LA Times Article: Theme Parks Still Looking for Visitors

[Bob O]

Im looking forward to my visit to Knott's!!! Ive also heard good things about Kennywood and their collection of old/classic rides and the nice lanscaping in the park. i wonder if their attendance isnt off due to the bad storms they had about a month ago where people were hurt and some rides were damaged.

 

[hopemax]

Sometimes I'm so jealous of you guys. One of these years, I'm taking my DH back to Illinois to visit my family (for you guys who live back there...Freeport, IL) and I want to rent a car and spend about 2 weeks driving around and hitting the parks... Great America (last time I was there the Eagle was still the tallest & fastest woodie in the world), King's Island, Cedar Point, Kennywood, Hershey Park, Knoebels. It would me so nice to be able to drive less than 7 hours to get to a 2nd park (and it's a 2 hr drive to get to just one).

 

[Jeff in BigD]

Knott's is my favorite non-Disney park!

Actually some of the people who built DL also built Knott's.

 

[Bob O]

Hopemax you wouldnt recgonize much of SFGAM since your last visit as alot has changed!!!
JeffinBigD I will see Knott's soon but my favorite non Dis/US park would be Buscg Gardens Williamsburg. It has some great rides, excellant shows and food and it is a beautiful park just to walk around and soak in the scenery.

 

[DisneyFanGuy]

Other than FrightFest, their annual Halloween festival, we have had TERRIBLE experiences at Six Flags Great America over the past few years. Last year was the worst experience, bar none, that I have ever had in a theme park. It was filthy, filled with rude employees, and everyone in my family was disgusted beyond belief. We sent notes to several offices for Six Flags, and then sent us tickets to come back at Fright Fest. It was better, but not great.

Six Flags runs the dirtiest, most poorly run parks that I have ever seen. We skipped them entirely this year, despite free tickets received for our kids at school. I have visited Knotts, several SF parks, Cedar Point, and several smaller parks over the past few years. I also go to Disney at least once a year. Everyone is better these days than Six Flags. Places like Cedar and Knotts are usually very clean and friendly.

Even my roller coaster loving kids were grossed out last year when an employee sent out a coaster half filled with customers and half filled with vomit covered seats. We were aghast as the employees laughed at the possibility of them getting "hit" by falling vomit as it went through the loop. We skipped the ride.

That was just one story.

Whenever you get depressed about Disney, just go to a Six Flags park. You will immediately feel better.

I grew up at Great America. It should be shut down as far as my family is concerned.

 

[Bob O]

Six flags park arent up to disney standards but some of their parks are worse than others. I live close to SFGAM and go their often(about 10 times a yr) and while they arent as clean as disney parks i have found the park to be clean this year and for the past couple of years. As for vomit i have never seen what was decribed. Ive seen people vomit on coasters and seen employee's with gloves come out and clean the ride and send out the coaster empty severl times in a row to make sure all is well. I hope you reported the actions you observed to the park right after what you saw took place, if not i would doubt such a story.
I would much perfer to visit a non SF park but i live where i live so i deal with the differences in quality as best i can. Now if only wdw had coasters of the quality of Raging Bull/Batman/Viper it would be great!!

 

[Planogirl]

I'm not real thrilled with the Six Flags parks either but my opinion is mostly due to a lot of the employees. While there are exceptions, most have been very rude IMO.

I was truly saddened by the acquisition of Fiesta Texas by Six Flags. We haven't been back but hear that so far Fiesta Texas has managed to hang to most of their original character and hasn't completely become a typical Six Flags park. Here's hoping that they won't.

Oh, we do enjoy Fright Nights but only because of the spooky stuff and the silliness.

 

[DisneyFanGuy]

The story about the vomit is true, and we wrote a letter describing it and other experiences that included exact times and descriptions of the employees. The park manager eventually called us personally, verified that he had investigated and confirmed our experiences, and invited us back to Fright Fest. I thought he handled the whole thing pretty well.

Bob, I run 50 restaurants in Wisconsin and Illinois, and last year offered discount tickets to Great America in my stores. I spoke with my advertising agency immediately afterward, and refused to be associated with them again this year.

