Rough Season at SFGAM

[Galvan]

It has been a very rough summer for Great America, from the death of a 10 year old girl earlier this month, to the closure of Hurricane Harbor due to an e.coli outbreak. The Six Flags "flagship" park has definately seen better seasons.

List of 2006 issues:

1. Revolution not running at all in 06 season

2. Giant Drop running at reduced capacity and since early August not at all.

3. One train opperation on American Eagle Red or none at all.

4. Problems with V2 in the middle of the season force the ride to be down an extended period of time.

5. One train operations on Iron Wolf due to new restrains being added to one of the trains.

6. Sky Trek Tower being closed indefinately.

7. E. coli outbreak during recent heatwave that forced the closure of Hurricane Harbor.

8. Trailblazer closed indefinately.

9. Yankee Clipper/Loggers Run closed for periods of time.

10. 10 Year old girl dies in Camp Cartoon Network.

11. Triple Play not open at all in 2006, due to Six Flags sending parts of TP down to SFOT.

Folks, this has been a very rough year for SFGAm and Six Flags as a whole it seems. Hopefully, Great America and Six Flags for that matter can turn the ship around in 2007. What are your thoughts?

[Trailblazer Tony]

Yeah, we've seen better seasons, but hopefully next year will go smoother.

[jm2775]

7. E. coli outbreak during recent heatwave that forced the closure of Hurricane Harbor.

This is false. First off, it was 3 guests, all from the same family, that came down with cryptosporidium. It was later found that the 3 guests got sick from a local pool, but of course, that was never noted in the local media outlets. Hurricane Harbor was closed for precaution, since the family was at the Harbor, but cryptosporidium was never found in the water at HH.

[Jackluver18]

8. Trailblazer closed indefinately.


are they removing Trailblazer?

[revolutiongurl]

I hope not.....but if Revy gets removed, I will DIE.

[Galvan]

7. E. coli outbreak during recent heatwave that forced the closure of Hurricane Harbor.

This is false. First off, it was 3 guests, all from the same family, that came down with cryptosporidium. It was later found that the 3 guests got sick from a local pool, but of course, that was never noted in the local media outlets. Hurricane Harbor was closed for precaution, since the family was at the Harbor, but cryptosporidium was never found in the water at HH.

Regardless, it still adds to the bad season that Great America has had to go through this year.

And another thing, lets try to avoid rumor spreading in this or any thread, the purpose of this thread was to highlight some issues that have happened at the park this season.

[Imeanbusiness]

How about we look about the positive things, that ahve come out of this season. Such as even after budget cuts, they are operating with more personel than last year.

[Galvan]

^Thats one positive thing out of a list of bad, You know me I am definately one too support the park basically though anything, but this year has been really rough.

Especially on a park that has been highly regarded inside Six Flags and out.

[Becky O 33]

With so many rides being down for long or short periods of time you have to wonder if the rides are being taken care of properly during the off season.
If a ride breaks down during the season there isnt alot that can be done because it will happen(though you would think spare parts should be on site or if they are parts that arent prone to breakdown the park should be able to acquire new ones from the maunfacturer in a more timely manner).
As for IW/AE these rides should have been completely rehabbed during the offseason as it is very long offseason with more than enough time to take care of rides if the park wants to do it.

I cant blame the park for 7 or 10.

I wonder if some rides now arent being intentionally shut down to save money and not due to employee shortages. And with the price of admission/food etc and now reduced hours that is something you would have expected from the old management.


11 makes no sense, let triple play be down in Texas but keep our's running or give us another ride in its place.

[DejaVuGurl1203]

You forgot one, that incident on Tornado. Hopefully next season won't be as bad.

[greatamerica2003]

With so many rides being down for long or short periods of time you have to wonder if the rides are being taken care of properly during the off season.
If a ride breaks down during the season there isnt alot that can be done because it will happen(though you would think spare parts should be on site or if they are parts that arent prone to breakdown the park should be able to acquire new ones from the maunfacturer in a more timely manner).
As for IW/AE these rides should have been completely rehabbed during the offseason as it is very long offseason with more than enough time to take care of rides if the park wants to do it.

Watch your comments there, you do not know what happens in the offseason..........

First off, the rides maint. dept. does the best they can with the money and manpower it is given. To put it bluntly, there is not enough money or enough manpower at this time to get all this done, but they try. Funds from corporate have all but dried up as the company is trying to refinance its outstanding debt, which means no money can be spent, even on parts.

