Search

[Coaster]

I think if people want to spend the money on the TB pass, more power to them. Although in my opinion, I really don't think something like this is needed at SDC. There's only a few rides you'd need them on, and as you guys said, there's always theme stuff to read. I saw the TB pass used for the first time on Wildfire on Sunday. It was handled in a very smooth and fast manner and not very many people even noticed it happened I don't think.

(And by the way, the regular queue time wait for WF was a grand total of 5-10 minutes, depending on the row you wanted to sit in).

Now I have to gripe about something. The staff at the Grand Expo was PATHETIC on Sunday. They were SOOOOOO slow. We rode the swings and I was sitting in the swing for five minutes while they switched out staff members for a break while they chatted. Sat there for five minutes, all for a 30 second ride. I know we've all said this before, but someone needs to look at the efficiency of the Grand Expo staff. It's like you walk into a new park over there.

[bthomas]

Couldn't agree more.

[mbrownx4]

Yup, Grand exposition has always been a difficult one for us as well.  Waiting for an operator to move between rides is a pain.  Sign me up on the spot and I'll be glad to man a ride just to get the lines moving consistently. 
(It's always been a dream of mine to work at the park, so killing two birds with one stone!)

[Ozark Outlaw]

Perhaps the Grand Exposition will not be as bad once the college kids start work for the summer? I know that does not help much from March through May, and August through December.

[mjenkins]

I can see why SDC would want to make more money off the people that are willing to pay not to wait but it does seem pretty unfair to everyone waiting in line.  It helps to soothe my feelings a little knowing that they paid a lot extra but it creates almost a class system where I am not as important as someone else.  It's really hard when you try to explain to a young child why someone else is getting to cut in line.  I agree that the way to do it was like the Disney fastpass system where everyone is on equal terms and that people that don't want to wait (or just have better time management skills) don't have to.  I can also agree that PK's lines are horrible, but wildfire eats up people with somewhere around 40 per train--I wish more of the SDC rides could handle that kind of load.

[Bigdog]

We were at the park Thursday for opening day. The weather was perfect and parking was quick and easy.

The crowd was fairly large, and as I expected most of the rides were not operating a full capacity.

Powder Keg had only two of three trains running and the line at mid day stretched almost all the way to the saloon. Wait time was about an hour and a half.

Giant Swing had only one arm operating with the line well out into the courtyard. Wait time was over an hour.

TNT had only one train running with the line out the building and up the ramps. Wait time was over an hour.

Wildfire had both trains running with wait time 10 minutes or less. (This is how it should be done!)

We skipped Fire In the Hole as the line was out past the cemetary.

The line for the new ride was less than 5 minutes. Looks like it will be fun mid-summer.

We never made it to Grand Expo.

I asked some ride operators why they weren't running at full capacity and received two responses:
1. We didn't know it would be this busy.
2. We want to sell more Trailblazer passes.

I'm not buying #1. The temp was in the mid 60s and had been predicted for over 10 days. It's spring break at every school within a couple hundred miles. Their planners need to be replaced if they can't predict a big crowd for these circumstances.

#2 is the real issue. It's almost as if they were creating artifically long lines in order to shame us into purchasing the Trailblazer. If you're not familiar, this is a pass that gives you front of the line access for six rides per day at $20. For a family of 5, that would cost us a hundred extra bucks or about $16.50 per ride. Not worth it in my opinion.

What do you think?

[rubedugans]

SF StL does that in a way.  from the SF web site:
"The Flash Pass allows you to enjoy your day at Six Flags by avoiding long lines at your favorite rides. With a Regular The Flash Pass, you wait as long as everyone else is waiting, but not in line—you can enjoy your free time elsewhere in the park."

With a Gold The Flash Pass, you enjoy a significant reduction in wait time allowing you to ride more rides with less wait.

New for 2010! Platinum The Flash Pass allows you to enjoy riding our rides with the least amount of waiting! Consecutive Riding allows you to WAIT ONCE and RIDE TWICE. Quantities are limited."

"Prices for The Flash Pass vary, depending on level of service and number of riders. 
Regular
The Flash Passes are priced from $37.00 for the first person. 

Gold
The Flash Passes are priced from $82.00 for the first person 

Platinum
The Flash Passes are priced from $102.00 for the first person.  Up to 5 extra riders, can be added to your The Flash Pass for an additional charge."

I would not enjoy the 2 time ride option if I had been in line waiting.... No matter how much they paid. I paid to enter as well isn't my $$$ good enough? I go 2 times a year to SF StL on field trips, and this option, when you have a whole class of students, is not fair to them. We understand it is about $$. Try explaingin that to kids as mJenkins stated.

[Junior]

I would seriously doubt if SDC is artificially creating long lines in order to sell these special passes. If they are, somebody higher up deserves a hard, swift kick right up the...     Seems like this pass just hacks off a lot of the "loyal and royal" fans.

[shavethewhales]

If they're only selling 75-100 per day, then it really is just an option for those few who have apparently been begging the park for something like this. I'm just worried about the potential for it to take off like at other parks. It's simply bad hospitality to allow some guests to step all over other guests because they can pay more. These kind of schemes are one of the reasons why the American public is becoming less interested in theme and amusement parks, IMO.

[Ozark Outlaw]

Junior is correct. Granted, Silver Dollar City COULD be more efficient. However, I doubt they are intentionally creating long lines. I can remember years ago when Thunderation was the only large coaster in the city. Wow, talk about a LONG line!

True Silver Dollar City has more attractions now than they did then, but attendance has gone way up since then as well. Besides think about it this way, if everyone purchased a Trailblazer pass then at least the regular lines would be much shorter.

[Bigdog]

Junior is correct. Granted, Silver Dollar City COULD be more efficient. However, I doubt they are intentionally creating long lines.

I would believe you both, except for the fact that more than one ride operator told me "we're only running one train in order to sell more Trailblazer passes".

That sounds pretty intentional to me.

[Junior]

It sounds like a stupid employee to me. I know theme has shifted since I've worked there, but if the ride operator is talking like that, sounds like his immediate manager needs to have a little talk with him. The only thing the ride operator needs to be talking about is how much fun everybody's having here today in the 1880's.

[saloongal]

^

[Bigdog]

It sounds like a stupid employee to me.

Stupid because:

a)  They are telling guest the truth and they shouldn't be doing that; or
b)  They are making stuff up.

I'm going with "a".

[themeparkguy]

if they added a ride or made capitol improvements every year, i could understand the need for additonal revenue streams, but we went over 2 years with just a parking lot and they wanted some to pay more to expierence the same attractions.