The Uniforms don't really bother me. But because every employee switches rides often, I think it's easier for them to have a generic uniform.
But Uniforms won't bring in guests.
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Al Weber: "We need to focus on being a Theme Park Operator"
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^True, they won't, but it was a nice touch when Marriott owned it. They wanted to be the alternative to Disney without traveling.
If you were around back when they did this, you would appreciate it. I personally don't care, but I did like it. I finally retired the Sarah Palin signature because she is now 100% irrelevant.
Six Flags did it in the '90s also. GAdv used to have the Butler uniforms for Batman when it first opened. I never visited in the Marriott days.
More recently, for the first couple weeks Terminator was open I believe the ride ops wore army jump suits. That stopped however. For generically themed rides it doesn't matter to me but if the ride has a specific theme the ride ops uniform should hold true to that in my opinion. Oh well. No, uniforms wouldn't bring guests in but its an added touch once inside that park thats appreciated if you like theming.
From the media day footage that I saw, I believe only saw the guest que line guys wore those military uniforms and the actual ride-ops wore the usual uniforms.
I finally retired the Sarah Palin signature because she is now 100% irrelevant.
I will give Shapiro credit on the uniform thing. The train ride at Great America brought back the train conductor uniforms. That was a nice touch.
I finally retired the Sarah Palin signature because she is now 100% irrelevant.
Disneyland proved that wrong in the 1950's.
I was there this year and they were still doing the army uniforms. Everyone around the ride does it. The people at the enterance to the queue, the preshow workers, the ride ops, etc. all had army uniforms. They also did a good job of getting into character by acting like drill sargaent-type people
My question is why have the parks gotten 7% more attendance than last year? I think part of it has to do with the weather being so much better than last year even though I'm only talking about our park alone. There has been a lot of hot days, and that's great for the waterpark, and to me there hasn't been a lot of rain at least around here. I know it has been more south, but it just seems to miss us except for last Friday which was a long time coming for around here. And the Little Dipper is a good addition (and maybe they are getting Kiddieland people to come visit the park that wouldn't have before), but what about a lot of the other parks. They haven't been getting much really. Is it the fact that they have so many concerts, and they move the concerts to less packed days in order to fill the park more? Previously, they didn't have concerts on Tuesdays for instance, and rather had them on Sundays.
I also think the advertising has gone up to previous years that is helping the park a lot. Before, it was a little less tv ads with Shapiro, and more as they said online stuff, but now the ads are on all the time. "I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
The park probably should have installed a Sally instead of TDK. It would have left less people disappointed. I think this type of ride could have had a great theme to a Batman movie. In this setting, Six Flags could have competed more on even terms with places like Universal (Men in Black). Last edited by BLADE on August 17th, 2010, 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
Some of the reasons I would say BB failed: 1. Northern climate 2. Too much work. 3. Too many other waterparks around. 4. I just don't know that todays generation is as much into water as the generation of 30 years ago. I read over at Great America Parks recently that the flumes had over 4 million riders in 1981 and were the parks most popular attractions. I remember logs and boats bumper to bumper in the loading area, loaded both front and back, and a full que, back in the day........... I was also at an area lake swim area recently on a hot Sat. and there was hardly anyone there. Back in the 80's the same place was packed, even on weekdays. Kids are just into more things these days.
While I know that there are different opinions, I have to admit that this is mine as well... maybe not the but I do agree that it is not fair to Six Flags Great America. He is saying we are spoiled. This is completely the opposite. We have not gotten a thrill ride or roller coaster in 9 years. Six Flags Great Adventure received one 4 years ago, Kingda Ka. Even my friend who doesn't care about roller coasters and is scared of them says that they don't think it is fair. This proves that thrill-seekers and families alike would love a new one. I just think that not enough people are wanting a new one. I frankly think that too many people are content with the roller coasters we have now. However, people like me (who can no longer feel the drop of Raging Bull in the BACK SEAT of the ride), are craving a new thrill. It would be great to have a new roller coaster, but you always need to think that people have it worse. Think of it as this, at least the park isn't closed down like Kentucky Kingdom *knocks on wood*. Last Visit, American Eagle BACKWARDS 5 times in a row right before the park closed. I cannot WAIT to go back for Fright Fest!
Lets keep the "we need a rollercoaster" nerdage somewhere else. This is one thread that has some really good discussion going on.
Top 5: 1) El Toro. 2) Maverick. 3) Millenium Force. 4) Diamondback. 5) X2.
