Flashpass prices at Great Adventure have gone through the roof

LostKause said:
Maybe he simply disagrees with some things said in the rest of the thread.

I'm sure he does, but if that were the case he could address them. I just don't think repeating "Flashpass will eventually be the death of Six Flags" over and over and over again like a mantra is going to make it come true.

LostKause said:
Maybe the reason that the park issaying that they are seeing higher profits is because they are -...waitfor it...- price gouging. That and blackmailing their customers intoneeding to buy an "upgrade" in order to not get cut in line.

Oh gosh, this again? Yes, all of these people who are packing up their kids and going to Six Flags are being *blackmailed* into it! Brainwashed masses! Forced to buy a Flashpass at gun point! C'mon dude, even you can do better than this.

Well doom and gloomers, sorry to burst the bubble of angst, but not only is the system thriving, it's growing:

Mark Shapiro said here:
[Low Q] which is the company that does our flash pass system, they’re unbelievable. They really drove our business and their numbers were up significantly year-over-year.

We had one million more people use the system this year then last year and you remember flash pass is what gets you a premium and you get an electronic device that brings you to the front of the line so you don’t have to wait in line.

And because of the positive response we’re seeing, we’re planning to install in another two parks next year so that nearly every Six Flags park will have the system and flash pass works...

At any rate, sorry kids - it's here to stay and even growing...like fungus.
Is it still too soon for I told you so? Both in the case of Flash Pass and the company in general. The whole call transcript is quite a good read. These guys get it. They have from the start and the results of that are finally starting to show a little.

What do you reckon the average cost per person of flashpass is? About $15 to $20 dollars. According to Shapiro 1 million extra users used a flashpass last year. Thats around $17 million dollars income LO-q will get. They operate at about 23% margin, after paying staff and Six flags their cut, so they will have made around an extra 4 million dollars. Thats around 2.5 million pounds extra this year. Last year they made £600 000 so they could well make £3 million pounds clear profit, and the whole value of LO-q as a company is only just over £3 million pounds. Way, way udervalued. I guess its a bit tricky to buy London listed shares if you live in the states.

I pay for it when I go. We just visited last month during Frightfest, and we got a 2 person Q-bot for 4 riders over 48 inches. We have season passes, so we didn't have to pay for admission. $144/4=$36 per person. To me that just equates to paying for admission since I had already gotten my money's worth out of the season passes.

Early in the day it was great as most coasters were 10 minutes or less wait. Later in the day when the crowd picked up our waits were still between 10-20 minutes. We were able to enjoy many rides.

These Flashpass discussions are like cocktroaches - they will live forever!

It seems to me that it is just paying for extra access. You pay more you get more - you pay less you get less. Lost Kause wants everyone equal and many parks are that way. Some are not. He can then vote with his feet and not go to those that have the system he does not like. Enough people do that anmd VQ will be gone. After almost 10 years it looks like that isn't going to happen.

When POP first started folks who just liked to show up to a park and pay for a few rides cried foul. They predicted it would fail and the old ticket system would return. Didn't happen. Like VQ, POP wasa new access plan. The park can run their business as they see fit to make the most profit. It isn't evil or anything it is just American business as it should be in a free enterprise system.