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When people ask us why we don't do TPR tours anymore...


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I was working a garbage collection shift one time when I caught a preteen line jumping. After some protesting from her and her party, she did leave the line. Not 5 minutes later, the girl's mother (who was not in line, thus did not witness the incident) berated me for 10 minutes for calling out the girl on line-jumping, ending by saying that I had no idea what customer service was.

 

And another, I was wanding out front for security when one teen as part of a school group came up. I asked him if his pockets were empty, he said yes, so I began wanding him. Spoiler alert, his pockets weren't empty as the wand detected his phone. After the phone was out, I asked again if his pockets were empty to which he again responded in the affirmative. FALSE, the wand beeped at his wallet. By this point, I was getting a little miffed, so when he again said his pockets were empty, I scanned him only to find a KNIFE!

 

Robb, I don't know how you've managed not to strangle anybody with all these tales you've told; and for that, you have my respect (for what little it's worth). While I envy the fact that you can afford to do all these amazing trips, I refuse to envy how many idiots you have to deal with.

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Yikes. Some real horror stories. I can relate. At Cedar Point a friend of mine was too big to fit in TTD and Millennium Force. It sucked and I can only imagine is extremely embarrassing, he was in a pretty bad mood for a while. However, he went to complain telling us he intended to get free stuff from them for it. What can the park do? He also lied, said to them the MForce test seat was broken so he couldn't have known, an outright lie we went straight on line and never even looked at the test seat. I didn't like the "gunna hassle till I get free stuff" attitude and honestly, he proved to be kind of a pain. Didn't want to wait more than 30 minutes for anything, which cost me a ride on Maverick which I missed the year before...we rode the antique car 3 times in a row, multiple log flume rides, didn't want to pay for a fast pass, (neither did I but I'd rather that than waste our time like we were). I guess it should be no surprise he was that way ha

Edited by JJLehto
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I can't tell you how many times we've hosted events, even at West Coast Bash where I've had people running up to me, arms flailing yelling at me "ERT STARTED FIVE MINUTES AGO AND THIS RIDE ISN'T OPEN YET YOU SAID THE RIDES WOULD START AT 6:00 AND IT IS 6:04 AND THIS RIDE ISN'T OPEN YOU NEED TO GO TALK TO SOMEONE AND GET THE RIDES OPEN BECAUSE WE ALL PAID MONEY FOR THIS EVENT AND THE RIDES ARE STILL NOT OPEN YET WHAT AM I GOING TO DO OH MY GOD THIS IS LIKE THE WORLD COMING TO AN END OR TRUMP GETTING RE-ELECTED PLEASE GO TELL SOMEONE TO OPEN THE RIDES OMG OMG OMG!!!!!"

 

and then 6:05 the ride opens.

 

Yes, it's good to have a flexible mindset with things like this.

 

As far as line-jumping is concerned, some people are of the position that extreme line-jumping is acceptable. Here's my position: since I'm usually first in line anyway, who cares? Your position may differ. What's that? You're 207th in line because you didn't plan your trip well? Didn't you make sure to get to the gates 1 hour before opening? Why did you go on ride A then ride B when ride B then A would have cut off a 2-hour wait?

 

With coasting events, I've only been to ones offered by the park. When Twisted Colossus opened at SFMM, gold passholders got ERT for two days. This event was sponsored by the park and was worth it. They kept all the filthy day ticket and regular passholders out and made sure to admit only the very best. Lines were cut to a bare minimum and things moved fast likely since we were joined by senior management and the park wanted to make a good impression.

 

But really, everything was not perfect. The trains sometimes got stuck in the sharp turn out of the station and the maintenance "solution" was to take a garden hose and water the tracks. The train screeched sadly out of the loading zone and whined to the lift hill. Now to me, that's at the very most entertaining, and yes--I am going to make mention of it because it was really stupid. Look, scream! is one ride over, not at the loading area. TC is debuting today, not Scream! But you would think they are re-grandopening Scream! because of the mad squeals and, right, screams coming from the track out of turn one.

