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Six Flags [FUN] Corporate Discussion Thread

p. 91: Six Flags and Cedar Fair to enter "merger of equals" agreement, company will still be called "Six Flags"

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^No--he wants to buy us a beer at the store across the street.

 

The only time I've ever had an issue with SF's policy concerning "loose" items was at SFA, where the l.ockers under Wild One weren't working properly and they wouldn't even allow a fanny pack on the ride; however, you could leave your loose items in cubbyholes at the station on Roar (this was three years ago).

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How can you not give Shapiro a little credit? Where I give Shapiro credit, is in many places.

 

He was so involved in the parks and kept in touch personally with the fan bass with his blogger call sessions. He was very enthusiastic and candid.

 

He cleaned up the parks! Look around! It's impressive how far they've come. Refurbishments to everything from restrooms, to midways, to gift shops, to rides.

 

So much money was spent on neglected maintenance. How about getting rides to run properly again, and getting rid of the ones that couldn't?

 

He put in new shows and entertainment, and got the costumed characters back out on the midways.

 

He lowered some prices, and put out programs like Funatics rewards, ect...

 

He saw the value in reinvesting in significant attractions rather than ditching them like X, or Texas Giant, or even Little Dipper.

 

He got the employee moral sky high comparatively and the level of service is far exceeding previous seasons.

 

He didn't spend millions on the latest Intamin rocket coasters, or B&M dive machines, but the parks already have thrill rides. He looked at the whole picture and tried to restore a little balance to the parks. Look what Magic Mountain was doing for years. The park was falling apart and yet they kept building things like Scream, and Tatsu. It wasn't working.

 

Oh, and on a little side note, please can we stop putting Cedar Fair on a pedestal? Anyone who has worked for that company knows that they are going by the way side lately. They are becoming the OLD Six Flags. Six Flags is NOT what it was before. Why does everyone refuse to recognize this?

 

Amen!

 

I agree with everything you wrote here.

 

Flashback four years and many enthusiasts and the community as a whole was stunned that SF brought in an executive with zero operational park experience. Many people were upset and thought that this move could be the start of the end of Six Flags.

 

I was one of those people and I have no issue four years later eating crow.

 

I was wrong.

 

I think it's only fair to say "THANK YOU" to Mark Shapiro for everything he has done for Six Flags.

 

I'll admit while I have no knowledge of Al Weber and what has was and was not responsible for, it sounds like he has the credentials for the job. I hope he can continue on the path that Mark Shapiro started.

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I have noticed slower dispatches in some cases. Maybe it's because the people at the entrance aren't doing a good enough job keeping the items out of line but it seems like at least once or twice a visit you get someone leaving an item on the side of the station and they argue with the ride ops about it causing stacking. Then if it is an item like a hat they make the person take it on the ride with them which seems more of a safety hazard (if they hold the hat) than leaving it in the station. The other problem seems to be they don't have enough people checking restraints. Bizarro for example is almost always stacking with 2 trains and double stacking with 3 trains because 2 people checking the train takes too long. Hydra on the other hand which is much shorter of a coaster rarely stacks with 2 trains even though they allow you to leave items in the station since they have 4 people checking restraints.

 

With the refillable soda bottles, the park has lost about $75 from me so far. I go to Great Adventure an average of 15 times a season, that is $12.99 and with 1 soda a visit after that it is $27 a season. I'd probably spend $6 - $7 to store the bottle on each visit to the park which makes it not worth it to me since I'll just wait until I leave the park to get a soda instead. I'd rather spend the money in the arcades in the park than to keep it in storage at each ride (every coaster except Rolling Thunder, Mine Train and the kiddie coasters have it plus the 2 water rides), and I usually spend a few dollars each trip to the park in the arcade.

Edited by YoshiFan
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The only time I've ever had an issue with SF's policy concerning "loose" items was at SFA, where the l.ockers under Wild One weren't working properly and they wouldn't even allow a fanny pack on the ride; however, you could leave your loose items in cubbyholes at the station on Roar (this was three years ago).

 

While I've never met you in person, you don't strike me as the fanny pack type.

 

Say it ain't so...

 

Are you in the Fanny Pack Mafia?

