Six Flags Just Got Even MORE Expensive | New 2023 Passes Explained
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- Less than a year after rolling out a radical change to their season pass system, and facing poor 2Q financial and attendance numbers, Six Flags has made yet another change and has brought back memberships. Are these more consumer-friendly than the last rollout? Well...no. This videos breaks it all down and compares the new and old passes.
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I fear we are watching the end of the company. Hopefully the board steps in before it’s too late
Seriously, I'm a SoCal native, i usually go to MM 1 to 3 times a year, this is just going to be flat out unsustainable, I need to figure out wtf this man is sniffing.
@@evosioa2944 If they don’t get rid of him Magic Mountain will become Busch Gardens California or you’ll see Magic Mountain in the Cedar Fair font
@@falloutfan6649 While I'd hate to see six flags die, I can't lie in saying I'd rather see Cedar Fair run magic mountain. Is this an unpopular opinion? I'd get it if so
It would definitely be cool, but considering SFMM is only an hour away from Knotts, there’s no way that’s ever gonna happen.
After his classist, and some can consider somewhat racist, comments, and he's still in his position!?!? Not sure they will intervene.
I would be fine paying more IF the parks were making substantial efforts to improve the park like adding big new rides and Rollercoasters
They're trying to be like Cedar Fair without knowing what makes Cedar Fair worth it
Hell I would be happy if the rides were OPEN and all running more than one train all the time!
Or safety (El Toro at Great Adventure).
@@Psyggie at New England they're running more than one train but it doesn't matter because they're stacking every time!
@@jonasvalero el toro was completely safe. From what I've heard, the sub structure failed. If that is the case, it makes sense why it wasn't caught. It's very, very difficult to notice something like that unless there is a thorough inspection going on.
$40 for parking????!! I thought the $26 parking at universal was insanity. Now that takes the cake.
Its $40 for the parking season pass so I imagine parking is less than $40.
Parking is $25 at Carowinds so that doesn't seem unreasonable....
@@mushieslushie Great America one-day parking is $35
we were in illinois and parking was $35, ATL was $25
Sf Great Adventure was 40 a day and 70 for preferred as of mid August
Cedar point should build an infinity coaster with the steepest drop, and theme it to the six flags stock market. LOL
Six Flags Nosedive Coaster........〽️🏳🏳🏳🏳🏳🏳
This whole situation is bizarre. I struggle to understand the direction they’re trying to take the Six Flags parks in
I understand what they wanted to do, they just did it wrong.
@@seanmce8132 ye
@@seanmce8132 Though it's questionable whether what they are trying to achieve is even possible considering how their parks are built
@@je6a478 yeah they don't have enough intermediate family thrill rides to smooth out their line ups intensity progression, families are going to get bored only being able to ride a mine train or completely turned off the park when one or both parents can't handle Batman.
@@seanmce8132 They should have just built a Zamperla Family Launch coaster and a Gravity Group Family Woodie in every park, lmao. The Family Woodies cost about 4 million USD and Zamperla is dirt cheap too. Better than fricking up the company lol
Charging higher prices for a better product is an entirely legitimate strategy that many companies use very successfully.
The thing is, and I don't know if the CEO of Six Flags has realized this yet, but the "better product" part is a rather integral portion of said strategy.
Dangit i knew they forgot something
I work at a six flags park. We've tried our best to keep operations and morale up but it's proving difficult considering the circumstances we are subjected to. I understand why. Our attendance is very low and we hardly see lines. Selim doesn't seem to understand that in theme park setting, attendance means everything. We're not Disney, and we shouldn't be held to those standards. I really hope the decisions are reversed or a more friendly option appears to the consumer. I fear that jobs will soon be cut, starting with ride maitnence.
And even if attendance picks up, reduced staffing is going to make the experience worse, it’s a vicious circle. Hope you keep your job, or are able to find something else soon enough.
