Why Does Everybody Hate on Six Flags?

[ArizonaGuy]

^^

Exactly. All that had to be done to that parking lot Scream sits on at SFMM is to throw a bunch of landscape rock under it just like SFFT did under the 2nd half of Goliath at SFFT. Six Flags has been getting better but they still have a ways to go. They still need to work on cleaner bathrooms, clean up some of the landscaping that they've let go around some of the queue areas and rides.

 

From what I've seen after the bankruptcy, Six Flags has been getting better over the years. Hopefully they continue the upward trend.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

If Scream! ever does get landscaping underneath it, expect to see a paved road in that landscaping. One of the park's major backstage access roads goes directly underneath the corkscrew area.

[willh51]

I always get the sense that each Six Flags park and its management is so straddled by the company's corporate restrictions. I don't feel that as strongly at the Cedar Fair parks, and certainly not Disney or Busch. I think an example of this is the inconsistency everyone keeps discussing; an inconsistency that can be seen at one park on different visits. Great Adventure is one of the better parks I've been to, but I've had wildly different experiences. Rainy weekday in June? They've already hired the staff and serviced the rides, so Nitro is running three trains with no wait. A crowded weekend in the fall? Medusa has a two hour wait because one person is checking restraints and only one train is running. I'm sure the park's GM doesn't want this discrepancy, but when the money doesn't come in/projects don't get authorized by the suits, you get all the crap we always bitch and moan about on here. Why is Two Face's station rotting in a field? Probably because Six Flags corporate doesn't give the park enough money to make removing it a priority.

 

Another thing that I dislike about Six Flags in general is their lack of "heritage" for lack of a better term. Keep in mind that I'm completely ignoring fiscal common sense here, but I dislike the chain's general propensity to give their rides a few good years before letting them slide into a decade of crappy operations and maintenance (I don't mean safety here; just retracking wooden coasters, etc.). They've improved this somewhat recently, with make-overs of rides like Superman: Ride of Steel and the Rocky Mountain treatment on Texas Giant and Rattler, but it irrationally annoys me that Nitro looks like faded poo and Batwing is barely functional. You think Matterhorn would still be a popular ride at a Six Flags park?

 

As for the clientele, these are regional parks so you're always going to get the LCD crowd that may be less prevalent at Disney/Universal. This also has a lot to do with prices. Six Flags is actually pretty affordable compared to other theme park and outdoor attractions. (In the early 2000s it was all "Bring a Diet Coke get six tickets for $0.38!") Since most everyone in the area can afford to come, they do. Not all of them are respectful and fun to be around.

[Koasterking48]

When did it hit $30? I paid $16 last year. I have a hard time seeing that they raised it $14 in less than a year.

 

Six Flags is also including parking in all Gold Season passes this year. Single gold passes are $89.99 compared to Carowinds $87 (also includes parking).

 

*Edit*- just checked SFOG's website:

One-Day Parking $20.00

Preferred Parking $25.00

Valet Parking $35.00

 

Season Parking $55.00

Valid at Six Flags Over Georgia only.

Holiday World has free parking and free soda!

[TPDave]

^ I'm not sure you can compare the parks as they offer such different experiences.

 

Yes the soda is free at holiday world but you pay $45 to get into a smaller park - you'll pay the same money over the course of the day as if you went to a similar park but they just take more of your money at the door and then give you stuff for free once inside...

[Koasterking48]

^ I'm not sure you can compare the parks as they offer such different experiences.

 

Yes the soda is free at holiday world but you pay $45 to get into a smaller park - you'll pay the same money over the course of the day as if you went to a similar park but they just take more of your money at the door and then give you stuff for free once inside...

True, but you also get a kick-ass water park included

[robbalvey]

I fail to see the logic in comparing Six Flags to Holiday World. The two types of parks are very different.

[Koasterking48]

I fail to see the logic in comparing Six Flags to Holiday World. The two types of parks are very different.

I wasn't really trying to compare the parks as I was just pointing out the free parking versus like $20-30 parking

Edited January 20, 2013 by Koasterking48

[robbalvey]

^ Is there a reason why you quoted that and didn't write anything else???

[Koasterking48]

^ Is there a reason why you quoted that and didn't write anything else???