Another example of their operation last year (described in my letter) was that while standing in line my 8 year old son was burned by a man holding a cigarette. We walked up to several stands asking for a small cup or bag of ice to make him feel better. We were refused at three stands because they inventory the cups. (Every food service operation has a system to record wasted materials.....what happens if a cup falls on the floor?) So I was standing there with my son (crying on my shoulder) being refused a cup of ice by employees because their policy said no. Eventually a restaurant manager got us our ice and said that the employees were wrong for refusing us. (Training, policy, attitude......? I don't know)

Another time in the same day, our bag filled with tee shirts (purchased at the park) became ripped. I took it, along with the receipt to a shop and asked for a replacement bag. They refused, stating that policy prevented them from handing out extra bags.

There was much more, and I am probably too sensitive to employee attitudes because of the business that I am in, but I work the front lines in my restaurants every day and know and understand that Guest Service and Attitude begins with a genuine desire by management to deliver a great experience for their guests. SIX Flags seems to be in an "expansion" mode, and not careing properly for current assets.

I live about two hours north. Last year, as usual, several schools arranged field trips for kids in late May and early June. I attended meetings where their experiences were discussed. This year, they all went elsewhere (Wisconsin Dells) because the organizers were so grossed out. That ended a ten year tradition.

I have also been a very frequent visitor at Great America over the years. (Every year since the preview weekend in 1976). I have been at several of their parks before and after they were acquired by SF and in all cases have seen Cleanliness, Hospitality, and Food Quality suffer. It's clear to me that they are not really that concerned about the guest experience. Cedar Fair, Paramount, and Disney are all far better in those attributes.

Six Flags does add bigger rides more frequently though.

My kids and wife had no desire to go there this year. We may still make the trek to Fright Fest. We have never had a bad experience at that time of year, I think because the crowds are less and they have nearly a week to clean the walkways between days of operation.

 

[WDWHound]

Originally posted by Planogirl
I was truly saddened by the acquisition of Fiesta Texas by Six Flags. We haven't been back but hear that so far Fiesta Texas has managed to hang to most of their original character and hasn't completely become a typical Six Flags park. Here's hoping that they won't.

We are Fiesta Texas season pass holders. The park is my favorite Six Flags park. It still has lots of character and theming (it was originally a Busch park, so the theming started off strong). The ride mix is very good, they have some great coasters and the employees are generally friendly and well trained. If you go on a Sunday morning, there are literally no lines until around 2pm, and even then the lines are short. The shows which SFFT is famous for are still there and are still very high quality. This year however, I have not seen any street performers.

They are getting a little lax on Maintenance. The animatronics on the Road Runner express stopped working years ago and poor Wiley Coyote looks battered and faded. The same is true with the characters in the Bugs Bunny fume ride. All in all though, the park is well kept and is in good shape.

The only other problem with this park is that it gets HOT in the summer. Its built in an old quarry and when the temperature gets over 100, this park becomes almost hellish.

I recommend you give the park another try next time you are in San Antonio. Despite Six Flags owning it, its still a great little park.

 

[Bob O]

disneyfanguy I would agree the quality of their employee's can leave alot to be desired, escpecially when compared to disney and in the instances you mentioned they were wrong and treated you and your family in a shoddy manner. Maybe im lucky but i have had few bad experiences with the employee's. But i dont eat at the park because the food is awful and eat outside the parks and buy few souvenir's due to quality/creativity of their products. The letter you sent was good but if i saw somebody vomit on a ride and didnt see the proper procedures used to clean up the mess i would have immedialty reported it to a manager. When people vomit blood is involved and that is a major heath risk if not cleaned up with the proper cleaning agents.This year i have twice seen vomit problems, once on a coaster and once on a log flume and both time the employee's used proper productsto clean up the mess and didnt let customers use the ride as it was run thru the course several times and was cleaned up/cleared up.
But i would agree the quality of their employee's and park operations are second rate. But with it being the only park near my home i have to put up the good with the bad.

 

[DisneyFanGuy]

True, I probably handled that whole incident poorly. I am pretty quick to complement employees for great service, but sometimes wait awhile on complaints.

The whole Great America quality slide has made us more sad than anything else. Enough whining from me!

 

[Bob O]

DisneyFanGuy i dont consider it whining at all!!! Maybe its me but i would usually complain more about the negative than praise the positive. I agree with your Six Flags comments. It seem not to be as bad on week days, but alot worse on weekends. The only thing i would say in their defense is the quality of customer at Six Flags can leave alot to be desired at times and i have seen way too many people throw their garbage right on the ground within feet of a garbage can while i havent seen that at a disney park. But im sure their lack of attention to cleanliness can contribute to the problem.