Its interesting to hear that morale on the ground is affected by all this. Reminds me when i worked there and the company went bankrupt
@@AirtimeThrills oh trust me, we're pissed
You're jacking up your prices without anything to offer back in return, so all the brunt of offering a better product goes to who? The ride ops and other low level staff. That same group of people Six Flags is deliberately screwing over (particularly at our park cause they are doing everything they can to get us to leave early so they don't have to pay us as much, seriously this last week has been awful in regards to how we were treated), and underpaying so badly that nowadays only high school students apply to work here
Like I can’t believe I have to say this to the heads of a multi-billion dollar corp, but this is the most basic and common sense rule of business: you get what you pay for, so don't be surprised when you pay the bare minimum and only get immature teenagers who don't care about offering a good service
So you know what happens when you jack up your prices while not wanting to put any money whatsoever into improving your parcs? Pissed and angry customers crying about how the park used to be better. The new CEO was apparently not happy with how much Six Flags "invested" into their parcs in 2021, meanwhile our park is becoming the laughing stock of our area because of how little Six Flags is investing in it
I call him Selim Asshoul for a good reason, and this is literally why. He insults the customers, he is one of those idiots that believes all teenagers are brats, he got rid of the Freestyles, he just needs to go.
Some girl that worked at SSMM told us that she wants to quit already…. I was like damnnn allbad.
I get my tickets somewhere else for $60 bucks
Each hmu
I’m officially out after 36 years of going since the age of 5. They’ve really cheapen the experience and there’s nothing to show like better quality foods, major renovations or more rides. I usually get a season pass for six flags and hurricane harbor deal but this kind of kills it for me.
if you were that loyal you would have a membership, and they have not cancelled them yet, so they are still the best deal
Attendance was down more than they hoped so what do you do? Raise prices more of course! An absolute mastermind strategy going on over there at Six Flags…
Also, thanks for the shoutout old sport!
Selim Bassoul is literally running the company to the ground. He's literally cheering on the eventual bankruptcy. While he understands that the cheap passes and low prices from the JR Anderson era resulted in long lines and large crowds that may not spend much per visit, he did too much while insulting the main customer base which is teens, their friends, and their parents. Not much different than a shopping mall's main customer base. That brings a rowdy crowd especially on weekends and Fright Fest, which is not ideal but the large crowds still bring in a lot of money. I have heard of people pledging to boycott the company as long as Bassoul is the CEO and I don't blame anyone for doing so. I myself am boycotting Six Flags.
If it leads to all their parks getting sold and none closing down, this could end up being good news. I couldn’t really care less about “competition” when Six Flags doesn’t even try to begin with.
@@oceanthresher6184 I don't see how they can make so many parks premium feeling like cedar fair lol. I will never take their premium hyperbole serious when the budget feel starts in the parking lot to the restrooms that are equivalent to rundown public park bathrooms sometimes worse like the Goliath / Ninja ones.
"You can't screw over your customers and hope they're big enough chumps to keep coming back" - Only Disney can get away with this.
Even though Disney doesn't have huge thrill rides and huge coasters, their park atmosphere, food, events, and overall appearance is like a Rolls Royse whereas six flags is like an old rusted Honda civic with a peeled off bumper and a flat tire.
Right. LITTLE chumps won't be back, even if they're still chumps.
The new CEO is going to drive this company into the ground if they don’t get rid of him.
no. none of you coaster nerds know a single thing about the financial market. six flags is on the right path. they know the world is entering a recession and are trying to stock pile revenue for the dip in the market which is soon to come
@@louierivera8028 they are making less sales and therefore less money now that they changed, making less money doesn’t fix anything. Telling your customers to pay more just because doesn’t work, there has to be a reason. I definitely don’t know everything about financials and the right decisions to make so I’m not saying I would be a better CEO, but I am saying the guy they have now has to go, that’s all. The people aren’t happy and that’s not good for business.
@@coasterswithmatt you realize they make so much more money from stocks and share holders than they do from guests attending their parks right? that’s only a small fraction of of the money they make. the majority of their money comes from trading stocks with investors and relying on the market to boost their corporate assets
@@louierivera8028 yes but if they don’t have good sales to back it up their stocks will drop too my man
@@coasterswithmatt bruh i’m not talking about their stock. i’m talking about trading stocks. they have assets in tons of different companies. at this point six flags is more of a real estate company than an amusement park company. why do you think they went with a financial viable ceo. because he knows how to make a ton of money buying stocks and selling them. their last ceo was all about the parks and it got them no where. almost into bankruptcy
I went to Great Adventure today. I bought the thrill seeker pass. It comes with a single day dining plan that I can buy the meal and snack, but just on one visit. I used it today and want to tell everyone that the plan is really restrictive. It really only includes the lowest quality meals like pizza, chicken fingers, hot dogs, cheesesteaks, etc. The number of items you could get is way less than it used to be. I really wanted the burrito meal at Macho Nacho near El Toro. It's not included in the meal plan anymore although I could purchase it. So just a warning for those thinking about a dining plan. Make sure you check what meals are actually included.
