Career Decisions

In October of 2008 I announced my retirement, after the dust settled and a couple months went by it was time for to make another life changing decision. Many people on the site and at work commented that my retirement had come to soon, and without warning or reason. Let it be known that there was some validity to that assessment. When I left Six Flags a year earlier it was to pursue greener pastures, to further my career and most importantly to learn new things. When I made the ultimate decision to retire, it was because I felt like my new career path was the same as where I just came from, just the issues where the same but with different scenery and faces.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job and I was dedicated to it and to this day i still miss it. Many nights where spent on the couch in my office dreaming about what a great day tomorrow will be. When I was younger, I would work double shifts during the summer and sleep in my hand-me-down 1970 F100. Waking up and walking track as the sun comes up, the smell of wood, grease, and electrical contact cleaner, watching as the rides structure cast a shadow from east to west. The endless use of problem solving skills keeps your mind sharp. To look back and think that I started at the bottom of the food chain, and I worked my way up with no regrets. Great times, But For many years at Six Flags I made recommendations and called for major changes, I found myself talking to a brick wall at the end of a way one street.

The cost of not implementing and accepting my changes cost the company dearly. I don’t even want to try to put a number behind it, but between having to make the changes after settling the lawsuits, and dealing with the bad publicity and the fines from local governments. It just really leaves me at a loss for words, and its the one thing that I wish I could change. I am still in close contact with all of my former coworkers, I still get calls every day asking how you fixed this or that and how you would trouble shoot or work around situations. This year, almost two years since Ive been gone, they have started to make the changes.

On March 9 2009, I posted on this blog about The Texas Three, A week later Six Flags announced that it would be taking major steps to take care of the problems with these rides.

Six Flags Chief Executive Mark Shapiro said he likes the “rickety nature’ of wooden coasters like the Texas Giant, but says it needs a smoother, faster ride and will have new trains installed as part of the renovation.

“The Giant is so huge. It’s turned into a dinosaur,” Shapiro said. “It needs a new life and we’re going to breathe new life into it.”

The Texas Giant opened in 1990 and is over 14 stories tall and 4,920 feet long. The ride lasts 2 minutes and 10 seconds and reaches speeds of 62 miles per hour.

Shapiro acknowledges that not all coaster enthusiasts will view the renovation as a positive change to the 18-year-old coaster but the rehabilitation of the Giant will be a key part of the park’s 50th anniversary.

So is it coincidence?, maybe, But a few days before we had hits to the site which where linked to the corporate offices of Six Flags. I certainly don’t take credit for anything, But I think its interesting that material I wrote in a memo in 2005 ended up in this years training material, as park procedures, and policy. It saddens me that all of this went down after I left, Perhaps if I stayed on and tried to resolve our material differences and work with the new management it could have amounted to something great. I am a firm believer in karma, I know that there is not a single person on this earth that can know or do everything and be right 100% of the time. (You engineers can GTFO now..) This is how its suppose to be, I’m sure there will come a time again when I must rise from the ashes and begin anew chapter.

In the recent months I have done a lot of traveling, I have been working as a independent theme park consultant for many parks across the country. Its a struggle, Its a lot different than what I’m use to, but I wont let it get me down. The best part about my new venture, I’m the boss. If my clients don’t listen to me, I can say, “I told you so” when it happens, and stick them with a nice bill to fix it. Who knows what the future might bring, But I know now that from here on out I’m not slowing down, and I’m not looking back. I’ve had a few job offers in the recent weeks, including one on Thursday from a recruiter for a management position at the Free Style Music Park, I tossed them my resume but I’m sure it will fall threw.

