Six Flags Guest Approval Hits All Time High

[Airtime&Gravity]

NEW YORK, July 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Six Flags announced today that surveys conducted during the month of June, the first month of the full-time operating season, show its guest approval ratings continuing to rise, an indication that park guests are responding favorably to the company's renewed focus on a family strategy. The surveys were conducted by independent firm Delta Market Research of Hatboro, Pennsylvania, a nationally-recognized company which has researched all aspects of the theme park industry for companies including The Walt Disney Company. The survey asked guests to rate every aspect of their park experience, from atmosphere, food, rides and cleanliness, to "how do you rate your visit overall," "will you visit the park again this year or next?" and "will you definitely recommend Six Flags to a friend?".

 

"The turnaround is in motion at Six Flags and the American family is coming back home," said Mark Shapiro, Six Flags President and CEO.

 

On a scale of 1-10, respondents gave Six Flags its highest scores since 2002 in the following categories:

 

-- Overall safety;

-- Ride safety;

-- Park cleanliness;

-- Employee service;

-- Character presence in the park;

-- Thrill rides;

-- Rides the whole family can do together;

-- Speed of ride lines;

-- Number of rides you were able to go on in a day;

-- Variety of things to do in the park;

-- Shows;

-- Restroom cleanliness;

-- Food quality;

-- Variety of food.

 

Other highlights include:

 

-- 96% of Six Flags guests will or definitely will recommend the parks to

a friend;

-- 92% of Six Flags guests will or definitely will visit again this year

or next;

-- Overall, guests surveyed ranked their overall visit to Six Flags at an

8.6 on a scale of 10.0 - the highest number since the survey's

inception in 2002.

 

The results reflect input from guests at 14 Six Flags branded locations. In addition to the high overall company-wide ratings, several individual parks are experiencing their best year since the survey's commencement. For example, this summer, respondents who visited Six Flags Over Georgia in Atlanta, GA, gave record ratings for the following categories:

 

-- Ride safety;

-- Feeling of overall safety inside the park;

-- Rides the whole family can do together;

-- Kids' or children's rides;

-- Employee service;

-- Park cleanliness;

-- Food quality;

-- Thrill rides.

 

Shapiro continued, "Our Guest Code of Conduct and Non-Smoking policies are being enforced and being well received. As we sustain this atmosphere in our parks, word of mouth will continue to spread and Six Flags will reclaim its position as the pre-eminent summer entertainment value the whole family can enjoy together."

 

Six Flags, Inc. is the world's largest regional theme park company. Founded in 1961, Six Flags celebrated its 45th Anniversary in 2006. Six Flags, Inc. is a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in New York City.

 

For over 30 years, Delta Market Research Inc. has been a nationally- recognized market research company, and for over 10 years has researched all aspects of the theme park industry for companies including Disney and Six Flags. Delta has also conducted research projects for GMAC, DiTech, Lowes, ConAgra, Rohm and Haas, United Way of America and the NFL.

 

Seems the new business plan works.

 

Link

[BarryH]

I'm glad to see Six Flags is improving!

[Top Thrill Dragster]

Go Six Flags!!! Just keep it up!

[Homer]

Wow, and we used to think Six Flags was crap. Shapiro is totally doing better than Premier ever did at managing parks.

[N'at Man]

Interesting that they didn't have any pricing/value questions. How about:

 

--Price of parking

--Price of a one day ticket

--Price of a bottle of soda

--Price of food

 

Those factors would bring the satisfaction level down.

[MisterP]

^ I agree the pricing is a joke, but at least they are making a serious effort to have visitors leave with mostly positive thoughts at the end of the day. That was somewhat rare 5 years ago!

[Tanks4me05]

Wow, that was better than I expected. Shapiro actually knows what he's doing in those terms (not referring to prices.) It kind of makes me wish Darien Lake was still part of the Six Flags chain. Then again, maybe not.

[Guest]

Interesting that they didn't have any pricing/value questions. How about:

 

--Price of parking

--Price of a one day ticket

--Price of a bottle of soda

--Price of food

-- 96% of Six Flags guests will or definitely will recommend the parks to

a friend;

-- 92% of Six Flags guests will or definitely will visit again this year

or next

[coasterfan200692]

^ I agree the pricing is a joke, but at least they are making a serious effort to have visitors leave with mostly positive thoughts at the end of the day. That was somewhat rare 5 years ago!

