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I never thought that there would be a need for me to return to Six Flags Over Texas. That chapter in my life closed the day I walked away that evening in November. It took every ounce of energy to take the negative situation I was in and turn it into something constructive and positive in my life. A new chapter began when I moved to Houston to run my own consulting company. A few years went by and I had all but forgotten about the place and how things were going down hill there so quickly.
Back in the mid 2000s when Steve Calloway passed and Steve Martindale took over, things started to go down hill pretty quickly. It didn't help that the new CEO at the time (Mark Shapiro) was using his inexperience in the theme park industry to cut costs and add fire to anything that rolled and coasted. (If you add fire to a pig, it doesn't change the underlying problem that it is still a pig.) Even post bankruptcy with a new CEO things continued to roll down hill. Like some of the other Six Flags parks, the descendants of Angus Wynne hold some controlling interest in the property. It is less about putting on the show and providing the experience, and more about making the money. Based on the last share holder report I read, corporate does not yet fully control all of the interest in all of the properties. From what I get out of it, it is trying to obtain this as quickly as possible.
Then the accident at the New Texas Giant happened. As a pessimist there is a phrase I have learned to hate over the years, it's "I told you so.". What hurts even more is being unable to do anything about it but scream at the top of your lungs. Knowing full well that no one on the other end cares to listen or do anything to change the circumstances. After hearing the news I was quite angry. Not just for a day, or two days, but two whole months. Every time a blurb about it ended up in the news I wanted to explode into a fit of rage. In the four years that ive been gone I thought that my visit would be uneventful, but in actuality it goes to show that you can hit rock bottom and keep on sinking.
Me, Mike the Coder, and another friend went to the park on Friday 6/7 and Saturday 6/8. We drove in from Houston and arrived late on Friday. We all had season passes that were purchased at another park. Mine was activated and processed, as was the other friend, but Mike the Coders had not been through processing. So of course at the gate he gets rejected because the season pass is not activated. No problem, right? We go over to guest relations and they fix it all up. Wrong. After two hours of standing outside the guest relations window we are told that in order to resolve the issue we would have to drive back to the park we bought the season passes from and have them finish the processing.
There was nothing further that the Guest Relations staff at Six Flags Over Texas could do for us. Request for escalation to a senior member of the guest relations department were denied. We were given the following card of someone who might be able to help:
Calling the number, leads to a message that the office closes at 4 PM. We tried calling over to the park the season pass was purchased at, but the number listed leads to a dial tree that ends in a voicemail message that says the office closes at 4 PM. We next tried calling the corporate call center and surprisingly enough it was closed as well. Interesting enough we were not the only ones who had this very issue. Behind us was a family of 4 from St. Louis who had the same issue. (Core Target Audience!) They turned them away as well after flying in. The father told them they could take the season pass and "Shove it up their ***!". Behind them was another couple from California who was in the same boat. They decided to buy day tickets and then issue charge backs at the end of the night.
In 25 years I have never seen a guest relations department not do everything in their power to assist the guest. The one department who exist solely to respond to guest related issues is in fact now creating them. If this was my park, and a season pass holder came to me and said my pass doesn't work. The first thing I would do is see if the pass had been revoked/banned, the second thing I would do with out hesitation is reissue or re-activate the pass. If I had a technical limitation as a result of my corporate overlords, I sure as hell wouldn't tell the guest "Sorry, can't help you because the system (which isn't fully deployed) won't let us." I would be issuing day tickets to every season pass holder that came to me in that situation like passing out candy in an orphanage. If I can't fix the issue, I sure as hell would not let that guest leave with out the direct line of someone who can help them.
Of course I understand that every guest I anger, or worse put into a rage, will cause me harm. Maybe the effects will not be felt immediately, but they will be felt at some point. It will harm my reputation as a business because the people that I have angered no longer wish to do business with me. A customer who paid for a season pass at another park. Under the promise that that pass would be valid at another park. Who is then rejected at that other park after having already paid for it and traveled considerable distance by car or plane; is going to be one helluva angry customer. You don't want angry guest, and you sure as hell don't want other guest to see that you have angry guest.
It is because of the in-action and failure of the Six Flags Over Texas Guest Relations department to accept responsibility and provide resolution to a simple issue. That for the first time in 25 years, I had to open a guest complaint about the guest relations department. If you've read this far, you have probably realized we haven't even entered the park yet. That will come in part II, which I will post some time tomorrow.
Attractions Closed:
Acme Rock-n-Rocket
Roaring Rapids
Oil Derrick
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