Six Flags article: How they want to emulate Disney

[majortom1981]

You didnt even go to the link

How can yo usay that without even visiting the link that i presented? Shows pictures and the book from the original park opening in 1974.

Thats what the park looked like before six flags took it over. I bet if the park returned to its roots people wouldnt be saying what they are saying about it now.

 

[KevinPage]

Pardon my french, but SFNE is the worst f__________g park I've ever been to in my life.

I've had worse times at other Six Flags, believe it or not. Not the best park in the world but I've had some good times there.

And they have arguably the best steel coaster on the planet in Superman: Ride of Steel.

 

[BCNHF]

How can yo usay that without even visiting the link that i presented? Shows pictures and the book from the original park opening in 1974.

Thats what the park looked like before six flags took it over. I bet if the park returned to its roots people wouldnt be saying what they are saying about it now.

So did Riverside, so did every other park before Six Flags took it over. You're just prooving our points that Six Flags have a way of buying up parks and then raping them into coaster parks ignoring what made these initial parks popular in the first place.

 

[slappy magoo]

I disagree with some of the posters arguing for "pricing" teenagers out of the Six Flags parks. And not because I particularly want teenagers around me all the time. In fact, the last few times I went to Great Adventure, I was surrounded by so many obnoxious teenagers I almost wished I had a big bucket of avian flu to throw on them...

But one of the reasons Six Flags started catering to teens in the first place is because they tend to have more spare cash to blow on a theme park. It's been a while since Marketing 101, so I forget if it's called discretionary or disposable income. I think disposable. Anyway, a teenager living at home, maybe with a part-time job, maybe with an allowance, has more time & inclination to go to an amusement park than adults with full-time jobs and full-time responsibilities.

Of course, then you have the flip-side to the logic-when families DO go, they're usually there with small kids who want everything, so they'll be more inclined to buy more food, drinks and merch. But to raise the prices in order to keep teenagers out wouldn't help nearly as much as one might think or hope. It would also price a lot of families out of the parks too.

What I'd like to see is a better, stronger security force, or even bonafide local police who have the ability to make quick arrests and get people of any age out of the parks without refund if they are behaving poorly. TO me, Great Adventure feels like a place some kids will go to hang out all summer (like, as some of you have said, a mall or a beach) with little to no supervision. It needs to feel supervised. It needs to feel like it's under control, and people who like to get out of control are no longer welcome.

Meanwhile, I need to re-read the original article, but I didn't think it read like Shapiro was dissing on Disney, or saying Six Flags was like Disney, so much as the company's new goal is to aspire to be more like Disney. Considering the article is only a few months old, changes like that aren't going to be THAT evident right away. We're talking years of investing in the parks, and major overhaul to the marketing to be geared back to families. It's a change of course that will take lots of time, so to say Six Flags isn't like Disney is kind of like a "well, DUH!" comment (and I mean that with love. ). Personally, I don't think it ever will be like Disney-too much negative spin for too long-but emulating Disney's business plan is hardly the worst thing for a theme park to aspire to. Heck, there was a time in the 80s, pre-Little Mermaid, where people thought the age of Disney was at a close. So businesses can turn around. I know that I'll probably stay from Six Flags, however, until I start hearing some really positive reviews and news from both business mags and theme park customers.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

.....
Meanwhile, I need to re-read the original article, but I didn't think it read like Shapiro was dissing on Disney, or saying Six Flags was like Disney, so much as the company's new goal is to aspire to be more like Disney. Considering the article is only a few months old, changes like that aren't going to be THAT evident right away. We're talking years of investing in the parks, and major overhaul to the marketing to be geared back to families. It's a change of course that will take lots of time, so to say Six Flags isn't like Disney is kind of like a "well, DUH!" comment (and I mean that with love. ). Personally, I don't think it ever will be like Disney-too much negative spin for too long-but emulating Disney's business plan is hardly the worst thing for a theme park to aspire to. Heck, there was a time in the 80s, pre-Little Mermaid, where people thought the age of Disney was at a close. So businesses can turn around. I know that I'll probably stay from Six Flags, however, until I start hearing some really positive reviews and news from both business mags and theme park customers.

You don't have to reread....that is what the article said...we just took it a bit further. It is not about trying to be another Disney...it is about recognizing the things Disney does right, and striving for that. Good business sense to me.

 

[3fordisney]

We just went to Six Flags over Georgia a few weeks ago. We wouldn't have gone there but my husband was in Atlanta for 2 weeks and my son and I went over the weekend to see him. The park was terrible. They have a long way to go to try to be anything like Disney.

The prices were much higher than WDW. A 20 oz coke was $3, A small coke in a paper cup was about $3 with tax. Kid meals were $5.99 for chicken fingers and fries. They have a fast pass option which is $40 for 2 people for the standard option: your wait time is as if you are in line. The gold option was $70 to walk right on to the ride with no wait. We did the standard and it wasn't worth the additional money.

Characters were not good. The handlers did nothing to control crowds. People would cut in and not wait their turn. The handlers did nothing about it. Also the costumes were dirty. The white gloves on Bugs Bunny was anything but white. :hurl: It just was nothing but sad compared to WDW. It made us really appreciate the way WDW handles everything, especially the attention to details.