Surprised the gadv one came with a meal, they took that away from sfmm
It doesn't help that the CEO is not so subtle in insulting part if the crowd base (daycare for teenagers, moving from a Wal-Mart to Target audience).
Even Mark Shapiro and the guy responsible for Astroworld's closure weren't this bad.
At any rate, I'm still grandfathered in for my Diamond Elite membership (which I purchased in 2018).
He wants a Target audience but wheres the Target quality? Maybe its coming but i havent seen it
Bro factss
I don't see any changes in it and the prices are crazy. This new CEO needs to go
my favorite part is when he says the parks arent inviting enough of the children/family crowd like disney does. guess they shouldve built the kiddie version of X2 ahead of time 🤷♂️
@@AirtimeThrills its called a long play. Short play affects shareholders now, but shareholders are in for the long.
Six Flags needed to up the quality before upping the prices that quickly. I feel like if they incrementally increased things overtime, it could've worked, but that's not how it worked. At the end of the day, if these drops in revenue and attendance continue to get worse, I don't see Selim lasting much longer.
"You can't screw over your customers and hope that they're big enough chumps to keep coming back."
Bob Chapek would like to disagree.
Bob Chapek has an advantage. People travel from around the world to go to Disney Parks. I am not sure that would be the case with most six flags parks.
Thing is Disney at it's absolute WORST is STILL lightyears better than Six Flags.... Disney isn't even thinking about Six Flags as competition. If the House of Mouse starts lagging it's Universal that is going to take their customers not Six Flags. At this point I doubt even Cedar Fair or Sea World is concerned with what Six Flags is doing...
El Toro had another incident today. Six Flags is really not in a good position. GA is my home park and have gone there multiple times each summer my whole life (including today hours before the incident), and I don't think I'll be going again anytime soon. It's not just too expensive to warrant it, it's downright dangerous and I don't trust their safety standards anymore. They're raising prices and lowering standards -- even safety standards.
What happened to El Toro? Great Adventure is my home park
El Toro is done. It's heartbreaking as it looks like one of the craziest rides ever built, but the state apparently told SFGADV that another problem after the derailment would force them to shut it down. I think Selim will bulldoze it honestly, although if RMC got their hands on it they would make it the greatest coaster ever built. Retracking is also a possibility but RMC might be cheaper, and they could market it as a new ride, so it would make a lot more sense to RMC it. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but RMC El Toro might be the greatest coaster that will ever be built period.
@@commissionproductions Hopefully an RMC would be in the works rather than full on removal of the ride. El Toro is one of the highlights of GA, and without it I don't think many thrillseekers would be attracted to the park other than to have the experience of riding King da Ka. Nitro is a very good ride, but it's just another B&M hyper. And Jersey Devil isn't a reason to go to the park if you're from out of state. If they want to attract thrillseekers (which Six Flags GA always seemed to try to do, they have King da Ka after all...) then an RMC remodel would be the best route. People would come out of state to ride it, just as people used to come from out of state to ride El Toro when it first opened and was truly the smoothest wooden rollercoaster built.
I already wrote this elsewhere, but I wouldn't be surprised if their CEO is actually paid by someone else to run the company down so far that it can be cheaply acquired by someone else.
I thought maybe Bassoul was pulling an Eddie Lampert (CEO of Sears); ie, investing his own money so that he owns the real estate when everything goes belly up. However, my Google search didn't turn up any evidence of that.
The problem is they’re not providing an experience that would attract those willing to pay these prices in the first place.
Right, and thats why im surprised they jacked up prices before they made visible improvements. So im REALLY thinking and hoping we will see that in 2023
Wouldn’t pricing out bad apples improve the experience in and of itself? You said you worked at Magic Mountain for a long time. Was there a bad apple problem?
