No re-entry at Sux Flags this Year

Theres been many suggestions to increase profit and grow the business in this very thread.

Sure what you want and what you get many times aren't gonna happen but there are proven facts to buisness.

Make things affordable and people are less reluctant to buy food, drinks, merchandise.

Training of employees and providing a POSSITIVE experience for guest. Making them WANT TO COME BACK.

Having advertised rides open as much as possible.

This wasn't just coaster boards raising hell over something coaster geeks don't like. This made MSNBC and NBC news which is national media.

Chuck

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This wasn't just coaster boards raising hell over something coaster geeks don't like. This made MSNBC and NBC news which is national media.

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Yet another reason coaster geeks shouldn't be claiming victory.

Each one of those negative articles held more weight than every post on every enthusiast board combined...

...and created a ton of press for SF. (See conspiracy theory #3)

EDIT- forgot this at first

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Make things affordable and people are less reluctant to buy food, drinks, merchandise.

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While I will back you on the general customer service complaints, I will never back the pricing thing fully. SF is no more expensive than any of the big chain parks, nor their food any worse. Those other chains aren't hurting. It has to be something else.

And besides, there's more to it than simply lowering prices. You have to consider margins and sales. These guys have access to numbers in which to base these decisions. I don't.

All I know is I'd rather sell 1000 of something at a $2 profit than 1500 units at a $1 profit.

You have to consider that lower price doesn't automatically mean enough sells to make up the difference.

*** Edited 1/15/2006 12:35:51 AM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

Bad press.

Something I wouldn't have taken a chance on when your chain is obviously in trouble to begin with.

Chuck

Bad press with the intentions of changing a policy that was never going to happen anyway. Thus creating a good-guy story out of nothing.

Makes you wonder. Especially given these guys' history of pulling this sort of thing.

It's not any crazier than thinking enthusiasts single-handedly changed the way they'll do business in 2006. :)

EDIT - Typing too fast, spelling

*** Edited 1/15/2006 12:40:08 AM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

Wait, Gonch, you mean that enthusiasts are not at the center of the theme park Universe?

Really! The nerve of you to even suggest such a thing!

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Lord Gonchar said:Even more so, refer to the story of them offering season tickets only to Redskins credit card holders and the reversal of policy in less than a week. This story mirrored that one in every way.

What kind of total flakes throw wacky ass ideas out left and right with no regard and then immediately recant them when faced with the slightest backlash?

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Why do you ask questions AFTER you answer them?

:)

Seriously though, the real difference is that they're not necessarily being faced with "the slightest backlash" in either case. They're being faced with a dose of reality...

Somewhere in the handbook of customer relations, it says "thou shalt not P.O. the hand that feeds you". Not sure where, exactly... ;)

Maybe they should read it BEFORE coming up with these policies...seriously, you wanted all season ticket holders to have a Redskins credit card? What's next, I can only get my SF season pass with a SF credit card? ;)

:)

*** Edited 1/15/2006 2:21:03 AM UTC by rollergator***

Consider them rhetorical questions, Gator. :)

Shoosh Gator, don't give them any ideas. I seriously doubt this will be the last policy/decision they'll throw out to gage public reaction. The fact is, I may be an enthusiast, but I also have family and friends who are simple parkgoers. You think parks don't know this? Why else would they scan coaster message boards? We all know they do.

I still say rip an idea from Paramount. Start sending out ride/food/policy surveys to your season pass holders, you already have our e-mail addresses at your disposal. Of course they'll have to weed out enthusiasts, who'll no doubt use that as a oppotunity to either take a rip at the company, or try and munipulate the surveys by asking for a giga-coaster for SFA...;)

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Lord Gonchar said:
Even more so, refer to the story of them offering season tickets only to Redskins credit card holders and the reversal of policy in less than a week. This story mirrored that one in every way.

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The policy was you could purchase and renew your Redskins Season Tickets only with a Redskins Master Card and I almost walked away from my season tickets because of that policy.

The reversal of that policy wasn't one of the Redskin's choosing. It took Master Card steping in and saying you can restrict your purchases to Master Card but not favor one banks Master Card over the Master Card of another bank. That violates the terms and conditions of your contract. If Dan Snyder had his way, tickets would have to be purchased/renewed with a Redskins Master Card.

