jedimaster1227

As a part of its latest initiative to reach out to its audience, Six Flags put together a conference call for the twenty-five most active Twitter and Facebook fans to speak with CEO Mark Shapiro directly. Shapiro was surprisingly candid in all of his answers, speaking about projects within the company, his pet peeves and more. It was a truly unique call in that he spoke with a level of honesty not often seen by executives of a similar standing. I have provided a short recap of the more significant points in summary with a more detailed transcript of the call beneath it. Bottom Line Recap: • This is set to be the first of many “super-fan conference calls” meant to connect the company with its guests. • The Cedar Fair/Six Flags merger-thru-Apollo rumor is completely untrue. • As of this morning (3.23.10), all Six Flags properties will offer the Six Flags Parent Pass, which serves as an equivalent to the child swap system. This change was promised by Shapiro after one caller brought up the issue that one park had the system, but another didn’t. • Despite its emergence from bankruptcy, things will not change with Kentucky Kingdom. Six Flags will no longer be associated with the park, but has agreed to leave everything as is besides its current inventory while the Kentucky State Fair Board looks at the site’s potential future. • Six Flags will launch an iPhone application in April for its guests as a social networking and GPS tool. • Six Flags is very much intent on using prototypical rides in its future. • Six Flags is in no way working with B&M to open a prototype attraction of any sort at this time. • Six Flags America’s Thomas Town is set to open on Memorial Day, but construction has been delayed due to the weather. Shapiro is pushing hard for an on-time opening. • Mark Shapiro expects Six Flags America to be considered for the title of “Best Park” in the Six Flags chain by the end of this year. • Six Flags looking into new ways to expand offerings within the parks like fireworks, parades, ride renovations and rethemes and more IP-based concepts (i.e. Terminator Laser Battle, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, etc…). • Contrary to popular belief, Six Flags does not have a formal ride rotation program. • Bamboozle Roadshow will be an up-charge event at the Six Flags parks • New shows will continue to be added to the parks • Season pass sales are doing very well right now, partially attributed to lowered prices • Planning for the 50th anniversary/2011 season is right on track • Don’t expect Flash Pass in the water parks anytime soon • The Dark Knight coaster wasn’t meant to be an intense experience, rather a family coaster • Six Flags turned down Warner Brother’s motion to create a Speed Racer attraction to tie in with the film • Six Flags TV has been successful and will get an expanded presence in the parks during the coming years. Call Transcript (written during the call itself) Mark Shapiro starts, welcoming everyone to the first “Super-fan Conference Call.” He defines the “super fan,” as those who continue to keep Six Flags alive and moving. Those guests that visit the parks as loyal customers, delivering feedback, ideas and staying up to date through their various social mediums. He describes how the idea of the conference call came to be—noting how he and his team thought about how to better connect with the fans. Shapiro wants to be very honest and direct with fans and reporters and he wants feedback including criticisms in order to improve its image, product, service and quality. He is very happy with his management team’s progress over the last four years. Pending tonight’s response, he wants this to be the first of what will hopefully be many calls of the sort to come, describes the importance of the fans. On the topic of Six Flags’ pro’s and con’s, he “will not run from problems nor gloat about their progresses.” Moving into the last part of his introduction, he does a quick overview of the upcoming season for the Six Flags parks. The company has seen record crowds for Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Over Texas during this Spring Break. He comments that many of the parks are going strong and are currently preparing to open soon. Mark himself will be out at Great Adventure on this coming Friday (3.26.10). In looking forward, Mark Shapiro and his team want to bring variety to the parks. To do so, they will launch several new attractions across the chain. Shapiro discusses the Little Dipper moving to Six Flags Great America, noting that he rode it as a child, and that when he saw it on sale he sent his team to the auction in order to save it. He is very happy to have saved it and is looking forward to seeing it open with the park this season. He also reminds us that Six Flags Great America will also get a copy of the Glow in the Park Parade, which has been a major success in the other parks. A brief but simple note, he mentions that Six Flags is looking into fireworks as new options for the park. This year, Magic Mountain will be getting Mr. Six’s Dance Coaster, and will also be expanding its water park with Mr. Six’s Splash Island. Six Flags New England and Magic Mountain will both get Mr. Six’s Splash Island, which include renovated and expanded water park areas. Six Flags Great Adventure will be installing the “Tornado,” a new slide aimed at the tween and teen audience. Six Flags America will be getting the largest Thomas Town yet. This will be the park’s largest expansion in over a decade, featuring eight new attractions, one new retail store and several characters new to the park. This is meant to be the first major kids offering expansion for the park. La Ronde will be getting a 5-inversion coaster and will also open the Terminator Laser Battle this year. The successful Starburst Concert series will be returning with big names like Mitchell Musso and Jordan Sparks this year. This series is included with standard admission to the parks. The Bamboozle Roadshow is visiting several of the