Using my phone and accidentally submitted it

[ArizonaGuy]

If Scream! ever does get landscaping underneath it, expect to see a paved road in that landscaping. One of the park's major backstage access roads goes directly underneath the corkscrew area.

 

LOL, my bad. I guess there's that good idea down the drain.

[Arrow Dynamics fan]

I'm honestly really fascinated to know why so many people hate on the Six Flag brand like crazy. Frankly, I love my Six Flags and I always will. As roller coaster lovers, shouldn't we love Six Flags BECAUSE THEY FOCUS ON ROLLER COASTERS?! Great Adventure is my home park, I go there all the time and it's still right up there with Hersheypark, Universal Orlando and Cedar Point to me and yes I've been to all of these. My friend that I went to Cedar Point with told me after the trip he liked Great Adventure better and he loves roller coasters too. I've heard numerous complaints about their customer service but Six Flags has always treated me well and I can put that up against other parks. I've heard complaints about their food but let's face it, has anyone been to an amusement park that has really good food? I haven't. I've heard complaints about the amount of time it takes to load the trains. Really, Nitro is the fastest coaster I've seen at loading trains and El Toro is a close second. So I have to ask, why the hell do people hate on Six Flags so much? I'd really like to know.

 

I will try to keep this brief and don't beat a dead horse. Your park SFGAdv does not represent the mainstream Six Flags park. SFGAdv has received some of the best coasters and attractions that Six Flags has to offer. El Toro is ranked as the best wooden coaster, Nitro is ranked towards the top of steel coasters, each of your inverted coasters have a large quantity and variety of inversions (5-7 except Superman Ultimate Flight) and are made by one of the best manufacturers (B&M), you have the tallest coaster in the world (Kingda Ka), and even the rides recently removed (Batman & Robin: the Chiller, and GASM) were once among the world's best. Aside from SFMM and maybe SFGAm that does not describe most of the other parks.

 

This is a list of my pet peeves of Six Flags:

 

-Clones: Batman and Boomerangs are found at nearly every SF park and many others located geographically close to each other offer the same coasters (SFSTL, SFOT, & SFFT each offer a Batman, & a Pandemonium, SFOT & SFSTL both offer Mr. Freeze, and SFSTL & SFFT both have a Boomerang). It kills the purpose because the very reason why you go to another park is to enjoy a new experience not have half of the rides being the exact same as what you have back at home. I would rather go to a competing park that may have inferior offerings in the same segment (WoF Patriot vs. Batman) that at least provide a distinguishably different experience. While Cedar Fair is nowhere near perfect about this, and admittedly one of their parks I have visited (KI) has only recently been in their control unlike the three Six Flags parks I have visited, there are fewer clones used and so many more unique coasters in the lineup of Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Worlds of Fun.

 

-Maintenance: Six Flags tends to let their steel coasters get shabby looking as well as their respective theming. When I first saw Shockwave during 2011, I had concerns that it might be SBNO based on the way it appeared and there had not been any trains running on it until a while later (they fortunately have resolved this). At SFSTL the track of the Batman is looking rusty and is getting rougher as well as the theming from the queue continues to be neglected and removed. The Mine Train hasn't had a paint job in I don't know how long. Some of their choices on paint colors make the rides less exciting and more dreary. The Ninja went from a bright orangish-red track to black. It makes the skyline more depressing when you have two coasters that are black and nothing really bright to contrast against it.

 

-Food: It is terrrible and over priced. It is very low grade processed food. Most fast food joints are better than this. If they would open this up to local vendors whom use more fresh ingredients and adapt it for a more local taste and styles.

 

-Parking lots: the main ones are okay, but the extra lots used on busier days are literally crumbling and are not often swept. You have to watch where you park if you don't want to run over glass or other undesired things.

