First there were riots at SFMM and SFGAdv and now there was a shooting at SFA, is it just me or do you think that SFI is in some of the worst areas...Or maybe they are just bringing in the wrong crowds. I haven't heard of any stories saying any gang figts or shootouts occuring at parks like Cedar Point or Busch Gardens, so why is it just Six Flags that this stuff is happening to? Is it just that their parks are slap right in the middle of the wrong part of town? I don't know, what I think it could possibly be. What do you think?

Discuss

PKD has had gun fire / stabbings in its parking lot....

I dont think its just a SF thing. Its just most parks are by big citys... SFOG....SFMM...SFGadv...SFA... all are close to big citys.

__________________

Well not just big cities, bad cities at that as well. When parks are near cities with high crime rates, you know things about bound to happen. SFGAdv is near New York and Philli who are both in the top five for highest crime rate cities. SFMM is near LA which is #2 on that list. Surprisingly though, Atlanta is way down near the bottom of the list, I would have thought Atlanta would have been up there.

[url]http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004902.html[/url]

The closer a park is to big cities, the more trouble they will have. A lot of the parks that don't have much trouble are surrounded by small towns for many miles or even in the middle of nowhere practically. Another problem from some of the Six Flag parks is that a few of them tried something new by having very low season passes this year. Making it easier, affordable and more enticing to younger people and those who may present a problem. When they have a season pass and can go whenever they want, they're not as concerned with trying to just rides a lot of rides all day. They have time now to cause problems now.

I don't think it's the fault of Six Flags or at least not entirely but rather just the locations of some of their parks. Having your park near big cities of course can help attendance since so many people will be withing an hour or two of the park but it also has it's negatives.

__________________
I want to go to John's Park.

I don't agree with that whole "near the big city" theory. Of course, that has SOME play in it, but I don't think it's the main reason. I think it's all about the type of guests the park attracts. Knott's is close to L.A. as well, in Orange County and draws from the same pool of customers, but the type of guests they pull in are more family-oriented with a splash of teenagers every here and there. Magic Mountain tends to draw in more youth rather than family-types with its recent new "badass X-treme Park" attitude and constant slew of new high-thrill rollercoasters year after year - young adults, teenagers, high schoolers and middle schoolers are the typical people patronizing Magic Mountain. Of course, there are little kids too with families, but not in the same style of - let's say Disneyland Park.

And that's really important because people aren't going to pull knives on each other in the queue line in front of their little children at Disneyland - but at Magic Mountain, with the queue jam-packed with teenagers and young adults - there are bound to be gangs, petty fights, and what not that can be avoided if there was a more diverse guest crowd.

^I agree

I have never been to Geauga Lake, which is just outside Cleveland, but know people who have been there, and they said that when it was SF it was bad. Not necissarily rampant with crime, but just that the people were mean and the whole park seemed unfriendly. Now that it is owned by CF I have heard good stories(in comparison) about the park.

I don't think they moved the park farther away from Cleveland, so I'm guessing that it at least partially deals with ownership.

__________________

I think it has to do with location. Location is bad for some of the sf parks, like gadv, mm, and sfa, are all in not so good locations. They are closer to major cities than most of the parks in the country.

Also Security and enforcement of the rules plays a major part of keeping parks orderly. Being a worker at dp, I see that if we didn't enforce the rules, and have an awesome security force, we would not be in an orderly situation.

When teenagers are present, drugs, gangs, etc should be expected. Seeing how many people go to Great America I'm surprised someone hasn't been blasted there.

I don't agree totally with the whole "Six Flags is close to a large city so that's the issue". PKD is located near Richmond and is only an hour or so from DC and they don't have nearly the problems that SFA seems to have.

I think some of it is that "inner city" kids can catch public transportation to SFA and not to PKD.

But at PC you can catch the bus to PC too and we don't have issues like this.

I think it's all in the attitude of the individual park and how security is enforced

__________________

So then,
What about in England. Thorpe Park. There have been an increasing number of 'bad' people(mainly teens) who have been causeing problems. But also just lately in the past few years Thorpe Park has been going for the higher thrill rides attracting teens and young adults ect. When i was in England between 01-04 and i went to Thorpe lets say about ten times a year i never saw any trouble, it was allways really friendly. But thats because when i left in 04 i think the park started aiming to the higher thrills, to get teens and young adults to come in. And this is because teens and yound adults have money, and they are stuiped enough to spend all of it in a cafe or the arcade or soemthing (no affence).

So personally, it doesent quite have do to with the location , because people come from all of the world to go to certain theme parks. People in Texas (like me self) Will go all the way to CA just to go to Six Flags Magic Mt. So the location does not really matter. So all in all, its the ride types and the crowds they want to draw in. Kinda Ka is drawing in teens and young adults meaning, problems fighting ect. So this is how i see this issue. I am glad that you brought this up it is deffently a good topic with a lot of mixed pov's.

- Max

__________________

security force and management has alot to do with it.

Since Cedar Point was, and still is my home park I can tell you that when the park started adding all of these really huge rides that draw in more teens and young adults the park atmosphere starts to change. I never remember hearing much cussing at CP until about six or seven years ago. Another big factor is the security and how strictly the rules are enforced. The CP employees and security are very strict, but it keeps the park orderly and secure. If a CP gaurd sees you running he/she will stop you and give you a warning (its happened to me). The dress code is also enforced very well. I've seen some of the ride attendants in line call in a few people for what they've worn to the park.

I really think 99.9% of the atmosphere of the park is relient upon the security and the rules. If visitors know that they will be punished for not following the rules they will be less likely to do something bad. If the park security/police are out patroling the park in a decent and visible way that is a great deterent to crime. Parks that use rent-a-cops will naturally have more crime, because people know they can't do much. That is why the Cedar Fair parks have invested the money to have their own police force. I don't believe any of the SF parks have their own dedicated police force that can actually act as a real police dept. can.

__________________
Point Xtreme: Your Xtreme Guide to America's Roller Coast!

8 bits and Goomba-stomping fun is all you need for a fun afternoon. Forget shooting and thousands of polygons, I want bits and funny sounds.

SFOG has problems because you can ride the bus to the park, its not is a good area, and you can get a season pass for only $50. I think those 3 things are what add up to trouble.

__________________
TV/Event Guide Editor

[QUOTE=Phil]SFOG has problems because you can ride the bus to the park, its not is a good area, [b]and you can't get a season pass for only $50[/b]. I think those 3 things are what add up to trouble.[/QUOTE]

What does the price of the tickets have to do with the parks problems?

In the summer time, teens are BORED! What do they do? Buy a seasons pass to their local Six Flags that is just as much as a one day ticket. So then when they are bored they go to Six Flags, and not necesserely to have fun and ride roller coasters. It's a place to just hang out and cause trouble.

Plusb basically what everyone else has said.

__________________
October 30: Toulouse Zenith, France
October 31: Nantes Zenith, France
November 06: MTV European Music Awards, Liverpool, UK
November 11: Good Morning America, ABC