Six Flags parks, which is something that Shapiro is very excited about, expressing his pleasure with the artists on the tour. Tickets are now available for this up-charge event. Shapiro makes a quite mention that many new shows will be coming to the parks in the years ahead. Six Flags has lowered the price of season passes for its parks. They have also introduced the Play Pass, which has been getting off to a “pretty brisk start.” He uses the comparison between the price of a single day at Disney and the price of an entire season at the local Six Flags park. Season pass sales are way up and passholders are getting added rewards and benefits such as free soda and line-jump passes. Looking forward to the 2011 season, Shapiro comments that things are “right on tap for 50th anniversary with bankruptcy behind us.” He says that they are already planning for 2011 and are employing the growing understanding that staying close to home has become paramount for their business. The question and answer period begins. Q: Is the trend of renovating and retheming current rides something to continue in the future? Will we see more theming returning to the park? A: Mark says that we will continue to see improvements throughout the park, including theming and cleaning the park in order to set the proper tone for “what the parks are and what they will always be.” Getting out of bankruptcy is one of the greatest things to happen to Six Flags in its history, but earlier, the company was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, so they couldn’t take a chance on reinvesting in the appearance of the parks because former management didn’t recognize importance of atmosphere over new additions each year. Mark recognizes value of the proper balance between new additions and the appropriate park atmosphere and the balanced investments in both. “We will have a better balance sheet to invest in both areas and will spend more in getting these parks back to the way they should be with different sections themed to the areas they are in. We may openly retheme the areas we already have or may start over completely with certain areas. They may retheme rides like was done with Bizarro when moving forward. Shapiro would like to bring back more flat rides into the parks. He notes that, “its not about savings, but what’s best for the parks overall.” Q: When you go to the parks, what are some of the things that you see and don’t like and want to change? And how do you go about changing them? A: Mark cannot stand a messy park and wants to see clear paths in the parks. He wants Six Flags to be known for being clean. If he sees something, he will pick it up himself, but has also implemented a policy that all staff, including management, will walk around with “pickers” to keep the midways clean. His other pet peeve is with the ride operators themselves. If the operators or people behind the registers aren’t moving quickly, he is bothered. He likes to see efficiency and friendliness in his staff, not laziness and sloth. He can deal with the lines if the staff are being friendly, outgoing and smiling. “Accountability is paramount for Six Flags, and is a requirement for all staff. If you can’t be accountable, you won’t work for Six Flags.” Q: Will Six Flags become more accommodating for guests with food allergies? Can food items be labeled with ingredients to help ensure that the ingredients are safely labeled for concerned families? A: “We do have a food allergy policy in place by allowing families with food allergies to bring in their own special food and are very careful about cross-contamination issues.” At the end of the day, Six Flags has found difficulty addressing every individual allergy and has therefore created the above policy. Mark doesn’t think they’ll ever find a way to please everyone in their search, but is hoping to expand the existing offerings to better serve those affected. Q: Is the Cedar Fair/Six Flags merger-through-Apollo rumor at all true? A: “This is in no way true.” Apollo hasn’t even gotten Cedar Fair yet. “Apollo is a great company and will do great things with Cedar Fair and will continue to make Cedar Fair better.” “There have been no discussions of being bought out by Apollo or merging with Cedar Fair. We are just focused on preparing our parks with this upcoming season and our 50th anniversary. We are also planning for the 2011 season as well.” Q: Does the company have a plan to bring in, renovate or add new flat rides to parks like Great Adventure that are short on such rides? A: “Currently our surveys show that the lack of flat rides hasn’t hindered our growth or attendance, but we will very likely continue to add new flat rides as it fits in with our policy of shaping a varied experience for the family to enjoy. New flat rides may not be advertised heavily, but they need to be introduced beneath the big name attractions.” They will look at doing this in the coming years. Q: Jack Shapiro (Mark’s son) asked “Why don’t we have Flash Pass for the water park?” A: “This is an operational snafu for us because it is an electronic devise in a water-prone area” and is tough for existing attractions where “we don’t have anywhere to put them.” Q: Is any change with the bankruptcy emergence going to change anything going on with Kentucky Kingdom? A: Nothing will change. The park is currently sitting dormant. Six Flags has agreed to leave everything as is besides the removal of its inventory while the Kentucky State Fair Board looks at its potential future. Mark Shapiro hopes the park will live on for many years, even though it will be without Six Flags. Q: Will you introduce any new brands into the Six Flags chain? A: “We are very happy with our current brands like Thomas the Tank Engine which have done very well for us. Tony Hawk has also been terrific for us. Terminator Salvation and Evil Knievel have been hits for us as well. Dark Knight has been huge for us—we never aimed for the attraction to be a high-end thrill ride, but for it to be a family-friendly indoor