Originally Posted By Darkbeer <a href="http://www.fool.com/news/commentary/2006/commentary06030903.htm" target="_blank">http://www.fool.com/news/comme ntary/2006/commentary06030903.htm</a> >>6. The public will love Six Flags again Six Flags is abolishing the old general-manager bonus plan that rewarded park executives based exclusively on performance according to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). That plan contributed to stingy operators cutting costs late in the season at the expense of park guests. Now, the new bonus system will introduce gauges such as revenues generated per guest, patron satisfaction, and park cleanliness to go along with operating profits at the park level. Six Flags is also contracting with SASI Consulting, a company that helped improve operations at four of the company's parks recently, to develop a universal training program. The old regime didn't emphasize training, probably figuring that the high turnover of young seasonal hires wasn't a group worth investing in. Big mistake. And a big opportunity for Shapiro. The real smiles Something special is happening at Six Flags. You don't see it right now, but just wait until it's early August, and your co-worker has a picture of his or her daughter with Wonder Woman taken at Six Flags. Just wait until your next visit, when you find yourself amazed that the restrooms are being tended to on an hourly basis, the "streetmosphere" is thickly enjoyable, and you're finding yourself smiling again -- in a Six Flags park. That smile won't be faked. <<
Originally Posted By SuzieQ That was the last point, after stating all of the work that needs to be done to make those smiles real! "In two weeks, Six Flags will be receiving a report from Roger Staubach's real estate consulting company, advising him on which parks to unload and what real estate to sell off. Yesterday, Six Flags announced that it was done replacing park managers, but until it provides employees a definitive list of the parks that it plans to keep, morale won't likely be as upbeat as Shapiro may want to believe." "2. Attendance will fall in 2006 The company is expecting revenues to climb by 8% to 9% in 2006, despite operating with two fewer parks. The key will be higher per capita spending -- and I'll touch on that shortly -- but also in more turnstile clicks. I just don't see the latter happening in 2006. During the offseason, Six Flags has been inching ticket prices higher at many of its parks. Parking fees have been raised considerably at some of its destinations, too. This comes just as rival Cedar Fair has lowered ticket prices at its two largest regional parks, with plans to sell cotton candy for a mere quarter a stick. Six Flags' experience improvements, which will include everything from nightly fireworks to afternoon character parades to Chinese acrobatic shows, will surely draw families in droves, but the marketing emphasis isn't likely to appeal to the thrill-seeking teen with a season pass. But it's just as well. The company will make more off a middle-class family spending a Saturday at the park than it would likely make on a pass-toting teen making a dozen visits over the summer. It's a good financial move, even if it may result in lower turnstile clicks this year." It's going to be a long, painful haul!
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Allow me to be the first to say this. Six Flags Magic Mountain sucks. I'll never go back. Thank you.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer ^ Lisa and I wil be at SFMM on Sunday at 7:30 AM, and looking forward to it!!!!!
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Enjoy Darkbeer. I won't be there. One less person to deal with, I know...
Originally Posted By Darkbeer ^Well, Lisa and I plan to be at the park at Midnight on May 21st , In fact, getting a hotel room for the 20th and 21st, so we can spend all day at SFMM.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer If this was a story written about Disney in 2001, then it would have been posted as proof that Disney was in trouble. Six Flags has been going after the thrill ride audience for so long while ignoring families with younger kids and older parents / grandparents. And they are going to try to position themselves as Disney-lite? I think it's an interesting strategy, but Universal has already tried to out-Disney Disney and they are failing at it. I need to feel like there are enough things for me to do to justify buying a ticket and paying for parking. And since I much prefer rides like POTC and HM and the Jungle Cruise to any generic roller coaster or off-the-shelf thrill ride, Six Flags has a long way to go before it gets any dollars from my family.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Six Flags has been going after the thrill ride audience for so long while ignoring families with younger kids and older parents / grandparents. And they are going to try to position themselves as Disney-lite? I think it's an interesting strategy, but Universal has already tried to out-Disney Disney and they are failing at it.<< I think Universal's mistake has been in competing directly with Disney, especially in Orlndo. Six Flags on the other hand, is regional. Chances are there is one nearby. One reason we don't bother with our local SF Elitch Gardens is because it has been a dirty park that caters to thrill seeking teenagers. If you are not into roller coasters there is not much there to attract you. It is also jam packed with carnie type games where you try to win junky plush toys. I am not sure what SF could do to make Elitch's more attractive to families. If they ripped out some of the carnie stuff, kept the place clean, and (this is a long shot) installed some dark rides then maybe it could attract families. Elitch's also has a built in water park. It smallish and has no attraction for us (that's what Waterworld is for). I wouldn't mind seeing that replaced with some themed attractions. The real problem for Elitch's is that it is a seasonal park. There is no point opening at all before May as it can snow at any time (it can also be very nice, but its unpredicable). By November it gets too cold so it closes. That's too short a season to amortize high cost attractions, which is why Elitch's has the same off the shelf rides found everywhere else (including your local state fair). I also noticed that they are still selling season passes for $54.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>And since I much prefer rides like POTC and HM and the Jungle Cruise to any generic roller coaster or off-the-shelf thrill ride, Six Flags has a long way to go before it gets any dollars from my family.<< I don't think that they are going after the "let's spend $3000-$4000 and go to WDW crowd". Maybe the "we can't afford to go to WDW this year" crowd. I really can't image there ever being a true E-Ticket at Elitch's. It would cost as much as the rest of the park, and provide a really lopsided experience (OK, now that we've done the Harry Potter ride 5 times, what do we do now? Oh yeah, let's go to swinging Viking ship)