 

To me, that's lousy. They had plenty of time to test and the first impression with VIP guests was a sorry whine and multiple breakdown segments. When the garden hose came out, I thought it worth writing about. Having an opinion that differs from a false-grin shouldn't warrant the ban-hammer or the garden hose.

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All this talk reminded me of something my older brother told me:

 

My brother worked at Mr.Freeze at SFSTL during the 2012 season and there was lightning in the forecast. Once the lightning came close to the park, the rides started closing down, including Mr. Freeze. Then there was this group of idiot kids who wanted to ride Mr. Freeze. They started to command him to open the ride for them. My brother tried to explain to them about the lightning but they still wanted him to open it. They started bribing him, then they started to bully him. At this point, my brother started to tell them to shut up or he will call security. And, you guessed it, my brother ended up calling security. Around the time the security came into the station, the mother of the kids followed the security and was like "WHAT HAPPENED? ARE MY KIDS OK?!" When she found out that her kids are the ones causing trouble, she started yelling at my brother about how they just wanted to ride. Then the mother started to get violent which the security (who was right next to her) forced her and her kids out of the park without refund.

 

Just because they couldn't simply wait out the lightning storm

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All this talk reminded me of something my older brother told me:

 

My brother worked at Mr.Freeze at SFSTL during the 2012 season and there was lightning in the forecast. Once the lightning came close to the park, the rides started closing down, including Mr. Freeze. Then there was this group of idiot kids who wanted to ride Mr. Freeze. They started to command him to open the ride for them. My brother tried to explain to them about the lightning but they still wanted him to open it. They started bribing him, then they started to bully him. At this point, my brother started to tell them to shut up or he will call security. And, you guessed it, my brother ended up calling security. Around the time the security came into the station, the mother of the kids followed the security and was like "WHAT HAPPENED? ARE MY KIDS OK?!" When she found out that her kids are the ones causing trouble, she started yelling at my brother about how they just wanted to ride. Then the mother started to get violent which the security (who was right next to her) forced her and her kids out of the park without refund.

 

Just because they couldn't simply wait out the lightning storm

 

I can't wait to work at an amusement park so that I have "stupid people" stories like that

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I used to work at Sylvan Beach Amusement Park and we used to do wristbands on Friday nights to ride all you want. A group of teenagers were riding the bumper cars and being disruptive. I actually caught them spitting on the ride at each other and on the floor of the ride. After warning them once they continued to do so, so myself and another worker shut the ride down and we kicked them out for the night. So of course the patent that was with them who was watching all this starts yelling at us and saying that we were trying to get them kicked out and had it out for them.

 

Some people are just plain stupid, it's sad that people act that way and even the supposed adult was a problem and thought for some reason their actions were ok.

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JJ it sounds like you and I need to do Cedar Point the right way! Lol I was shocked that my friend was blaming the park for her not fitting in the seats, granted she did not try the test seat on MF, but did on Dragster and the most puzzling of all was the night before she didn't fit on Wicked Twister but was fine about that. I'm not small by any means and I understand its embarrassing but come on its not the parks fault, my husband didn't fit on WT that time either and I fit only after having to change seats, it is what it is. Her theory was Disney and Universal obviously make rides with bigger restraints and like I've said, a whole other ball game when you're comparing dragster to splash mountain.

 

The funniest part of all this was we did have a very bad experience at breakers express but I kept quiet and waited until I was home and NICELY called to let them know the problem we had, never expecting anything and they ended up comping us an entire weekend, which was way beyond what they should have. She got so mad and said well that's great for you, they could have paid for my air fare, I was stunned and didn't know what to say!

 

Man I like the antique cars but 3 times? Oh my! Sorry but Cedar Point is for the thrills, but to each his own.

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There are some people that just shouldn't travel. That doesn't just apply to theme park travel, it applies to everyone! I have 'mom friends' I can't even go out with because I'll be so frustrated by their perpetual lateness or last minute cancellations.

