Six Flags [FUN] Corporate Discussion Thread

[robbalvey]

Everytime someone finds a way to get around the word filter, I will find a way to fix it! I do it for my own personal amusement! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

[XYZ]

I don't understand what Six Flags is going for.

 

-Worst customer service in the business.

-Highest Parking Fees by far.

-Higher than average food prices. Miserable food quality across the board.

-Ignoring families and family attractions for the last two decades.

-At least half of the parks have horrible ride operations.

-Abysmal fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo Policies.

-Penny squeezing gimmicks that other parks don't necessarily use, like tube rentals.

-Cheap advertising gimmicks everywhere. Like, setting a global standard for as bad and cheap as advertising gimmicks can possibly get.

 

Do they expect good things to happen with all of those things in tandem?

 

Worst Customer Service?--- Depends by park. I'm sure parks are far worse

Highest Parking fees--- And other parks charge more for admission

Higher than Average food prices--- The theme park standard from what I've seen

Ignoring families--- Bugs Bunny Boomtown, Thomas Town, Wiggles World, Bugs Bunny National Park, Need I go on?

Horrible Ride Operations--- I've seen worse and read worse TR's that would make Superman at SFDK look like Goliath at SFOG

Place to put goo--- Can't argue there

Penny Squeezing gimmicks like tube rentals--- Cedar Fair does that too

Cheap advertising--- Yeah, But have been reduced in recent years

 

What a Six Flags apologist...

 

Anyways, it's no secret that Six Flags is a low quality park chain. I just hope that this is some form of a wake up call and we will see some actual improvements to the parks (which I honestly doubt will happen).

[Canobie Coaster]

I find Six Flags caters to families in the sense that they have some of the best kiddie areas I have seen at amusement parks, but they are often lacking in rides that parents and kids can ride together such as tilt-a-whirls, log flumes, etc.

[BlahBlahson]

Ignoring families--- Bugs Bunny Boomtown, Thomas Town, Wiggles World, Bugs Bunny National Park, Need I go on?

 

Segregated Kiddie areas...

 

I find Six Flags caters to families in the sense that they have some of the best kiddie areas I have seen at amusement parks, but they are often lacking in rides that parents and kids can ride together such as tilt-a-whirls, log flumes, etc.

 

Bingo!

 

Every Six Flags park would probably benefit long term if you just deleted their worst coaster and replaced its operating budget with a quality flat ride and employee training.

[CoasterGuy06]

Segregated Kiddie areas...

Which is actually what you find at almost all American parks. Cedar Fair, Busch Gardens, etc. have them too.

 

Every Six Flags park would probably benefit long term if you subtracted their worst coaster and added 3 flats and a water ride (amongst many other things).

 

While that may be true, you are also adding a ton of costs if you were to do that. For example the worst coaster at SFOG is Ninja, which only takes 2-3 operators to run. If you replaced it with three flats, each of which could take up to three to run, you could be talking about triple the staffing to run them. Are you ok with paying even higher prices so they can add that level of staffing?

 

 

It's important to note that even with the second quarter attendance drop revenue for the quarter was up 4% and per cap spending was up 11%. Their season pass attendance is also up 9%, which could very well mean the daily tickets guests may be waiting until later in the season for their visit.

[RCF]

Everytime someone finds a way to get around the word filter, I will find a way to fix it! I do it for my own personal amusement! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

^This is why I post here. Rob will always put a smile on my face with posts like these.

 

I think people are looking WAY too much into only Six Flags chain seeing a drop in attendance. Did anybody else read in the article that Cedar Fair has also seen a drop and Sea World stocks went down from what I presume to be lower attendance as well? I have seen in many posts from many people in many different threads how dead parks have been. Maybe this year isn't a good year for amusement parks in general, and not just Six Flags. Although to see THAT big of a decrease should say enough about Six Flags.

