TR: SFMW

"Thomas Servo III, Esq." wrote:

> Bonus though, lots of disassembled
> Schwartzkopf track to stare at in this section of the lot.

That is Tidal Wave/Greased Lightnin' from nearby Great America. The entire train is also right
there on the back side of the area where the coaster is stored.


> I loved my ride on Medusa, but I won't be going to that
> park again to ride it a second time. Put some signs up pointing out
> the exit in the lot, put some employees in the lot guiding traffic as
> the park opens, TRAIN YOUR RIDE-OPS!!!, put some employees around the
> park that aren't just trying to sell me overpriced soda, and then I'll
> visit again. But as is, I won't be too upset that SFMW isn't within
> short driving distance of me.

Marine World is within a long driving distance for me, but I don't visit the park too much. I
don't like the drive because of the traffic, but besides that the park like you said could use
some improvements. I'm tired of seeing train stacking like you described, which as far as I can
tell is standard operating procedure. Medusa should be a people eater with its three trains, but
the way the ride operators are checking restraints so slowly all the time, it's pathetic. The
last time I was there, Roar was being run pretty well, but that coaster was the exception, not the
norm.

Maybe I've been spoiled from Cedar Point. It would be nice if some people from these parks would
visit other parks and see where they could make improvements...and then actually make the
improvements or show signs of making changes.

Swervo wrote:

> Like I said in my post, Scream just churns through people, even with two
> trains. I've seen Scream have lines just as long as the one I was in
> at SFMW and gotten through in 45 minutes. I admittedly didn't even
> ride Kong, but I have to imagine that the restraints on it aren't overly
> complicated, what possible excuse can there be (short of just not having
> enough employees at the ride) for how incredibly long it was taking to
> get the trains out of there?

This is just my from my casual observations, but I think that it's caused by employee laziness. At some
parks when they see another train coming towards the station, they REALLY pick up the pace to prevent a
train stacking situation. It's obvious that they know that they have to pick up the pace to churn
through the people in the queue. Aside from a few situations on Roar, I have never seen the crews speed
up at Marine World. If they stack trains there, they just don't care.

It's not my park, but if it were, that would be inexcusable.


> When I was about 2 trains away from riding Medusa, the ride op on the
> left side was busy telling everyone to get behind the yellow line rather
> than checking restraints. Now, maybe I'm completely high, but if it's
> so important to be behind the yellow line rather than the gate, why not
> put the gate on top of the yellow line? One is something people
> naturally stop at, the other is something people rarely notice. If
> it's such a big problem, have an employee dedicated to handling this
> while the other checks restraints. Beyond this, it was so bad that the
> guy manning the PA actually said "And we're about ready to dispatch, but
> we're waiting on Robert. AGAIN." Shouldn't this be a sign to
> somebody who manages the park?

Yep, it sure is a sign! It seems like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

I just wish that these parks would show signs of visiting other parks to see how things can be done in a
better way.


> Swervo, who wonders if he could stuff one of those Schwartzkopf trains
> in the back of his Celica without anyone noticing...

I wouldn't be surprised if nobody did notice that you were over there. I spent a lot of time
photographing the Tidal Wave in the parking lot and nobody did anything. Usually when I photograph
roller coaster parts at other parks, a security person will drive up in a few minutes and ask if I'm
lost or something like that. They never had any problems with me just taking photos, but I assume that
they just want to make sure that I'm not climbing onto anything. I never experienced that at Marine
World when I was looking at and photographing the Tidal Wave. There are several obvious signs that
people have been exploring around the Tidal Wave parts though and clearly going where they're not
supposed to be.