There was a bad storm approaching the park close to closing and they closed it early. They have trams running to the parking lot. They did not run them. It was starting to rain heavy and lightning was very close. So, along with everyone leaving the park at the same time, we had to walk in the rain through the parking lot. IN the dark!! It was just terrible. Six Flags can try all they want, but they will never be Disney.

Oh also, all the ride workers were teenagers. Nothing wrong with that, except they chose to use foul language frequently. We were just so shocked. It had actually been different from when we were children and visited this same park. We will not go back to SIx Flags again. Its WDW for us each and every time!!

 

[Madhatter06]

have to laugh

I have to laugh how six flags has "Flash pass" which is a total rip-off of disney's "fast pass"!

 

[majortom1981]

Its Not A Rip Off

I give up. You guys obviously HATE Six Flags so bad that nothing can change your minds. Disney could buy the chain and that still would not change your minds.


You have to understand that this will take a couple of years.


if you look into what a park like Great Adventure was and what it is now it isnt that hard to see what the park can become. Just look to the apst.

like the frontier adventures section, the north star arena was a full rodeo. They had canon blasts from the fort .The teepee was alot more color full. The workers were dressed up like indians in that section.

You have to get off your high horses and realise disney are not gods.

Anybody could have parks like them as long as they have an imagination and shapiro is on the right track

He even used to work for disney .

 

[newfanatic]

How can yo usay that without even visiting the link that i presented? Shows pictures and the book from the original park opening in 1974.

Thats what the park looked like before six flags took it over. I bet if the park returned to its roots people wouldnt be saying what they are saying about it now.

Actually, I did go to the link. And I visited the park frequently in the late 70's and all through the 80s. I loved it then. And I agree, you could not say a lot of the negative stuff we say now. But it was never in the same league as Disney. Heck, if I was younger I probably would still love it. They have some great coasters and kids are so much more tolerant of stuff us "old" folk are not. But I don't think it will ever be "the next Disney", and I don't think that is really what they are aiming for anyway.

 

[slappy magoo]

From the original article:

''But most importantly, you've got to take time off work," he added. ''If instead, you can offer a similar experience for just a car ride away, more convenient, more affordable, that's what Six Flags is going to be."


Note, it doesn't say "That's what Six Flags IS." He says "that's what Six Flags is GOING to be."

I know some people have problems when really old threads are resurrected, but I'd be really interested in seeing this thread 4 or 5 years from now, so we can see how near, OR far, Shapiro missed the mark.

 

[KevinPage]

I spoke with my friend this weekend who has really close ties with people at Great Adventure and he frequents the park multiple times per year and attends all the media events, gets on TV, etc. Here's a few snippets of what he told me:

1 - they still draw the same type of crowd demographic, nothing has changed on that front

2 - the changes that Snyder/Shapiro have made have caused havoc in the park. Morale is at an all time low. SF corporate has people who know nothing about the amusement park business trying to fix problems overnight. All they see is debt mounting all over the place, so they CUT everywhere, hence STAFFING is a huge issue this year, moreso than any year. (ride ops, security, etc.)

3 - the park had a new GM who was fired after 2 1/2 months after asking to do the impossible and turn all the problems around overnight.

4 - ride ops are not kept as teams on a specific ride, so they rarely get efficient at cycling guests through.

5 - alot of management with tenure has been let go, so lower level employees don't feel the need to work hard if they are going to get let go at the drop of a hat.

6 - they still don't pay the employees enough, so again staffing is an issue.

So in the short term it appears that things have gotten worse before they can get better, which seems to happen with alot of companies these days. And some of it makes sense, some of it doesn't.

 

[Blizz]

I spoke with my friend this weekend who has really close ties with people at Great Adventure and he frequents the park multiple times per year and attends all the media events, gets on TV, etc. Here's a few snippets of what he told me:

1 - they still draw the same type of crowd demographic, nothing has changed on that front

2 - the changes that Snyder/Shapiro have made have caused havoc in the park. Morale is at an all time low. SF corporate has people who know nothing about the amusement park business trying to fix problems overnight. All they see is debt mounting all over the place, so they CUT everywhere, hence STAFFING is a huge issue this year, moreso than any year. (ride ops, security, etc.)

3 - the park had a new GM who was fired after 2 1/2 months after asking to do the impossible and turn all the problems around overnight.

4 - ride ops are not kept as teams on a specific ride, so they rarely get efficient at cycling guests through.

5 - alot of management with tenure has been let go, so lower level employees don't feel the need to work hard if they are going to get let go at the drop of a hat.

6 - they still don't pay the employees enough, so again staffing is an issue.

So in the short term it appears that things have gotten worse before they can get better, which seems to happen with alot of companies these days. And some of it makes sense, some of it doesn't.

You also forgot that because they could not accomidate their current staffing needs (could be because they are in the middle of nowhere!) they have resorted to international recruiting, similar to Disney. Unlike Disney, who is top heavy with managers, Six Flags is more like every other amusement park, one manager takes care of many attractions, where Disney managers in attractions ops might only be in charge of 3 or 4 attractions. Some locations more, some less. Disney also has about 3 or 4 managers in an area that cast can go to, with Six Flags, its only 1 or 2. So if you have an issue with one.. tough.