spent 40 minutes in line not going to go away now), restraints lower. The gang is taking up the rest of the seats. They start threatening our group, spitting at us etc. The ride starts they hold on for dear life, scream away. Ride stops and they start threatening us again. Fairly amusing.

Security arrive, force them to stay in their seats as we leave and escape into the park.

 

Spoke to guest relations, who couldn't do anything for us. As we were taking public transport we opted to leave then, rather then risk running into them later on a train.

 

Even with all that nonsense going , I mean I still had fun in the parks. Even a hot, packed and rubbish theme park can still be good fun with the right people.

 

(right people in this case means people who are not criminals).

[VinTheAttendant]

I never had a day at a park as bad as yours at Coney Island, but I have had a few experiences that hindered my ability to enjoy my day 100%.

 

When I was younger and just getting into roller coasters, I was taking one of my best friends onto Batman: The Dark Knight at SFNE. The line was much longer than usual, but considering it was my friend's first time on the ride, we decided to wait it out. My mom, who doesn't do roller coasters, saw somebody with a Scooby Doo prize walk into the queue for the ride after us. About twenty minutes later, another person with the same Scooby Doo prize exited the ride, and my mom thought that we may have exited and gotten lost. She checked the queue, but I was a pipsqueak at the time, and she didn't see us. So she began looking for us at the car, at lost parents, and even alerted park authority. Meanwhile, me and my friend rode the ride, got off, and couldn't find my mom. It was unfortunate, because I left my glasses with her, and now I was walking around a blurry park. Luckily, she just so happened to be coming back towards the ride at the time and gave us both a massive hug.

 

The other disaster day I can think of was my first impression of Six Flags America. Since it was just a side-stop to Virginia, we'd only have about four hours in the park. My sister and I waited inline at guest relations to swipe our Six Flags employee IDs for our ticket into the park, a task that takes less than thirty seconds. Well, there was only one window open at guest relations, and at the front of the line was some guy arguing with the lady behind the glass about something. The argument lasted for half an hour, and a huge line had cumulated behind him, it was ridiculous. We got our ticket, and managed to get onto Superman almost instantly.

Our next ride was on Batwing. They were running one train, but the line was only at the bottom of the stairs, so I figured it wouldn't take long. But the attendants were moving so slow, that what looked like a twenty minute line wound up taking an hour! Luckily, the Joker's Jinx crew were much more enthusiastic and efficient, but it wasn't enough. We wound up only getting four rides in, and the park left a really bad impression on me.

[SharkTums]

^^^ and this is why you stick to tours with TPR! Robb and Elissa know there stuff and take the time to do the research.

 

 

LOL to getting two cars towed!!!! Seriously, come on, if you don't know the rules, park them in a garage!!!! And if you're in NYC why the fuck would you go to Dunkin Donuts for a bagel!?!?!?!?

Edited June 5, 2012 by SharkTums

[cfc]

And if you're in NYC why the fudge would you go to Dunkin Donuts for a bagel!?!?!?!?

 

That is an excellent question.

 

I think the worst park day (or partial day) I ever experienced was at Six Flags America (of all places) a few years ago. I stopped there with some friends on opening day while en route to Great Adventure. It took forever to get one guy's pass processed, and he needed every credit in the park. Well, he got Wild One--that's it. To top it off, one of our group was evaced off of Joker's Jinx, and park security and local cops had to drag some pervert out of the Superman line (he was groping teenage girls).

 

To be fair, this is the only "bad" day I've had at that park, but I haven't been back since.

[RCBoilermaker14]

One day at Dollywood they closed down all the rides for lighting 11 miles away.

[-Edge of Beast-]

One day at Dollywood they closed down all the rides for lighting 11 miles away.

 

You really think they AREN'T going to do that? That's considered a hazard, they don't want to deal with future problems.

 

Well. If your friends cancel on you a few minutes after you get to Worlds of Fun, it's bad. I was riding alone that whole day.

[154bmag]

The worst day I've ever had was when I was 6 or 7, can't remember what year it was, but my family and I were on our way to SFDK, (SFMW at the time) and we got stuck in stopped traffic. After sitting in almost 2 hours of traffic, we arrive at the park, and the power is out. Why? Well, the traffic we were stuck in was due to a car hitting some power line, therefore, the park had no power.

[Mechanic]

The A C E day at SFMM earlier this year was probably the worst day I've had at a park. Even so, we got 3 rides on Batman, and 1 on Colossus, so it wasn't a complete waste, but damn close. It wasn't the park's, or the organizers' fault. It was just particularly bad weather. It happens. You deal with it and move on.

[BeemerBoy]

One day at Dollywood they closed down all the rides for lighting 11 miles away.

Stupid Dollywood. Keeping the safety of your patrons in mind is SO overrated. Some guests clearly prefer the possibility of death.

[IronWolfman]

Um guys, lightning can strike up to 25 miles away from a storm....

