Six Flags [FUN] Corporate Discussion Thread

[AmyUD06]

21 minutes ago, bert425 said:

I'm as amused by the discussions I've seen elsewhere about how SF raising prices by so much is to help keep the riff-raff out, and to help restrict how many unsupervised teens are in the parks.

 

yeah.. THAT'S why.

 

If it has that result, I won't complain.

[bert425]

^well. . I mean. . agreed. . LOL  (I'll NEVER knowingly go on a BAFF day again.. those days bring out the trash to the parks.  I mean trashier than a typical day).

 

but I really don't think that they want to "improve the level of their clientelle to improve the overall guest experience" is the reason for the things they are doing - no matter how good that bullet point looks in a presentation to the boss.

[boldikus]

30 minutes ago, Hilltopper39 said:

I was mostly just making a joke, but this is Six Flags we're talking about so ya never know......

I hoped so, but you're not the first person I've seen post this in the last few days...

[coasterbill]

I don't really see how dining plans ever made sense.

I'm sure they made a profit on them from a select few people, but in most cases the people with those plans were likely either going to pay for their food each time otherwise in which case they would have made more money, or lived nearby and abused them like crazy. I can't even count the number of times I was going up the Nitro lift in the dead of winter in a dead park looking at a steady stream of people coming in an hour before close. You know all of those people were just coming to get free food, spend $0 and leave... in many cases with their food in to-go boxes.

[swfan1988]

 

"Six Flags is testing a simplified passholder program at Magic Mountain designed to streamline the complex season pass and membership plans into an updated system that could be rolled out to other parks later this year.

Six Flags Magic Mountain has stopped selling memberships as a simplified season pass program is being tested at other locations across the amusement park chain.

“We continuously look at ways to improve our product offerings with the goal of elevating the guest experience,” according to a Six Flags spokesperson. “Based on guest feedback, we are testing a simplified product architecture at select parks that better aligns with our guest-centric goals. As a result of the test, we will decide which changes to implement company-wide.”"

https://www.pe.com/2022/01/18/six-flags-tests-simplified-season-pass-plan-at-magic-mountain/amp/

Lol...

Edited January 19, 2022 by swfan1988
Fixed punctuation error

[boldikus]

Here is the part anyone actually gives a shit about:

Quote

Current Six Flags members will be grandfathered into the membership program as legacy members. Existing Six Flags members will continue to be honored as long as they keep making payments. Membership refunds are not being issued at this time.

Active members will see no changes to their memberships or benefits. Six Flags member appreciation days will still be held for legacy members.

As long as I can keep paying my $3.99 a month to get into any SF park w/ free parking I'm good.

[coasterbill]

25 minutes ago, swfan1988 said:

 

"Six Flags is testing a simplified passholder program at Magic Mountain designed to streamline the complex season pass and membership plans into an updated system that could be rolled out to other parks later this year.

Six Flags Magic Mountain has stopped selling memberships as a simplified season pass program is being tested at other locations across the amusement park chain.

“We continuously look at ways to improve our product offerings with the goal of elevating the guest experience,” according to a Six Flags spokesperson. “Based on guest feedback, we are testing a simplified product architecture at select parks that better aligns with our guest-centric goals. As a result of the test, we will decide which changes to implement company-wide.”"

https://www.pe.com/2022/01/18/six-flags-tests-simplified-season-pass-plan-at-magic-mountain/amp/

Lol...

"Simplified"

 

16 minutes ago, boldikus said:

Here is the part anyone actually gives a shit about:

As long as I can keep paying my $3.99 a month to get into any SF park w/ free parking I'm good.

At the end of the day... this. Most of us already have memberships, so this won't impact us at all aside from having to deal with more and more confusion from employees as time goes by using any of the perks.

