Six Flags Rhode Island

[FutureCEO]

What would of been. We will never find out. How close did we come to get Six Flags? I heard that Six Flags was close to purchasing the Big River site in West Greenwich but the old peopel taxpayers put it down. If that happened, I would be only a couple minutes away from Six Flags. On the other side of Rt. 95 or it could have went into our centre of new england. Does anybody have any more information about this. I think this could happen again. After all, New England can handle another Six Flags. Maybe Quonset Point.

PROVIDENCE -- Chances that a theme park will be developed in Rhode Island are fading because Six Flags, which also is looking at sites in Connecticut, is asking for too much state money, according to officials for Gov. Lincoln Almond.
John Swen, state economic development director, met with Six Flags officials Friday and said the theme park company's plans require a substantial investment by taxpayers.
"What they're asking for is more than what they're going to get," Swen told the Providence Journal-Bulletin. Even so, "That never prevents anyone from coming back. I never want to rule anything out."
Swen said the meeting marked a turning point in the state's effort to help Six Flags, which has been considering a site in Hopkinton.
Gov. Lincoln Almond has said he would give Six Flags assistance to come but wouldn't waste state money.
His spokesman, Eric Cote, said the offer by Six Flags was unacceptable.
"They need to understand that and make a decision on their own whether they want to proceed in Rhode Island," Cote said.
Six Flags officials said its discussions with Rhode Island are preliminary.
"From the beginning, we've said that we want to be in Southern New England," said spokesman Chuck Coursey. "We continue to be very interested in the region. We look forward to continuing to work with the state."
Swen said negotiations with Six Flags are similar to those that failed to lure the New England Patriots to Providence.
"We can't leave the taxpayers on the hook for paying for a private company. It needs to be revenue-positive for the state," he said.
Neither Swen nor Six Flags discussed their financial proposals.
Six Flags originally considered building in North Stonington, Conn., but ran into local opposition. They then began looking at a parcel of land in Hopkinton owned by the Mashantucket Pequots and continue to examine sites in Connecticut.

 

[TURKEY]

You think they would really and truely want to build a park that was open 8 months tops?

 

[FutureCEO]

we have amusment parks in the north including six flags so i don't see how 8 months can be an option. if that was the case then there would be no amusment parks up north

 

[imagineer boy]

I hate SixFlags. You should see the one where I live. It's dirty, filthy, and all they care about is how big and bad their rooler coasters get.

 

[darthdarrel]

Originally posted by FutureCEO
we have amusment parks in the north including six flags so i don't see how 8 months can be an option. if that was the case then there would be no amusment parks up north

We have alot of amusement parks up north turkeyleg boy!
Here in Ohio we have Cedar point,the most popular amusement park ever and we have Six flags worlds of adventures,which is awesome and Kings Island and few more old fashioned amusement parks aswell! and they do great business eventhough they are only open 5 months of the year!

 

[pheneix]

There was a big rumor running rampant throughout my local area a few years ago about Six Flags possibly setting up shop in NC. For those who do not know the area, two of the busiest interstates in the country-- I-95 and I-40 --intersect in what is widely regarded as a development wasteland, I mean there are fields and fields for miles and miles with only the highways and woods breaking them up. As you can imagine, land is relatively cheap around here (at least compared to other sites in the country), even with cities like Raleigh and Fayetteville within an hours drive away.

As the "rumor" goes, all of these factors contributed in the very real possibility that a Six Flags park could be successful in North Carolina. But (and this is where the story kind of falls apart), Six Flags was getting into arguments over how much land they could purchase- and more importantly - where it could be purchased. Anyway, Six Flags finally said to hell with it and let the deal die.

I'm really not all that sure that this is how the deal went down, if there ever was one. Typically things like this catch a lot of publicity, even when they are supposed to be secret (cough, Walt Disney World, cough), and the Six Flags fiasco never made a blip on the radar.

However, several landscapers I do business with *did* say that they were contacted by Premier Parks about taking part in a major land clearing project that all of a sudden vanished without a trace...

P.S. BTW, I find it EXTREMELY humorous that Six Flags Inc thinks they can take on the challenge of building a full scale amusement park anywhere, much less in Rhode Island. With their credit rating I am surprised that they can even finance an Icee machine.

 

[FutureCEO]

Originally posted by pheneix
P.S. BTW, I find it EXTREMELY humorous that Six Flags Inc thinks they can take on the challenge of building a full scale amusement park anywhere, much less in Rhode Island. With their credit rating I am surprised that they can even finance an Icee machine.

this was a long time ago

 

[pheneix]

Ah, I see.

I wonder if this happened around the same time as the North Carolina deal fell through?

 

[orangefan15]

Six Flags could do a huge business in Connecticut, I can see this opening by the casinos and doing very well.

However, it doesn't seem like a very smart business move to me. With Six Flags New England in Agawam being no more than a 1.5-2 hour drive from anywhere in Connecticut and Six Flags Great Adventure also within a day's drive, they would certainly be building a new park at the expense of people visiting their current parks.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Originally posted by orangefan15
Six Flags could do a huge business in Connecticut, I can see this opening by the casinos and doing very well.

However, it doesn't seem like a very smart business move to me. With Six Flags New England in Agawam being no more than a 1.5-2 hour drive from anywhere in Connecticut and Six Flags Great Adventure also within a day's drive, they would certainly be building a new park at the expense of people visiting their current parks.

I agree! What would be the point???

SFNE is fine enough (for what it is)...there is no sense in "cannibalizing" that park by placing another so close.

Anways...how many coasters does NE need anyways :lol:

(although he did say that this was a long time ago...maybe it was before SFNE even existed and it was the original site of SFNE)

 

[FutureCEO]

Riverside was bought in 96 by Six Flags and was turned into a Six Flags park in 2000, i think. anyway it cost $30 + to go there and to park and food and stuff. i went for the first time to the new improved six flags last year, it sucked, nothing in it. and superman ride of steel is not worth the wait. it was bad

 

[dreamer]

That's one less metastasis of the malignant tumor.

 

[CDS Disney]

Thank God that never happened I would never be able to cross the state in 2 min with all the trafic durring the summer it would take and ungodly 10 min.