Gen Cert!

We had a great turnout for Gen Cert tonight, with over 40 people showing up! That's fantastic! After tonight (I'm sitting in the back of the room typing this), we'll have our first group of people ready for ride training!

Speaking of ride training, we're going to start training on rides next week, beginning on Monday, March 16. You'll be notified if and when you need to be here, but we're planning on getting started with training on Mind Eraser and Teacups on Monday; Carousel, Bertie, and Harold on Tuesday; Crime Wave on Wednesday; and Looney Tunes Movie Town on Thursday. By the end of the week, every division besides D2 and D5 will be training.

...Speaking of Division 5--Funtime, the manufacturer of Blitz!, will be here to start certifying site controllers so that we can start training on the ride. We're all pretty excited about that. Opening new rides is always a good time, especially one as cool as the Slingshot.

We're about to begin rolling on Skycoaster training, as well. What does that mean for those of you who are not on the Skycoaster crew? Well, free flights, to put it simply. We need flyers in order to train on the ride, so we generally will let people come up during other ride training sessions to fly once or twice. Keep an ear out for the opportunity to fly while you're here getting trained on your ride!

Construction has begun on some of the "special" elements on Superman. That's all I can say about that. Oh, and one of the trains is here, hiding in the maintenance shop. They're pretty cool looking. That's all I can say about that, too :)

Joker is just about entirely installed and nearly ready to go. It looks great in Nightwing's old spot!

I'll post some pictures of this stuff and more in the coming days. Keep an eye out, and have a Six Flags Day!!

-John

Welcome to the Team!

As we get closer and closer to opening day, it's my pleasure to announce the following additions to our 2009 Rides Supervisor staff (in no particular order and, as usual, last names are omitted):

• Kevin M.--Last season, he worked as a Team Lead in Division 1.
• Matt C.--Also worked as a Team Lead in Division 1 for the 2008 season.
• Jessica J.--Team Lead in Division 5 for the 2008 season.
• Erin J.--Division 5 Team Lead for the 2008 season.
• Derek W.--Division 5 Team Lead during the 2008 season.
• Matt H.--Division 3 Team Lead during the 2008 season.

Congratulations to all of our newest supervisors!  

Busy, busy

It's been a busy month.

We've been kicking things into high gear lately, in preparation for Opening Day, which is only 7 short weeks away!  Supplies are getting ordered.  Training materials are being finalized.  Today, I sent out the final proofs for our certification cards so that they can get printed, and ordered some supplies for a couple of new initiatives for our "Speak First" campaign we have going on this season.  Don't worry, you'll hear all about it soon enough.

Construction is moving along at a steady pace down in the DC area---and I'm not just talking about Superman.  In case you haven't heard, we have 2 new attractions coming into the park for 2009, and both of them are being installed in the DC area of the park.  

First, after a long run here at Six Flags New England, we have decided to bid farewell to Nightwing and bring back the Joker's Wild Card in its place.  The ride was installed in the current Hall of Justice building until 2006, when it was removed so that the Hall of Justice character meeting was installed.  For those of you not familiar with the ride, it's a fine example of a Chance Wipeout attraction (you can check out a spec sheet for the ride on the Chance website here.) 

 

As you can see, the hub of the ride has already been installed, and new decking is being installed to, you know, cover the GIANT HOLE left in the ground from Nightwing's enormous footprint.

Also, we're installing a type of attraction that Six Flags New England has never seen before.  Blitz will blast riders up to a height of 197' and subject them to launch forces as high as 5 g's!  Located at the far end of the Gridiron Challenge field, Blitz will make an exciting addition to the DC skyline.  Since I'm sure I wouldn't explain the thing very well, you can get all the info you want about the style of ride at Funtime's website, here.  

In any case, you can see the cement pad that was hiding under the Gridiron challenge field all year, which will be used as the foundation for the attraction when it shows up at the park in early March.  

Finally, Clawshun Industries has released some photos of the Superman: Ride of Steel transformation which you can see here.

It's purple.

...and I see it's snowing, again.  Fantastic.

-John

Supervillain Attacks Six Flags New England

Agawam, MA--One can only imagine the suprise on the faces of those who work at Six Flags New England as they arrived at work on Monday morning, only to realize that the park had been locked beneath a thick layer of snow and ice by a supervillain known as "Mr. Freeze," who, according to sources, reportedly escaped from the Arkham Asylum sometime last week.  When asked about their feelings on the attack, employees reported feeling "shocked," "unnerved," and, "really, really cold."  

Other employees expressed something akin to disappointment.  Said one manager, "This isn't the first time that we've been attacked by a supervillain.  Actually, we're dealing with a situation with Lex Luthor at the moment in our DC area.  At least Lex has the decency to be cunning and evil.  Mr. Freeze is, well, just kind of annoying.  I mean, I hate scraping ice off my car, and earlier today I slipped on the way to my office and spilled my coffee.  My coffee!"

 

TOP: Buzzsaw under a thick layer of snow and ice.   BOTTOM: Pandemonim won't be thawed out for quite awhile.

Another employee expressed her annoyance with Mr. Freeze's methods, saying, "It's pretty irritating having to bundle up like the little kid from A Christmas Story every time I have to go outside, you know, just in case that stupid Freeze jumps out from behind a tree with his freeze gun or something.  It's uncomfortable and time consuming.  Thank God his gloves are too bulky for him to operate doorknobs, or he might get into the offices and I might never get to take this coat off!"

Scenes of frigid villainy abound at the Agawam, MA-based Six Flags park.  TOP: The clock near Shipwreck Falls.  BOTTOM: Main Street is a sheet of ice after Mr. Freeze's rampage through the park

TOP: I would recommend dressing warmly if you're planning on flying on Skycoaster in the near future.  BOTTOM: Not even the mighty Great White could escape the icy embrace of Freeze's malice.

Local authorities have, so far, been unable to apprehend the fugitive supervillian.  However, they ask that, if anyone has any information as to his whereabouts, they contact the administrator of this blog at sfneops@gmail.com, since, quite frankly, they've got more important things to do besides worry about some guy with the equivalent of a cold water gun.

-John

Winter Carnival!

First of all, I'd like to say that it was great to see everyone that came to the Winter Carnival on Tuesday night!  If you weren't there, you missed out on a good time.  There were games, food, raffle prizes, and, most importantly, serenades from some of your fellow Operations folks as they strutted their stuff with the American Idol Karaoke game on the Wii.  

Maggie and Todd wow the crowd with their rendition of "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls. 

Debbie concentrates on defeating the Wizard and his dastardly wire...

Kyle was an impressve 2 for 46 at the Ring Toss.

Hammer Time!

If you didn't get a chance to make it to the Winter Carnival, don't fret!  You'll still have an opportunity to catch up with everyone at the Rehire Job Fair.  They are on:

Friday, January 23  1:00pm-7:00pm

Saturday, January 24  10:00am-3:00pm

Come early and get all of your paperwork out of the way!

-John

Tonight, Tonight

A quick reminder to everyone out there who received an invitation, the Opertations Winter Carnival (aka the Holiday Party) is TONIGHT at 6pm in Human Resources!  

Happy New Year!

Good evening, everyone!  I just wanted to write a note wishing everyone a happy new year.  I hope everyone's holiday season was safe, fun, and at least somewhat relaxing.

Speaking of relaxing, my vacation is just about over, so you can expect a full update in the coming days.  

Here's to a great 2009!

-John