 

I think it even boils down to some smaller, family-owned parks as well. I know my home park Lagoon is seeing a decrease this year. I think most of this will change though as we already see multiple large projects in multiple parks for next year. It seems parks already knew that they needed something big to draw in the crowds again.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

I don't understand what Six Flags is going for.

 

-Worst customer service in the business.

-Highest Parking Fees by far.

-Higher than average food prices. Miserable food quality across the board.

-Ignoring families and family attractions for the last two decades.

-At least half of the parks have horrible ride operations.

-Abysmal fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo Policies.

-Penny squeezing gimmicks that other parks don't necessarily use, like tube rentals.

-Cheap advertising gimmicks everywhere. Like, setting a global standard for as bad and cheap as advertising gimmicks can possibly get.

 

Do they expect good things to happen with all of those things in tandem?

 

Worst Customer Service?--- Depends by park. I'm sure parks are far worse

Highest Parking fees--- And other parks charge more for admission

Higher than Average food prices--- The theme park standard from what I've seen

Ignoring families--- Bugs Bunny Boomtown, Thomas Town, Wiggles World, Bugs Bunny National Park, Need I go on?

Horrible Ride Operations--- I've seen worse and read worse TR's that would make Superman at SFDK look like Goliath at SFOG

Place to put goo--- Can't argue there

Penny Squeezing gimmicks like tube rentals--- Cedar Fair does that too

Cheap advertising--- Yeah, But have been reduced in recent years

 

What a Six Flags apologist...

 

Anyways, it's no secret that Six Flags is a low quality park chain. I just hope that this is some form of a wake up call and we will see some actual improvements to the parks (which I honestly doubt will happen).

 

 

1. How does comparing Six Flags to Cedar Fair or Other parks make me an apologist?

2. Remember when I said "Can't argue there?"

[Ccron10]

I don't understand what Six Flags is going for.

 

-Worst customer service in the business.

-Highest Parking Fees by far.

-Higher than average food prices. Miserable food quality across the board.

-Ignoring families and family attractions for the last two decades.

-At least half of the parks have horrible ride operations.

-Abysmal fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo Policies.

-Penny squeezing gimmicks that other parks don't necessarily use, like tube rentals.

-Cheap advertising gimmicks everywhere. Like, setting a global standard for as bad and cheap as advertising gimmicks can possibly get.

 

Do they expect good things to happen with all of those things in tandem?

 

Worst Customer Service?--- Depends by park. I'm sure parks are far worse

Highest Parking fees--- And other parks charge more for admission

Higher than Average food prices--- The theme park standard from what I've seen

Ignoring families--- Bugs Bunny Boomtown, Thomas Town, Wiggles World, Bugs Bunny National Park, Need I go on?

Horrible Ride Operations--- I've seen worse and read worse TR's that would make Superman at SFDK look like Goliath at SFOG

Place to put goo--- Can't argue there

Penny Squeezing gimmicks like tube rentals--- Cedar Fair does that too

Cheap advertising--- Yeah, But have been reduced in recent years

 

1. Mount Olympus maybe? If so, then Six Flags might be close-second from my encounter earlier this season at Gadv.

2. Please name me one park that costs more than $25 to park on a crummy pothole-filled lot with no shuttle service. Cedar Fair is $15, Hershey is $12, Disney is $15(?), and Universal is $17.

3. Chicken Strips and burgers can only go so far. Go to a Cedar Fair park and you can at least get a Subway sandwich or some crabfries.

4. I wouldn't see them ignoring families, but more like not balancing out their rides correctly and permitting crude souvenirs (seeing a shirt that says "I like it on top" isn't exactly showing an image of family friendly).

5. True, but I have seem some pretty crappy operations at Six Flags parks, #1 worst being at SFOT for me.

6. Yes as it seems like they are going more towards efficiency than guest satisfaction with the loose-articles policy. Thankfully not all of the parks have this. This policy is in effect on certain rides in Cedar Fair, but that is more of the way the ride is designed than trying to make money.

7. I think Water Country has tube rentals, but I know Dorney doesn't do it for it's water park or CP's Soak City or KD's. Not sure about the others though.

