Six Flags General Discussion

[Adz]

Well seeing as they're rebranding their parks at the moment along with thinking of selling off some of them (including magic mountain) I think the company is about to make a turnaround.

New management seems to have a good idea.

[fizzog]

Six Flags just don't seem to have any soul. A great deal of the theming is dreadful, (or at least everything I've seen), and car park coasters are their speciality. It doesn't matter that they have the tallest and fastest, or the first 4th dimension, they just don't have good theme parks.

p.s. I actually like Panic! At the Disco, and Fallout Boy for that matter, lol.

[Anonymous]

I think Six Flags don't seem to have a lot of respect. They seem to just have lots of money (even though they evidently don't), fill their parks with great coasters and rides - and it does cover up the fact that the rides are dumped in a car park a lot.

I've never been to one (well, apart from Six Flags Belgium when I was a baby), but what I gather is that they're just a bit of a joke among American coaster enthusiasts. Their policies, the way they go about things, the troubles they have. . .

[Ryan Kingdaka]

Theme park operator Six Flags Inc. (SIX.N: Quote, Profile, Research said on Wednesday its first quarter net loss narrowed as it cut costs by disposing of some amusement rides, and it paid less in stock-based compensation. Six Flags has been restructuring its operations and selling parks since a shake-up of its board and top management after investor Daniel Snyder won a long-running battle for control of the company in 2005.

The company, which has been focusing on making its parks more family friendly and improving its financial position, reported a net loss of $176.1 million for the first quarter, or $1.86 per share. That compared with a net loss of $246.5 million, or $2.63 per share, in the year-ago period

Excluding results from parks it sold in April, Six Flags reported a loss from continuing operations of $1.76 per share. Wall Street was expecting a loss of $1.93 per share, on average, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue from continuing operations rose 20 percent to $50.7 million, helped by greater attendance at its theme parks. Analysts had expected $46.3 million, on average.

Attendance at its parks rose 6 percent to 1.22 million from the same quarter a year ago.

Six Flags sold seven parks last month for $275 million in cash and a $37 million note receivable. It used the funds to pay down debt

Taken from http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsN ... 2020070509
Such a shame to see such a massive company go down like this.

Any thoughts?

[Adz]

Nothing new. It's been in debt for absolutely ages.

Much like Disneyland Paris.

Both of which are now on there way up thanks to restructuring. You'd be surprised just how many of the large companies are in debt.

Even Tussauds isn't as rosy as some like to think.

[seanyboyuk]

Which would be the best six flags park to visit if you could goto one?

I am asking for opinions as i want it to make it a goal to visit one
by the end of next year.

[Sam]

Definately Magic Mountain or Great Adventure. You can't beat the sheer quantity of different rollercoasters they have there. Magic Mountain probably wins if you are looking for variety, they have such a diverse offering of coasters. If you are looking for quality, based on photos and reports I would go with Great Adventure.

Not only do you get Kingda Ka, you also get El Toro. But then again Magic Mountain is in a better location, right in the middle of California. It would probably make a better overall holiday...

You have Disneyland right there of course, but you also have Paramount's park down there (or whoever it is owned by now)...

[seanyboyuk]

yea my plan is to goto one but is in reach of transport etc.
would it be easy to get to from the nearest major city?
magic mountain that is. excuse my geography skills!!!

[AstroDan]

I would go to Magic Mountain if I had the choice due to Revolution (nostalgia woot), X and Tatsu. However, Gt. Adventure would cost less to get to, and El Toro looks excellent. Kingda Ka too just to say i'd been on it.

[evil cod]

I would go to Magic Mountain but only because Universal Studios, Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are all within an hours journey away The six flags parks dont really do much for me, from reports they seem to be mostly badly run coasters plonked on carparks, like a more spread out blackpool pleasure beach.

[joepetto]

Ive been to magic mountain, the rides are immense but throughput can be poor and theres nothing in the way of theming. Waited over an hour in a not overly long, but extremely boring Deja Vu queue, good ride, but the operators aren't up to much and the queue lines are far from exciting.

