© Six Flags
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Over the years we have seen so much come from Six Flags as the company established a name in thrills with dozens of theme parks along with its Hurricane Harbor water park chain. But now is a time during which we won’t be able to tell what is to come next. As new management takes over, new views come into play from a new team of boardsmen arrives with new beliefs of good park strategy. Now I ask you, does this sound like a change it sensible from a new market perspective? It could be, or it might not be. Let us look at some facts we’ve seen as pros and cons to the new plans.
First off, you have the issue of raised ticket prices and fewer discounts. Sure, this will help keep the riff-raff out of the park, but this could potentially harm the overall profit of the parks’ revenue or gross net of income. In a way, it’s good to make a better atmosphere for people who come in to have a good time, instead of seeing drug-abusing teens taking over the lines. That is a serious flaw that Six Flags had in its past, due to them having competitive pricing, people would just blow the place apart with endless lines and loitering. A hike in price means less of the “undesirables” will be smoking and just sitting around the park looking for something to do. As for the cons of the ticket hike, some of the frequent visitors will not want to shell out an extra ten dollars to visit a place they may have conceived to be “disgusting and over-crowded.”
This year alone, with all the new rides and additions also comes more people. The new view strategy for the next few years, however, won’t be based off of high-tech thrill rides aside from select parks like Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Great Adventure, and Six Flags over Georgia which have added new high-tech coasters to their sterling lineup of impressive thrill rides.
© Six Flags Magic Mountain
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Six Flags management, or the “Snyder Team,” wants to change the strategy so not only will it seek teenagers for the coasters, but also families for “clean, safe fun.” By this means they can save money through adding more family-geared rides and attractions and thus not advertising that, “Okay we have the biggest, baddest collection of rides all around.” In 1999, Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey started a “War of the Rides” by adding twenty-five new rides and attractions spread throughout the park including the first-of-its-kind floorless coaster by Bolliger and Mabillard of Monthey, Switzerland. Among this was a step towards family fun with Looney Tunes Seaport and various flat rides scattered through the maze of fun.
Snyder himself as of the takeover insisted that more family rides and shows be the focus for the new face of Six Flags. In doing, so he realized that the more time you go without a major ride, the more money can be saved on bigger, better attractions that can be family-related. In this case, he also says, “Bringing new coasters only attracts customers for that particular year then the popularity wears off and you have to go right back to the planning board.”
Another set of the pros and cons scenario would be the ousting of the former mascot that we all have come to love when we hear the Vengaboys song “We Like to Party.” We always could be prepared… Some would ask, “Prepared for what?” Others would say, “Look on TV!” and all of a sudden a red and tan restored 1938 bus would pull on screen to reveal the comical old man jumping and dancing, the likes of which nobody has ever seen before. To promote family fun. Why would anyone get rid of such a cool guy? There are no pros to this move of Snyder at all. Once a mascot, always a mascot. Snyder ousted this man so he could promote three words, “Clean Safe Fun,” in place of the most popularly proven mascot of all the park chains’ history. In doing this, he overlooks the fact that during his masquerading came a hike to the revenue and higher profits because everyone was hyped up and had a different image of Six Flags as a whole.
© Six Flags
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Hopefully we will see newer things coming in under Snyder that will ultimately make it a better chain for its fans around the world. But for now let’s discuss a few key issues that we shall see being a minority in the set. Ticket prices have risen to incredible heights, going up significantly from around the price of $40 several years ago. It’s astronomical. For Six Flags Magic Mountain patrons, it now costs more to get into the park than it is to go to Disneyland for a day – a whopping $63 after taxes! Even Six Flags America‘s cost is through the roof – $50 – the same exact cost as their SEASON PASS! Where’s the irony in this? Although Six Flags will see a subsequent loss in guest due to the price increase and lack of discounts, they will likely raise around the same amount of money in doing so.
Another issue that must be pressed is the universal price of parking – $15 for all Six Flags parks…okay! This is understandable for parks like Great Adventure, Great America and Magic Mountain, but to do this to smaller parks like Elitch Gardens and America is unreasonable! Smaller parks should mean smaller prices! The price of $15 is only worthy of the larger parks because more people visit them. I should think that a drop to maybe $8 for the smaller parks would be fitting. The increases of the years are unworthy of such demand from the park owners.
One con that made headlines in the coaster community that has since been repealed is a policy of no re-entry during a single day even by season-pass-holders. This was an attempt to keep guests in the park so they would have to eat park food instead of being able to pay less at a McDonald’s burger joint down the street. Now call me crazy, but isn’t that kind of a violation of people’s rights? I mean, what if a person had medical supplies in his / her car, such as a diabetic? They need their insulin and could die if they don’t get it! Hmmm… well thank God they got rid of that mistake of a park policy. That would have been the death of the company image!
Well out with the old Six Flags, in with the new. Upon the visit of Mark Shapiro (formerly of ESPN) to Six Flags over Georgia, a few new items in the new Six Flags agenda have arisen, such as 150 new trash cans for Over Georgia, employees stationed at every bathroom, oh, and of course, a shocker for the nation: “No new Goliaths” will be seen rising into the skylines! Just kiddy rides, shows, and family entertainment. Too long has Six Flags purchased gigantic roller coasters and not seen a big outcome, only each park that added a roller coaster saw a hike in their attendance.
© Six Flags over Georgia
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The problem faced here was that the attendance hike only lasted maybe eight months of said year because the season for each park on average lasts from March-Oct. So one park season is all the outcome was and it was “right back to the drawing board” for the company to find bigger, better rides for their impatient thrill seekers. This just drew more teens to the park and they forgot about the little kids and adults who had to sit out and wait while their kids rode everything. On the path to a new Six Flags. Shapiro realized, “We could potentially bring ten rides for the price of one Goliath!”
The future has also brought some other surprises: selling 3,000 estimated acres of un-used land around select parks, eighty-five of which may come from Over Georgia. In addition, Great Adventure has over 2,200 acres of land, but only one third of it is being used, so this may be a primary land donor. In another effort to rekindle the two-some-odd-billion-dollar debt, Six Flags is selling off some yet-to-be-named parks. One of those parks recently chosen is Oklahoma’s Frontier City and White Water Bay, which may be sold after the 2006 season ends in October.
So when all is said and done, what will become of Six Flags as a whole? Will they lean towards a Paramount style or will they lean towards Universal? Who knows? We shall soon see!
