It's Monday, and that means it's time for RD to make us think a bit. This time, a topic that is very near and dear to his heart, and something he knows a lot about. 

Having experienced what RD has to go through on a very limited basis while visiting parks, I've seen both the good and the bad that he outlines below. - Gregg

"How come he gets to ride before me?"
"Why does he get to cut the line?"

You have NO idea how many times I've heard this in my 30 years of riding attractions at theme parks. Though I've only been using ADA access/handicapped access for the past 8 years, I've heard others complain incessently about it. 

KNOCK IT OFF!

Of the multitude of parks I've visited since losing the full use of my legs (For those who don't know me, I've got Multiple Sclerosis - MS) I've seen the good, the bad & the ugly of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in both parks - and their guests. And you know what? It's a double-edged sword. 

Let's take a look at the parks themselves. Some parks are quite good about the ADA access points, going so far to modify existing rides to allow for easier pathways & entry, having a clear & defined plan for how handicapped guests are handled, and are user-friendly for those of us with mobility, visual & hearing impairments. Six Flags Over Georgia does an excellent job in this respect - on the vast majority of their attractions in the park. Some are not accesible due to their age (Log Jamboree for example) but in all they have done a great job at allowing as many people as possible to ride. 

Disney is also pretty good about this - but has failed in one respect overall: While their rides are ADA compliant, their policies towards ADA access have varied, wobbled & failed miserably. Here's the thing: Due to certain groups of patrons abusing the system, the handicapped are, well, handicapped for most of the park's attractions overall. Herein lies the biggest problem. 

California's ADA plan is different than the Federal guidelines, and far less restrictive on the use. On one visit to Disneyland a few years back, the 'standby' wait for Space Mountain 77 was 30 minutes... while the ADA line was nearly TWO HOURS LONG. Why? Let's see: Six people, no visual handicapped, all between the ages of 13-21. Four people, one has a cast on their arm. Five people, aged 19-25 or so, no visual handicapped issues. Two people, one in a wheelchair. Six people, no visual handicaps. Why? Due to the ADA's compliance laws in California, ANYBODY could qualify to get ADA access to a ride. ANYBODY. "My mother has bad P.M.S. and I'm traumatized by it, so I've got P.T.S.D, and therefore I'm handicapped." "I've got a bad hangnail, so I'm handicapped." "My sister is marrying some guy from Singapore, and I'm depressed - I'm handicapped." 

To be fair, I've seen this practice at MANY of the California parks - and to a lesser extent in other states as well. People LOVE to abuse the system. "I don't want to wait for a line, and I don't want to pay for a Q-Bot/Lo-Q system. I'll play handicapped, and I don't have to wait anymore!" I see this more often than not in many cases. 

Now people say "Why do you use it? You can still sort of walk." In all reality, I -rarely- use ADA access. RARELY. I get the paperwork/card/ID for it at every park I visit - but on my last Disney trip (Two days at Disneyland) I only used it seven times over two days. Why? 

Realistically, I try not to abuse the system. I do have a hard time walking up/down stairs, and almost every park now has attractions of note where stairs are prevalent and difficult to negotiate - or very slowly. Yes, then I'll use ADA access & the elevator/ramps as needed. But if an attraction has ramps both to/from an attraction, I use the line like the rest of the general public. I'll stand in queue with the rest of you - up to a point (I can't stand for more than about 20 minutes at a time without pain - if the line is longer than 20 minutes, I'll use the ADA - and get a come-back time. And I'll sit waiting until then, when I'll head back to the platform to ride. If I'm with a group of friends, I'll send them into the general line, and I'll wait until they get to the platform to ride, then ride with them. 

In other words: I wait just as long as you did to ride. 30 minutes, 45 minutes - an hour. I don't get cuts in line. I don't beat the wait. I have to do it differently than you do. 

So what about those with certain mental/emotional impairments? This is a grey area - and knowing quite a few mentally/emotionally handicapped people in my life, I take a look at it this way: Having Autism, Comparative Cognitive Disorder, or other such impairments is perfectly acceptible to me under the ADA. Having a bad case of ADD/ADHD, depression because your hair turned out bad, or other such issues is not. 

I don't beat the system - I work with it so I don't end up having to try & negotiate stairs (Which, if you've ever been with me and seen it can be a slow experience - usually backing the line up behind me) or to stand in a line causing great pain & discomfort. Otherwise, I'll see you in line - and standing next to me. 

