Wow. SFMM one day ticket now $59.99

I kind of understood SFGADv getting this price of $59.99 because it includes the safari but SFMM at this price?

Safe to say that SFGAm being the other flagship park in the chain will see this price for a one day ticket especially since the waterpark is included with admission.

Ouch: Orlando prices. *** Edited 1/10/2006 10:09:04 AM UTC by Chitown***

Looks like its time JUST to get online tickets now. Screw buying tickets when you get to the park, that is insane. $59.99 not worth it.

It's kinda funny... a 1-day ticket (at normal price) is $59.99...

...but a season pass at a lower-quality park like Darien Lake that's a mere 8+hrs away is $49.95, which means that you could get unlimited entry into Great Adventure for 10 dollars LESS than a day's ticket just by getting a season pass at a different Six Flags Park (provided, of course, that you have it processed at that park first).

This is the price you pay for getting the big-boy coasters in all these consecutive years, people...

I think Cedar Po!nt learned their lesson the hard way.

I think you might be seeing the beginning of the end of Six Flags Baby Sitting Services. If they are doing this Season Pass prices are going to be rising also in the future.

All I can say is "It's about time!"

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Chitown said:
I kind of understood SFGADv getting this price of $59.99

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So now its basically $60 to get in... and another... what... $60 for a gold q-bot if you want to ride more than four things during your 8 hour visit?

Disneyland went to $59.00 on the 3rd, so I have a feeling they were waitng to see what Dsiney would do. Definitely not worth it, considering in the last five years I've yet been there when more than 50% of the adult rides have been up and running.

But at the same link, Chitown, they offer the 2006 SFMM Season pass at, you guessed it...$59.99.

They also have an Xtreme Season Pass which gets you free parking ($10 per day) and a free fast lane once per visit ($15), plus in-park discounts for $125. The Xtreme pass deal runs through 4/23/06. *** Edited 1/10/2006 2:25:05 PM UTC by redman822***

This seems to be the same trick Universal/Hollywood has been using of buy one day, get all year.

So, if you only want to go one day, you buy your ticket in avance online (or, presumably from AAA, local grocery stores, etc.) for $30, or you buy a $60 "play pass" at the park that gets you in that day, and allows you to come back for the remainder of 2006, with no blackout dates. *** Edited 1/10/2006 2:27:39 PM UTC by Brian Noble***

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SLFAKE said: So now its basically $60 to get in... and another... what... $60 for a gold q-bot if you want to ride more than four things during your 8 hour visit?

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Maybe the hike will be to cover the additional staffing that is needed to ensure that the park has every available ride open and running? Just a thought.

The suggestion that things will be as before is a bit of a stretch, considering everything that's happened at the executive level.

The idea of making the Season Pass more of a bargain compared to the daily admission makes some sense because it also makes additional visits a strong possibility per year, and, in park spending could be effected by additional visits.

But until we march our butts into the parks and see what enhancements and changes have occurred all of this is simply speculation....

I wonder if Shapiro is looking at attendance figures, seeing some of these parks are up there attendance wise with the big boys and saying, we should charge that much.

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DawgByte II said:

I think Cedar Po!nt learned their lesson the hard way.

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I'm not trying to be a smartass when I say this but I just gotta know, what lesson is it that your talking about?

That by adding giant rides every year you may outprice your market.

I really think the prices for SF this might be at a point where I will think twice about the price before going.

Thought that they were trying to make it better and easier for families to go....but this might be the breaking point for many families and I think they will find this out the hard way. And here I was thinking that no one could possibly be worse then the old SF management in their decision making.

I really hope that if the price is $59.99 it is a limited season pass, and that you can upgrade that to an extreme pass if you want to that will include parking and the above mentioned stuff.

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dragonoffrost said:
I think you might be seeing the beginning of the end of Six Flags Baby Sitting Services. If they are doing this Season Pass prices are going to be rising also in the future.

All I can say is "It's about time!"

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Precisely what I was thinking. My first reaction to the thread title was, 'Wow, I think I may finally start to see why so many people have been pessimistic about Snyder's team taking over.' Then I remembered that the reason I haven't been to Six Flags in the last 3 years was not because the price was too high--it was primarily because I was tired of dealing with throngs of nothing but ill-behaved, unsupervised kids (including some of the employees, but we'll see if there will be any improvement in that area in time). My last few visits were miserable. Six Flags made it clear a few weeks ago that they were going to target families--I think this may be a sign they're headed in the right direction at least.

Sure Disney is $60, but on top of it having all the amazing Disney attractions, I couldn't believe how resonable their food, drinks,and souvineers were compared to almost any other chain: Six Flags, Cedar Fair, etc.

So, if SF lowers other prices within the park, I think it could work. But if large Dippin Dots are still $7.50 and sodas are 4 bucks or whatever, I think it will be a problem.

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beast7369 said:I really hope that if the price is $59.99 it is a limited season pass, and that you can upgrade that to an extreme pass if you want to that will include parking and the above mentioned stuff.

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This what Universal and Busch Gardens did for while. Pay once and get entrance to the park for the rest of the year. They don't give you parking or discounts on merchandise or food, but you can upgrade to the regular season pass if you like for only like $20 or so.

Not to mention that parks make most of the money on food and merchandise, not admission. So by gettting the people to come back again and again, it increases the likelyhood that they will buy more food and merchandise. The gate entrance fee is only a very small part of the revenue from theme parks. That's why you can always get discount tickets at the grocery stores and triple A.

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DawgByte II said:I think Cedar Po!nt learned their lesson the hard way.

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And, if like Peabody said, they don't lower prices within the park, Six Flags is going to learn the same lesson.

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Joey Stewart said:
to be a smartass when I say this but I just gotta know, what lesson is it that your talking about?

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Basically what eightdotthree said. Cedar Point kept raising their prices year after year, even with smaller additions (maXair) & they eventually found themselves with a drop in attendance in '05 for the first time in a long time. CP Admitted pricing was a little high & was a partial contributor to the decrease in attendance (weather, gas prices & 9/11 travel were other factors).

...so they're lowering rates this year, which is a rarety in theme-parks & should definately help the park...

Although there's discounts & it's rare one pays full price for admission... they still may be pricing them out of range for average Joe Schmuck & his family who don't bother looking for discounts on the Pepsi can or elsewhere.

Even though free drinks mightnot look good to some chains, I wonder if a drop in prices to mabye $1 or $1.50 would being an increase in sales, and most importantly an increase in guest happiness that it would be worthwhile on all levels?

How about discount coupons? Do you think SF could be saying, yeah, that's what your going to pay at the window if your stupid enough not to buy your pass online (for $30 right now) or use the coupons we send you in the mail and put on the back of a can of soda? How about the Mercedes Park. Sure enough you've heard of them. Their similar to Mercedes Lanes (or HOT Lanes, High Occupany Toll Lanes, ya know... The HOV lane that you pay a higher price during peak hours?) You pay a higher price during peak season and in the off season you pay a lower price.

What a concept.... Save $20 off admission to Six Flags Magic Mountain. In the end you pay $39.99 with a can of coke which is just $7 more than what you paid all of last year (these are just estimates, I don't know the exact numbers)

It's the kind of like rebates, you get screwed if you don't take the time to fill the form out and mail it in but it's your choice. If you don't want to pay $1 for a can of soda, then I'm more than willing to charge you full price to get in the park. You can spend a buck and save $20 off or pay me the extra $20.

Also noteworthy, a two park combo ticket is available now and the military information that wasn't on any Six Flags site before. *** Edited 1/10/2006 6:05:05 PM UTC by coasterguts***