[805Andrew]

Dang, I was going to finally switch from a pass to a membership this year. I was originally going start the membership later this year when I felt like visiting a SF park or when Wonder Woman opens at Magic Mountain so my "pass" didn't expire at the end of the year. With the new pass structure offered last fall it looked like Six Flags wanted to get everyone to switch to a membership that wanted to go beyond their home park and now they are getting rid of memberships? If the new passes worked for a year starting when I got it like an "annual pass" then I would be fine with that but I don't want to get a pass in say May and have it expire at the end of December for a year round park. If that's the case with the new Magic Mountain passes then I'll probably wait until September when they are offering the 2023 passes with the rest of 2022 included. One minute Six Flags is pushing more memberships and the next minute they're getting rid of them - its like they have no idea what they want to do. Find a pass/membership system and stick with it and have an annual 12 month from the start vs calendar year option for year round parks. 

[TEDodd]

6 hours ago, 805Andrew said:

its like they have no idea what they want to do.  

That pretty much sums it up.

 

[ernierocker]

On 1/18/2022 at 1:07 PM, coasterbill said:

You should 100% buy a membership with dining as part of the membership (not purchased separately) now and get grandfathered in. Anyone considering this at-all would be crazy not to buy a membership ASAP.

I just ended up doing this exact thing at Six Flags over Georgia.   Been planning a trip to Texas with the kids to see family and we are going to SFOT and Fiesta Texas.  With the membership option gone at both of those parks now, the current season pass options made absolutely no sense for me to get now, but getting a membership at the park 3.5 hours away did. 

My kids have only been to Dollywood and the Disney parks so now they get to go to 3 Six flags park in less than one month.   

[VegasBaby]

Very smart move, if you don't already have a membership, you should definitely grab one before they cease to exist.  My Diamond Elite membership is better than any of the new tiers and costs much less. 

[Baffles]

Also need some advice on this whole drama.

We're coming over to visit from the UK in July, and will be hitting up SFOT, SFFT, and SFMM in that order. Historically when doing road trips, it's always cost around $80 or so at the first SF park we visited to buy a pass which is valid at the rest. Cheaper than buying individual day tickets.

As mentioned above, SFOT is now only offering a multi-state park pass for $169.99, ouch - https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas/store/tickets

Probably would still be cheaper than three individual day tickets plus parking, but not exactly cost effective!

So would the best option now be the Gold Plus pass from SFOG? - https://www.sixflags.com/overgeorgia/store/tickets

I think this can be purchased online, activated digitally, then we're good to go?

Thanks in advance!

[tndank]

Getting them activated without visiting the park first is going to be your problem.  Some have called and gotten CS to do it over the phone.  The story is usually a local of a closed park that wants to visit MM/Texas but need their new membership/pass activated beforehand.  Probably depends on how much you really want to press it with SF and time you want to waste.  Unfortunately, the SF model wants you to visit the park of purchase first by default.  

 

[Baffles]

4 hours ago, tndank said:

Getting them activated without visiting the park first is going to be your problem.  Some have called and gotten CS to do it over the phone.  The story is usually a local of a closed park that wants to visit MM/Texas but need their new membership/pass activated beforehand.  Probably depends on how much you really want to press it with SF and time you want to waste.  Unfortunately, the SF model wants you to visit the park of purchase first by default.  

 

Thanks - that's my concern - even though it says the following below:

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I think your best bet is going to be to wait until March.  I don’t think this deal is going to be exclusive to those three parks, it's just that those are the three parks open year-round. SFOG will be open in about a month, so we should see pretty soon what sort of all-park passes they offer. Four months in advance is plenty, overkill even for an international trip. No need to buy any tickets/passes now.

[anonymouscactus]

It more means "hey we're gonna start charging you now even if you don't use it". But yeah the two q&a things sort of contradict themselves. Otherwise everyone would just buy a SF Mexico membership if it was already activated and didn't require going to your home park. I always hated the way SF does this because SFDL is my local park but it opens later than all the other ones I want to visit so we are screwed getting gadv/SFA/SFNE perks that I will never use when I'd rather have them at my home park. Cedar Fair charges the same for their platinum at all parks and gives the same perks for everyone (except for their newer "pass perks" lottery thing and any bonuses) with the exception of Wonderland which is Canadian dollars.

[TEDodd]

13 hours ago, ytterbiumanalyst said:

I think your best bet is going to be to wait until March.  I don’t think this deal is going to be exclusive to those three parks,

So wait until SFOG changes to match FT or MM?

