The Six Flags Comeback?

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JDB said:
...when Mr. Kinzel makes public statements, gives interviews, or just talks among friends and colleagues about the record breaking coasters at Cedar Point, is he concerned exclusively with marketing, branding, reputation and good will of the company?

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I should sure as hell hope so! He's the CEO of a public company on the NYSE!

From my interview with the very same guy in 2000:
"A lot of people think we put the rides in because of ego, to say we’re the biggest and the best, but that’s not really the truth. The truth is they’re good business decisions to put those rides in, and the timing has to be right."

I'll reinforce one point. From talking with a couple of SF managers. Their decisions on new construction are very heavily driven by marketing. Perhaps too much so. Decisions on improvements are probably driven too much by what looks good on the advertising and not enough by what produces a good experience for the park visitor.

Which is why SFMM is rumored to be getting a B&M Flyer next year when what it needs is new flats, new landscaping, new paint, employee retraining, and maintenance so the park's existing rides can run at full capacity.

Way to go Six Flags.

*** Edited 6/27/2005 8:27:53 PM UTC by Mamoosh***

Exactly. And SFGAdv didn't add the tallest, fastest, non-currently working coaster in the world because SFI wants it and doesn't want CP to have it. SFGADv is not in compitetion with Cedar Point. But SFGAdv pulls from NYC, NJC, Philly, basically the biggest megalopolis in the U.S.

Saying "Hey! Your local Six Flags in this Huge area has the tallest, fastest coaster in the world" is a smart business decision. The fact that they've painted, landscaped, and apparently (from what I've heard from the majority) bettered the park helps keep them coming back.

Hopefully, whatever SFMM decides to put in next year will be met with loads of coasters and buildings being painted, the park getting a landscaping overhaul, and then possibly soon they'll get a nice flat package.

Maybe soon they'll also realize that every park needs to focus on appearance and customer service (the most important thing), but it still isn't about being in competition with Cedar Point. Otherwise, SFI would have a reputation of having very nice, clean parks, with great, effecient, friendly operations.

If GAdv really has made those improvements (I've heard the same things, Clint), then there's a strong likelihood that the LOCALS who support GAdv will come back and re-visit the park when Ka is back up and running.

Advertising (esp. when it's for those enormous rides expenditures) really can give you a *get out of bad rep free card*, but that still gives you ONE chance to impress....or not.

Getting a GOOD rep, that's nowhere NEAR as easy....but it sure does pay off in the long run. Unfortunately, in today's short-sghited business world, investors are more likely to look at "the short term payoff", which isn't the effective time-frame for good customer service. The SF comeback, so to speak, relies HEAVILY on the ability of the Board to see past the trees...

*Assuming* all the efforts at better customer service are supported by the park GMs (some of which I'm understandably dubious of based on past performance), then SF will be able to get past the *bumps in the road* like Ka.

The FIRST step in the "comeback" is to make employees feel like valued TEAM members. Without the ride ops, food service, and other employees buying in, it's an exercise in futility. Welcome to the HOSPITALITY industry (just in case you forgot, LOL).

Swoosh, if I have Missouri to blame for the "popped collar" travesty I have just lost all respect for that state. If it was because of the O.C. and MTV teenie-boppers I would expect as much from such yuppy larva. The backlash of anti-popped collar feelings is overwhemling across the country. Seriously, there have been fights that have broken out at parties at Purdue because of the attitude that comes along with those that pop their collar.

Basically if you ever have the urge to un-fold your collar for any reason other than keeping your neck warm, or the sun off of it, you deserve to be cast into exile.

It screams, "Hey look at me I'm a massive tool! I have no individuality and I only know what's 'cool' because of what the media tells me!"

...and of the many women I've polled, they are in complete agreeance that it is not sexy.

*** Edited 6/26/2005 8:00:27 PM UTC by CPgenius***

I place a lot of emphasis on personal responsibility when it comes to the employees. A lot of the problems with the employees at Six Flags are like that phrase "When the cat is away, the mice will play". You can't have a manager at every ride at every hour of the day.

If you have well-trained employees who feel good about their work and are treated and compensated well for their work they won't act like mice ;)

Don't know if you guys and gals know this but Cedar Point's official website is currently featuring a "BEST _____ ON THE PLANET" campaign that is hard to miss. MF - Best Coaster on the Planet, TTD - Best White Knuckles on the Planet, MaXair - Best Spin Cylcle on the Planet, Hotel Breakers - Best Family Traditions on the Planet, Castaway Bay - Best Year Round Getaway on the Planet, Camp Snoopy - Best Smiles on the Planet, Cedar Point Resorts - Best Vacation on the Planet.

I guess Mr. Kinzel would just say that the timing is right, and it is just a good business decision to say you are the best.

Yes, it's called marketing. I don't think anyone went around surveying the quality of white knuckles and declaring them the best.

