Stocks for theme parks, hotels hit hard in wake of attacks

I knew that the Stock Market would be in total chaos yesterday!  My Tech Drawing teacher didn't beleive me, but look what happened...580 BILLION dollars of loss.  If that isn't chaotic, I don't know what is.
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Bomb Squad Technician

If you see me running, try and keep up!

This does not come as any surprise, does it?  I fear the whole tourism industry will be suffering in the short term future. 

This goes beyond folks feeling uncomfortable about air travel.  In times on uncertain future a lot of people will drop travel plans, and businesses are looking for alternatives to sending employees on trips.  Local attractions may benefit from folks choosing to seek diversionary entertainment in venues that are closer to home.

It's unfortunate but tourism will suffer for awhile. Speaking for myself, I have an international trip planned sometime within the next 75 days. As of now, I am still planning on going. Yes it includes air travel.  

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Personally, I wouldn't be disappointed to see SFTP dissolved and bought out by an entity or organization that actually does care about some of currently neglected parks.

Hey did anybody get a chance to "sell short" on like say American Airlines stock? One could have made a killing...
lata,
jeremy
--who has an abundance of ambition, but a dearth of dividends...

What is SFTP? Do you mean Six Flags, PKS? Why would you want the company dissolved? They've poured hundreds of millions of dollars into capital improvements, giving us dozens of new coasters to ride. How is that bad?

I've said it a hundred times. Six Flags, Cedar Fair whoever, puts their money where they'll get return. It's not any more complicated than that.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

PKS is definitely at a low, though I can't imagine anyone would want to buy into them and assume their colossal debt.

Six Flags has done some good things, and some bad things.  They've invested in new rides for CERTAIN parks (most notable, NOT my home park which is treated as a cash cow), but they've tragically cut the operating costs and really ruined the experience in many ways.  Veteran ride mechanics who knew how to keep the attractions running without so many breakdowns were let go, staffing to adequately run the attractions have been downsized, general maintenance and cleanliness has been neglected.  Premier/SFTP has put lots of money in building new rides, but put very little back towards actually keeping what they've got working well.  What fun is it to visit a dirty park where half the rides are down and the non upcharge attractions open are running single trains?   I haven't visited my home park once this year when at LEAST two of the remaining rides weren't down, and never have all the attractions been running at full capacity, not to mention everything looks so rusty and worn out.  Thanks Gary and Kieran, we really appreciate your efforts.

That's where I think they're on dangerous ground. Having debt is a fact of doing business, so in that respect I don't have a problem as long as their overall cash flow is positive. The problem seems to be, as you've indicated, reductions in quality staff. Operations are obviously suffering, or if they're not suffering, they aren't being run as well as they could.

The debt thing is only a big picture problem if their income bottoms out. So far they're in good shape, but what if they don't do as well in the next few years?

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

Amazing how one event can change everything, isn't it. Just a few months ago there were news items and discussions on this site about how amusement parks were some of the safest investments out there.

 

http://www.fool.com/news/foolplate/2001/foolplate010410.htm

PKS wasn't really doing that well before last week, though they've dropped about 3 points as a result of the overall market shakedown.

destination parks will be hit the hardest, which is good for SF since no one in the contianental U.S. is more that 300 miles away from a SF owned park.  I don't see how amusment parks can be unsafe, coolers are checked at big parks, can't be seen from air except for enthusiasts.  I feel safer in a park than outside, like Chris Rock said, "DOn't go somewhere that has metal detectors, because the people outside know you ain't got any weapons"
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HurricaneGeauga- Just in case

Clearly some of the parks within the SF chain have benefitted from ownership/management of SFTP (Six Flags Theme Park based out of Oklahoma City). Others, however, have not.

Living in Houston, Texas, it doesn't make anyone feel any better to know that SFTP neglects certain parks within its chain. Sound business reasoning or not, its hard to imagine that so much capital can be poured into other parks (SFMM, SFWoA, SFA, SFNE, SFoG, SFFT, SFoT, not to mention the parks outside the US) and only so very little can be allocated to parks such as AstroWorld, Frontier City, and SFEG. From a personal standpoint, I am only really concerned with SFAW, though my overall concern is for them all.

I agree wholeheartedly with Fierce Pancake's above comments.

I agree with Alex R & Fierce Pancake! SFTP has made a scapegoat of AstroWorld ever since they bought it! It went from being one of the #1 theme parks in the world to being one of the #1 WORST theme parks in the world, and all because of the neglect that it's received in the "caring" hands of SFTP! I would LOVE to see someone who actually CARES about SFAW take over it! SFTP corporate SUCKS!
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http://www.gayrollerride.com *** This post was edited by irondraggon on 9/18/2001. ***

SFTP - Six Flags Theme Parks

After several years I finally figured out what it stood for ;)
http://www.sftp.com - corporate website.

I guess it isn't too much of a surprise.

Alan Jacyszyn

That's funny,if you people think this year was tough wait till next year.;)

HG: Ummm SFA, SFGAm, PKD, and Kennywood all have metal detectors...guess I should go to HersheyPark instead ha?
lata,
jeremy
holding out hope for a HUSS Delirium nearby.....

This down in the markets will last like a rollercoaster. This is just the beginning drop. It will fall for a long time, then it will go back to being an uncertain investment, like it sometimes has been.

Are you an expert?

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

I'm bitter on two fronts: first of all my home park is one that Six Flags has pretty much ignored, and secondly I made the mistake of buying into some PKS stock a few months ago before it started spiraling down.  So, I feel kind of screwed over either way.  I should have known better, because it was patently clear that the Premier crew had a shaky business model, but with all the tech stocks starting to flounder it seemed like a safer bet.  Gah!