Six Flags is simply NOT Disney or Universal. However, that doesn't have to be a bad thing. They can/should be an economical alternative for both of them. Many people are being priced out of Disney/Universal, so gravitating to a broader market only would help them get their parks at capacity.
Six Flags tried to shift to family focused parks before, and it was one of the reasons that lead them to bankruptcy. However, not adding more rides, family or thrill rides is a awful idea. Look at Cedar Fair, they usually add 3 or 4 more rides across the chain each year, and it keeps people coming back. And it will be a huge letdown if Great Adventure doesn’t get a new coaster for the 50th.
I’m going to agree with Selim about rides not being a priority right now. The priority lies in improving and building upon what is already laid down. Many of the parks are too run down to even consider adding more. I think expanding hospitality which includes better value for food and beverage options, also accommodations such as an official Six flags hotel would be a smart move…shuttle services. Adding an arena or stage for concerts. hosting music festivals and all around upgrades to the grounds and facilities.
@@Adadean88 I agree with you in that they really need to turn their attention on infrastructure, landscaping and general beatification. But if he really wants to appeal to families Six Flags needs to build actual family coasters and flat rides that can be an intermediate thrill between the mine trains and the Batman clones or most families are going to get bored with the parks waiting on their little ones to hit their growth spurts.
Six flags STL recently had their 50th anniversary and during that time there was absolutely nothing, there was only minor updates and just a front entrance refurbishment, you would thing that they would have given one of the original Six Flags Parks a major roller coaster addition, since the last addition was a boomerang in 2013, but of course, there was nothing. All of the focus is mostly on six flags magic mountain, and never on the parks that can be a huge benefit if they’re managed just right
I’m so glad that you are posting about this topic mainly because everybody have been too scared to share their opinions. When he became CEO I felt something in me saying that it wasn’t right. I stopped buying season passes when he became the owner because of the price raises that we’re giving you less, as I couldn’t afford it. Thanks for sharing your opinion
it's sad to see six flags slowly die out. i was there on a saturday last month and it was a desert. sure i enjoyed the empty queues but it also felt wrong in a way. hopefully selim listens to what everyone is telling him. congrats on 3k!
If you want to demand Herschend level, or Universal level admissions the key is immersive themeing in structures, food, and rides. That's what elevates parks from standard to top tier to be able to ask for higher dollar amounts. It needs to give you a resort experience that feels like your in another world with attention to detail including keeping guest's ground level view within the park where they cant even see parking lots, etc. Litterally feel like the are within the story. They want that market, they need to redesign and theme much more heavily, and create a story. They have the ability to do much more with their IPs.
I’ve been thinking this for years especially for my home park. The town has a height restriction so no big coasters for Great Escape. The park used to be called Story Town. They were on the path of Disney and could of kept that theme but upgraded the rides around that theme. More indoor rides with lots of theming like Disney. It creates a fun environment for kids and adults as well
Yea I wanted to take my friends to fright fest because most of them had never went I expected 40-60 dollar tickets But nope I got damn near $100 tickets I'm not dropping over $400 on a just ok Halloween event Like damn this shits ridiculous
@@brandoncole5533 I've found out though that if you come from NYC e.g., there are tickets from NJ Transit that include a bus ride and entrance fees that goes for 70 dollars if you get on in Newark Penn Station and 80 dollars from the New York Post Authority Bus Terminal. Don't know if they'll or have changed those prices but thus sounds quite reasonable to me. Dunno, maybe you come from that area.
This is a great analysis with a lot of good points! I have a lot of thoughts on this as a thrill seeker since I was a kid and am now 50 with five kids of my own, ranging in age from 22-11, all of whom were introduced to coasters early and were riding the thrill ones around age 10. First, when I initially had a family with younger children, I didn’t even bother going to Six Flags (that hurt bc I’m a coaster fanatic). As you mentioned, there is a huge lack of family rides overall. I was just at SFGA 2 days ago with my now older kids (11, 13, 22), and noticed even the two kiddie lands are spaced a LONG way apart - not really conducive or practical as a parent or for the kids, who get tired of walking. My solution ended up being going to other parks, Lake Compounce & Hershey specifically. The Six Flags in Lake George wasn’t too bad as a middle of the ground park if you had younger kids, but it’s definitely lacking the coasters we crave. I am within driving distance to SFGA, SFNE, and the one in Lake George. Now that my kids are older and can ride all the large coasters, we ALWAYS choose GA, even though that’s the farthest away (3 hrs) bc we’re going specifically for the amazing coasters. My recent experience 2 days ago. My 22 year old and I have a diamond membership so we don’t worry about admission, parking etc., but I was shocked to see how much the prices increased from last year (I have to buy tickets for any other kids who come). Luckily, I bought online and got them for half off the gate price, so it wasn’t too bad. Then there was the parking: $40 or $70 for preferred!!! Honestly, I think that floored me more than the increased admission prices but again, thankfully I have the membership so that was free. But for a regular consumer, paying that much to park is going to give them a bad first impression!! Parking doesn’t give you value or even fun for that matter, lol. Anyway, once inside the park, it was a bit chaotic. Flash passes were being done differently, they had moved member services and the flash pass building again. Once we got all of that stuff taken care of, we found other issues like closed rides, breakdowns or technical issues. It wasn’t horrible but it did make for a lot of back and forth. The app was terrible for what I used or tried to use it for: couldn’t get to my digital photos, couldn’t check in the rides to earn membership points at all, and the ride times weren’t that accurate. It seemed like they lacked staff so one ride would have to close for another to open. But one of the most disappointing parts of our recent visit was the cleanliness of the park overall. I think it was a combo of poor maintenance in some parts along with some attractions needing a facelift. Medusa looked amazing by the way - now THAT was a good choice!! Some parts like the Golden Kingdom and Frontier Land look great, while others lack cohesiveness. My opinion overall is that Six Flags needs more than just new food and festivals. Sure, those are fun bonus items, but the parks need to keep up on their ride selection or they’re going to lose their current clients who go there each year specific for certain rides. They also won’t necessarily gain families either because as you said, it takes more than food and a festival to entertain at a place like Six Flags. Young or old, I think the majority still want to see new rides, so the new CEO’s approach will be interesting to see play out.
I also wanted to mention that I, too, noticed that the park was less busy. Rides - as long as they didn’t break down while you were line - were around 5-15 minute wait time with the exceptions being Superman (which always has long wait times due to its timely loading and unloading times, and Kingda Ka, but we used a flash pass for this one. For that reason, I can definitely overlook a few of the negatives bc I hate waiting in long lines, lol. But there were a lot of breakdowns - two happened as we boarded! My daughter’s seat wasn’t locking on Wonder Woman and then as we were on the Medusa train, they noticed the floor was stuck down in one spot, so we had to get back off and wait while they fixed it. Zumanjaro shut down for some reason and never reopened and Jersey Devil also had something happen while we were in line. I’ve never seen so many technical difficulties in one day - it was really strange.
Great video and very well said. I agree that the CEO needs to go. How many negative quarterly earnings calls will it take for the board to vote him out of the seat? My home park is SFGA and aside from the new paint jobs and better merch, everything else is same or worse. Nonetheless, great content and keep up the good work. 👍🏽
This was super informative, thank you! I have been contemplating purchasing a membership because I love amusement parks, and Over Texas is the closest, BUT I have been spoiled by Cedar Point my whole life and am worried the Over Texas or Fiesta or even Frontier will be like Michigan's Adventure, which just wasn't worth it when Cedar Point was only an hour more of a drive. Your channel has helped me to understand the Six Flags version on Thrill rides better. I'm really starting to wonder if it's even worth getting a membership or a season pass? I love the thrill rides and don't want to be stuck paying on a membership for a year if I am severely disappointed. On the other hand, if I like it, I don't wanna spend more than half a season pass to wanna come back in a week.
Selim needed to add the premium experience before you start charging the premium prices (or do both simultaneously). Doing the latter before the former just massively drops attendance below a point that revenue would be made up by an increased spending per customer.
1. If you want to attract families you have to add family rides, something that has been in short supply at most SF parks for decades now. At the same time, however, you have to keep the thrill seekers coming back with new thrill rides. Cedar Fair seems to do a pretty good job of maintaining that balance and SF could learn a thing or two from them. 2. You can't just raise prices without increasing value. Disney's "charge more for less" model is reaching a breaking point with much of its fanbase. This is not a road a chain like SF can afford to travel. 3. If you want to attract anyone at all you have to keep your rides safe! We may not fully know what caused the El Toro accident for some time but it's already sounding like cost cutting had at least something to do with it. If you develop a reputation for putting cost above safety you can kiss your attendance goodbye!
Great video!! You waited long enough I agree if you wanna lean towards families he has to put in the effort to do that, add family attractions more than just Dark Knight, Runaway Mine Train, Harley Quinn, Lil Devil, add more like put an endeavor in the park I know most families would love it. He has to just do better if he doesn’t then it’s just gonna get worse and worse.
