Shapiro Visits SFOG- Discusses Company-Wide Changes

[GAcoaster]

From The Atlanta Journal Constitution (includes a good picture, click the link)

 

Six Flags chain's new chief wants cleaner, kiddie-oriented parks

Thrill rides to take back seat to shows

 

By MATT KEMPNER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 01/26/06

Something gnawed at the new chief executive of the troubled Six Flags theme park chain as he marched up a hill inside Six Flags Over Georgia on Wednesday.

 

A worker had told him that visitors stood in two-hour-long lines for the Thunder River water ride only to see some boats sitting idle.

 

Mark Shapiro, a 35-year-old former ESPN programming chief, called out to the entourage of about 20 suited Six Flags executives trailing him as he toured the park.

 

"We've got to cut those lines," Shapiro said. "Get those four boats. Write that down. 'Thunder River.' "

 

Using the boats will increase labor costs a little, but Shapiro is rearranging spending priorities for the nation's largest chain of regional theme parks, which for years has lost money while staggering under more than $2 billion in debt.

 

Shapiro — on the job for just a month — wants to attract more families with young children to the parks, which have become havens for teens.

 

Shapiro promises to clean up properties, improve customer service, offer more shows, avoid constructing monstrously expensive thrill rides and focus on gentler kiddie rides.

 

One example of his aim to send a different message: Reduce reliance on past advertising staple Mr. Six, the dancing bald man in a tux who looks like a senior citizen on a roller-coaster-load of speed.

 

"I'm not sure what he stands for," Shapiro said.

 

The Six Flags park in Austell plans to start daily parades this spring and daily laser shows and fireworks in the summer. Roving costumed characters will increase from one or two a day to 30 every hour, Shapiro said.

 

The park is adding 150 garbage cans and stationing staff in every restroom. The entire chain has adopted a policy to restrict smoking.

 

"Parents don't want their kids walking around in clouds of smoke," Shapiro said.

 

The man who helped ESPN build high-stakes poker into a national passion envisions Six Flags attracting visitors by perhaps holding an Atlanta Falcons day or an Atlanta Braves day, with past and present members of the teams.

 

"We need buzz," he said, adding later, "Theme parks are all about marketing."

 

Locally, customers have had gripes: trash and wads of chewed gum, long lines, closed rides and an atmosphere catering mostly to teenagers.

 

Attendance dropped

 

Six Flags opened a water area called Skull Island last year that was supposed to attract families, but annual park attendance dropped 3 percent, to fewer than 2 million visitors, Shapiro said. Overall North American attendance rose 6 percent to about 35 million visitors.

 

Shapiro joined the company after a successful power play by shareholder Dan Snyder, who owns the Washington Redskins football team. Snyder became Six Flags' chairman. Already, Shapiro has brought in a number of former colleagues from ESPN, which is owned by Disney, a Six Flags competitor.

 

The chief executive is touring every park in the chain, bucking up employees, pointing out things to fix and getting a little press.

 

During his visit to Six Flags Over Georgia on Wednesday morning — his first time in the park — the new chief told employees, "We're trying to put money in the most visible places."

 

He also said he intends to look for more opportunities to strike exclusive licensing deals, with food companies and others.

 

One of his biggest moves, though, is to no longer rely on adding expensive thrill rides to juice up attendance. While the attractions hook teens, the attendance spike usually lasts just a year, Shapiro said. "They never pay for themselves."

 

Six Flags Over Georgia will unveil a mammoth ride this year: the $20 million Goliath, which was approved before Shapiro joined the company. He said flatly, "You won't see any more Goliaths."

 

Smaller rides for families will cost a tenth of Goliath's price, he said.

 

Shapiro also faces Six Flags' mountain of debt.

 

He hopes to sell some of the 3,500 excess acres around parks. He said he doesn't know whether that will include 85 acres at Six Flags Over Georgia — land owned by a partnership that includes other investors — or a smaller parcel at the company-operated White Water park in the Marietta area. He said the company also may sell some parks.

 

But he said he doesn't anticipate selling Six Flags Over Georgia.

 

"This is one of our most successful parks."

 

Very positive, good things being proposed by Shapiro. I'm getting more and more excited about the changes in store for Six Flags. It will be worth every penny of the price increases if they all come true.

[Bubba Z]

This I like.

 

"Parents don't want their kids walking around in clouds of smoke," Shapiro said.

 

 

This, not so much

 

He said flatly, "You won't see any more Goliaths."

[socalMAN123]

He also said he intends to look for more opportunities to strike exclusive licensing deals, with food companies and others.

This I'm thinking refers back to what he said about hitting the contract deals with Starbucks and In-N-Out.

 

^I totally agree with you on the Goliath part. At least SFMM has their's!

