Good for reporting it, but why do they want you to go online vs. taking your information directly?
Arachnidia
- Thread starter I305Evan
- Start date
I would guess it’s either easier to take a paper trail or easier to ignore.
Keep us updated on any responses you (hopefully) get!
Tbf, that question was more aimed at the park and not @Crunchewy - unless it was something legal requiring a guest to maintain some kind of chain of custody (no clue if that's even a thing) for whatever report, why would the park management team not take a statement directly from a guest about a safety violation by a ride operator that could have seriously injured or killed guests, then take care of paperwork and ensuring the situation is properly addressed?
Would they have said the same thing if it were mentioned by a guest as the safety issue is occurring at the same time?
Seems to be adding more beauracracy to the process to me, if not all but actually avoiding guest's concerns. One thing to give that kind of response to minor complaints or broad statements by guests, a whole other to avoid taking care of a directly reported safety issue.
Otherwise, if anyone read Dale Brumfield's Theme Park Babylon novel, there actually was mention of a nasty accident on the (fictional) scrambler ride involving a bystander in the ride area while it was running...
This is why operators do visual scans with a low clear thumb up before the all clear anouncement!
There was only one operator. I think this ride should have a second operator on the other side. That would have avoided this incident.
I sent them the following message (maybe not the best worded message):
I want to report a really bad safety issue we witnessed today, Sunday, August 28. We rode Arachnidia at about 3:20 pm (I know the time as I took a picture of the ride before we got on). We got on the ride and the ride started, when we saw there was a women with a child in a stroller INSIDE the ride area. I looked over at the ride operator (a young woman) and I’m 90% sure she saw the woman, but she did not stop the ride. We were shocked and appalled and worried for their safety.
Fortunately the woman moved into the EMPTY second operator’s booth. But still this was horrible and completely unacceptable. I hope you will take this incident report seriously and make sure the ops know what to do in this situation ASAP. I also think, if the op did not see the woman, then you really need to have two operators on this ride for it to be safe.
Thank you for your time.
I'm very confused myself why guest services didn't do anything on the spot. Maybe since they weren't in the rides department they felt "oh well it's over and done with now whatcha gonna do.... call this number and something will be done about it later", but I'm pretty sure guest services can still enter in complaints at the park themselves. So maybe the guest services team member was untrained of what to do? Speculation of course. The park has a full guest management system program in place where guest services enters in complaints/ compliments and it's then automatically put into a queue for the respective department to follow up on the complaint by email or phone call with the guest. For issues that need to be resolved immediately that guest services can't handle themselves, then an operations area supervisor will physically meet with the guest at guest services. So my guess is that guest services didn't see it as pressing issue to call an area supervisor over AND didn't feel like entering it into the system themselves (that is under my impression that they do indeed have the capabilities of logging complaints/ compliments in person and not just the call center- they're guest services after all).
To add- if anyone in leadership from the operations department saw first hand this was occurring, the team member would immediately be pulled from position (even if it results in a temporary ride closure) then, the team member is given a written final warning and sent home for the remainder of their shift. If it occurs again, then the team member is terminated.
Doesn't help when they make it look like they're scanning, but they're not actually looking during said scan as seen in this instance.
I'd want to press the park for some kind of explanation as to why this type of response is acceptable.
However, I'd also imagine that they're going to want to have some kind of evidence that both the safety violation and guest services interaction occurred before they're going to do anything about it.
But, then again, if there was an investigative journalist that could sway public opinion putting together a story regarding theme park safety (not necessarily KD specific but potentially could expose this particular incident as a negative for the park) then I'd also think the KD/CF PR team would kick into high gear to get it sorted out.
Not that I want to see the park have bad press, especially with their current renaissance... But it's crazy for them to appear to brush off the matter.
However, I'd also imagine that they're going to want to have some kind of evidence that both the safety violation and guest services interaction occurred before they're going to do anything about it.
But, then again, if there was an investigative journalist that could sway public opinion putting together a story regarding theme park safety (not necessarily KD specific but potentially could expose this particular incident as a negative for the park) then I'd also think the KD/CF PR team would kick into high gear to get it sorted out.
Not that I want to see the park have bad press, especially with their current renaissance... But it's crazy for them to appear to brush off the matter.
I would hope guest services will report the issue directly as well and just asked for the online submission to have a full written report on top of the verbal communication.
Can you imagine the legal implications of a guest reporting a safety issue like that to be told to go home and write it up?
What If a guest ends up getting hit by the ride the next day because the operator never was told they are doing a bad job?
Can you imagine the legal implications of a guest reporting a safety issue like that to be told to go home and write it up?
What If a guest ends up getting hit by the ride the next day because the operator never was told they are doing a bad job?
I hope that the woman reported it too, but I don't know if she did. I told her when we exited that she should be legitimately pissed and she acknowledged that, but her husband was there along with who I assume was their other kids, and said to her that it wasn't really a big deal and wasn't that unsafe. Which kind of blows my mind.
In addition to the obvious concern for the guest’s wellbeing, the park is insanely lucky the incident wasn’t any more serious. If the guest had gotten hurt or it had been captured on video, that could’ve instantly undone years and millions upon millions of dollars that CF has invested into improving KD’s reputation as a safe, high quality establishment.
Both incidents involved a guest standing inside a ride area while the ride was in motion (at Arachnidia they eventually got to the other control booth). The supervisors at Busch (which yes, I'm aware that this is a different park we're talking about and would honestly fit better in the Der Wirbelwind thread) did find out about the incident from what I've heard, but it's not clear what happened to the team member involved. I would be surprised if they didn't get safetied.
Not only that, but I've seen some operators starting up rides without looking/scanning at ALL.
I did receive a reply:
My name is xxxxxx and I am the Area Manager of Ride Operations here at Kings Dominion. Thank you for taking the time to tell us about the incident at Arachnidia. This is not okay and we have taken the proper steps to ensure it does not happen again.
If you have anything else please let me know.
My name is xxxxxx and I am the Area Manager of Ride Operations here at Kings Dominion. Thank you for taking the time to tell us about the incident at Arachnidia. This is not okay and we have taken the proper steps to ensure it does not happen again.
If you have anything else please let me know.
While it has been forever since I last rode it, I found that Arachnidia was really ripping last weekend. Faster than I can recall other theme park Scramblers running in recent years, at least. Great time.
Once the operator hits ride-start, that thing gets right to business. Same with Bad Apple and Wave Swinger
It was really fast every time I’ve ridden it for the last several years. I don’t think that has changed.
I honestly think people are jumping to the wrong conclusions in this thread. Just because they directed @Crunchewy to fill out the online form doesn't mean that they also didn't take action as well which seems to be what most people are implying. I think the online form submission allows for what seems to have happened -- a direct communication with the area supervisor -- which probably pulls a lot more weight than customer service forwarding a slip of paper that could get lost in transit or have illegible information.
TBF I honestly could see the ride operator missing something like this even if they are actively scanning. The person could have been standing directly behind something in that ops point of view. There is a reason why that second operator booth is there, after all.