Adventureland – Movie Review (Warning Spoilers)

I was invited to see a early preview of Miramaxs new film Adventureland. The folks I went to see it with are all professionals in the Theme Park Industry, so before seeing the movie there was a general consensus amongst us that it would bring back some of those fond memories from our youth we tried so hard to forget. This movie was marketed as a comedy about working a summer job at a theme park, But I feel it was out of touch and far to off base to reach its full potential. While the movie tries to be funny and has its moments, I felt that it was more about drugs and sex than anything else. The movie, which is set in 1987 and shot at KennyWood failed to satisfy the opportunity for comedy associated with working in the operations department.

If you mixed the ending of “Dude, wheres my car?”, SuperBad, and American Pie and the 40 year old virgin and had the setting of the movie at any traveling carnival in Mexico, you would have this movie. I am a very tough critic to satisfy, If there is a period of 10 or more minutes where you haven’t laughed the move should not be a comedy. This movie is better off going straight to bargain DVD under the romantic comedy section. My colleagues had a few comments id like to share;

Colleen – “Perhaps this movie would have been funnier if we where all stoned?”

Jeff – “If that Himalaya hasn’t killed someone from the film crew I would be surprised.”

Shawn – “I’m glad this was free, Because it certainly wasn’t worth paying for.”

So In closing, If you have ever worked for a Theme Park, And you enjoyed working there and have some good memories, You will find this movie very boring. You should instead stay home, Get tore up and watch a good decent porno. You’d have the same effect with this movie from the comfort of your living room. Unless you are a true theme park fan, and have roller coaster in your movie collection, than don’t waste your money.

The Theme Park Automation Crisis

As technology advances, and we find new innovative ways to entertain our guest, we often forget about the systems that are already in place. Its simply that most of the time those older systems work, and if it isn’t broke than why fix it? To the average theme park patron they see a ride, they see something that provides entertainment to them. As they board the ride, an ominous feeling overwhelms them, knowing they are going to return safely from their journey. It is very well known fact that statistically you have a higher chance of dieing in a plane crash, than being killed on an amusement ride. The advancements over the years have helped to provide an even safer ride for our guest. These advancements aren’t perfect tho.

There is no substitute for good experienced operators, mechanical backups, and a solid maintenance plan. A computer system cannot monitor all the variables which which may lead to an accident. For example, On June 22nd 2008 at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, a 13 year old girls legs where severed when a cable on the ride snapped. In a statement from the attendant of the ride, she said that she “heard something snap”, and than told then main operator to press the E-stop. The computer would not have given any indication that the cable was about to fail, and unless the operators where watching the ride it is hard to tell if there could have been any other out come from this tragic event. Superman Tower of Power, has since been removed from the park.

The systems that power these rides are very basic in nature, they are custom tailored to each ride & park needs. The programmable logic controller, or PLC, is the rides brain. It is connected to an input and output system that takes information from the various sensors and process’s it. On the input side of the system you may have proxy switches, photo eyes, laser counters, switches, and push buttons. The output side is attached to the braking relay system, the block or zoning system, air gates, the lights for the push buttons and switches. Its impossible for me to list all the possible things, so keep in mind this just a small list. A human has to program the system, humans make mistakes. While these systems can sometimes have redundancy, often times they don’t. If a component fails, it can give the system bad information. Unless there is an redundant error checking function built into the system the computer can only act with the information it receives.

One summer I was working maintenance for a local theme park, and we got a call for a ride down with an E-stop. Upon reaching the ride we found it in the up position, moving slowly in the wrong direction of travel. The E-Stop light is clearly solid, So I perform a power disconnect so I can manually lower the ride by dumping the hydraulics. Its probably 108 on this day, AC isn’t working in the computer room and by now I can tell its going to be one of those days. Unload the guest off the ride, bring pressure back into the hydraulics, and restore power to the ride. As soon as powers restored, ride is once again running backwards slowly lifting back up. That E-Stop is still as red as ever, So I pull the E stop out and work to clear it from the computer. Ride goes nuts, spinning backwards, going up and down, all lights on the panel flashing. !-Smack-! – E-stop has been pressed again.

