What part of "you can't bring that on the ride don't you understand?" Six Flags SGTs

[dancinghomer]

So yesterday (Saturday the 7th), my buddy and I decided to go to Six Flags and all I can say is “wow, people sure were stupid” based on what I saw. I knew it was gonna be a bad day at the parks knowing the following two things: it was a Saturday and the projected high temperature was 98 degrees, but we decided to go anyways since we got tickets for $30, and my friend is moving for 3 months because he is needed at a different location for his job.

Six Flags has a new policy where anything that can be stored in cargo pockets must be placed in a locker before getting into the line for the coasters. This was done to help speed up the load and dispatch time of the coaster trains, which I did notice that the average time to send a train out had decreased, so the policy is working. Well, it works until you get the SGs. Yesterday in the 6 hours we were at the park, I saw 10 groups of the following scenario: group of 4+ people enter the queue line as a big mob so the greeter at the queue entrance can’t fully see if the person is carrying around anything that can’t be stored and not let them in the line, so when they get to the boarding area they are not allowed onto the train. I was thrilled to see the ride operators standing their ground and kicking them out of the line for not following policy no matter what the people were saying. Of course every other word these people were saying was profanity.

There was one time where I did see a parent who was properly raising their kid. My friend and I were in line for the newer of the wooden coasters where the queue has areas where they have erected canopies to provide shade while you wait. There were these 2 girls standing in line behind us and all of a sudden this gap just keeps getting bigger and bigger because they did not want to leave the shade and continue walking forward, even though had they continued to stay right behind me they would have been back in the shade in about 20 seconds. They started stating loudly that they were not gonna move forward or let other people get ahead of them until the people behind them let their friend join them who still had not entered the line, even though at this point we were in the line for at least 25 minutes. This lady who had her 8 year old daughter with her flagged over one of the Six Flags employees walking the sides of the line selling drinks and asked him to call security because they were trying to get a line jumper in the line with them and for not moving forward (of course nothing happened because he didn’t see it). These girls just started chewing the woman out as well as a bunch of people who were behind them in the line and some people who were farther up in the line. In the end, the line-jumper ended up joining the line, but karma provided justice. About 10 minutes later, the ride started having technical difficulties and broke down. An employee walking down the exit informed everyone in the line that the ride would be down for at least 15 minutes and these girls and the line jumper immediately left the line. So now this lady and her 8-year old daughter were right behind me. During this downtime we started talking and I made sure to commend her on how she was raising her daughter correctly by following the rules. You could tell she was surprised to hear it based on the comments yelled at her that I mentioned earlier.

The other big thing I noticed was that most people don’t listen to their body when out in the direct sunlight and high heat. So many people was getting dizzy and falling over because their bodies were being de-hydrated because they refused to get out of the lines when they started to feel sick. I took myself out the lines a couple times to go cool my body down and get some water in my system, but some people are just too stubborn and stupid to do that.

As the day went out, it was just getting worse, so by the time we left at 4, the 5 biggest coasters in the park were all down. 4 of them were down to technical difficulties and 1 was down due to part of the lift was getting replaced.

[Syndrome]

As the day went out, it was just getting worse, so by the time we left at 4, the 5 biggest coasters in the park were all down. 4 of them were down to technical difficulties and 1 was down due to part of the lift was getting replaced.

I'm not surprised. After following the investigations and lawsuit over that poor kid whose feet got cut off at SF Kentucky Kingdom, I will never trust SF ride maintenance again. Rather than oiling the cables as they were supposed to, they were actually putting corn starch on them to counteract the oil they were getting on 'em from the main part of the ride! They never once oiled the cables, nor did they ever once check them in the manner described in the ride's operations manual. A totally preventable accident, huge amounts of evidence against them, yet they are still fighting in court...geez, give that poor girl a multi-million dollar settlement and be done with it. They're gonna lost a lot more in reputation with all the blatant negligence that's coming out.

