glennborthwick Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Lo-q , the operator of flashpass has just announced profits will be more than double market expectations. The small UK based company, valued at approximately 8 million dollars are predicting profits in the region of 2.75 million dollars for this summer. Does this mean that SIx flags itself have had a great August and September? Are cedar fair looking into employing Lo-q to add qbots to their busiest parks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 With the info you provided conclusions can not be drawn. We do not know is Lo-Q is paid based on the number of units that a park (buy or rents) or if Lo-Q gets a percentage of the sales made by each park. Without that knowledge of Lo-Q's business model it is difficult to say if Lo-Q's equate to great Aug/Sept business from Six Flags. Also, if Lo-Q has a new agreement with Cedar Fair I'm sure that would have been made known through a PR announcement from either Lo-Q or CF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennborthwick Posted September 24, 2008 Author Share Posted September 24, 2008 I know lo-q dont have an agreement with cedar fair but i believe its something they could do with. With regards to SF, I believe like for like sales on a comparison basis are well up in revenue terms, in the region of 50%. Some of this is obviously higher prices, some are more units available in parks (the new v2020 system works in a better way), but some are due to higher attendance. I guess we won't know until 3rd quarter figures are released. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 ^ I think you need to read this: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31454 --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElToroExtreme Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 I honestly am not suprised! I've been to GADV multiple times when Flash Passes are sold out! The system is amasing, and if you want to get the whole park done fast, a flash pass on a busy day is the only way to do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 ^You can't look at one SF park in isolation when analyzing the situation. Also, wasn't this year's scenario with Flash Passes selling out quite frequenytly at SFGAdv similar to last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennborthwick Posted September 24, 2008 Author Share Posted September 24, 2008 I am a private shareholder in lo-q so am pleased with the positive feedback and progress the company has made. The v2020 version is a great improvement. I believe Texas has been a huge improvement for them this year. It looks like magic mountain is the mystery park pencilled in for next year. I think the company is very undervalued, primarily due to worries over SF being the major customer , and their associated debt problems. They are also operating in legoland,uk and dollywood but Six flags are of course the major revenue source. I heard at the company agm, the development team are working on two things. Firstly a system for waterparks (probably wristband based with the ability to charge funds onto it), and a system to measure themepark queue lengths and dynamically manage the rides because of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 ^ I agree. I too feel the company is underrated as they have the best virtual queue system on the market. I wish more parks would pick up on this. --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennborthwick Posted September 24, 2008 Author Share Posted September 24, 2008 There are rumours here in the UK that an Asian or Australian park are about to sign up for a lo-q system. Leonard Sim , the inventor is giving a paper at an Industry event in Munich next week so maybe some more information will come out after that. Also lo-q aquired a mobile phone based system called text-q which is quite neat but is only in operation in a few merlin entertainment sites (london dungeons etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFMM162op Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 I'm actually curious to how well the q-bot will do at Magic Mountain when they finally put the system in. Personally I feel that the whole paper system that we currently have is a waste of time and just upsets people, so it gets me excited that they are actually gonna give this system a try. ^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom25 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 I have to agree and chime in as well. EVERY park should have a Lo-q, especially Cedar Point !! I also think given the firm doubled market expecations that we can conclude the system is profitable for both the park and manufacturer. Larry, it doesn't matter, though I suspect SF pays a percentage of gross, if the company's profits are strong, then they are doing something right. Six Flags is ALL about the benjamins. I doubt they paid for the system, I know the agreement generated significant income from it (first and foremost), so for Lo-q to exceed expecations, both made out well. I've sold to SF, they demand to know manufacturing costs, SF controlled Lo-q's revenue, and they still hit a home run (thank god). I know the arguement of people getting prefferencial treatment and a like. But for someone that can only get to a park like CP, or SFGA once or twice a year and has a few extra pennies. Being able to "cut" season pass holders how have been on a ride countless times, is worth the additional fee. In fact it's priceless. Cedar Point needs a replacement to their old system, which I LOVED (RIP) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electerik Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Um, how could they not make "stunning profits"? They sell something completely evanescent for real, actual money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Larry, it doesn't matter, though I suspect SF pays a percentage of gross, if the company's profits are strong, then they are doing something right. Six Flags is ALL about the benjamins. I doubt they paid for the system, I know the agreement generated significant income from it (first and foremost), so for Lo-q to exceed expecations, both made out well. I hope you are right, but remember Lo-Q was