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Kieran Burke has long had his eye on Nashville. Even as he was leading the world’s largest operator of regional theme parks, he viewed Nashville as a lucrative market. But the right opportunity never seemed to present itself to the former Six Flags Inc. executive. That changed in 2009, when an investment group led by him and another former Six Flags executive bought Nashville Shores for an undisclosed sum. The new owners immediately began renovating and upgrading the 385-acre park along Percy Priest Lake.
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Am I the only one who thinks that Burke sounds delusional about the "glory days" at Six Flags?
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
Now Jeff, he did mention that the best way to compete is "with an excellent product and great guest service". Words to live by.
I finally went to Nashville Shores last week. I had a good email experience with guest services prior to my visit. The park was clean but very small, and they had a bizarre free tube policy that seemed designed to force people to upgrade to rental tubes. I could see on a busier day that it would have been possible to wait 30 minutes or an hour or more for one of the 'free' tubes since riders were not required to give them up after each ride. And I got into a verbal argument with another guest over his choice to use one of the few (20) 'free' tubes from the wave pool as a lounge chair instead of using it in the pool or allowing someone else to use it for its intended purpose.
I also dont' understand his comment about being proud at SFI's results. They're NOTHING to do with him. I felt that he kept blaming shareholders for not letting them do their job, managing everything quarterly. Every other big park operator does the same thing. But every other company didn't let 'shareholders' stop them from running the parks well.
Waiting only 30 minutes for an innertube, which you must have to enjoy the refreshing waterslides, well that to me seems to make perfect sense, which leads to great guest service.
The crazy person is the one that would trust Burke with $15 to $20 million. He could blow threw that in an instant!
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