I used to work at Six Flags St. Louis, and it seems to me like they have thrown out the safety first policy. The Supervisors don't respect the seasonal employees there anymore, and that's one of the reasons I quit.
Went there with my son 2 months ago and the rides aren't being maintained. Batman was particularly bad. I feel like something very bad is going to eventually happen there give how short staffed they are.
Good video, it is definitely hard to take the middle ground in this, but I think you did a decent job. I am glad that I am a member and have the dining membership so I am getting a decent deal on going to the parks. My question is how long will it take for him to reverse his plan or for the board oust him? It seems as far as amusement parks go, missing a few years of rides can set the parks back a ton. I just hope six flags can survive this!
I feel a lot of this is due to the discounting for the meal plan and membership benefits and just discounts all around I really don’t know how they made money but yes what the ceo is trying to do is an uphill battle when u don’t have the financial backing but I’m not gonna lie since I only live 20 min from GA the short lines and guest experience have been amazing. Once again Colin keep up the great work!
Makes no sense. I own a marketing company and one of the best things you can do, with any business, is lean into what’s already working and your core target audience - which in six flag’s case, isn’t families
One thing I find very weird about all these full time layoffs is that several supervisors who are directly above me as a team member have just been promoted to full time
There is no way that the Six Flags parks can become like Disney/Universal/Busch Gardens or Sea World!!! First of all, those parks are HUGE and have a lot of land to expand, whereas the Six Flags don't! Secondly, there is no way in hell, I would pay the prices those parks charge at a Six Flags park! The new CEO is out of his mind, increasing prices and saying he won't be adding new thrill rides!! This is the whole point of visiting theme parks!!! I don't know why they got rid of the previous guy...I liked him. He seemed fun and a great fit!!! My local SF park, LaRonde, lost me and my kids as customers this year! I have been buying season passes for many years. The last time was at the end of 2019 for the 2020 season. Unfortunately the park was closed for 2020 so they extended the passes to 2021. The problem is that we would have had to walk around with masks on in the Summer heat, which I would not have been able to do, so I never used the passes. I tried to get them extended to this year since we never used them and they refused! They increased the price of the season passes, removed the regular parking and haven't put in a new roller coaster in years (they canceled the one that was supposed to be installed for 2021), so they aren't getting my money anytime soon!! They also reduced their hours drastically so we aren't getting our money's worth!! My kids and I actually chose to drive 8 hours away to SFGA this Summer since they have WAY more coasters and brand new ones!!!! We are huge coaster fanatics and that is what makes us want to go to the parks!!! The board needs to get rid of this CEO!!! Families can't afford his vision!!! If he wants Disney ideas...then go run Disney!!!
I think the right move towards a big family company like disney would have been to sell some parks and use that money towards more family rides and better park theming and entertainment and then raise the prices since the ticket prices would be more worth it
They did sell some parks. The used to own Elich Garden in Denver and Kentucky Kingdom near Louisville. They also completely closed Astroworld and Six Flags New Orleans.
This is what happens with companies that want to follow another company's business model. People and companies that are followers don't prosper. They're in a constant mode of catch up, and have no idea on how to move forward once they reach the front.
Six Flags is crazy if they think people are going to pay Disney prices to only get a Six Flags experience, which is nothing but standing in lines for rides. Warner Brothers just needs to yank their properties from all Six Flags parks because they have failed miserably at theming up any of those parks. We need a Warner Bros Movie World like the one in Australia, heck just open one in California.
Selim Bassoul is misguided and the board needs to vote him out. Six Flags needs a CEO that will steer six flags in the right direction with accessible admission prices while maintaining a high-quality experience.
The public is spending lots of money at amusement parks and theme parks of every kind that provide QUALITY ATTRACTIONS AND RIDES! SFSTL is our home park, but it has ridiculously stale rides. Besides keeping our SFSTL passes we bought Holiday World season passes this year. We’re driving an extra 90 minutes and pay for a hotel stay to enjoy the much better Holiday World. HW isn’t perfect, but has several standout coasters, an amazing water park and had a top-notch drone/fireworks show this year. SF has to BUILD IT if they want the public to come and pay more!
I do hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Cedar Fair is likely going on a less extreme version of Six Flag's pivot. Even before the pandemic, CF had stated they wanted to shift away from as frequent ride updates and as big ride updates, and start focusing on seasonal events, better food, and in park experiences. There recent slate of announcements seems to be going along with that, ad significantly more money was invested in area theming and dining over coasters, with the biggest coaster of 2023 being a GCI family woodie with a pinch of steel.
While this may be true, Cedar Fair is still continuing to invest in its parks, and seems to be putting in the effort to build attractions oriented towards families to serve that demographic. It doesn't seem that Six Flags is putting forth the same effort currently, and I don't see how such a plan can be successful when the investment isn't there.
But that makes sense--it's *doing* something. They want to shift to more emphasis on families, so they're building family-oriented areas and theming and putting in family rides. Cedar Point gets a boardwalk-themed area with a family coaster, Worlds of Fun gets a new family coaster. And honestly, a lot of these parks need that. Six Flags seems to want it to happen by magic without significant additions to the parks (other than ones they've already had in the works for a while).
Focusing on families instead of just teenagers and young adults is necessary to survive. However, you can't just raise prices. You have to actually provide quality worth paying for. The parks are in serious disrepair, especially Great Adventure. And if they want to attract families they need to provide entertainment again.
You gotta pay 100$ admission for a day at SixFlags? Europapark and Phantasialand admission is a little more than half of that price. Sixflags is basically asking for double the price for a discount park while you can pay 56$ to get into one of the best European Themeparks.
Crowds at great adventure seem to be picking up a bit as we get closer to labor day. Probably the nicer weather and kids wanting to go before school starts.
Great Adventure use to have more family rides back in the day. A lot of them were taken down to make room for more big roller-coasters. They need the bring back all the family classics like the free fall tower, taz twister and all those old spinning rides. You get a lot of variety of rides in a small space with those, they are family friendly, and it takes some of the long lines away from coasters. Mid 90s i liked hitting 2 big coasters first, then doing a few stupid rides as a break. They even moved all the little water rides to a separate water park. You use to get a lot of value from one regular ticket. Yes it was nice ever 2 years we had a major new coaster since 1993 batman. Viper and batman&robin was a fail and wasted money. 1999 they built Pendulum, & TIME Warp only to move them to another park a few years later.
When I was a kid it used to be possible to run a major theme park, on the level of Hersheypark or Kings Dominion, with about 2 or 3 big coasters and lots of flats, things like log flumes and gentle family rides. These days, that's a small local park like Canobie Lake. The only big-park chain that really gets away with that is Disney, but they do it with next-level theming--it's a whole other category. Six Flags went the other direction during the Coaster Wars era and a lot of their parks really don't have a lot of family rides, just these monster thrill rides; their "family" rides are things like spinning coasters, too intense for a lot of people. I actually think going back in a family-park direction would be a fine idea. But to do it, they'll have to put in new stuff.
@@MattMcIrvin yup. Even in 1995 six flags was a few new coasters and the rest vintage. At first it was nice to get a few modern coasters. But then they ran out of space and started to knock down family rides for bigger coasters. Fun when you're 17 but as I got older i couldn't ride huge coasters all day without getting a headache. 😂😭 Plus keeping older rides would keep the company debt down and keep ticket prices low. Can't believe parking is $40 now plus extra for a preferred spot. I remembered getting to the park early with dad and getting the closets spot after the handicap section for $6. Then one year boom it was $20+😭😭
I think Great Adventure has enough for families, other than roller coaster, they have a variety of flats,dark rides, and water rides that families can enjoy. Plus big kiddie areas. That being said, not every Six Flags park is like the bigger ones that are more diverse in their collections. Six Flags America for instance is definitely not geared towards families.
Theres alot he's doing im not a fan of but one of the only things I do like is seeing them paint and maintain rides better visualy. It makes it look more alive and less run down and tacky looking
All I can say is what a mess. I feel like Selim is repeating the same mistakes of Mark Shapiro, and we all know how that ended... in bankruptcy. You can't just snap your fingers and become a family park like Disney or Universal. The parks have thrill rides, and thus attract the demographic that likes those rides. Also, teenagers are like 30% of theme park visitations. You cannot alienate this demographic. I know they don't spend quite as much money as families, but there are a lot more of them. Great Adventure would be a good fit for the SeaWorld/Busch Gardens approach, where you still add new rides, but also focus on better theming, festivals, etc. I believe this was the vision of the now former park president. As someone who visits the parks primarily for rides, I'm highly disappointed to see that none are being added in the next 2 years. I'll have to reconsider whether to keep my membership active, particularly if they raise the price a lot.
You can tell by the sound of his voice that he has absolutely no clue about how to run a theme park. Magic Mountain is my home park. Ever since Salim's take over I can tell the difference in leadership. I can't for the life of me understand why they got rid of the last CEO. I was seeing positive results under his leadership. My home park had improved its aesthetics. As soon as Selim stepped on the scene I noticed the change in morale at the park. I hope the board gets rid of him.
