Comparing Disney to Six Flags makes zero sense

[Trackmaster]

This is a ridiculous argument. People are comparing Disney to Six Flags because they're building Six Flags level attractions. WEB-Slingers, the cheap Marvel shows and the various Toy Story Lands are very much in the vein of Six Flags budgets and theming.

If you're going to spend a week at a resort, you might as well start planning for Six Flags instead if you can't see the difference, because that gap is closing.

Yeah.... but at the same time, Six Flags is downscaling significantly too. Most of the parks are still basically surviving off of the rides from the 90's/early 2000's, and they make a big deal out of new flat rides. The "preferred" parks in the chain get some new coasters, but they're still kind of smaller in scale and pretty short. Magic Mountain got a dueler that's basically wowed nobody, Great Adventure got a raptor (that's basically wowed nobody), and Great America got MaxxForce that's had mixed reviews and is pretty short. And that was all over about a 2-3 year period with a chain with many parks.

 

[lincolnryan]

Six Flags doesn't compare to WDW, but we still go every year. I absolutely love their Flash Pass system though. I usually get the middle one that allows you to hold your place in line and get a 50% reduction.

Not sure if WDW should do that though. We went to WDW a couple months ago and seems easier just to have everyone wait in lines with no FPP.

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

I totally get where you’re coming from but we went to Six Flags in GA (albeit over 20 yrs ago) and I have never been back. It was dirty, the employees bored, rude, and unhelpful, and the food awful. I’d rather wait and save to go to Disney rather than ever step foot in Six Flags again. But hey, that’s one less person you have to deal with there…am I right?

 

[tl77]

Walt Disney built his parks to be "places where the parents and kids can have fun together" WDW and Epcot of the 1980's fit that description well, and was the reason my family went there. EPCOT Center was not only filled with things you couldn't see anywhere else, but Mom Dad, Grandma, and the kids could experience everything in EPCOT Center together... that's not the case anymore

If all you want to do is ride roller-coasters all day, for $30 you can go to your local Six Flags Park and ride roller-coasters all day. I'm not sure why anyone would pay the small fortune it cost to go to WDW today, but there seem to be a lot more Thrill rides than family dark rides at WDW, and we spend less time together as a family there and don't appreciate it, or enjoy the trips as much... my sister's kids say they would rather go to the beach than WDW.

We're not sure we will continue going to WDW much longer, it's not really worth the money and aggravation anymore, it seems like WDW is more interested in competing with Universal, than creating the types of attraction they did in 30-40 years ago that brought us back year after year

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Has anyone noticed how former Disneyland President Matt Ouimet who is now CEO of Cedar Fair has been making upkeeping and making those parks welcoming. The Cedar Point advertisement they brought out a few years back really has that Disney-vibe..

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Has anyone noticed how former Disneyland President Matt Ouimet who is now CEO of Cedar Fair

I don't think he is anymore.

EDIT: since Jan 2018 its been Richard Zimmerman

 

[Jrb1979]

I don't think he is anymore.

EDIT: since Jan 2018 its been Richard Zimmerman

Either way I am impressed with what they are doing with Cedar Point. On top of adding world class coasters they have added a lot of family oriented attractions. Their new attraction is an interactive boat ride with a story to it. IMO they are below Disney but way above Six Flags.

 

[rio]

Yeah.... but at the same time, Six Flags is downscaling significantly too. Most of the parks are still basically surviving off of the rides from the 90's/early 2000's, and they make a big deal out of new flat rides. The "preferred" parks in the chain get some new coasters, but they're still kind of smaller in scale and pretty short. Magic Mountain got a dueler that's basically wowed nobody, Great Adventure got a raptor (that's basically wowed nobody), and Great America got MaxxForce that's had mixed reviews and is pretty short. And that was all over about a 2-3 year period with a chain with many parks.

The coasters Six Flags has built post-bankruptcy are still wowing guests. Almost everyone enjoys the converted wooden coasters, and the single rail coaster is making waves. The other coasters you mentioned are plenty popular as well, even if short.

They are still coasting (pun intended) off the earlier ones they built, but those coasters are some of the best ever made. Aside from being fun, it doesn’t make much sense for most parks to continuously expand. Their markets are much more limited, and hit their caps much easier than Disney or universal could ever hope to.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

The coasters Six Flags has built post-bankruptcy are still wowing guests. Almost everyone enjoys the converted wooden coasters, and the single rail coaster is making waves. The other coasters you mentioned are plenty popular as well, even if short.

They are still coasting (pun intended) off the earlier ones they built, but those coasters are some of the best ever made. Aside from being fun, it doesn’t make much sense for most parks to continuously expand. Their markets are much more limited, and hit their caps much easier than Disney or universal could ever hope to.

If they stayed the course with the original 8 during the Time Warner era it would have been quite successfull...When Premier came in 1999 and started expanding by 2000 they had over 40 parks and saw the downfall in 2007 after Red Zone almost bankrupted it..

 

[Trackmaster]

The coasters Six Flags has built post-bankruptcy are still wowing guests. Almost everyone enjoys the converted wooden coasters, and the single rail coaster is making waves. The other coasters you mentioned are plenty popular as well, even if short.

They are still coasting (pun intended) off the earlier ones they built, but those coasters are some of the best ever made. Aside from being fun, it doesn’t make much sense for most parks to continuously expand. Their markets are much more limited, and hit their caps much easier than Disney or universal could ever hope to.

That is one qualifier. I'm a major RMC fan. So I will always be grateful to Six Flags for giving them a chance. Six Flags has been making improvements lately, but I still think that they need to be adding new major rides. Maybe get rid of the $50 gold passes, and just get aggressive about increasing costs. There's enough weekends to go around in a consumer's life that the fact that Disney and Universal exist shouldn't really affect the consuming habits of the local parks. If Six Flags build it, people will reward them.