Free Tickets NOT a Good Idea!

[zjohn1988]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... flags.html


I think this turned out a little TOO well!

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Free day causes chaos at Six Flags

By S.A. REID
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/05/07

The people involved in staging a free-admission promotion at the Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park say they never saw Thursday morning's trouble coming.

The promotion bottled up morning rush hour traffic on Atlanta's west side and frustrated youngsters turned away shortly after 6 a.m. because the park had reached capacity.


So much for a fun day during spring break from school and the free admission to the amusement park, which was supposed to run from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

The traffic tie-ups had children walking along I-20 to escape stopped cars and get to the park before the gates closed.

"We were expecting a large crowd but not as the gate opened," spokeswoman Christy Poore said. "We had 300 cars lined up at 2 a.m."

As a precaution, officials opened the park in sections between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., Poore said.

The first section -- an area stretching from the Georgia Scorcher to the Shake, Rattle & Roll indoor ride -- reached capacity within 15 minutes of opening. By then, there were about 15,000 people inside the park, Poore said, declining to discuss the park's capacity.

Bert Weiss, the morning jock on Q-100, which sponsored the promotion, said Six Flags officials projected the crowd would build throughout the morning.

"It was just impossible to predict that many people would show up that early," he said.

Cobb police say they were caught off guard by the traffic that eventually brought traffic on I-20 during the morning commute. Authorities asked motorists to stay off I-20 until at least 10 a.m.

Traffic has since returned to normal.

"It wasn't planned for us to be out there," said Cassie Reece, a Cobb police spokeswoman. "We were out there because we were called."

For morning commuters I-20, driving in either direction was no thrill ride.

At its worst, travel time on eastbound I-20 from Lee Road to I-285 was about 25 minutes. It normally is under 10. Cobb County police closed the main exit for the park — Exit 43 off I-20 — about 6:15 a.m. The exits have since reopened.

Jaleesa Prather and Tradasher Wimbley, both 18, arrived about midnight. They slept on the ground at a nearby parking lot until about 3 a.m, then moved toward the park's main gate.

About 3:30 a.m., hundreds of youths rushed the fence barriers and the front gate when they thought the park was about to open. Fights erupted over tickets being passed out by park staff, they said.

"They ran us over," said Prather of Dacula. "We thought we were going to get trampled. We were beat up and punched for those tickets."

The pair said they had a decent time once they got in, but don't plan to visit again under similar circumstances.

"We'll never do it again," said Prather. "It was unorganized."

Said Wimbley of Decatur: "They should have known what to expect and should have been prepared more. It was crazy."

The amusement park staged the free admission promotion as a season kickoff.

Many of the youngsters who got out of cars and walkedwere turned away by Six Flags' officials because they had not arrived in cars.

The free day included free rides, breakfast and season pass specials. Normal one-day admission to the park is $50 for adults and $30 for children.

Dana Davis, 31, drove from nearby Douglasville with her two children and five nephews for a day of fun. The fun never started. She and the children got up at 3 a.m. and sat in traffic on I-20 from 3:30 to 4:50 a.m.

She got close to the park but was turned away.

"It seems like a hoax, instead of a free day at Six Flags," she said.

Shunte Jordan, 32 packed up her children, ages 13 and 5, and left her Riverdale home about 5 a.m.

She made it to Exit 47 and found it closed by police.

"I'm frustrated, very frustrated," she said. "It's the traffic. It's like you are stuck. If you are going home you're stuck. If you're going to Six Flags, you're stuck."

She was at a QuickTrip convenience store on Mableton Parkway, watching as many of the young people in the store and in the parking lot milled about without parental supervision.

"Now people are getting frustrated. It's best to try to get out of this. This is when I feel like problems occur," Jordan said.

Disappointed youngsters — most off school for spring break — hung around the area when they couldn't get into the park. About 200 people sat or stood at a police barricade about 100 feet from the Six Flags gate.

Many were youngsters who had been dropped off by parents who had to go to work.

Alyssa Davis, 15, came with friends from Conyers. A parent dropped them off, never thinking the teens would not get into the park.

By 7 a.m., Alyssa and her friends were trying to keep warm inside the QT convenience store, about a mile from the park. They had walked there after getting to the park and finding the gates closed.

"It's cold outside," Alyssa said. "They didn't tell people there was a maximum capacity."

Makebra Cuffie of northwest Atlanta left home just before 6 a.m. and was dropped off by her mother. She was more pragmatic about not getting into the park.

"We should have left home earlier," Cuffie said.

Zoo Atlanta, more than 20 miles away in southeast Atlanta, took in some of the overflow.

Zoo staff arrived at work to a line of families waiting to get in after being turned way from the amusement park, according to Susan Elliot, a zoo spokeswoman. Nestled in Atlanta's Grant Park, the zoo opens at 9:30 a.m. for general admission.

[zjohn1988]

http://lpe.ajc.com/gallery/view/metro/0407/sixflags/

^pix^

[LC3]

It sounded like a good idea, but it should have been planned a lot better. I don't think Six Flags Over Georgia would ever do this again.

[BrianPlencner]

"We were expecting a large crowd but not as the gate opened," spokeswoman Christy Poore said. "We had 300 cars lined up at 2 a.m."

...

Jaleesa Prather and Tradasher Wimbley, both 18, arrived about midnight. They slept on the ground at a nearby parking lot until about 3 a.m, then moved toward the park's main gate.

This section of the story is what makes me think to myself what were these people thinking? For those that got to the park around midnight, that is 6 HOURS before the event was to start. Some of you on here know that I like to get to SFGAm early in the morning, but come on.... 6 HOURS early? And it was not just a few people either. The quote about having 300 cars lined up at 2 AM should have told the park that they were in for some issues.

Maybe if the park worked with the local police / city / Radio station and put a rule in place that if you got there before say 4 AM, you would have to leave and come back after 4 AM. This way, you don't get the people camping out all night just to get into the park. If they did this, and posted the infomation on the Radio Web site, some (not all) of these problems may not have happened.

If I recall, this is why Ticketmaster in the Chicago area (at least) setup the lottery system, so that people would not camp out all night at the ticketmaster locations just to get the good seats.

--Brian

[rct2wizard360]

That is insane.

Just insane.