Great Adventure has felt like it's been being abandoned for years. I always hear how it's 6 flags 2nd best park, and I'm like "Really, how bad are all the others" they leave Halloween and Christmas decorations up all year. Most of the newer rides are too intense, to be enjoyable, in my opinion. I definitely have seen a negative change since April, since nj is not a full year park. I would love six flags to have more family oriented rides instead of giant plazas in front of a coaster. Hersheypark, imo, does it best. Beautiful park, something for everyone. Plus this amazing kinetic energy. I also prefer Dorney Park (I believe a Cedar Fair Park) which again something for everyone. Also stop charging premium price for a Fyre Festival cheese sandwich, lol
I have not set foot in a Six Flags park in several years. This is despite the fact that I live 15-20 minutes away from a park, enjoy rollercoasters, and can comfortably afford to purchase a season pass. The park was dirty and dilapidated, the lines were long, and the crowds were obnoxious and unsavory. It was just that bad. I applaud the decision to get rid of the “memberships,” because as someone who understands finance, they were to a large extent an accounting trick to smooth earnings and lessen the balance sheet impact of the new revenue recognition standards. Unfortunately, you saw a huge uptick in people more or less using the park as a babysitter, and created a central, amenity-filled hangout for gangs. Black gangs, white gangs, Hispanic gangs; a veritable UN of shady individuals. Now that I know the place is way less crowded and that they are working towards making the place look more presentable, I’m a lot more inclined to go out and buy a season pass. Revenues were down five percent *but they slashed attendance by a fifth and increased per guest spend by nearly a third*. This is actually an incredibly strong argument in favor of the plan, and they’ve ripped off the bandage. They shouldn’t delude themselves into thinking they can command a premium price or deliver a premium experience on the level of a Disney or Universal, but there is definitely plenty of room for improvement.
interesting perspective. But once they cut expenses, they cannot cut anymore. If attendance is down, then revenues cannot go up. unless they raise prices. then that will cut attendance more. Unless they add something new, why would someone who already saw everything go back? Season tickets are for locals to drop in. ride a ride, get a bite of food and drink. leave. But the more valuable customers, visitors to the area have no reason to go. nothing new or attractive. He's just stemming the bleeding but the patient will die without actually fixing anything. And as easy at it sounds, onsite employees and staff is way more important than CEOs want to admit. unless you have a great training system in place, each generation of staff and employee know less then the next.
he only said he doesn't wanna focus on rides for the next 2 years. I think he will fix up the parks & the food & festivals for the next 2 years & then he'll go back to the massive new rides.
My family of 5 went to Great America in Gurnee, IL last Friday and I was really wondering why it seemed more empty than what I was expecting. But man it was a blast. 20 minutes was the longest we waited, and that was for the log ride. Toward the end of the day we pretty much walked on to whatever coaster we wanted. If you buy tickets online it’s about half the price than if you buy at the gate, which is at the $90-$100 price point. I mean, food was expensive, was about $100 for lunch feeding 5, but that’s to be expected wherever you go I feel (amusement park, stadium, etc…) I will take going to Six Flags or Cedar Point over going to Disney again all day long. 2.5 hours for a boring ass Seven Dwarves mine ride, or 10 minutes for Raging Bull or Goliath and still much cheaper, easy choice.
you have a good point. $100 x 5, $100 lunch = so about $600 for the day for 5. But would you go back the next day? 3-5 days in a row? Disney people go for 3-5 days back to back. why? other than lines. More attractions. Rides, Themes, Food. So GA has to convince 3 families of 5 to come back 3 times. 15 days. Disney has to convince one family of five to come for 3 days. 15 days. plus pay more. Return visits mean more than the one off sale. Loyal Customer.
I live where Six Flags Darien Lake is, and from what I've heard that it wasn't as packed as it used to be, even on weekends ... before the Pandemic, we used to get discount tickets, which included free parking, it was fully staffed, all the rides were open, even had a lot of shows. This year, not all the rides were open, all water parks/slides wasn't open but charging damn near 70.00 admission and 20 bucks for parking ... it's ridiculous
I just hope that my membership passes pre COVID don’t ever run out. As a father of 3 teenagers, we have had 5 diamond passes and 3 meal plans for the past 4 years. $88 a month is an affordable way for our family to have entertainment although, they took out $20 more for the first time. We will see if any other changes are made but if you out price the families, that is kind of defeating the purpose of your goal.
Note Saleen saying the sweet spot for annual attendance was 25 to 27 million which is what they did last year How are they going to see that number if they raised prices and want to decrease attendance? Makes no sense
Yeah for the first time ever my family and i got cedar fair season passes this year instead of six flags. Overpirced and under performing imho. Havent had a out of this world coaster in any of the parks in years. GL with the family thingamobobby
I'm a Dimond member and have been for a few years its nice paying like 15 a month. I don't have a food pass but I found a creative way to get 1 for free. once a week I go to six flags and when I want a meal I stand at the front of the line at whatever restaurant U want to eat at for like 20 min and give whoever is at the front of the line my pass they get 35 percent off of their food and I get points once I rack up enough points I get myself a free meal.
This will cause a riot with “middle-lower” class individuals who want a day of fun…but are outpriced!! I’ve seen a lot more people this year ditch the expensive theme parks for cheaper ones (I.E. Hershey Theme park attendance is WAY UP!!) because yeah…people hate long lines, but not everyone has $200 a person to bring them to the theme park!!! It will soon catch up to them.
Raising prices without improving the guest experience is a sure-fire way to fail. My home park, Six Flags Darien Lake, has cut hours (11-7 on weekdays), eliminated rides and attractions (Ignite the Night), cut staffing and they're still running single trains on their coasters so the lines are still long. And the place doesn't even look all that nice either. Hell, I'd rather cross the border and drive 1 ½ hours to Canada's Wonderland before driving 45 minutes to Darien Lake. And when the place finally closes for good they'll blame everything but themselves.
@Pride Rise Studios There's nothing I would like better than to see Darien Lake succeed. I'm sure what's happening at Darien Lake is happening at other Six Flags parks as well, and nothing I said is untrue. And I'm certainly not shaming Darien Lake employees (I've worked there myself) because I'm sure they're working hard under crappy circumstances. But I am fearful that unless things change there the park will close within five years because of mismanagement from the top.
Went to St. Louis two weekends ago and my friend ticket at the gate was 90 buck parking was 35 thankfully I have my pass and half the rides were either down for the day or limited trains going making wait times doubled than what I’ve seen and the water park was the same way
Well I gotta agree, great video of this chaos that’s going on with six flags. I feel like six flags isn’t in the right shape again since when the new CEO took over and did some ridiculous stuff like raising prices and making their parks have low attendance and it’s honestly making it worse and it isn’t working out. Six flags is supposed to be a company that brings a lot of families and guests around the word especially the US to their parks and provide them the best experiences, have fair prices and high attendance. Like I’m gonna ask this - where is the real six flags at right now?
@Coliwood Studios looks like we will never get new coaster for 2024 because CEO Selina wants focus on family in the parks I’m scared of this. Will there will still be new coaster for 2024?
Maybe frightfest will be better home park is great adventure been going since 04’ and that should def bump attendance? Also with 18 years of experience for great adventure sometimes violent guest would enter the park and like ruin the experience, I’ve been through SO many belligerent fellow guests in the park and there’s so many fights at great adventure on UA-cam. So the price jump definitely benefits great adventure for guest experience. I think if anything, they could have selected specific parks and make it more exclusive but I def agree the new season pass system is ass. Thank God I have Diamond elite
I get not adding a new big coaster for 2 years. Six Flags needs to take a break from coasters. But you still need to invest in the parks. Infrastructure, landscaping, food, flat rides, family coasters and a legit single rider line program.
@@Johnnyiswhere It's not just seasonal passes but one day admission tickets as well. And I doubt most people will buy admission tickets on black friday if they want to visit on summer the next year
@@je6a478 one day tickets should be high. I'm tired of dealing with rowdy teens and long lines. I know the report was bad and they need to fix that going forward, but man what a relief to not deal with crowded midways and crappy guests.
@@Johnnyiswhere From an enthusiast perspective or an guest perspective, yes. But Six Flags is a business. They need to make money. And I'd assume most people won't visit the park more than once a year. And you can make more profit from the GP than from enthusiasts, especially because they then pay more admission per visit than pass holders. Thus, having fewer guests visiting for one day or having fewer guests in general is very bad for their business.
it's really a shame that selim went south once Micheal Spanos left, Six flags desrves a better CEO to run the chain and I'm sorry Mr. Selim B. if you see this comment on here what your doing is not good business for six flags and we as your park goers and coaster enthuthiest are telling you to stop and rethink and learn to take the time to listen to not only park employee's but the General public as well taking criticism is not easy for most but if you just listen to what people are saying to you and what they give you when you took over maybe you can save six flags but I'm a friend that you want to see that chair die and have cedar far take over all the parks which is something I don't take well and I don't went to see my home park be switched from Six flags Great America to Illinois Great America it just isn't somethink I don't what to see at all new ride merch fixing up the parks adding roller coaster as well as marketing is somethink that all park do to bring in the crowds this is just sad to see that seilm take a nose dive so quick and I wish this was didn't happen
Bottom line Selim Bassoul doesn't know what the hell he's doing and in my opinion those comments he made were very classist and undercover racist and he needs to go and get someone in there who's going to invest in their smaller parks.