Because six flags parks have season passes, which let a lot of people come in free, they have to turn to other things to bring in money. Season passes only coast $20 more than the actual admission price. (I got my pass for $50-60, and admission is $36) This means they have to charge a ridiculous amount of money for food and drinks so they can make a profit. It is a trade off that is needed to make some amount of profit. Holiday world charges around $135 for their season passes but the drinks and sun tan lotion are free; different parks have different approaches. I personally like Six Flags much better. When I go to the parks, I only get free water so I don't have to spend a lot of money on food. The prices are high but they have to to do that or they wouldn't make any money.

[MisterP]

^I agree. If you travel to parks around the country, the SF Season Pass is the best deal out there!

[niiicolaaah]

I call shenanigans. Six Flags obviously worded those questions in a way that would get positive responses. They should ask more questions about pricing and operations, then they probably would have a more realistic view.

 

For example, my trip to SFNE this year. They DID have a good variety of rides, the park was relatively clean, there were characters present, and there were rides the whole family could do together. However, there were MANY line jumpers and people smoking in line, the ride ops were dispatching trains with empty rows with a 90-minute wait for Superman, single rider lines were not being managed properly, and every ride we went on they stapled us to death with our lap bars. That's probably why they got good marks for "safety of rides", cause GP probably figure, "Well, the lap bar is inside my small intestine, there's no way I'm falling out!"

 

You can have the greatest park ever, but if operations suck, so does the park, IMO. I'd rather go to Martin's Fantasy Island, where they only have 2 coasters and not many rides, but it's a good value for your money and you don't get stapled to death on the Silver Comet.

[ginzo]

I agree that Six Flags is doing much better these days. We hit Great Adventure last Saturday, and it was easily one of our greatest park days ever. There's zero doubt in my mind now that Great Adventure whomps Cedar Point. They've got the rides and the park operations seem to be under control. Several employees were downright cordial, including a few of the ops for El Toro.

 

Now if they could only install a few hotels in their vast reaches of south Jersey swampland.

[hemmy]

I agree that Six Flags is doing much better these days. We hit Great Adventure last Saturday, and it was easily one of our greatest park days ever. There's zero doubt in my mind now that Great Adventure whomps Cedar Point. They've got the rides and the park operations seem to be under control. Several employees were downright cordial, including a few of the ops for El Toro.

 

Now if they could only install a few hotels in their vast reaches of south Jersey swampland.

 

Gotta love opinions.

 

El Toro > Mean Streak and Blue Streak easily

Nitro > Magnum

 

But other than that...In my opinion

 

Millennium > Nitro

Raptor > Batman

TTD > KK

Maverick > All

 

But I agree SFGADV is probably the best SF park.

[ginzo]

Gotta love opinions.

 

El Toro > Mean Streak and Blue Streak easily

Nitro > Magnum

 

But other than that...In my opinion

 

Millennium > Nitro

Raptor > Batman

TTD > KK

Maverick > All

 

But I agree SFGADV is probably the best SF park.

 

My break down:

 

El Toro > everything at CP. Had they kept the heartline roll, Maverick might beat El Toro. Both rides currently disappoint at the end.

 

Nitro > Wildcat > MF > Magnum. MF is really wanting for airtime, and Magnum just tracks like crap and hurts on the airtime hills. Nitro could use more powerful airtime, but I think it's easily the #1 US B&M hyper.

 

TTD = KK. But, the stratas are both pretty worthless, at least not worth waiting an hour for. Slight edge to TTD because of the t-bars.

 

Batman = Raptor. Slight edge to Batman because it's a lot more forceful.

 

Medusa > ??? Nice job CP on not having a good modern looper.

 

Skull Mountain > Disaster Transport.

 

CP does win on flats. Though the parachute ride at Great Adventure is pretty darn awesome. Great Adventure just cannot match up to Cedar Downs, MaxAir, and Skyhawk.

 

CP desperately needs a dark ride or something to match up to Houdini's.

 

Bottom line for me is had they not built Maverick this year (my current #1 steel), I'd have no interest in CP on the coaster side.

[CP_RULES]

Medusa > ??? Nice job CP on not having a good modern looper.