coaster that worked for everyone. We have conversations with movie studios, television studios and different companies that want us to work with them to launch a new attraction. We won’t launch any new products unless we feel it will work. Warner Brothers wanted us to do a Speed Racer attraction but we didn’t feel it would work, and sure enough, it didn’t. Because of our hesitation to enter with that product, we didn’t end up making something that didn’t have the staying power. Expect us to do things with the upcoming Batman and Superman sequels, as well as some ideas with Green Lantern and the Justice League overall to come in the future. We are moving with DC Comics and Looney Toons, but will expand our brands in the coming years as well.” Q: Will you expand your offerings for your adult audience with shows, food and attractions aimed at your older crowd? A: “We have so many new offerings for food—we’ve got more choices than ever that are aimed to appeal to all. You can really choose between so many tastes now: Greek food, Johnny Rockets, sushi and even crepes! We’re diversifying our offerings to give more to everyone, but I don’t think everyone will ever be satisfied.” In terms of the shows, “if you don’t like Great Adventure, then you won’t like Six Flags.” “When you talk about entertainment, food and attractions, next to Magic Mountain, Great Adventure is the most varied and most of the other parks are measured up against it since it is a crown jewel in our chain.” Q: Will the Six Flags Parent Pass (similar to Child Swap) be brought to the other Six Flags parks? A: “I promise you that from now on, we will have the Parent Pass available at every park. I promise you that the first thing tomorrow morning, that pass will be available at every Six Flags park from now own. You are absolutely right and I will make sure that your feedback will be implemented immediately!” Q: When will Thomas Town open at Six Flags America? A: “It is supposed to be set for a Memorial Day opening, but hasn’t been officially announced thanks to the snow. They have fallen behind thanks to the weather, but I hold them accountable (including my park president) to make it open for that day.” Q: What are the challenges that Six Flags America has and how will those be addressed in the future? A: The opportunity in that park is directed at the family. The water park is a big part of the experience. “We are looking at putting in a new coaster in Six Flags America aimed at the tween audience in the next few years. We are planning on continued improvement and investment in the park and we are continuing to change the park from what it was when we first came in and have really done a great job so far. Across the board, we’ve done a management overhaul because we believe that this park could be one of our best if we just push it up to our standards and move it away from what it was four years ago. It was the most-improved park this year, and will likely be up for “best park” in the chain later this year.” Q: How will Six Flags expand in the future? Will you implement a ride swap program like the one you used to have? A: “We don’t have a formal “ride swap” program contrary to popular belief. If it works to move things, then we will do that, but there is no set procedure we follow to do so. “ Q: Will Six Flags TV expand in the parks? A: “It has been very popular in our signature attractions and will be expanded (including the jumbotron system) in the coming years thanks to the positive feedback we’ve received. We want to keep people entertained while they wait in line. We will continue to invest in the queuing experience.” Q: Why did they switch the lap bars on Bizarro? A: “We received all new trains on Bizarro, and since then, people have said that they’ve experience more G’s on the new ride than they have before.” Safety procedures take priority before anything else. Q: Why are the parking prices at the individual parks so varied and so high? A: “Actually, most of our parking prices are the same, though we do have varied prices for differing options. We are continuing to invest in the parking lots as we do with the parks themselves; using much of the money we make charging for parking. We aren’t that much different (certainly cheaper) from basketball and baseball games with their parking pricing structures.” Q: With all of the hassles of prototype models like X and the S&S Sky Swat, how do you feel about using prototype products in the future? A: “If we don’t think out of the box, we aren’t doing things right. We’ve always slotted some money aside for innovation—prototypes have always been a part of our culture and will continue to be in the future.” Q: Can you reveal anything about a prototype with B&M that you are working on? A: “At this time, we have nothing prototypical going on with B&M. We are very much about delivering prototypes and unique products—testing the spectrum and delivering something fresh.” Q: Are there any plans to fix the effects that are off on Congo Rapids? A: “I wasn’t aware of those issues but will definitely work with my team to determine what effects can be turned on or added to make that experience the one you and I remember it to be. I’m making a note of that now!” Mark Shapiro then closes by saying that the company is in a great place with the bankruptcy now behind them. The term “bankruptcy” will no longer be associated with their company. Six Flags will be launching a new iPhone app that will feature all parks in the chain, an in-park GPS system and a “friend finder feature” that will allow users to see each other when they are in the parks. The app will launch in April. Mark Shapiro delivers a final “thank you” to the listeners for keeping involved with Six Flags. He asks that guests please continue to send in their comments and criticisms, as they use them and will continue to do so as they move forward. It is at this point that the call ends.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/03/19/20100319castles-and-coasters-robbed-abrk19-ON.html

