eugjackson

Like I said, it is ludicrous. You just didn't know what the heck you were doing. You instead made it seem the trip was long, complicated, taxing, etc...which would discourage the person you were responding to from using public transport. Leaving downtown at 430 am if you had a clue of what you were doing. you would have made the 540 UP-N, which would have got you to Waukegan Station at 650am. After taking the bus you would have been at SF about 3 hours before the park opens. There also is a train that leaves like 630am which would have gotten you there way early or even the 725am one, the 835am was also an option to arrive tight at gate opening essentially.

I'd look into the Uber, honestly. I have done public transport to Six Flags, and it's a journey. You'll need to take Metra to Waukegan, then transfer to a bus. Metra is similar to LIRR, big passenger trains. It takes over an hour from Chicago to Waukegan, and then about another half hour on the bus. If all goes well, the bus will be waiting for you when you get off the train in Waukegan, but in my experience, delays can and do happen. I left downtown about 4:30 AM to make it to the park by 10:00, and I still just barely made it. So look into that Uber. To anybody reading do not believe the statement, " I left downtown about 4:30 AM to make it to the park by 10:00, and I still just barely made it. " This statement id ludicrous. If you take the UPN Metra Line from Oglivie station leaving at 835am you will arrive at Waukegan Station about 955am. The PACE Bus 565 to Six Flags leaves just after 10am. It's about about a 25min bus ride and it drops you off right in front of the park at the shopping plaza. The stop is right in front of Burger King. You then just cross the street to the park and walk down SF Drive. Including the walk you will get to the gate essentially just after the gates open. If you wanted to be early just take the 725am Metra and 565 Bus and then you could kill a bit of time if you want to get something to eat at BK or someone else along Grand Ave.

S&S products could become really popular with cost sensitive parks and smaller parks. Totally can see SF buying these S&S rides in bulk like they are doing with 4D's/ The concept rides are all pretty good looking and low space profile. If they are low cost like S&S current rides 4D spin and El Loco, they could become ubiquitous. Larson superloops are going to be dead, should have been anyway as they are 1970's era ride. Skywarps and now Twisted Looper are direct competitors and look more thrilling. Interesting S&S didn't put these concepts out at IAAPA. But putting these concepts out now and not waiting to next IAAPA might mean S&S wants parks to keep them in mind and maybe hold off on purchases till these are ago in likely 2019/20, depending on how far they are along in the concept and design.

Holy crap... that actually makes sense. LOL. Look up the history of CF capital expenditures. This isn't SF where they constrain things to a set % of revenue. How long have you been Cedar Fair finance committee? The original poster's theory has been proposed on a few occasions. One doesn't need to look at the history of CF expenditures, look only at the last few years to see how much lower their capex spending become. LOL. Please stop embarrassing yourself and read CF annual reports. The capital expenditures most recent first(from annual reports) 176M, 167M, 120M, 96M, 90M...etc...etc,,,capital expenditures have been consistently increasing. I guess increasing numbers are a decrease in spending...a Trump like era alternative fact, bigger numbers are actually less than smaller ones.

Holy crap... that actually makes sense. LOL. Look up the history of CF capital expenditures. This isn't SF where they constrain things to a set % of revenue.

Question for somebody who has SFA as their home park. How busy can i expect the park to be based on past years during the the 2 weeks of April when they are open 1030A-7P? Wondering if SFA is a nightmare with ridiculous crowds like some SF parks during break, ie...OG,OT, MM. Thinking of going midweek while visiting DC area the week of 4/10 or 4/17.

Speculation on multiple coaster sites/Youtube channels of RMC T-Rex or B&M Hyper. KK has been known to be looking into getting a new coaster. KK will have a pretty nice run of coasters 2014 Hyper GTX, 2016 Storm Chaser, plus a new one in 2018/19 The second year announcement has gathered various speculations. 1)Massive water park expansion, though they did one in 2014. 2)Zamperla flat ride showcase with Zamperla Endeavor, Hawk, etc. KK has a bunch of Zamperla rides in their kids area so they have a good relationship. 3)Huss ride showcase deal with a 2nd gen Enterprise to replace the older one they have, along with new Huss rides...Huss is yet to install a 2nd gen Enterprise though it looks cool with the multi positions programming capability. 4) Getting one of the new rides from IAAPA 2016 and the manufacturer wants hype of their new ride so gave KK a deal to on the price .ie,,, Mack Xtreme Spinning Coaster with a discounted price that would allow back to back coaster years financially possible

Right, facts = troll to people like you. Go complain some more about X2 b/c you're soft. And let's look at the facts posted earlier: -5 SF parks do not have Superloops - Skywarp was revealed at IAAPA and costs $2m BRILLIANT! P.S. Have you called Six Flags corporate with your "facts"? I don't think they are aware. I'm sure they will compensate you greatly for your insight! SF depends on people so ill informed on rides that are hoping for a 1970's era carnival ride.