8. I really doubt that considering SF still ad-wraps their trains with Kias and Twix, hangs giant banners on their wood coasters, play more advertisements than interesting content on their television system,interrupt menu boards in the restaurants for skittles ads and stick a brand logo on each building in the park. If it is better now, I'd hate to have seen it when it was when you said. lol

 

Six Flags need to invest more into up-keep to keep guests returning than into mega thrill rides which attract crowds for one year and they fizzle away the following year and do the bare minimum to take care of them. Maybe they should take a few notes at what Cedar Fair is currently doing?

[CoasterGuy06]

2. Please name me one park that costs more than $25 to park on a crummy pothole-filled lot with no shuttle service. Cedar Fair is $15, Hershey is $12, Disney is $15(?), and Universal is $17.

But again, what is their admission price? Six Flags offers much higher admission discounts than any of those other parks which offsets the parking prices. Also SFOG is still only $20. They also still run trams, which I have never seen at any of the four CF parks I have visited, and last week there was even staffing in the "guard" towers in the lot, even though the park was pretty dead.

3. Chicken Strips and burgers can only go so far. Go to a Cedar Fair park and you can at least get a Subway sandwich or some crabfries.

Again speaking about SFOG since I was there last week, they have much more than that. They also have Johnny Rockets, BBQ, Panda Express, salads, subs, turkey legs, etc. I even took part in a survey from them a couple of months ago asking about various new food concepts such as quick serve locations, fresher/healthier options like fruit and yogurt, and more vegetarian and allergen free foods.

[awclark]

I'm really not surprised by this news at all. I understand each park in the chain varies, but overall as a whole, I feel as though there's been a steady decline in quality across the board for the company and its parks and/or operations over the past few years. It's almost as if they've completely lost their direction in terms of marketing and advertising. They have a slogan sure, but so does McDonalds.

 

It's just become so apparent over the last few years as to how much they penny pinch on certain aspects yet expect to charge a lot in return. Yea certain prices for parking and food may be "industry standard" but when some Six Flags parks look so visibly rundown and poorly operated, it leaves you scratching your head as to why they charge just as much for a product that is noticeably worse.

 

I had a pleasant experience at SFDK a few weeks ago, don't get me wrong. It being my first time there, I enjoyed the atmosphere and found that even despite having short wait times on rides, loved that there was enough activities and attractions in the park to keep me there the whole day. However going to my more local park of SFMM, I'm left visiting a park that sure, has some picturesque lush scenery because of the land the park sits on, but is completely overshadowed by the negatives of everything else. Food is notably worse despite being the same price as other parks, I'm bombarded with visually ugly and frustrating advertisements at every lamp post, wall, surface, and coaster train, the ride operations are bad, the rides look run down, and in fact everything looks run down. Even looking at some PTR's in the forums here lately, I'm noticing certain things in the pictures that just show the upkeep of some of the parks just isn't there.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the price doesn't match the quality of the product and guests have begun to catch on. Sure, SF has some of the cheapest ticket and season pass prices around, but even then it still sometimes feels like a rip when you compare it to say Cedar Fair parks.

 

In the end, I feel as though Six Flags has resorted back to its old methods of operation; that being adding new attractions to boost attendance instead of focusing on the upkeep and service of the parks to give the guests a reason to come back because aesthetics and service really do effect the guest experience IMO. Sure, all these RMC overhauls and unique coasters getting installed is exciting, but from a business standpoint continuing to install all these new rides when the aesthetics and service of a specific park is kinda "broken" isn't going to fix the problem at hand.

 

Just my 2 cents… or 10 cause it was long

[Jew]

While that may be true, you are also adding a ton of costs if you were to do that. For example the worst coaster at SFOG is Ninja, which only takes 2-3 operators to run. If you replaced it with three flats, each of which could take up to three to run, you could be talking about triple the staffing to run them. Are you ok with paying even higher prices so they can add that level of staffing?