 

-Newer coaster additions: In the history of SFSTL before Premier, each coaster added was a good addition that provided either a new experience or a more intense experience (KRMT was original with the park, Screamin' Eagle was a wooden coaster and a previous world record holder, Jet Scream provided an inversion, Ninja (slightly used) provide 4 inversions (2 new types to the park) and faster than Jet Scream, Batman was an inverted layout with 5 inversions (1 new inversion type to the park) and faster than Ninja, Mr. Freeze provided a launch type 2 direction coaster with a new inversion type to the park faster than the Batman, even Boss (Premier's first addition) advance the park with it being taller than Screamin' Eagle (but they messed even that up with the selection of Gerstlauer Trains). Since this, the additions have not added anything noteworthy to the park's experience. I can't really criticize Pandemonium as it does at least provide the experience of spinning, but it is a family coaster and not what I am looking for. American Thunder is shorter and slower than either Screamin' Eagle or Boss, and is nowhere near as good as Prowler (WoF) and did not address what our park is needing. Boomerang is a very used clone with around 50 copies in existence and is slower than any of SFSTLs inverted coasters and does not address what the park needs.

 

-Following the Standard Oil strategy: It drives me crazy when companies think they can have a monopoly by buying out all of their competition, because the end result is they have less money to invest in the products/service that I am purchasing from them, they put in less effort because they think they already own you, they uniform everything so then there is less variety and uniqueness.

 

-Putting all the best coasters in two, maybe three parks: Many others have pointed out that SFMM doesn't offer much besides coasters and while they were doing this preventing their park from having the needed balance, it came at a cost to the parks that could have used one of their excess coasters. They have 3 coasters with 6-7 inversions (The Riddler's Revenge, Viper, Scream!), 2 hyper coasters (Goliath & X2), 2 launchers (Superman: Escape from Krypton & Full Throttle). On top of some clones (Batman of course) and other ones that are unique and not duplicating segments (Tatsu, Ninja, etc.), this park gets a ton of the best coasters on the market, while SFOT really has nothing unique (other than the Texas Giant and that may change before long) nor does SFSTL nor SFFT. Your park as already discussed has lots of amazing coasters that are among the best and we lost one of our local coasters (Chang aka Green Lantern) to your park which would have been a nice addition to one of our other local parks. It rubs salt in the wound especially when we get stuck with a Boomerang that was already from this region and already offered nearby. It also is frustrating because unlike Cedar Point & Kings Island, SFMM and SFGAdv are on the opposite ends of the country; therefore, it is very inconvenient and more expensive to travel to enjoy the unique stuff.

 

Despite my criticisms, I don't hate Six Flags, I just criticize the things they are doing that drive me crazy. There are things that I my opinion they do a decent job on. In comparison to Cedar Fair, they keep their wooden coasters up better. I would much rather ride the Boss than most of the wooden coasters I have ridden at CF parks. The Screamin' Eagle is one of my favorites. The wood on Timber Wolf (WoF) is bowed and despite being run slow (a band aid on the problem), it rides rough. The Rattler was terrible, but I blame that squarely on the designer and the previous company for ordering that one, SF may have finally resolved this problem. The Mean Streak rides like a pile of junk thrown together. Even though I like the Beast (KI), it will beat you up much worse than the Boss if you ride in the back). The Racer (KI) really needs some TLC.

 

I will say that SF is the discount brand theme park. Their season passes are much cheaper, I prefer the deal on the souvenir cup deal of Six Flags to that of Cedar Fairs, but I would be more than willing to pay the price that Cedar Fair charges if they would start adding better coasters to my park and offer distinguishably different coasters to the nearby Six Flags parks (SFOT, SFFT, SFGAm).

[robbalvey]

my pet peeves of Six Flags:

 

-Clones: Batman and Boomerangs are found at nearly every SF park and many others located geographically close to each other offer the same coasters (SFSTL, SFOT, & SFFT each offer a Batman, & a Pandemonium, SFOT & SFSTL both offer Mr. Freeze, and SFSTL & SFFT both have a Boomerang). It kills the purpose because the very reason why you go to another park is to enjoy a new experience not have half of the rides being the exact same as what you have back at home.

What's funny about your "pet peeve" is that it's a pet peeve of mine when enthusiasts complain about this. Let's break this down, shall we?

 

Batman and Boomerangs are found at nearly every SF park

Really? Is it SO BAD that a really awesome B&M invert has been cloned to other parks? I honestly have never met a Batman I don't like. And Boomerangs, eh. Big deal...

 

SFSTL, SFOT, & SFFT each offer a Batman, & a Pandemonium

I mean, those are two really good rides! I don't see the problem here...