I disconnect the power again and adventure into the computer room, this system was a dinosaur by today’s standards. After an hour I called for help, and it came with a simple solution to a common problem. Replace the ram card. When the RAM failed on this machine, the computer defaulted to pulsing certain outputs to indicate system trouble. It just so happened that those outputs where connected to the hydraulics and the electric motor. While that system was a dinosaur, ten years later not much has changed in the way that control system is setup.

Newer rides I worked on in the late nineties had redundant systems, but they required at certain points to offload data to a desktop computer and which is then fed back into the system. Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of having redundancy if your one source of failure is an aging Pentium one desktop running windows 95 which handles cross checks and error handling. Lets be a little realistic here, 95 was a somewhat stable system for the time, but now we have much more stable choices to choose from. Can’t we upgrade? Of course we can, but because it cost so much to do it parks won’t, unless they have to. Because if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. You have often heard me say that a rides fate is often decided when its operation worth is less than the cost to keep it running. There have been some great rides that where sound mechanically, but needed to have a electrical overhaul. What a waste of a perfectly good ride, rusting away in a field until scrap prices go up.

This is a big problem for our industry, While it doesn’t effect every ride at every park, the rides it does affect could turn into a serious problem down the road. We need to work to fix the gaps in our control systems, and to develop policies that promote an operator first line of defense against computer faults. Even tho our operators may only be 16 years of age, they are smart enough to know what the ride should and should not be doing. It comes with the experience of operating a ride for hours on end. Management is often so fixated on ride uptime that they punish there best operators for stopping the operation of a ride to investigate a problem. God forbid ride downtime on paper be a little high because an operator found something wrong. I have never disciplined an operator for stopping a ride as a safety precaution, But that doesn’t stop others from doing it. Computers don’t know when a guest is having a heart attack, or if the wheels are loose, or if that third rack on the restraint is worn out.

The Spirit of Six Flags Shall Live On

While we cannot change what has been done in the past, The decisions we make right now will affect us well into the future. As a former employee, a share holder, and a guest I have the utmost faith that we can pull Six Flags out of the hole its in now. When we get out of this mess… things have got to change.

For far to long we have let the competition make us look like a joke. We have wondered too far away from our roots. Six Flags Inc. was grown on providing an experience, an atmosphere that can only be found at a Six Flags theme park. The parks may serve beer, food, sell merchandise, put on shows, but the one common element that has made this company what it is today is the rides. Don’t believe me, stand at the exit of the park and listen to the guest as they leave.

You will hear more about the experience they had on a ride than the food they had for lunch or the merchandise they bought in the store. I feel that we don’t need to build new rides this year. We need to focus on taking care of what we have and what we count on the most to make us successful. We tell our employees to provide a memorable guest first experience… yet we slave drive them for minimum wage salaries and make them feel like they are not valuable to this organization.

I think it would do this company a lot of good to take all of the executives, stick them on ride at one of the parks, and let them see what its like to work a ride for 14 hours straight with out a break. Let me assure you that it would be a very enlightening experience for them. If we are to receive the most benefit to our business from our work force, than we must see our employees as an asset to the company.

Do we really see a benefit from creating an employment atmosphere where over time employees have less desire to perform? We don’t, Our guest don’t. If our guest are not happy, and our rides are not running good, or running at all, we are not making any money. Our previous leadership ran the company into the ground, and because of that we all must make some sacrifices, but now we should make it a priority work to correct these problems and make it better for everyone.

I saw on the news today about a dear friend of mine getting $10 million in repairs… all I have to say is its a good start and about f-ing time.

