Breakout year for SF

Did Shapiro promise the "world" though? I seem to remember him throwing out some very vague insights as to what he wanted to do with the chain.

1) I don't ever remember him giving a specific time frame and...

2) I don't remember ever hearing him use those words, "I promise". He's much too shrewed for that.

I think in most cases, enthusiasts heard what they wanted to hear, and made assumptions that everything would be fixed in 6 months.

You can't even do that on RCT! ;)

Yeah, I kind of have to agree with that.

It's a combo of what DWeaver is saying and basic PR. "This is what we plan on doing with the company."

You can't really come out in Shapiro's position and say, "Man these parks blow much worse than we anticipated - don't expect miracles." (even though he kind of did after the fact)

I still think everything up to this point has been handled pretty much dead-on correctly and that we have a few years to go before anoyone can truly get behind the product. The kind of changes that need made with the company don't happen overnight - even if you made the changes yesterday.

I still think for the most part he's on the right track. I like the fact that's he's outlined a few parks that will serve as models for the others.

I don't hear many complaints coming out of SFOT, SFFT, SFGAm and to a lesser degree, SFOG and TGE, even in terms of capacity and ride closer issues.

If these parks are the models, I think we can expect good things in the future.

Agreed, that was one of the best things Shapiro has done from an enthusiast standpoint, seeing as it sounds like he knows exactly which parks are the good ones in the chain, and enthusiasts actually agree.

There are quite a few conversations we have here at Cbuzz where we have to quell our enthusiast heads and use our GP heads or businessman heads, but at the end of the day what's good for coaster enthusiasts is often very good for parks aswell.

Shapiro, prior to '06 operating season: " Cleaner parks with more employees and greater uptime of *existing* rides, more sit-down food, better food options, cleaner restrooms, more costumed characters."

I'd be VERY hard-pressed to say that MY personal '06 experiences at *many* of the SF parks failed to live up to the majority of those promises. By the end of the year, some of the budgets were stretched too thin, and if *I* were making decisions, I likely would have made cutbacks in different areas - but overall, I think Shapiro accomplished considerably more than he failed to accomplish.

Rides suffering from extensive downtime, and full-staffing from July 4th on, I think (hope?) that THOSE are key components for this year...and without last year's *unavoidable and detrimental cap-ex*, I'm pretty hopeful. SF parks *are* in fact, becoming nicer places to be. Shapiro's job at this point is to KEEP the parks on the right track THROUGHOUT an entire operating season. Remember kids, "the old regime" oftentimes presented similar kinds of initiatives that only managed to last a couple months...until the crowds hit.

That's the quote I was looking for. Thanks gator.

I guess Shapiro's level of success or failure lies within each guest and their personal experiences. Some people obviously went to SF parks and saw major improvements while others went to SF parks and saw the same crap, different day. Likewise, I can't blame some people for supporting what Shapiro has done in one year but I also can't blame some people for being hideously disappointed.

^ LOL, don't quote me on that...I paraphrase....ALOT. ;)

But you got the gist of it, and if someone were to find the actual statement, I'm sure it would say the same thing.

How can you keep existing rides open when the previous admin slashed the maintenance budget to pre-1997 level and yet kept adding rides? In fact last year Shapiro said he was increasing the maintenance budget 15% across all parks to bring it up to what it was 1997!

He's got his work cut out for him, thanks to Burke and Co.

I completely agree with everything you said... the point I was making was that if it WASN'T possible to get everything up and running last year, he shouldn't have said it was going to happen. He did himself a disservice by making a claim that shouldn't have been made. Don't get me wrong- I'm not saying Shapiro is to blame for what he has to deal with, he just has to be careful what he advertises because that will ultimately do more harm than good.

^ Perhaps he shoulda talked to Paula... ;)

"Under-promise, over-deliver"... ;)

So the maintenance budget for last year was only enough to keep rides open till mid august? Hence several rides closures for the rest of the season?

Chuck

Shouldn't the parks have known that, though (getting away from the Shapiro thing)? That should have been pretty obvious, and that being the case, the parks should have made corrections to the budgets, right?

On this site, I've read tons of news articles and press releases from or about different parks and chains. The ones from/about SF are the only ones that consistently refer to guests as "captives." The whole attitude comes off as "we've got them so we can subject them to whatever we choose and they can't do a thing about it."

Maybe if they'd change that attitude, they'd be better off. Make people want to be there, not treat them like they're stuck there.

Just to clarify:

As far as budgets, Burke & Co. were idiots. Corporate controlled the budgets, not the parks. Every park received the same flat line budget across the board for maintenance. A smaller park like TGE would receive the same budget as SFMM, who needed more cash. SFGAm has the same amount of maintenance since it opened in 1976.

Things are changing since the parks are beginning to be ran like they were in the Time Warner era. AKA as individual businesses that set their own budget. *** Edited 3/6/2007 7:11:23 PM UTC by Planea380***

Right. But my guess is, they did know and resorted to what they were use to under Burke & Co. "Let's just get through the rest of the season, and things will be different next year".

Well this year we can already see the difference.

1) The removal of Psyclone and Flashback.

2) The modifications being made to Chiller.

3) New kids areas and rides instead of flashy "one-note" coasters.

4) Painting and touch ups all around the parks.

In just a few weeks we'll be able to tell if the employees are any friendlier and productive. But will it all last till the end of the season?

That fact about the maintenance sucks. No wonder why there were so many problems...

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Planea380 said:
Every park received the same flat line budget across the board for maintenance. A smaller park like TGE would receive the same budget as SFMM, who needed more cash.

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Wait.......like...

For real? Is this serious? Because if so...I mean. Wow.

Well then ask "yourself"; if you were Shapiro, what would you do to imporove the six flags chain as a whole?

*** Edited 3/6/2007 7:37:05 PM UTC by CoasterDiscern***

I'd do just what he's doing. Allow General Managers to fix things that have been festering in their parks for years under Burke, all the while building some kids and family attractions and beefing up the water parks.

For employees, I'd put into place a stricter code of conduct as well as incentive plans for employees who excel. I'd start there, and that would only be the foundation.