Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Six Flags Darien Lake (SFDL) Discussion Thread


Recommended Posts

I think we could actually see no parks open here in New York State this summer. I love going to theme parks but it is extremely easy to spread germs quickly in a place like SFDL. I am not sure how much Joe public is interested in being at a place like that now. I am an enthusiast, but I wouldn't go to SFDL until there is some sort of COVID treatment or vaccine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well given that Coumo is basing his entire NY State response around NYC, yeah I'd say that's not out of the question.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think we could actually see no parks open here in New York State this summer. I love going to theme parks but it is extremely easy to spread germs quickly in a place like SFDL. I am not sure how much Joe public is interested in being at a place like that now. I am an enthusiast, but I wouldn't go to SFDL until there is some sort of COVID treatment or vaccine.

 

If youre going to wait for a vaccine youre going to lose next summer too. Cuomo did say today that he would have a different re-opening plan for upstate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If youre going to wait for a vaccine youre going to lose next summer too...

 

Yep. You are correct. Haven't officials said that a vaccine is still about 12-18 months away...?

 

At least. I think its more likely to fade out first, but im no doctor or epidemiologist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I seem to be on my own with my opinion of SFDL, located in the glorious county of Genesee, however I do not see it or several major parks opening this summer. We are looking at it as enthusiasts....the big picture however would ultimately show parks won't be opening. Cedar Fairs new plan (yes I'm aware we are not cedar fair dont mske a post calling this out) with $75-100 mill cuts in the 2020/2021 season shows where the industry is headed.

 

It would be interesting to see what they do with the actual parts and pieces for the "Wahoo Wave" or whatever it's called, just drove past the park about a week ago and it was all out in the parking lot - sure just large slide pieces but still. Assuming they open the park at some point (for hypothetical purposes), I'd be curious to see if they just leave those slide pieces in the front the parking lot roped off (which let's be real the way they rope off the parking lot now is sad so I can't imagine they'd do much better if they added more) or if they'd move it elsewhere.

 

They have to do something with the thing its already sitting there and I have to imagine it's already paid for if they have it? Total speculation and not at all sure what they actually intend on doing. It's just not something I think folks have considered / noticed yet

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They have to do something with the thing its already sitting there and I have to imagine it's already paid for if they have it? Total speculation and not at all sure what they actually intend on doing. It's just not something I think folks care about in the slightest.

 

Fix'd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I seem to be on my own with my opinion of SFDL, located in the glorious county of Genesee, however I do not see it or several major parks opening this summer. We are looking at it as enthusiasts....the big picture however would ultimately show parks won't be opening. Cedar Fairs new plan (yes I'm aware we are not cedar fair dont mske a post calling this out) with $75-100 mill cuts in the 2020/2021 season shows where the industry is headed.

 

It would be interesting to see what they do with the actual parts and pieces for the "Wahoo Wave" or whatever it's called, just drove past the park about a week ago and it was all out in the parking lot - sure just large slide pieces but still. Assuming they open the park at some point (for hypothetical purposes), I'd be curious to see if they just leave those slide pieces in the front the parking lot roped off (which let's be real the way they rope off the parking lot now is sad so I can't imagine they'd do much better if they added more) or if they'd move it elsewhere.

 

They have to do something with the thing its already sitting there and I have to imagine it's already paid for if they have it? Total speculation and not at all sure what they actually intend on doing. It's just not something I think folks have considered / noticed yet

 

Based on corporate news, it sounds like the budget for construction of anything capital-wise this year has been cut. So the ride itself might be paid for, but it sounds like the money to build it has been cut by Six Flags. I assume they will move it somewhere to store it. Just roping it off wouldn't be enough to keep people out of them if the park was to open, so they'd have to be moved somewhere else.

 

And since we're obsessed with that storage building, if it wasn't already built, that's probably been cut too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Discretionary capital is actually a lot more comprehensive than that. It helps to understand mandatory capital expenditures, as they're a lot more straightforward. Mandatory capex is anything required to keep your assets at their current value; in other words, if you didn't pay it, you'd incur a loss. Discretionary capex is anything beyond that.

 

It's going to be hard for us outside the company to say what is what, since depreciation means all of your rides are constantly falling in value, and therefore maybe you need to replace a ride to offset that. Your real estate value might be going up, depending on how land is doing in your area, so maybe that more than offsets depreciation, but then of course you can't monetize that unless you sell land, and if you sell land, maybe you reduce your ability for future income. It's all terribly complicated.

 

What the cut to discretionary capex tells me is that SF is much more concerned right now with avoiding a loss than they are with future growth, which in my opinion is exactly what their focus should be.

 

Maybe others who are more up on accounting stuff can chime in. I'm certainly not an expert on this; that's just what I've gleaned through years of business meetings. Hope that helps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would Six Flags be the one paying for the ride though? I thought since the park is owned by EPR properties that they would be the ones paying for any investments in the park and that Six Flags had just leasing rights to operate the park for EPR. This is all way beyond my knowledge but I didn't think Six Flags was paying for the rides with it's own money since they don't own the park, right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haymarket is right that SF is paying to lease the park. They are also paying for any new attractions moving forward. In return for this, EPR gives them a break on the lease typically

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the new attraction has been removed from the site

So, is the new slide never being set up then, or are they storing it for next year?

 

Also, is it safe to assume there won't be a new attraction next year either?

 

If the Wahoo Wave is not installed this year, it'll probably be the new attraction for 2021. I would guess it will be stored on site until it can be constructed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the new attraction has been removed from the site

So, is the new slide never being set up then, or are they storing it for next year?

 

Also, is it safe to assume there won't be a new attraction next year either?

 

Way too early to say. Being that its already on site, and construction one of the first things to be allowed to restart, it very well could/should be put up this year. Genesee County only has 148 cases of the rona, theyll probably be one of the first to be allowed to reopen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It probably depends if they started the foundation work, and water/electric lines. If they already started that, they will probably just set up the slide which would only take a week or so to do. Dont you think? Seems like it would be more difficult to find a place to store it for a year, and keep it in good condition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I'm correct yesterday would've been the first day of operation for Six Flags Darien Lake, although the fact it was scheduled for a Friday this year was interesting. As far as I know the park has always opened for the season on a Saturday for so many years. Also if they had opened there might've been an early closing both yesterday and today with how bad the weather has been.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gov Cuomo released the plans for reopening of businesses in NYS last week. Based on that, amusement parks would fall into phase 4 and it will be a minimum of 6 weeks from May 15th that DL would be able to even considering opening. That's also based on Genesee county entering phase 1 on the 15th and hitting the required metrics to advance to the next phase every 2 weeks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/