 

I think you just unintentionally summed up why the Six Flags business model is terrible. "Why go the extra mile when we don't have to" AND "we have to keep our admission prices low to draw people in and HOPE they spend money elsewhere...that $20 parking fee can only help the per cap spend so much!"

[coasterchitchat]

I buy a Cedar Fair Plantium pass because I enjoy the quality of parks and the overall atmosphere (and there are 4 CF parks near me while there is only 1 SF parks near me, SFGAm.) I also go to the Cedar Fair parks a lot.

 

I buy a one day ticket to Six Flags Great America every year just to enjoy it for one day, check out what's new. I've never been to any other Six Flags parks, but I have to say I was extremely disappointed with how the atmosphere was. Rude people, over priced food, expensive bunnies filled with goo and medicine, and horrible rides.

 

The way Six Flags places rides are just bad. They try to take some world records, but the ride experience is just short and not memorable as a Cedar Fair ride that parks 2 rides (Banshee) is more memorable because they spent more money on place making than just upping the coaster count. YOLOCoaster is just short and not even long. A 53 second ride with at MAX 500 people per hour?

 

I enjoyed Banshee more than Goliath. I know it's shocking, but Banshee was longer and more memorable while Six Flags just spend $10 million on a short, and not so memorable ride.

 

Cedar Fair is going in the right direction while Six Flags is going downhill.

 

Does anyone think bankruptcy will occur again in a couple of years?

[DirkFunk]

Attendance down 8% and per caps up 11%. If Six Flags was pretending to be using the (fake) business model of Sea World with their "we want to lower attendance" mantra, this might look a little better. Right now it looks like people have started to stop going and that Six Flags is bleeding those who do in order to make up the difference. Do they realize this is only going to keep encouraging that number to fall? Do they care? They'll probably just close 30 minutes earlier next year.

 

FWIW, Cedar Fair is talking like they might have an attendance drop, but they're still expecting strong numbers overall. Meanwhile, it doesn't seem like Disney or Universal with their $90+ ticket prices are having any issues getting people through turnstiles.

[Nitro1118]

FWIW, Cedar Fair is talking like they might have an attendance drop, but they're still expecting strong numbers overall. Meanwhile, it doesn't seem like Disney or Universal with their $90+ ticket prices are having any issues getting people through turnstiles.

 

Disney and Universal are far from regional parks. Even so, I'm pretty sure IOA attendance was dropping at a very steady rate until the $200M Harry Potter expansion. To put that price tag in perspective, I'm pretty sure that is higher than all of GADV's coasters COMBINED (probably goes for SFMM, too).

 

As far as SF goes, we are just halfway through the season. Let's wait for the annual report. Not every park or chain sees positive spikes in attendance every year, and they are still seeing an 11% increase in revenue (whether they do it in a way TPR approved manner is another story, but business is about $$). I disagree with a lot of what SF does, but as a chain I have been pleased at some of the changes made compared to the previous 10 years.

[AndrewRnR]

Service and quality aside is this a surprise? Most of the SF parks are only in daily operation for maybe 35% of the quarter they reported and two of the larger parks both had rides that were suppose to open but didn't. Cedar Fair also admits their attendance is down too.

 

 

I feel like it is one of the other - the final Shapiro years saw focus shift to quality and family rides. Now it is back to throw up big rides and hope people will come.

 

(For what its worth I've visited a few dozen parks this season and some of my best experiences have been at Six Flags parks and my worst experiences have been at Sea World and Cedar Fair parks. Maybe I'm lucky? For example, my friend couldn't get into Cedar Point with his platinum pass from another park because they said "our computers aren't connected" and did nothing to help him.)

[DirkFunk]

Disney and Universal are far from regional parks. Even so, I'm pretty sure IOA attendance was dropping at a very steady rate until the $200M Harry Potter expansion. To put that price tag in perspective, I'm pretty sure that is higher than all of GADV's coasters COMBINED (probably goes for SFMM, too).