brought in at SF prior to Snyder being is charge and SF wasn't known for being very fiscally responsible back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennborthwick Posted September 26, 2008 Author Share Posted September 26, 2008 I know that when the new management team came in at SF, Lo-q's contract was up for renewel, and I was told that "boy do these new boys know how to negotiate contracts" so I guess the SF eam squeezed the pips a bit. The comparison I was given was that now business people are in charge, before it was fairground people. If that makes sense. I believe SF get a much larger pro rata cut on gold than on normal flashpass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winningfreak Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 I'm actually curious to how well the q-bot will do at Magic Mountain when they finally put the system in. Personally I feel that the whole paper system that we currently have is a waste of time and just upsets people, so it gets me excited that they are actually gonna give this system a try. ^_^ Honestly I had one of the Lo-q devices at SFFT and I though it was neat but really annoying because you still have to wait before you can ride. At SFMM you don't have to wait that much, you give them a pass you go into the "Select your row" area on most rides. I think guests will be mad to find rides like Tatsu or Deja Vu frequently "Full" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennborthwick Posted September 26, 2008 Author Share Posted September 26, 2008 im interested to see what they do with the waterparks. Historically I believe spending is low at a water park due to the hassle of carrying cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennborthwick Posted November 19, 2008 Author Share Posted November 19, 2008 Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:50 am Post subject: ANy idea what the mystery Six Flags flash pass park is? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lo-q have announced with six flags that two parks will be adding qbot flashpasses for 2009. Magic mountain is one of them. I think its intriguing why they didn't announce the other? Could it mean that one or more of the non flashpass enabled parks are up for sale to fund the piers debt repayment? Or is it perhaps a spanish language version for SF mexico? Has anybody got any ideas the most SF likely mystery park to be updated with the flashpass? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capitalize Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Ugh, I hate Qbots... I prefer parks like CF's where you wait in the freaking line and thats how it is. I had a blast at SFGAdv for the firs 3 hours or so, until the lines slowed down to a crawl to let everyone with flash passes in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeoplemoverMatt Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Ugh, I hate Qbots... I prefer parks like CF's where you wait in the freaking line and thats how it is. Well if that's what you prefer, QBots aren't keeping you from doing that. You're still free to not pay them a nickel and wait in all the lines you like. Meanwhile Lo-q and Six Flags will be selling people a product/service hybrid that has extremely low cost to them for exorbitant amounts of money and making the profits they need in order to grow & sustain their businesses. Businesses are known to do that from time to time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 ^^And you can't blame the Qbots for your longer wait after the first three hours. Most General Public don't get to a park for opening, they get there about 1 - 2 hours later, then finally get in line for a ride about 3 hours after opening...hence your longer lines! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 The financial information behind the Q-bot is very interesting to me, I think we should keep this topic focused more on that instead of turning it into another "I hate/love Q-bot." I actually think this would be a compelling investment to make if possible, especially with todays unpredictable economy. I believe there are several threads out there already devoted to "I love/hate q-bot." Lets keep the posts "Topically Accurate" (hope I am not playing moderator or anything...) Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennborthwick Posted November 21, 2008 Author Share Posted November 21, 2008 I've decided to take my custom elsewhere. I'm afraid the negativity, general overbearing attitude, and control freakery with regards to thread maintenance has led me to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whakojacko Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 im interested to see what they do with the waterparks. Historically I believe spending is low at a water park due to the hassle of carrying cash. they already do have electronic bands now which can hold value at waterparks (I dont know the manufacturer). Ive used one in Wild Wadi in Dubai (awesome waterpark) and they do work very well. There they also are used to unlock the lockers, so you really don't need to be carrying around anything. It just makes so much sense, surprised we havent seen more adoption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 I've decided to take my custom elsewhere. I'm afraid the negativity, general overbearing attitude, and control freakery with regards to thread maintenance has led me to this. I'm sorry you feel you are above the simple rules we have here at TPR like hitting the shift button on the first letter of a sentence and clicking the "SpellCheck" button on the lower right hand corner of the posting screen. Good luck with wherever you go! --Robb "Door hit butt...SLAM!" Alvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrancew_hod Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 I've decided to take my Lo-q promotion elsewhere. I'm afraid the my not following the instruction of the admins and moderators and creating redundant or useless threads has led me to this. Fixed. And he'll be alright. Most of his posts are about about Lo-Q and Q-bots (and he has a stake in the company). He really wasn't in it to win it. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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