Right, facts = troll to people like you. Go complain some more about X2 b/c you're soft.

Why the heck would you be hoping for that worthless piece of junk? It's literally the last flat ride anyone should want. The 5 SF Parks that didn't get them should be grateful. If SF wants that genre of ride, the Skywarp revealed at IAAPA is what they should get and it's only 2M

2017 Full Year Operating Schedules are out for most of the warm weather parks OG, OT, FT, DK, the exception is MM

Revenue is different than "making more $ off of them", which is actual profit. 10 time visitor Season pass holder is getting things at $4/meal with a drink(excluding snacks). The 1 day person is spending $18 for the same thing. The actual cost of the meal for SF is maybe $2 or $3. So the margin for a day person is $15 for a season pass holder maybe a $2. Dining passes for SF since they are only $80 are really not profitable for a frequent visitor. Ideally SF wants you to spend the $80 for a dining pass and maybe go 5 times, the 10+ visitors are not good for them. I went to a variety of SF parks all over the country for a 15 total visits. That means 30 meals, and works out to $2.67/meal before my snacks. Not good for SF, but great for me.

One time a yr people rarely care about the things the people in the last 10 posts are whining about. They don;t leave the park for food, in fact it's insane to leave the park for food b/c it's such a time suck. 1 or 2 times a yr visitors expect it to busy and just pay for the overpriced food. The 1 or 2 time people are the people parks love margin wise on profits. The season pass holder who goes 10 or more times a yr provides very little margin. Season passholders make up about half of SF's overall attendance. The dining pass is a huge cash cow for SF that has played a big part in restoring profitability, however it also causes much bigger crowds at the food service outlets. I know of a lot of people (including GP) that used to eat outside the park, then when the dining pass was introduced they started eating inside the park. However the food service is so slow at some of the major SF parks that I personally know many people who have bought the dining pass in the past that refuse to buy it now. They say the service is so slow that they say it ruins their day, and they have gone back to eating outside the park. And I don't know how you can say a regular day visitor "rarely cares about" slow food lines. If you are waiting to buy food, and the wait is 30+ minutes, you would definitely care. Straight from SF's annual report It really doesn't matter to me as I have no stake in the outcome. I never eat at SF parks, rarely visit SF parks nowadays (I actually could be considered you're once a year visitor), and really don't care. But I feel like the facts at least should be pointed out. Your entire post is based on confounding gross revenue with margin. A season pass holder who goes 10 times is getting 20 full meals plus snacks for $80 and free drinks via the season sports bottle. That comes out to $4 a meal not including snacks. A 1 day person who buys 1 meal is spending $13 plus $4 or $5 for a drink. If you read the thing you quoted they talk about pass holders bringing friends, that's why they have all the bring a friend stuff, which many season pass holders don't like b/c the park is packed. The 1 day being a friend are a high margin customer that SF gets access to by season pass holder BAF days.

It's the worst new trend. People really have nothing better going on than riding coasters in 30 degree temps? Do an actual winter sport.

No they shouldn't! You just need plan your meals better. I have never waited more than 15 minutes for food and most days it's 5 minutes or walk up. SF is researching the idea of pre order by SF phone app for season pass/membership holders. I have seen that on several surveys I was sent this year.

One time a yr people rarely care about the things the people in the last 10 posts are whining about. They don;t leave the park for food, in fact it's insane to leave the park for food b/c it's such a time suck. 1 or 2 times a yr visitors expect it to busy and just pay for the overpriced food. The 1 or 2 time people are the people parks love margin wise on profits. The season pass holder who goes 10 or more times a yr provides very little margin.