---Brent

[CoasterCrazy]

He said flatly, "You won't see any more Goliaths."

 

I'm glad that SFoG is getting Goliath this year instead of next year!

[PhishyBrewer]

Ride capicity... FINALLY, some one else sees it other than me.

[robbalvey]

Locally, customers have had gripes: trash and wads of chewed gum, long lines, closed rides and an atmosphere catering mostly to teenagers.

So those are some of my complaints too. If they can fix this stuff for REAL, I'd be willing to pay $15 parking and higher admission prices.

 

--Robb

[Joe Cool]

One of his biggest moves, though, is to no longer rely on adding expensive thrill rides to juice up attendance. While the attractions hook teens, the attendance spike usually lasts just a year, Shapiro said. "They never pay for themselves."

 

 

 

Well that is great

[TheGreatOne]

Frankly, I'd be surprised if they can maintain the increase in attendance without adding a big thrill ride every three years or so. No matter how much you spend, Six Flags will never be Disney. Six Flags carved it's niche with great thrill rides mixed with family "fun".

 

-Bryan "I like some of the things I hear, but I remain skeptical with some other things" Wood

[memphish]

I wonder if he saw the Ga. Cyclone gum wall/roof.

[SharkTums]

I really see this as more of when BGT said they 'weren't going to build anymore thrill rides in a long time'...and then 5 years later we get Shakira! I'm sure it just means you're not going to see a big ride as often, but they will still get new big rides eventually!

[chauncey]

that article is really quite useless. i'm sure if it were about "the old" six flags it would be exactly the same except for the names, and the last little bit about "no goliath's". if the "old" six flags were touring a park with a reporter and somebody yelled at them for having longs lines, don't you think they would have tried to fix the problem, or at least look like they were trying to fix it? yes, they would, because, if they didn't, the reporter wouldn't be writing about how wonderful they are, but about how horrible they are.

 

so far the full extent of shapiro's attempts to improve the quality of the guest experience seem to be limited to, well, what's documented in this article! however, we've seen huge attempts to improve his own profits, all of which degrade the guest experience (increased prices, advertising, trying to implement "no reentry, etc").

 

the article doesn't even mention, those, of coursed, and simply seems like propoganda for redzone, touching conveniently on all of the marketing points they used to take control of the company in the first place, and discussing how nice mr. shapiro is, and how much he "cares".

 

bullshit.

[peteb]

Attracting families, which does not exclude attracting teens, makes good business sense; teens by themselves don't have money to spend that families do. Parks that cater to families, like Hersheypark, BGW, Knoebels, Disney, in the end are nicer parks for everyone.

 

Just think what SFGADV could have done and how many quality rides and park improvements they could have put in for what they spent on Kingda Ka and how that would have improved the park long term. Fix the park and people will come, long after Kingda Ka's buzz has faded or the thing falls apart.

[Bob O]

While i totally agree that the parks need to become cleaner and not be the babysitters that they are. And i also agree the parks need to become more family friendly, that doesnt mean they cant add thrill rides with 48" height limits most of the family can enjoy like disney/universal has doen and if he wants to stop being babysitter's he needs to increase the cheap season passes they now seel and maybe have some type of arrangement where you dont allow unsupervised kids under a certain age into the parks.

I dont know about others but when i go into the park i often see teenagers being dropped off and then enter the parks with no adult supervision, alot of malls dont allow this and im sure something could be done to curb this in theme parks where they do have trouble with teenagers.

[coaster05]

I look at it like others have said the big rides will occur less frequently. However I also see it as a chance to get more good mid sized coasters like the Avalanche in Wisconsin. That is not a huge ride but it provides HUGE fun. Most SF have enough coasters it is their crappy capacity that keeps you from enjoying them. So if I could go to the park and be able to get in 30% more rides then before that is like having a whole new experience.

[GAcoaster]

Shapiro and Snyder are smart business men. While they are currently saying "no new coasters", if they discover it's a misstep and attendance drops off, you can bet that policy will change.

 

Like Shapiro said at SFMM, they will make mistakes, and learn from them.

[Swimace]

Overall, I think that the cange is very positive, although there were two points that kinda bugged me.

 

 

He said flatly, "You won't see any more Goliaths."

 

He hopes to sell some of the 3,500 excess acres around parks

 

 

I think both of those are negative. I think they need to focus on smaller attractions as well, but some parks do need "Goliaths". For instance, SFFT needs a major coaster, while SFMM needs flats and smaller attractions. It all depends on the park, I think they need "Golaiths" a little less often and smaller rides more often.

 

Selling of that much property really cripples the chain's ability to expand, especially when it comes to coasters.