Secondly, they get most of the parts stuff from Europe, and Europe is on vacation every August for just about the whole month, every single year. So even if there were funds, there is nobody there to buy from.

[Galvan]

^ There is no question that the Maintence Department busts there asses each and every operational day and during the offseason, This post is not saying or even implying that they dont work hard, the whole point of this thread is "Damn, Great American had a rough year this year." and what can be done to fix it so a year like this doesnt happen again. Because after all Great America is the park that Shapiro hangs his hat on as a "cant miss".

[Ilovthevu']

I say lock this topic, and let's go to this topic for the same thing. You do it to us ALL the time.
http://www.sfgamworld.com/phpBB2/viewto ... 15106922a6

How much is really Six Flags fault??

Revolution not running at all in 06 season
^They can't help that it's from Huss, and they gave them a bad ride.

Giant Drop running at reduced capacity and since early August not at all.
^It was working fine, and then they can't fix it because of the budget cut. One car is no big deal.

One train opperation on American Eagle Red or none at all.
^It's Eagle. Who gives a care. Both sides are forwards anyway now, and you probably understand the reason why. They wanted to refurbish one side, and they knew that they were going to only have one side open.


Problems with V2 in the middle of the season force the ride to be down an extended period of time.
^It happens a lot, and a week is nothing. A month is a lot more.

One train operations on Iron Wolf due to new restrains being added to one of the trains.
^It's a ride that not many people like anyway. It's not really a big deal. However, what's even rougher is the fact that the harnesses have just gotten a whole lot painful then they have ever been. There shouldn't be a way that you HAVE to ride it.

Sky Trek Tower being closed indefinately.
^No money to fix this ride. They probably could get parts, but it would take awhile to get them, and budget cuts. Devised a situation to try to fix it without money, and failed. It's corporates fault!!

E. coli outbreak during recent heatwave that forced the closure of Hurricane Harbor.
^Who's really to blame for this. Bad Luck

Trailblazer closed indefinately.
^It's Zamperla's fault. I'm guessing it's because of the accident of a Huss Rainbow at another park.

Yankee Clipper/Loggers Run closed for periods of time.
^This happens every year. Big Deal!!

Year old girl dies in Camp Cartoon Network.
^What can you do about this. Heart condition

Triple Play not open at all in 2006, due to Six Flags sending parts of TP down to SFOT
^It's called having no money set aside.

Tornado accident
^This is called kids faults, most likely. Some person was even saying to the lifeguard, was I the only one who jumped off the Tornado??? They did it to themselves probably.

The one you forgot is Batman The Ride.
^This was a partial bad year for this ride for awhile. It had a broken lifthill, and sometimes it wouldn't even open with the park.

[Danhockey04]

Revolution is not Huss's fault, I blame SFGAdv for not taking good condition of it before we got it.

But staffing at the park has been great this year, as well as when I went to the park this past Wednesday, there were so many characters in the park, I was really surprised. Also, you cant blame the park for some of the ride closures, the rides are just having some problems currently.

[Bob O]

I never meant to say the maintence staff doesnt work hard, and in not saying they dont do a good job. But the park is being run in a very inept-sf type manner if there isnt eniough staff/money to make sure EVERY ride isnt operating at the start of every season and then properly maintened during the season. Ive been to year-round parks at all different times of the year and other seasonal parks at th end of the operating season and have never seen as many rides down as you find at our park.
And all we get is another excuse that all the rides are made in Europe so no parts are available, if the company wanted to you can ALWAYS get ahold of someone from the company to get parts needed or from another park in the chain.

Most of the problems at the park this year are ALL management issuses that would have been taken care of if more concern was shown for the guests and arent found at parks that are better run!!!

[Suf03sfgam]

Revolution is not Huss's fault, I blame SFGAdv for not taking good condition of it before we got it.

But staffing at the park has been great this year, as well as when I went to the park this past Wednesday, there were so many characters in the park, I was really surprised. Also, you cant blame the park for some of the ride closures, the rides are just having some problems currently.

I would not blame Revy on SFGAdv due to the fact that there was an accident over seas involving a portable Frisbee made by Huss. When they became aware of the situation they sent out a notice to check certain areas of all rides for the problem.. Every Huss Frisbee in the US should be down checking for this problem. Sounds to me like a design flaw to me, not lack of maintenance.