Moosh, I do agree to an extent, but I didn't think what Six Flags was offering was too far off the mark of what you'd make at any similar kind of job for young people. And since they offer similar compensation, they are in competition for those young people who might prefer to work somewhere where this an air conditioner. As many of you know, the D.C./Baltimore area is generally miserable during the summer due to the high humidity added in with the heat. It's currently 10:11pm and the thermometer is reading almost 75 degrees. I finally gave in and turned the A/C on.

Pay is only one small part of the equation.

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JDB said:
Don't know if you guys and gals know this but Cedar Point's official website is currently featuring a "BEST _____ ON THE PLANET" campaign that is hard to miss. MF - Best Coaster on the Planet, TTD - Best White Knuckles on the Planet, MaXair - Best Spin Cylcle on the Planet, Hotel Breakers - Best Family Traditions on the Planet, Castaway Bay - Best Year Round Getaway on the Planet, Camp Snoopy - Best Smiles on the Planet, Cedar Point Resorts - Best Vacation on the Planet.

I guess Mr. Kinzel would just say that the timing is right, and it is just a good business decision to say you are the best.

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Wait a minute. Do they have a category for best offender of peoples physical stature on the planet as well? I'd give 'em that. How "bout best seatbelts on the planet? ;)

I still don't get that some people don't expect CP to say they are the best on the planet. Sorry, but an add campaign saying "hey, we have 16 roller coasters, some of which aren't so bad, so come visit us" just doesn't do it for me.

And besides, the fact that you're talking about it, and remember what they said seems to be working, just like Mr. Six is for the other team.

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JDB said:

I guess Mr. Kinzel would just say that the timing is right, and it is just a good business decision to say you are the best.

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Everything you see on Cedarpoint.com is marketing. If you really think Kinzel is bragging about having the best rollercoaster on the planet, instead of bragging about the millions of dollars he's made from having the best coaster on the planet, then your wrong.

The fact is that whenever Kinzel opens his mouth to the public or media, he's always trying to market his parks etc. He'd be dumb not to. Of course he's nice and everything, but the bottomline is, if you never visited his parks or showed interest in his company, he wouldn't give you the time of day.

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Mamoosh said:
Pay is only one small part of the equation.

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Not *irrelevant* by any means, but definitely not the ONLY way to show your employees you appreciate their efforts. Treat your employees as if your company's existence depends upon them....because it DOES!

How do you motivate employees? By paying them well for sure, but much more....giving them a vested interest in the company, showing them that the company success is their success. By getting them involved in the decision making process, and by setting a good example at the top and fostering the concept of personal responsibility, you see something wrong, don't pass it up the chain, do something to start to fix the problem. By taking an interest in their lives, a note or present on their birthday, to acknowledge that you value them as members of the organization. By having patience for honest mistakes and giving them constructive feedback when they mess up, don't chew them out in public, take them aside and say this is how we do it. By stressing the importance of customer service and good interpersonal relations, it's about the customer after all. And oh yeah, one more thing. It's saying to them in words and proving to them in deeds that they are part of the best mutha f'n team out there, the one that breaks the records, the one that sets the standards. Don't kid yourself, Mr. Kinzel knows all about it.

Great post JDB!

I've always believed that knowing how to treat your employees should be common knowledge to any company, but it isn't.

I have an idea for SF. Create a program in which good ideas can be shared with the company. If a ride opp, for example, comes up with a new way to groupe riders together, than he could be encouraged to share his thughts and techniques with the company, who could review and study it to figure out how it could be implemented throughout the whole chain.

How about making employees as comfortable as possible by giving them shade, water, and comfortable uniforms.

The list could go on forever. Why wouldn't SF want to make employees as happy as possible? Working at a park can be a great, almost life changing, experience.

Unfortunately for SF the company has made a lot of poor decisions that has ticked off a lot of guests. I don't see the company doing a whole lot to turn around this stigma of poor customer relations.

The issue of an unhappy work force just seems to be a symptom of a much larger issue. The corporation seems disconnected or short sighted on how their money making decisions effects people. Keep in mind ten years ago SF didn't own a lot of the parks they own today. A lot the major park decisions don't physically occur in the parks, but in the SF corporate office which I think is in Kansas? Stats and bar graphs just don’t provide a big enough picture.

Cedar Fair, Holiday World, Hershey Park, Busch Gardens and esp. Disney seems to really understand what boosts attendance and what turns people off. Management has a lot of personal connections to these locations over a long span of time, the communities that work at their parks and the guests that attend.

I think it would be a great idea for management to do more polls on what makes guests happy. But the company's focus is on income, not on a better understanding the folks they serve. If Six Flags is serious about turning around their reputation then Six Flags should be the company paying the most amount of attention to the issue of better customer relations. Until then they will what they know how to do and that is build coasters. Good news for coaster enthusiasts!