Six Flags in 2014 *YAAAAWWWWNNNN*

With the exception of Six Flags Great Adventure and Great America, it seems that 2014 is going to be a sleepy year for thrillseekers as far as new rides. Wake me up in time for 2015. Perhaps Six Flags will finally add new major roller coasters to parks who could use them - Discovery Kingdom, St. Louis, and America.

When I looked at the anouncements from Six Flags over the last week, I had the opposite feeling. Wow, SF is making some sort of addition to most of their parks. At least they're not building expensive new coasters in every park every year leading themselves into debt/bankruptcy once again. Hopefully, they learned from past mistakes and will not repeat them. It's all about sustainable growth without mortgaging the future.

I agree. I thought it was impressive amount of restraint on their part. I thought that they certainly maxed out on how much hype a CEO can exude while standing in front of a green screen, but hey, more power to them.

To be honest, I thought the coolest announcement was SFDK being open year-round. I love that park.

I think the way Six Flags is being run is better than any other time since it was created. This is the second or third year in a row they've ensured that every park in the chain has gotten some kind of new addition. It's actually pretty crazy to expect large additions across the board at every park, and it's even crazier that this used to be the case in the late 90s and early oughts. SFA had Twoface and Joker's Jinx installed in the same year and then the next year built Superman!

Nothing that six flags did this year was stupid. They've been extremely smart.

Well, there was one thing they did get wrong. I mean, all those announcements and not one was for a new campground?

They're adding what is needed. Just like CF. seems both chains finally have the right management at the top.

sws said:

When I looked at the anouncements from Six Flags over the last week, I had the opposite feeling. Wow, SF is making some sort of addition to most of their parks. At least they're not building expensive new coasters in every park every year leading themselves into debt/bankruptcy once again. Hopefully, they learned from past mistakes and will not repeat them. It's all about sustainable growth without mortgaging the future.

But one thing youre over-looking is that we dont know WHAT the available budget was for 2014, especially since SF had turned in profitable numbers for the last three quarters. Besides, if your argument is going to rest on being conservative and not expanding every park with new roller coasters than so be it. Then answer me this - Why build a brand new wooden coaster in a park that just got a brand new wing coaster 18 months ago (and I might add the ONLY ONE owned by Six Flags) ? Why not take that woodie and add it to SFDK or take out that God awful Great American Scream Machine at SFOG and put it there ? And if youve ever been to Six Flags Fiesta Texas and seen the back boardwalk area, the terrain would be perfect a B&M wing coaster. It could employ the canyon's topography the same way Superman Krypton Coaster does. I just think the distribution of funds could have been used differently.

And that's why you don't run a major theme park chain.

Lord Gonchar said:

And that's why you don't run a major theme park chain.

Is that to say my ideas are TOTALLY without merit ?

I want to know why SFMM didn't get a new coaster. They haven't gotten a new one since the last one.

On a serious note, again, while having new coasters constantly would be lovely, it landlocks parks and I'm sure that the investments far exceed the returns. Personally, I think SFGAdv has been operating under one of the most brilliant expansion strategies. 2014 is the third year without a new coaster, and I think that conservative approach is a wise move on their part.

Totally without merit? No. Fanboy fantasies and wild speculation? Kinda.

Love the additions. The only one I am scratching my head at, is the addition of Hurricane Harbor at SFOG when they have a waterpark down the street. They IMO, are creating their own competition.

Coasterhound36 said:

Is that to say my ideas are TOTALLY without merit ?

This question cannot be answered by anyone except the people that make the decisions at Six Flags.

It never ceases to amaze me how people who have no access to data, no training in the industry, no contact with the workers on the ground, the investors, or the manufacturers of the rides, no guest information, no idea what has and what hasn't been tried before and what did and didn't work about it, and not even basic engineering or economics assume they know better than a huge team of upper management who do have all that information what's best for a multi-billion dollar company.

But I'm a coaster enthusiast! Doesn't that mean more than knowledge and experience!?!

To be fair, if corporate management always knew what was best, companies would always be profitable and never go out of business. Even in this industry, Six Flags nearly ran themselves into the ground just over ten years ago. I know what you mean, by the way, but I wanted to play devil's advocate.

That said, I too am glad that enthusiasts don't decide what new rides to add in parks. I can't imagine having no new coasters for seven years while we wait for all the inevitable Flying Turns to be built.

The addition of a major water park attraction, additional section of the waterpark, and new rides to be announced later at SFFT is brilliant. With SeaWorld taking their old free waterpark, redoing it and charging a separate admission, Six Flags is matching them and all for one price. SMART! Plus a second year of Iron Rattler. Good business decision.

Coasterhound36 said:

Is that to say my ideas are TOTALLY without merit ?

I don't know.

But nothing that SF did this year seems particularly unreasonable and your post seems mostly based on an emotional response to Six Flags' attempt to grow their park in the third largest metropolitan area in the United States.

Adding to what Andy said:

I think this could be turned into a watching sports analogy. Anybody who complains about management decisions about theme parks is that annoying guy who yells at the head coach in sporting events. The people who are running six flags has years of experience, and you do also, coasterhond. Your years of experience come from rct just as the sports heckler has his only experience in Madden.