coastermoosh Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 http://biz.yahoo.com/cc/0/69480.html SF is looking into strategic options to sell the following parks: SFDL, SF Water World, SFEG, WIld Waves, SF Splashtown, and SFMM. Why sell SFMM? Shapiro: sits on valuable land and may not fit new family strategy. These parks are NOT currently for sale and MAY NOT actually be sold; rather Six Flags is LOOKING into the OPTION of selling those parks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Rosenzweig Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 http://biz.yahoo.com/cc/0/69480.html SF is looking into strategic options to sell the following parks: SFDL, SF Water World, SFEG, WIld Waves, SF Splashtown, and SFMM. Why sell SFMM? Shapiro: sits on valuable land and may not fit new family strategy. These parks are NOT currently for sale and MAY NOT actually be sold; rather Six Flags is LOOKING into the OPTION of selling those parks. Some of the key points Mark made during the call: Six Flags, Inc. Mid-Quarter Conference Call Scheduled to start Thu, Jun 22, 2006, 5:00 pm Eastern Key Points Made by Mark Shapiro: a)Goals reiterated of improving park operations, appearance, and overall brand image. b)Season pass sales are off slightly as prices increased, but season pass per caps up 10 percent. c)Discussed how poor the brand image had dropped. New rides opening in June? Not good in Mark’s eyes. d)Season pass sales down 550,000. 62 percent of the total drop (1.3 million) in overall attendance is the 12-17 age group. Parks not acting as babysitters anymore. Increased pricing has attracted more families. e)Part of the attendance drop from last year is the 220,000 lost from SFNO not being open. f)Per capita guest spending up 14 percent through June 18. g)Corporate sponsorships up. Sponsorship revenue (mostly Coke) was $19 million. By end of calendar year 2006, this number projected to reach $29 million. h)Greatest challenge in company is staffing. Need of better quality seasonal employees. Also need of mid level supervisors and trainers. i)Too much reliance on foreign student employee program. These workers don’t speak fluent english in many cases and are not trained properly. j)Big rides are easy to market, but guests return because of the “Disney” type experience. Better overall experience. He referred to Hershey and their new dark ride. People aren’t going to Hershey for the dark ride. They’re going because of the family friendly reputation the park has. k)$10 million less spent in media/marketing. They are going after the “moms”, which cost more to reach. He said he can’t market the new six flags when he can’t yet deliver the new six flags. l)Double edge sword with regards to marketing coasters- $88 million spent on four new coasters this year. If you don’t market these rides to the teens, you’re wasting marketing dollars. By marketing to teens, you’re not marketing to Six Flags' new target audience. m)$3 million over budget on El Toro, and 3 hour waits due to single train op through July. Other late openings- Tatsu at SFMM, Catapult at SFNE, Big Kahuna at SFDL. n)Beginning Monday June 26 through August 1, a marketing blitz will take place. Television, radio, print. Level of discounts the same, but gate prices are higher. o)Land of Astroworld was sold for $77 million. Sold assets of Wyandot Lake to Columbus Zoo for $2 million. Finalized lease of Sacramento waterpark and may look to sell the rides back to the park. Closing both Oklahoma City parks. Gurnee, IL and Eureka, MO selling parcels of extra land. p)Explore options to sell SFDL, Waterworld in Concord, SFEG, Enchanted Parks, Splashtown Houston, SFMM and Hurricane Harbor. Factors: is property in line with stragetic vision, is there value in real estate, has there been interest expressed for the properties? q)Regarding SFMM: there is strong interest in the marketplace, may not fit in with vision of future of company. It’s been marketed as a thrill park, not a family park as Disneyland, Universal, Knotts. Not saying they’re selling the park, just that they will move forward discussing inquiries with interested parties. -Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XII Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 I hignly doubt Six Flags will sell Magic Mountain considering the size of it. I do belive that they would sell SFDL though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Token Yankee Guy Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Thanks for summerizing the key points, save me the trouble of listening to it. I figured SFEG would be talked about the possiblities of selling it, I'm surprised SFKK wasn't talked about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Rosenzweig Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 I hignly doubt Six Flags will sell Magic Mountain considering the size of it. I do belive that they would sell SFDL though. You don't really believe they wouldn't sell it due to size of the park, do you? It's all about the value of the land the park sits on. At this point, many seaside parks are closing due to the land being worth more than the park can generate in revenue. The park simply can't be justified. SFMM is one of several theme parks that fall under that same umbrella. The Santa Clarita valley is a hotbed of residential development of late. -Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastermoosh Posted June 22, 2006 Author Share Posted June 22, 2006 Press release: http://investors.sixflags.