X-Flight coming to PKI?

[CoastersRZ]

Well, at Kings Island ride operators on the ride can take "test spins" if they are on the clock. (At Coney, we are forbidden from riding the rides in uniform while on the clock with some exceptions (we can slide down from the top position of the slide, or take a bumper boat to bump one that escaped into the dock, or if we open the Python, maintenance will sometimes ask us if we want to take a spin before we open)).

Guests are always rude at X Flight? Well, that there is a fine attitude to have. Granted, there may be a lot of rude guests on a particular day, but from my experience at Coney, there are far more nice and courteous guests than rude ones. Also, the nicer you are to the guests, generally, the nicer they will be to you.

[neo8820]

I still remember what one of my managers told me in my first year at Coney on a very busy day. He said "look at all the smiles on the kids faces when they get off of your ride."

Excellent Point.

[Rustbucket]

I can say that not once was I even remotely impressed with the crews on X-Flight. Now, the Big Dipper people were doing an excellent job, as were the people on Raging Wolf Bobs...

I had similar encounter as you back in 2005 on X-Flight. The crew had some what of "in your face" attitude. I thought they were the second worst crew I experienced that year on any of the coaster I rode. (68 if you are wondering. Ninja at SFoG was the winner.) No one remembers the crew unless they are rude.

There was no question in my mind. PKI and CP crews were far more professional that week when I visited all three parks.

[WooferBearATL]

Hmm Geuaga Lakes employees still act like Six Flags employees, as in they dont care about their job and could care less about the guest experience. Kings Islands do a much better job and the majority seem to take pride in what they do.

I am making a generalization, not saying all SixFlags employees dont care, but that seems to be the norm from my expeirence. I think everyone will agree ride opps and Cedar Point and Kings Island do a much better job than the ones at Six Flags.

I figured it was a generalization because I think a lot of employees could learn from the workers at SFOG. I've never seen the level of interaction that you see from employees at SFOG at any other park.

[Rustbucket]

I figured it was a generalization because I think a lot of employees could learn from the workers at SFOG. I've never seen the level of interaction that you see from employees at SFOG at any other park.

I was at SFoG in 2004 and had just opposite experience. It may have been a bad day for them, but the only one crew who even had smile on their face was on one of the lift hill on "Dahlonega Mine Train".

[WooferBearATL]

I figured it was a generalization because I think a lot of employees could learn from the workers at SFOG. I've never seen the level of interaction that you see from employees at SFOG at any other park.

I was at SFoG in 2004 and had just opposite experience. It may have been a bad day for them, but the only one crew who even had smile on their face was on one of the lift hill on "Dahlonega Mine Train".

Check with Interp if you doubt me. Last year was like night and day from prior years. Shocked the hell out of me so much that I actually bought a season pass to the park. I've already renewed.

[The Interpreter]

The new Six Flags bears almost no resemblance to the old Six Flags anywhere...except Kentucky Kingdom and Magic Mountain. Now that the latter is no longer going to be sold in the short term, perhaps even that will improve. SFKK is going to be much more of a waterpark in the future, and much less of a drypark (sound familiar?)

[Nickelodeon Universe]

I bet on the average weekend that line will upwards of 31/2-4 hours long with no doubt in my mind at all. Really instead of rushing this I really think the park would have been better to focus on Son of Beast this year and just cleaning up the park. And waiting to put a B&M flier in the spot until 2008. B&M fliers I think have much better capcity than the Vekmoa fliers because of how the two rides load the guest.

31/2-4 hours = 11.5 hours I don't know if I'd wait that long for any ride. And it's been said before but it's not about Kings Island or any other park getting a flying coaster, it's about getting a ride that is expensive to maintain and not in the future scheme out of Geauga Lake. We saw this with Stealth at PGA.

[CoastersRZ]

Uh, he meant to type 3 1/2-4 hours which, when written another way is 3.5-4 hours. Come on now, do you honestly expect a ride to have an 11.5 hour wait?

[Captain Picard]

11.5 hour wait for it to open.

[WooferBearATL]

Uh, he meant to type 3 1/2-4 hours which, when written another way is 3.5-4 hours. Come on now, do you honestly expect a ride to have an 11.5 hour wait?

Don't feed the trolls.