We used to go to Six Flags all the time , we loved it . We can afford Disney easily . But refuse to go because they are greedy . Claim to be all about their customers and their happiness but for the average person to go there they cant afford it . So we chose Six Flags because it was for the average person . Never had a bad time there at all . Never felt like items or food was over priced like Disney ... But now with the talk of increasing prices to keep a certain class of people out it horrible . All Classes deserve to have fun with their families . Based on the current CEO's polices for Six Flags we will not be returning anymore until things change . They wont care about just one family not coming anymore it will take mass numbers to stand up against this , bad thing is no one stands up to Disney and their high prices , so no one will to Six Flags
I don't go to sfog anymore since they haven't added a new coaster in awhile. raising ticket prices ain't going to do it. this park keeps getting crapped on while magic mountain gets a new coaster almost every year.
Do you think the building of Adventure Crossing has any impact on their decision to be more family oriented? Think about it, Adventure Crossing will bring more families to the area that can actually stay for multiple nights with a hotel being so close.
I went last month to six flags great adventure, and I was bit disappointed. Nitro closed , Medusa close, technical issue with jersey devil. The park was totally empty. No long wait at king da ka or el toro. But the price of the tickets went very high. The food wasn’t bad. But I feel the park doesn’t look like good . And a month later I just saw el toro is close because they had multiple injuries. It sound to me the the park is in bad shape . I went to Hershey park and it was so Much better
Honestly many enthusiasts are speaking on this matter rather ignorantly. Premium is Cedar Fair and Sea World...Disney and universal are luxury entertainment experiences...semantics aside, SF lacks quality in food, landscaping, operations, events. There IS a multi-year plan, its just not what enthusiasts like - no major capital/coasters while paying off debt - increase overall park experience and fund that with price hikes, pricing out lower spend guests while providing a more desirable product for higher spend guests - by 2025 six flags should have carved out their higher income visitor base and increase revenue on the higher margin food, bev, merch, events. They weren't a budget park on purpose remember, their financial situation/bankruptcy forced them to operate this way. Additionally major inflation has effected the entertainment and hospitality revenues across the board in Q2, not just six flags.
Whatever Six Flags tries to do with leadership is just not working. I mean switching CEOs this much shows just how much of a mess Six Flags is at the top. It doesn’t seem like any of the CEOs have any of a vision of what direction the company should be in.
I agree! I can see them trying to sell off some mid to low tier parks, maybe like Darien lake, SFNE, and parks like that so they can keep the bigger ones in the chain.
I honestly think they need to focus on the park, it’s bad that New Jersey looks old and outdated and not modern, roller coasters are great but the food is mediocre cater style food. With if the boardwalk in great adventure actually looked like a board walk. But six flags is a roller coaster attraction based park and always has been. So they need to at least realize the the parks that are lacking like six flags America
Yeah so six flags is doomed for failure. Them shifting to family’s only so instantly makes no sense. I think what hurts the most is that great adventures special addition is canceled. I think I might just stop going to great adventure all together.
don't make any crazy decisions just yet. We still have to see how it plays out, besides it still has an amazing coaster lineup already that they're probably not just gonna get rid of lol
I think park spending would be much higher if Six actually had merchandise people wanted to buy. I think having DC IP’s hurts their merchandise sales because I can get a Batman t shirt at Walmart for $7.
Besides how are families going to come if six flags is expensive? I know they go to Disney but Disney is a destination that loves to spend money on shows, parades, fireworks etc great adventure doesn’t have those things. What about concerts? Great adventure has known this year, what about shows at the batman arena? Great adventure only uses it during fright fest, fireworks are only towards forth of July, cutting the operating hours and spending is not gonna make this a family park, At least in the cheap era of six flags it’s cheap to get your family in the park
The creator of these videos is absolutely fantastic but he is missing one glaring fact: six Flags has been a cesspool of crime and violence. When I went a couple years back, it was nothing but ghetto thugs, the scent of marijuana everywhere, huge mobs of people cutting lines, and in environment even though I didn’t want to take my girlfriend to. The CEO voiced his desire to get rid of these thugs by increasing prices. And so far it’s worked! I went to Six Flags great adventure a couple weeks ago and I couldn’t believe how safe it was. Here’s what I think they should do: -Bring back all the shows. Rides are rough on people and in the old days there were like eight or 10 shows going on consistently throughout the day so you could take a break from the thrills -Focus marketing and advertising on more upscale markets. Marketing to Haddonfield New Jersey is much different than marketing to Kensington and North Philadelphia. -encourage season pass holders to become shareholders in the company. It always baffles me white companies don’t try to get their best customers to buy shares in a company! -In the old days, Six Flags great adventure would use a large stadium at the tip of the park and bring in country acts people would bring their families to see. Why not sign a contract with the stars like Blippi, kids learning tube, etc. and I advertise the hell out of them to get families to the park for the first time? That’s how Vegas and Atlantic City used to attract people to the casinos. -I’m not sure why they brought in a food and beverage CEO when they really needed an attraction CEO. Nobody goes to Six Flags for the food, and if it’s overly monetized or the pricing seems deceptive, they will just march back out to the parking lot and eat/drink like I do right now!! When there used to be a lot of shows, I didn’t have time to go to the parking lot so I didn’t mind buying the food. But now it’s the only break I get in between rides. -this CEO reminds me of Ron Johnson’s tenure at JCPenney when he eliminated coupons and destroy the company. He thought his plans could replace the desires of his target market. People want to things in an amusement park: New thrill rides and safety. No one can reinvent the wheel.
![Every Roller Coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure POV [5K] 2023](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/sG8-_kipMtM/mqdefault.jpg)
![Every Roller Coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure POV [5K] 2023](/img/tr.png)
Check out my interview with the CEO of Six Flags:
ua-cam.com/video/gshhVMIcnDQ/v-deo.html
Six Flags is simply NOT Disney or Universal. However, that doesn't have to be a bad thing. They can/should be an economical alternative for both of them. Many people are being priced out of Disney/Universal, so gravitating to a broader market only would help them get their parks at capacity.
At fiesta Texas they’re slowing rides down on purpose to promote fast pass sales. As a result you’ll be priced out as well
Six Flags tried to shift to family focused parks before, and it was one of the reasons that lead them to bankruptcy. However, not adding more rides, family or thrill rides is a awful idea. Look at Cedar Fair, they usually add 3 or 4 more rides across the chain each year, and it keeps people coming back. And it will be a huge letdown if Great Adventure doesn’t get a new coaster for the 50th.
@juiceboxer100 I thought it was because they bought too many parks again again, then raised prices while making no improvements to anything.
I’m going to agree with Selim about rides not being a priority right now. The priority lies in improving and building upon what is already laid down. Many of the parks are too run down to even consider adding more. I think expanding hospitality which includes better value for food and beverage options, also accommodations such as an official Six flags hotel would be a smart move…shuttle services. Adding an arena or stage for concerts. hosting music festivals and all around upgrades to the grounds and facilities.
@@Adadean88 I agree with you in that they really need to turn their attention on infrastructure, landscaping and general beatification. But if he really wants to appeal to families Six Flags needs to build actual family coasters and flat rides that can be an intermediate thrill between the mine trains and the Batman clones or most families are going to get bored with the parks waiting on their little ones to hit their growth spurts.
Six flags STL recently had their 50th anniversary and during that time there was absolutely nothing, there was only minor updates and just a front entrance refurbishment, you would thing that they would have given one of the original Six Flags Parks a major roller coaster addition, since the last addition was a boomerang in 2013, but of course, there was nothing. All of the focus is mostly on six flags magic mountain, and never on the parks that can be a huge benefit if they’re managed just right
If he thinks a park like Magic Mountain can suddenly become a family park, he's lost his mind. Others have tried. It won't work.
does he realize what magic mountain is known for? this guy is doing everything in the worst possible way
I’m so glad that you are posting about this topic mainly because everybody have been too scared to share their opinions. When he became CEO I felt something in me saying that it wasn’t right. I stopped buying season passes when he became the owner because of the price raises that we’re giving you less, as I couldn’t afford it. Thanks for sharing your opinion
Why would you be scared to share your opinion?
@@djavatar68 you never know, the cancel train may exist in the park/coaster enthusiast community too
it's sad to see six flags slowly die out. i was there on a saturday last month and it was a desert. sure i enjoyed the empty queues but it also felt wrong in a way. hopefully selim listens to what everyone is telling him. congrats on 3k!
Thank you!
I went to six flags recently and it was packed for me
@@coleclawson254 Which Six Flags park did you visit?
Do you mean it was deserted.
