Six Flags [FUN] Corporate Discussion Thread

[TEDodd]

 

12 hours ago, swfan1988 said:

Why on earth they would do that when paying month to month seems so prevalent nowadays...I have no idea. 

Some of us don't want yet another recurring payment.

 

Just a few months ago they had removed most of the single payment passes trying to force monthly payment memberships instead.

 

[coasterbill]

Oh yeah, I’m totally on board with giving people the choice to pay in full or monthly like they had been doing. This is weird though because they spent years forcing people into memberships and then immediately reversed course and went back to the pass system they had back in 1999 overnight.

[CNYCoasterguy11]

When visiting my home park's page (Great Escape) they still advertise passes and memberships. they are now offering the Pay one price for the year but are still offering monthly payments. Not sure why the change in name but it looks to be essentially still just memberships. Now they just let you pay it all at once for 12 months. As long as I can keep paying my monthly rate for my family and get the same benefits as always, I don't care what they end up calling things. 

[TEDodd]

1 hour ago, coasterbill said:

Oh yeah, I’m totally on board with giving people the choice to pay in full or monthly like they had been doing. This is weird though because they spent years forcing people into memberships and then immediately reversed course and went back to the pass system they had back in 1999 overnight.

Did they have 5 pass levels 20 years ago? And offer a 12 payment plan?

At least most of the parks seem to be offering both. 
Sort of surprising to see the variation from park to park over the last few months.
Sure to be confusing if it continues.

[anonymouscactus]

With Magic Mountain changing up EVERYTHING today https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/store/tickets , I think now would be a good time to get my "pay in full" gold+ pass from Darien Lake for $65 good at all parks before they start changing everything. The thing I always hate about SF though is that SFDL doesn't open until May, and the other parks open earlier and it's when I tend to visit another park.

Either that or I don't see myself visiting Six Flags this year at all since I still have my Wonderland platinum pass w/ FL+ and might go on a Cedar Fair adventure instead. It wouldn't be worth it for me at what I expect the new rates will be just to go to an 'occasional' Six Flags Park.

 

Notable changes:

- blackout dates for all passes except ultimate

- payment plan is 4 payments, not good for the lowest tier

- meals every visit is no longer a thing, you prepay a set # of meals or get 10 with the ultimate pass

- the perks are way less for a lot more $$$

Edited January 18, 2022 by anonymouscactus

[bert425]

I just saw that a little bit ago . .what the hell is SF doing???

[JJLehto]

*SF is back to being its usual self, I'm glad they held up well through covid but they are still sucky SF* (runs away)

[tndank]

Texas parks now have the new pricing. 

[grsupercity]

Well people always complained about the food lines. Less dining plan guest should fix that 

[hoppedup]

I kinda get it. SF passes have always been way underpriced, IMO. Looks like my platinum pass I bought at SFDK three weeks ago for $94.99 will equate to an $169.99 Extreme pass. But yeah, go home Six Flags, you're drunk.

[SixFlagsOMA80]

As much as it upsets people, Six Flags is just going back to the days when Season Passes were more costly. Passes the last 10 years were cheaper than they were in the 90's. 

[coasterbill]

I'm fine with them raising prices, but why not just keep memberships, maybe tweak the discount percentages, kill the dining plans that aren't really attached to those anyway and raise the prices? This is the Six-Flagsiest thing and the "I'm glad they simplified the confusing pass system" crowd should probably be sitting down for this one.

The new pass system is actually more confusing than the old one, as prices vary by park and benefits also vary by park. Example: At Magic Mountain, the Ultimate Pass is $329.99 and includes a $50 attractions credit (whatever that means). At Fiesta Texas, Over Texas and Discovery Kingdom, the same pass is $299, but it doesn't have the attractions credit and instead has a $25 Merchandise Credit and a $25 Food credit. Actually, every different pass level varies in price depending on the park.

The Ultimate Pass earns 35% off merchandise at Over Texas, Discovery Kingdom and Fiesta Texas but only 30% off at Magic Mountain. The Extreme Pass earns 35% Off merchandise at Over Texas and Fiesta Texas but only 25% off at Magic Mountain.