 

SFOT & SFSTL both offer Mr. Freeze

And those are the ONLY two in the chain...hell, I would actually like them to build MORE of these, please!

 

SFSTL & SFFT both have a Boomerang

The Boomerang aside, I would be willing to bet that less than 1% of the visitors from the St. Louis park ALSO visit the San Antonio park. In fact, I'd even be willing to bet the number of people who visit the Arlington park AND the San Antonio park in the same year isn't much higher than that number.

 

the very reason why you go to another park is to enjoy a new experience

You do realize that even some of the BEST theme parks in the world clone rides, right? I mean, you might as well never go to Tokyo Disneyland because they have a clone of Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones, Big Thunder, Toy Story Mania, Cartoon Spin, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Star Tours, Small World, Buzz Lightyear, etc. I mean, geez, what a crappy park! Nothing but stupid clones!

 

Yeah, this has always been one of my "enthusiast pet peeves." And sure, I love to see original rides at parks as much as the next person, but it really doesn't bother me when I see duplicates of rides that are really good like Batman, Mr. Freeze, Tower of Terror, Spider-Man, or even stuff like Fire in the Hole.

 

Honestly, it's all part of how the business works...

 

--Robb "End rant!" Alvey

Edited January 22, 2013 by robbalvey

[Bryce]

I've only been to Six Flags over Georgia and I didn't find it to be that bad. Now, I've seen pictures of other Six Flags parks and whew... They get pretty ugly.

 

For me, a theme park isn't all about roller coasters. It's an experience. I love atmosphere, theming, landscaping, music, food, etc. I would much rather spend a day at Universal's Islands of Adventure or Magic Kingdom than riding an endless amount of roller coasters at a crappy park. Eh, maybe I'm just spoiled living in Florida and getting to go to Universal and Disney all the time.

[bottom_feeder_13]

SFMM has 2 hyper coasters (Goliath & X2) & 2 launchers (Superman: Escape from Krypton & YOLOcoaster).

 

I'd hardly say that having X2 and Goliath in the same park is a crime, they offer two polar experiences, its like saying that skiing and mountain biking are the same because they're both going downhill on uneven surfaces. Secondly S:EFK is hardly something you ride for the launch, its more thrilling to do 0-100mph in a car. 2 launchers in a park is favoritism, are you trying to imply that SFDK is an SF flagship park because it has V2 and S:UF, or SFNE because it has a boomerang and a GIB. CP has 3 launch coasters and nobody accuses Cedar Fair of favoritism.

 

My personal dislike of SF comes from the fact that they aren't a nice place to be. While Hershey isn't an highly themed park but I would still enjoy spending multiple days there so I could explore and ride at my leisure, at an SF park the only reason I would consider spending multiple days would be because I didn't have time to get a cred on the first day. There's also the fact that a large part of park-goers at SF parks are rather unsavory characters, meaning while I feel perfectly safe I don't feel comfortable (*cough*SFMM*cough*). At other parks, even large chain parks like CP I feel perfectly comfortable. Of course my favorite park is BGW simply because I could spend days there and never get bored simply because there is so much to do there despite small coaster selection, this is of course helped by the fact that I could ride any one of the coasters there all day and still enjoy myself.

[Arrow Dynamics fan]

 

Batman and Boomerangs are found at nearly every SF park

Really? Is it SO BAD that a really awesome B&M invert has been cloned to other parks? I honestly have never met a Batman I don't like. And Boomerangs, eh. Big deal...

 

SFSTL, SFOT, & SFFT each offer a Batman, & a Pandemonium

I mean, those are two really good rides! I don't see the problem here...

 

SFOT & SFSTL both offer Mr. Freeze

And those are the ONLY two in the chain...hell, I would actually like them to build MORE of these, please!

 

SFSTL & SFFT both have a Boomerang

The Boomerang aside, I would be willing to bet that less than 1% of the visitors from the St. Louis park ALSO visit the San Antonio park. In fact, I'd even be willing to bet the number of people who visit the Arlington park AND the San Antonio park in the same year isn't much higher than that number.

