Shapiro: Charging for autographs and pictures - more line cutting

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You have plenty of time on your hands, don't you?

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And I still have the money to spend (and don't mind doing so) at SF and upgrade to a q-bot. I'm your worst nightmare. ;)

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So how does that play into Shapiro's idea (dream, goal) to make Six Flags parks "destinations" on par with Disney?

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I might be mistaken, but I believe it was others who put those words into his mouth. Is there an actual quote that says he wants to be 'a destination on par with Disney"? I'm honestly not sure.

The only thing I found that even came close was the Washington Times article from February where a reporter writes:

"Mark Shapiro is two months into his tenure as chief executive officer of Six Flags Inc., and he's outlined plans to turn the theme park company into an alternative to Walt Disney World and bring in corporate partnerships."

But that same article quotes Shapiro as saying:

"I know the hardship many families have making the jaunt to Orlando; my mission is to make Six Flags the better alternative,"

Seems like he's not trying to draw people from near and far, but rather make the people near feel that SF is an equal or better alternative to that big expensive trip to Orlando.

How ironic that the discussion here is how expensive the park seems to be getting while Shapiro sees this as the alternative vacation for families who have 'hardship' in making a trip to Orlando.

Sounds to like he wants to position the SF parks somewhere in-between. He sells it to those folks in Harrisburg as "We have more to do than your local park, but we're cheaper and closer than a trip to Disney"

Seems reasonable to me. (well, except in SoCal where there is Disney parks nearby :) )

He sells it in HARRISBURG that way?

Wow, that DOES take some *chutzpah*...pardon the Yiddish, I'm taking Berlitz... ;)

Seriously, though, there's REAL good reasons there's no SF parks in PA....the list is available on rcdb... :)

Bur with Ford and most big corporations cutting THOUSANDS of good paying job and OUTSOURCING them to China, India, and Mexico there are FAR LESS people with enough disposable income to afford going to Six Flags. If Shapiro think's he trying to lure families who are in hardships than he needs to offer as good of a deal as HW and learn to run a park will Will Koch & Dick Knoebels! Once the middle class has shrunk to near zero and the income gap has widen enough between the rich and the poor. Six Flags will close all of their park since only the top 20% or less will have enough money to spend there. HW and other smaller parks will get their business as people discover them. And now HW is BIGGER than some SF parks!! :-) SFKK & SFSL days are numbered because of HW! See I told you so!! *** Edited 3/24/2006 6:22:16 AM UTC by Pink Floyd Fanatic***

And for me sitting here in Southern New Jersey. Holiday World, Knoebels an the other nice little parks are not as accessible as GAdv or SFA so guess what company gets more of my hard earned money. (not that I don't go to Dorney, Hershey and make 2 treks yearly to Knoebels). But when I need my quick fix of coasters where do I go ... SFGAdv. *** Edited 3/24/2006 1:09:03 PM UTC by dragonoffrost***

I believe that it is rediculous to have to pay for an autograph. If you look at the people who attend amusement parks, it's usually the middle class citizens, who may have happened to earn some extra cash and want to take their family to an amusement park. Now when Little Johnny or Little Suzie sees a character they know like Bugs Bunny or Tweety Bird, they are going to want a picture/autograph. But maybe the parents don't have the money to pay for the picture/autograph. I.E. they only budgeted for food, drinks, parking, admission, ect. And they told their children that they would be able to see Tweety and the rest of the gang, but they didn't plan on spending the extra cash. It will be a BIG turn away.

Most people don't really know about things happening in the amusement park industry, they just plan trips to the parks. If they go to the park and find out they have to pay $10 for a little "Pre-Copied" piece of paper with some scribling or Just the characters name on it, I think they'd be a little mad. I mean yeah those same people would go to some kind of store and buy the same exact thing at a higher price, but they came to an amusement park to have fun with their families. If they didn't budget for the autograph, but promised their kids they would get something from one or more of the characters, then not only would you have upset parents, but the children would be upset, and the parents would save up money, and travel to an amusement park that isn't as pricy and is more "Middle Class" friendly.

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Lord Gonchar said:

And I still have the money to spend (and don't mind doing so) at SF and upgrade to a q-bot. I'm your worst nightmare. ;)

)

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Not even close, Monsieur Gonch. I'd say more like a few laughs. :) Imagining you waving your Q-bot at the common folk tauntingly, telling them you have the money to spend and don't mind doing so! LMAO!

But I'm hours away from the nearest Six Flags park (like you say, we all go local) and have less reason to go now than ever before, so I guess I'll never discover the joys of the Q-bert. I'll stick to those 80 cent Whip rides and free parking @ Knoebels (= 65 cent Whip ride with invisible parking fee added) and that little local park in Hershey that has less to offer than Shapiro-land.

Aww gee. Now you're getting personal...

...and anyone who has used q-bot knows the proper etiquette is to give the common folk the finger. Gosh!

(Note - wiping one's brow with a hundred dollar bill to remove the offensive bead of sweat that has formed due to the brisk walk directly to the station up the fastlane queue and dropping it for the plebians to wrestle over is also acceptable)

I fully encourage you to support Knoebels, they'll need approximately 93 of your whip rides to equal one person entering the park over in Jersey.

And hey! With a yearly attendance of around 3 million, it'll only take 279,000,000 whip rides to equal SF's gate. Then maybe you'll get some actual pavement to park on. ;)

And Gonch I bet you do have a good paying job to pay for all of your SF trips and your Roller Coaster Tycoon pinball machine. I assume the pinball machine is yours in your profile pic! Right?

But one place I think most of us would agree is raise the season pass prices. I don't think $120-150 for a SP & Season Parking Pass is out of line to a park like SFOG if they try their very best to run the rides at full capacity and when they are running at less than full capacity to make absolutely sure in increase capacity for a major ride when waits exceeds 1/2 hour until the capacity is maxed out.

