Thursday, September 15, 2011

Not Enough Labor at Hurricane Harbor

I have been meaning to write this for a week, but a cold got hold of me and thus here I am late, but still feeling I need to get this off my mind.

We have been season pass holders at Six Flags Magic Mountain since 2009.  At the time we got our fist passes our kids were 3 and 5, and 41 and 45 inches respectively.  We purchased combo passes for both Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor in 2010 and 2011 as our kids grew and as of today, both kids are at least 48 inches and able to enjoy a lot more of the parks, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t without difficulty.

We try to go to Hurricane Harbor a few times a month on the weekends as a family, and last year (2010) we were fortunate enough to visit on the last day the park was open.  It was definitely understaffed, and under populated which made for a nice day until we tried to go into the wave pool.  We were halted by a lifeguard who measured my son and said that since he was under 48 inches he had to wear a life jacket, but there were none available.  Now I had been in the park at least 25 times that summer and had never had my child kicked out of the wave pool for not wearing a life jacket, but I had gotten him one for the lazy river without incident.

What I found was there was a severe shortage of life jackets available that day, and ironically enough, they were filming at the wave pool that day.  Coincidence that they wanted bigger kids in the pool for filming?  It was a definite possibility; although I will never really know.

Flash forward to the Saturday of Labor Day weekend 2011.  We had not been to Hurricane Harbor for a month thanks to my daughter breaking a bone in the growth plate of her wrist and being out of commission for the month of August.  Upon arriving at the parks, we found that it was a fairly busy day with parking only available at the end of the gravel lot (almost to the dirt).  However there was a sign at the entrance to Hurricane Harbor that the Sidewinder and Boa Constrictor slides at snake summit were closed, as were Tike Falls and Reptile Ridge.

Upon entering the park we found the following:
·                    1 slide on Tiki falls closed
·                    The mushroom play area of Lizard Lagoon turned off
·                    All 5 slides at Reptile Ridge closed
·                    Sidewinder and Boa Constrictor Closed
·                    2 of the 4 slides at Splash Island Closed
·                    The Volleyball pool at Lizard Lagoon Closed

To make things even worse the raft slides that were open (Tornado, Tiki and Lightening Falls) seemed to have a sever raft shortage, making lines extremely long.  I think we waited for 5 minutes for rafts on the Bamboo racer, which there is normally no wait.  Lines were very long, it was very hot and the amount of people made it hard to even enjoy open play areas like Splash Island or the River Cruise.

I asked at guest relations as to why so many slides were closed especially since several were around Lizard Lagoon assuming that there was water pumping problem, but no.  The “official” response I received was that they schedule the number of slides based on anticipated number of guests and so the slides that were closed was because they did not expect high volume.

Ok so to make sure I got it right I repeated it back to her (which it wasn’t her fault she just gets paid to repeat whatever script they give her).  Its Labor Day Weekend, its 100 degrees outside, the park is packed and so many slides are closed because management didn’t expect a high volume of guests that day?  Her answer was simply “yes”. 

Now I understand that a lot of the lifeguards are college students so there is some churn by the first of September, and I understand that if its not hot there may be a need to close slides, especially if there are no crowds. This was a holiday weekend, it was 100 degrees and the park was packed.  It seems something happens in September where management just doesn’t care anymore.  Their sights are set on Fright Fest and for them summer is over. 

I guess I would have been happier if she would have told me there was a pump broken.  It was hard to hear the sad truth that management had made a decision to make a negative impact on my experience at the park that day.  After a month of not being able to go, our favorite Slides at Reptile Ridge were closed, and it was just too busy to do anything.  We only stayed for a couple hours and then left, not spending a dime in the park.

I really hope Six Flags can get their act together on staffing.  I realize summer is almost over, but for two years in a row my last experiences with Hurricane Harbor before they close for the season have not been happy ones.  For a family that enjoys the parks so much, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.


No comments:

Post a Comment