 

the very reason why you go to another park is to enjoy a new experience

You do realize that even some of the BEST theme parks in the world clone rides, right? I mean, you might as well never go to Tokyo Disneyland because they have a clone of Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones, Big Thunder, Toy Story Mania, Cartoon Spin, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Star Tours, Small World, Buzz Lightyear, etc. I mean, geez, what a crappy park! Nothing but stupid clones!

 

Yeah, this has always been one of my "enthusiast pet peeves." And sure, I love to see original rides at parks as much as the next person, but it really doesn't bother me when I see duplicates of rides that are really good like Batman, Mr. Freeze, Tower of Terror, Spider-Man, or even stuff like Fire in the Hole.

 

Honestly, it's all part of how the business works...

 

--Robb "End rant!" Alvey

With all due respect, it is a problem that the experience other than the mirrored layout on a couple (SFSTL & SFFT included) are identical. While I prefer some B&M Invert layouts to others, I appreciate the experience to ride versions whether they have more elements or fewer (Raptor & Patriot) compared to the Batman. Having most Six Flags parks offering an B&M Inverted coaster with the same title (except SFFT) is by no means what I am against, it is the fact that the elements are the same. While Batman, Pandemonium, and Mr. Freeze are each really good rides, why have them all centralized in the same geographic area? It wouldn't bother me as much if they would trade one of the Mr. Freeze's for something of similar caliber that this area does not already have (say a Intamin mega coaster), heck they could make a couple more just keep them out of the midwest and not next to each other. The issue is they keep putting the same coasters at parks in the same geographic region (Mr. Freeze, Superman Ride of Steel, and Pandemonium). I can even see having one large cloned coaster ride at every park as a brand signature and maybe a small ride like Pandemonium so long as that isn't the one that the park in depending upon as their crowd drawer, but when you have that much overlap it begs the question "why bother visiting all the local parks?"

 

Disney's parks are a complete different universe as far as I am concerned from Six Flags and Cedar Fair, and I personally have no intentions as of right now to travel outside of the U.S. for theme parks. Having clones in a different country is a complete different situation considering the incredible cost of travel to travel. Outside of hardest core of hard core Disney fans, I am sure that even fewer people (percentage wise) who visit Disneyland will ever visit Tokyo Disneyland.

[jedimaster1227]

With all due respect, it is a problem that the experience other than the mirrored layout on a couple (SFSTL & SFFT included) are identical.

 

With all due respect, it isn't a problem that a business has found moderate success by building proven coasters that appeal to their primary audience across the board.

 

It isn't a problem that they aren't selecting their coasters to suit your opinions alone, or those of any other individual for that matter.

Edited January 22, 2013 by jedimaster1227

[3Mutts]

^^^ Ok a few things about your pervious post.

 

Clones: Clones are fine IMO (even the crappy SLCs and Boomerangs) as the GP are not going to be traveling to go to an amusement park outside their local park unless its Disney World/Land. They don't care about their being a clone of their Boomerang in Uzbekistan like some coaster enthusiasts do because they don't know about it! Also, with the price of gas, how many people are going to travel all the way across Missouri just to go to WOF, the number is pretty small. I think this part of your post it to complain about your used Boomerang, while it may not be what the park needs, it could end up being decent if Six Flags replaces the trains (they probably will as parts for Arrow trains are becoming scarce and the fact Arrow trains arent compatible with the magnetic breaking system it will be getting) with Vekomas MK1212 trains or trains similar to Wiener Praters Boomerang (lapbars).

 

Maintenance: Cedar Fair isn't exactly good with this either, Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point is REALLY beginning to need a paint job and Mavericks tunnel themeing has all been turned off. Also Disaster Transport was a laughing stock of a dark ride.

 

Food: Agree here, Six Flags food selection does suck but so does Cedar Fairs.

 

Parking lot: All parking lots suck in some way, it's a fact of life. Be thankful they don't make park on grass.

 

New Additions: I see Six Flags going back to the old days on this one. During the time those additions were put in there was a RRP (there is a RRP now) and smaller Six Flags parks are beginning to get better additions (Iron Rattler at SFFT looks like their best addition this year and Full Throttle being the second to worst). Also SFStL still gets some nice additions (American Thunder is pretty good and Pandemonium is a excellent family coaster). Give Six Flags time as a Rocky Mountain treatment on The Boss could be coming for all you know.