[NessaMcTastic]

I haven't been to Six Flags Great Adventure here in NJ in a very long time but after going to WDW and then going to GA, well...Six Flags just doesn't compare. I felt a lot safer (and more entertained!) on the rides at WDW than at Six Flags. Syndrome, I totally agree. After reading that article I decided that never again will I go on any of the rides at any Six Flags. The workers act like they don't care and it shows in their customer care and in the care they put into the park.

[Freak]

Pfft, Six Flags Maintenance is probably one step below Knott's. While I don't trust either Six Flags or Knott's (just from personal experience, I knew more about my ride than my mechanics did!:confused :) , I find it totally idiotic that you would try to counteract lubrication of a ride. Freakin' morons! Oh well, it's not like they didn't do that at Xcelerator, Screamin' Swing or Mine Ride or anything.

[felinefan]

Just wait, sooner or later they'll start doing that too, as cheap as they are.And when an accident happens, they'll scream even louder than SF did that it's not their fault. I mean, they recently had a woman who broke her neck on Ghostrider, and they claimed she went on it with the neck already broken! It's on themeparkinsider.com, under "alleged incidents".

[Shorty82]

The last time I went to a Six Flags was years ago to the one in New Orleans (formerly JazzLand). That place was dirty! A good bit of litter, petrified gum all over the walkways, nasty bathrooms. One bathroom was so bad upon leaving it I immediately found and told a custodian and she didn't care. Alright, so she couldn't clean it herself as it was the men's room but what she should have done is get hold of a male custodian to clean it, not blow me off.

Disney goes above and beyond on keeping the parks clean and safe. A lot of hard work goes into keeping the attractions safe. AFAIK all guests who were killed or injured on a Disney attraction were doing something stupid they shouldn't be doing.

[felinefan]

If you go over to the site http://www.themeparkinsider.com, and read the ride accident reports, you'd be right most of the time. I think they have links to other ride incident reports from around the world and here in the U.S..

[Syndrome]

Disney goes above and beyond on keeping the parks clean and safe. A lot of hard work goes into keeping the attractions safe. AFAIK all guests who were killed or injured on a Disney attraction were doing something stupid they shouldn't be doing.

Yup, the only two I can think of that were not directly attributable to SGs (or Gs with hidden medical conditions) were BTMRR and Columbia, and both of those were at DL, not WDW. Other than those, I can't think of one incident where the finger couldn't point directly at some type of guest fault.

But of course the way the Slantinel and the Orlando TV stations portray it, a person could enter the Magic Kingdom in a body cast with their head half chopped off, tie themselves to the Wedway track with a suicide note tacked to their chest, and bleed to death from the pre-existing neck wound before the ride vehicle hit them and it would still be reported with the implication that Disney was somehow at fault.

[smart1hermione]

Disney goes above and beyond on keeping the parks clean and safe. A lot of hard work goes into keeping the attractions safe. AFAIK all guests who were killed or injured on a Disney attraction were doing something stupid they shouldn't be doing.

I totally agree with you. Disney is by far the best example of theme park in the USA.

For the most part, deaths and injuries at Disney have been incurred by stupid acts (*cough* Grad Nite) or pre-existing conditions. But Disney's had its fair share of blame too, for instance, the CM who was crushed between revolving corridors in America Sings, the Thunder Mountain fatality, and the little boy who slipped under the restraint on Roger Rabbit.

I think a lot of people come to amusement parks and leave their common sense at the door, expecting guardian angels or whatnot. If you listen to the rules and just use your head, then even the "act of God" accidents will decline.

[Ms. Matterhorn]

AFAIK all guests who were killed or injured on a Disney attraction were doing something stupid they shouldn't be doing.

That's not entirely accurate. While most of the fatalities at DLR were caused by the guest doing something stupid, not all were so. The accident at DLR in 1998 in which a guest was killed by a cleat which tore loose from the Columbia Sailing Ship was due to the wrong kind of rope being used and a poorly trained manager working the dock. The accident on Big Thunder in 2003 which killed a man was found to be due to improper maintenance.