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RD is back this week with another article, this time about Rocky Mountain Coasters. RD's articles will now be running on Monday mornings, so be sure to check back every week for more from inside the mind of RD. 

Does the praise that RMC gets remind anybody of the praise that B&M was getting about 20 years ago? Are they REALLY the second coming? - Gregg

"What they're doing is simply amazing work. So incredibly intense, so thrilling."
"I know they're going to be a success well into the future with rides like this."
"Look at their innovation - things like this are amazing to see."

Read any of those before? I sure have. Repeatedly. Only these are things from 20 years ago - and not recently. Who are they talking about? Bolliger & Mabillard. 

In the 1990s, B&M was the brand to beat. Intamin tried to, but never was able to capture the level of success that B&M did. Arrow tried to - and ended up failing under the weight of pushing an envelope too hard - and with too many mistakes. But B&M could do no wrong, with a string of mega-success that is to date unprecedented in the modern era. 

And then 'poof'. The praise of the theme park world vanished when their rides began to become mundane, bland. mild, and in general boring. Good rides - but lacking the oomph that their early successes had in them. 

Let's move forward.

It's 2014. And all we hear about is RMC. 
"RMC is the best things since wonder bread!"
"New Texas Giant is the greatest ride on earth!"
"Their level of innovation is the greatest thing ever!" 
"Nobody can touch RMC!"

Wait a second. Hold the presses. This just in: We've seen this before, folks. We've read these same statements. We've seen the hype & hysteria every time a new coaster gets announced. 20 years ago - with B&M. 

Now I'm hearing the grumbling now. "How can you say that? RMC is the second coming!" People are hysterical every time a new RMC is announced. I mean NUTTY over their announcements - and the rampant rumors over their next projects... "I bet Georgia Cyclone is next!" "Mean Streak is going to get it!" "The next coaster for Six Flags St. Louis is going to be an RMC, and it will be the greatest coaster ever built!"

Let's face facts, people. Judging a company on FIVE standing coasters with three announced under construction does NOT a balanced opinion make. Look at how people were gaga over B&M's projects for a decade... and the reaction nowadays when one of their new coasters is announced. "Oh. It's a Bland & Mild coaster. Yay." "Oooh. Another nap coaster. Great." 

Now before the torches are lit and people grab their pitchforks, I will say that what RMC has done THUS FAR is some truly amazing things. Revitalizing two coasters that were either too painful to ride or mutated beyond what they once were was a bold & innovative step forward into areas where very few had dared to tread before. Being able to bring a dead coaster back to life is a good thing - something we should all be proud of. 

That being said, praise for the now is welcome. But let's also not forget that they have only built FIVE coasters as of now, two that are under construction, and one that is being developed. People are going nuts over the future which hasn't even been built yet - much like people went nuts over the future with B&M. I for one am not buying the hype. I can't - I've seen this movie before; I've seen the plot, and I've seen how it turned out. And it is the same movie thus far: Builder innovates with their prototype; people go nuts for it, they build a second, even more nuts, they do something innovative, world is awed & becomes hysterical. And then 20 years on, it's just another thing. 

Innovation is a tough thing in the amusement industry. With Arrow, it was developing the mine train, tubular steel track rail & corkscrew. With Intamin, the launch coaster & hyper/giga advancements. B&M brought us capacity & the Inverted coaster. It is going beyond this level of innovation that is the ceiling that these firms have yet to do. All of them evolved their technologies and grew their firms, and all of them have eventually hit the ceiling. 

RMC brought us steel hybrid rides & a new generation track structure. I expect them to continue this evolution & innovation into the future. But hold the hype, please. When RMC has a portfolio of 30-40 coasters, each one exceeding the previous one for innovation & inspiration, then they will be deserving of mass hysteria. 

RD is back with another of his award winning (someday) columns. If you missed his first column about EPCOT at Walt Disney World be sure to click the link. 
This week RD is talking about Six Flags. A look back at some of the good and bad they've done over the past 2 decades, a look at some of the good and bad they are doing for 2015 and some thoughts on how they can fix what is broken and improve on for the future. - Gregg

Over the past 20 years, we've seen Six Flags go from boom to bust to boom to bust. It is their nature. We watched the development of the Batman: The Clone coasters, the advent of the modern era thrills via several manufacturers, the realization of a lot of potential in many parks. Yet others began their decline - a lack of love & care; a lack of attention to detail, a lack of passion for being what they are. And in other cases, true neglect has set in at several of the parks under the Six Flags name. While bigger rides have come to a handful of the parks, many have suffered at the hands OF those parks, with a few getting hand-me-downs for decades now. 

