Six Flags [FUN] Corporate Discussion Thread

[Canobie Coaster]

I hate souvenir cups. Water is free, you can go up to any food stand at any American park and ask for a cup of water and they'll give you one. Then you don't have to carry those stupid, obnoxiously huge cups around and it's better for you.

 

I thought your first sentence was true, but I was actually charged 25 cents at Funtown USA to get a cup of water.

[coasterbill]

I hate souvenir cups. Water is free, you can go up to any food stand at any American park and ask for a cup of water and they'll give you one. Then you don't have to carry those stupid, obnoxiously huge cups around and it's better for you.

 

I thought your first sentence was true, but I was actually charged 25 cents at Funtown USA to get a cup of water.

 

Seriously? Okay, so every park in America besides Funtown USA then. Apparently they're cheap asses.

[Satans Hockey]

I bring in a tiny 8oz bottle of water with me cause it fits in one of my pockets with no problems and I just refill it at the fountains.

[michaellynn4]

^ That's a good idea. Pocket-sized refreshment at a pocket-sized price!

[Rollercoaster Rider]

I hate souvenir cups. Water is free, you can go up to any food stand at any American park and ask for a cup of water and they'll give you one. Then you don't have to carry those stupid, obnoxiously huge cups around and it's better for you.

 

I thought your first sentence was true, but I was actually charged 25 cents at Funtown USA to get a cup of water.

 

Seriously? Okay, so every park in America besides Funtown USA then. Apparently they're cheap asses.

 

 

Elitch Gardens in 2016 won't give you water unless you buy a sports bottle.

[alilstronger]

I just put the cup in my sling bag and carry it with me that way. But I know most enthusiast are anti bag.

 

Also, why doesn't Six Flags as a whole sell real brewed un-sweet iced tea?!?!?!!? I just do not get it. So many people drink that as an alternative to soda. That is my favorite drink and I HATE the nasty sweet Fuze tea they serve. I miss when they had Chick Fil A and I could get tea that way.

 

I loved being at Darien Lake and them having Tim Horton's so I could get my brewed un-sweet tea. Also, Knoebels has it too, at least last time I was they did.

 

Also, places do not have to legally serve free water.

[805Andrew]

Random Question : Does anybody know how much liquid the Six Flags Sports Bottles hold? I'm thinking like 32 oz but I didn't know if there is an official volume.

 

I thought it was more like 20 oz, but I took an empty wine bottle at home, filled it up with water, and it filled the souvenir cup perfectly to the lower inside rim which left just enough room to put the lid and straw on w/o spilling, so 750 ml apparently. I have a feeling these cups might have been designed by a European (probably German) company. If you fill the cup completely with ice then you'll barely get a can's worth of soda to fit in there.

 

Also, why doesn't Six Flags as a whole sell real brewed un-sweet iced tea?!?!?!!? I just do not get it. So many people drink that as an alternative to soda. That is my favorite drink and I HATE the nasty sweet Fuze tea they serve.

 

Also, places do not have to legally serve free water.

 

I'm with you on this. How hard is it to serve unsweet iced tea? And if they're only going serve sweet tea from the fountain can they at least have a flavor besides raspberry which is sickly sweet? How about lemon or peach?

 

On water, most parks will give you a free cup if you ask, and if they don't there will usually be drinking fountains by the restroom. You can also bring your own empty bottle or cup to refill and most places will oblige, as they're charging for the cup and not the water itself. You can also buy a bottle of water (or any other liquid), and keep refilling it with water for the rest of the day.

 

Thanks guys! Now I know I consume roughly 192 ounces of Coca Cola everytime I visit.

 

What is wrong with me.

 

It's a lot less once you factor all the ice you put in the cup which melts into the soda. Anyways, I usually fill my souvenir cup 4-5 times per visit and I alternate between regular soda, zero calorie soda, Vitamin Water/Powerade, Dasani Sparkling, lemonade, and Dasani flavored water so it's not just pure sugar I'm drinking. I'd also put iced tea into the mix if they had something besides Fuze Raspberry.

[coasterbill]

Also, places do not have to legally serve free water.

 

I don't know if it's a law or not but every single major park in America does it. I haven't tried it at smaller, non gated parks but if you're at a Sea World / Busch / Six Flags / HFE / Cedar Fair / Disney / Universal / Hershey / Premier etc. park then you'll get free water. I assumed that this was an American thing because it didn't happen at Canada's Wonderland which is why I assume it's a law. If it were simply a Cedar Fair policy then I don't know why they would extend it to every park except Wonderland. Maybe it's a legal thing... who knows? It's America so that would shock me in absolutely no way.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I would be more inclined to believe it's insurance rather than law. Guests who experience dehydration or heat-related illnesses may sue. Fair or not, "I didn't have 25 cents for water, and that caused my heat exhaustion" is a pretty powerful argument.

 

Plus, free water is an extremely cheap and easy way to boost guest satisfaction.

[SFOG1991]

I'm pretty sure Six Flags received bad press and might have been sued for being unwilling to give free water to someone experiencing heat stroke. I am not sure but I've heard some kind of story like that somewhere at some point..

 

Don't take that as fact because I am completely unsure, I just recall something along those lines.

 

I do think it is in good taste to offer free water, especially in the summer, regardless of whether or not it is required by law. It's not like that many people take advantage of it anyways so I doubt it is impacting their bottom line very significantly.

[prozach626]

I would be more inclined to believe it's insurance rather than a law.

 

Agreed. Seems more like a liability issue in sue happy USA.

[Jason Maier]

So far, which SF park has had the highest attendance for Holiday In the Park? (and for the year overall)?