Sure they could bring back a cheaper option by July, but more likely for OG to drop the option.

I'd buy OG now (or somewhere else with a cheap),  then schedule a stop at that park to activate since it'll be open in July. Doesn't even have to be overnight, just long enough to get through customs to the park and back.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Ah, I see now that I misread the post and thought Six Flags over Georgia was the first park rather than Texas. Carry on.

[Baffles]

Indeed, so the question remains whether a pass purchased via SFOG's website requires physical activation at the park, or can be used without doing so at another park. Won't be able to stop by SFOG beforehand, so seems a bit of a risk. Will email them.

[Baffles]

Response from Six Flags Guest Relations:

I do apologize. Unfortunately, You have to activate the Season Pass at the park you purchased from. Before you can use it for other parks. Since Six Flags Over Georgia is still closed you need to wait for the park to open to get it activated. 

So the FAQ mentioned above about being activated on the day of purchase is not exactly true. Can't say I'm surprised!

[TEDodd]

On 2/6/2022 at 6:47 AM, Baffles said:

Won't be able to stop by SFOG beforehand, so seems a bit of a risk.

I would have been surprised if they had changed the policy to allow use at other Parks first. It's to prevent exactly what you are wanting to do.

 

Of you can't route a stop to a less expensive park first, really no options. Just have to get what the first park offers. 

 

That said this has changed 2-3 times since October so it could change again by July. Hope for the best.

[bert425]

I was gonna suggest going to San Antonio first and hitting SFFT. . .but looks like their pass to allow admission to other parks is ALSO $169 now.

[tndank]

SFoG has now switched to the new pass offerings. So, that seems to end the dream of folks getting a cheap pass there.  

Memberships still remain at a couple parks. Now is the time to buy if you want one. 

[Dan the Coaster Man]

For what its worth in regards to activating the pass at the home park...

Christmas 2019 me and my sister got season passes with SFGAm as the home park. Then covid happened and SFGAm barely even opened, it took until Christmas 2020 for a lights event.

So I emailed back and forth with SFStL about activating my season pass there so that I could use my pass. It took ALOT of back and forth, but I was finally told I would be able to get my SFGAm season pass at SFStL. The big problem with activating season passes at specific parks is because the parks have a specific serial number on their cards. That super long number on the cards started with two digits specific to each park. For example, I think SFGAm started with "10xxxxxxxxx...". Different parks would be like "08xxxxxx..." or "04xxxxx..." So they say to go to your home park to activate because your home park has a specific physical card with a  specific serial number, and I'm guessing other parks don't carry other parks cards. I was told I could go to SFStL and get my "10xxxxx..." card because they physically had them, and I think this is the case because SFGAm was literally closed all year and SFStL was the next closest park. They probably shipped a box or two down to SFStL for people like me. I doubt parks like SFMM or SFNE had the "10xxxx" cards. I have no clue if this is usually case or just because of covid.

I went to SFStL FF 2020 to activate my pass at guest relations and it went well. It took a lot of manual input, but the person knew what they were doing and I never had problems going forward using my pass anywhere and I got the 10xxxxx card.

I took my sister to SFStL to activate her season pass early 2021 before SFGAm opened for the season. This time guest relations had no idea what I was talking about. So instead of activating her pass, they gave her vouchers for admission, three meals and three snacks. We didn't get to activate her pass until we finally made it to SFGAm.

So I can't speak on activating a season pass these days, but vouchers are an option, but I wouldn't count/rely on them.

[prozach626]

On 1/19/2022 at 10:13 AM, bert425 said:

but I really don't think that they want to "improve the level of their clientelle to improve the overall guest experience" is the reason for the things they are doing - no matter how good that bullet point looks in a presentation to the boss.

Oh, I don't think it would show up on any power-point presentation, but I'm betting it's in the back of their minds as something that has the potential to happen. I'm not sure you'll find it in any meeting notes.

And yeah, I'm with you. I went to SFSTL on a BAFF day and it was shady as hell. I watched a girl literally piss herself in secret while we were waiting to board the Boss. We were the only ones who noticed.