Where did they go wrong? This is more of a question that has no answers, but here's a few ideas I've seen during the past decade.

As a rule, only four parks in the chain have been getting A-list rides. Others have made due with smaller attractions, and yet others have gotten used rides - or nothing at all. While I'm all for relocation of older rides & using them to their full potential, I'm afraid that these aren't the right way to keep a park running with a full potential. 

Some parks have been getting more attention than others, despite the overall need for ALL the parks to get good attention. 

Six Flags America comes to mind here. The park itself has gone from being a great park with some good chances for success to being the bastard stepchild at the family reunion. From 2002 to 2013, not a single new coaster was added. 11 years, folks. And then they got two coasters from Six Flags Great America back to back - both used, both older rides. And they were LONG overdue for these 'new' attractions. The same can be said for The Great Escape - having received an Arrow Mine train (also used) from a defunct park in Tennessee. 

Park repair & maintenance: Of all the Six Flags parks I've visited in the past decade, only one seemed to be keeping up with this - Six Flags Over Georgia. 

Parks like SFMM & SFoT were all looking a bit run down. Rides were fading badly. Buildings had peeling paint, some showing signs of rot & decay. Coasters were looking run down, with torn seats, worn out lap/grab bars; some rides looked 50 years old when in reality they were only 5 or 6 years old.

A lack of sense of the family: While some parks have maintained a sense of the family in their parks, others have completely flushed this down the drain. Older rides do need replacing on a regular basis - don't get me wrong. New does have to replace old. However, gutting one of the more popular attractions at a park to be replaced by a gimmick attraction isn't the way to do it. Adding more high-intensity thrills without adding a balance of smaller & more family friendly rides? Yuuup. They did that too. 

Is it all gloom & doom? No - not at all. 

Some Six Flags parks have done an excellent job at running under these conditions. Six Flags Over Georgia & Six Flags Discovery Kingdom have done very well in operating with constraints the other parks do not have to face - primarily height issues - and still being able to upgrade themselves, and in a lot of ways clean up their image. 

A trip to SFDK in 2003 was an eye opening experience - complete with a disgust with how the park was being run, as well as the staff & the cleanliness of the park. When I returned in 2014, I was surprised with not only the upgrades to the park done in a decade, but also in how clean, well-dressed & well run the park was. A very different experience, and a more pleasing one overall. The same can be said for SFoG - a park that consistently makes me wonder why the rest of the SF chain cannot do what they do, and do it on the same level. 

And now Six Flags goes CARNIVAL! Adding Ball Of Fire/Super Loops to four parks, and calling it a 'coaster'. Nope. Nope. Nope. 

And while these parks will get theirs this upcoming season, I'd count on the rest of the chain getting theirs in 2016; repetition implies pattern, pattern implies theme. Look at the other repetition attractions that have come in the past 20 years: Batman The Clone, StarFlyers... now Super Loops. 

I don't object to ANY park getting a new attraction at all. Parks need this. But a SUPER LOOP? Let's face it: Oops, they did it again. Two parks are getting new E-ticket rides, in the form of refitted existing coasters. While important, hardly groundbreaking in any way. Two parks are getting dark rides refitted into older attraction space. Good recycling, I reckon.

So where does Six Flags go from here? 

Only the people at the very top know for sure. We have lots of rumor & conjecture - you're on your own for what you choose to believe or distrust; personally, I don't buy into rumors myself. However, there has to be some serious changes in the near future, especially in their smaller market & older parks. The focus has been lost on their top brass, and they have lost their way...again. How they choose to move forward is the question. 

A good view on how to run the chain can be seen in Austell, GA at SFoG. 

In the early to mid 90s, SFoG was the black eye on the chain - neglected rides, poor operations, bad crime & overall a bad feel. A change at the top to install a GM who truly cared about the park turned the park around - cleaned up the image, the park & the rides, added attractions that fit the park beautifully, and restored & rebuilt existing attractions to make their image better. This in turn drew more people in, and from further away no less. The park looks good, runs great, is clean & operated at a better standard than many of the other parks in the chain do. It is a gold standard to be looked at as the model for the future. If Six Flags wants to make themselves into a better model, start there. Look at what makes SFoG a success, and adapt that to other parks as needed. 

And hopefully they will learn from themselves. 

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