 

No one is saying that Disney and Universal are regional parks. Though, come to think of it, most of Disneyland and USH's attendance comes regionally. But ignoring that for a moment, my point is that people will fill up $300/night motel rooms and pay $90/day for admission for their family in increasing numbers even with increasing expenses while attendance is falling at places like Six Flags that are far cheaper. The sorts of people taking their family to Orlando for a week are probably not the sorts of people who can't also afford a day trip to a regional amusement park if they wanted to. They're just choosing to not go.

 

As far as SF goes, we are just halfway through the season. Let's wait for the annual report. Not every park or chain sees positive spikes in attendance every year, and they are still seeing an 11% increase in revenue (whether they do it in a way TPR approved manner is another story, but business is about $$). I disagree with a lot of what SF does, but as a chain I have been pleased at some of the changes made compared to the previous 10 years.

 

Apparently Wall Street isn't stoked about the way they're doing things either based on the recommendations for the stock generally being hold or sell and it dipping on this news yesterday.

[coasterbill]

It seems like as soon as people see the headline "Six Flags Attendance Drops 8%" they just go on to list everything they dislike about Six Flags and chalk the decreasing attendance up to everything they listed. There are a lot of issues with that line of thinking.

 

First of all, let's get this one out of the way. This has been addressed but any complaints that would be limited to the enthusiast community aren't the issue. 99.9% of park guests have no idea about relocated coasters, recycled ride names or the same ride being built in multiple parks.

 

Also, complaints about low quality food, high parking prices or bad operations don't make much sense either. For there to be an 8% drop this would have needed to get much worse in the last few years and I don't think it has. I think all of these things have been standard for at least 20 years. Why would it all of a sudden be an issue this year? We've had bad operations, lack of landscaping, up-charge lockers, Flash Pass and price gouging for years. This is nothing that would cause such a substantial drop all of a sudden... people didn't all of a sudden get "fed up" at that high of a rate if they hadn't for the previous 20 years.

 

To explain a drop like that you really need to look for big differences between last year and this year (or 2012 - 2013 assuming some people aren't going this year based on an experience they had last year).

 

I think the biggest factor here is the economy as it would seem that a lot of parks are going to have down attendance this year. Based on the article it seems like Cedar Fair's numbers are down, Sea World's numbers are down and Six Flags' numbers are down. Sure there will be parks in those chains with big jumps this year (Probably Kings Island and Six Flags Great America for example) but overall the industry seems to be down. We'll leave Disney and Universal out of this as they seem to be in their own universe and playing to a different, vacation market. DIsney also had a large new addition while Universal may have had the single biggest expansion in theme park history with a major powerhouse of an IP. Only time will tell on that.

 

This isn't just a Six Flags problem, this seems to be an industry wide problem (though it may just be a standard fluctuation and not a big issue that needs to be addressed as last year was a generally good year for the industry. The fact that profits are up is a great sign too.

[TheDarkMaxim]

I think the most disturbing thing is their long term debt load has skyrocketed back up to $1.39 Billion.

[DirkFunk]

Also, complaints about low quality food, high parking prices or bad operations don't make much sense either. For there to be an 8% drop this would have needed to get much worse in the last few years and I don't think it has. I think all of these things have been standard for at least 20 years. Why would it all of a sudden be an issue this year?

 

Well, it isn't just an issue this year. If it was just a sudden issue in 2014, the company wouldn't have gone bankrupt and Kentucky Kingdom, Astroworld, et al might have never stopped operating. The Shapiro era marked a change in the way they operated and put a premium on trying to improve the guest experience to generate increased per caps. It failed largely not just because the company has institutional problems with operations, but because they had a massive debt load that pulled the park down into the abyss. The present management post-Chapter 11 had much of that debt load eliminated via the magic of the court system. Of course, now they're rebuilding that debt load....

 

To explain a drop like that you really need to look for big differences between last year and this year (or 2012 - 2013 assuming some people aren't going this year based on an experience they had last year).

