Manic Monte

Wow...very similar to The Joker at SFDK.

Went to USH and it was the same thing. So slammed that you couldn't even by tickets online by 10 am. I can't even imagine how bad Disney was...

Agreed. But I'd bet my hat that the Bourn Stuntacular is on it's way to Hollywood.

They can't have been making money though. The park is a ghost town that time of year.

I love Knott's, but the experience is inconsistent at best. Operations are painfully slow, and employees are not friendly at all. It is well kept though, something that can't be said for SFMM.

And that's where my theory comes into play. I wasn't being facetious. If this isn't solved soon, the company will need an alternative cash flow to pay down debt. Bringing in a new CEO at this point may stop the bleeding, but won't heal the wound. I can't see a way out of this without selling some asset. With California currently being the absolute worst place to do business right now, to me this makes SFMM and SFDK the most vulnerable. And I don't think anyone would miss either park

That's not controversial at all. I'd actually say SFMM is the next CGA. In 10 years it will be sold and closed.

I agree. You can already see the ripple affect all across US parks. Where’s the 25 million dollar B&M? 30 million dollar Intamin? No one is building that. Instead parks are either rebranding current rides or finishing rides that are already on the books. That’ll happen after a pandemic and economic down turn. You can look back in the thread from 2008/2009 and see a similar SF situation and park’s building family rides or nothing at all.

Agreed. I used that park as an example for a reason. Pricing aside ( because pricing can always be adjusted), it's a park that used to feel cookie cutter and out of focus when it was my homepark. And I enjoy it far more today.

I don't disagree with this, and is exactly the point! You can be regional and still offer a quality product. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Everyone DID expect it, including the CEO who was the first to predict it.

SFMM has never had good leadership that sticks around more than a year. Everytime they do the company promotes them (or runs them off). Look no further than Jeffrey Seibert at Fiesta Texas for what great leadership can do for a park. I hate the word Premium. That's not what SF should be aspiring to. Quality is a better word. They should be modeling Cedar Fair, not Disney/Universal. While I don't agree with prices being raised so much and so quickly, I do agree with the new CEO that the culture needs a face-lift. I've always hated the notion that the cheap, non spending, membership holding teen is the guest they should be courting. That any lousy guest is fine as long as they're clicking the turnstyle.

You can be a regional theme park and still offer a much better experience than SF has the last 20 years. It takes time and doesn't happen overnight. Look at the former Paramount Parks now under Cedar Fair? Kings Island, once not much better that your typical Six Flags park, is now one of the countries best. You think that happened after a year? I don't agree. I DON'T think the answer is to remain a cheap chain. These parks (especially the big 5) have so much more potential than that.

But yeah, being the original park isn't enough of a reason. It's the parks that will get the best return on investment. Disneyland is the original, but isn't anywhere near the destination of Florida or Paris.

As much as people hate Six Flags, you would think that they would be happy to watch this guy burn the whole enterprise down.