@@NathanaelErik ye mb
You can’t just raise the prices so high and don’t add any big rides.
Especially for the Small to mid-sized parks like Darien Lake, Great Escape, St. Louis, etc. that don't have much to offer in the first place.
He’s destroying the company on purpose. No other explanation for this.
If you want to demand Herschend level, or Universal level admissions the key is immersive themeing in structures, food, and rides. That's what elevates parks from standard to top tier to be able to ask for higher dollar amounts. It needs to give you a resort experience that feels like your in another world with attention to detail including keeping guest's ground level view within the park where they cant even see parking lots, etc. Litterally feel like the are within the story. They want that market, they need to redesign and theme much more heavily, and create a story. They have the ability to do much more with their IPs.
They're no where near that lmao. They have a longggg way to go...
@@Brandon-qd2lb exactly what I mean.
I’ve been thinking this for years especially for my home park. The town has a height restriction so no big coasters for Great Escape. The park used to be called Story Town. They were on the path of Disney and could of kept that theme but upgraded the rides around that theme. More indoor rides with lots of theming like Disney. It creates a fun environment for kids and adults as well
It’s so true they can do a lot more than just coasters with what they have, Looney Tunes license could have a lot of really fun stuff built around it.
This is insane. On freight fest days, the admission price is literally double from what you'd pay in freaking Phantasialand or Europa Park
Then you have to pay for the houses too??
Yes and 3 times what you woud pay for evermore park
Yea I wanted to take my friends to fright fest because most of them had never went
I expected 40-60 dollar tickets
But nope I got damn near $100 tickets
I'm not dropping over $400 on a just ok Halloween event
Like damn this shits ridiculous
@@brandoncole5533 I've found out though that if you come from NYC e.g., there are tickets from NJ Transit that include a bus ride and entrance fees that goes for 70 dollars if you get on in Newark Penn Station and 80 dollars from the New York Post Authority Bus Terminal. Don't know if they'll or have changed those prices but thus sounds quite reasonable to me. Dunno, maybe you come from that area.
This is a great analysis with a lot of good points! I have a lot of thoughts on this as a thrill seeker since I was a kid and am now 50 with five kids of my own, ranging in age from 22-11, all of whom were introduced to coasters early and were riding the thrill ones around age 10.
First, when I initially had a family with younger children, I didn’t even bother going to Six Flags (that hurt bc I’m a coaster fanatic). As you mentioned, there is a huge lack of family rides overall. I was just at SFGA 2 days ago with my now older kids (11, 13, 22), and noticed even the two kiddie lands are spaced a LONG way apart - not really conducive or practical as a parent or for the kids, who get tired of walking. My solution ended up being going to other parks, Lake Compounce & Hershey specifically. The Six Flags in Lake George wasn’t too bad as a middle of the ground park if you had younger kids, but it’s definitely lacking the coasters we crave. I am within driving distance to SFGA, SFNE, and the one in Lake George. Now that my kids are older and can ride all the large coasters, we ALWAYS choose GA, even though that’s the farthest away (3 hrs) bc we’re going specifically for the amazing coasters.
My recent experience 2 days ago. My 22 year old and I have a diamond membership so we don’t worry about admission, parking etc., but I was shocked to see how much the prices increased from last year (I have to buy tickets for any other kids who come). Luckily, I bought online and got them for half off the gate price, so it wasn’t too bad. Then there was the parking: $40 or $70 for preferred!!! Honestly, I think that floored me more than the increased admission prices but again, thankfully I have the membership so that was free. But for a regular consumer, paying that much to park is going to give them a bad first impression!! Parking doesn’t give you value or even fun for that matter, lol.
Anyway, once inside the park, it was a bit chaotic. Flash passes were being done differently, they had moved member services and the flash pass building again. Once we got all of that stuff taken care of, we found other issues like closed rides, breakdowns or technical issues. It wasn’t horrible but it did make for a lot of back and forth. The app was terrible for what I used or tried to use it for: couldn’t get to my digital photos, couldn’t check in the rides to earn membership points at all, and the ride times weren’t that accurate. It seemed like they lacked staff so one ride would have to close for another to open.
But one of the most disappointing parts of our recent visit was the cleanliness of the park overall. I think it was a combo of poor maintenance in some parts along with some attractions needing a facelift. Medusa looked amazing by the way - now THAT was a good choice!! Some parts like the Golden Kingdom and Frontier Land look great, while others lack cohesiveness.
My opinion overall is that Six Flags needs more than just new food and festivals. Sure, those are fun bonus items, but the parks need to keep up on their ride selection or they’re going to lose their current clients who go there each year specific for certain rides. They also won’t necessarily gain families either because as you said, it takes more than food and a festival to entertain at a place like Six Flags. Young or old, I think the majority still want to see new rides, so the new CEO’s approach will be interesting to see play out.
I also wanted to mention that I, too, noticed that the park was less busy. Rides - as long as they didn’t break down while you were line - were around 5-15 minute wait time with the exceptions being Superman (which always has long wait times due to its timely loading and unloading times, and Kingda Ka, but we used a flash pass for this one. For that reason, I can definitely overlook a few of the negatives bc I hate waiting in long lines, lol. But there were a lot of breakdowns - two happened as we boarded! My daughter’s seat wasn’t locking on Wonder Woman and then as we were on the Medusa train, they noticed the floor was stuck down in one spot, so we had to get back off and wait while they fixed it. Zumanjaro shut down for some reason and never reopened and Jersey Devil also had something happen while we were in line. I’ve never seen so many technical difficulties in one day - it was really strange.
$40 for parking?! That’s highway robbery! Even Disney is only $25, that’s the max price people are even willing to pay.
@@SalivatingSteve my thoughts exactly!!
Great video and very well said. I agree that the CEO needs to go. How many negative quarterly earnings calls will it take for the board to vote him out of the seat? My home park is SFGA and aside from the new paint jobs and better merch, everything else is same or worse. Nonetheless, great content and keep up the good work. 👍🏽
he going be another Kieran Burke....
@@KennyRyman he's more like Mark Shapiro.
12% owned by Black Rock. I found it hard to pay $6.00 /gallon for gas this year. I imagine other people did also.
This was super informative, thank you! I have been contemplating purchasing a membership because I love amusement parks, and Over Texas is the closest, BUT I have been spoiled by Cedar Point my whole life and am worried the Over Texas or Fiesta or even Frontier will be like Michigan's Adventure, which just wasn't worth it when Cedar Point was only an hour more of a drive.
Your channel has helped me to understand the Six Flags version on Thrill rides better.
I'm really starting to wonder if it's even worth getting a membership or a season pass? I love the thrill rides and don't want to be stuck paying on a membership for a year if I am severely disappointed. On the other hand, if I like it, I don't wanna spend more than half a season pass to wanna come back in a week.
Selim needed to add the premium experience before you start charging the premium prices (or do both simultaneously). Doing the latter before the former just massively drops attendance below a point that revenue would be made up by an increased spending per customer.
I’m at the verge of canceling my Diamond membership. Get Selim out now!
This is the first year out of 6 yrs we didn't get passes for the family , and don't regret it 1 bit
1. If you want to attract families you have to add family rides, something that has been in short supply at most SF parks for decades now. At the same time, however, you have to keep the thrill seekers coming back with new thrill rides. Cedar Fair seems to do a pretty good job of maintaining that balance and SF could learn a thing or two from them.
2. You can't just raise prices without increasing value. Disney's "charge more for less" model is reaching a breaking point with much of its fanbase. This is not a road a chain like SF can afford to travel.
3. If you want to attract anyone at all you have to keep your rides safe! We may not fully know what caused the El Toro accident for some time but it's already sounding like cost cutting had at least something to do with it. If you develop a reputation for putting cost above safety you can kiss your attendance goodbye!
Great video!! You waited long enough I agree if you wanna lean towards families he has to put in the effort to do that, add family attractions more than just Dark Knight, Runaway Mine Train, Harley Quinn, Lil Devil, add more like put an endeavor in the park I know most families would love it. He has to just do better if he doesn’t then it’s just gonna get worse and worse.
I used to work at Six Flags St. Louis, and it seems to me like they have thrown out the safety first policy. The Supervisors don't respect the seasonal employees there anymore, and that's one of the reasons I quit.
Went there with my son 2 months ago and the rides aren't being maintained. Batman was particularly bad. I feel like something very bad is going to eventually happen there give how short staffed they are.
U nailed it Colin. I agree w all of the points u made.
Thanks!
Good video, it is definitely hard to take the middle ground in this, but I think you did a decent job.
I am glad that I am a member and have the dining membership so I am getting a decent deal on going to the parks. My question is how long will it take for him to reverse his plan or for the board oust him? It seems as far as amusement parks go, missing a few years of rides can set the parks back a ton. I just hope six flags can survive this!
I feel a lot of this is due to the discounting for the meal plan and membership benefits and just discounts all around I really don’t know how they made money but yes what the ceo is trying to do is an uphill battle when u don’t have the financial backing but I’m not gonna lie since I only live 20 min from GA the short lines and guest experience have been amazing. Once again Colin keep up the great work!
