Will this be Six Flags last summer?

Maybe the Koch's can hold a seminar to show these guys how to really treat your guests and how to really run a theme park !

I don't agree with your Mardi Gras, Wiggle's World, and Revolution comment one bit. If you think those things, than the park has always been a bottleneck even though I don't agree that those areas are a bottleneck as you say. Mardi Gras instead of balloons had a Gazebo, and instead of Ragin Cajun had games (virtual), and golf.

Revolution had a Merry-Go-Round in it's place before. Wiggle's World, you don't even have to go in there because it's just for kids unless you have kids, but I don't see it as a bottleneck. It's in it's separate area.

I think your gripe that started in 2005 would be more games and later on, more ads. The music in the park is really annoying. They play the same song around the park like 10 times a day, and the reason is because they are advertising the song because the person is going to be at the park.

However, they play Christina Aguilera, and she's not even going to be at the park. The songs they play probably 10 times each a day are Christina Aguilera (Car Wash), Sean Kingston (So Beautiful Song), and Natashia Bedingfield (Her famous song.). I just got a big headache last time when waiting in the Dark Knight line, and the Superman Ultimate Flight line.

On top of that, every 5 minutes they would say the national weather service has issued a blah, blah, blah. We get it already, so stop saying it. They would hardly have any Superman music in line like they used to because they have all this other garbage which bugged me. However, Batman the Ride hasn't been infected which is awesome. Shhh! Keep it on the down low.

Here's an article from Motley Fool by Rick Munarriz (we've had him on the podcast, he's the Fool's amusement park guy) with a slightly different take on things featuring lines like:

"...Six Flags is positioning itself well, even if the surrounding economy isn't cooperating at the moment"

Exactly. :)

Will this be Six Flags last summer? In a word,

NO.

^^So, that guy says that Six Flags is doing so well because it has ads all over the park. Huh? Just because a park has ads plastered all over the place doesn't mean diddly squat about how financially sound they are.

He mentioned a refurbished ride with tvs, and nothing about Thomas Town. It's nice to have multiple trains on coasters as every roller coaster park in the world should have. To get to that, Shapiro had to dump how many rides at that park in two years?

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Spinout said:
^^So, that guy says that Six Flags is doing so well because it has ads all over the park. Huh? Just because a park has ads plastered all over the place doesn't mean diddly squat about how financially sound they are.

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I always suspected it, but this confirms it - you have no clue and just like to bitch about it when anyone says, "Six Flags"

The article says nothing about how finanacially sound the company is.

What it does say is that the company has made some good moves, that the author found the in-park experience improved and that in his opinion the company has positioned itself well in a time that the general economy appears to be slowing the traffic to the industry in general.

I suppose you have to understand what you're reading before it can have any impact, so hopefully I helped you there. :)

Surprisingly, it's still a marketable brand, even if the whole chain is sold outright to a heartless company like Cedar Fair. Problem for Shapiro is that their marketability is (still) not families for many of the parks in the chain. Many people I know who have families cringe at the mere mention of the brand, but it's just the opposite for teens. Maybe they just need a new marketing company to soften their image like those cheesy Dorney commercials with that lame jingle, instead of the crazy 'more frags' dude *** Edited 7/3/2008 3:13:09 AM UTC by Rye.D.Ziner***

The funny thing is, at nearly a buck a share, I'm tempted to throw a hundred bucks at it just to see what happens.

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Lord Gonchar said:

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Spinout said:
^^So, that guy says that Six Flags is doing so well because it has ads all over the park. Huh? Just because a park has ads plastered all over the place doesn't mean diddly squat about how financially sound they are.

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I always suspected it, but this confirms it - you have no clue and just like to bitch about it when anyone says, "Six Flags"

The article says nothing about how finanacially sound the company is.

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Read the line you quoted. That's what he's trying to infer. In a down economy, he acts like they are doing great. Shapiro has no idea what the heck he's doing. All he knows is marketing, and thus that's why everything is about marketing at the parks. No matter what Shapiro does, you will always be for him even when he brings the company down.

Sigh.

It says nothing about the financial state of the company and speaks only about the changes/choice the company has made.

In plain english that line reads, "Red Zone has done pretty much exactly what they need to do. It's the current economy that's stopping them from gaining ground, not their choices."

There's nothing to infer. It's a pretty basic statement.

And I'll be against a decision they make when they make a bad one. So far I tend to agree with Munarriz, they're making smart moves and positioning themselves well within the market. I've also been visiting the parks and have seen a marked improvement myself.

With that said, between the sad state the company was in when Red Zone took over and the economy, they're far from out of the water. Sometimes making the right moves isn't enough.

Why do you say Shapiro has no idea what he is doing? I don't follow that.