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Flamingo Land: General Discussion
- Thread starter soundwave96
- Start date
ItsDavid
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako
Towers coasters are awfully maintained, only one they seem to take decent care to is nemesis. Installation wise, They manage to run successfully and install rides pretty frequently, hero although isnt a good ride, was a marketing dream and I bet it made the 2.8M it cost back in its first year of operation, so it is a win from a businesses stand point. Mumbo Jumbo for example was also a good investment too, Its a great example of a thrill ride for anyone, which major parks dont really get right too often. 1.2M height and inversions, I believe Flamingo is the only UK park that offers that. Also, Kumali is by far the smoothest SLC and I dont think many will deny that, and velocity isnt rough like rita. Overall, pretty decent park in my eyes, I only have an issue ride wise with Hero and the lack of effort on the lost river ride.
^^ Obviously its a far from perfect park, but its a good day out
Dave
TS Founding Member
Towers coasters are maintained the same across the board so your talking a little oddly when you say they single out one ride for maintenance. Even the Smiler incident was put down to operator error, rather than technical issue.
Flamingoland problem isn't their ride line-up, for a regional park it's fine. Their issue is operations, they are very slow at operating their rides and the staff don't really care much about guest experience.
It's a decent park, honestly would put it above Chessington if they didn't go out of their way to annoy their guests.
Brad97
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Montu
As terribly run as this park is, their ride line-up is pretty good. Kumali and Velocity are genuinely fun, and Mumbo Jumbo isn't bad either. Flip Flop's also a great flat and the zoo is quite nice too. However, atrocious operations and even worse staff ruin it. I also haven't ridden Hero yet, as it was being built when I last visited, but it looks and sounds dire. 
ItsDavid
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako
@Brad97 I cant defend the park for having perfect operations or staff, but they have majorly improved since hero was being constructed. I go to the park yearly, multiple times across the season and saw it ran awfully and very well, they are beginning to know what to do. I can never back them for the stupid decision it was to get hero, but from a marketing stand point, it isnt a bad investment.
@MakoMania it isnt haha, just people overclaim here how bad the park is and because its a vekoma it is instantly rough and a bad ride
@MakoMania it isnt haha, just people overclaim here how bad the park is and because its a vekoma it is instantly rough and a bad ride
Rollercoasters4Life
TS Member
Operations at Flamingo Land are shocking! When we have been in the past it has always been in July and they are so slow at dispatching rides - Kumali is easily 5+ minutes per dispatch. The majority of the staff are so unprofessional and couldn't give a monkeys. They even have seats in the station to sit down between dispatches...this just influences the poor lazy attitude. All staff should be stood at all times except the ride operator. On thing I will praise is the zoo - which is great and they have a decent selection of rides for a regional park. Not mind blowing but good fun.
All staff should be stood at all times...Why?
What difference does that make to ride throughput?
I would say that staff would be able to operate better over the day because they would be less tired.
Still agree that operations at Mingoland are poor though, that is why we visit Lightwater far more often, fewer thrill rides but generally much better operations and staff attitude.
What difference does that make to ride throughput?
I would say that staff would be able to operate better over the day because they would be less tired.
Still agree that operations at Mingoland are poor though, that is why we visit Lightwater far more often, fewer thrill rides but generally much better operations and staff attitude.
Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
I've had issues with Mingo staff: Crap dispatches, rammed the restraint on Velocity so much it put me off Motorbike coasters until I did Booster Bike at Toverland and poor attitude.
Why should they stand? Because they are paid to and I can't think of a ride where staff should have so long they must sit between dispatches.
Why should they stand? Because they are paid to and I can't think of a ride where staff should have so long they must sit between dispatches.
Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
Maybe, but if they all sat who would stoke the steam engines to power the ride?
Rollercoasters4Life
TS Member
Simply put there is no need for them to be sitting down. I'm a mechanic and I'm on my feet all day bending over in an engine bay (which puts a lot more strain on the body - back, knees and neck) and only get time to sit down when I'm having my lunch. Why should they be any different? Plenty of jobs where people don't get to sit down. They are paid to work, not sit on their arse. Them standing doesn't have anything to do with throughput but it promotes a lazy attitude and doesn't look good to customers. Look at the majority of theme parks, they don't have seats in the stations or sit down. Maybe instead of sitting down they could interact with guests - be it having a chat with them or loading the bays for the next train - something you don't see at Flamingo Land. Standing comes with the job. Plenty of jobs where people spend 8 hours standing. Rant over...
Completely disagree...I have a friend who is a plumber who is up to his elbow in shit every day, so perhaps he can insist that we all have to be up to our elbows in it every day by your logic.
Does this mean that every worker who does their job sitting down is lazy? No.
Perhaps the ride operators should be made to stand up as well, stop them falling asleep at their desks.
Staff sitting down on station platforms is the least of Mingoland's problems, and they won't be put right by taking chairs away.
Does this mean that every worker who does their job sitting down is lazy? No.
Perhaps the ride operators should be made to stand up as well, stop them falling asleep at their desks.
Staff sitting down on station platforms is the least of Mingoland's problems, and they won't be put right by taking chairs away.
DiogoJ42
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Metropolitan Line
I think the point is that on a properly operated ride, they should never have the chance to sit down in the first place. As soon as train one dispatches, they should be unloading train two and starting all over again.
.... Of course, this requires them to have more than one train in the first place....
.... Of course, this requires them to have more than one train in the first place....
Rollercoasters4Life
TS Member
The point I'm getting at is at no other park I have been to have I seen ride hosts sitting down on a chair thats been taken from the nearest food establishment...and most other people that visit theme parks will notice the same fact - yet at mingo land its accepted by management. Slouching in a chair on a ride platform doesn't promote a good image and people pick up on it due to the poor through-puts and dispatch times of trains. Like Diogo says they shouldn't have the time to sit down as they should be at least loading the bays for when the only train makes it back to the station but due to management again, they don't.
Also, I wasn't saying every person who does a job sitting down is lazy. I'm saying being a ride host you shouldn't sit down as you shouldn't have the time too. Just like if you are an air hostess - you don't expect to sit down other than a break or landing/takeoff as its part and parcel of the job. Having chairs on the platform just encourages a lazy mind set when they should be interacting with guest or preparing for the next train. When you look at a ride host job, you would be foolish for thinking you will get chance to sit down as you can see at most parks across the world. Flamingo Land though...
Getting rid of the chairs and allowing bays to be loaded will speed up dispatch times and shorten the queue time but they probably won't want that due to selling their version of fastpass.
Ride operators need to concentrate on what they are doing and having them standing up is taking their focus away from pressing the buttons silly!
Benzin
TS Member
Is the right answer!
Back when Vampire ran three trains, it was a 30 second window from offload to dispatch... There was no time to think about anything else (although dispatch did use to have a nice speaker to sit on the lucky sod)...
Saying that they usually take 5 minutes to dispatch Kumali anyway... No idea why the management seem to implement such rulings...
Sorry to go back to the standing/sitting platform staff on rides, but I chuckled last night going through Coney Island videos on YouTube, The Steeplechase ride in Steeplechase Park had seats on the platform for ride staff!
Nice spindle backed wooden chairs in the middle of the platform.
So that's why the park closed...
Cool ride though, I thought the Blackpool ride was complex, but the yankee one had eight lanes, wow.
Nice spindle backed wooden chairs in the middle of the platform.
So that's why the park closed...
Cool ride though, I thought the Blackpool ride was complex, but the yankee one had eight lanes, wow.