Six Flags Theme Parks – The Rise and Fall of The Texas Three

The Texas Cyclone – The Late Six Flags Astroworld

Long before the Rattler or the Legendary Texas Giant cast a shadow upon this great land there was the Texas Cyclone. Located at Six Flags Astroworld in Houston, It was built in 1975 after a failed attempt to purchase and relocate the then dilapidated Coney Island Cyclone. After some research the park hired William Cobb to design a mirrored replica of the original Coney Island Cyclone in New York. There is a saying that everything is bigger in Texas, And the Cyclone was no exception. After delays from tropical storm damage, The ride finally opened June 12th 1976. After just one year of operation the ride had its first of many safety upgrades, with seat belts being installed in 1977. The following year in 1978, Seat dividers where installed after complaints of guest getting squashed by the person sitting next to them. Major changes came in 1979 when the ride was engineered to prevent the train from stalling or in a some cases valleying in high winds.

“If you make it too smooth, it’ll be like sitting in your living room.”

– William Cobb

The safety changes made over the years did little to curve the amount of guest-at-fault-related injuries sustained on the ride, with the onslaught of several lawsuits the trains where replaced with Morgans “Coffin Car” units on the 10th anniversary of the Texas Cyclone. The coffin car units where an excellent solution to stopping guest from hurting the selves, but they provided a very poor experience for the guest. It would be 2001, The Cyclones 25th birthday before guest could one again properly experience this great ride. 1977-1978 & 2001-2005 are in my opinion the rides golden years, the ride was old enough to provide a solid service, and lucky enough to not have suffered any negative performance reducing safety systems.

Sept. 12, 2005–Six Flags, Inc. today announced that it will permanently close its AstroWorld theme park in Houston at the end of the 2005 season, and that it has engaged Cushman & Wakefield to market the 109-acre site to the real estate development community.

Tragically the Cyclones time came on March 3rd 2006, falling victim to a management team struggling to manage a $3 Billion debt load. This ride was not the tallest or fastest ride in the world, It was not the most unique ride in the world, But the ride had a heart and soul uniquely its own, and that’s all that counts. To many the world has not been the same after the loss of this ride, Rumor has it that one even committed suicide shortly after watching the rides demise. Her memory shall live on.

The Texas Giant – Six Flags Over Texas

1989 brought forth the desire for Six Flags Over Texas to build a record breaking wooden roller coaster, A ply named The Texas Giant. When it opened March 17th, 1990 it was the tallest wooden roller coaster in the world at 143 FT. Just after a year of the rides operation the trains where shortened to just six cars. When the ride gained popularity in the mid nineties it graced the cover of national geographic in 1997, Inside Track in 1998, and won a coveted golden ticket in 1999. The glory days of the Texas Giant where shattered when the Son of Beast at Paramount’s Kings Island smashed five records, including height and speed, and was the first to incorporate a vertical loop in a wooden roller coaster since 1907. With the spotlight no longer on the ride, and ridership declining Six Flags made the decision to cut its extended maintenance service on the Texas Giant in 2002. The Giant quickly became known as an extremely ruff ride, guest continued to complain until 2005 when additional safety and speed regulation measures where added. 2006 brought seat belts and brake timing adjustments, It also made three train operation a very rare event. The last couple years have been rough for this former record holder, with re-ridership falling dramatically since 2007. Every winter a section of the ride is rehabbed, But its simply not enough to restore this ride to its former glory. Long gone are the days of flying threw the mid course brake run and the great perimeter finally, once a staple of this ride. I spent 14 years around this ride, I rode it everyday for many of those years. Its simply not the same, I don’t think it ever will be. Long gone are the days of the train running flat out at maximum forward speed into the plume of steam from the General Sam Houston as it departs from Texas Depot. I visit every so often, But I am quickly reminded of a fallen friend lost in a tornado of swirling cash. So much for where fun was born.

