I am a newbie to this board somewhat, I've been looking and lurking for the past week trying to figure out whether the Dragster would be operational for my trip to the Point. For reference purposes, we got the Starlight passes for Thursday night and were at the park all day Friday. I thought y'all might like to hear some info about my trip.
First of all, the Dragster is DEFINITELY all it's cracked up to be. I rode it twice, once each day, and it was absolutely awesome. I loved it.
Now, onto the reports. The first time, on Thursday, we got in line just as it opened at around 6pm. We waited approximately one hour, and got on. No breakdowns while we waited, it was incredible. For reference, it was down (from what we know) until around 6pm, then ran till around 8ish when it started raining, and I heard from someone that they had waited in line until around 9:30 when the rain stopped and got on... the staff stayed that late! Big props on that one.
Friday, things did not go *quite* so well. When we arrived at the park at 9, the ride was not operational. It came up soemtime around 11:30 I think, and due to stupid time constraint crap, we didn't get to get in line until 1:00 or so. Anywho, we waited in line through two ride breakdowns, more on those later. We got up to the cars at the 2:15 wait mark (we waited two hours and fifteen minutes) and were sitting in the car waiting to launch when the ride went down! They moved the cars backwards, and we got back off the ride. Anywho, long story short, after two hours of extra wait (we actually had some family grab a deck of cards from the souvenir shop nearby and give them to a ride attendant to give to us, so we played cards in line waiting! It ruled, the attendants thought it was priceless.) we got on and launched, another excellent run. To our understanding, the ride was on and off all day for the rest of the day, and so we didn't get to ride it again.
I talked with as many park employees as I could about the ride and the breakdowns, and this is what I gathered. The computers inside the ride are *usually* the culprit of the minor breakdowns, and one of the reasons the delays are so lengthy is simply because they have such a long safety checklist to go thru before the ride can be ready to run again. We saw mechanics on the platform and inside the ride each time it broke down, and all of the attendants and operators seemed busy during the breakdowns. Also, ecah person I talked to commented on how the MFer broke down just as many times a few years ago during its launch year.
Now for the part that will inevitably get me flamed, the criticism part. 9 out of 10 of the ride attendants that I dealt with while bearing waits because of ride breakdowns were SO nice... they knew exactly what we were going through, and were very kind and understanding of our totally understandable frustration! I even asked a few if they would continue to wait during the breakdowns while we were on the platform, and they invariably told us to do so, even though the script for the ride operator told us to go ride other stuff =P. So, in general, the experience I had waiting, while frustrating, was totally worth it (the ride is awesome, folks). However, a couple of the ride attendants and operators I dealt with were *very* rude and not forthcoming in my quest for knowledge, including the guy operating the ride and the microphone (the guy was a jerk to us, plain and simple). The breakdowns are understandable, and if you keep that in mind as you're waiting, the only thing that can further screw it up is the attitude of the attendants. Courteous and polite behavior to park guests would be the standard, I would think! So, 90% EXCELLENT ratings to the attendants, but when you're dealing with hundreds of frustrated and tired people, even the 10% jerks can be way to much.
So, in closing, the ride is incredible, the weekend was incredible. Be patient with the ride, bring a tiny deck of cards =).
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2002/2003
KP Team Member
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Without upstops, airtime would have a whole new meaning!
Obviously we only have one side of the story here, but I think it goes without saying that if you are going to be working on a ride that is prone to mechanical breakdowns what you'll spare in physical exertion of sending trains out you better save to build a thick skin with the frustrated guests.
Jeremy Evans said:
The computers inside the ride are *usually* the culprit of the minor breakdowns, and one of the reasons the delays are so lengthy is simply because they have such a long safety checklist to go thru before the ride can be ready to run again.
Yeah, last year I was talking to a WT guy when it went down and I asked him what the problem was. He laughed and said the little right light turned on.
--James
*** This post was edited by jdoty 6/1/2003 12:03:04 PM ***
Jeremy Evans said:
Now for the part that will inevitably get me flamed, the criticism part.Deffinately not a flamable comment there... Park Ride Ops have a very visiable job and as with any job that entails dealing with the public, attitude is everything. If you don't agree with me just go to CP's job listing and read the requirements... Professionalism and Courtousy at all times (even the frustrating ones) is the minimum acceptable standard for anyone who deals with customers, and hat's off those who go further... and when one encounters that enivitable 10% who believe the world owes them a living, and find customers to be an annoyance, then I'm certainly not going to flame you for complaining...
But you have to admit, people coming to you all day long basically blaming you for the ride being down would tend to get under your skin after a while.
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Without upstops, airtime would have a whole new meaning!
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