Six Flags provides performance update

I really don't understand how they continue to blame their performance on the "post-9/11" economy when small parks and even Cedar Fair are having a much better year than last year.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

proximity...(Great Adventure)

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I, am nobody, and nobody is pefect!

Somebody is way off base in my view of why people visit or don't.

So far I have visited about 9 Six Flags parks and I only have a desire to return except for to two of them. Probably because they didn't operate like the other SF parks. Those are SFGAM and SFSTL.

SFKK, SFNE, SFGADV and SFWOA all had some very serious issues that make me cring about going back even though a couple of those parks could be great by simply not doing the following.

1. One hour wait to get in the friggin parking lot due to only one attendent at the 8 booths + One train operation on many of their coasters and to me, Extremely high concession pricing. SFNE

2. Several of their premier rides down due to maintence or staffing issues+ One train operations and sometimes rude or could care less employees. SFGAdv. SFKK and SFWOA

Chuck who says why plan on going to ride something when it probably isn't running anyway or they make you wait 3 times as long on purpose.

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Charles Nungester.
Is it about coasters or friends? I say both! *** This post was edited by Charles Nungester on 10/4/2002. ***

When are they going to wake up and see the real problems? :(

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- Peabody

Actucally, while mentioning "9-11" they did *not* place the blame on the events. Indeed, it sounds like they are perplexed as to why *they* are not now recovering like everyone else.

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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do

I'm sure they know the real problems .. it just costs less to blame September 11th, than to actually fix things. (Actually, people are travelling less (look at the trouble the airlines are in), so there will be a decrease in attendance at the destination parks.. But Six Flags has SO much else it needs to work on..)

The ONLY thing a public company cares about is it's stock price .. It'll do WHATEVER it takes to get that stock up, while spending the least amount of money possible. It's pure evil. If you ever get the chance to work for a public company, run away VERY fast. It's just not worth the constant 'bending over'. I have worked at two public companies, and I'm itching to leave as soon as possible.

Cam.

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Cameron Silver

Im glad that SFWOA was mentioned to be up (of course, they said "cleveland") , anywho, perhaps that hyper will happen next year after all. *** This post was edited by john peck on 10/4/2002. ***

Public companies aren't all bad. Yes, I worked for one (Penton Media) that was pretty terrible, but they aren't all. Look at Cedar Fair... I doubt many would complain about stock price or dividends, and they spend in a manner that has made their parks top notch.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

They just need to wake up and realize that the parks which aren't performing well are the ones that NEED some new coasters! It's so STUPID to reward the flagship parks for good attendance with new coasters when the parks with poor attendance are in that situation because they AREN'T getting new coasters! HELLO, Six Flags! AstroWorld is the park that NEEDS to get new coasters three at a time, NOT Magic Mountain! Find the space, or sell the place!

Huh? Last quarter they were talking about Cleveland and New Jersey under-performing. They're two of the most gifted parks in the chain the last few years.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

SFAW is getting a new coaster, its blue, and is an arrow:)

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"I waited 4 hours for X and all i got was this stupid t-shirt"
Coaster Count: 112

I agree with Jeff, last time it was talk about how bad Cleveland was performing that their direct ad campaigns against Cedar Point had backfired, and now everything is okay?

They still don't have thier act together at Six Flags and until they get the customer service aspect down - they will never get much better.

[sarcasm]
You're real funny now Hurricane!
[/sarcasm]

Iron Dragon: This is exactly my point.

If they plonk down some cookie-cutter rides in the four big parks, attendance will be up so much more (across the whole chain), then if they do the same in all the little parks who need it.

It will cost them a lot more to add a ride to all the little parks, than it does to do the same to the four big ones. By increasing attendance by (say) 10% at all four big parks, they have a TON of extra people through the gates (this makes Six Flags look good, so their stock goes up). In comparison, they might have to (say) DOUBLE the number of visitors to about 10 smaller parks to equal the same number. (Yes, I know the numbers are a HUGE exaggeration .. I did it to explain a point..)

See .. they can increase the stock by simply buying four clones, and dumping them in their already top earning parks ... OR they can spend a bunch more money, fix up the smallerparks who really need it, and have the stock only go up the same amount. What would you do??

(Now, we both know that fixing the smaller parks will have a tremendously good long term affect ... But all most public companies care about, is the next quarter.)

Cam.

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Cameron Silver

They arent recovering as much as other parks because they treat their guests in a inferior manner!!!. It starts with having to have your guests go thru a metal detector to enter the park making the guest think that safety is such a problem that you have to check everybody for guns/knives. If you believe your guests are honest like alot of parks you dont do this!!
Then it gets down to the quality of the food/rides being down often with no urgency seen that they want them up and running and then the quality of the people who work at the parks. Be it from letting large amounts of kids run rampant causing trouble/using foul language/line skippingand then not having a large amount of rides that the whole family can ride together. These things cause families not want to come back often which results in lower attendance and less revenue. When you cater to a younger crowd you are going to have problems that are going to keep families from visiting often and spending less money. They need to hire somebody from a disney/universal park and re-direct their training of employee's and how they manage the parks with a emphasis on a nice family enviroment.
As much as i love coasters Six Flags needs to put some money into family rides like a Dr Suess Ride/Haunted Mnsion/Pirates of the Caribean as exmaple of rides that can be done by the whole family and not just the over 48 to 54 inch crowd!!
Or shows like Its Tough to be a Bug/T23d or the propsed Shrek show at US. Not everyone wnats to be tossed and turned around!!

Not to say "I told you so" but I knew SFWoA's attendance improved thanks in part to Shouka. She has been a huge draw to the Wild Life side of the park and it appears everyone loves her. Kudos also to the tigers at Tiger Island.

X Factor

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SFWoA: An Unofficial Guide
http://sfohio.tripod.com

Now last year at Six Flags New England was great, organized, and not much of a problem despite the minor issue with Superman Ride of Steel's accident, but this year there's a new guy in charge, and ever since the first day it opened this year the lines have been enormous, so many rides have been malfunctioning and shut down, and it's a real drag. I have to admit that he did a great job on Fright Fest effects,etc. But the fact is that this year has given me doubts as to if it's really worth getting a season pass next year. I'm a hardcore coaster fan and ride SROS and BMDK all the time, but the organization in the park has really plummitted. What are you guys' thoughts on that?

Bob O, Six Flags isn't the only chain that has metal detectors. For example, Kennywood has metal detectors and checks bags. I'd rather wait another few minutes, than assume everything is "ok".
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If coasters are your life, than maybe you need to re-examine your life. *** This post was edited by Intamin Fan on 10/5/2002. ***

Intamin Fan, I agree with you to a point. But I also have to say that going through metal detectors to go into a park is so annoying. I just don't understand why so many other parks of all different sizes that don't use them have just as little problems as the parks that do use them. I could see using them a few years ago when there was alot of violence at the parks, but I just don't see their use now.