They should consider doing what a lot of businesses do and take advantage of our large prison population and migrants looking for work. It's really cheap labor and it would help to further reduce costs.
News Cedar Fair Merges with Six Flags
- Thread starter horsesboy
- Start date
While I'm all for folks getting a second chance, I'm not sure a family-focused company's best interests are being served by employing the currently-incarcerated.
They don't have to be criminals. You can just arrest people for BS charges and get them to plea bargain. Part of their "punishment" is to work at the park for free. This is what the chicken factories do. This would also help all the privately owned prisons fill cells so they can get tax payer money. As mentioned in the article don't worry about ethics, as long as it's legal and benefits the shareholders everything should be fine.
So your solution is slavery.
As appalling as it is, I hope @EdK's comments are both not serious about using prison labor for theme parks and serious about how fucked up the reality of the for-profit prison system is (for that matter, the whole judicial and correctional systems need an overhaul, but that's for another thread).
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Also, there's only one of these in Virginia is in Brunswick Co, so fortunately not even close to any park if prison labor was ever considered.
To the point, though - if a potential employee could easily find a part-time seasonal position that pays better and/or is much closer to home, then why would they work for KD?
To add to that - if you ever read the Andy Mulvilhill book on Action Park, an evident truth of theme parks is discussed: once through the gates, some people disregard any shred of self-awareness and/or self-preservation as they believe they're entitled to do whatever they want without consequences. Then you have the last 8-ish years of this becoming normal behavior to wider groups of people. So why would you want to work where you're not being well compensated to deal with the public with this sort of attitude?
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Also, there's only one of these in Virginia is in Brunswick Co, so fortunately not even close to any park if prison labor was ever considered.
To the point, though - if a potential employee could easily find a part-time seasonal position that pays better and/or is much closer to home, then why would they work for KD?
To add to that - if you ever read the Andy Mulvilhill book on Action Park, an evident truth of theme parks is discussed: once through the gates, some people disregard any shred of self-awareness and/or self-preservation as they believe they're entitled to do whatever they want without consequences. Then you have the last 8-ish years of this becoming normal behavior to wider groups of people. So why would you want to work where you're not being well compensated to deal with the public with this sort of attitude?
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Hey, just looking out for the shareholders and using the same business model everyone else uses. It's perfectly legal too thanks to the 13th amendment -
AMENDMENT XIII
Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
AMENDMENT XIII
Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
I'm not serious and the whole justice system and prisons for profit is disgusting. It wouldn't surprise me if they did go this route though.
It is completely disingenuous to claim that using prison and/or day laborers to save money for the shareholders is somehow the logical extension of the position that parks are for-profit businesses. I assume that is what your rhetoric is intended to achieve.
Please do not build strawmen arguments to belittle other people's positions. If you cannot make a case against someone's actual view without resorting to cheap theatrics, then perhaps your position isn't very solid.
There is actually a thread that addresses this at length:
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Scrolling back through, I realized I must have skimmed right over this response.
How am I supposed to interpret it? On the face of it, you took the out I gave (not serious about using convict labor in a theme park), but then the second sentence seemingly contradicts the first (wouldn't be surprised, implying a level of consideration that in itself implies a level of seriousness above none at all).
I went to Dollywood last Sept and Nov. it was an absolute high-quality experience. Right now this is the gold standard of how to run a regional theme park.Any thoughts on Dollywood instead? Any place that isn't CF or SEAS is fine at this point.Gotta vote with my wallet.
This year Dollywood is open almost daily from March until the end of December. That means if one has a Dollywood season pass they can attend on the MANY days other regional theme parks are closed.
My visits last year were on weekdays in September and November and there were no lines for the rides at all. The park was crowded, but half of their customers come for the shows.
I also asked customer service about ghost weather closures. You know when Cedar fair, Six Flags, and Seaworld close the entire park because attendance is low and there’s a little rain in the air. Like Carowinds did 12 times last year. They told me the Dollywood does not do that unless it’s absolute severe weather. So that makes it more worthwhile to spend money traveling. They are knowing that your plans won’t get canceled by their greed.
You have to remember that Dollywood is in what is actually a fairly heavy tourist area. In fact Gatlinburg ranked 17 last year and pigeon Forge 19 for most visited tourists cities in the US. By comparison Orlando which we all probably think of first was 5th on the sane list. Charlotte didn't even make the top 25 and Doswell as one might guess isn't anywhere on the list. It's nit reasonably to expect a regional park that draws mainly from locals who will make repeat visits to function the sane as a park right next to two of the largest tourist drawing cities in the country. For that matter more then 80% of Dollywood's visitors travel more the 3 hours to visit and close to 60% travel more then a day to visit. So again the way you treat weather will change just because your guests willingness to tough out a bad day cause it might be there only chance is going to be higher.
