Why only include Six Flags in comparisons?

mharrington

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Why is it that whenever people complain about rides being duplicated and packed in everywhere (at the Disney parks), they always seem to bring up only Six Flags? There are other theme park chains across the country that are packed with rides, too, like, say, Cedar Fair (owner of such parks as Knott's Berry Farm and Cedar Point). Yet the people always seems to bring up only Six Flags and nothing else. Why is that?
 
rsoxguy

rsoxguy

Well-Known Member
mharrington said:
Why is it that whenever people complain about rides being duplicated and packed in everywhere (at the Disney parks), they always seem to bring up only Six Flags? There are other theme park chains across the country that are packed with rides, too, like, say, Cedar Fair (owner of such parks as Knott's Berry Farm and Cedar Point). Yet the people always seems to bring up only Six Flags and nothing else. Why is that?
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Larger chains warrant more comparisons, I guess?
 
Jimmy Thick

Jimmy Thick

Well-Known Member
Comparing Six Flags to Disney is like comparing a Ford Pinto to a Bentley. Now if you compared Six Flags to Universal, you would have a much better, and much closer comparison.



Jimmy Thick-Total lack of themeing.
 
slappy magoo

slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
I would guess more people are closer to a theme park owned by Six Flags than they are parks owned by Busch Gardens or any other company. As a result, those comparisons are, in a way, a justification for traveling hundreds or thousands of miles, across the country or from overseas, to go to WDW versus a drive to your local park. I for one, live within 30mins of a Six Flags (Great Adventure) and I honestly can't remember the last time I've gone, the last few experiences were so awful, and the prices so obnoxious (even in comparison to WDW). I know since my last visit they've made more efforts to be family friendly, cut down on local gang problems and beefing up security, but I've still not felt the need to see if it's gotten any better, and friends of mine that do go seem to indicate I'm not missing much. If I did go, it'd probably take a day off of work and go in the first half of June, when it's open every day but most local schools are still in session.
 
C

chama1

Active Member
Six Flags

I remember taking my kids when Great Adventure opened every year, it was wonderful. They looked forward to the trip as it was a change from Coney Island. For inner city families in NYC this was a great place, prices were good, food, etc. was affordable plus you also could bring food and eat in their picnic area. There concerts were great but that was long ago, sorry to hear that it's gone "downhill". Let's see what the expansion of the "Fun Spot" will be like.
 
acishere

acishere

Well-Known Member
Because Six Flags doesn't focus on theme or does so with as little effort as possible (The Dark Knight coaster is a good example). Their focus is mainly thrill rides and carnival rides.

They also design their parks in a way that is usually generically themed due to the rides being close together. Great Adventure in NJ loves to just stick DC characters based rides wherever they can fit them. In fact lately it seems like they will only build DC based rides. It makes sense in Movie-Town (which at this point should just be named Gotham City already), but to have Superman and Green Lantern in the Boardwalk area and Bizarro in the western area just shows they don't care. The only area they managed to theme perfectly was Golden Kingdom, which was under construction last season so that may have changed.

Universal or Cedar Fair are not as frustratingly well known for doing that.

slappy magoo said:
I would guess more people are closer to a theme park owned by Six Flags than they are parks owned by Busch Gardens or any other company. As a result, those comparisons are, in a way, a justification for traveling hundreds or thousands of miles, across the country or from overseas, to go to WDW versus a drive to your local park. I for one, live within 30mins of a Six Flags (Great Adventure) and I honestly can't remember the last time I've gone, the last few experiences were so awful, and the prices so obnoxious (even in comparison to WDW). I know since my last visit they've made more efforts to be family friendly, cut down on local gang problems and beefing up security, but I've still not felt the need to see if it's gotten any better, and friends of mine that do go seem to indicate I'm not missing much. If I did go, it'd probably take a day off of work and go in the first half of June, when it's open every day but most local schools are still in session.
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Great Adventure has essentially turned into highway robbery off of 195. As expensive as travelling to WDW is, I've never stormed out of a park there just completely po'ed with every single other person in there. I do it pretty much everytime I've been to GA in the last few years. You pay so much for 2 minutes of fun on a ride that requires 3 hours of frustration prior. I think one of the things they cut after going bankrupt was customer service. Also this is NJ and people now think entering this state is a free pass to be a jerk. Their security is rude, yet do nothing. I saw one guy cut in line for Nitro 10 times, then finally was ejected when he started a scuffle the last time he did it. Security just let the guy go NINE TIMES. Unless you buy a fastpass, they don't seem to really care about you.

[Rant over :zipit:]
 
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BringMeTheHoriz

BringMeTheHoriz

Active Member
rsoxguy said:
Larger chains warrant more comparisons, I guess?
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Six Flags has 17 parks generating $1.021 billion annually while Cedar Fair has 18 parks generating $977 million annually. So which chain is larger depends on what statistic you're going to use. Either way, its splitting hairs.

As for the original question, to many people Six Flags seems 'more common' and known. Additionally I would argue they offer the least quality/satisfaction in the amusement park industry so people are more likely to compare a poorly run operation with a well run operation for better compare and contrast.

I've been to eight Six Flags properties and three Cedar Fair properties. Six Flags tries too hard to be something they're not (read: a theme park) and they fail miserably in the process. They also visually pollute their parks with excessive advertisements and unless you're at one of the premiere parks (Great Adventure, Magic Mountain) the choices in rides and things to do is identically boring from park to park. Typical Six Flag lineup includes a Boomerang coaster, an inverted (Vekoma) coaster, a rotting woodie, Loony Toons land, and if you're lucky a drop ride. Cedar Fair has alot of variety from park to park and they avoid "cloned" coasters and parks.
 
yeti

yeti

Well-Known Member
People who reprimand Disney Parks chiefly base their criticisms on the idea that they are backsliding in quality by cutting corners in maintenance budgets and CM training, while reducing complimentary benefits and boosting the markup to augment their bottom line. They make the connection that by doing so, the Disney theme parks are moving closer and closer to resembling a Six Flags park- the archetype of themeless...ness (sp?). Six Flags also has a tendency to duplicate their successes.

Jimmy Thick said:
Comparing Six Flags to Disney is like comparing a Ford Pinto to a Bentley. Now if you compared Six Flags to Universal, you would have a much better, and much closer comparison.



Jimmy Thick-Total lack of themeing.
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Your conclusion interests me. Now explain.
 
mharrington

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
BringMeTheHoriz said:
Six Flags has 17 parks generating $1.021 billion annually while Cedar Fair has 18 parks generating $977 million annually. So which chain is larger depends on what statistic you're going to use. Either way, its splitting hairs.
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Well, in this case, I was more concerned about the number of parks.

And I thought that one reason for comparisons between Disney and Six Flags is their usage of cartoon characters: Disney parks have Disney characters, Six Flags has Looney Tunes characters.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Cedar Fair is not shy about saying that they operate amusement parks.

Six Flags still claims to be operate theme parks and is in the news more often due often to something negative (bankruptcy, issues at a park, etc.). Unfortunately, many see them as the the bottom of the barrel of theme and amusement parks.
 
DisneyFan 2000

DisneyFan 2000

Well-Known Member
Jimmy Thick said:
Comparing Six Flags to Disney is like comparing a Ford Pinto to a Bentley. Now if you compared Six Flags to Universal, you would have a much better, and much closer comparison.



Jimmy Thick-Total lack of themeing.
Click to expand...
Yeah I just visited that Six Flags that created two of the world's most innovative dark rides... Yeah, um... NOT.
 

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