[Gordon Bombay]

If zosobeast can find it, we have a very special surprise for our firend muted dark ness, we have on tape a ride op at X flight screaming from the station for us to put our camcorder away......no one ever had a bad experience at x flight my @$$. This summer at GL I never encountered a good employee except for one.....having worked a similar job myself for a long time I can cut them some slack and be udnerstanding in some ways.....the heat, the long working hours, the monotany, but theres no need to treat guests like garbage. At x flight we were constantly yelled at for cameras then never given an explanation, the employees escorting charecters were either sitting on benches while the charecter played with the kids or even one time we saw one employee trying to climb on a tree branch while his charecter sat on the curb, as soon as i rasied my camera they propped up. The girl at teh gift shop acted so ****ed when I asked her where postcards are, and I remember telling an employee he missed a lap bar on head spin. The only friendly employee that day was the girl at GR who kept trying to call Kings Island for me, she must have tried atleast 5 times and I was very greatful. Muted, I respect your passion for your job, but in all honsety GL does not have a good reputation, and I'm sure your one of the few who actually tries, but so far I've never been impressed. I just hope CF doesnt turn the Kings Island employees into the same zombies.

[Nickelodeon Universe]

Uh, he meant to type 3 1/2-4 hours which, when written another way is 3.5-4 hours. Come on now, do you honestly expect a ride to have an 11.5 hour wait?

Don't feed the trolls.

I'm sorry, I thought sarcasm was welcome here. Don't call me a troll. You don't know who I am.

[WooferBearATL]

Uh, he meant to type 3 1/2-4 hours which, when written another way is 3.5-4 hours. Come on now, do you honestly expect a ride to have an 11.5 hour wait?

Don't feed the trolls.

I'm sorry, I thought sarcasm was welcome here. Don't call me a troll. You don't know who I am.

Sarcasm is welcome. As pointed out before, the poster simply had a typo.

Welcome to the group man.

[Mikewhy]

The new Six Flags bears almost no resemblance to the old Six Flags anywhere...except Kentucky Kingdom and Magic Mountain. Now that the latter is no longer going to be sold in the short term, perhaps even that will improve. SFKK is going to be much more of a waterpark in the future, and much less of a drypark (sound familiar?)

I agree with your general comment, however, I noticed dramatic improvement with SFKK this year under its new manager. (It is my home park and I went about 6 times in 2006.) The park was run better, and I found even some of the employees to be professional and efficient. I think things ARE changing there. although they have a way to go...

As for SFKK being more of a waterpark, I know they are expanding it in 2007 to make it 10% larger and the waterpark will be renamed Splashwater Kingdom. But they DO have plans to update the ride part of the park in later years. I heard that from their manager directly at the end of the season. 2007 = waterpark expansion 2008=something new elsewhere in the park.

[RailRider]

Hmm Geuaga Lakes employees still act like Six Flags employees, as in they dont care about their job and could care less about the guest experience. Kings Islands do a much better job and the majority seem to take pride in what they do.

I am making a generalization, not saying all SixFlags employees dont care, but that seems to be the norm from my expeirence. I think everyone will agree ride opps and Cedar Point and Kings Island do a much better job than the ones at Six Flags.

I figured it was a generalization because I think a lot of employees could learn from the workers at SFOG. I've never seen the level of interaction that you see from employees at SFOG at any other park.

The only good experiences I have had at a SixFlags park were at SFOG and SFOT. The others have been pretty bad overall experiences. Also Magic Mountain is like a cancer for SixFlags because it is almost miserable for a guest at that park. Once you get through spending your life savings to pay for parking and addmission you then realize once inside the park that only half the coasters are in operation. Has anyone ever ridden Flashback or been there when its open? I hope for Six Flags sake they can change their image and opperations.

Best ride crew I have ever wittenesed it ThunderHead at Dollywood. Professional, Fast, Great Guest Interaction, and they work in an extremely noisy envirnoment with the station fly thrus. My hat goes off to them...

Also something impressive to behold is a TTD crew that has the opperation of all trains mastered. Watching them load, unload, and cycle that many trains when they get a good rythm going is impressive. Also makes the line move fast.

[The Interpreter]

I and at least one other poster here have ridden Flashback, but it was many years ago. Yes, I wish they had sold Magic Mountain. I agree, that park has incredible challenges, to be nice about it.

[AintNutinElse2Do]

WOO HOO I too have ridden FlashBack but mind you it was at that time Z-Force at SFOG before they moved in the Ninja. Now can I recall the ride experience, nah I was very young at the time.

