Six Flags General Discussion

[WillPS]

[quote=""Bolton Warrior""][quote=""WillPS""]Total poppycock - Six Flags is going down the toilet because they overspent MASSIVELY on new parks and rides up to around 2003, then realised that nowhere was making a return on these investments and started stripping assets away - the European division being an early example.

Ultimately, the chain is now so lumbered with debts that the money that's coming in can no longer support debt repayment - so they're screwed.

The image has little or nothing to do with it, Six Flags amongst mere mortals is considered to be a place worth going.
[/quote]


Here is a post from somebody on a forum that I go on who is far better qualified to pass comment on Six Flags than most people on here (myself included) as he lives near SF Magic Mountain.

[quote=""b&man""]^Well here's one of their biggest (if not THE) biggest problem they face today.Besides the over expansion, besides the bad coaster-to-flat ratio and even besides their current demographic, they let too many years go by without caring about thei overall image. I live a shade under 50 miles from Six Flags Magic Mountain Even upto mid 2007, the park was filty, major rides rarely opened with the park, friendly employees were few and far between. Half of the food stands were closed and all the foodstands except for the ones in Six Flags Plaza (near main gate) would close upto two hours before the park, including carts. The rides NEVER ran at full capacity, even when all trains were availible, the parking lot never got cleaned. Overall they just expected name recognition alone and a coaster every year from 2000 to 2003 to keep the park afloat, which it didn't. Now a new management team is trying to turn things around, but as far along as the damage was [and still is] there is simply not enough time to do it. If Mark Shapiro had come in right at the peak of SIX Flags' horrible state (Peak 2003), they'd might not be in as bad of a spot. Now if you are curious as to how other chains in the park are doing, just replace Great Adventure, Great America, or Over Georgia with Magic Mountain and the summary would be the same. ZFor every other park, it's the same thing, PLUS no major rides added in almost a decade.[/quote][/quote]
Sorry, I forgot that just being local to a park automatically turns you in to an economist aware of all the business procedures that a large chain follows in these situations.

I repeat - you're talking absolute guff.

[Mattmash]

[quote=""Adz""]For a company going down the crapper, they know how to do it in (hair)style...

Six Flags Haircuts...

Note: This is not in a park, it's on a random highstreet somewhere and is just very random.[/quote]

Wonder if they'll be using Schwarzkopf hair products. :P

[scruffy_]

Wonder if Merlin will buy any if they go up for sale.......

[Bolton Warrior]

[quote=""WillPS""]
Sorry, I forgot that just being local to a park automatically turns you in to an economist aware of all the business procedures that a large chain follows in these situations.

I repeat - you're talking absolute guff.[/quote]
The example I have given above is one that has been mentioned by a lot of coaster fans not only in the USA but in the UK as well.

I agree with you that SF has overdone the amount of investment, but for you to say that the GP will keep going to parks time after time if they are having a poor day as long as the rides are good is total madness.

Take my favourite park Cedar Point for example, as much as I love the rides at the park I would not go back again in a hurry if the running of the park was shambolic. Luckily it is not and that is why people keep going back to it year after year, unlike the SF parks.

The shame is that since the new owners of SF took over a few years ago the parks have improved their act no end, but in a lot of cases the damage has been done already.

Btw just out of curiosity as I dont know you from Adam, what is your qualification to know more about the problems at SF?


*****I thought I would edit my post as I know full well the question will be asked about what qualifies me to know about the problems at SF.

Well first of all I never claim to be a leading expert on all things rollercoaster/theme park related, I know that SF has overdone things over the last decade with rides but I dont know the ins and outs of it.

But after 20 years of being a rollercoaster/theme park fan and reading and observing about the industry and working in retail for 15 years I think that gives me a pretty good idea of what people want from a business to stay loyal and keep going back.

[Corkscrewed]

Update: an interview with Mark Shapiro, CEO of Six Flags, can be found HERE.

Source: Theme Park Insider

[Benzin]

LA Times have leaked a list of the confirmed new Six Flags attractions for 2012, and some are rather interesting...

I believe they have taken the original article down, but here's a screenshotted form (or sommat, I dunno, just look) http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... google.com


The top 3 attractions are:

X-Flight at Great America, a Wing-Rider of B&M...




Superman - Ultimate Flight at Discovery Kingdom, a Maurer Launched X-Car with Non-Inverting Loop..




AND, Lex Luthor's Drop of Doom at Magic Mountain, an Intamin Drop Tower, on the side of Escape from Krypton...




Must say, some very good additions for these parks...

