Which Six Flags Parks will do best as family parks?
My own feeling is that SFGAm, SFOT, SFOG, SFStL and SFFT will do well here. Some parks that might have difficulty (besides SFMM and SFEG) are SFGAdv (too crowded, too many big coasters), SFA (location, negative image), and SFKK (competition from other parks).
Arthur Bahl
I do believe, however, that SFKK has the potential to be a great park. Obviously HW and PKI are two of the most reknown parks for families in the world. I see no reason why SFKK couldn't take back some of that market with some refocusing and realigning. A good start would be to round up some of the more random kid's rides in the park, create another new area dedicated specifically for families, and also beef up the ever popular (and already pretty beefy) water park. I can't think of a situation where that won't be a good investment, and I would look specifically at SFNE on how to do it.
On another note, SFNE has one of the best water parks, I think, in the entire country, but you don't really hear much about it, I think a lot of it having to do with the park's relative remoteness. Is that a word? Personally I think SFNE is doing quite well already, and the park, from what I can see, has the crowds to prove it. The absolutely massive water park is already an indicator of that. *** Edited 6/27/2006 10:50:10 PM UTC by matt.***
"Mr. Shapiro thinks highly of this parks potential as a family park even with HW and PKI in close proximity."
One thing that could happen is that LC might expand more aggressively in the future to capitalize on the park's reasonable distance from Westchester and Fairfield counties and their large populations. Right now, its attendance is nowhere near SFNE but it too has an excellent waterpark and with proper planning and growth, the park could become a formidable competitor in the future.
Arthur Bahl
- a massive, really really excellent water park
- one of the best flat ride collections in the US
- a handful of good, popular, high capacity coasters and, oh yeah
- Superman.
Just focus on your staff, your capacity, and your infrastructure stuff, and you should be set, as far as I can tell. The park has potential to draw from pretty much the most affluent areas in the entire nation - offer a premium product and I can only see business growing up in Agawam.
SFA really needs some work but I believe it's possible for the park to be able to build on the family image that Shapiro is looking for,this park started out as more of a family park back in the WW & AW era & hasn't become a thrill park yet by any stretch of the imagination.
A good intermediate sized kids area with a small to medium sized family coaster as a centerpiece & a few more flats for both the teens & the kids would be a good start towards making the park one that family's can enjoy together.
SFGAm, SFOT and a refurbished SFGAdv are the best candidates for premium operation. They are all in or near large metropolitan areas and have high attendance. These are the parks that should get top notch family attractions and that should be able to sustain their pricing. It is possible that SFOG and SFNE (and maybe SFMW ) could also go this way successfully.
I can't see SFKK being such a park. PKI already has some of the attributes of such a park at a more affordable price. SFKK should focus on becoming a well balanced mid-sized park that has moderate prices.
SFSL is one of the original Six Flags parks but is smaller than the others. I don't believe that this park warrants the premium treatment given its size and the size of the St Louis market. It is more of a local park than some of the other Six Flags properties although it should benefit from Memphis' lack of a major park.
TGE is a smaller park that would better if it were something like Lake Compounce (with or without the free drinks).
A rebuilt SFNO could become a regional park for the central Golf coast and lower Mississippi valley. Demographics in this region dictate making this park relatively affordable.
What about SFA? This park is a big question mark. It is in big metropolitan area but has an image problem. It is also in a location that does not make it conducive to an upscale image. A premium park would be better off somewhere other than Prince Georges County.
Arthur Bahl
I do believe that all of the SF parks could be made family oriented with the exception of SFMM which has simply gotten too far away from this image. Some of them just have to be kept more modest in attractions and pricing because they lack the large population base or because of other factors (SFAs location, SFMWs size, etc.)
Arthur Bahl
Austin the Ninja said:
It's claim to be considered a thrill park is futile.
Eh, 5 major coasters, pretty much all unique to the area doesn't sound too bad to me, at least from a business perspective. I know the SLC and the boomerang may not count for much in the eyes of an enthusiast, but they are still surely valuable assets to the park.
I agree though, the whole Zonga thing seems like a 100% debacle from the get-go, including the original purchase for SFAW.
DWeaver said:There are 3 parks already operating as family parks, SFGAm, SFOT and SFFT.
I'd like to add SFGE to that list...lot of charm there, despite (because?) the ride line-up is less-than-spectacular.
SFStL also has "what it takes", IMO, as does SFoG. From what I've been hearing out of SFKK, they're still making huge strides in the right direction. The *big-market* northeast parks, SFNE and SFA, and to a lesser extent SFGAdv, they have some work to do....
matt. said:
Austin the Ninja said:
It's claim to be considered a thrill park is futile.Eh, 5 major coasters, pretty much all unique to the area doesn't sound too bad to me, at least from a business perspective. I know the SLC and the boomerang may not count for much in the eyes of an enthusiast, but they are still surely valuable assets to the park.
I agree though, the whole Zonga thing seems like a 100% debacle from the get-go, including the original purchase for SFAW.
This has nothing to do with this topic, but you would think after the work SF did on Zonga, Thriller or whatever you want to call it, they would want to put it somewhere rather than sell it for scraps. Have you ever read the history on that thing, and it's time in Germany? It's one of the best Schwarzkopfs left, and I loved riding it for however brief of a time it ran.
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