Also, if SF runs their concessions the way the Redskins run their stadium, you will see every register open, with someone ringing it. Also, look for concessions to be farmed out. Those items that aren't nationally branded will be farmed out to a stadium conessionaire like Centerplate Concessions. Security... will probably be farmed out, I wouldn't be surprised to see ticket taking farmed out... I wouldn't be surprised to see the metal detectors history and in the parks where it's necessary patron's will be "frisked".

I honestly think where it makes since to run a amusement park like a football stadium, SF will do it.

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Security... will probably be farmed out

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Maybe that's a good thing...

RavenTDD, Your sarcasm wasn't obvious to me. A winky may have helped.

I still got to say what I wanted about the stupid policy, even if it was a reply to your misunderstood humor. (lol)

The enthusiast may not have changed this policy per se. However the bad press from places like Motely Fool and About.com that were contacted by enthusiasts and their writers that used info from boards like this to write about the situation helped turn the tide.

Never underestimate the power of the internet. Communication between customers about companies is so easy now compared to pre internet days. Don't for one second think that companies are not sensitive to what is being said about them on the web.

The history of Red Zone and squeezing $$ from customers is well known. They would have done this in a second and did, and they thought it would just slide thru without notice. But the enthusiast community is watching and sounded the alarm. The writer at Motley Fool picked up on the story and reported it as another crazy internet rumor and made it a joke. When "we" showed him the SF website proof he was stunned and wrote about the stupid cash grab at SF. No company likes this kind of pub, especially from an the investment media. Soon after the more mainstream press picked up on it and SF backed down.

Did coaster boards alone change the policy - no. Did they play a small role - yes.

Think the next time SF comes up with a new cash grab they will be more careful how they implement and spin the decision - yes.

Which begs the question...Are Motley Fool employees crazy enthusiasts whose opinions are to be discounted? Or were they just reasonable humans who recognized an idiot policy for what it was?

...in further note...is an idiot policy still an idiot policy if the messenger is coasterboy?

I sometimes have trouble following along as I don't know whio is and is not reasonable coasterboy versus crazy coasterboy!

...is there a list available?

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Jeffrey R Smith said:
Which begs the question...Are Motley Fool employees crazy enthusiasts whose opinions are to be discounted? Or were they just reasonable humans who recognized an idiot policy for what it was?

...in further note...is an idiot policy still an idiot policy if the messenger is coasterboy?

I sometimes have trouble following along as I don't know whio is and is not reasonable coasterboy versus crazy coasterboy!

...is there a list available?

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The writer from Motely Fool probably wasn't even interested in theme parks or coasters. He used the story to show how crazy internert rumors can spread about companies. When he found out it was true and he hadn't done enough homework to make sure it was just a rumor in his first article (didn't feel he had to since it was so "ridiculous") he wrote another lambasting Six Flags.

Meanwhile Six Flags was trying all kinds of spins to justify the policy (none which was the true reason of selling more food) and eventually had tro back off.

To answer your question the writer was just a resonalble human like most people who want a fair deal for a fair price.

I was posting at the begining of this thread but hadn't felt like reading all of this ranting on the past few pages, so I apologise if this is old news.

At No Coaster Con 2006 on Saturday, a Six Flags representative, stated that all the rumors of Six Flags not allowing re-entry are False.

Just a guess here...I think they MIGHT decide to try this policy out at GAdv in '07, then decide from there where to go....

Then again, these guys have proven to be ANYTHING but predictable...LOL! :)

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Just a guess here...I think they MIGHT decide to try this policy out at GAdv in '07, then decide from there where to go....

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I think you may be right.

If a SF rep said the rumors were false he or she is a lying SOB. They put the policy in and then backed off when the fallout began. For a rep of their park to act like it was a rumor and they never put in the policy by them just shows the style of the new management.

well he did not say explicitly that the information was "false". He just said that Six Flags decided that all Six Flags parks would still have a re-entry policy. that they would not put extra burden on their customers.

I dont know about you guys but I remember a time when my family and I were GP, and we would have been adversly affected by this because we allways brought a picnic lunch to have at parks and then went to a resturant nearby and sometimes returned to the park after that, to say that the GP wouldnt notice is bunk; dumb money waster GP wouldnt (ie teens and young adults) but smart ones (ie most families) would.