Twisted Colossus was also formally announced in late August of 2014, why would Cedar Point build a new major coaster to open in 2017 and not announce it or start marketing it until like 4 or 5 months prior to it's opening. Not a good reason

Cedar Point Ride NIghts for Season Pass Holders May 26, 2017-All Passholder Ride Night: Valravn May 27, 2017-All Passholder Ride Night: Maverick June 8, 2017-Platinum Ride Night: GateKeeper June 22, 2017-Platinum Ride Night: Millennium Force & Rougarou July 8, 2017-Platinum Ride Night: Top Thrill Dragster & Raptor August 24, 2017-Platinum Ride Night: Valravn & Raptor September 1, 2017-All Passholder Ride Night: Top Thrill Dragster & Magnum September 2, 2017-All Passholder Ride Night: Millennium Force & Rougarou September 3. 2017-All Passholder Ride Night: Maverick September 3. 2017-Registered Passholders: Last Rides

Facts are trolling. Your intellectual weakness is apparent. The rides costs the same 2M Skywarp is clearly better than a 1970's carnival ride. Skywarp higher capacity at 800/hr Skywarp can be marketed as a real coaster legitimately unlike a Superloop Skywarp footprint is just 30ft X 120 ft

Try do basic research on rides. They aren't more expensive. Skywarp footprint is small. Superloops are a garbage carnival ride that is neglected by riders, no matter that desperate execs at SF try to pretend they aren't roller coasters. A ride that costs the same that people will actually ride b/c it's better, is a better investment. Btw, it can be marketed as a coaster without people calling BS, while costing the same. Btw. please don't bring up the lame labor costs. If parks were overly concerned about workers they wouldn't waste labor on so many games, which on all but crowded weekends amount to people sitting around 95% of the day doing nothing.

To be fair of the 12 of the 22M Giant Loops since 2014, 8 have been bought by Six Flags. The other 4 are by small parks and now 5 with KK. SF as a big corporate park operation should not have bought so many. They bought a cheap ride which is pretty poor and now a better ride is available at equal cost in Skywarps, surely some regret if you're a SF exec. The reason parks bought them is they are inexpensive, Giant Loops are about 2M, little under. Some parks market them as coasters, when to me they are a flat ride and have flat ride price. They build their coaster count depending on howthey label it at a flat ride place. In fact many flat rides costs more, a Zamperla Endeavor, Hawk, or Discovery are about 3M.

While a super loop isn't real exciting, given all the other amazing additions in the past couple years, no one should be complaining. Should have got a Skyline Skywarp costs the same and is a better ride. Any parks buying Larson Superloops over Skywarps are committing malpractice.

So, to sum up..as I said you have no real numbers or facts. The only objective fact is the 2014 Mantis(last year number). Btw, 1 anomalous day doesn;t make up for the 95% of days Bizarro is a walk on and closes early during the summer b/c nobody is on it. Get real numbers for Gadv and CP and then you have a case, you don't. You're slurping the word of HS and College kids and taken it as set in stone even though it makes little to no sense if you know anything about the parks. Ocean front property in Idaho are you buying?

From what release of ridership numbers are you getting Bizarro did 1M and Rougarou didn't? Sounds crazy since Bizarro is a walk on to 5 to 10 minute wait in the middle of summer. The trains leave half empty most days I have been. Also, Mantis did 925K(official CP release numbers) it's last year and the conversion to Rougarou has increased it's popularity. Let's just say I'm highly highly skeptical. Back up homie, he works at the park. This. And JRice is the one who gave us the Rougarou information. Both of them know their sh*t. LOL...You people are gullible. Official numbers matter. You don't have them but your slurping the koolaid. The only real numbers on this are what the parks release and that was pre conversion numbers Mantis.

From what release of ridership numbers are you getting Bizarro did 1M and Rougarou didn't? Sounds crazy since Bizarro is a walk on to 5 to 10 minute wait in the middle of summer. The trains leave half empty most days I have been. Also, Mantis did 925K(official CP release numbers) it's last year and the conversion to Rougarou has increased it's popularity. Let's just say I'm highly highly skeptical. Back up homie, he works at the park. He works at both parks? Of course not! The notion Bizarro gets 1M is skeptical to say the least to anyone who has been to GAdv and knows the ride is neglected attendance wise. I was there 4 days in August and the ride was a walk on virtually all day and max 5 minute. Trains were not full, so it wasn't b/c operations are great. In fact Bizarro ride operations are horrible. Btw, Bizarro closed by 8 every day I went b/c nobody was riding it. I'll believe it when GAdv shows official ridership, which I don't recall them ever doing. CP has released ridership numbers sometimes, the most recent 2014. Again, highly highly skeptical as a person who knows both parks.