Shapiro on CNBC

The same article mentions that they are evaluating all their real estate holdings, and that the sale of the chain is stil possible. To me, that means their heads are not in the right place at all.

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DWeaver said:
"I think this industry got drunk on roller coasters," Shapiro said. "Big roller coasters simply do not get the return on investments that they used to."

And I think he's right. The 'rollercoaster' market has been over-saturated, at least when it comes to Six Flags.

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When you HAVE one or two coasters, adding more coasters IS a good investment...when you have 15 already, you've long-since past the point of diminishing returns....

And then there's SFWoA...LOL!

Your best bet is the same as it always has been - diversification of product while remaining true to your core business...;)

DBJ, what article were you reading?

"I'm not interested in selling off Six Flags, I'm interested in growing the business," he said.

That's a direct quote. What you mentioned was from the writer of the article, and not a direct quote from anyone. Not to mention, anyone in their right mind would keep that option open. This is a business, not a church.

Besides, that sounds like a win-win for you. If they grow the business and then pull out and sell, perhaps the next regime will be more to your liking. ;) *** Edited 2/15/2006 3:32:38 PM UTC by DWeaver***

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DBJ said:
All we need to do is look at 3 of the most "profitable" coasters of all time...Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn. While they were expensive in their first years of being built, and it does fly in the face of the need for instant results to report to the shareholders, look at how long they have remained popular! Decades!

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Well take a look at Everest. I've heard the pricetag was $100 million dollars and that's before marketing. That would leave little money for the other parks in the chain (and BatwingFanSFA will be more than happy to play you the broken record on that one). When you're two-billion dollars in the hole, you don't make the situation worse by taking a huge risk with a mega-multi-million dollar attraction. And while the coasters you've listed have been popular, Disney has had a lot of high-profile rides and attractions that were either severely remodeled, replaced, or torn down over the years.

Gator...two words for you...

Go Vols! :-)

^ If you're talking hoops, then WOW! has that been a surprise, UK falling on hard times and the Vols leading the league...just wow!

On the gridiron, Phat Phil seems to have *almost* worn out his stay in Knoxville, one more year like last year and he'll have to "belly-up" to the unemployment line...just like Kieran Burke... ;)

I still say the best investment, for Shapiro, for the country, for us individuals, is *diversification*...SF has PLENTY of "thrill rides", not enough FAMILY entertainment...but it took ESPN folks to figure that out? ;)

And what does the E in ESPN stand for???? ;)

I don't think Shapiro is missing it as much as people think.. I reference (again) a quote above:

"I think this industry got drunk on roller coasters," Shapiro said. "Big roller coasters simply do not get the return on investments that they used to."

I think an emphasis should be placed on '...that they used to.' He's not saying coasters don't have ROI. He's just acknowledging what we've known for a while - the coaster prime is over.

Interesting that he came from Disney who tried doing the same thing on animated films. They used to come out once every.. what.. 4 years or so when I was little? When they did, Disney saw huge ROI from a single film. So they looked at their cash cow and started churning them out as fast as they could (suffering quality in the process) and the ROI went down. SF tried the same thing with coasters with less-than-optimal results. Shapiro is just realizing that it's not a good idea to keep doing something that doesn't work in the current market trends. He never said "We'll never build another coaster again because they cost to much and never provide a return on investment"

Well Shapiro visited SFA today and it was covered by at least one local news station. Same old stuff we've heard about the other parks, however, Terry Prather (former GM at SFNO) was noted as being the GM of SFA. Not Janet Porter.

Hmm that's interesting. Wonder what's going on there? I like the idea of more employees. Maybe the coasters will be more efficient and load/unload faster. A parade sounds good, too. More family oriented, I guess?

Also, what is up with them opening April 8?? Don't they usually open the end of March? I wanted to go for around opening, but thought that I wouldn't get on the bigger coasters then. Better to wait like 2 weeks. :)