Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

I'm embarrassed to admit how much I enjoyed that "behind the scenes" construction video.

I enjoyed it. I assume it was Kristen doing the narration. It was a fun little video.

Park posted that the first batch of supports for JDC showed up today. Can’t wait to ride this!

https://www.facebook.com/69421318512/posts/10156819578488513/

^Nice, can't wait to see it go up

My experience as a former SF and CF ride op. Ride ops were trained to always have the final say on what height was safe to ride or not. Like mentioned above it is very very common for parents to switch wrist bands, stuff shoes, wear shoes with exaggerated soles/heels and then change after measurement. So while a wrist band is nice, it was not a 100% indication a child is good to go. In 5 years I spent at GL/SFWoA I saw many parents do a lot of shady things to get a wrist band on a kid that was too short to ride.

And ultimately the ride op is responsible for the riders safety at the ride. At least in Ohio, ride operators can be held criminally and civilly liable for injury that happens on a ride if they allow someone who does not meet the manufacturers requirements to ride. Better safe than sorry.

Stupid question, but if they have a wristband system and ride ops are specifically trained not to trust the wristband system then why have a wristband system? I get where you're coming from but shouldn't they just not have the system? As a guest if they told me to go walk over to a place that gave out wristbands and I went there and stood in line and got one and then they ignored it anyway I'd be pretty annoyed.

But anybody that got the band legitimately should be good just by eyeing them. After working a ride for a day or two you learn pretty quick how to eye someone's height for your ride just by looking at them or comparing then to a railing or whatever. If they have a wristband and you need to question it, then chances are they obtained it "illegally"

But of course some employees will see a 1mm difference and not allow it, so... more of a guide than an end all be all.

I get what you're saying, but there would be a whole lot more stoppages on the platform waiting to send a train out without the wristbands on rides that don't measure behind the airgates.

^ That's what you'd think, but specifically at Great Adventure and at Nitro, that's not necessarily the case. The first time we visited last year, my son had just hit the 54" mark and we had done almost every other 54" ride in the park, including Kingda Ka, Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, and Bizarro. Measured up at the beginning of the queue. No problem. At the gate, guy comes around with the stick and is like "he's too short". He measures up right at the gate there along one of those height measurement sticks they have posted and he makes it just fine there, but the guy still goes "no, that height guide doesn't matter, he's not touching my stick, so he's too short". The stick was about a half an inch higher than their posted height. They told him to go get measured up at the ride information center on Main Street and get a wristband. Thankfully on the other side of the station, they had another stick at that entrance which he did measure up on and got the thumbs-up. We did end up making a complaint about the height discrepancy on that one stick to guest services that day, but from the sounds of it, it doesn't sound like anything has changed.

So that's one thing. The other thing is what I mentioned in my previous post, where even once you get the kid the wristband, they still ask to measure him, even going so far to say "the wristband doesn't mean anything, I need to physically measure him". Okay, no problem, you have a job to do and you gotta do it, I get that. At this most recent visit for us, it had been like five months since the last time we rode Nitro, and he had grown even more, so I felt confident he's not going to get bounced. And sure enough he measured up without any problems. So then why does a second person come by to re-measure him after the first person gives him the thumbs-up? At that point, it just gets ridiculous. And I'm not surprised to hear that there were other parents having the same problems. And it's always only for Nitro.

I'm just glad that by the time the parks open up again this season, he's tall enough that he hopefully won't have to deal with this crap again going forward. (But now I get to go through it all over again with my shortie-pie of a daughter, who's turning 5 soon and is currently hitting 44" rides.)

As Wolfbobs mentioned (worked at a Cedar Fair park as well), the wristband was only utilized as "deal-breaker", if you will.

If there was a child who was right on the edge, we would advise them to get an official height check.

This way, if checking height and the child was right on the edge but had a wristband, 99.9% of the time the operator would let them proceed with no issue. But we ALWAYS had discretion to deny if we suspected that there was some deceiving going on (swapping bands and such). But that is pretty obvious when/if that did occur.

Sometimes the parents would get irritated if we did re-check their kid with a wristband, but usually not a big deal. That wristband is very helpful for those situations when the kid is right on the line.

Stupid question, but if they have a wristband system and ride ops are specifically trained not to trust the wristband system then why have a wristband system? I get where you're coming from but shouldn't they just not have the system? As a guest if they told me to go walk over to a place that gave out wristbands and I went there and stood in line and got one and then they ignored it anyway I'd be pretty annoyed.

Trust me, as a guest who follows the rules too I would be annoyed. And honestly in my 5 years of operating rides the shady parent who swapped bands, stuffed shoes, changed shoes, etc may have only happened a few times a season but it did happen. The normal problem I had was a child wearing flip-flops with a 2"+ heal or sole that would make a kid barely 48". Then they would want to remove the flip flops to ride so they wouldn't fly off. Now the kid is two inches too short and under the requirement. It was always such an aggravating battle.

In the end, ride ops aren't trying to be d**cks, they're just trying to do their best while some douchie parents are trying to cheat a system to get their kid to ride something.