[Nightfall]

I like the look of the Wingrider. Interesting how all the Flying coasters use the same body shell as Air (Manta’s zero cart being an exception) but all the Wingriders look completely different. I quite like the simplicity of this one.

[Jonny.F]

That wingrider does look pretty good, looks like B&M are really starting to roll them out now. Though I do worry that Six Flag's lack of themeing will maybe detract from the experience, as with Raptor the close encounters with the scenery really made it for me. Though to be honest thats the same with most coasters so it may just be me being fussy. That X-Car looks...short.

[AstroDan]

Yet more new B&Ms next year!

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[James6]

I have to say, I think the X Car looks most interesting, and really unusual. Although yes, very short.

[Dylan]

If you look to the left hand site of the Wing Rider visual, this looks like it will have the same twist and drop style as The Swarm. Which is a shame, as I hoped that would be a unique element (for a season at least)!
Interestingly it's billed at the only Wing Rider in the US. Dollywood?
So many great new installations around the world next year though.

[Benzin]

Dollywood haven't confirmed their one as a Wing-Rider yet... So Six Flags being Six Flags, are going to try and take full advantage of it...

[Dylan]

[quote=""Benzin""]Dollywood haven't confirmed their one as a Wing-Rider yet... So Six Flags being Six Flags, are going to try and take full advantage of it...[/quote]

Indeed! the official announcement from Six Flags states 'The Gurnee theme park is the first to announce plans for a wing coaster in the U.S.' (by about 4 days).

Link to the official announcement below. They have an amazing looking near miss element, it has to be said.

http://news.sixflags.com/2012news/2011/08/26/x-flight/

[James6]

Turns out Superman Ultimate Flight is not an X car! It's actually by Premier Rides!

http://affiliate.kickapps.com/_Superman ... 61.html?b=

[captain]

Nice of them to dcik all over Thorpe's layout.



Edit: I take it back, there's not that much between them. However, I think the Immelmann looks pretty ace.

[quote=""James6""]Turns out it's not an X car! It's actually by Premier Rides! [/quote]
Maurer aren't going to be happy! But seriously, what's with the brakes before and after the barrel roll at the top? It's not like it'll increase throughput...

[Sam]

Wow, three new confirmations in one day!

The Lex Luthor drop tower was a bit obvious to anyone who has been following Magic Mountain's video clues for the past few weeks. Finally will actually use that bloody tower for something decent! The coaster is complete tosh. Interesting to see they are doing this now rather than when it opened, now both Intamin Freefall coasters are backwards and have drop towers attached (though Dreamworld's is the Apocalypse model of drop tower whereas this one looks a bit more high capacity).

Another B&M wingrider, bleh. It won't have a layout as good as Dolly's, and it won't have theming as good as Swarm. B&M are really churning coasters out at the moment though. Nice to see Six Flags going for a bit more quality.

The Superman ride looks very boring. Clearly a cheap version of the Superman: Ultimate Flight flying coasters. American parks seem to do that a lot, such as the cheap Mack SuperSplash "Journey to Atlantis" at one of the lesser known Seaworld parks, and the cheap Mack launch Manta.

[Dylan]

[quote=""Sam""]Wow, three new confirmations in one day! [/quote]

There were a few more too.
The relocation of Iron Wolf from Great America to New England? as Apocalypse.
A couple of starflyers for some other parks.

I think had it not been for the LA Times leak, these would have been staggered, as 10am UK time would be probably be peak time for a US Park group to release all these press releases!!

[Rob L]

[quote=""Dylan""][quote=""Sam""]Wow, three new confirmations in one day! [/quote]

There were a few more too.
The relocation of Iron Wolf from Great America to New England? as Apocalypse.
A couple of starflyers for some other parks.

I think had it not been for the LA Times leak, these would have been staggered, as 10am UK time would be probably be peak time for a US Park group to release all these press releases!![/quote]
I'm not sure they would have been staggered, Six Flags said a week or so ago that their new additions would be announced on September 1st. I am very impressed by some of these announcements, especially the new wing rider!

A video of the Six Flags Chairman talking about the new additions can be seen here.

[Pricey ;)]

That superman coaster looks quite good apart from:

-The exccessive breaks which ruin all the exciting moments.
-The ugly ugly ugly cars that are a cheap rip off of X-Cars.
-The WTF! start that looks like its not powerful enough.

Tbf, its made me realise how much we should apreciate he bearable Mauer version. #-o

[Sam]

I want to see Magic Mountain get a dark ride, or an indoor coaster, or at least something that will actually stop the park having less atmosphere than a morgue.