[The Interpreter]

You are lucky. It is a good coaster, except for this one very powerful KABAM moment. Was that my neck and head?

[Rustbucket]

Best ride crew I have ever wittenesed it ThunderHead at Dollywood. Professional, Fast, Great Guest Interaction, and they work in an extremely noisy envirnoment with the station fly thrus. My hat goes off to them...

Also something impressive to behold is a TTD crew that has the opperation of all trains mastered. Watching them load, unload, and cycle that many trains when they get a good rythm going is impressive. Also makes the line move fast.[/color]

The best crews I encountered were at KBF for the past three years running. I even wrote e-mails to guest relations about it. Xcelerator and Ghostrider crews were outstanding and extremely understanding. They frequently interacted with guests and looked like they were having good time as well.

[Reclaimer]

I'm a few pages late, but I just wanted to add my two-cents into the discussion. One of my friends, a ride host at CP, came down to KI for the first time ever this summer. Every time he talks about the park with me, he always mentions how friendly and fun the staff were. He is amazed at how much fun the crews have while not sacrificing safety and capacity.

[DominatorDude11]

PRETEND LIKE THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING?

Are you serious?

Well it looks a HELL of alot better than jumping in and taking a ride, which I've seen numerous times on my visits to PKI. Either, sweep, clean, or atleast LOOK like you're doing something productive. Because seriously guests don't wanna see you hop in an empty seat when they've been waiting in like for 1-1.5 hours for a ride..

Hmm Geuaga Lakes employees still act like Six Flags employees, as in they dont care about their job and could care less about the guest experience. Kings Islands do a much better job and the majority seem to take pride in what they do.

I am making a generalization, not saying all SixFlags employees dont care, but that seems to be the norm from my expeirence. I think everyone will agree ride opps and Cedar Point and Kings Island do a much better job than the ones at Six Flags.

Once again on several of my visits to PKI I have seen less than desirable crews, and I've seen marvelous crews. I really wont delve into the details.

If zosobeast can find it, we have a very special surprise for our firend muted dark ness, we have on tape a ride op at X flight screaming from the station for us to put our camcorder away......no one ever had a bad experience at x flight my @$$. This summer at GL I never encountered a good employee except for one.....having worked a similar job myself for a long time I can cut them some slack and be udnerstanding in some ways.....the heat, the long working hours, the monotany, but theres no need to treat guests like garbage. At x flight we were constantly yelled at for cameras then never given an explanation, the employees escorting charecters were either sitting on benches while the charecter played with the kids or even one time we saw one employee trying to climb on a tree branch while his charecter sat on the curb, as soon as i rasied my camera they propped up. The girl at teh gift shop acted so ****ed when I asked her where postcards are, and I remember telling an employee he missed a lap bar on head spin. The only friendly employee that day was the girl at GR who kept trying to call Kings Island for me, she must have tried atleast 5 times and I was very greatful. Muted, I respect your passion for your job, but in all honsety GL does not have a good reputation, and I'm sure your one of the few who actually tries, but so far I've never been impressed. I just hope CF doesnt turn the Kings Island employees into the same zombies.

Well our ride ops at Dominator definatly would've treated you better than yelling out the station. We would've acted in a better manner and announced it politely.

OK now that we're done *****ing about GL let's find some POSITIVE things about our park in Aurora. Surely PKI isn't the poster child for being the "BEST CREWS IN THE WORLD", as I've seen some operationals and I've pointed them out to GR.

[Gordon Bombay]

^PKI isnt the poster child but it is certainly has a far better reputation than Geauga Lake. I must say this you though buddy, while we rode Dominator we asked if we could stay on when no one was in line behind us, we were told no, then told why and that it was company policy. That was the first employee that day to give us an answer for a weird rule then he asked us about PKI and where we were from, one of the few instances of good service at that park. Looking like your doing something? How about interacting with a guest instead or just paying attention to the ride around you instead of pretending to pick at the spot of dirt on a hand rail. Im pretty darn sure that it doesnt say in your company hand book "When not doing anything at your ride, pretend your busy", in fact I know it doesnt since Im looking at it right now. And by the way, a ride op at PKI hoping in quite alright, its required by the maintenance staff that 3 seperate personel test ride then sign off on their ride each day and usually when they do this they interact with the guests so Im pretty sure hoping in to check out how the ride is performing and interacting with guests is much better than pretending to be busy and un-approachable.