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There are some people that just shouldn't travel. That doesn't just apply to theme park travel, it applies to everyone! I have 'mom friends' I can't even go out with because I'll be so frustrated by their perpetual lateness or last minute cancellations.

 

 

okay so I used to bitch about people being late that had kids before I had kids and they would get mad at me for it and say something along the lines of "you don't have kids you don't understand" well here I am now with a nearly 4 year old and a year and half old and i am still never late to anything. sure the random blowout of a diaper can slow you down but that's not an everyday thing. Those people are just piss poor at planning ahead and respecting others whom they have made plans with.

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JJ it sounds like you and I need to do Cedar Point the right way! Lol I was shocked that my friend was blaming the park for her not fitting in the seats, granted she did not try the test seat on MF, but did on Dragster and the most puzzling of all was the night before she didn't fit on Wicked Twister but was fine about that. I'm not small by any means and I understand its embarrassing but come on its not the parks fault, my husband didn't fit on WT that time either and I fit only after having to change seats, it is what it is. Her theory was Disney and Universal obviously make rides with bigger restraints and like I've said, a whole other ball game when you're comparing dragster to splash mountain.

 

The funniest part of all this was we did have a very bad experience at breakers express but I kept quiet and waited until I was home and NICELY called to let them know the problem we had, never expecting anything and they ended up comping us an entire weekend, which was way beyond what they should have. She got so mad and said well that's great for you, they could have paid for my air fare, I was stunned and didn't know what to say!

 

Man I like the antique cars but 3 times? Oh my! Sorry but Cedar Point is for the thrills, but to each his own.

The car part upset me, I mean yeah were at Cedar Point lol he loves rides, he'd have preferred better rides just he flat out refused to wait, which is part of it or we get a fast pass. I was annoyed for sure
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There are some people that just shouldn't travel. That doesn't just apply to theme park travel, it applies to everyone! I have 'mom friends' I can't even go out with because I'll be so frustrated by their perpetual lateness or last minute cancellations.

 

 

okay so I used to bitch about people being late that had kids before I had kids and they would get mad at me for it and say something along the lines of "you don't have kids you don't understand" well here I am now with a nearly 4 year old and a year and half old and i am still never late to anything. sure the random blowout of a diaper can slow you down but that's not an everyday thing. Those people are just piss poor at planning ahead and respecting others whom they have made plans with.

I hear you. Before kids, i used to be an on time person. Now when I go somewhere without kids, I'm very early due to chronically overestimating how much time it takes to get ready to leave.

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There are some people that just shouldn't travel. That doesn't just apply to theme park travel, it applies to everyone! I have 'mom friends' I can't even go out with because I'll be so frustrated by their perpetual lateness or last minute cancellations.

 

 

okay so I used to bitch about people being late that had kids before I had kids and they would get mad at me for it and say something along the lines of "you don't have kids you don't understand" well here I am now with a nearly 4 year old and a year and half old and i am still never late to anything. sure the random blowout of a diaper can slow you down but that's not an everyday thing. Those people are just piss poor at planning ahead and respecting others whom they have made plans with.

I hear you. Before kids, i used to be an on time person. Now when I go somewhere without kids, I'm very early due to chronically overestimating how much time it takes to get ready to leave.

THIS! EXACTLY THIS!!!

 

IMO there is absolutely *NO EXCUSE* for someone being late. We now all have traffic maps to plan ahead if there is a delay, if you are someone who has kids or requires extra time, you BUILD THAT TIME into your estimate.

 

I will never understand people who seem to think it's "okay" to show up at 10:45 when you said 10:30 and then give you a bunch of stupid excuses. The *ONLY* excuse that holds water to me is "I'm sorry I'm late. I'm just really bad at planning my day and it's my fault I couldn't be bothered to leave 15 minutes earlier."

 

We would get a lot of people seriously upset at us when on a trip the bus would leave without them. IMO on our TPR Tours you really only had *ONE* responsibility... "don't be late." And if you fucked that one, too bad. Now you're on your own to meet up with the bus. I remember on one trip we had someone who wasn't on time. I called their room and they said "I'm really sorry, I'm still getting ready. I'll be down in 15 minutes." I told them "grab your crap and get down here NOW. The bus leaves in 2 minutes."