[ParkTrips]

I really see this as more of when BGT said they 'weren't going to build anymore thrill rides in a long time'...and then 5 years later we get Shakira! I'm sure it just means you're not going to see a big ride as often, but they will still get new big rides eventually!

 

Exactly.

 

I'd take careful planning decisions and a good chunk of time between seasons if we get Busch-like quality - I mean, how many roller coasters does Busch have that aren't pretty damn good?

 

((omit Python, it was good when it opened )

 

so far the full extent of shapiro's attempts to improve the quality of the guest experience seem to be limited to, well, what's documented in this article!

 

Yea, and what's seen in the media isn't half of what's going on behind the scenes.

 

It all depends on the park, I think they need "Golaiths" a little less often and smaller rides more often.

Agreed, and I think that's what we will see anyhow.

 

Selling of that much property really cripples the chain's ability to expand, especially when it comes to coasters.

Not neccessarily, they could sell some of their sattelite properties and make money without changing much,

[ebl]

Funny...20 years ago when we got major coasters once every three to five years, we were OK with it. Then we got spoiled (at SFMM at least) with major coasters every year. Now when they cut back and/or install "minor" attractions, we're going to feel "cheated."

 

I agree that some parks do need their "Goliath" because one will bring in the much needed business, especially at a smaller park.

 

Eric

[Noobitizer]

I agree with some of you. If the new managment realizes that not installing large E-Ticket type attractions is a mistake, they will quickly adapt to a new direction. Thats what business is about, adapting to make the most amount of money.

[Costakid]

I'm not too worried about their being a lack of e-ticket attractions being installed. My view is that they are looking to install 'Goliaths' only when needed, which will leave a few parks without a new high-dollar scream machine for a while. I'm willing to part with a few high budget attractions if the result is that the park will be better maintained, though.

 

I'm interested to see how they deal with MM's situation. I don't know if they will get the attendance boost by adding family rides, as it's proximity to Disneyland will present some stiff competition. Sure, cleaning the park up and fixing ride operations will help, but that isn't very marketable: "Come to Magic Mountain! Now with 90% less trash!".

 

It will be a very slow process to change SF's image, but I'm looking forward to it.

[willski]

Ummm......the more I hear about Snyder/Shapiro, the more I start to hate it.

 

Let's face it, Six Flags does not market to families (at least not in the same manner as Disney, Busch, etc.). Selling land and reducing the number of major rides built is not a good idea when your main market is teens and young adults.

 

I'm afraid that if they attempt to change their market, attendance will crash, as all of their parks currently are way more focused on thrills than families.

[USCoaster]

Not all of 6 Flags' parks are as focused on teens and thrills as SFMM. SFGAdv has added family attractions with both Kingda Ka and now El Toro. SFoG did a major expansion to the kids area over the last 2(?) years. And SFMW is currently adding/expanding their kids area.

 

SFMM seems to be the exception with its new coaster every year and maybe we will get the Tilt-A-Whirl fixed policy.

[Twister II]

To me, its seems like Snyder is going to be spending more money than his is going to earn.

 

Yes, he will make a profit selling 3500 acres, and not building as many thrill rides, but when operating ride to full capacity, with every train running. The expenses are just to much.

 

Inspections would have to double, doubling the mechanic's pay. Parts would start to ware, increasing the supply. A perfect example is Twister II, talking to ride ops, they were told to cut down on the dispatches, increasing them wouldn't do any good. (off subject, Im guessing this means the structure won't be rebuilt anymore)

 

Then the ride ops, sweeps, cartoons, etc, would most likely start striking because of money cuts, and lower pay.

 

To me, it just seems like Snyder has some more things that should be worked out before the beginning of the 06 season.

[ParkTrips]

To me, its seems like Snyder is going to be spending more money than his is going to earn.

 

Yes, he will make a profit selling 3500 acres, and not building as many thrill rides, but when operating ride to full capacity, with every train running. The expenses are just to much.

Running rides at full capacity sure hasn't put out the other huge chunk of parks that do so.

 

I doubt, in the long run, the extra money needed is that significant on margin.

 

Expenditure may have to go up incertain places, but that's so you can get your revenues up too! You gotta spend money to make money, but don't spend foolishly like Six Flags has for years! (if that makes sense )

[coaster05]

You run your rides at full capacity on the days you need to. Severl times at SFGAM I have seen them add the third train later in the day to cover the growing lines and I think this is what he meant. You want people to come back and spend the money on the high profit items. You want them to have so much fun they don't leave early to eat dinner outside the park.

 

Also marketing to teens and young adulkts just is not the strategy you need to grow. If you are marketing from 13-25 look how much of the population you are cutting off. Not to mention some of that age have to come with their parents. I believe this is the way to go and I believe it is no coincidence that service went down when new rides every year seemed to start.