@@SDMev1982 kinda weak to say that pricing out teenagers is the big upgrade lol...when i worked there i dont remember there being a big teenager problem. I know in the 90s there was but by the time i was there it seemed to have been cleaned up
@@AirtimeThrills appreciate the response. I’ve been up to MM from San Diego about 4 times and I’ve never never noticed “rowdy teenagers” as he put it.
I decided to wait for the Flash Sale this year due to the price increase. I’ve done this a few times because at Magic Mountain I can use it for the rest of the year plus the next year. But the current deal only last until 9/4/23 so you only get a year instead of 15 months, lowering the value even more.
He wants to charge Cedar Fair prices...without any of the stuff that makes the good Cedar Fair parks good.
And him saying that the parks have "Hit their capacity on Roller Coasters" in the last meeting pretty much settles it in my mind...
what Cedar Fair park is honestly good besides Cedar Point and maybe Knott's? Kings Island is definitely lame on roller coasters but the meal plan included food is good however. My home park Michigan's Adventure is completely neglected by CF. The other ones I've been to Worlds of Fun and Dorney Park are like Michigan's Adventure but without the Michigan charm, so lame.
@@jandrew1994 ??? King's Island has one of the best Hypers, a Giga, THE BEAST, one of the (if not the best) invert, a stellar modern woodie, and one of the last arrow suspended coasters.
Last week went to St. Louis park and it was the worst experience I’ve had by far a ticket at the gate was 100 bucks and parking was up to 35 half the park rides were closed for the day and the other were at half capacity running one train and the water park was same way they didn’t have the lazy river open on a Friday they updated some of the buildings cosmetically but that’s it if he expects to squeeze more money out of the customers he’s got no game plan for it thankful for my diamond pass that was grandfathered in
Frontier city wants 80 bucks at the gate tho online the same ticket is only 35 so...not sure what their game is there
@@AirtimeThrills same for St. Louis they advertise online for the 35 I guess they want to go to automatic transactions and e tickets maybe
“It’s too crowded! How do we get people out of our parks?”
“Maybe a reservation system with a maximum number of visitors?”
“Let’s raise prices!”
“Oh, um, okay. What are we going to give them back then?”
“‘Park improvements!’”
“So removing the M&M stairs?”
“THE M&M STAIRS MUST STAY”
The M&M stairs are a work of art
They better remove them quick before someone complains the M&Ms aren't sexy anymore due to a lack of heels 😅
This CEO is really screwing me over, I was gonna head out to a bunch of new Six Flags parks next year and get a membership that was good for all parks instead of the typical cedar fair platinum pass. Never thought I’d say it but Cedar Fair is cheaper and a better deal, I’m going to Europe instead
El Toro at SFGA just had another accident, two in one year, with El Toro possibly gone this price increase seems even more ridiculous considering they aren’t adding any new rides anytime soon
This isn’t unique to Six Flags unfortunately, corporate America has been engaging with raising prices while offering less in value for the past decade. Economists call it “Shrinkflation”.
Yes yes of course, anybody with half a brain knows this and The House of Mouse is a notorious offender in this respect... HOWEVER most corporations do this with a great deal more subtlety and finesse. What Six Flags is doing is so brazen and transparent that even a blindman can read the tea leaves.
Had my first time visiting Great America this year and it honestly felt like a great value brand of Carowinds rather than an equal. Separate admission for the water park, no shows, closed major attractions, price hikes everywhere. It’s sad I see so much potential to rival Carowinds or Kings Island but it feels squandered by bad management that thinks they can charge a premium for an unrefined product I can only imagine how bad it’s gotten at other Six Flags . I hope they fix this before it’s to late. competition is best for the consumer and if six flags shoots itself in the foot then overall our experience as guests everywhere will decline especially in the coaster world as parks will be less likely to one up each other
Kings Island is meh. The restaurants are good but the coasters are meh. Everything is B&Ms which is the lamest roller coaster manufacturer... and the medium rides like flight-of-fear and hollywood stunt coaster are mediocre and not worth your wait in line. The Beast is a rough old woodie that badly needs RMC'd or something. Mystic Timbers is just an average GCI, nothing special there. Even the flat rides are inferior and the bathrooms are poorly placed. Good luck finding an open bathroom anywhere near Area 72 or along most of the midways but there's a ton of them branched out by the Banshee, Invertigo and Bat... oh and the Wind Seeker (flat ride) gets its own bathroom... seriously...?????? Instead of those cool cart zip line sky rides you get to ride a lame old elevator up the green Eiffel Tower... umm... lame. KI has no ferris wheel, they should relocate the one from Michigan's Adventure to KI since KI actually stays open past dusk unlike Mehchigan's Adventure...