I agree lol. We have a membership too and have really enjoyed the park being empty. But it does worry me for the future.
Makes no sense. I own a marketing company and one of the best things you can do, with any business, is lean into what’s already working and your core target audience - which in six flag’s case, isn’t families
One thing I find very weird about all these full time layoffs is that several supervisors who are directly above me as a team member have just been promoted to full time
It’s because the people they promoted are getting paid less than the people they replaced.
There is no way that the Six Flags parks can become like Disney/Universal/Busch Gardens or Sea World!!! First of all, those parks are HUGE and have a lot of land to expand, whereas the Six Flags don't! Secondly, there is no way in hell, I would pay the prices those parks charge at a Six Flags park! The new CEO is out of his mind, increasing prices and saying he won't be adding new thrill rides!! This is the whole point of visiting theme parks!!! I don't know why they got rid of the previous guy...I liked him. He seemed fun and a great fit!!!
My local SF park, LaRonde, lost me and my kids as customers this year! I have been buying season passes for many years. The last time was at the end of 2019 for the 2020 season. Unfortunately the park was closed for 2020 so they extended the passes to 2021. The problem is that we would have had to walk around with masks on in the Summer heat, which I would not have been able to do, so I never used the passes. I tried to get them extended to this year since we never used them and they refused! They increased the price of the season passes, removed the regular parking and haven't put in a new roller coaster in years (they canceled the one that was supposed to be installed for 2021), so they aren't getting my money anytime soon!! They also reduced their hours drastically so we aren't getting our money's worth!!
My kids and I actually chose to drive 8 hours away to SFGA this Summer since they have WAY more coasters and brand new ones!!!! We are huge coaster fanatics and that is what makes us want to go to the parks!!!
The board needs to get rid of this CEO!!! Families can't afford his vision!!! If he wants Disney ideas...then go run Disney!!!
I think the right move towards a big family company like disney would have been to sell some parks and use that money towards more family rides and better park theming and entertainment and then raise the prices since the ticket prices would be more worth it
Spot on. That's exactly what Cedar Fair is doing with California's Great America.
They did sell some parks. The used to own Elich Garden in Denver and Kentucky Kingdom near Louisville. They also completely closed Astroworld and Six Flags New Orleans.
This is what happens with companies that want to follow another company's business model. People and companies that are followers don't prosper. They're in a constant mode of catch up, and have no idea on how to move forward once they reach the front.
Six Flags is crazy if they think people are going to pay Disney prices to only get a Six Flags experience, which is nothing but standing in lines for rides. Warner Brothers just needs to yank their properties from all Six Flags parks because they have failed miserably at theming up any of those parks. We need a Warner Bros Movie World like the one in Australia, heck just open one in California.
Selim Bassoul is misguided and the board needs to vote him out. Six Flags needs a CEO that will steer six flags in the right direction with accessible admission prices while maintaining a high-quality experience.
Great Video and Congrats on 3k
Thank you!
Lol this is the guy responsible for spirit airlines shady business model. That tells me everything I need to know.
Six flags is following Disney new model. Squeeze out the passholders, offers less, and rise prices.
The public is spending lots of money at amusement parks and theme parks of every kind that provide QUALITY ATTRACTIONS AND RIDES! SFSTL is our home park, but it has ridiculously stale rides.
Besides keeping our SFSTL passes we bought Holiday World season passes this year. We’re driving an extra 90 minutes and pay for a hotel stay to enjoy the much better Holiday World. HW isn’t perfect, but has several standout coasters, an amazing water park and had a top-notch drone/fireworks show this year.
SF has to BUILD IT if they want the public to come and pay more!
Remember when people thought that the new CEO was going to improve Six Flags? Yeah about that
Glad that the Dining pass will return but upset that Six flags won't expand in new thriller record breaking coaster
They already added the record breaking Wonder Woman at Magic Mountain like last month maybe they just need some time
What gets me is that he wants this change to happen without spending any money. It's "then a miracle occurs".
I do hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Cedar Fair is likely going on a less extreme version of Six Flag's pivot. Even before the pandemic, CF had stated they wanted to shift away from as frequent ride updates and as big ride updates, and start focusing on seasonal events, better food, and in park experiences.
There recent slate of announcements seems to be going along with that, ad significantly more money was invested in area theming and dining over coasters, with the biggest coaster of 2023 being a GCI family woodie with a pinch of steel.
While this may be true, Cedar Fair is still continuing to invest in its parks, and seems to be putting in the effort to build attractions oriented towards families to serve that demographic.
It doesn't seem that Six Flags is putting forth the same effort currently, and I don't see how such a plan can be successful when the investment isn't there.
But that makes sense--it's *doing* something. They want to shift to more emphasis on families, so they're building family-oriented areas and theming and putting in family rides. Cedar Point gets a boardwalk-themed area with a family coaster, Worlds of Fun gets a new family coaster. And honestly, a lot of these parks need that. Six Flags seems to want it to happen by magic without significant additions to the parks (other than ones they've already had in the works for a while).
Focusing on families instead of just teenagers and young adults is necessary to survive. However, you can't just raise prices. You have to actually provide quality worth paying for. The parks are in serious disrepair, especially Great Adventure. And if they want to attract families they need to provide entertainment again.
You gotta pay 100$ admission for a day at SixFlags?
Europapark and Phantasialand admission is a little more than half of that price.
Sixflags is basically asking for double the price for a discount park while you can pay 56$ to get into one of the best European Themeparks.
I honestly can't see this guy lasting long term. I hope there's a change of owners soon
the new CEO going be another Kieran Burke, from Premier Parks,.. and Premier Parks used to owns Six Flags Parks from 1999/2005...
Is Travis Scott and Mayor Turner still building another Astroworld?
No it's going to be like the Red Zone era after that
@@seanlewis1148 nope that a Big Lies from our mayor Turner... we see in two years when his Term limits is up....
Crowds at great adventure seem to be picking up a bit as we get closer to labor day. Probably the nicer weather and kids wanting to go before school starts.
Great Adventure use to have more family rides back in the day. A lot of them were taken down to make room for more big roller-coasters. They need the bring back all the family classics like the free fall tower, taz twister and all those old spinning rides. You get a lot of variety of rides in a small space with those, they are family friendly, and it takes some of the long lines away from coasters. Mid 90s i liked hitting 2 big coasters first, then doing a few stupid rides as a break. They even moved all the little water rides to a separate water park. You use to get a lot of value from one regular ticket. Yes it was nice ever 2 years we had a major new coaster since 1993 batman. Viper and batman&robin was a fail and wasted money. 1999 they built Pendulum, & TIME Warp only to move them to another park a few years later.
When I was a kid it used to be possible to run a major theme park, on the level of Hersheypark or Kings Dominion, with about 2 or 3 big coasters and lots of flats, things like log flumes and gentle family rides. These days, that's a small local park like Canobie Lake. The only big-park chain that really gets away with that is Disney, but they do it with next-level theming--it's a whole other category. Six Flags went the other direction during the Coaster Wars era and a lot of their parks really don't have a lot of family rides, just these monster thrill rides; their "family" rides are things like spinning coasters, too intense for a lot of people. I actually think going back in a family-park direction would be a fine idea. But to do it, they'll have to put in new stuff.
@@MattMcIrvin yup. Even in 1995 six flags was a few new coasters and the rest vintage. At first it was nice to get a few modern coasters. But then they ran out of space and started to knock down family rides for bigger coasters. Fun when you're 17 but as I got older i couldn't ride huge coasters all day without getting a headache. 😂😭 Plus keeping older rides would keep the company debt down and keep ticket prices low. Can't believe parking is $40 now plus extra for a preferred spot. I remembered getting to the park early with dad and getting the closets spot after the handicap section for $6. Then one year boom it was $20+😭😭
I think Great Adventure has enough for families, other than roller coaster, they have a variety of flats,dark rides, and water rides that families can enjoy. Plus big kiddie areas. That being said, not every Six Flags park is like the bigger ones that are more diverse in their collections. Six Flags America for instance is definitely not geared towards families.
Theres alot he's doing im not a fan of but one of the only things I do like is seeing them paint and maintain rides better visualy. It makes it look more alive and less run down and tacky looking
I believe that frontier city, Darien lake, great escape, and is ronde will be the first to close.
IDK why they are doing this, they had a nice niche in the market that they just threw away to try and enter a much more competitive market
Well-stated, makes very little sense.
I think they will keep this way and it will get better
All I can say is what a mess. I feel like Selim is repeating the same mistakes of Mark Shapiro, and we all know how that ended... in bankruptcy. You can't just snap your fingers and become a family park like Disney or Universal. The parks have thrill rides, and thus attract the demographic that likes those rides. Also, teenagers are like 30% of theme park visitations. You cannot alienate this demographic. I know they don't spend quite as much money as families, but there are a lot more of them. Great Adventure would be a good fit for the SeaWorld/Busch Gardens approach, where you still add new rides, but also focus on better theming, festivals, etc. I believe this was the vision of the now former park president. As someone who visits the parks primarily for rides, I'm highly disappointed to see that none are being added in the next 2 years. I'll have to reconsider whether to keep my membership active, particularly if they raise the price a lot.
