Ride Safety, Maintenance, & Operations Across the Industry

[tursiops]

After the tragedy at Six Flags over Georgia and hearing all the discussion about how poorly run/maintained things were, it's got me wondering about the industry in general. Which parks/chains do people think are doing a thorough job, and which are more questionable?

I've always trusted the BEC/SEAS parks, but with there current penny pinching, should they get the benefit of the doubt any longer? I'm curious to hear other's thoughts.

 

[AlpenChariot]

As cheap as SEAS is it seems like they're more likely to save money by not operating a ride/specific ride vehicles. FUN seems way more likely to run a ride at full capacity with a ton of third party parts in use across the attraction.

 

[Coaster_Merrick]

As someone who worked at a Herschend park over the summer, I can confirm that operationally and maintenance-wise, they are solid. Everyone could use a pay bump but I'm 90% sure that's just standard across the industry.

 

[warfelg]

Here’s my 100% unsupported but also supported take that I’m too tired/lazy to look up some actual numbers:

There used to be a time when part time work at a park paid enough to keep people that would work those roles happy. And it would lead to potential full time roles that paid enough to have a real living wage. Those full time jobs don’t do that any more. And to save, some full time jobs were cut down to seasonal or 2 part time roles that don’t require health insurance and things like that which balloon wages.

I saw someone mention Disney/Universal. They may be paying more, they may be paying the same, I don’t know for sure (accounting for inflation). But what I know is they still use these jobs and internships as pathways to post graduate full time employment with actual real living wages.

And to me that’s the difference. When you are offering jobs without the hope of careers - then you are going to get people who will give you that level of work. When you offer jobs that can become careers - then you get people who will care about doing a good job.

Yes. The actual pay is part of the solution. But if you aren’t including pathways to a better role in the future as part of the process then you get what you get. Reminds me of a common conversation I have with my mom about her retirement job: she complains about the doctors office just using her as means to an end, and I remind her that she’s doing the same so give an output that matches the input.

 

[CamisaAnn]

I worked at Kings Dominion in the early to mid 90's. Pay was minimum wage for rides operations. No bump in pay for certifications, only if you got promoted to supervisor. Also, probably a Paramount thing a lot of old perks like team picnics and parties were there my 1st year but got cut. So even the team building/ morale were going away back then.

 

[Mushroom]

As cheap as SEAS is it seems like they're more likely to save money by not operating a ride/specific ride vehicles. FUN seems way more likely to run a ride at full capacity with a ton of third party parts in use across the attraction.

Hasn’t InvadR had stuff fall off the trains, like, multiple times?

 

[Zachary]

Hasn’t InvadR had stuff fall off the trains, like, multiple times?

Hey now... that was like... what... [counts]... three times... max? And yeah, sometimes things burst into flames... and maybe one ride even did a little RCT-type explosion that one time... but like... no one was hurt! That's like... the charming, funny type of BGW shenanigans that just happen sometimes! Now if one of the attractions catching fire hurt someone or one of the huge chunks of train hit someone, that would make it a very serious cause for extreme concern but... until then... , am I right?

/s

 

[warfelg]

Hey now... that was like... what... [counts]... three times... max? And yeah, sometimes things burst into flames... and maybe one ride even did a little RCT-type explosion that one time... but like... no one was hurt! That's like... the charming, funny type of BGW shenanigans that just happen sometimes! Now if one of the attractions catching fire hurt someone or one of the huge chunks of train hit someone, that would make it a very serious cause for extreme concern but... until then... , am I right?

/s

It’s all fun and games after someone catches a goose to the face.