Park Review
|
Aurora, Ohio August 26, 2001 I presently live in San Diego and, with my head now bowed in indignation, acknowledge Six Flags Magic Mountain as my home park. Before this trip, I had never been to Ohio. Thus, I hope that I am offering all of you a fresh, unique perspective on the Ohio parks that I visited. I had my Sony CLIE PDA with me for most of my trip and took notes throughout my visit especially between rides and activities at each of the parks I visited. In my report, I have applied overall ratings (from 0 to 5, 0 being the worst and 5 being the best) to the various rides that I experienced. Each rating reflects the overall experience including theming, thrill, fun, etc. The rating for each ride is relative. In other words, a rating of 5/5 for a wooden roller coaster is rating it only against other woodies, not all coasters in general. The categories I rate separately are: flat rides, woodies, steel non-inverting, steel inverting, stand-ups, suspended non-inverting, and suspended inverting (aka SLC). I will rate a B&M floorless coaster, such as Medusa, against all other steel inverting coasters. By the same token, I do not rate shuttle coasters separately. Thus, Raptor and Face/Off, for example, are rated in the same category. I am posting these reports to both RollerCoasterTalk and the message board at Ultimate Rollercoaster. So, for those of you who read from both of these sources, please forgive the duplication. For those of you who like to read TRs (and if you don't, I figured you stopped reading this long before getting to this part), I hope you find it enjoyable reading. My trip was quite exciting with new favorite rides discovered. Ok, without further ado, on to my report. I left PKI around 10:30pm after two outstanding night rides on The Beast. After Brian dropped me off at my car at the Holiday Inn, I headed up to Richfield where my next hotel was. Four hours later, shortly before 3am, I arrived at my hotel certainly ready to sleep! After thankfully getting 9.5 hours of sleep, I checked out of my hotel and headed to Six Flags Worlds of Adventure in Aurora. Now, I must say, I was warned about scheduling my trip the way that I did. I was told I was starting with the best park (Cedar Point) and ending with the worst (Worlds of Adventure). Little did I know how true this would turn out to be... I arrived at SFWoA around 1:30pm. My flight out of Cleveland was at 7:40pm. Thus, I figured I could get a good four solid hours at the park before heading to the airport. As I arrived at the park, the sky looked ominous. After parking, as I opened my car door, I kid you not, I heard the first crack of thunder. I started to walk towards the park entrance but the rain soon started and it was heavy! I sought cover underneath the large picnic tent setup in the parking lot. After a 20-minute wait under the tent, the downpour ended and I proceeded towards the park entrance. As I walked through the park towards the ride area (the gate I had entered through was on the wildlife side of the park), I noticed how pretty the park is. It is a very pleasant environment. I am curious, though, why Six Flags doesn't connect the two main parts of the park on both sides, not just one, with walkways? That seems pretty senseless to me. With the weather holding up, I was hopeful to get a few rides in. Being a lover of B&M floorless coasters, my main goal at SFWoA was to ride Batman: Knight Flight. So that's where I headed first. They were running two out of three trains. Pathetic, Six Flags, pathetic. The queue was full of people, but at least they were playing some great Batman-themed music. After about 15 minutes in line, the ride experienced some mechanical trouble. The first train stopped at the bottom of the hill while the other train stopped in the second set of brakes. Apparently, there was some sort of problem with the floors in the station. They were not operating properly. Eventually, they got the second train into the station where they had to manually bring up each set of floors. Soon thereafter, they were able to cycle the other train through the ride after which they once again had to manually bring the floors up. All through this, Six Flags ride ops occasionally came on the intercom with the typical message explaining they were experiencing mechanical problems but were hoping to get the ride open soon. After a total wait of about 45 minutes, they then came over the intercom and told people that everyone waiting for the ride would have to exit the loading platform/queues as the ride was closed. I saw someone from Six Flags handing out something to people on the exit platform so I headed over there. I showed her my Magic Mountain season pass and explained to her that I had come all the way from San Diego to ride this ride. She explained that they were only "compensating" people who were stuck on the ride and thus was willing to do nothing for me. Whatever she was handing out (of which she had a HUGE stack in her hands) she was not willing to give to me. I was tempted to grab some right out of her b**** hands. F*** you, Six Flags, and your consistently crappy customer service. I then had a good fresh-squeezed lemonade from a cart nearby to literally and figuratively cool me down. I next headed over to the Serial Thriller to try and get a ride on it. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes, they shut down the ride due to lightning. Another downpour soon commenced so I sought cover once more. The ride didn't look that great and I've heard many bad things about it. It looks pretty similar to the amazingly pathetic Kong at Six Flags Marine World. The storm continued for quite some time. I eventually decided to leave the park around 4:30pm when it was still raining. I had not ridden a singly ride and was not a happy camper. Granted, much of my frustration was not Six Flags's fault but simply mother nature's. Still, the crappy customer service that I received really put a sour taste in my mouth. Shame on you Six Flags, you pathetic money grubbing a*******! My trip to Ohio was a real eye-opener for me. After outstanding visits to both Cedar Point and Kings Island, I will never walk into a Six Flags park the same way again. Sure, I will still visit Six Flags parks in the future like my own home park, Six Flags Magic Mountain. I will only visit them to ride roller coasters, something I love to do. At the same time, I will be somewhat sickened to know that I am giving Six Flags the business. When visiting their parks, I will be certain to be watching out for any problems and will be more than happy to report these problems to park personnel. Watch out Six Flags! If you continue to piss me off with poor customer service, I will exact vengeance upon you! Your guest relations people are going to learn to despise me! Andrew
|