Another Six Flags story

knzn

knzn

Joined
Jul 20, 1999
Messages
683
I have been reading with much discust the experiences of forum members at our nations various amusment parks, and other vacations attractions as well.
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and youngest son, thirteen, had a chance to spend a few days near Dallas with her Aunt. While there they decided to spend one day at Six Flags over Texas. My son wore a fanny pack that day, as he does on vacations with his spending money, camera, various goodies, and on this particular day his S&W S.W.A.T. folding knife.
On that particular day the security person who searched his fanny pack said absolutly nothing about his knife. After reading the other storys I am very supprised.
If I had thought about it, I would have advised him not to take a knife in his pack when he went to Six Flags, but as it happened I didn't even think about it before he left.
Go figure.
 
my friend told me he gave a spyderco wegner to his brother who went to six flags with it and they confisgated it and never got it back
 
How can they confiscate something? They have no authority whatsoever!

They can prohibit you from bringing it in. It's private property. They can prohibit pretty much whatever they want. But they can not confiscate it.

If it's illegal, they need to call a legal authority, a police officer for example, to handle the situation, confiscate the item and/or arrest the individual.

But I don't think that they have any authority to confiscate something.

They can say, "I'm sorry, but this is private property and, as is our right as private property owners, we don't allow such an item in here. You may 1) Take your knife and leave. 2) Take the knife back to your car and then come back and try to enter again without it. Or, 3) you can voluntarily give the knife to me and then you may proceed in right away." If you give up the knife, it is your voluntary choice to do so.

I would expect a business who's goal is to please its customers with exceptional service and to attract repeat customers to offer another option, "You can put the knife in this envelope and seal it shut. Put your name and address on it. I'll give you this claim-check for it. And after you've had a fun-filed and exciting day here at our park, you can claim it at the coat-check desk on your way out. Oh, and if you forget to pick it up, we'll hold it for a few days in case you come back right way and then mail it to you postage due."
 
GOLLNICK,Man the six flags magic mountain in California is the worst place to go as far as security goes,These guys act like crooked cops,There rude as hell they will search you in front of thousands of people ask you a ton of questions,Take a card and write down a bunch of information,what you look like your weight hair color any tattoos etc,And then after they make you look and feel like a freekin criminal they tell you to have a nice day and enjoy the rides.You wonder if your going to a amusement park or if you just got checked into a prision.

Needless to say they have a huge lawsuit against them right now because of there actions.
 
In what way were they rude? There is a big difference between doing their normal jobs (the things you mentioned) and doing their normal jobs unprofessionally (ridiculing or embarrassing people, etc).

"Tragic" Mountain was not always like that. The actions of their security personnel are in response to ever increasing gang member presence and activity there (and more than a few bad incidents).

I can almost guarantee that anytime (the next time) an innocent person becomes the victim of gang violence there, other people will accuse them of not doing enough to provide a safe environment.

It is unfortunate that upstanding citizens are affected by necessary evils. Good security is not convenient.
 
"Good security" may not be convenient, but it is ALWAYS polite (or at least, "neutral")!

The only way I could identify with a security officer losing his cool would be an extended interaction with a very rude person who started it. And even then, it MAY be grounds to be written up.

Gang and violence problems are certainly reason to beef up security, and even to show a large, no-nonsense security presence, but again, it is no reason to be impolite. Until the subject of the interaction becomes violent, anyway.

Much of this falls upon the individual guard, but a lot of it comes "from the top" and from proper training.

If anyone has any problems with security, they need to "complain to management." This ain't just for your own satisfaction--it is also to help "management" correct problems and weed out the troublemakers.

But no, this doesn't always work. If you don't get a good response from your complaint, then take your business elsewhere, and write letters to the ed, etc. to let others know.

Karl
 
I know Magic mountain wasnt always like that but this happend to me over 10 years ago and I was with my girlfriend and some of her family was with us,and to top it off I was holding her niece who was 3 years old at the time,I kept my mouth shut bit my lip and let them do there "Job"and they said if we get any problems from you we will detain you and call the police.My answer to that was here if your gonna call the police,handing them my fathers card at the time call him he is my father he is a detective at LAPD,Boy did that shut them up.
As far as gangs go sure there is a problem but to treat any person they want like that is bullshit.I still remember what I was wearing at the time,Wranglers,justin cowboy boots,and a bull riding T-shirt.

Magic mountain is a JOKE and so is there security
Oh yeah almost forgot this happend to a real good buddy of mine who is a LA.County sheriff and im not going to type on here what he said to them,except that the guy who put his arm on him ended up on the concrete.There reason for there actions was he had a shaved head:eek:
 
I think it probably just depends upon the security guard you encounter. I've had times where they didnt even look at me just apathetically asked me if I was carrying a weapon. I probably coulda said I had a handheld tactical guidable nuclear misile and they still would have droned "ok, move along".