I was just at 6 flags over Texas,hadn't been in 2 years,so I was really excited until I paid for my one day use tickets,standard parking,flash pass(regular), and annual drink cup, $350! It was for 2 of us and it was bought online with a $100 dollar saving for doing so. When we arrived at the park, it was super low on attendance, flash pass would say 5min wait,we would arrive at the ride and the actual line would be a 20-30min wait tops (with the front row line on rides being an extra 5-10min wait). Lines that I was use to waiting on 2+hrs (before flash pass) were now 30mins tops! Without flash pass! I figured maybe it's because it was early in the day and more people would show later, nope! Wasn't the case as the day went on, we had a few rides shut down momentarily due to technical difficulties, I had never seen so many technicians out on the ground before be so active, no ride was shut down completely for the day thankfully. I was an elite member a few years back,wish I would've kept that active now, seeing these new offerings. Now I see why attendance was low, families would have to pull a loan just to be able to take their kids on a trip out there! Sad to see it that way.
Hey Chris, I think you might have missed the chain-wide dining pass option that's being offered, maybe in part due to the Magic Mountain online store's description not being the best. Looking at SFGAm, they offer an "All-Season" dining pass as well as an "Annual" dining pass; the All-Season pass states that it is only available to Season Pass holders (I guess that just means the cheapest option with admission to just that park) and is only valid at Great America and the Illinois Hurricane Harbor parks, while the Annual pass states that it's only available for Membership holders but that it's valid at all Six Flags locations.
Sometimes I think Six Flags does that kinda thing on purpose just to confuse their prospective customers and possibly weasel an extra few bucks out of the ones who didn't spend hours comparing everything before making their purchase.
So six flags,
I expect a 500ft rmc TRex, with 3 launches 2 minutes of airtime, 5 minutes of ride time, drop track, backwards section, beyond vertical drop, velocicoaster, or pantheon restraints, zippin pippin death hill, with tarron theming
If that sounds like to much then at least open a clone of Steve or open jet stream and roaring rapids
With what they're now charging, that's actually totally reasonable
@@willlima1297 especially having your only water rides open, like definitely common sense to close ur water rides when it’s 106 in the middle of summer
@@DanielRodriguez-sl6tt thats the six flags way! Like with aqua man at SFOT not opening for 3 years. Why open a desperately needed water ride in Texas where it's always hot when you can tease the ride for years while not opening it? It's such a small simple ride too. But it's still not finished
It's sad to see the downfall of these entertainment giants like Six Flags and WarnerBros.Discovery. What a shame.
And us SF Bay Area coaster fans are losing Great America but I can't fathom losing Discovery Kingdom as well. Six Flags needs to get their crap together asap. And that hack of a CEO needs to go. He's driving the company into the ground.
We need Dolly Parton to convince Herschend Family Entertainment to save great america straight up they're the only one's that are worthy enough to not only save the park but bring up another level with theming, food, ride ops, guest relations & atmosphere...
I really don't wanna live in a reality where I don't have access to discovery kingdom and great America. Sure I live rather far from them but they are still a lot closer than Knotts and Magic mountain
@@David-gj9qr Same. SFDK is about 5 hours from me, CGA is roughly 6. But they're still the closest to me and it would be painful to not have both, especially knowing that in 10 years or less CGA will no longer be there. If SFDK is gone, I will cry.
This really is a bummer. I've only recently been able to travel long distances to parks and was considering getting to several of the Six Flags parks in the Northeast next summer, but none of Bassoul's actions or comments has inspired me to want to go. I'd much rather prioritize the Pennsylvania and Virginia parks.
I literally just bought an extreme pass a week before this new pass announcement bc I knew getting single day tickets for the 3 six flags parks I was visiting this year would be more expensive combined than the pass itself. I still hope the extreme pass still gets me into all six flags parks anytime.
It's sad how an admission for a Six Flags park is double the cost of Phantasialand and Europapark for a fraction of the Park Quality.
