Originally Posted By WilliamK99 I would love to see Disney buy the park, gut it and make it a 3rd So. Cal gate.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>How much could they possibly get for the land to make it work out?<< Consider this: the reason a $150,000 house in Dallas would cost $500,000 if it were located instead in SoCal is one simple reason: the cost of land. I wouldn't be suprised if they could get $500,000 per acre.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I would love to see Disney buy the park, gut it and make it a 3rd So. Cal gate.<< This thought crossed my mind as well. Bulldoze the place and build WestCot. But it doesn't really fit into the concept of expanding DLR into a resort.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>They could also sell off the coasters to other parks.<< Or relocate them to other SF Parks.
Originally Posted By xrayvision That's too bad about the closing of 2 SixFlags Waterworld parks in Nor Calif. Both Concord and Sacramento are already experiencing 100 degree weather, typical for this time of year, and the parks are quite busy. All that will be left now is Roseville Sunsplash (very nice and very crowded), PGA's Boomerang Bang (if Cedar Point keeps the park) and Raging Waters in San Jose. That's not enough water parks to serve the miilions of people residing in the hot Greater Sacramento region, South Placer and East Bay Area. I hope that maybe Cedar Point can pick up the Concord park as a Knotts' Surf City, and Cal Expo can buy the Sac waterslides to run the park themselves. I'm doubtful but hopeful.
Originally Posted By schnebs Well, Dirk_D, I was thinking about how yesterday about ho much cash they could make, and here's what I cameup with. Right now, a brand-new, good-sized house (and I asssume that any developer who buys the property's gonna build good-sized, upscale houses, cause that's where the money is) is going for $750,000 - $1 million in the SoCal market right now. Let's assume our potential builder's gonna shoot for the high end of the marker and prices the homes at about $1 million (makes the math easier, too). My understanding is that a good-sized house would ideally be placed on about an acre of land. SFMM sits on about 250-300 acres of land. Let's take out about 25 acres or so for roads and a community center, and we still have about 225 acres at least on the low end. Now obviously, the $1 million figure includes the cost of the house and the property. I know zip about the homebuilding industry, but I'd assume that to sell for $1 million, the developer couldn't afford to buy for more than $600,000 an acre or so and still make any kind of profit. Let's assume that our developer is so hot for this property that he's willing to spend top dollar for it and offers $600,000 per acre. That works out about $150 million for the property, and that's based on what some pretty conservative assumptions. $150 million would give Six Flags enough money to keep the creditors happy for a while, and I'm pretty sure they'd never make anywhere near $150 million in pure profit from continuing to operate the park. As I mentioned, I'm no expert at any of this, so if anyone wants to challenge these figures and come up with a better estimate, feel free...
Originally Posted By schnebs Sorry, I should have said I wouldn't expect they'd make $150 million in this fiscal year from operating the park. It'd probably take 'em a few years of operating SFMM to clar that much in profit, but Six Flags is looking at how much they can make NOW to get some of their creditors off their backs.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Lots for homes these days are running closer to a quarter acre than a full acre, even for the Million $ homes. They pack 'em close together these days. You want property to go with that high end home you need to plunk down Millions here in So Cal. We coaster hounds can kiss our local big iron days goodbye.
Originally Posted By Jetlag Most of MMs rides are customized and are built into the terrain. It would be nearly impossible to rebuild those coasters anywhere else at a reasonable cost.
Originally Posted By DisneyDarren77 In my dreams of dreams I wish that NBC Universal would buy the park and turn it into Island of Adventure California. Please Universal make come it true. DisneyDarren77
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Wow, after all this hype about making the parks more "family friendly" and adding more characters and stuff, on top of the 45th anniversary campaing...this is surprising. I guess none of that stuff worked, huh? Either that, or it was too little, too late. It will be unfortunate to lose Magic Mountain, as that's really the only major coaster park for all of Souther California...I guess Knotts and Disney will have to soak up the displaced customers? Unless somebody buys the park and keeps it open...
Originally Posted By schnebs Problem is, who'd buy it (as a theme park at least)? I can't see Cedar Fair spending more money after buying Paramount. I guess Anheuser-Busch might consider it - it'd give 'em a better presence on the West Coast than SeaWorld San Diego. NBC Universal could buy it - they've got the money, and they'd have room to expand like they don't have at USH - but they don't sound all that enthusiastic about staying in the theme park business. I can't see Disney buying it - if SFMM's a bad fit for Six Flags, it's an even worse fit for them.
Originally Posted By Moon Waffle This one really hits home to me, as I started visiting SFMM in the mid 80's and up through 2002 when my experience was so bad with all the gangbangers that I swore I'd never go back. I simply didn't feel safe in this park anymore, and got sick of waiting an hour in line only to see a rough looking group of teens cut their way in front of me for the umpteen-millionth time. It's sad to see that it has fallen so far; it used to be a great park with a fun family atmosphere. No it wasn't Disney, but it provided a nice, unique experience nonetheless. So what now? What happens to the other SoCal theme parks when SFMM's clientel loses their park in Valencia? I fear for what happens to Knott's under this scenario. I don't see the SFMM crowd ever caring much for the DLR, but they could RUIN Knott's...
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^All they have to do is play Muzak all day. That will keep the gang bangers away ;-) Kidding aside, I understand that some convenience stores play classical music in their parking lots. Apparently it is an effective deterrent for loiterers.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper My first trip to Magic Mountain was probably in the late 70s. I think they just got too focused on the high intensity thrills and, of course, that brings out a youthful audience...one that doesn't spend a lot of money. Seems like it was a recipe for disaster.
Originally Posted By a1stav I know many of you here don't care for the place, but I feel it would be a tremendous loss to amusement park enthusiasts every where. Please sign the petition to keep the doors open. <a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/SaveMM/petition.html" target="_blank">http://www.petitiononline.com/ SaveMM/petition.html</a>
Originally Posted By dshyates Even with cedar fair buying paramount I could see them buying magic mountain. To own CP, MM, KI, and KBF not to mention all the rest would definitely make them an industry powerhouse.