Where Qbot might work without feeling ripped of is when you made made your season pass pay for itself than visit another SF park and if the schedule is too tight to hit all the rides with long lines than it may be worth it. Qbot is a better deal for SP holders than people who visits the park on a single day.

Aww gee. Now you're getting personal...

Give it up, RGB...I called dips on Gonch long ago! ;)

The best part is that the pinball machine was an impulse buy. I stumbled by it in an arcade and had the $4000 in my pocket. ;)

Us q-bot people carry that kind of cash.

I've only been to 8 SF parks in my entire life. I tend to prefer places where the employees don't seem to resent the fact that your there and where they can actually have ice for your drink (true story - SFWOA 2002) and so forth. That kind of thing.

But that's a whole different story. The discussion at hand has to do with pricing and there's absolutely no way I can fault the guys who just bought the company for promising to improve things and bringing prices to what they should've been to keep the company out of debt. It's what the old guys should of done 5 years ago.

I would just like to add that a lot of you like to chime in and kiss HW ass by saying things like "parks like HW are the ones that are going to win out in all of this!".

Umm...don't get me wrong, Holiday World seems like an amazing park, but it's in Indiana!?! And if everybody starts going to Holiday World because Sux Flags, well, sucks, then Holiday World is going to have 3,000,000 people a year, 2 hour lines, broken down coasters, Q bots, no more free soda, etc...

Also, sure HW has (soon to be) 3 of the greatest wooden coasters ever, but how many B&M's do they have? How many Intamins? How can you even compare HW to a SF park when they aren't even in the same league (ride wise)??

I've never been to Holiday World, but I will stress that it seems AMAZING. I will certainly be there this year. But it just gets really old when everybody kisses their ass just because Paula hangs out here and it seems like the "cool" thing to do.

Some of you hate Six Flags sooo much, yet you drool over all these amazing B&M and Intamin creations. Who gives us 75% of these coasters? Six Flags.

^^ That's where Cedar Fair's 8 parks & Paramount's parks comes into play. They've got the B&M's, they've got the latest & greatest... AND they're not eventually jacking everything up to obscure pricing (in Cedar Fair's case, they're lowering)...

Although Superman at New England is amazing along with a few other goodies at other Six Flags entities... I surely won't miss them if Paramount, Busch, and Cedar Fair offer the same/similar rides at a much better deal in the long-run.

DB-II: But that's the rub aint it? Are prices at Para/Busch/CF really *that* much of a better deal in the long run? I would say for most SF visitors, they are not. As Gonch has pointed out, the cost per visit isnt even 150%, let alone double or triple. And you have to add in the fact that for most of these regional visitors, there really isnt another available option (B-more/Washington, LA notable exceptions).

I mean, I personally enjoy Hersheypark over every other park I visited within a 3-4hour radius (from DC). But I'd get a season pass to SFA or even PKD long before I *think* about getting one for Hershey. Why? Convience! Going to Hersy, while enjoyable, is more of a hassle. Either I have to plan to be awake for 4 hours of driving added to my park visit, or I have to pony up for lodging (I'm too bougie to sleep in my car :)).

Hey, look, if you dont enjoy yourself at the SF parks, I'd *encourage* you not to go. I know *I* wouldnt go. Perhaps I've been fortunate, but I've yet to have a "horror story" experience at any SF park. Line jumping? Yes. Slow lines? Yes. Trash? Yes, but somehow this never brought me to the boilling point of irritation that it has to some. I guess if I ever felt like they didnt want me there, I'd be pissed and perform a personal boycott (I do this with many other things), but I've never really felt that way. Maybe I'm just so much of a drug--err coaster addict that I'll endure anything to get a fix--err ride! :)
lata, jeremy

Dips or dibs? :) Don't worry, Moosh. Doesn't sound like our paths will cross all that often.

BTW, it's not an unpaved parking lot, it's a pervious surface for infiltration and groundwater recharge. PA-DEP goes all gaga over stuff like that.

It may take 93 Whip rides @ Knoebels to equal one person through the gate @ SFGAdv, but who has the 2.1 billion in debt again (give or take a few hundred million in accrued interest per month)? I guess it's all that money Knoebels is making up charging for other things in the park when they offer free parking.

LOL RGB! I hope our paths do cross someday. Anyone with your sense of humor would be fun to hang out with. PPPerhaps?

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Lord Gonchar said:

(Note - wiping one's brow with a hundred dollar bill to remove the offensive bead of sweat that has formed due to the brisk walk directly to the station up the fastlane queue and dropping it for the plebians to wrestle over is also acceptable)

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ROTFL

If I could make this my signature, I would.

Actually, I have a confession. At Great Adventure I do the evil laugh while waving my Q-bot and passing people in line. Does that make me an evil bastige?

ROFL...I give people in the stand-by lines at the Disney parks an evil laugh as I pass them, too! ;)

^ The difference, Moosh, is that at Disney you get extra rides by using your big sexy BRAIN... ;)

^^ 'Tuan...yes, yes it does... ;) :)

RGB and I crossed paths last year at PPP, but I wasn't able to quite see his nametag because it was facing porcelain.

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...but who has the 2.1 billion in debt again...

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The guys who used to give the gate away and had no idea what there parks were really worth - which is exactly why the new pricing is such a good thing for the company.

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The difference, Moosh, is that at Disney you get extra rides by using your big sexy BRAIN...

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Well, brains and a little luck...

...which is, oddly enough, how those who buy into q-bot probably got the money. ;)

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Does that make me an evil bastige?

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Nope. It means you understand your place in the system. ;)