@@ireadysucks3026 Who is Boomkitty? :/
@@AnotherSwissUA-camUser wait I think I just mixed you up with someone else LMAO i will delete my original comment in shame
Good thing Wall Street’s investors can hold him accountable. If he has too bad seasons in a row they will have no issue throwing him to the curb and then we can start to see some investment again in 2024
Due to all the fighting at SOME 6 Flag parks, I believe the new owner is trying to create an elite amusement park to weed out certain people from affording to enter their parks.
Which people would those be?
You already know… SMH
The current formula may mean less riff-raff but plenty of actual weeds growing in the parks
@@staceyhey5708 Name 'em off
@Cyberstar Entertainment *Y'all?*
I have been a season pass owner since 2017 and was ready to upgrade to the original memberships up until they were replaced. I suckered myself into getting the Extreme Pass only to hear the CEO talking about the chain and guests the way he is, and for the first time I truly don’t want to support this chain anymore.
Through all the ups and downs at Six Flags America, I had hope. Now hearing they might be closing sections of the park has turned me away from hoping any sort of turn around could happen.
Six Flags was fine being the discount chain. Sure, the move to quality over quantity was needed, but there has been very little to suggest there’s a rise in quality aside from the main four parks. Six Flags is not Cedar Fair, and they should stop trying to be.
To all of us who are with prior/mid covid memberships, unless Six Flags just guts it, those passes won't expire until December 31, 2100. 🥳🥂🍾
My home park only honoured 2020/2021 passes till Labour Day this year
@@coastaku1954 You mean your regular season pass; NOT membership, correct?!? 😳🤔
@@Ceijonius Cedar Fair Platinum Pass, bought it in 2021 as soon as I heard Wonderland was re-opening
What I would do:
1) Push the season pass. I'd have it at 99 dollars, but I'd offer a family discount for three or more people, whereby a pass if in a group of three would be $75 dollars each.
2) I'd have parking pay a fee for season pass holders, either incorporating it into the price of the season pass, or making it more affordable, say five to ten dollars for parking per visit.
3) Individual day tickets I'd place at forty dollars.
4) I'd offer better quality of food and would come down somewhat on the prices.
5) I'd market the parks more. I mean, more commercials, youtube ads, more billboards. They aren't doing enough advertising these days.
6) I'd invest in upgrades to the parks (repaving parking lots and walking paths, freshly painting the parks)
7) I'd have more promotions and events than they currently have. Do more unique things.
8) I'd invest in more family rides, similar to what you see at some other parks. As it is, Six Flags is dominated by roller coasters. While roller coasters are an integral part of the park, their most popular asset, a lot of people don't go to Six Flags because there just aren't enough easy going family rides to make it worth the cost. Older people and people with back or neck injuries cannot thoroughly enjoy Six Flags.
The problem Six Flags has right now is not enough volume. There simply aren't enough people going to the parks to keep them open into the long term. Six Flags was so successful for so long that they do have some capital, but they have to be wise with it, or they're going to find themselves going bankrupt when their reserves run out. They have to focus on getting more people into the parks, and advertising should be their number one focus.
I'm still grandfathered into my Gold Plus membership subscription, which I picked up during a sale for $6.50. It's valid at all parks, water parks, and includes parking. It really was a steal of a deal, so long as I go once a year it's pretty much paid for!
I bought the Diamond Thrill Seeker pass explained in this video solely because of the “Front Gate Parking” benefit, during this recent Labor Day sale.
I recently went to Magic Mountain during Thanksgiving - only to find out that the benefit has been removed without reimbursement of any kind.
I don’t know if anyone else is going through the same thing, but I find it fucked up that I paid all that extra money for nothing essentially.
Very grateful for this video/review, as it clearly stated the missing benefits that I’m entitled to / paid for .
Thank you.
40 dollars to park in no secured lot is highway robbery.
Right? I live in Orlando so I have an AP to universal and I don’t even pay for parking, but the rate nowadays is like $26 to park in a parking garage! Like I seriously don’t know where they get off charging $40 for a grass field 💀
Happy I quickly pounced on the old diamond membership before they were axed. I understand it takes some time to get improvements added to parks but I at least expected better customer service and ops this year. That wasn't the case at all. Every park I went to had rude employees and slow as heck ops (Great Adventure notwithstanding).
They want us to pay for Chipotle and give us Del Taco.
So glad I got platinum memberships in January before they changed the prices, looks like they got a whole lot worse.