Worst I have got from em it a suspicious look when they checked out a couple of ibuprophen I had, thnking it may have been some sorta illegal drug. And I look frikkin scary when I go to Magic Mountain. I was wearing a leather biker jacket, steeltoed boots, tinted goggles and thats when I had a shaved head. I am in my 20's, I am not huge but I am over 6 feet and I am a lean 200 lbs and generally sport a crazed look on my face. I would have thought I fit the profile of a bad-guy pretty well, but I dont mind them checking me out because I have nothing to hide, am a nice guy, but I realize I look a little unsettling.

Goggles, by the way, are very important for coaster riding I think. Some of the faster ones have so much air blowin in yer face it is hard to see when yer about to get yer head heered off. Goggles make it so you can see everything and be comfortable. Also they make you look weird, like a bug, wich is good. Also they seem to speed up the coasters right before closing time when there is hardly anyone there. Me and my buddy rode Batman 4 times without getting off and we couldnt walk at all for about 15 minutes ...had to lean against he wall till our brains unscrabled. Great fun. :D
 
These stories fall into my quit complaining and do something about it line: Here in Virginia many places will post a no concealed weapons sign up, and when they do that place of buisness gets a flood of letters-calls from "former" customers complaining, and everytime the place of buisness changes it's mind, we all know that a place of buisness likes to have customers so if you get enough people together complaining you can useually get things changed. If your state has a concealed handgun law and a buisness so says no handguns get people writing them saying it's our right to carry and our right not to shop/go there unless you change your policy, same with knives if it's legal to carry get people together and start a letter camaign till they change their policy. Write to the companys parent company or investor company's to.

Here is some information on Six Flags:

Link to Six Flags contact addreses:
Six Flags contact addresses

Corporate Office Address:
Six Flags, Inc.
11501 N. East Expressway
Oklahoma City, OK 73131

I say we start a campaign, there are enough people on this forum to get some attention.

Anyway just my thoughs
 
This wasn't at Six Flags, it was at a concert. I went to see the Weezer concert on Monday at the Hifi Buys (Lakewood) Ampitheatre. At the gate, they make all men lift their shirts and they search everyone's pockets. The security guy felt my wallet in my pocket and asked to see it. Now, this is one of those wallets with a money clip on the side and a slip to put all of your cards in. I had a credit card knife in there. I showed the wallet to the guy, but as I put it away he goes, "Whoa, let me see that again." I showed the wallet to him and he looked at the wallet for a second and just waved me through. Weird.
 
I'm speaking generally here, this is not directed at anyone in particular.
I realize that many of these security measures may seem excessive to you, but sometimes that's what the management or promoters want. No one is making you enter the park/concert. If you don't want to follow the rules, don't go in. If you don't want to risk your property, don't take it in. I guess a good rule of thumb would be that if you have any doubt about it, don't take it.
I worked an event this past 4th of July. We confiscated mounds of illegal drugs, knives of all sorts (mostly cheap knock-offs), alcohol, and other normal every day items (sodas, snacks etc.) that the promoters did not want in the park. We gave people the option of returning those items to their vehicle, throwing them away or turning them over. I even advised some to hide their property outside the gates in the bushed if they did not want to go all the way back to their vehicle.
We did not make any arrests otherwise we all would have wound up at booking instead of taking care of what we were hired to do. The thing is that people knew what the rules were before getting there. The rules were announced on radio and television for weeks before, and for those that missed them, there were signs stating what was or was not permissible.
It's really amazing how creative people are about hiding things.
 
This sucks! I am planning to go to Six Flaggs in Atlanta this weekend. I guess I'll just leave my knife in the car, better safe than sorry.
 
I'm the friend that Manji is talking about in the above post. My brother did indeed have his knife confiscated by the Six Flags in California (Magic Mountain) security. They said that he could not bring the knife in with him and that either they confiscate it or he puts it back in the car. He did not want to walk the mile back to his car so he let them have it.
 
JoHnYKwSt, there's a big difference in surrendering one's property and having it confiscated. They gave him a choice, and he chose to surrender it. A confiscation is them taking it without giving any options.
 
If you guys dont wanna go, just mail me yer tickets. I dont need my knife to enjoy coasters....just my crazy goggles. I like the place.
 
I hope it wasn't a nice knife. I'm starting to see the value of those Knock-Offs aka Throwaway Knives.

There are quite a few places, such as the Staples Center and Dodger Stadium, that don't allow LEOs to carry off-duty. I don't care who's playing/appearing, I'm not going there on the principle.
 
Dodger stadium,Now thats a whole diffrent ball game.
Im not going there unless im packing a gun.
That place has gone to hell in a hand basket,what a dump
and talk about gang problems,im not going to even get into on what ive seen at that place.
But I will drive to anaheim stadium to watch the angels.
 
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