Six Flags problems

seascape

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Six Flags is having problems. Their attendance only grew 2% in 2019 while Cedar Fair grew 5%. Why did this happen? Six Flags has great locations and should be doing much better. I believe their problem is their blind view that all they have to do is add a ride each year to each park and keep their costs down. As a result of this view, they have eliminated shows and the small things that make visiting their parks special. It is the little things that matter and all they are doing is looking at physical rides. Great Adventure has theaters that sit empty most of the time. A horrible use of space that could be used to draw a bigger audience. They also eliminated the lake side grandstand that used to be used for a water show. Again a atupid thing they did because there is a huge population they could draw if they would only go after it. I hope their new management take a full look at what Dollywood and Silver Dollar City are doing. Rides are one thing but not what make themeparks special.
 

InnKpr

Well-Known Member
they have eliminated shows and the small things that make visiting their parks special. It is the little things that matter and all they are doing is looking at physical rides. Great Adventure has theaters that sit empty most of the time. A horrible use of space that could be used to draw a bigger audience. They also eliminated the lake side grandstand that used to be used for a water show. Again a atupid thing they did because there is a huge population they could draw if they would only go after it.
I'm only familiar with the closest Six Flags to me (Six Flags Over Georgia), and can kinda sorta see this trend unfortunately with stepping away from shows. One of their two large theaters for stage productions (The Drive-In/Oldies theater) was demolished years ago in favor of a new coaster, leaving only the Crystal Pistol as their sole remaining indoor theater.

Though if there is one thing the Six Flags brand still does right, and dare I say better than most other park chains... it's HALLOWEEN stage shows. More specifically, "Dr. Fright's Dead Man's Party", which has been a running tradition for decades at the Georgia SF, and I believe a handful of others. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this over Octobers past, but it is always a must-do if I visit during the Halloween season. Just a heck of a lotta fun.


Another good Halloween musical show we used to have, but sadly is no longer at the Georgia park, was "Love At First Fright", which was a musical-comedy. It's still a running favorite at the SF closest to the Chicago area.


Both of these shows (especially Dr. Fright's DMP) I would rank better than even the Beetlejuice Graveyard Review that Uni had. Uni may be king with Halloween scare zones, but SF still is top-dog (imo) for Halloween shows.. and that's probably the only category they lead the pack in.
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Cedar Fair has tried very hard to theme their parks with quality rides, events and work on Guest Service. Between Knotts, Cedar Point(which is moving towards themed entertainment over just thrills) and Carowinds they are top dog in regional parks.
 

DaveN1996

Active Member
Six Flags has so much that they could do with DC, and yet in most cases you get small areas of the park with attractions that just get DC names slapped on them. I've often times wondered what it would take since Disney now owns Marvel for Universal to buy the rights to DC out from under Six Flags and put some real teeth behind these franchises.

Also, Six Flags does nothing to ensure their parks stay clean, at least in regards to the Texas parks, and their customer service is beyond poor....
 

Jon81uk

Well-Known Member
Six Flags has so much that they could do with DC, and yet in most cases you get small areas of the park with attractions that just get DC names slapped on them. I've often times wondered what it would take since Disney now owns Marvel for Universal to buy the rights to DC out from under Six Flags and put some real teeth behind these franchises.

Also, Six Flags does nothing to ensure their parks stay clean, at least in regards to the Texas parks, and their customer service is beyond poor....

Warner Bros own DC, I would be almost certain they wouldn't license them to Disney. More chance of Warner opening their own parks.
 

seascape

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Warner Bros own DC, I would be almost certain they wouldn't license them to Disney. More chance of Warner opening their own parks.
You are absolutely correct. They don't want either Disney nor Universal to have the DC themepark rights. That is why the rights contract with Six Flags specifically state they lose them if either Disney or Universal buy Six Flags.
 

Jon81uk

Well-Known Member
You are absolutely correct. They don't want either Disney nor Universal to have the DC themepark rights. That is why the rights contract with Six Flags specifically state they lose them if either Disney or Universal buy Six Flags.

Also of course looking at the Warner branded parks, they don't used the DC characters significantly better than Six Flags do, so I doubt Warner Bros and DC care too much about the way Six Flags do it.
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey is a mess. Line jumping, fights, lots of obnoxious people. I stopped going there years ago, and I never took my kids there. It's craziness.
 

networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey is a mess. Line jumping, fights, lots of obnoxious people. I stopped going there years ago, and I never took my kids there. It's craziness.

Six Flags over Georgia suffers the same issues. Inexpensive Season Passes and Public transportation service to the park has equaled turning it into a child care facility. Children raised by wolves.
 

Swedish Chef

New Member
Children raised by wolves.
The last time we visited a Six Flags park, there was an adolescent in line ahead of us for the log flume rubbing his lighter against the queue railing, seeing if the wood would ignite. Fortunately the wood railing was too damp due to the nearby ride splash that it didn't, but gosh darn it did he try.

Children can be worse than wolves. Even wolves don't try to burn down a log flume for their amusement.
 

Tony the Tigger

Well-Known Member
WDW ruined Great Adventure for me forever. I see no reason to ever go unless friends are going and invite me along.

I do not consider it a theme park, but an amusement park.
 

seascape

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
WDW ruined Great Adventure for me forever. I see no reason to ever go unless friends are going and invite me along.

I do not consider it a theme park, but an amusement park.
Great Adventure did two things this year to dramatically improve their operations. They brought back the Drive Thru Safari and had a drive thru Christmas Lights Display on weekdays and two weekends in January. Their themepark is not on the quality of WDW but for those of us who love animals and can enjoy it for what it is still can have a fondness for it. Personally I am not a rollercoaster fan and wish Great Adventure would live up to its potential by adding more dark rides and having some shows in their empty theaters because the should draw much more than they do given the market size between NYC and Philadelphia.
 

PascagoulaRun

New Member
I've decided to give up my SF season pass this year for the first time in years. The maintenance and cleaning was awful in 2019, the food options have consistently declined in quality, and they've cut way back on seasonal offerings. I was on their fan advisory panel for a while, and every single time commented that they would do themselves a lot of good with some power washing and painting, but they never seemed to even do minor cleaning. Food all over the floor at restaurant facilities, overflowing trash cans, etc.

It's too bad because they do have some good properties with some unique rides. I just wish they would work more on the basics.
 

5thGenTexan

Well-Known Member
In my ideal world.. ALL the "Six Flags" parks would be sold off. Leaving the original 'Six Flags Over Texas". Dump the Warner Bros garbage. Bring SFOT back to the way it used to be.
 

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