[DominatorDude11]

oh sounds like I did that . I usually do interact with the guests... But you obviously aren't getting the point I guess... What looks better in the guests eyes? Cleaning, or standing around and doing nothing? OH...And some of your Ride ops were unapproachable as well... Especially in the Coney Island Mall section...

[mutedarkness]

Well... every park does not have great employees. I admit that geauga lake does not have the greatest employees but thats why good leadership is the key. I was in charge the last part of the season at x-flight and I always made sure that my workers were nice and didn't take anger out on guests. There are lots of misunderstandings too, with Cedar Fair there are many rules that employees have to enforce and sometimes we do not know the reason why we have the rules but as employees we enforce them. I think once CF enforces new rules onto the paramount parks it may be difficult at 1st but Im sure they can handle it. Like I was saying before X-flight is a very hard ride to run many things have to be done and it took the employees there a long time to learn it and people training them have worked with the ride since it opened, trained by vekoma themselves. I just dont think the beginning of the ride will be very successful with capacity, it takes a good 2 months plus to actually master there ride. Lets not have war of the parks going on right here (if x-flight even lands there)...

peace out...

[CoastersRZ]

Now now, lets behave. No reason to turn this into a mud slinging duel. Afterall both parks are owned by Cedar Fair, so we should be on the same side.

Yes, there will be some rude and incosiderate (to put it bluntly, bad) ride operators at any park you go to. Even Holiday World has some of those. But for the most part, IMO, Kings Island has generally friendly ride operators. I only visited GL back in 2001 when it was known as Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, and on the particular day I visited, I didn`t have any bad interactions with any ride operators.

[Gordon Bombay]

What looks better in the guests eyes? Cleaning, or standing around and doing nothing?

How about you do what your guidebook says and interact and guest relate isntead of pretending to be busy, when you appear to be doing something guests dont feel they can appraoch you its that simple. You said pretending to do something looks better than standing around, not actually doing something. Pretending to be busy makes you appear un-approachable and its not an acceptable guest friendly practice, hence why it is not in your employee hand book, your not super heros, your kids with a seasonal summer job at a park with a bad rep. you should probably just follow the book.

[mutedarkness]

Between breaks there are extra people and they are ussaly sent to do something instead of getting paid to "nothing" the guest can ask any questions as they are strapped in.

You do not know what is in our hand book... plus our sups tell us to do it.

[The Interpreter]

I will say this. On the fourth day of Borg: The Assimilator operations at Paramount's Carowinds, it was running more smoothly and dispatching more quickly than I have ever seen Batwing OR X-Flight do.

Paramount Parks trained its people well under the old Viacom. Of course, all of that senior management is long gone now, and it's a new day.

How about we quit dissing the prospective operations of a coaster that hasn't even been announced.

Oh, you wanted me to say something positive about Geauga Lake. Fine, that's easy. It was one of my very favorite parks before Six Flags acquired it. I detested it as Six Flags Worlds of Adventure. It attracted crowds it couldn't handle, had extremely poor operations and guest service and was under-infrastructured from restrooms to restaurants to midways.

Since Cedar Fair has taken over, they have begun removing attractions from the dry park pell mell. I suspect they will continue to do so for quite some time to come. I really don't see how this is going to help attract people to the dry park, which is why I think that portion of the park is probably not long for this world. I can see Dominator as the next coaster to be moved, and it most probably will NOT be to Kings Island.

Food service at GLP under Cedar Fair has dramatically improved. The rest rooms, if anything, were cleaner under Six Flags, and that's pretty sad. GLP has the bones to be a very good park. Its staff is trying mightily. The primary problems are not at the ride op level, but largely in resource allocation, labor relations and staffing issues decided in Sandusky, Ohio. I still think that ten years from now, there will either be no Geauga Lake Park or there will only be a waterpark. Or Cedar Fair will have sold the entire operation to Palace Entertainment (which would be ironic, to put it mildly--if ANYONE can turn that place around it is Tim Fisher).

[WooferBearATL]

Exactly, all this is in the past. GL was much better before the acquistion by Six Flags as KI was much better prior to acquisition by Paramount. It's going to take some time for CF to make corrections to the errors that were made. Give the chain some time and I'm sure all will be fine.