You can tell by the sound of his voice that he has absolutely no clue about how to run a theme park.
Magic Mountain is my home park. Ever since Salim's take over I can tell the difference in leadership.
I can't for the life of me understand why they got rid of the last CEO. I was seeing positive results under his leadership. My home park had improved its aesthetics. As soon as Selim stepped on the scene I noticed the change in morale at the park. I hope the board gets rid of him.
Great Adventure has felt like it's been being abandoned for years. I always hear how it's 6 flags 2nd best park, and I'm like "Really, how bad are all the others" they leave Halloween and Christmas decorations up all year. Most of the newer rides are too intense, to be enjoyable, in my opinion.
I definitely have seen a negative change since April, since nj is not a full year park.
I would love six flags to have more family oriented rides instead of giant plazas in front of a coaster.
Hersheypark, imo, does it best. Beautiful park, something for everyone. Plus this amazing kinetic energy. I also prefer Dorney Park (I believe a Cedar Fair Park) which again something for everyone.
Also stop charging premium price for a Fyre Festival cheese sandwich, lol
I have not set foot in a Six Flags park in several years. This is despite the fact that I live 15-20 minutes away from a park, enjoy rollercoasters, and can comfortably afford to purchase a season pass. The park was dirty and dilapidated, the lines were long, and the crowds were obnoxious and unsavory. It was just that bad.
I applaud the decision to get rid of the “memberships,” because as someone who understands finance, they were to a large extent an accounting trick to smooth earnings and lessen the balance sheet impact of the new revenue recognition standards.
Unfortunately, you saw a huge uptick in people more or less using the park as a babysitter, and created a central, amenity-filled hangout for gangs. Black gangs, white gangs, Hispanic gangs; a veritable UN of shady individuals.
Now that I know the place is way less crowded and that they are working towards making the place look more presentable, I’m a lot more inclined to go out and buy a season pass.
Revenues were down five percent *but they slashed attendance by a fifth and increased per guest spend by nearly a third*. This is actually an incredibly strong argument in favor of the plan, and they’ve ripped off the bandage.
They shouldn’t delude themselves into thinking they can command a premium price or deliver a premium experience on the level of a Disney or Universal, but there is definitely plenty of room for improvement.
interesting perspective. But once they cut expenses, they cannot cut anymore. If attendance is down, then revenues cannot go up. unless they raise prices. then that will cut attendance more.
Unless they add something new, why would someone who already saw everything go back? Season tickets are for locals to drop in. ride a ride, get a bite of food and drink. leave.
But the more valuable customers, visitors to the area have no reason to go. nothing new or attractive.
He's just stemming the bleeding but the patient will die without actually fixing anything. And as easy at it sounds, onsite employees and staff is way more important than CEOs want to admit. unless you have a great training system in place, each generation of staff and employee know less then the next.
he only said he doesn't wanna focus on rides for the next 2 years. I think he will fix up the parks & the food & festivals for the next 2 years & then he'll go back to the massive new rides.
My family of 5 went to Great America in Gurnee, IL last Friday and I was really wondering why it seemed more empty than what I was expecting. But man it was a blast. 20 minutes was the longest we waited, and that was for the log ride. Toward the end of the day we pretty much walked on to whatever coaster we wanted.
If you buy tickets online it’s about half the price than if you buy at the gate, which is at the $90-$100 price point. I mean, food was expensive, was about $100 for lunch feeding 5, but that’s to be expected wherever you go I feel (amusement park, stadium, etc…)
I will take going to Six Flags or Cedar Point over going to Disney again all day long. 2.5 hours for a boring ass Seven Dwarves mine ride, or 10 minutes for Raging Bull or Goliath and still much cheaper, easy choice.
you have a good point. $100 x 5, $100 lunch = so about $600 for the day for 5.
But would you go back the next day?
3-5 days in a row?
Disney people go for 3-5 days back to back.
why? other than lines. More attractions. Rides, Themes, Food.
So GA has to convince 3 families of 5 to come back 3 times. 15 days.
Disney has to convince one family of five to come for 3 days. 15 days. plus pay more.
Return visits mean more than the one off sale. Loyal Customer.
I live where Six Flags Darien Lake is, and from what I've heard that it wasn't as packed as it used to be, even on weekends ... before the Pandemic, we used to get discount tickets, which included free parking, it was fully staffed, all the rides were open, even had a lot of shows. This year, not all the rides were open, all water parks/slides wasn't open but charging damn near 70.00 admission and 20 bucks for parking ... it's ridiculous
I just hope that my membership passes pre COVID don’t ever run out. As a father of 3 teenagers, we have had 5 diamond passes and 3 meal plans for the past 4 years. $88 a month is an affordable way for our family to have entertainment although, they took out $20 more for the first time. We will see if any other changes are made but if you out price the families, that is kind of defeating the purpose of your goal.
Note Saleen saying the sweet spot for annual attendance was 25 to 27 million which is what they did last year
How are they going to see that number if they raised prices and want to decrease attendance?
Makes no sense
Yeah for the first time ever my family and i got cedar fair season passes this year instead of six flags. Overpirced and under performing imho. Havent had a out of this world coaster in any of the parks in years. GL with the family thingamobobby
Cedar fair approach is good ur right he's not going the right way
The price of food and other sale items in the park also went up which is why people spent more money. They are spending more money and getting less.
I'm a Dimond member and have been for a few years its nice paying like 15 a month. I don't have a food pass but I found a creative way to get 1 for free. once a week I go to six flags and when I want a meal I stand at the front of the line at whatever restaurant U want to eat at for like 20 min and give whoever is at the front of the line my pass they get 35 percent off of their food and I get points once I rack up enough points I get myself a free meal.
This is exactly y the prices went up unfortunately they are giving away way to much
You should keep that to yourself. Guests exploiting SF, and bragging about it publicly, got us here!
@@SlackerWannaB alright I won't tell anyone more
This will cause a riot with “middle-lower” class individuals who want a day of fun…but are outpriced!! I’ve seen a lot more people this year ditch the expensive theme parks for cheaper ones (I.E. Hershey Theme park attendance is WAY UP!!) because yeah…people hate long lines, but not everyone has $200 a person to bring them to the theme park!!! It will soon catch up to them.
Magic Mountains attendances are strong while the others are struggling
Probably because of Wonder Woman, all these parks that havent gotten a new ride (and wont because of Sellim) will really suffer in the coming years.
They help the other parks out! Sfmm is good for a few years.
Raising prices without improving the guest experience is a sure-fire way to fail. My home park, Six Flags Darien Lake, has cut hours (11-7 on weekdays), eliminated rides and attractions (Ignite the Night), cut staffing and they're still running single trains on their coasters so the lines are still long. And the place doesn't even look all that nice either. Hell, I'd rather cross the border and drive 1 ½ hours to Canada's Wonderland before driving 45 minutes to Darien Lake. And when the place finally closes for good they'll blame everything but themselves.
@Pride Rise Studios There's nothing I would like better than to see Darien Lake succeed. I'm sure what's happening at Darien Lake is happening at other Six Flags parks as well, and nothing I said is untrue. And I'm certainly not shaming Darien Lake employees (I've worked there myself) because I'm sure they're working hard under crappy circumstances. But I am fearful that unless things change there the park will close within five years because of mismanagement from the top.
Went to St. Louis two weekends ago and my friend ticket at the gate was 90 buck parking was 35 thankfully I have my pass and half the rides were either down for the day or limited trains going making wait times doubled than what I’ve seen and the water park was the same way
My home park is six flags New England they removed Goliath and all of us were happy thinking something is coming we need something there
Well I gotta agree, great video of this chaos that’s going on with six flags. I feel like six flags isn’t in the right shape again since when the new CEO took over and did some ridiculous stuff like raising prices and making their parks have low attendance and it’s honestly making it worse and it isn’t working out. Six flags is supposed to be a company that brings a lot of families and guests around the word especially the US to their parks and provide them the best experiences, have fair prices and high attendance. Like I’m gonna ask this - where is the real six flags at right now?
@Coliwood Studios looks like we will never get new coaster for 2024 because CEO Selina wants focus on family in the parks I’m scared of this. Will there will still be new coaster for 2024?
I’m not sure to be honest
Maybe frightfest will be better home park is great adventure been going since 04’ and that should def bump attendance? Also with 18 years of experience for great adventure sometimes violent guest would enter the park and like ruin the experience, I’ve been through SO many belligerent fellow guests in the park and there’s so many fights at great adventure on UA-cam. So the price jump definitely benefits great adventure for guest experience.
