GAcoaster Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 The Press Release: Six Flags Announces That Its Parks Will be Smoke-Free EnvironmentsThursday January 19, 8:00 am ET Initiative is the Latest Element in Company's Commitment to Make Parks Family-Friendly NEW YORK, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Six Flags (NYSE: PKS - News) announced today a new company policy under which its theme parks across the country will become smoke-free environments. This measure is the newest element in the company's commitment to improving the family entertainment experience throughout the Six Flags system. "Our mission at Six Flags this season is to enhance our entire guest experience -- and that includes doing all we can to ensure our parks are family-friendly," said Mark Shapiro, Six Flags President and CEO. "Making our parks smoke-free will be an enhancement to the quality of the Six Flags experience, and our guests will think so too -- nobody should be forced to dodge clouds of smoke when they're strolling through the park with their children. Designating specific smoking zones will allow for a cleaner, friendlier park atmosphere where families can enjoy spending their day." This initiative expands on current park policy, which states that guests cannot smoke in children's areas, ride lines or waterparks. Designated smoking zones will be set-aside within each park to accommodate the parks' smoking patrons. I am really glad they've done this, I just hope they REALLY enforce the rule in all the parks all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterCrazy Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 I'm also glad that they have done this! I don't think people that are addicted to nikitin will like this very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Props to Six Flags management for this. I reckon it's gonna make the atmosphere at all the parks much nicer, especially on busier days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteornotes Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Wow, I did not see this one coming. Interesting move, I'll be curious to see how well it's enforced. Much like their line jumping rules... dt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterboy76 Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 well I am an ex-smoker, so this doesn't bother me, when I was smoking though I never smoked in line, just sitting at a bench. what they really need to get rid of is the beer at the parks too. nothing worse than a drunk on an amusement ride... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socalMAN123 Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 SF does this, why can't Disney? Oh well, I love how SF is changing their parks so they can get out of debt. Brent "that Xtreme Play Pass is looking better and better" Shenton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Cool Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Yeah wonder how much they will enforce this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 I know SFNE sure as hell never enforced the "no smoking in queue lines" rule, sounds nice to the press though, doesn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NitroJoeC Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 ^^If I remember correctly, Disney was the first park chain to go "smoke free." Quite a while ago, too. jc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Technically SFMM went 'smoke-free' about 2 years ago. They put up signs saying that there was no longer smoking allowed in the midways/queues/etc. and it listed 3 areas where you could go to smoke. The signs lasted about 2 weeks, no one enforced the rules and eventually they were gone. They popped up again about a year ago, again lasted for a few weeks, no enforcement, and were gone again! This is all very interesting to me. After talking to a senior level guy from SFMM last week his quote was "he's got some great ideas and if he can pull them off the park will be amazing, but we all have our doubts that it's possible". This is what I'm seeing. They have these grand ideas to turn the SF parks into a real nice family destination, but they don't have the staff or the infrastructure to pull it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imbordisux Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 This could end-up costing the park a LOT of business - it's easy to enforce smoking-bans in small and/or indoor areas, like restaurants and mini-golf courses, but there are gonna be a lot of smokers who aren't gonna want to stroll away from their group/family (or force their group/family to wait for them) if they decide to have a smoke, and to try to go the entire day without a smoke is gonna be brutal for many of them. On a personal-level, I'm thankful, since I've never been a smoker and my fiance' is asthmatic, but the park is going to have to install/designate MANY smoking-allowed sections to keep all those smokers happy and coming back. I mean, nobody likes having to hike all the way out of the park, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 I doubt it will cost the parks a lot of business, many parks and chains have already done so without a huge hit. To whoever said 'how well will it be enforced?" I say I hope it improves. In the middle of last summer, a Georgia law required SFOG to have a partial ban, and if it weren't for some people being courteous smokers, I probably wouldn't have been able to notice a ban had been set with all of the smokers that continued as normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdad Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Well let see HW has had a No Smoking policy and there attendance went up Disney has had a policy had last I was there they were enforcing it, Oh and Dollywood was smoke Free a couple of years ago. So I see no fault as it is a trend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrs28330 Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 I am overjoyed with this new policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 I have a hard time seeing this enforced at SFKK and SFoG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatOne Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 I have a hard time seeing this enforced at SFKK and SFoG Thank you for stereotyping. People smoke everywhere. I have a hard time seeing the bigger SF parks being able to enforce this. Holiday World can easily enforce it because they're a smaller park and there's not many places where you could sneak off and light one up. Can anyone else see people trying to light one up in a bathroom to get a quick fix like kids in high school did? -Bryan "Smoking is disgusting"Wood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Thank you for stereotyping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Benny Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 I don't know if this is such a great idea, even Disney has designated smoking areas. I'm not saying that they should allow smoking, but as an ex-smoker if there aren't any smoking areas and smoking wasn't allowed I would smoke anywhere I wanted and not care. At least with two or three smoking ares in a park you can confine the problem to small areas away from the rest of the guests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Paraphrasing here: Mark Shapiro, Six Flags President and CEO said"...Designating specific smoking zones will allow for a cleaner, friendlier park atmosphere where families can enjoy spending their day." There will be designated areas. btw wes that's awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maliboomer Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 So they're making designated smoking areas. Good, but.. uh... it isn't very amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterEricHP Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Yeah right.... *I* wouldnt be the one to go tell someone to put out their cigarette at SFA where shootings happen weekly in the parking lot! or SFMM, or SFMW. It's good press, but unless the price hikes detract from of the more "rough" individuals/locals from going.. I dont see this being enforced. Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twister II Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 I dought it will be enforced at all. I mean, the security guards will probably say something about it, and maybe, if you get lucky, the ride op's. Pretty much everywhere in Colorado (someone correct me if I'm wrong), you can no longer smoke inside any buildings. Problems I see with this are that how can they enforce it in areas that are secluded? For example, Twister II's queue, its directly under the station, and covered so really no one can see into it. On a more crowded day you see around 5 people smoking under there, even though there are signs everywhere saying not to smoke in queue's. Especially Tower of Doom, the ride op's just don't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mind Eraser Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Having a smoking section is sorta like having a pissing section in the pool. Ya know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socalMAN123 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 ^LOL, what a way to put it! ---Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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