 

Following the Standard Oil Strategy: Not really anymore, but this was definitely true during the Premier Park days.

 

Putting all the best coasters in 2 or 3 parks: Cedar Fair does this too, Knotts Berry Farm, Cedar Point, Canada's Wonderland, Kings Island, and Kings Dominion get the good coasters while Dorney Park, Valley Fair, Michigan's Adventure, and CGA get nothing or hand me downs (CGA looks like that could be changing due to the new stadium and a more cooperative council)

[Mrlittle]

it is the fact that the elements are the same.

 

You should be mad at B&M then. I bet they sell Six Flags the Batman clones for a great price. It's not like every park has the same 8-10 coasters. Look at SFOT and SFFT, two very close parks. They had 3 coasters that were the same but they still had enough rides/coasters that are different enough to make it worth a trip to both.

 

Maybe since my local parks are obviously Six Flags, I don't hate on them. I'm not saying there perfect parks. I still think there heading into the right direction. Just look at the variety of new attractions this year.

[Angry_Gumball]

Honestly I don't mind the cloned rides. As someone who needs to travel more but can't afford to go across the country or to another country altogether, I can still enjoy/experience a B:TR that is only 6 hours away as opposed to having to travel across the US to ride one. I would eventually like to experience the clones to up the credit count and compare how the others perform among each other.

[robbalvey]

With all due respect, it is a problem that the experience other than the mirrored layout on a couple (SFSTL & SFFT included) are identical. While I prefer some B&M Invert layouts to others, I appreciate the experience to ride versions whether they have more elements or fewer (Raptor & Patriot) compared to the Batman.

Sooo...basically what you're saying is that you don't think companies should clone rides unless they are versions of the ride YOU personally prefer? If Raptor & Patriot were cloned at other parks, you're "ok" with that, but not Batman, because you don't like it as much.

 

Yup, makes logical sense! Check!

 

 

While Batman, Pandemonium, and Mr. Freeze are each really good rides, why have them all centralized in the same geographic area?

Your comment ONLY applies Mr. Freeze. Last I checked they had Batmans & Pademoniums on the West Coast, East Coast, and Mid-West. And again, show me some data that says a large majority of people from St. Louis travel to Dallas, and vice versa, and on top of it are also UPSET that both parks have a Mr. Freeze.

 

I can even see having one large cloned coaster ride at every park as a brand signature and maybe a small ride like Pandemonium so long as that isn't the one that the park in depending upon as their crowd drawer

Ok, wait, wait, wait, hold on a second. I'm really trying to follow your logic here. So you just complained about having too many Batmans and Pandemoniums, which aren't at EVERY park, but now you're saying it would be "OK" for EVERY park to build a Batman and Pandemonium, with the stipulation that not many people ride them and it's not a favourite among park patrons.

 

WHAT!?!?!?

 

Why on earth would a park build a huge ride at EVERY park that the crowd "likes", but doesn't "like that much?" Basically what you're saying is you want a Vekoma SLC at every Six Flags park? Seriously, WTF are you going on about?!?!?

 

Disney's parks are a complete different universe as far as I am concerned from Six Flags and Cedar Fair, and I personally have no intentions as of right now to travel outside of the U.S. for theme parks. Having clones in a different country is a complete different situation considering the incredible cost of travel to travel.

So it's "ok" to have cloned rides 4,500 miles away (Orlando to Paris) as long as they are separated by a border crossing, but it's not ok to have cloned rides 3,000 miles away in the same country (SFMM to SFGadv)? Because traveling from Los Angeles to New York is virtually free these days. Even traveling from St. Louis to San Antonio costs nothing, you know? Yes, I totally understand your logic now. It doesn't come off like a crazy person...AT ALL!

 

Outside of hardest core of hard core Disney fans, I am sure that even fewer people (percentage wise) who visit Disneyland will ever visit Tokyo Disneyland.

I will bet you money that MORE people have visited both Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland or Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland than have visited Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags St. Louis. Wanna make that bet with me? Let's go!