[Corkscrewed]

[quote=""Robert Niles of Theme Park Insider""]Six Flags today told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in essence, if we can't restructure our debt before we have to make more than $300 million in payments this summer, we're going bankrupt.

Here are the notable quotes from Six Flags' most recent 10-Q statement, filed on the SEC website:

We have had a history of net losses. Our net losses are principally attributable to insufficient revenue to cover our relatively high percentage of fixed costs, including the interest costs on our debt and our depreciation expense. We also have an accumulated stockholders' deficit of $443.8 million at December 31, 2008. Additionally, our Preferred Income Equity Redeemable Shares ("PIERS") are required to be redeemed in August 2009, at which time we are required to redeem all of the PIERS for cash at 100% of the liquidation preference ($287.5 million), plus accrued and unpaid dividends ($31.3 million assuming dividends are accrued and not paid through the mandatory redemption date). Given the current negative conditions in the economy generally and the credit markets in particular, there is substantial uncertainty that we will be able to effect a refinancing of our debt on or prior to maturity or the PIERS prior to their mandatory redemption date on August 15, 2009.

...Accordingly, we have stated in our financial statements included herein that there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern unless a successful restructuring occurs.

...We may be compelled to seek an in-court solution in the form of a pre-packaged or pre-arranged filing under Title 11 of the United States Code, 11 U.S.C. §§ 101, et seq., as amended ("Chapter 11") if we are unable to successfully negotiate a timely out-of-court restructuring agreement with the PIERS holders, common stockholders and our creditors.

In English, that means bankruptcy. 'Cause at this point, with all the nation's major banks essentially insolvent, Six Flags has about as much chance of refinancing as you do winning one of those big stuffed animals with a single coin toss on a Six Flags midway.[/quote]

I read this on Theme Park Insider, and thought I'd just mention it here, see what you guys think. What do you thinks going to happen, based on whats mentioned here? And if theres already a similar topic to this that I've missed, I do apologise.

[And.]

Six Flags has been heading down bank for quite a while now - as Woolworths was before they went under.

Just a matter of time before it happens really.

As for what will happen to them? Well they'll either be bought out as a going concern (debts included), or they'll fold and have their assets bought up - possibly with more profitable parks being snapped up by investors, and other rides being sold on to other parks or sold for scrap.

[Dagan]

They have announced a major cost cutting measure that will hopefully sort things for them.



Severe flag cuts

[Joe Koopa]

Lol, yet seriously if Six Flags did go under, then I could see single parks being bought out induvudally.

In this Day & Age, I think one park could make more money than a group of parks. After they pay all the bills.

[Bolton Warrior]

I have been reading a bit about this on various American coaster forums and it seems that what I thought was part of the problem is correct, that Six Flags is a victim of itself in the way it has a poor image with people.

Over a period of time SF gained a reputation as a chain that cared little for the guest, running low capacity when the park was busy enough to run better, closing down some rides on quieter days and a poor attitude from staff.

SF has tried over the past couple of years to shred the image, but as the saying goes once mud sticks it is difficult to shake it off.

The only way SF may survive this is to sell off the poor performing parks but make sure they hold on for dear life to its premier parks like Magic Mountain, Great America and Great Adventure.

[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.

To be honest though, it's fairly likely that Six Flags will enter in to Chapter 11 protection and then get "reorganised" (read: several middle-management job cuts) before coming back. Debt isn't the be all and end-all remember. If your company can somehow get allowed to be so far in debt that the banks don't want to loose you as a customer, you're sorted - the best example of this being Virgin Media - the most debt-ridden company in the world.

[AdamJ]

IF, and I mean if, Six Flag's close, couldn't this be a major time for all the other parks to snap up the rides? I mean the likes of Nitro, El Toro, Kingda Ka, Medusa, all the varients of Batman: The Ride, La Ronde's Goliath, and all the other coasters!

[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]

[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.