Goodbye Old Friend - Mr. Six

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thrillerman1 said:SFI could easily have gotten another year out of that campaign. How long has the Energizer bunny been around?

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Ummm...but how bad do you want to kill yourself when you see those commercials now? I instantly look around for the remote or a sharp object to slice my throat with. I say, LET IT GO!

(sorry for the double post)

^ Ronald McDonald, Joe Camel, Built Ford Tough, Like a Rock, The Wal-Mart Rollback happy face, Taco Bell Dog, The Cheesies Tiger.. Man i could name an ENDLESS list of product promoting things that have been around/were around for a long time and were sucessful. Personally i think its a bad move on SF Inc, and in that second link above it says Burke and the other dude arent actually out of SF's picture.

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MrX said:

...but I remember when Pandemonium first opened there were reports that all of the "Mr. Six" signage was intentionally placed in a way to be removable in the future if necessary.

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Hmmm, themeing... let's see:

There's the main sign of course...
http://www.rcdb.com/ig3031.htm?picture=9
The "Mr. Six" wording does look easily removed and the Mr. Six cutout is on a seperate pole than the main sign.

There's the spinning Mr. Six on top of several of the ride supports...
http://www.rcdb.com/ig3031.htm?picture=10
Probably the hardest thing to be removed, but could be really easy to replace with a simple cut out of the spiral in the ride's logo.

And there's the ride logos on the car...
http://www.rcdb.com/ig3031.htm?picture=21
Just a big sticker, so while cumbersome to replace, not too bad.

Besides, I kinda like the name "Pandamonium" all by itself. While I'd hate to see Mr. Six go, I really think he has given a new sense of unitity and identity to the company, it really wouldn't be hard to remove him from the New England attraction. *** Edited 12/2/2005 5:16:40 AM UTC by Coaster Lover***

Woohoo! Thank God for Snyder. Honestly, I was just hoping one day that someone would come in when the corporation and its parks were finally making a turnaround and dig the hole a few tiers deeper! I was thinking the day would never come! And it seriously is about time that someone put an end to all these sensational rollercoasters and thrillrides that have been built on a yearly basis! With Snyder's capital reduction plan, my dream will have come true! Not new capital expansions meaning no new rides, family or thrill for years to come at its parks! Oh! And let's not forget to mention how excited I am to know that Snyder never even mentioned anything about cleaning up the aesthetic presentation and look of its parks but just about boosting stock holder value! YAY and did I forget to mention he wants to sell off all undeveloped properties at all the Six Flags Inc. owned properties resulting in landlocked parks in the future with nowhere to expand? Who DOESN'T LOVE THIS GUY!!

But He is old! You can't remove old people dancing! It just should not be done! :-o !

Here's the problem I see with selling off unused land if it is sold for residential communities and commercial developments: you'll have parks surrounded with activist homeowners and business owners who will stifle any prospects of the parks trying to have more live concerts, nightlife venues, or gargantuan thrill rides. These new neighbors will fight them every step of the way and then won't Snyder and company feel silly for giving them the keys? Unless of course, that was their plan alll along. *** Edited 12/2/2005 12:35:35 PM UTC by Rescue131***

Guys, the writing on the family-friendly wall has been there for a long time. Look at some recent moves industry-wide:

Paramount parks: investing in waterparks, kids areas (the Nickelodeon tie), and family rides (Italian Jobs). Attendance booming.

SFGAm: new waterpark. Attendance booms.

CP: Big shiny record-breaking rollercoaster. Attendance flat.

SFGAdv: Big shiny record-breaking rollercoater. Attendance up (as far as I know)

SFMM: Many big shiny rollercoasters. Attendance flat. We'll see about the flyer--it looks interesting, but will it draw? We'll see.

It appears that amusement parks can't continue to grow their business by chasing the thrillseeker---those folks are by and large already coming to the park. To continue to grow the business, you need to attract new people. People who spend money. Like families. Heck, we're a *coaster* family, and I'm the only one in my family of four who will ride anything CP has installed since 2000. My kids were (until late last season) too short, and my wife finds the recent installations intimidating.

Where's Captain Obvious when you need him?

Brian,

You make a point I've been trying to make for a while now. The "if you build IT, they will come" mentality has been pretty much a lost cause in recent years. It takes more than that.

If they took some of the $20 million it costs to build a new ride and put it toward employee wages that would be a start.

Mr. Six you bad ass muthaf'er, RIP

I have two words for you...

The Noid

Know what this is? Some of you might, some of you might not. The Noid was a highly marketed character from Domino's pizza in the 1980s. He was everywhere... toys, games, commerical after commercial after commercial.

Bottom line... he was everywhere, then quickly bit the dust. Much like Mr. Six.

Domino's, of course, has far outlasted the character... as will be the case of Mr. Six.