Despite repeated requests for actual data, I still have seen no evidence of @Blauer's claims that, "Cedar fair, Six Flags, and Seaworld close the entire park because attendance is low and there’s a little rain in the air." I would caution against any debates predicated on unsubstantiated assertions. Imparting credibility on unproven claims risks allowing them to become perceived as agreed-upon facts.
Nothing says “Enjoy your visit to our park!” quite like seeing someone working Snoopy’s Soap Box Racers currently serving 20 to life for first-degree murder.
Let's settle on "Agreed upon observations" then. I can't think of another reason to get kicked out on a day when the park is empty and there's a light on and off drizzle, but without insider info, there's no way to verify.
I agree KD closes early sometimes mostly because of attendance, but disagree that it's a big issue, because as I keep saying, no one is there. Particularly in the case of last year's winter season which seems to have ignited the whole discussion.
Probably 10 years ago I arrived at the park at 5:30 after a storm and found the park had just closed, despite weather clearing. A similar time there had been light rain all day and found they were closing at 6, talked to someone coming out and they were satisfied after many rides, and if day ticket probably could come back for free too. I guess those so entitled they show up at 5:45 get no sympathy. I did have some problem with the first closing and definitely a problem with a day last year when they closed at 2 just as the weather was getting decent. Still, in every case we're talking truly small numbers of people. That's probably so rare at Dollywood it's not worth having a policy.
Probably 10 years ago I arrived at the park at 5:30 after a storm and found the park had just closed, despite weather clearing. A similar time there had been light rain all day and found they were closing at 6, talked to someone coming out and they were satisfied after many rides, and if day ticket probably could come back for free too. I guess those so entitled they show up at 5:45 get no sympathy. I did have some problem with the first closing and definitely a problem with a day last year when they closed at 2 just as the weather was getting decent. Still, in every case we're talking truly small numbers of people. That's probably so rare at Dollywood it's not worth having a policy.
These aren't "agreed upon observations" (whatever that means) either.
I have not observed that the majority of people on this Forum agree with the unsubstantiated claims that have been made repeatedly, but without any actual evidence, by @Blauer . So, they cannot be considered "agreed upon."
All I have seen is anecdotal evidence based on a few people's experiences and filtered through their biases. Without systematic observation and information about daily closures, weather, etc., this claim remains nothing more than the unsubstantiated claim by one person (or possibly a few).
If there is anyone on this Forum with actual knowledge of the internal decision making processes at KD, that person has the ability to speak with authority on this topic. No one else here really has the information to make any claims about why or if the park closes early for weather without examining actual patterns and data.
So, again, it is not reasonable to base any discussion on the assumption that one person's very limited experiences and opinions are credible or factual.
It certainly wasn’t my intention to put up a straw man argument or belittle anyone else’s position. The posts were intended as tongue-in-check and social commentary based on the following quote from the article.
“The first thing out of his mouth was, 'We followed the letter of the law,'" Rachlin said, recalling the conversation with Hanrahan. "That doesn't mean that what they're doing is ethical or in the best interest of their unitholders.”
Slavery still exists in this country and we have a corrupt judicial and prison system. I suggest a viewing of Cool Hand Luke or even better, the documentary the 13th for reference.
Many companies use this low-cost labor for menial and low skill jobs which seems unethical to me.
What’s interesting about some of the posts is the assumption that prisoners have committed terrible crimes but in realty the majority of prisoners are locked up for drug or misdemeanor crimes and the vast majority of sentencing is done through plea bargaining (about 90%) and not from a judge and jury.
I was also trying to point out that with these mergers and wall street types taking over, it seems like it’s a race to the bottom to maximize profits. The point made over and over in that article was the reduction in labor costs to increase efficiency and maximize profits to rationalize the massive amount of debt the combined company is taking on. The logical conclusion is to take advantage of our prison system like so many other companies. When I say it’s possible, I can imagine buses of prisoners entering a park around 7am and cleaning the parking lot and grounds and leaving by the time any customers show up. This is not much different from the prisoners on the side of the highways cleaning up trash.
Of course I’m against this kind of punishment and would like to see reforms in our criminal justice system. What prevents any reforms is that this type of punishment is allowable under our Bill or Rights.
(edited) Rehab scam: Defendants in court-ordered rehab work for free
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You're taking life far too seriously, Nicole. Lighten up! "agreed upon observations" was clearly a tongue-in-cheek way to poke fun at a trend noticed by more than a few people.
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That is some major league backtracking, pal.
Nicole was spot on in her response. You need actual evidence to make a claim like that, and you haven't provided any. Anecdotes where a person assumes a motive behind a random closure, if it even occurred, is not real evidence, and the only person I've ever heard make this claim is you.