[coasterbill]

I don't think anyone has any way of knowing that for sure, but I'd assume (in the U.S. at least) it's Magic Mountain.

[coasterkid124]

I loved being at Darien Lake and them having Tim Horton's so I could get my brewed un-sweet tea. Also, Knoebels has it too, at least last time I was they did.

 

I know that some of the Tim Hortons are co-branded with Cold Stone Creamery, which some of the SF parks have. It would be nice if Six Flags would install some of those. Darien Lake even offers the same prices as the regular shops.

[cal1br3tto]

Has anyone ever had their Six Flags membership payment refunded with no explanation given?

 

Note: I will give it a little time to see if I can find out more information; I'm mostly just curious (and annoyed) for now. I've run through all the obvious possible reasons I could think of (using my small, delicate brain) and none of them hold any clue. I logged into my Six Flags account and there's no indication that the membership has been canceled, and today's payment is shown as pending.

 

Anyone? I just can't see any way of dealing with this, if I need to, that would be remotely fun or enjoyable...

[djackson]

Six Flags should look into Food Flashpasses or something along the lines so that people wouldn't be spending an hour to wait for a meal.

[Password121]

Six Flags should look into Food Flashpasses or something along the lines so that people wouldn't be spending an hour to wait for a meal.

Dear god please no. You're getting into just making it impossible to visit without spending hundreds per person to have a decent day.

[RaceBoarder]

I can't figure out how Six Flags can gain anything from their current situation with food service. Yes, it's profitable. But how long can the crappy service continue before you have attrition on the Customer Satisfaction side.

 

This has to be a tremendous negative to people who visit 1-2 times per year. Those people are paying $45-60/person to get in the door and $15+ per person for a meal. This can't be leaving a great impression in regards to the "value" the patron thinks they get.

 

Not sure if someone with internal experience can comment on this. I'm just struggling to see how this works out in the big picture.

[RollingCoasting]

If anything, I think season pass/membership owners who visit the park around twice a week would be affected more.

 

Let's go over this:

 

Family A consists of 4 people. They each paid $80 for admission, so $320 in total. (Not including tax)

 

Family B also has 4 people, but they have gold memberships. Let's say they each paid $200, not including tax, so $800. Of course they're going to visit the park more than family A, but they still paid for more admission regardless.

 

I don't think Family A would care as much as Family B when it comes to service quality. Family B has to deal with it 40-ish times a year (Assuming they have 2 meals a visit) while Family A, only once or twice. The people who have to put up with terrible service more frequently are more likely to leave the park for lunch and altogether avoid paying for anything extra, therefore not giving Six Flags any additional money once inside the front gate versus those who only have to put up with it 2 times a year.

 

My opinion atleast

[larrygator]

^Family B understands the busy times and will adjust and eat a little earlier or later (if the whole family can deal with it). When I was a kid me and my siblings ate when my parents wanted to, if we were hungry before then we had to tough it out.

 

I understand the dynamics are much different for someone visiting solo but I rarely wait more than five minutes for food using this strategy.

[xstech25]

Six Flags no doubt would make more $ if they had better food service as customers would be less likely to leave the park to eat if there were shorter waits and lines moved faster. But you have to take into consideration that involves work.

(Note I am not trying to suggest that the people working in or running these restaurants are lazy, what I am saying is that Six Flags would have to dissect a problem and go about fixing it, and that's just not what they do).

[RaceBoarder]

If anything, I think season pass/membership owners who visit the park around twice a week would be affected more.

 

Let's go over this:

 

Family A consists of 4 people. They each paid $80 for admission, so $320 in total. (Not including tax)

 

Family B also has 4 people, but they have gold memberships. Let's say they each paid $200, not including tax, so $800. Of course they're going to visit the park more than family A, but they still paid for more admission regardless.

 

I don't think Family A would care as much as Family B when it comes to service quality. Family B has to deal with it 40-ish times a year (Assuming they have 2 meals a visit) while Family A, only once or twice. The people who have to put up with terrible service more frequently are more likely to leave the park for lunch and altogether avoid paying for anything extra, therefore not giving Six Flags any additional money once inside the front gate versus those who only have to put up with it 2 times a year.

 

My opinion atleast

Probably less than 5% of pass holders are visiting the park that often. Family A are the ones SF needs to please. Not Family B who is full of enthusiasts. As usual, enthusiast opinions don't matter here when looking at the big picture.

[eugjackson]

Six Flags no doubt would make more $ if they had better food service as customers would be less likely to leave the park to eat if there were shorter waits and lines moved faster. But you have to take into consideration that involves work.

(Note I am not trying to suggest that the people working in or running these restaurants are lazy, what I am saying is that Six Flags would have to dissect a problem and go about fixing it, and that's just not what they do).

 

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.

[eugjackson]

Six Flags should look into Food Flashpasses or something along the lines so that people wouldn't be spending an hour to wait for a meal.

 

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.

[xstech25]

Six Flags no doubt would make more $ if they had better food service as customers would be less likely to leave the park to eat if there were shorter waits and lines moved faster. But you have to take into consideration that involves work.

(Note I am not trying to suggest that the people working in or running these restaurants are lazy, what I am saying is that Six Flags would have to dissect a problem and go about fixing it, and that's just not what they do).

 

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.

 

In general, a season passholder or member contributes higher aggregate revenue and profitability to the company over the course of the year than a single day guest...additionally, guests enrolled in our membership program and season passholders often bring in day guests and generate "word of mouth" advertising for our parks. During the 2015, 2014, and 2013 seasons season pass holders constituted 56%, 50%, and 48% of total attendance at our parks.

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.