Following major losses announced earlier in the month by Six Flags (NYSE: PKS) and resulting cuts in capital expenditures for next season, it seems obvious that the park chain needs to rethink their strategy and perhaps even take a look at the way some of the other chains have done business recently.
The last several years since Six Flags' largest year ever for new park acquisions and additions, 1999, admission prices among the Six Flags parks have been on a rise and discounts to a minimum, more so than most other parks, with parking rates at many locations approaching and exceeding $10. Add that up with a major lack of new attractions to pull guests in and hot competition of other parks, and even some dirty advertising, and you've got a recipe for dissapointment.
In contrast, other theme park chains have strong and steady strategies for their parks. Take Cedar Fair, for example. If you take a look back at the investments into Cedar Fair's properties over the past decade, you might see a pattern: A new ride at each park, every year, whether it's a spin 'n' spew, vertical ride, or record-breaking coaster, with the exception of an off-year here and there for park improvements. Cedar Fair also takes good measures to ensure that the parks are clean and guests satisfied. That, combined with reasonable pricing for the most part, has been the key to success for Cedar Fair.
As for new ride installations for their parks, Six Flags currently has in posession a number of coasters in storage which once operated at one park or another, but somehow wound up in pieces. Rather than allowing once-enjoyed coasters rust up, why not distribute them among parks in need and give them something new to draw in the guests? Some of the most notable of these are: the Anton Schwarzkopf shuttle-looping Viper, a rarity for North America which formerly operated at Six Flags over Georgia; Chaos, a 
popular coaster up until it closed with Nashville's Opryland; the family-geared, dual lift hill mine train Rock 'N' Roller Coaster, also from Opryland; and Python, an Arrow Dynamics shuttle-looper which sits in pieces at Six Flags America.
And if Six Flags needs to find a way to consistantly provide new rides for their many parks, keep general ridership up and the people coming back, and at the same time save some money to improve their parks from year to year, I beleive that a modern ride redistribution program should be looked into such as Six Flags experimented with in the late 80's and early 90's. In this program, rides are exchanged between Six Flags parks on a yearly basis from a park which has outgrown a ride to a park where it can be billed as "new" and given another life.
The next few years will be significant for the lasting success of the Six Flags chain, and, hopefully, Six Flags will make the best descisions for their parks around the world.