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=61629&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=875468&highlight= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haiderodes Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Do you realize how big of an uproar there would be if SFMM was sold to a residential developer! When WetnWild Las Vegas closed, it was crazy around here. Just imagine if SFMM closed! What if they sold the park to another company? The only other regional company that has big thrills is Cedar Fair, but they have Knott's within reasonable distance. What's funny to me is that the land is very valuable because of all the real estate development, but the park was conceived as being a part of the original master plan! It was specifically built to complement the residential aspect of Newhall Land and Farm's Valencia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Sabo Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Do I hear the phone ringing at 6 flags?.... "Hello?. Yes this is Cedar Faire, I am inquiring the possible purchase of one or several of your amusement parks."..lol I'm not sure if 6F will piecemeal each park or sell it as a package deal (or a combination of both). But, it may come to a point that the strategy may be one of the best options for the park chain to reduce that massive debt-load and releasing the MM property could bring in top $$ for the park chain. If I recall, didn't Robb (or someone else) post that construction was going on across the street (MM)? If that is residential land, the value of the park itself may actually (if not already) increase its value. I believe this would be a good move on 6Flags part in that MM quite possibly won't fit into the future image of a "family-park" and to re-brand the entire park may be more difficult and costly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Do I hear the phone ringing at 6 flags?.... "Hello?. Yes this is Cedar Faire, I am inquiring the possible purchase of one or several of your amusement parks."..lol Surely you aren't suggesting that a company that just near-doubled its size with a $1.25B purchase is going to be jumping over these pars, are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darien Laker Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 I'm not surprised at all here. I just hope that IF some of the parks are sold, they're not shut down as Astroworld was. I'd really hate to lose my homepark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Sabo Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 ^^Did you see the "lol" at the end? I seriously doubt CF would be interested, but stranger things have happened recently (including CF purchase of Paramount). No one really knows what the state of MM (or the listed parks) is at this point; not even 6F. It was really posted as a sarcastic way to add humor on the event. Perhaps Paramount will get back in the game and purchase MM just for kicks...."lol" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatOne Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 I'm not surprised at all here. I just hope that IF some of the parks are sold, they're not shut down as Astroworld was. I'd really hate to lose my homepark. I'd be surprised to see SFDL close. I called their possible sale two years ago. They have a lot to offer (hotel, campground, park and a concert venue), so someone could invest some money in it and see a decent turn of profit. There's too much there for it all to go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 I always thought Darien Lake would be some sort of goldmine, but I guess if they are looking to possibly dump it then maybe not :-\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriboElectric Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 Gosh I hope that Cedar Fair picks up magic mountain! I know they have just spent a boatload of cash for Great Amercia, but for the Coaster Community especially the Los Angeles and West coast community to lose Magic Mountain, that would be a very sad day. I hope it does not happen! (even if this is just a consideration it is a bit spooky!) Robb, tell us something happy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
24 Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 If SF is selling Magic Mountain then why would they have started building a City Walk in front of the park? I really hope Universal won't take it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Movieguy Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 I really hope SFDL doesn't close. It would suck to leave Upstate NY without any major amusement park. But I'm sure the NYC-centric folks who run our state government wouldn't care either way. I'm glad that SF is looking to possibly unload this park, and I hope someone buys it who'll actually want to DO SOMETHING with the place. Doug "One lousy intamin hyper doesn't answer all the problems" Booth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
map2 Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 i doubt that SF is going to sell SFMM. this park brings the most attedndance in any SF park im sure. for one, socal is one of the largest metro areas in america, in fact the world, and its still growing. SFMM is not an astroland at all. astroworld needed a boost, they haven't added any rides in about 3-4 years. usually the parks that have not added rides in a couple of years are the ones we may have to worry about. but he never said that he was going to definately sell off SFMM he just said that there may be possibility of doing so. but if he does, which i seriously doubt, CF will probably buy it off like they did Guega Lake, or formerly Six Flags Worlds of Adeventure. if they do this, this will make CF even more powerful because they just bought out their biggest competitor. besides he probably wont sell SFMM just because of the history, movies