But most parents would be cool. I even got to height check the kids of my childhood hero, Bernie Kosar! He was awesome about it when I had to deny one of his kids a ride at Raging Wolf Bobs. Even chatted with me at the control booth and signed an autograph for me before he left.

Well no wonder he was nice, you spared one of his kids from having to ride Raging Wolf Bobs. That kid was the lucky kid.

I don't have to be there to know what really happened because I've seen it dozens of times from people too cheap to shell out $1

Patron: "What do you mean I can't take my phone on the ride.

Employee: Sorry you need to put it in locker or have a non-rider hold it.

Patron: I've taken my phone on a lot of rides.

Employee: For safety reasons you can not take it on KingdaKa.

Patron: I'm not paying a f'n dollar, I already give his park too much money.

Employee: You can leave it with someone who is not riding.

Patron: Well that's not good enough

Employer: Then hide it somewhere

Even if the employee said the last statement, the patron has no basis to claim it is the sole responsibility of hate park. I'm sure it will get settled out of court but hope SFGAdv doesn't have to remove the "dangerous" bamboo that effectively themed the Golden Kingdom

I guess Steven Keim Jr. is lucky he didn't win a Darwin Award with a deadly infection from the bamboo. But to think walking off a path to bury or hide something to avoid paying a dollar is foolish and karma's a bitch.

Another example of someone who doesn't know the meaning of personal responibility

Roller-coaster rider sues Great Adventure over bamboo accident

Jim Walsh, Cherry Hill Courier-Post Published 5:00 a.m. ET Jan. 16, 2020

CAMDEN - A lawsuit filed against Six Flags Great Adventure contends the amusement park is responsible for a gruesome injury suffered by a patron after a roller-coaster ride.

In the suit, a Pennsylvania man says he was at the entrance to the Kingda Ka ride when he was told he could not bring his cellphone on what's described as the world's tallest roller coaster.

The patron, Steven Keim Jr., claims an employee of the Jackson park advised him to hide the phone under foliage in a bamboo grove behind a nearby smoking area.

Keim quickly concealed the phone and completed his ride on Kingda Ka, the lawsuit says.

But when he returned to the thicket to retrieve the phone, the lawsuit says, Keim stepped on "an extremely sharp piece of cut bamboo."

The bamboo shard, allegedly covered by foliage, "pierced through his shoe, penetrated his foot and caused … serious, permanent personal injuries," says the suit.

A Great Adventure spokesperson said Thursday the park does not comment on pending litigation, but added "the safety of our guests and team members is our top priority."

Great Adventure's website notes "no loose articles including cell phones will be permitted on Kingda Ka."

"Please store them in a locker or with a non-rider before entering the queue." it says.

The suit says the cut bamboo caused "a penetrating wound to the plantar area of (Keim's) right foot requiring sutures."

It asserts the accident resulted in "severe pain" and the need for surgeries, among other consequences.

The suit, initially filed in state court in Ocean County, was moved this week to Camden federal court.

It seeks unspecified damages and legal costs for Keim, a resident of Douglassville, Berks County, in connection with the May 2018 incident.

The suit, which says Keim encountered "a highly dangerous and defective condition," includes photographs of the bamboo grove behind a bench and a cigarette receptacle.

The lawsuit contends Great Adventure is responsible for maintaining the safety of its premises, "including the designated smoking area adjacent to the ride 'Kingda Ka,' and the grounds, trees and foliage immediately surrounding the area."

It argues Keim's injury "was caused solely and substantially by the negligence and carelessness" of Great Adventure.

double post

^Yea... It's because of these people why we can't have nice things. And ironically why we all now have to pay a dollar to store our stuff for these rides

I'd consider the bamboo gone. If it stays, it will be a pleasant surprise. It's one of the lesser liability stranglehold issues in 2020.

The Bamboo has been cut way back in the Goliath queue at Magic Mountain which could be unrelated but probably isn’t. I hate people.

*eye roll*

People are absolute idiots, and will sue anyone because if their own stupidity. - Everyone is trying to make a quick buck off of every other big company.

Great Adventure's website notes "no loose articles including cell phones will be permitted on Kingda Ka."

 

"Please store them in a fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo or with a non-rider before entering the queue." it says.

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I don't know why but this is always infinitely funnier to me whenever an official press release gets posted.

Moral of the story, don’t be a cheap ass and pay for the locker.

I'm really happy my time working rides was right before the smart phone addiction. Even though people probably had cell phones in their pockets, at the time they didn't really have video capture capabilities. Didn't have to worry too much about idiots taking them out to film on the ride. Now with this obsession that every moment needs to be captured I don't know if I would be able to constantly deal with the idiots with a smile and customer service voice.

I wish more of these lawsuits would just get thrown out of court. They're a waste. But sadly, the park will probably settle to make this go away.

Jersey Devil trains are looking awesome park posted an update on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/sfgradventure/status/1227711977780391943?s=21

Thats really sick! I'm hoping I might make it out to this park this summer and ride Jersey Devil!

I love the lead car!

Whoa!!! Those are awesome. It’s literally going to look like it is eating the track.

It’s literally going to look like it is eating the track.

... if they ever start building the track.