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Just staff the damn rides and run them at capacity. Something I have not seen Six Flags do for 20 years. That would make a huge difference. Crews used to be 12 to 15 people on three shifts on coasters. Now your lucky to see more than three people staffing the rides. Talk all you want about automation and new safety features but you still need hands on lap bars checking them and that means more than 2 or 3 employees. I think that was forgotten during the Time Warner days and never came back. Shapiro never got that.

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The only time I've ever had an issue with SF's policy concerning "loose" items was at SFA, where the fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo under Wild One weren't working properly and they wouldn't even allow a fanny pack on the ride; however, you could leave your loose items in cubbyholes at the station on Roar (this was three years ago).

 

While I've never met you in person, you don't strike me as the fanny pack type.

 

Say it ain't so...

 

Are you in the Fanny Pack Mafia?

 

Never disrespect the Fanny Pack Mafia--unless you want to wake up some day with a horse's head.

Edited by cfc
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Just staff the damn rides and run them at capacity.

 

I have noticed this problem, too, especially with flat rides. Last summer at SFStL, once loading, unloading and restraint checking are accounted for, it took--sadly, no exaggerations here--a fully twenty minutes a cycle for Xcalibur. Only half the cars were filled when there were more than enough people to fill the whole ride and only two ride ops were manning it. However, I don't know enough about Six Flags management policies throughout the years to pinpoint this unacceptably long cycle time on a particular management team or if it's more a matter of the recent economic climate necessitating hiring fewer people.

 

Anyway, the news about Shapiro was certainly a surprise to me, and I agree with the others on this board who have mentioned the beneficial things he has done for the Six Flags chain. He deserves respect and credit, as the parks are definitely in a better spot than they were a few years ago. I always liked how candid he was and how he actually emerged from the behind-the-scenes corporate world to discuss the parks and answer questions from his guests. Given Weber's experience, I'm excited to see how he will continue building on the foundations that Shapiro created.

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I think the plan will change a little bit though. Paramounts built rides as well as family rides. So I'm hoping for Six Flags parks to receive some same kind of plans. I'm hoping that we start seeing more good rides being built. I don't mind the family theme because thats what brings happier people to the parks, but rides don't hurt if you do them every other year.

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Well of course you all heard that MARK SHAPIRO is gone and the company will be getting the former CEO of PARAMOUNTS PARKS.

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/al-weber-to-serve-as-president-and-interim-ceo-of-six-flags-2010-05-12?reflink=MW_news_stmp

 

Yes, I heard about it on page 36 of this thread.

Edited by cfc
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I wonder if he will imply the same kind of things he did for Paramounts, but with Six Flags. Thing are going to get very interesting now. For a man who worked with Paramounts, I feel comfortable getting my hopes up for the future of all Six Flags parks. Hopefully he will be doing the same thing that Shapiro did, and thats taking a tour of all the parks this summer and seeing what they need. Taking a deeper look into what will be used to improve rides, shows, and your over all entertainment as a park guests. So basically yes, making all the parks friendly to all kinds of enthusiast.

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Kinda weird that the Six Flags blog has no mention of this...

 

I think recently the parks have been improving and I'm sure that now they will continue to improve even greater than before. I have seen and read very good things about other parks when they were owned and operated by Paramount, so hopefully the new CEO can bring some of that into the Six Flags parks.

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Interesting. Perhaps we will see more Premier coasters?

 

Good point. The only thing Premier seems to be doing is building Mummy rides. If I'm correct their recent project was the Mummy in Singapore which is actually a clone of the one in Orlando. So yes, hopefully this means big projects for Premier Rides. Paramounts paid Premier to build both Flight of Fear's and the Italian Job Coasters. Six Flags has both, Joker's Jinx and Poltergeist which are same thing as Flight of Fear. Only difference is, they are out doors. It's very possible that we could see them being enclosed, if our new CEO took a tour of both SFFT and SFA, and looked into a ride renovation. But if he does that, Poltergeist would more alikely get turned into Joker themed coaster and put inside a building. Is the new CEO willing to do that for both of the Premier rides???

 

Not only that, but Paramounts parks are known for staying open late every day during the summer. For example, Kings Dominion stays open until 10:00 p.m. every night during the summer and then during their Halloween Hunt, they keep the park open until midnight on Saturdays. Fridays they do the same thing but they open much later in the evening. If the parks begin to receive high attendance during season events such as this, will they begin to stay open later?

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