On the decline
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 07/23/09
We have been going to Fiesta TX every summer for the last 8 years. We have seen everything it has to offer. We love this park! Great rollercoasters! The best! However, this last summer trip may be our last. We have noticed a decline in the park maintenance. The water park especially. Most of the cool rides were closed. There were only 2 tube shoots and the tornado (which is awesome) opened. You could always float the lazy river, but it was so crowded because of the lack of other rides. The wooden decks and stairs were splintered and rotten in the heavy traffic areas. The plastic grids that are on the concrete to protect your feet from the heat were brittle split/cracked in several areas. The drains in the concrete walk ways had algea which caused it to be very slippery. Even walking very slowly over the green patch was hard to do without slipping. The Tornado requires you to carry a 4 man raft up several flights of wooden (splintered) stairs cases. You have to lift the raft over your head to turn on the stairs because the raft is too big to fit around the turn. Can't walk barefoot there anymore. You can purchase cheap plastic flip flops at their gift shop for $22.
The other big thing is that they do not allow you to take your personal belongings (including drinks) up the stairs while you wait in line. There is an officer that stops you at the beginning of the line to tell you to purchase a locker, provided for your convenience at the beginning of the ride line, for a dollar. Most of the major attractions have these $1 lockers. Seems to me that's another way to squeeze money out of the customers. The officer told me they did it because there were other people putting drugs into drinks left on the exit side of the ride. Give me a break. Can you come up another excuse. Drug users aren't going to spend money to get someone else high. Besides, when you get on the ride no one is allowed on the other side except for staff until the riders exit and pick up their stuff.
The little decorative lagoons were scummed over with weeds and very tall grass. Landscaping has taken a back seat. The trash cans were full and bees covered them. The ants and bees are everywhere.
The $15 cup you buy for free refills in the park is a joke. There are very few stands that will refill your cup. The few stands that do refill the cup have a very long line.
There were plenty of customer service staff to tell you not run, don't sit there, you're not allowed here and don't sit or lean on the rails. Waste of service if you ask me. Concentrate in other areas.
One thing that I've always hated is that they charge $35 for a fast pass. The fast pass is for a few of the major attractions. You can go ahead in line to save yourself the wait. Walt Disney World doesn't make you pay for their version of fast pass. You walk up to the ticket dispenser that is just before the ride and the ticket tells you when you come back and ride with a minimal wait. It's within an hour of the time the ticket was dispensed. It works great. Fiesta needs to take lessons for Disney. They have 10 times the volume of customers and it's always always the best experience. Clean, world's best customer service and fun fun. Unless, Fiesta changes their ways, we will be going somewhere else for our summer amusement park experience. Boo on Fiesta Texas!