 

Seriously, I'm only responding to this because, yes, you hit a nerve. Someone that doesn't even understand the theme park business, and in your case almost REFUSES to understand the theme park business, shouldn't be a theme park enthusiast, IMO.

 

Your logic and your argument is so flawed it makes my head hurt.

 

--Robb "Time to go take Advil now..." Alvey

Edited January 22, 2013 by robbalvey

[Mechanic]

All the rides on Arrows must have scrambled his brain.

 

[JJLehto]

I can only speak for myself:

 

I know it's a business...but Six Flags seems to come off as half assed and greedy and what not.

Take Great Adventure, I remember as a kid when they had 25 new rides in a year. A third were open at any time, and for a park with so many rides it felt like a show. Look at our stats! But that was it.

Opposed to CP which has a ton of rides, all always open (yes excluding breakdowns and Intamin issues lol)

 

The park seemed to fall into disarray, like they weren't trying at all and it was dirty.

The new "Golden Kingdom" at SF:GA felt like a copout after being dubbed a "new section" and they made a half assed effort to clean up the park. Like painted half of ralinings, the side you can see...and most of those rides are gone now anyway. A trip to SF:Great Adventure is 9 hours and 5 coasters.

Friends in NY said Six Flags ruiend Darien Lake, including jacking the prices up for everything, and I've heard stories about SF:MM

Great Adventure always seemed understaffed and reading posts, apparently it's not the only. IDK just feels like a lazy complacant chain.

 

This is just me though, can't vouch for others.

 

As ya see, I have little beef with the rides. There are some great coasters at Great Adventure and the other Six Flags parks. Rides will be the rides, regardless. Ultimately that's what it's about, and SF has never made me feel strong enough to not go...I'll agree some probably hate on it just for the sake of it.

[Hercules]

At least with Cedar Fair parks you know what you are getting yourself into when you walk through the gate.

[DJtrain]

I wrote a nicely worded letter (not a flaming rant) to their corporate customer service department stating why I disapproved of it and how some of the other parks worked to accommodate guest's items without having them pay extra for it. I never received an acknowledgment from them where even a "Thanks for the E-mail - we will definitely look into it" answer would have been better than nothing at all.

 

You were trying to affect how Six Flags received money and comparing them to other parks. Most parks dont really run things the same way. Most likely Six flags received many other complaints and just responded fully to a couple of them, but didnt want to deal with many others so..."Thanks for the E-mail - we will definitely look into it" that was there answer to a COMPLAINT. May have took it into consideration, but less likely to use it.

 

I then sent an E-mail to CF mentioning the effectiveness of their ride bins/sliding doors & there was a nice response in my Inbox the next day thanking me for taking the time to write them and how glad they were that they could provide a good park experience for me. They also mentioned that if there was anything else that they could do to make my experience better in the future to let them know.

 

When I had an issue with processing my CP Platinum Pass a couple of years ago, they worked with me and were eventually able to get me all squared away and were also very apologetic about the confusion. To me, that showed excellent customer service by being able to resolve a negative issue in a professional and courteous manner.

 

I sent a letter to Sea World a few years ago thanking them for the awesome job they did when they found my Dad's keys to the motor home which he lost while riding Manta (he had thought he had emptied all of his pockets before boarding). I also received a very nice, prompt response in which they acknowledged that they were "just trying to provide good customer service". They also thanked us for visiting the park and mentioned how they hoped that we would visit their park again in the future...

 

Most people would like to respond to a compliment with a full response than a complaint. And for Sea World the knew you would come back if they found your dad's keys or else you would find that park as insensitive. I lost stuff at parks and didn't get them back, but I thought about the park no differently.

 

While the lack of response to my E-mail would never keep me from visiting another SF park (nor would I "hate" on them for such a minor offense), it does heighten my awareness for watching for examples of good/poor customer service during future visits to their parks.

 

This is your opinion and you just it was MINOR so who cares! The only thing that matters is that you went there and enjoyed your stay there.

 

I certainly wouldn't hesitate to write SF and tell them about a noted excellent customer service example & would be very interested to see what type of response I would receive. Let's see if comes to fruition!

 

Then write them a compliment about the park rather than saying you didn't. And don't say that " I never received good customer service". I went their and got great service, people who say they didn't are usually asking to much.