Yea once magic mountain switched over to the new passes, i got Sophie a membership at Frontier city right away before it disappeared. For 7 bucks a month she gets into all the six flags parks
@@AirtimeThrills yeah why even buy the more expensive pass when you get get a cheaper one that still gets you into all the parks?
@@paulofduty2005 the main issue is you do need to visit whichever park you buy it from first to activate it, before you can use it anywhere else. But if you can pull that off, definitely can be worth it.
By the way, that requirement does not apply to Cedar Fair, you can buy your CF Platinum Pass from any park and use it anywhere. Canada's Wonderland usually is the cheapest because of the exchange rate.
Thank you so much for your videos. You explain more about the various perks - for example at 6:40 what the skip the line passes are - than the terrible Six Flags website does. Their website is so lacking on details, everything is so vague it's just horrendous. Thanks again!
Six Flags is trying to offer a premium price for an average to sub-par experience. What a joke. This could be the end of the company if shenanigans like this continue.
The current CEO (forgot his name) needs to be ousted before it’s too late.
If the 2nd qtr numbers were bad I really think the 3rd qtr is going to be drastically worse compared to 3rd qtr 2021. Seems chain wide summer crowds have been very light. Meanwhile Cedar Fair parks like Knott's with a couple main attractions down are packed day in day out during that same time period. I do not think you will get good sales with the Season Pass/Memberships as they currently are offered or have been since February. I do not think I will be renewing my SP for SFMM this upcoming year which saddens me greatly. I will most likely continue my Knott's passes even though there are less high thrill attractions and higher attendance levels.
My home park is Darien lake which is loosely a six flags park and we usually get season passes every year but we won’t be next year because they increased the price and took away parking and refillable cups, not to mention there’s nothing at that park to warrant a price increase
did you know they changed the prices on the original passes. diamond and diamond elite went up 4 dollars per month and gold and platinum went up a dollar
I live an hour from six flags over Georgia, and I rather drive 5 hours to Carowinds or 6 hours to Busch Gardens than go to Six Flags.
10:05 "G O I N G DOWN"
All the predictions were correct. Glad they did a 180 after last year, hopeful for future.
They just don’t have the infrastructure to justify these prices. Unless they’re unveiling major additions at most parks for next year, the ride quality and even more importantly the quality of the experience just isn’t there.
They are already have major attendance issues and this is their solution? Yikes
Thank you for updating us on the old school membership passes. If they ever choose to stop grandfathering us, I'll have to walk away from upgrading. Can't afford it in this new inflationary environment.
As CGA and SFDK being my home parks, I love how I only sent around 150 dollars a year for 2 parks all year but I can’t even go to discovery kingdom anymore and with CGA closing I’m gonna have to give an arm and a leg but I mean if that’s my only park I guess I’ll have to pay up
Well. Talk of Cedar Fair. Their low end gold pass remained the same, but lost early entry. Platinum Pass went up $50 for the same benefits, but now the starting cost for early entry now. Then they added Prestige passes. Which cost even more, to just gain access to vip lounges, that take away useable space for parks.
As someone who has only been to one sf park, (Great Escape) and as someone who doesn’t get around to parks that much, this scares me. I’m not sure I’ll be able to get to everything before it’s too late…
My only guess is the CEO is intentionally trying to tank Six Flags so he can sell all the parks for real estate. Which is insane, but how are you going to massively skyrocket the prices consumer pay, refuse to increase the quality, AND insult your customer base, unless you're intentionally trying to crash your company to the ground?
I dont think thats it, i just think he sees how much money families spend at parks and wants that over the teenagers who dont buy anything. But this chain just isnt made for that crowd
I thought the same thing its this or he actually wants a new audience of people at the parks. Either way he did it poorly. He should've slowed raised the quality then the price quality then price then we might not be having these problems.
You keep using frontier city clips- as my home park being frontier city it’s hilarious
Gotta represent frontier city
Paying more for less is standard practice for the last 2 years!!!
So glad to still have the old memberships. The difference in prices and discounts compared to these new passes are just COMICAL.
Great vid! I was planning on getting a six flags membership next year, but now it looks like I’m getting a cedar fair one
"How are we going to maintain our juicy dividend checks when people are not coming to the parks?" - Harvard MBA " I know we will slash services and staffing and increases prices across the board so we I can buy Johnny his new yatch for christmas... Every 12 year old should have one you know.....