 

Mantis?? I cant finish the equation as I've never ridden Medusa, but I definitely think Mantis qualifies as a good modern looper.

[kewlcoasterdude]

Just got back from SFGAD and I have to say that the park is a dump. Yeah, they have El Toro, but that is it. Nitro, Medusa, KK, are all way overrated. The park itself is overrated. Batman is the worst invert I have ever ridden and The Chiller, well no comment is really necassary. I guess if you enjoy mediocre coasters SFGAD is for you.

[ginzo]

Medusa > ??? Nice job CP on not having a good modern looper.

 

Mantis?? I cant finish the equation as I've never ridden Medusa, but I definitely think Mantis qualifies as a good modern looper.

 

No, that's a stand up, and possibly the worst B&M I've ever been on.

[niiicolaaah]

Just got back from SFGAD and I have to say that the park is a dump. Yeah, they have El Toro, but that is it. Nitro, Medusa, KK, are all way overrated. The park itself is overrated. Batman is the worst invert I have ever ridden and The Chiller, well no comment is really necassary. I guess if you enjoy mediocre coasters SFGAD is for you.

 

Let me take a stab at this... you're from Ohio!

[coastrfreak2000]

Medusa > ??? Nice job CP on not having a good modern looper.

 

Mantis?? I cant finish the equation as I've never ridden Medusa, but I definitely think Mantis qualifies as a good modern looper.

 

No, that's a stand up, and possibly the worst B&M I've ever been on.

 

Why does Medua qualify if it's a floorless? I was under the impression that a 'looper' had the regular sitdown trains.

[Janster]

Some succesfull parks over here in Europe: Europapark, Port Aventura, Efteling, Phantasialand, ... They all focus on being a family park and it works out. Those park draw massive crowds, and all leaving the park with a smile. And those parks have been around quite some time.

 

Has the Six Flags management been sleeping? Quite obvious that family parks (with every now and then a highly themed thrill) are the way to go. I'm surprised that it has taken until 2007 for Six Flags to realize that they should keep all age groups happy in a theme park.

[lil jimmy norton]

Just got back from SFGAD and I have to say that the park is a dump. Yeah, they have El Toro, but that is it. Nitro, Medusa, KK, are all way overrated. The park itself is overrated. Batman is the worst invert I have ever ridden and The Chiller, well no comment is really necassary. I guess if you enjoy mediocre coasters SFGAD is for you.

 

Nitro gives some nice floater air, and if you sit in the back, you catch some ejector. The first drop on Nitro is also very fun. I still love riding Medusa, especially in the far left seat of the front row. Still forceful, still fun, just needing a paint job. With no line, KK is actually a pretty fun coaster, especially in the front row. I am not bashing your opinions, you are entitled to them, I just wanted to address you post.

[Axman]

Whoot!

 

C'mon SF, give me a reason to go back to Magic Mountain!

[ginzo]

Why does Medua qualify if it's a floorless? I was under the impression that a 'looper' had the regular sitdown trains.

 

Regular sit down and floorless coasters are essentially the same thing in my mind. The sensation and experience are virtually identical, especially since I don't generally look at my feet while riding.

 

Let me take a stab at this... you're from Ohio!

 

I've stirred the CP fanboys. God help us.

 

I'll admit that their latest installation finally lives up to the absurd hype machine behind CP.

[MisterP]

Just got back from SFGAD and I have to say that the park is a dump. Yeah, they have El Toro, but that is it. Nitro, Medusa, KK, are all way overrated. The park itself is overrated. Batman is the worst invert I have ever ridden and The Chiller, well no comment is really necassary. I guess if you enjoy mediocre coasters SFGAD is for you.

 

Its OK if you arent a fan of their coasters (its personally my favorite coaster lineup in the US of the 35+ parks Ive been to). But "a dump"? It was very clean and well-manicured when I visited last week. The Golden Kingdom and the area around El Toro are IMO among the nicest themed areas in ANY park. I think you're just trying to stir up s**t.

[kewlcoasterdude]

Why would I want to stir things up? I just gave an opinion of my visit. I really thought this was the reason for the forum. I don't complain when people bash my favorite parks and that happens all the time. So I think maybe you should turn that frown upside down. Don't get mad at other peoples opinions.