A Letter to Six Flags
To all of those who asked what happened at Six Flags today, here's the first draft of the letter in which they will receive upon my next visit to them, hopefully next weekend. It's neither finished nor proof-read, so I'll delete this copy and put up the next copy when it's complete. Thanks for reading.
I write to you based on a not-so-great day at Six Flags New England. As I do not want to come off as a disposable opinion and guest of your park, I will state that my family has retained season tickets for the last seven years, every year since you bought Riverside, once a component of Great Escape. I also want to note that I am a theme park fanatic, and am currently in school to become a roller coaster engineer. With that information, I begin with what has become a regular day at your Six Flags theme park.
At 10:30, the Looney Tunes act in the end of the Main Street corridor has concluded, and the rush to Superman in the D.C. Comics Superhero section of the park has begun. Upon the reaching of the gate to the D.C. Comics Superheroes section, we were informed that Superman would not be open until much later. Granted the inclement weather that’s taken place all week, that’s quite excusable. However, the guest’s notification to this problem should have been prior to even stepping foot into the park; as a customer, I have a right to know what I am buying, and you, the seller, must be open in letting the customer obtain this information. From there, we went to the Mind Eraser, to which we found a chain across the entrance of. This led us to move forward to Batman: The Dark Knight, which, at the time, was in the process of running two to three empty-car runs. By the time it was almost 11:00am, we were dismissed from the Batman line and were told it will be running later. On our way back towards the main entrance, Mind Eraser was still down, as was Thunderbolt, and every thrill ride we hit along the way, including Crime Wave, Twister, and Splash Water Falls. Noting that you have changed your hours from last year’s 10am to this year’s 10:30am, one would assume that you were going about making sure the rides were open on time, and not just scaling back on hours; much to my dismay, I feel it is merely the latter. The only rides worth noting that were open when the gates opened were Scream, and some of Wiggles World.
When we arrived at the front gate, we received attention from two of your manager level staff. The first went into guest relations to get us an update on when certain rides would be open. The second attempted to also maintain this information, along with some way to rectify the situation. The first cam back telling us that Batman: The Dark Knight would be open momentarily, Mind Eraser was open, and Superman: Ride of Steel was to be open around noon. The second came back with similar information, saying that Superman: Ride of Steel was to opened around 1:00pm. We were told to see guest relations to obtain some form of complimentary item for our troubles, in which we received an exit pass to Superman: Ride of Steel, when we so choose. The first manager also urged us to fill out survey sheets our complaints, as your company is in need of change and the awareness of the dissatisfaction of its guests.
Following this exchange, we head towards the Tomahawk, and followed that up with the Sky Ride to get back to the center of the park; the only catch is that this ride broke down with us on it, and we were stranded for some time thirty feet above the midway. Now at this point, we had attempted to ride four rides, and three of them were either broken down or broke down with us on it. From a ride maintenance standpoint, you are at 25% - that constitutes failing in my book.
When attempting to leave the park, we ran into a manager of advertising directly outside the entrance of the park, asking people how they have enjoyed their visit; he was unlucky enough to ask us. We told the story that you have read thus far, to which we were told that Six Flags is not at fault for any of the inconveniences we have been put through thus far. He continued to say that all the rides were running at some point earlier in the morning before we arrived, and that this was an unlucky event. The mantra “The customer is always right” had no validity with this man, and to be quite blunt, he had no room for the advice we offered, and was a pompous ass.
After taking lunch, it was approximately 1:30pm. We went to check on the status of Batman: The Dark Knight after seeing Superman: Ride of Steel was clearly not running, and found that neither was Batman: The Dark Knight. We proceeded to check the remaining maintenance time on Superman: Ride of Steel, and found it to be approximately a half-hour, so we waited and rode it. This is the point in which I will note that both managers we had met with earlier had said no later than 1pm. We did not even enter the queue of the ride until 2:00pm.
On top of all that has occurred, it was in this line that a major safety issue had come to the forefront. While in the station of Superman: Ride of Steel, a girl who was buckled in the train, and was approximately ten seconds away from launch, was released from her restraints, and measured, (in height) to which she fell about half a foot short of the ruler. This was either because the employees in the station were not measuring heights, or because the employee regulating line flow and Flash Pass line flow was not measuring. I bring it to your attention because seeing as this was the third train out for the day, and to have a mistake like that, that is also a percentage to be ashamed of. It is also noted that line cutters were neither reprimanded nor sent to the rear of the line for cutting, but were ignored.
As a suggestion, I think that at least upper management, whom we all asked, should be required to visit Cedar Point, the premier park of your rival firm, to see how a well-oiled machine runs, and possibly take the good from there and improve upon it. The feeling when you enter a park like Cedar Point is that you can go on whatever you want, whenever you want, because maintenance and line speed is all at its optimal level. To sum up, you know you got every penny worth what you paid for. However, when you enter your park, the feeling is that your getting ripped off, with rides not running, the park opening late, and with people that should take your comments to heart cutting you off with an unnecessary explanation.
As much as I wish all of this did not happen, and as much as disliked writing this letter, I will add that you have done a fantastic job with the scenery and theming, especially in your new Wiggles World, where the colors alone are absolutely wild. I think the steps you’ve taken to make a more beautiful park have worked, but now you need to make the park operate as well as it looks. Until you have that, your park could be the eighth wonder of the world; no one will want to come back. And if you can get guests to come back, especially non-season-pass holders, then your finances will soar, and so will your attendance.