Coaster Count: 167 (41 Wood, 125 Steel) @Coaster_Cole on Twitter
For the attendance and 7% increase, I think I figured out a HUGE reason for that, and it really doesn't have much do with the park content. I think it has something to do with the Funatics program, and the perks they are giving for 5 visits. Maybe, people were going 3 times to the park before, but now people are going 5 times in order to get a season pass cheaper for next year. Or even if a person decided to go 4 times in order to get the 4th thing (I forgot what it was - free parking maybe) instead of 3, there are a lot of season pass holders, so that would make a huge difference in attendance.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
But how many Season Pass holders don't go to the park at least 4 times?
If season pass holders got into the program though, that might have got them to go more which I believe is what happened. They even had one of those things for you get a friend for free, and you know how season pass holders like stuff like that.
When people in general hear the word "Free", they will run towards it like anything. I really like some of the perks that program gave, but my only complaint was that if you went let's say 2 times in a certain month, they make you use it within the next month in which I don't understand why they wouldn't let you use it for any of the months the park is open. It's been so long that I have gotten one of those perks that I even forgot about the program until just last night. "I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
The train conducter uniform was brought back in 2004 when Tim Black was GM of the park and dictated that happen, Kirean Burke was CEO at the time. They were gotten rid of again in favor of the "please keep the park clean" shirts when they rolled that out when Shapiro was CEO.
Some of you are taking this "Listening to the customer" thing way too far. Of course facebook comments and people are going to say they want some "500 foot dueling wooden inverted coaster prototype with 25 inversions" (Heck! Half of the people here are whining about this too!). Unfortunately, it isn't happening.
That would almost be the same as me going into my place of business and saying "I want a $100,000,000 raise starting today with benefits and 10 months of paid vacation every year or I will boycott the company". There are worthy ideas....and then there are ideas that they all can sit around a table and have a good laugh about so to speak while they basically notion the "Don't let the door hit your behind on the way out" Focusing on being a Theme Park Operator as the thread title implies is wayyyy more than just plopping down new $25 million dollar coasters every year. Al Weber knows what he's doing...he successfully did it for all the Paramount Parks so I don't see him doing any different now
^Thank you. That had to be said. Especially when you said:
As for why the attendance is so high. ilovethevu' its for all the reasons you mentioned. The weather has been perfect everywhere. All the parks have been jam packed every single day. At SFNE for HH they had to make a temporary queue for the water park because people were pushing into each other. So they have to let people in about 50 at a time. Shapiro did a great job with selling season passes. This year they're probably the highest ever because the price was low all the way up to Memorial day. This goes to, like what you mentioned, ilovethevu', the Funatics rewards. These rewards keep guests coming back to the park. Plus the fact that they expire in a couple weeks is genius in my opinion, thats pretty much forcing them to come back. Concerts. You mentioned this in great detail I don't have to go into this again. A small part of it I think has to do with social networking. Six Flags does a really good job of connecting with the guests through Facebook and Twitter. While I don't think it brings people into the park if people are thinking about it they will help push you over the edge and help plan you're day. Word of mouth helps with that in a way also.
It's not the weather that's causing an increase in attendance, it's the fact the economy is finally on the long-awaited upswing.
People are reading so much into the "listen to the people" comment. Everyone says that. But Shapiro and crew had their own vision of Six Flags that didn't seem to jive with the public. Not sure what direction Weber goes, it'll be interesting. I'm gonna be more interested in seeing what Weber decides to do with the smaller parks in the chain.
^ I disagree. Weather was a huge reason attendance dropped last year nationwide, even at places like Busch and Hershey. That was the biggest reason cited on attendance lists that I saw. The economy isn't any better this year than last, and from the financial reports I've seen, it could be as much as 7 more years until we are totally out of this recession.
This has been one of the hottest summers in years all across the country. Anywhere with a waterpark is sure to be packed.
The economy is still terrible. Last time I checked, unemployment was still on the rise.
Then economy is still in the dumps for 90% of Americans with with the risk of deflation hitting in the next 6 months. And the weather plays a massive role, just look at Cedar Point and northern parks last summer compared to this year.
Most of them. Most people get the season pass and forget they have it, or just never feel like going. That's why they promote the season passes that much. Either people visit a lot and pay a lot of money in the park, or they make the extra money off people not paying off their season passes.
Remember at the beginning of the season when Season Passes were only $10 more than a one day ticket? You would not believe the amount of people that I heard saying, "For $10 more?! Hell yeah I'm gonna get a season pass!" Teens and families alike. To a family of four, thats essentially being able to come back to the park for a little less than the price of one adult admission. I think the majority of those people will make it to the park twice this season. The first being the time they purchased the pass. If they actually come back for that second time, it will probably be during Fright Fest.
alot.. Around the world and back
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