The Rattler – Six Flags Fiesta Texas

One summer in 1992 my family and I made a trek down from North Texas to San Antonio to visit a small theme park simply called Fiesta Texas. Standing in front of me, on top of the quarry, a monstrous, nicely stacked, pile of wood and bolts casting a shadow over me. It called and beckoned me to ride it, But after I saw the first train clear the lift and rapidly descend into the bottom of the canyon, it made me have second thoughts. I never thought I would see a train built by the Philadelphia Toboggan company reach terminal velocity. My view of guest in pain as they got off the ride from the queue line didn’t help ether. It was great till the first drop, After that it was like being in a three minute train crash. I was in pain after the first drop. I knew once we hit the final set of brakes something was wrong, We had stopped so I heard that the wheels where still spinning under the train. After the maintenance crew comes and clears the problem, and me being in the same profession I just had to ask what happened. I was informed that a bolt had fallen off the train, hit a proxy switch, and trigger a ghost train E-stop with balloons and confetti. After further shop talk I was then told that it was standard procedure to rebuild the trains every night, Because the abuse they took after 10 hours of operation would shake every part loose on the trains. Now at this point your probably wondering why the rides on this list, Well three years after my rough ride the rattlers 165 foot drop was shortened to just a 130 feet, erasing its place in the history books. Just a year later more safety upgrades, Specially modified trains to handle the abuse and a new disclaimer on the sign out front. In 1998 Six Flags purchased Fiesta Texas, and the competition between the Rattler and the Texas Giant ended. Over the years the ride has fared pretty well, But like the Giant it succumbed to the lack of finical interest from Six Flags management and 2003 brought the first signs of trouble, with screaming trains and injuries. 2005 found the helix being re-enforced with cross bracing as a temporary fix to prevent excessive lateral play in the running rails. In 2007 the ride received its much needed sectional rehab, But its just simply not enough. And while the trains can make it all day with out loosing any bits or pieces its still one hell of a ride.

Abnormal Operations

In 1997 an EF-1 tornado struck the park I was working at, damaging several roof structures and throwing debris throughout. In the ensuing chaos not a single guest or employee was hurt, Not so much as a skinned knee or a sprained ankle.  So what was different between these two events? Lets take a look at the facts;

In terms of amount of tornado’s per year, Texas is ranked #17, While Illinois is ranked #1. Severe weather had struck the Illinois park only 4 times earlier that year, None of which had conditions for a tornado. Back in Texas, The park had been through severe weather almost 40 times including 2 other near misses with tornado’s. After reviewing the video several times it has became apparent to me that only a few cast members did not follow the policy’s set forth by the park. That situation should have never happened, An employee of a theme park should always stand with confidence that they can make it threw any situation thrown at them. While there was a threat of a tornado, there was no visible funnel cloud, there was no turbulent winds or any evidence to support a serious and imminent threat. I heard no in park warning that there was a threat of severe weather, I heard no direction to the guest other than run and follow me. Had there been a serious threat, and an employee lead a guest into an area not specified as a weather shelter it could have been disastrous.

Six Flags wants employees to be in one of two classes, the cheerleader, and the flight attendant. The cheerleader is good with guest, often providing entertainment and value to the guest. Flight attendants perform the duties of the cheerleader, But under pressure they remain calm and can communicate and perform very effectively when situations arise. This situation would have turned out a lot differently if the standard procedure had been followed;

1. Use appropriate spiels and provide instructions to guest on where they need to go in order to seek shelter, Continue cycling the ride until all units are unloaded.
2. Once all guest are off the ride, and if you must leave the ride to seek shelter yourself, You should disable the ride by pressing the E-stop or Power Disconnect. Make sure you remove any keys that may be used to start the ride, and take with you the rides paperwork. If your ride has a flashlight assigned to it, Bring it with you as you may need it if the power should go out.
3. Continue to recommend that guest seek shelter, Escort guest to the nearest designated shelter. Remember that you cannot force a guest to seek shelter.
4. Stay put until the all clear is given, Attend to the guest, if available provide water. Keep guest informed of the situation. Provide entertainment if you want.
5. Attend to any casualties and make contact with medical or first aid.

It is imperative that you remain calm and confident throughout, Otherwise you may find yourself on YouTube and a major theme park blog. There is a reason why they went from blue uniforms to those brightly colored neon green anti-littering promoting shirts. Its the start of a brand new season guys, Lets get it right this time.

