Mr. Six is history

If snyder screws up, whether it be with good intentions or not, the Stock price is gonna reflect it. With that being said, it seems to be creeping ever so closely to that infamous $6.50 that he wants, then he can buy the necessary shares to have full control.

That sucks!

i don't think he has bad intentions. i just think his ego is clouding his judgement and making him believe he knows more than he does. and he doesn't need the stock price to go under 6.50, he already has the seats on the board. he has control now. in fact, he may not want the buy the rest of the shares anyways. why would he when he can have his cake and eat it too?

I'll remain optimistic about Snyder's changes. I never really disliked the Mr. Six ads (annoying to me at first, but grew on me), but I really don't think the company is shooting itself in the foot because they're getting rid of this particular marketing icon. Who knew if the ads were really all that successful? Did the parks' attendance rise drastically because of them?

I've bashed Snyder before, but the fact is he's a good businessman. And as I said, I'll remain optimistic that he'll turn things around for Six Flags until he proves otherwise.

*** This post was edited by Vater 12/6/2005 12:31:55 PM ***

seems like the 3rd quarter results and the announcement that they will make their projected revenue for the year means that they had a good year. i'd imagine, with the campaign in the second year, it contributed. going away from it because snyder thinks it's too teen is a little crazy. from what i can tell (being at the park) moms and little kids seem to love it.

I can understand going after families - thats the whole point. But to get away from the "thrill-seeking teenager" and go after children?? Is this guy nuts?? How many children meet the 48" and 52" height requirements? There is plenty of opportunity to attract the younger ones, but give me a break - an amusement park is made for amusement.

As far as brandng is concerned, I could care less. A ride is a ride. Whether it's branded or not, as long as there is THEMING - that's what counts. Lets see if he can get this part right, at least.

Dumping Mr. Six is a HUGE mistake. He is an icon that the younger generation, who will be spending their money soon, heavily identifies with. Take him away and you have millions of kids crying, "Mama, where's the funny old guy??" Sure, they'll get over it, but it leaves a bad taste in their mouth. I think that makes more sense in my mind than it does on the screen...

Kev

From what I recall, the "Mr Six" adds featured people of all ages getting on the bus because it was "Play Time", not "Thrill Time". While Six Flags made many mistakes, Mr. Six was great and I believe had a direct effect on higher attendance for the chain.

Mr Six showed how an old guy can be young at heart, and if someone his age can play, the whole family can play. This was not a marketing concept geared only toward teenagers.

Snyder makes me shake my head. The parks already have cartoon characters. Who cares if McDonald's or Subway is in the park? He is just trying to make a quick buck off the food companies with co-marketing arrangements. He is not thinking about what is good for Six Flags in the long run.

Snyder is clueless in my opinion, and I think we are at the beginning of the ultimate break up of Six Flags, with many of the smaller parks unfortunately closing.

How many children meet the 48" and 52" height requirements? There is plenty of opportunity to attract the younger ones, but give me a break - an amusement park is made for amusement.

no children meet those requirements, and snyder knows it, that's how you know he is planning on shutting down or removing some of those rides in favor of 3-D and 4-D interactive family attractions that can bring people in rain or shine.

I know some 7 year olds that are over 48", so plenty of kids are tall enough. Most kids under 48" can go on most flat rides if accompanied by an adult, going by the rules at CP which I'm most familiar with, but is probably similar at Six Flags.

A 3D simulator isn't the key. Clean parks, reasonably priced and good food, customer service oriented employees, excellent maintenance and a safe environment will bring in the families.

Many Six Flags parks have a good ride selection for everyone in the family. Snyder's ideas do not address the problems Six Flags has.

I maintain that his co-marketing arrangements will make a quick buck but not stimulate attendance. The big parks will continue, but the marginal parks will struggle. This will justify closing under performing parks and selling valuable land.

I really think he is going in this with the intent to sell off a lot of real estate, run the profitable parks for awhile and then sell the profitable parks either as a package or individually.

i don't think he wants to sell the real estate. i think he wants to change the parks fairly drastically away from the heritage of coasters and towards something that is more family friendly -- which means fewer coasters, fewer thrill seekers and more entertainment-based products as opposed to rides.

Hey people, he's emaciated. He's creepy. He's pasty white.

And that goes for Mr. Six as well.

I think Pete and dcb1008 are both right on some of their points. While I believe that Snyder is interested in selling off some of the real estate the parks sit on for some sort of development, be it residental and/or commercial (which is why he would pick a real estate developer to sit on his board), I also believe that he wants to keep some of the properties and adding a type of attraction similar to the ESPN Sports Zone, which includes interactive sports gaming, video games, food and alcohol as well as large screen TV's for viewing sports events. This is why I think he wanted one of the former ESPN guys who helped open the first Sports Zone in Baltimore on his board.

I just pulled up the article, which has a picture of Mr. Six on the side. My THREE year old started yelling "Six Flags! Six Flags!". I think Snyder doesn't have a clue. Hope I'm wrong.

yeah, the dumping of mr. six falls under snyder cutting his nose off to spite his face. i think he is campaigning on issues that are lightning rods for the press so he can get his points across in the media. there have been many article written by cinical newspaper people who take the whole 'creepy' slant, but everytime i'm in a park, everyone there seems to love the music and the character. they sold out of every bobblehead they had and now there getting 100 bucks on eBay. i think its just another example of snyder not really caring about the current customer base and ignoring what we want.
*** This post was edited by dcb1008 12/8/2005 6:14:23 PM ***

Maybe Snyder will get Joe Gibbs to take over. There's talk that he wants to retire from coaching the Redskins because things aren't going so well on the second go-round.

i also heard snyder's short list of replacements includes george allen and joe capp.

Don't forgot Steve Spurrier.

spurrier is too young and inexperienced to run an nfl team, no one would hire a guy with no experience and give him the reigns of a big, important concern like that...wait a minute...

So will Snyder create a partnership with Pfizer so that Kingda Ka can be sponsored by Viagra? "When you've got a hard time getting up and running..."