http://chinatibet.people.com.cn/6927522.html

^^I'll be posting TPR's transcript of the call very soon!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/22/2852907.htm?site=perth&section=news King Neptune then... King Neptune now...

http://www.thisistamworth.co.uk/news/Plan-relieve-Drayton-Manor-traffic/article-1931806-detail/article.html

Wild Adventures has sent us their latest press release about their upcoming season, its park additions, its upcoming concerts and details about its new season pass. Guests can interact with baby animals at Safari Ranch Petting Zoo during Wild About Babies, March 27 – April 11. Falcon Flyer, one of the three new rides at Wild Adventures for 2010, takes guests on a flight overlooking the park’s famed central lake.

Bobbejaanland has sent us a press release about their upcoming season including new park additions, season pass updates and more!

http://www.wtaq.com/news/articles/2010/mar/18/its-officialzippin-pippin-belongs-green-bay/

http://www.thomasandfriends.com/usa/Thomas.mvc/Parents/News

http://www.cliffs.net/rides/thrill/fireball.html

^Fixed.

I'm going to go ahead and lock this thread because we do have tons of existing topics about closed rides and parks already. I would recommend that you visit Shane's Amusement Attic (linked in the post above) and other threads of a similar nature to get your extinct attractions fix. Aside from that, we do end up seeing some attraction recaps like the ones that Shane posts on our front page, so stay posted there for any future additions about the past that we have.

Disney's Hollywood Studios has updated its song list for the American Idol Experience. http://www.studioscentral.com/american-idol-experience-song-list Here is an overview of what has been changed: Disco- New Attitude has been added Rock/Pop Up Tempo- Crazy Little Thing Called Love, I Don't Want to Be, It's Not Over, La La Land, The Power of Love, What About Now, Ain't No Sunshine when She's Gone, All Around Me, Black Velvet, Bubbly, Crush, I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, In Love with a Girl, Light On, Love Song, Sober, Somebody to Love and The Climb have been added R & B- Listen, No One, Turn Your Love Around Reach Out and I'll Be There have been removed

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35934955/ns/today-today_people/

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=asftJZn8b4Lw

http://buschgardensva.wordpress.com/

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-sea-world-trainer-shamu-video-20100318,0,2073999.story http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-tilikum-whale-seaworld-20100318,0,4930240.story

http://themeparknewsdirect.com/asia/2010/incheon-robotland-to-open-by-early-2013

http://www.olc.co.jp/en/news_parts/20100317_01e.pdf

[coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=10136V4FJTEASE_2jwk[/coastertube]

Heide Park has sent us an updated press release about their upcoming Ebay auction. It seems that it isn't what we originally expected (at least with this translation) in that this isn't an auction for the first ride on Big Loop, but an auction for Big Loop's train before the ride's retirement. Here is the translation of the new release... Here is the original release in case someone would like to give us a more accurate translation.

Holiday World has created a unique contest for fans to try and win some free visits to Holiday World. Visit the link below for some entry examples. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=154606&id=35385539537&ref=mf