made here, first park to have a looping coaster, first park in america to have a coaster that goes over 100 mph. like i said before i very seriously doubt that are going to sell SFMM maybe if we get an email adress, we can all email letters to not even consider SFMM for the chopping block, im not sure if it will work but its worth a try Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterjunkie91350 Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 guy i don t think i can make this any clearer if they even think of selling sfmm to a developer i will start a boycott campain and send it to coaster clubs around the world due to the fact the park is a landmark for the scv picture this sfmm does 2 to 3 million guests a year if it was sold it would be a fatal wound to the company wes and frankly the public of california would be really angry about losing one of the 3 main tourist attractions in the state as for calling me stupid i used to work for them and i learned alot over there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjholla2003 Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 Magic Mountain is not a the attendance leader in the chain. Great Adventure brings in the most guests and Great America brings in the most money. Magic Mountain is near the top, but not *the* top park as many people seem to think. It's a suprising move, but when the park is so against the image you wish to build, there comes a point in time where it's simply not worth the effort, or money, to make the necessary change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 guy i don t think i can make this any clearer if they even think of selling sfmm to a developer i will start a boycott campain and send it to coaster clubs around the world due to the fact the park is a landmark for the scv Sorry to burst your bubble, but a few thousand people not spending their money at a Six Flags is a drop in the bucket to the millions SF will get for selling the park or land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
map2 Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 Magic Mountain is not a the attendance leader in the chain. Great Adventure brings in the most guests and Great America brings in the most money. Magic Mountain is near the top, but not *the* top park as many people seem to think. It's a suprising move, but when the park is so against the image you wish to build, there comes a point in time where it's simply not worth the effort, or money, to make the necessary change. wow!! this really surprises me. i can see why sfgadv would lead in attendance, but im not so sure how sfgam brings in the most money. my only guess could be that they are both within driving distance of a large metropolitan area, but SFMM is within a large metroplitan area too p.s. if you have an article or anything about the info that you have, i would be very interested to see how some of the other parks are doing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollocoast Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 ^ It's because Great America is a well run, enjoyable park that has above average rides, atmosphere, and theming, AND the best water park within a few hours drive. Great Adventure has NYC and Philly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Sabo Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 Do I hear the phone ringing at 6 flags?.... "Hello?. Yes this is Cedar Faire, I am inquiring the possible purchase of one or several of your amusement parks."..lol I'm not sure if 6F will piecemeal each park or sell it as a package deal (or a combination of both). But, it may come to a point that the strategy may be one of the best options for the park chain to reduce that massive debt-load and releasing the MM property could bring in top $$ for the park chain. If I recall, didn't Robb (or someone else) post that construction was going on across the street (MM)? If that is residential land, the value of the park itself may actually (if not already) increase its value. I believe this would be a good move on 6Flags part in that MM quite possibly won't fit into the future image of a "family-park" and to re-brand the entire park may be more difficult and costly. ^^^I agree (and along with my original post/quote). I think actually selling 6F-MM is a good move. I believe there is a developer and/or themepark operator willing to pay top $$$ for the property as well as infuse some much needed cash flow into the current park chain and/or place that $sale$ against that massive debt load. I am going off the assumption on the webcast and the 6F website posting, but I really don't think that MM will appeal to the brand or image the "new" 6F management staff is trying to create in a 'family' atmosphere. It may take some time for the park to get rid of that current image at the park (MM) and management may decide it's well worth selling it rather than placing huge amount of revenue to brand it into their current philosophy. *Keep SFGAD and sell SFMM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherkid17 Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 so if they sell magic mountain, do you think they would sell the rides, or give them to other parks like they did with astroworld? I was just curious. I also hope if they start considering more parks other than those six to sell, that they dont sell SFOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude5 Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 I'm just confused with MM as they've put so much money into it. And I don't think Tatsu could be relocated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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