Originally Posted By sjhym4 While I agree with Six Flags decision to go towards the family audience (many Six Flags parks are over run by teens), I think Six Flags is making a huge mistake by downsizing on their Roller Coaster building. The one thing Six Flags has going for it IS its thrilling coasters that most other parks dont offer. If I were going to "fix" Six Flags here is what I would do... 1) Increase the cost of AP's so that is out of reach of the average teen. The parks should not be THE congregating place for local teens. I think it is off putting for people who pay full price to enjoy the parks and cant because of the crowding of teens who are hanging. 2) Clean the Parks!!!! I have visited several Six Flags parks and they are disgustingly dirty. In Georgia we encountered full trash cans overflowing with melted icee's running on the sidwalks and bathrooms that smelt and looked like they hadnt been cleaned in a year. 3) Hire a chef. My experince with Six Flags food has been terrible. Its a hamburger. You charge alot of money for it...learn how to cook one you can eat. How hard is that? 4) Get rid of your Fastpass rip-off. It makes the lines longer because.... 5)Train your employees about CAPACITY. It should not take 5 mins to dispatch a coaster train. Stop your employees from talking to their friends, eating and drinking in the loading station and remind them that there is a safe load, unload, dispatch time that would make the Six Flags experience a lot more fun.
Originally Posted By TheRedhead "The public will love Six Flags again." I was puzzled by their use of the word "again." Doesn't that imply that people loved it at some point in the past? Unless of course you're a teenager who never grew up, and you enjoy being catered to by other sullen teenagers. Then you've ALWAYS loved the place.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <One reason we don't bother with our local SF Elitch Gardens is because it has been a dirty park that caters to thrill seeking teenagers. If you are not into roller coasters there is not much there to attract you. It is also jam packed with carnie type games where you try to win junky plush toys.> Substitute 'Six Flags Magic Mountain' and you've described the park in SoCal.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I was puzzled by their use of the word "again." Doesn't that imply that people loved it at some point in the past?<< In the past, Six Flags over Texas was indeed "loved" by the Dallas locals.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan When they added a new coaster at Six Flags Marine World, they didn't even paint over or attempt in any way to cover the stripes from the part of the parking lot they used to plop the coaster in place. And people trash DCA.... lol
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>While I agree with Six Flags decision to go towards the family audience (many Six Flags parks are over run by teens), I think Six Flags is making a huge mistake by downsizing on their Roller Coaster building. The one thing Six Flags has going for it IS its thrilling coasters that most other parks dont offer.<< But thrill rides and extreme coasters aren't ever going to capture a "family" audience -- they appeal mostly to teens and coaster enthusiasts. At least at Marine World, they have the animal shows/exhibits for little ones. Ideally, a "family" park should, lie Disneyland, offer the majority of its rides that the entire family can experience together. Most other parks, DCA included, have stuff FOR kids but mostly rides a parent would just as soon sit out and watch from a bench.
Originally Posted By sjhym4 I dont know about that. My wife and I are in our 40's, 3 kids: 22, 20 and 16. We would definately be a family looking for thrill rides. And judging from the number of families online at Expedition Everest today, I think families are looking for thrills, but families are also looking for the other family friendly things too.
Originally Posted By schoolsinger I think the family friendly strategy will work well at most of the Six Flags parks, but not Magic Mountain. The reason is because Disneyland is very close to Magic Mountain. It would be very hard for Magic Mountain to out do Disney in the low thrill family ride department. The only thing that gives Magic Mountain a competitive edge over Disney is its thrill rides. I think it might be best to keep Magic Mountain a thrill park.
Originally Posted By sjhym4 I think the bigger question is what Six Flags long term stragedy is? How long can Six Flags encourage repeat business if its only going to add family fare? Most parks in the Six Flags family are local parks with its core audience being withing several hundred miles from the park. We all know that its the new things that people coming back. At some point Six Flags is going to have to figure how to get people coming back again and again. I agree that Six Flags needs to be more family oriented. But to me that means clean parks, safe parks, decent food, things for the whole family to do. If they had kept to the core values that the Six Flags parks were founded on they maybe wouldnt be in the problems they have been the past several years. However, I dont think they can make their new business plan work without constant additions to the parks. And I dont think Bugs Bunny is gonna do the trick
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^I agree that its going to be hard. Quality familay rides cannot be bought off the shelf. From their press releases their idea of family attractions are off the shelf carnie rides. I think that they forget about anything even remotely close to Disney quality. Their regional parks are seasonal and lack the demgraphics to support such an investment.