 

2 minutes later the bus left without him. I got scathing and vulgar messages and when he had to spend his own money meeting back up with the tour he shouted at me for a good while about it. I simply told him "There was NO REASON at all you couldn't have grabbed your stuff and been out of the hotel in two minutes."

 

I'm pretty sure this person is still on one of the TPR hate pages angry at us for something that was THEIR FAULT that happened in 2006 or 2007.

Edited by robbalvey
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Lateness in general bugs the living crap out of me, for all those very reasons. It's not hard to do, and adults really should be able to leave extra time for various things, especially if you know it'll be an issue. For parks it's even worse, especially with a group dependent on you! That's some real audacity, or more so just a total lack of awareness and care. Honestly, kudos to you for leaving. People would be tempted to wait...keep pestering him and hold everyone up for them, and yeah no one wants to deal with the inevitable rage storm (even though it's their doing), so major props for doing what is right.

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Lateness in the position of travel is certainly important. Hiccups do happen in life here and there, but traveling is especially a time when it is vital to plan ahead for everything. I have been planning solo vacations since I was 19. I started at that age because I knew and understood that the 9:05 train leaves at 9:05, assuming no delays. So I would plan plenty of time ahead to get to the train station long before 9:05. And then, I would set an alarm on my phone on the train before my stop was coming up, in case I fell asleep. I knew how to fly cross country and book trains at 19, but I regularly see people double or triple that age who cannot handle themselves.

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Honestly, kudos to you for leaving.

We have to set a precedent. If we were to have waited 15 minutes for the guy then the precedent would have been "TPR's departure times don't mean anything, I can be 15 minutes late." In our first few years we probably left someone behind at least once, sometimes twice a trip. What was funny about it as that up until the point in which we left without someone, everyone would always get to the bus right on the wire. If we said the bus left at 9:00, people would be walking on the bus at 8:58 or 8:59, some people right at 9:00.

 

But the moment we left without someone, EVERYONE was on the bus at like 8:50! lol

 

Which just goes to show you how insanely lazy people are. Because if you were able to get on the bus at 8:50 once you saw we weren't fucking around about the departure time, why couldn't you have been on the bus at 8:50 every day?

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I remember at Banshee Bash hearing you tell the tour people to make sure they are at the bus on time which I think was 15 minutes after the Beast ERT. I was thinking do these people really have to choose on a 17th consecutive Beast night ride and being on the bus? if so I am taking the Beast if I can't run fast enough! only kidding, I liked hearing that rule and that you guys were strict on the departure times especially with the surprises you guys had planned like Strickers.

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I remember at Banshee Bash hearing you tell the tour people to make sure they are at the bus on time which I think was 15 minutes after the Beast ERT. I was thinking do these people really have to choose on a 17th consecutive Beast night ride and being on the bus? if so I am taking the Beast if I can't run fast enough! only kidding, I liked hearing that rule and that you guys were strict on the departure times especially with the surprises you guys had planned like Strickers.

And hey, if that 17th ride is that important to you, and you can still run and make the bus, GREAT! But if you miss it, and that ride was worth hiring a taxi or (what some people have actually done) is take a Greyhound bus to meet up with the tour, we're all for it! lol

 

Just don't blame us because we didn't force you to take that 17th ride!

 

Seriously though, it would always amuse me when someone would do this and then be late for the bus and miss it and then the next day shout at me and chew me out. And my only response would be "54 people made it to the bus on time without issue. *YOU* were the only one that was late. So don't try to tell me this somehow wasn't your fault..."

 

And that either usually shuts them up or makes them so angry that they go post to a TPR hate page for the next 14 years.

 

Either route they choose doesn't affect us in the least bit.

Edited by robbalvey
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I appreciated how the buses were all punctual. Something that can't be said for many planes and bus rides I've taken.