Moving Trains 101

This is the begining of a multi-part series in which I will share my knowledge of theme park rides and attractions. In todays post I will be talking about the devices that are used to detect and move the train.

Beginning from the top of the image down;

1. LIM/LSM/MSD – Used to control the speed of a train entering a segment. Can be setup as static, or dynamic. In a static environment the train can only pass at a specific speed, In a dynamic system the computer calculates speed and direction and applies a braking force accordingly.

2. Fail Safe Squeeze Type Brakes – Used to bring a train to certain speed range, or a complete stop. Unlike the LIM hardware, Unless it is set for a complete stop, trimming speed cannot be set as accuretly with out the assitance of timing squences before the braking system.

3. Drive Wheels – Usually a single phase 120 volt or three phase 220/440 volt encoded motor driven system attached to a set of rubber wheels. These wheels engage the train by gripping the brake fin, It should be noted that drive tires should be heat rated as they have been known to melt on idling trains.

4. Proxy Switch – A sensor linked to the PLC that is activated by the metal in the brake fin. Usually located 30MM to 80MM away from the fin.

The Supervisor, The Racist, And Me.

As a ride operator, you can summon the entirety of your many daily tasks down to two simple, overarching duties. The first is to operate your ride with the utmost safety and efficiency. The second duty is to “stop” and abandon your first duty whenever you determine that it cannot be done or is not being done safely and legally. The year was 1984, My 3rd consecutive season for a local park I will simply call Flaggerville. Flaggerville was a rapidly growing park, with attendance reaching in excess of two million. I was fortunate enough to have proven my skills as an experienced operator early, and had been promoted to an attraction lead the previous summer. This particular year however, I was placed in charge of one of the most complex and tall amusement devices ever conceived by man. No joke, This ride scared the living shit out of me.

The ride was brand new that year, it seated 72 people, spanned 250 feet wide and punched a hole in the sky at 173 FT. To rotate and raise that much weight required 7 large electric motors driven in relayed series with a very basic system monitoring the RPM of each individual motor. If a motor failed for any reason the rotation stopped, even if the ride had reached the top. Once the ride had stopped however, Getting it moving and on the ground again took an act of God. Sometimes taking hours to get the ride fixed, it had become common place for maintenance to just watch the ride instead of waiting for it to be called in.  The worst part about the shutdowns, was the explanation we had  to give the guest.

There is a saying in Texas that if you don’t like the weather wait 15 minutes. This day was no exception to that. We would open the ride long enough to have a full que house, and than we would have to shut her down for lightning. I was coming back from break when a guest approached me to inquire about why the ride was closed. I took the time to explain to her that there was lightning in the area, I even used the magic words for your safety. This lady wouldn’t have it, I could tell right away that she was the type that no matter what excuse I gave she was just wanted to argue. Things escalated from a casual conversation to her screaming at me, She accused me of being racist and that I closed the ride because of her specific race. Now looking back at the year and how things where, I can see how it might seem like that. But… the ride was broken, and closed for weather, the other operators has been sent on break.  The entire conversation, I kept my mouth shut. I pretended to listen very intently, and smiled as she gave me a good public ego bashing. My supervisor had heard what was going on, and entered the conversation with Mm… Mam… Please calm down. He his not racist, in fact we are pretty sure he hates everyone. This supervisor happened to be of opposite race to miss mam, and after receiving his share of verbal abuse had her escorted out of the park.

I spent the rest of the season wondering what happened to her, Having spent most of the season at that ride I can safely say she didn’t return. Later that summer i was promoted to an area supervisor, And avoided that ride like the plague. Over the years the park struggled to keep the ride running consistently, and while in its final hour it was still extremely popular, the mear thoughts of upgrading the rides control system to W2K compliance made management cringe.

If you know what ride I’m talking about, Feel free to PM me.

Until next time…