I think if anything, they could have selected specific parks and make it more exclusive but I def agree the new season pass system is ass. Thank God I have Diamond elite
I’ll be putting jersey devil in my backyard once everything collapses. 30 dollar season pass 😂
You know it’s bad when Dorney had longer lines Great Adventure Memorial Day Weekend
I get not adding a new big coaster for 2 years. Six Flags needs to take a break from coasters. But you still need to invest in the parks. Infrastructure, landscaping, food, flat rides, family coasters and a legit single rider line program.
They'll probably do that buy they should've done that before increasing admission prices that drastically without giving a compelling reason
@@je6a478 he's probably planning a big sales drive for Black Friday. I'd wait and buy a pass then.
@@Johnnyiswhere It's not just seasonal passes but one day admission tickets as well. And I doubt most people will buy admission tickets on black friday if they want to visit on summer the next year
@@je6a478 one day tickets should be high. I'm tired of dealing with rowdy teens and long lines. I know the report was bad and they need to fix that going forward, but man what a relief to not deal with crowded midways and crappy guests.
@@Johnnyiswhere From an enthusiast perspective or an guest perspective, yes.
But Six Flags is a business. They need to make money. And I'd assume most people won't visit the park more than once a year. And you can make more profit from the GP than from enthusiasts, especially because they then pay more admission per visit than pass holders.
Thus, having fewer guests visiting for one day or having fewer guests in general is very bad for their business.
Seaworld buy great adventure please.
Busch gardens jersey
Getting less and paying more is a sure road to shutting down a park !
I loved watching the roller coster. I was watching Zach's workshop about roller coster very interesting
it's really a shame that selim went south once Micheal Spanos left, Six flags desrves a better CEO to run the chain and I'm sorry Mr. Selim B. if you see this comment on here what your doing is not good business for six flags and we as your park goers and coaster enthuthiest are telling you to stop and rethink and learn to take the time to listen to not only park employee's but the General public as well taking criticism is not easy for most but if you just listen to what people are saying to you and what they give you when you took over maybe you can save six flags but I'm a friend that you want to see that chair die and have cedar far take over all the parks which is something I don't take well and I don't went to see my home park be switched from Six flags Great America to Illinois Great America it just isn't somethink I don't what to see at all
new ride merch fixing up the parks adding roller coaster as well as marketing is somethink that all park do to bring in the crowds this is just sad to see that seilm take a nose dive so quick and I wish this was didn't happen
Yeah Selim, nothing says “family experience” quite like X2 at the Magic Mountain parking lot entrance with it’s dual fucking flamethrowers.
Bottom line Selim Bassoul doesn't know what the hell he's doing and in my opinion those comments he made were very classist and undercover racist and he needs to go and get someone in there who's going to invest in their smaller parks.
We used to go to Six Flags all the time , we loved it . We can afford Disney easily . But refuse to go because they are greedy . Claim to be all about their customers and their happiness but for the average person to go there they cant afford it . So we chose Six Flags because it was for the average person . Never had a bad time there at all . Never felt like items or food was over priced like Disney ... But now with the talk of increasing prices to keep a certain class of people out it horrible . All Classes deserve to have fun with their families . Based on the current CEO's polices for Six Flags we will not be returning anymore until things change . They wont care about just one family not coming anymore it will take mass numbers to stand up against this , bad thing is no one stands up to Disney and their high prices , so no one will to Six Flags
I don't go to sfog anymore since they haven't added a new coaster in awhile. raising ticket prices ain't going to do it. this park keeps getting crapped on while magic mountain gets a new coaster almost every year.
Do you think the building of Adventure Crossing has any impact on their decision to be more family oriented? Think about it, Adventure Crossing will bring more families to the area that can actually stay for multiple nights with a hotel being so close.
this CEO guy seems just awful. I bet if he took over McDonalds, he'd get rid of the Happy Meal so he can say "I took away the Happy Meal" on a call.
If I am gonna have to spend the kind of money at Six Flags that will now cost the same as Disney and Universal....I'm going to Disney or Universal...
Should have increased prices slowly and evaluate where the sweet spot is.
El Toro could be forced to be closed and dismantled or could require a conversion into a steel coaster aka Iron Rattler.
The park needs to make any announcements in a few weeks!
I went last month to six flags great adventure, and I was bit disappointed. Nitro closed , Medusa close, technical issue with jersey devil. The park was totally empty.
No long wait at king da ka or el toro. But the price of the tickets went very high. The food wasn’t bad. But I feel the park doesn’t look like good . And a month later I just saw el toro is close because they had multiple injuries. It sound to me the the park is in bad shape . I went to Hershey park and it was so
Much better
Cedar fair is taking over.
Honestly many enthusiasts are speaking on this matter rather ignorantly. Premium is Cedar Fair and Sea World...Disney and universal are luxury entertainment experiences...semantics aside, SF lacks quality in food, landscaping, operations, events. There IS a multi-year plan, its just not what enthusiasts like - no major capital/coasters while paying off debt - increase overall park experience and fund that with price hikes, pricing out lower spend guests while providing a more desirable product for higher spend guests - by 2025 six flags should have carved out their higher income visitor base and increase revenue on the higher margin food, bev, merch, events. They weren't a budget park on purpose remember, their financial situation/bankruptcy forced them to operate this way. Additionally major inflation has effected the entertainment and hospitality revenues across the board in Q2, not just six flags.
How long will it be until Six Flags St. Louis' next coaster now? 😑😒
Whatever Six Flags tries to do with leadership is just not working. I mean switching CEOs this much shows just how much of a mess Six Flags is at the top. It doesn’t seem like any of the CEOs have any of a vision of what direction the company should be in.
Busch Gardens St. Louis would be amazing.
Sad to see man
His plan is pretty terrible. I look for a park sell off coming soon. How is dropping attendance ever a good plan?
I agree! I can see them trying to sell off some mid to low tier parks, maybe like Darien lake, SFNE, and parks like that so they can keep the bigger ones in the chain.
I honestly think they need to focus on the park, it’s bad that New Jersey looks old and outdated and not modern, roller coasters are great but the food is mediocre cater style food. With if the boardwalk in great adventure actually looked like a board walk. But six flags is a roller coaster attraction based park and always has been. So they need to at least realize the the parks that are lacking like six flags America
Yeah so six flags is doomed for failure. Them shifting to family’s only so instantly makes no sense. I think what hurts the most is that great adventures special addition is canceled. I think I might just stop going to great adventure all together.
I stopped as well. I started going to HersheyPark more often instead
don't make any crazy decisions just yet. We still have to see how it plays out, besides it still has an amazing coaster lineup already that they're probably not just gonna get rid of lol
I'm hoping Six Flags are keeping their flags up.
I think park spending would be much higher if Six actually had merchandise people wanted to buy. I think having DC IP’s hurts their merchandise sales because I can get a Batman t shirt at Walmart for $7.
The cheap era sucked less, they should have just kept the old leadership
Besides how are families going to come if six flags is expensive? I know they go to Disney but Disney is a destination that loves to spend money on shows, parades, fireworks etc great adventure doesn’t have those things.
What about concerts? Great adventure has known this year, what about shows at the batman arena? Great adventure only uses it during fright fest, fireworks are only towards forth of July, cutting the operating hours and spending is not gonna make this a family park,
At least in the cheap era of six flags it’s cheap to get your family in the park
I wish I would have got that membership December maaaaan no people at the parks lol
The creator of these videos is absolutely fantastic but he is missing one glaring fact: six Flags has been a cesspool of crime and violence. When I went a couple years back, it was nothing but ghetto thugs, the scent of marijuana everywhere, huge mobs of people cutting lines, and in environment even though I didn’t want to take my girlfriend to. The CEO voiced his desire to get rid of these thugs by increasing prices. And so far it’s worked! I went to Six Flags great adventure a couple weeks ago and I couldn’t believe how safe it was.
Here’s what I think they should do:
-Bring back all the shows. Rides are rough on people and in the old days there were like eight or 10 shows going on consistently throughout the day so you could take a break from the thrills
-Focus marketing and advertising on more upscale markets. Marketing to Haddonfield New Jersey is much different than marketing to Kensington and North Philadelphia.
-encourage season pass holders to become shareholders in the company. It always baffles me white companies don’t try to get their best customers to buy shares in a company!
-In the old days, Six Flags great adventure would use a large stadium at the tip of the park and bring in country acts people would bring their families to see. Why not sign a contract with the stars like Blippi, kids learning tube, etc. and I advertise the hell out of them to get families to the park for the first time? That’s how Vegas and Atlantic City used to attract people to the casinos.
-I’m not sure why they brought in a food and beverage CEO when they really needed an attraction CEO. Nobody goes to Six Flags for the food, and if it’s overly monetized or the pricing seems deceptive, they will just march back out to the parking lot and eat/drink like I do right now!! When there used to be a lot of shows, I didn’t have time to go to the parking lot so I didn’t mind buying the food. But now it’s the only break I get in between rides.
-this CEO reminds me of Ron Johnson’s tenure at JCPenney when he eliminated coupons and destroy the company. He thought his plans could replace the desires of his target market. People want to things in an amusement park: New thrill rides and safety. No one can reinvent the wheel.