[Rai Fox]

The only two bad days I've ever had at parks were due to crowds.

 

Busch Gardens Tampa once, when the park was filled to capacity (we were one of the last cars into the overflow lot before even that filled.) Hot, humid, massive lines for everything. I think we got on 2-3 coasters and one flat ride, all day long.

 

Then, SFGAdv a few years back, a bunch of friends and I went down for one of their halloween weekend days. Those are always a bit crowded, but we'd always had fun before. This time the crowds were absolutely insane, half the rides weren't running, and on the ones that were, the staff wasn't even making an attempt at keeping them moving. We got one one flat ride and maybe two coasters all day long, didn't get to do any of the halloween trails or events, and even the line to get french fries took more than 45 minutes. At one point it took us a half hour just to push through crowds to get through the central plaza of the park. Absolutely horrible day; I haven't been back to a Six Flags since.

[BeemerBoy]

Um guys, lightning can strike up to 25 miles away from a storm....

Only one of us in the thread didn't understand that fact. You may wanna check the fluid level of your sarcasm meter.

[chadster]

I once went to Six Flags...need I say more?

[simaticable]

Depends on which one you went to.

[Meteornotes]

Many years ago, we went to BGT on what was some sort of Junior High School day, and the park was flooded with school kids. The place was packed, and the level of obnoxious behavior, spitting, cursing and line jumping was insane. The only amusing part was watching my brother deal with kids trying to line jump him. That did entertain.

 

Other notable park visits include the time we went to BGT and I had a a fever and to this day I still do not remember leaving the park (I work up in the car on the way back to Orlando very confused), seeing a near-riot at SFA (that park is a cesspit, and always will be until Six Flags invests in actual security), Hersheypark the same day as Jonas Brothers' concert (hot death to all involved), and of course, any visit to Fuji-Q. Because it is, after all, Fuji-Q.

 

dt

[RideofSteel]

During Fright Fest last year, Great Adventure was packed. We got three rides in all afternoon due to the 3 hr lines. When we got back to our car, our cell phones were missing. Then, it took security two hours to come to our car and help us.

Edited June 5, 2012 by RideofSteel

[Mechanic]

When we got back to our car, our cell phones were missing. Then, it took security two hours to come to our car and help up.

 

What?

[sfmman2000]

I don't know if this counts as seriously bad, but we were sure disappointed. In August of 2010, we took an East Coast trip to KD, BGE, Morey's, Knoebel's, SFGA, and finally:

 

Hersheypark.

 

I'd been looking to going to Hersheypark my whole life. And I came out a bit disappointed. When I go to a park, I'm judging it based on the rides and coasters, as well as how to park operates. It's hard to enjoy a park to its full extent when the operations don't live up to your expectations.

 

I can honestly say that I have very rarely experienced worse ride operations at any theme park across the country.

 

Nearly every coaster was constantly stacking trains, and employees worked at a lethargic pace. Fahrenheit was laughably running three trains, which the operators were taking forever to load. Trains were trains being sent out every 5 minutes or so with two trains stacked up behind the station every time. Often times, the train on its course would be finished and waiting, while the trains parks in the station was still releasing lap bars for the returning guests. Talk about slow!

 

Other rides such as Great Bear, which one would think is fairly high capacity, was reduced to slow, 5+ minute dispatches every cycle, due to the employees working ever so slowly. Heck, the air gates for the new riders rarely opened before the other train was stacked behind it.

 

In conclusion, Hersheypark has some decent rides, but with such poor operations on a busy day, it was a rather disappointing experience.

 

Skyrush looks like a world-class ride. But taking a look at the station, I have to wonder if they made the right choice to design it for single-sided loading/unloading. I can see the ride being a capacity nightmare, especially if they don't force guests to fill all four seats of each row. Combined with the bins for guests to store and retrieve their loose articles, and not being able to open the air gates until all previous guests have exited, I could see each cycle taking 5+ minutes.

[Rai Fox]

Hersheypark.

...

 

In my experience, that's a typical day there. I don't understand Hershey's popularity, really. The park has -so- much potential but it's run so badly. Every time I've been there in the last 5-6 years or so, it's been the same. Horribly slow operations, flat rides run on 30 second cycles, ludicrously inflated prices... As good as Skyrush looks, I have -no- desire to go back there any time soon.

 

It didn't help that the last two times I was there, I went the day after going to Knoebels'. There couldn't be a more extreme contrast in operations, or value. Or just plain fun.

[sfmman2000]

^ Interesting. I figured I went late in the season, so maybe the employees were burned out, but hearing from a few different people now, it seems like what I experienced was the norm.

 

I think nearly every park in the country could learn something from how Knoebel's runs their park (and especially their coasters). I do realize that Knoebel's coasters don't have seatbelts and have a much lower height requirement, so there isn't as much work for the operators as far as some things are concerned. But still, the overall vibe for the employees operating the coasters there is that they work very quickly to send the train out. And at Hershey, it couldn't be further from that.