 

There are actually noticeable differences in operation beyond just price increases. Staggered attraction/area openings and closings and later openings are right up there.

 

I think the biggest factor here is the economy as it would seem that a lot of parks are going to have down attendance this year. Based on the article it seems like Cedar Fair's numbers are down, Sea World's numbers are down and Six Flags' numbers are down. Sure there will be parks in those chains with big jumps this year (Probably Kings Island and Six Flags Great America for example) but overall the industry seems to be down. We'll leave Disney and Universal out of this as they seem to be in their own universe and playing to a different, vacation market. DIsney also had a large new addition while Universal may have had the single biggest expansion in theme park history with a major powerhouse of an IP. Only time will tell on that.

 

SeaWorld's numbers were down last year, even at Orlando where they built a new expensive (crappy) attraction, yes. But blaming the economy solely for that decline is nonsensical and we all know why. Cedar Fair was slightly up IIRC in 2013 and while they admit that they expect lower attendance, no one is expecting a 8% drop when their numbers are released.

 

This isn't just a Six Flags problem, this seems to be an industry wide problem (though it may just be a standard fluctuation and not a big issue that needs to be addressed as last year was a generally good year for the industry. The fact that profits are up is a great sign too.

 

Per cap growth of 11% is a nice looking number, but I don't believe for a second that it is sustainable.

[ilrider]

It seems like as soon as people see the headline "Six Flags Attendance Drops 8%" they just go on to list everything they dislike about Six Flags and chalk the decreasing attendance up to everything they listed. There are a lot of issues with that line of thinking.

 

First of all, let's get this one out of the way. This has been addressed but any complaints that would be limited to the enthusiast community aren't the issue. 99.9% of park guests have no idea about relocated coasters, recycled ride names or the same ride being built in multiple parks.

 

Also, complaints about low quality food, high parking prices or bad operations don't make much sense either. For there to be an 8% drop this would have needed to get much worse in the last few years and I don't think it has. I think all of these things have been standard for at least 20 years. Why would it all of a sudden be an issue this year? We've had bad operations, lack of landscaping, up-charge fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo, Flash Pass and price gouging for years. This is nothing that would cause such a substantial drop all of a sudden... people didn't all of a sudden get "fed up" at that high of a rate if they hadn't for the previous 20 years.

 

To explain a drop like that you really need to look for big differences between last year and this year (or 2012 - 2013 assuming some people aren't going this year based on an experience they had last year).

 

I think the biggest factor here is the economy as it would seem that a lot of parks are going to have down attendance this year. Based on the article it seems like Cedar Fair's numbers are down, Sea World's numbers are down and Six Flags' numbers are down. Sure there will be parks in those chains with big jumps this year (Probably Kings Island and Six Flags Great America for example) but overall the industry seems to be down. We'll leave Disney and Universal out of this as they seem to be in their own universe and playing to a different, vacation market. DIsney also had a large new addition while Universal may have had the single biggest expansion in theme park history with a major powerhouse of an IP. Only time will tell on that.

 

This isn't just a Six Flags problem, this seems to be an industry wide problem (though it may just be a standard fluctuation and not a big issue that needs to be addressed as last year was a generally good year for the industry. The fact that profits are up is a great sign too.

 

^^I agree that it is the economy more than anything. I think this thread is just sad, just ripping on SF and its parks.

[JonnyRCT3]

They don't have much wiggle room left. 80 million at best.

[coasterkid124]

^ I think he means they don't really care anymore and just go for the YOLO COASTER EXTREAMME RIDE route every year and not focus on other important things a park needs, like for example general repairs.

 

This is exactly what I was going for. All Six Flags cares about is hitting the 20 coaster mark. Not that it's a bad thing, because it is impressive, but they really don't do a good job with the rest of the park.

 

Magic Mountain only has 13 other flats that aren't upcharge. Plus, look at some of the buildings. Paint is falling off and nothing is repaired. Ninja's station is a great example. It looks more like a demolition site rather than a roller coaster station.

