Hurricane Harbor updates for 2009

[29yrswithaGApass]

^^ I agree with you- outside of "skilled" positions such as lifeguards, it was just as easy to staff any of the other spots throughout the park. It was obvious with the old management that they made sure the revenue generating positions were filled first even if this meant that rides remained closed. I use to hate seeing all those War on Lines rides closed or with rotating workers while the hair-braiding stands were manned 100% of the time. There is a better balance today.

 

^ In regards to the BOTW (and some of the other restaurants and food stands), it was a sad that many of these places sat vacant while outside vendors in temporary trailers sold food. It sometimes offered a better variety but just looked horrible. Once agan, the situation is much better today.

 

 

[The Master]

Sadly some of that balance is due to the many ride removals in recent years. I remember when HH had some real bad lifeguard shortages and did things like having half the river closed. They also used to close half the slides on some of the towers or not open the Four Wind slides all day. There were a few times when they had only one life guard manning all six Hurricane slides and other times when one Bada Bing slide out of the three would be open. But thankfully they have not pulled that kind of stuff in recent years but HH's days have been cut back alot in June.

Edited June 5, 2009 by The Master

[pashacar]

^ They've gotten better but some of that stuff still happens. I went during peak season last July and there was still only one guard at the top of a bunch of the towers, which was both chaotic and inefficient. The park is still run better than it was, though. I just with they weren't compromising the theme so much with the new additions and refurbs this year

[mrceagle]

Do they need Lifeguards at the top of the towers in NJ. In NH General attendants can be used to man the top of the slides Life guards are only needs at the pool at the end.

[The Master]

So Far in both PA and NJ I have only seen lifeguards at the top of slide towers, no regular employees.

[DarkKnight]

does hurricane harbor have a season pass processing for like a 3-park pass because my friends is coming with me and she has to get her pass processed?

[pashacar]

^ Yes. Only thing is they might not have GAdv coupon books, but you could easily pick one up first time you go to the theme park at the Looney Tunes Shoppe.

[pashacar]

Just for clarification, attendants ARE allowed to be at the top of the towers, as there were many there yesterday. Of course, they're too cheap to put more than one person at the top of any tower, so lines move far slower than they should. This would be somewhat okay if they had trained the employees to work an efficient routine, but they haven't done that, and so many lines move far slower than they should. Moreover, some of the operating methods are just asinine, like the constant stopping and restarting the tube conveyer on Hurricane Mountain, which leads to a painfully loud, sustained buzz right in patrons' ears every 30 seconds. I understand that safety comes first, but why are they so bad at taking things into account from a guests' perspective? They could pretty easily either get rid of the buzzer or figure out a way to have the belt operate constantly like it does on the family raft rides, among other solutions. It's sloppy operational procedures like these (and a foolishly one-sided perspective that ignores the guest experience) that make people choose better-run parks over SF ones.

[DarkKnight]

yeah yesterday the line for Hurricane Mountain Rafts/Toboggan took forever!! there was one poor girl trying to get them off.

 

[pashacar]

And wasn't that buzzer brutal? I can't believe they allow that attraction to run that way, but then again I guess it's exactly things like that that are why the company is going bankrupt and has such a horrible reputation.

[The Master]

I was there this past Sunday, that buzzer is pretty loud. At least HH did away with that asinine no aqua sox rule so now I don't stretch out my aqua soxs taking them off and on like I used to there. Sadly WWK which did not have such a rule for years adopted the dumb no aqua sox rule last year which sucks. I notice that some of the older slide towers at WWK are better designed than the slide towers at HH, Aquablast for example dumps the rafts out of the belt right into the pool at the top of the slide. Big Bamboo and Reef Runner however dumps the rafts on the platform instead of the pool so the life guard has to lug the raft into the top pool, same thing for the toboggan and it's just a poor loading design.