 

Last year at Kentucky Kingdom, I had a half hour before the bus left but hadn't gotten on Roller Skater yet. I only planned to ride it if there was no line and sure enough it was a walk-on. As the train went up the lift, it stopped. Thankfully it started back up in about a minute or two since that would have been the most embarrassing reason to ever miss a bus.

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granted she did not try the test seat on MF,

 

That happens a lot actually...and I have seen more than one person blame the ride ops for not fitting despite these poor people trying their hardest to squeeze them in.

 

To me, if you're a larger sized person and was the one that was dumb enough to not try the test seat and then not fit, you have no right to bitch and complain to ANYONE.

 

If you have to do the walk of shame, use that as your motivator to lose some weight so you can go back and ride it the following year. There are plenty of people on here that have admitted it and done just that...and I commend them for it.

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granted she did not try the test seat on MF,

 

That happens a lot actually...and I have seen more than one person blame the ride ops for not fitting despite these poor people trying their hardest to squeeze them in.

 

To me, if you're a larger sized person and was the one that was dumb enough to not try the test seat and then not fit, you have no right to bitch and complain to ANYONE.

 

If you have to do the walk of shame, use that as your motivator to lose some weight so you can go back and ride it the following year. There are plenty of people on here that have admitted it and done just that...and I commend them for it.

 

Indeed, my friend I mentioned started talking a lot about exercise after that and did end up losing quite a good bit of weight over the next year, he always talked about it but MForce was the wake up call I guess. Coasters can be good for your health!

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Last year at Kentucky Kingdom, I had a half hour before the bus left but hadn't gotten on Roller Skater yet. I only planned to ride it if there was no line and sure enough it was a walk-on. As the train went up the lift, it stopped. Thankfully it started back up in about a minute or two since that would have been the most embarrassing reason to ever miss a bus.

 

Ha ha, I know!

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Lateness....that pisses me off to no end. I work for a County in California, and we have frequent conference calls with many vendors. Here is an example of what happened as of late.

The call was supposed to start at 1:00. At 1:02, they stated that we would start in a few minutes to let some late people join. I chimed in stating, "I got here at 1:00 because that was the time the call was going to start. If you plan to start at 1:05, let me know because my time is valuable."

 

I applaud you Robb for leaving without them. If the bus was going to leave 15 minutes late to accommodate folks like that, how unfair is that for the folks that got to the bus on time? What could those responsible folks have done with those extra 15 minutes, if they knew in advance that the bus really would not leave until 15 minutes after scheduled departure?

 

If the bus leaves on time, and somebody is late and running for the bus, I would be the first to "salute them with the your number one" hand gesture!!! LOL!!

 

On a side note, while on a Disney Cruise, the boat left without a few people, after constant warning on departing the boat that it will leave without you if you are not back on time. I seriously doubt Mickey really cared about those folks!!!

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I applaud you Robb for leaving without them. If the bus was going to leave 15 minutes late to accommodate folks like that, how unfair is that for the folks that got to the bus on time?

This is EXACTLY my thought. We once did an ACE tour (huge mistake on our part) before TPR was really a thing and I can remember several times on that trip we would wait for people who were late. One of the days I want to say we waited about 30 minutes for someone which ended up making us late for our day at the park. Why were we and everyone else on the bus being punished for being on time? Screw those people. Leave without them! If you can't be bothered enough to be responsible to get your butt out of bed and respectful to everyone else on the tour who was responsible, you get left behind. PERIOD!

 

On a side note, while on a Disney Cruise, the boat left without a few people, after constant warning on departing the boat that it will leave without you if you are not back on time. I seriously doubt Mickey really cared about those folks!!!

We use this example all the time. If the ship says they are leaving at a certain time, you make DAMN SURE you are on the boat!!! Same thing with airlines. You can't call the airline and say "Hey, I'm really tired and I just got out of bed, please hold the plane 20 minutes longer and I'll be there as soon as I can!"

 

Who are these people who think a schedule should be catered and changed specifically for them? People who are NOT on our tours, that's who!

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