[skaterboarder254]

ilovthevu': i think the point is it's not a matter of who's fault it is, it's the fact that our park had a rough season and the general public isn't going to look at who's fault it is. saying the problem with V2 is ok because it happens a lot isn't solving anything...it should be fixed so it doesn't happen a lot. also with giant drop even if it is just one car not working that adds up to a lot less rides. and saying rides being closed doesn't matter because people don't like that makes no sense whatsoever. there are enough people that like them that it affects how the park does for the season. people seeing that rides are down doesn't make them want to go to the park.

[Suf03sfgam]

You need to look at it from both sides of the fence.. I will tell you that any park will not go one year, without a major downtime. All of the rides are machines with many moving parts, complex control systems, and a lot of wires. I don’t care how well you keep up with them, parts wear out, control systems die, mice chew through wires. Think of it like your car, something goes wrong and you take it to the local grease monkey. Some parts are readily available and are cheap others are hard to come by and really expensive.

[rct2wizard360]

Most of these aren't really large scale stuff.

-Iron Wolf was at 1 train op for like a week or two. Big Deal?
-Giant Drop is ONE LESS CAR! They are working on the problem right now anyways.
-V2 had major downtime? A two or three weeks, IF THAT.
-HH was closed for 2 1/2 days.
-Yankee Clipper, and Loggers Run is a seasonal happening.
-She died of a heart condition, what does that have to do with the park?
-Triple Play is down for a good reason. It's a bit selfish of a comment if you ask me.

[revolutiongurl]

You forgot one, that incident on Tornado. Hopefully next season won't be as bad.

Oh yeah, I watched a video on that, the part where the boy's mom says they went all the way to the top of the tunnel was just retarded.

[Cryptkeeper]

One other thing that I think was missed is that Deja Vu was closed for the first month+ of the season (I think). It's easy to forget this though as it seems to be closed at least 1 month every year.

No matter who you blame, even the biggest defender and fanboy would have to admid that this has been a rather bad year for the park, one of the worst (if not the worst) that I can think of in recent memory. That doesn't take away from the strives the park has made in terms of being more "family friendly,", but it does take away from your experience at the park overall.

[Galvan]

^ And thats what the point of this thread is, If anyone knows me Im a big fan of not only Great America but Six Flags itself.

The fact is yes, this season has been really rough for the park.

The reason that the death of the 10 year old is in the list above was because it was a sad incident that shed a bad light on a park that has had its own problems. (Note: I am not blaming the park for the incident or lessening the situation.)

[Bob O]

I agree that the death was a very sad incident!!!!
But i dont think it is a major negative for the park because it wasnt playout out in the media as a failure on the park, just a tragic incident. Just as WDW wasnt hurt by tragic incidents where someone died on Mission Space, and the company wasnt even hurt by the death on Big Thunder Mountain RR at DL where the death was the park's fault.

I think a bigger negative for the park is the the number of problems the park has had that is listed and still has and the fact you add this to increased prices for admission and parking. When i have been at the park my last 2 visits i have heard people complian about the amount of rides down/reduced park hours, and even more than the cost of admission is the parking fee.

[SFGAmisawesome]

From what i have asked and heard from employees and seen is:

1.Rev is awaiting a part (no biggie, it happens)
2.Giant Drop....um i donno
3.AE train was rehabed (coasters need to be rehabed)
4.An flash pass employee told me (while i was waiting in line for V2 when it broke) is that something is wrong with the launch pad. (things like this happen)
5.IW:restraints need to be changed for our safety and protection.
6.STT....um i donno
7.The E. Coli thing was in the paper.
8.Another employee told me that they are setting up for the haunted house by the Trailblazer exit.(thats why it is closed)
9.Yankee Clipper and Loggers Run are closed due to all of the rain that we have had, because the track had too much water in it so they had to drain the water and then refill it.
10.People die.
11.Triple Play is closed because our ride parts are at another park.

That is what i have heard and seen.
(I have gone up to numerous employees and ask them why things aren't running etc. A lot of the employees that I have asked are very friendly and were happy to answer my questions.)

[RagingBullFan]

1. Nope
2. Nope
3. Nope
4. Nope
5. Nope (Shapiro ordered it because they looked bad.)
6. Nope
7. Yup
8. Nope
9. Nope
10. Yup
11. Yup


So in recap, don't believe the employees that you can talk to, as they have no idea what is going on.