I write to you based on a not-so-great day at Six Flags New England. As I do not want to come off as a disposable opinion and guest of your park, I will state that my family has retained season tickets for the last seven years, every year since you bought Riverside, once a component of Great Escape. I also want to note that I am a theme park fanatic, and am currently in school to become a roller coaster engineer. With that information, I begin with what has become a regular day at your Six Flags theme park.
At 10:30, the Looney Tunes act in the end of the Main Street corridor has concluded, and the rush to Superman in the D.C. Comics Superhero section of the park has begun. Upon the reaching of the gate to the D.C. Comics Superheroes section, we were informed that Superman would not be open until much later. Granted the inclement weather that’s taken place all week, that’s quite excusable. However, the guest’s notification to this problem should have been prior to even stepping foot into the park; as a customer, I have a right to know what I am buying, and you, the seller, must be open in letting the customer obtain this information. From there, we went to the Mind Eraser, to which we found a chain across the entrance of. This led us to move forward to Batman: The Dark Knight, which, at the time, was in the process of running two to three empty-car runs. By the time it was almost 11:00am, we were dismissed from the Batman line and were told it will be running later. On our way back towards the main entrance, Mind Eraser was still down, as was Thunderbolt, and every thrill ride we hit along the way, including Crime Wave, Twister, and Splash Water Falls. Noting that you have changed your hours from last year’s 10am to this year’s 10:30am, one would assume that you were going about making sure the rides were open on time, and not just scaling back on hours; much to my dismay, I feel it is merely the latter. The only rides worth noting that were open when the gates opened were Scream, and some of Wiggles World.
When we arrived at the front gate, we received attention from two of your manager level staff. The first went into guest relations to get us an update on when certain rides would be open. The second attempted to also maintain this information, along with some way to rectify the situation. The first cam back telling us that Batman: The Dark Knight would be open momentarily, Mind Eraser was open, and Superman: Ride of Steel was to be open around noon. The second came back with similar information, saying that Superman: Ride of Steel was to opened around 1:00pm. We were told to see guest relations to obtain some form of complimentary item for our troubles, in which we received an exit pass to Superman: Ride of Steel, when we so choose. The first manager also urged us to fill out survey sheets our complaints, as your company is in need of change and the awareness of the dissatisfaction of its guests.
Following this exchange, we head towards the Tomahawk, and followed that up with the Sky Ride to get back to the center of the park; the only catch is that this ride broke down with us on it, and we were stranded for some time thirty feet above the midway. Now at this point, we had attempted to ride four rides, and three of them were either broken down or broke down with us on it. From a ride maintenance standpoint, you are at 25% - that constitutes failing in my book.
When attempting to leave the park, we ran into a manager of advertising directly outside the entrance of the park, asking people how they have enjoyed their visit; he was unlucky enough to ask us. We told the story that you have read thus far, to which we were told that Six Flags is not at fault for any of the inconveniences we have been put through thus far. He continued to say that all the rides were running at some point earlier in the morning before we arrived, and that this was an unlucky event. The mantra “The customer is always right” had no validity with this man, and to be quite blunt, he had no room for the advice we offered, and was a pompous ass.
After taking lunch, it was approximately 1:30pm. We went to check on the status of Batman: The Dark Knight after seeing Superman: Ride of Steel was clearly not running, and found that neither was Batman: The Dark Knight. We proceeded to check the remaining maintenance time on Superman: Ride of Steel, and found it to be approximately a half-hour, so we waited and rode it. This is the point in which I will note that both managers we had met with earlier had said no later than 1pm. We did not even enter the queue of the ride until 2:00pm.
On top of all that has occurred, it was in this line that a major safety issue had come to the forefront. While in the station of Superman: Ride of Steel, a girl who was buckled in the train, and was approximately ten seconds away from launch, was released from her restraints, and measured, (in height) to which she fell about half a foot short of the ruler. This was either because the employees in the station were not measuring heights, or because the employee regulating line flow and Flash Pass line flow was not measuring. I bring it to your attention because seeing as this was the third train out for the day, and to have a mistake like that, that is also a percentage to be ashamed of. It is also noted that line cutters were neither reprimanded nor sent to the rear of the line for cutting, but were ignored.
As a suggestion, I think that at least upper management, whom we all asked, should be required to visit Cedar Point, the premier park of your rival firm, to see how a well-oiled machine runs, and possibly take the good from there and improve upon it. The feeling when you enter a park like Cedar Point is that you can go on whatever you want, whenever you want, because maintenance and line speed is all at its optimal level. To sum up, you know you got every penny worth what you paid for. However, when you enter your park, the feeling is that your getting ripped off, with rides not running, the park opening late, and with people that should take your comments to heart cutting you off with an unnecessary explanation.
As much as I wish all of this did not happen, and as much as disliked writing this letter, I will add that you have done a fantastic job with the scenery and theming, especially in your new Wiggles World, where the colors alone are absolutely wild. I think the steps you’ve taken to make a more beautiful park have worked, but now you need to make the park operate as well as it looks. Until you have that, your park could be the eighth wonder of the world; no one will want to come back. And if you can get guests to come back, especially non-season-pass holders, then your finances will soar, and so will your attendance.