Good riddance... Mr. Six was easily just as annoying as "The Noid". And on par with those pesky California Rasins. ;-)

Shaggy - An admitted loather of cutsie commercial fads.

Just another 6Flags decision that makes no sense to anyone not making a seven figure income.
Small wonder they can't get it together.

'when people make a lot of money, they lose their minds..."
-Eddie Murphy beverly hills cop. *** Edited 12/2/2005 3:23:12 PM UTC by FLYINGSCOOTER***

Interesting article links Redman. Ditch Mr. Six because he appeals to teens, not to parents. Snyder believes that Six Flags will reach an audience with more disposable income if he markets to parents rather than teenagers.

He may be right, but that's not what I see when I visit parks. Except for destination parks like Disney and Universal, parents don't fork out hundreds for a family entertainment. When it comes to a day-trip to a regional theme park, I don't see the same free spending attitude. If anything, I see the oposite -- families using discount coupons for admission, eating lunch from a cooler in the parking lot, not spending money on games and souvenirs because "we paid to ride the rides." IMO, for a typical weekend entertainment, teenagers are willing to spend a lot more than families with small children.

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kRaXLeRidAh said:
And it seriously is about time that someone put an end to all these sensational rollercoasters and thrillrides that have been built on a yearly basis! With Snyder's capital reduction plan, my dream will have come true! Not new capital expansions meaning no new rides, family or thrill for years to come at its parks!

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You'd rather be $2+ billion in debt and closing parks? Because that's reality. You can't spend your way out of debt. You can, however, file for bankruptcy.

Everyone quickly forgets that 15 years ago, Six Flags was still knee-deep in the ride-rotation program. What happened to the park that Six Flags threw the biggest single-year investment into? Sold... and now it's even underperforming for its current owner.

Mr. Six seems to have struck a chord with young teenage boys. Mr. Snyder wants to strike a chord with those boys' parents because, well, they have more money. Makes sense to me.

I don't think Cedar Fair expected to turn around Geauga Lake over night after years of mismanagement by Six Flags.

In fact, Cedar Fair only in this past year (the first of a full year of operation) realized the extent of the problems. A year, by the way, in which Northeast Ohio saw some of it's most difficult economic times in recent memory and a year in which Cedar Point even struggled.

If this is true... good riddance. Here's hoping I never have to see an ugly old man dancing to that annoying song ever again.

I don't know if anyone else has seen it, but Folgers Coffee is running a Christmas (I had to make sure I said Christmas so Jerry Falwell's 1500 lawyers don't come after me for saying holiday instead*) commercial that looks to be about 20 years old. So yes, some things can still work after a long period of time.

I kind of disagree that they could've gotten another year out of Mr. Six. Now if they gone the PacMan route and introduced a Mrs. Six, then they might have had something:)The problem with some commercials is that they're interesting or cute, but 10 seconds later you can't remember what the commercial was for. Case in point: The guy who talks about how he has a golf club membership, a new car etc. etc., and how does he do it "I'm in debt up to my eyeballs." It's a funny commercial, but I can't tell you who it was for.

With Mr. Six, you instantly knew it was for Six Flags and an hour later you could still remember it was for Six Flags (if you wanted to or not).

*Sad but true. It was in my paper this morning. He already has 600,000 people boycotting Target because they don't use the word "Christmas" in their current circulars.

but the problem with turning to families is that the rides as it is already cater to the teens...

I think Geauga Lake was in a similar position, they have (waht, 11 coasters?) and then they came out with that "i'm fun" campaign and they tried to cater for families but the (lots of) teens simply stopped visiting... albeit there were other problems with the park...

I think Six Flags would hurt for a few years if they drastically changed their plans all at once...

I'm a little bit astounded to read Mr Six had so many fans here. Most people I've spoken with think he's flat out creepy. Sure it gets your attention, but like those new Burger King ads he doesn't exactly leave a positive impression. The comparison to "The Noid" was spot on.

It would be kind of cool to see him come back from the dead in zombie fashion for Fright Fest next year, though.

Maybe they can replace Mr. Six with the Spongmonkeys. I hear they are looking for work.

WE LIKE SIX FLAAAGGSSS

'CAUSE THEY ARE GOOOD TOOO USSS

WE LOVE SIX FLAGGGGGGSSSS

THEY ARE DIRTY

THEY'RE EXPENSIVE

WE HATE THE RIDES BECAUSE THEY CLOSE THEM

-- ... 10 BUCKS TO PARK MY CARR!!!

// spongemonkeys

PARODY OF THIS...
> http://www.slate.com/id/2095868/

good idea, jeffrey... :)

-- Alan Jacyszyn
/ *** Edited 12/2/2005 7:21:52 PM UTC by SFDL_Dude***