[RCF]

It seems like as soon as people see the headline "Six Flags Attendance Drops 8%" they just go on to list everything they dislike about Six Flags and chalk the decreasing attendance up to everything they listed. There are a lot of issues with that line of thinking.

 

First of all, let's get this one out of the way. This has been addressed but any complaints that would be limited to the enthusiast community aren't the issue. 99.9% of park guests have no idea about relocated coasters, recycled ride names or the same ride being built in multiple parks.

 

Also, complaints about low quality food, high parking prices or bad operations don't make much sense either. For there to be an 8% drop this would have needed to get much worse in the last few years and I don't think it has. I think all of these things have been standard for at least 20 years. Why would it all of a sudden be an issue this year? We've had bad operations, lack of landscaping, up-charge fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo, Flash Pass and price gouging for years. This is nothing that would cause such a substantial drop all of a sudden... people didn't all of a sudden get "fed up" at that high of a rate if they hadn't for the previous 20 years.

 

To explain a drop like that you really need to look for big differences between last year and this year (or 2012 - 2013 assuming some people aren't going this year based on an experience they had last year).

 

I think the biggest factor here is the economy as it would seem that a lot of parks are going to have down attendance this year. Based on the article it seems like Cedar Fair's numbers are down, Sea World's numbers are down and Six Flags' numbers are down. Sure there will be parks in those chains with big jumps this year (Probably Kings Island and Six Flags Great America for example) but overall the industry seems to be down. We'll leave Disney and Universal out of this as they seem to be in their own universe and playing to a different, vacation market. DIsney also had a large new addition while Universal may have had the single biggest expansion in theme park history with a major powerhouse of an IP. Only time will tell on that.

 

This isn't just a Six Flags problem, this seems to be an industry wide problem (though it may just be a standard fluctuation and not a big issue that needs to be addressed as last year was a generally good year for the industry. The fact that profits are up is a great sign too.

Thank you! I thought I was the only one seeing this. It seems to be a decline in attendance throughout the industry for one reason or another this season alone. I believe that's why we see many major projects that are opening next year in many parks small and large as I have already stated before.

[yankeeman311]

I definitely agree with whoever said this is an industry decline. People definitely unfairly rip on Six Flags imo and act like Cedar Fair is high and mighty. I swear Dorney Park has more problems than SFA and people choose to ignore it.

 

I was also at SFA 2 weeks ago expecting it to be the worst park experience ever when I actually had a nice time. It's not the best park ever but it's not bad or anything.

 

To me Six Flags is a company that targets season pass holders for a low price. That business model is absolutely fine with me since I benefit from that. Being in NJ, I'll pay for a $100 season pass with GAdv as my home park over a $190 CF pass with Dorney as the home park any day of the week. SF is also one of the few chains that allow re-rides and just don't care about rain either so those are nice bonuses. Their upkeep may not be great but the badness of it is exaggerated here. Just remember this park isn't Disney or Uni where they master every detail.

[ajfelice]

Problem: Weather

 

Once again, like the Summer of 2013, the Summer of 2014 has sucked for many parks in the Midwest, Eastern, and Northeastern USA. Each day at work we are facepalming ourselves checking the forecast as it just never seems to cut anyone a break. The story from all of our other "park friends" is the same. Weather will make or break your season unless you have an incredible new attraction that makes people want to come out in the rain.

 

The industry is not in decline. That is one of the worst assumptions I have read on here in a long time. There is no shortage of investments from each respective chain of parks (Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Disney, Universal, etc...) or privately held parks (i.e. Holiday World). The largest industry trade shows and conferences, IAAPA Attraction Expo, Asian Attractions Expo, and European Attractions Expo, had record attendance and number of vendors which is another positive indicator. Finally, as much as I don't like to lean on attendance numbers alone, the annual attendance report indicates that most parks are generally doing well in terms of increasing their draw. One year of decline simply can't tell the whole story. To make a statement such as "the industry is in decline," you need a much more in-depth analysis of trends to back up such a claim.