The Extreme Pass earns 15% off food at Magic Mountain, but 20% off at Fiesta Texas, Discovery Kingdom and Over Texas.

The Ultimate Pass earns a 50% off all season Flash Pass discount at Discovery Kingdom, Over Texas and Fiesta Texas but that benefit does not exist at Magic Mountain. The discounts are the same across the highest 2 pass levels at most parks but at Magic Mountain, they're tiered.

Discovery Kingdom has a 35% animal attraction discount.

So if you go to other parks, what discount do you get? Let's all find out together... lol

[Garet]

1 hour ago, coasterbill said:

The new pass system is actually more confusing than the old one, as prices vary by park and benefits also vary by park. Example: At Magic Mountain, the Ultimate Pass is $329.99 and includes a $50 attractions credit (whatever that means). At Fiesta Texas, Over Texas and Discovery Kingdom, the same pass is $299, but it doesn't have the attractions credit and instead has a $25 Merchandise Credit and a $25 Food credit.

I'm assuming, considering how everything else is playing out, that they're using Magic Mountain as a testing ground for paying per ride to skip the line, since they just announced it for some of the roller-coasters there already, essentially a Six Flags version of Disney's Lightning Lane, and if it makes them more money they'll spread it out to other parks replacing the merchandise and food credits as they go.

I guess this could eventually  lead to them phasing out all day flash passes in favor of individual cash grabs.

[coasterbill]

Other parks already do it, it's just a clusterfuck because it's Six Flags.

Great Adventure and New England have been allowing people to buy extras at the Flash Pass buildings but not advertising that at all. Then for Holiday in the Park, Great Adventure put signs with QR codes up about buying line skips  in front of the Justice League and Skull Mountain queues (those rides tend to be popular for the event because one of them has heat and one of them doesn't have heat but people think that it might before they get in line and don't realize the error of their ways until later).

[YoshiFan]

2 hours ago, SixFlagsOMA80 said:

As much as it upsets people, Six Flags is just going back to the days when Season Passes were more costly. Passes the last 10 years were cheaper than they were in the 90's. 

Yeah passes used to be a lot more expensive. I remember getting my first Great Adventure pass in 2008 and paying $120 ($60 for the pass and $60 for a parking pass) and that didn’t include Hurricane Harbor compared to my 2020/2021 pass that was $70 with parking and the water park included. 

[TEDodd]

Well I didn't see that change comming.

Georgia hasn't changed yet. Wondering if I should bite now before they change too. Or just signup for a membership to get grandfathered in since it looks better than the new passes coming out. (Set up a separate account for payment so I can deposit the year's funds into it an not have to track another monthly payment)

Or just forgo SF this year and just visit the Smokies more.

 

[coasterbill]

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.

[boldikus]

1 hour ago, coasterbill said:

Skull Mountain queues (those rides tend to be popular for the event because one of them has heat and one of them doesn't have heat but people think that it might before they get in line and don't realize the error of their ways until later).

Bro, Skull Mountain doesn't need heat because Skull Mountain IS heat.

[bert425]

17 minutes ago, 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.

ABSOLUTELY yes.

tho we are assuming they will grandfather in those who currently have passes/memberships with dining plan included.

[coasterbill]

Worst case, you have it for one season...

[bill_s]

Continuing payment makes it harder to raise prices. I don't know if they still offer(ed) a better price if you try to end your Membership -- I halved my payment back in 2015 and may never end it -- but now they can just threaten loss of legacy status and a price increase.

I actually tried to spend a little at SFA for a while in 2020, but had trouble finding anything I wanted, or didn't want to wait in line.  

 

[Hilltopper39]

All these changes because some dude went viral for eating every meal for the last 4 years at Six Flags for $150/year lol. Next time you get a deal that's too good to be true don't tell everyone in the world about it.

[boldikus]

Wait... people honestly think that that one article hipped SF to the fact that they were bleeding money from memberships/dining plans?

[bert425]

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.

 

[Hilltopper39]

1 hour ago, boldikus said:

Wait... people honestly think that that one article hipped SF to the fact that they were bleeding money from memberships/dining plans?

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