I think that's most people's issue: raising the prices without raising the quality. This is all part of his 'ripping off the band-aid' approach he mentioned in the conference call. But, as you said, it's now time for him to 'put up or shut up'
What SF is doing right now kinda reminds me of what american dream did when the park first opened
Went to Six Flags St. Louis a few months ago and the rides are being dangerously neglectec. Told my son to expect an accident soon and that we'd never be going back. Rides like the Screaming Eagle are scary rough. What a shame.
Never trust someone completely unfamiliar with an industry to run a company anywhere but into the ground. Sea World will be poised to buy Six Flags at a heavy discount in a few years if this trend continues. I’m starting to think that may be for the best.
EDIT: I also feel like the CEO doesn’t understand that the cheap price tag gave SF a competitive edge in many of their lower income and high competition markets. What’s another $30 for a day at Magic Mountain when you’ve already made the trip for Knott’s and Disneyland? Now they’re directly competing in an arena where they will certainly lose. This should’ve have been a gradual change, but no.
And lastly, For those expecting the board to fix this, this fine board kicked the old CEO to the curb and put this moron in. Praying that we get a shareholder issue on the ballot to kick this guy to the curb.
30 years ago when I was in my mid teens a season pass to Six Flags St Louis was $70. A few years ago it was actually cheaper than that. That's ridiculous if you ask me. It's a theme park and if you want them to be able to compete with the Universals and Disney's, you're gonna have to raise prices at some point. Costs of good and salaries for labor has gone up significantly. Inflation over the last year is up HUGE. Do you want to pay more and get the same experience or would you rather go to a park that's nearly bankrupt with aging, broken rides and cheaper labor? And it doesn't matter, if people want to go, they'll go. Disney knows this, that's why they keep raising prices twice a year and keep giving the middle finger to the loyal customers, because they know they'll want to come back regardless of price. Obviously the product is better but six flags is 25% of the price
With the seasonal pass you are able to go to fright fest and Holiday in the Park and they do offer $20 upgrade To hurricane Harbor For the season and a $40 upgrade to parking pass
I'm for less crowds. I hated the subscription pass. I would fork out the cash and be able to visit the park without the crowds. I agree with a previous comment mentioning parks getting a make-over. Fiesta looks run down, especially, the kiddie section. I think consumer appeal is important. However, I am for the old old season pass. I used to purchase the season pass to avoid the crowds. Subscription based is great! This allows many an opportunity to visit the park that normally couldn't afford a family visit. However, the benefits of having a pass used to be avoiding the crowds to get on rides. Not so much the drinks and food. I always brought lunch or left the park to eat. Waaaay over price.
I can hear the anger in your voice. We're all put off by it.
Damn I miss the days of brining in a soda can where it allowed you to purchase a full price ticket and get one free, that was in the 90's for anyone who don't remember
The CEO’s comment about Walmart type of customers makes sense since Six Flags is the Walmart of theme parks.
I’ve been a season pass holder for 20 years. Last years pass I thought was the worst where you could only go to one park. I won’t be renewing my pass for 2023 I didn’t think it could get worst. It did. Good luck Six Flags. Bad plan.
I have an idea for Selim. Make soda free. You don't have to pay employees to guard the machines, no stupid plastic cups to lug around. Since you are charging a ton more for passes, throw us a bone. Soda is a cheap giveaway. Holiday World does it and it is nice. It doesn't make up for the price hikes, but it is at least a tangible benefit.
Theres really 2 ways to look at it. Give it away free for little cost and get good will. Or gouge the hell out of it and make up for losses in other areas
@@AirtimeThrills I already know which way Selim will go...
If us enthusiasts are confused as hell about how Six Flags season passes work because they keep changing every few months, imagine how confused the GP is.
Right now my step dad just bought the Platinum pass at 70% off on August 26,2023 and still on sale for 13 days as of i writing this it's 55$ per person right now and the diamond pass is 95$ per person still September 5
was going to discovery kingdom with a friend, he bought a day pass that was starting at $54.99. with taxes and everything the total was around $80 dollars. crazy that is even legal
Went to Six Flags Great America as a "spur the moment" kind of thing, my Canadian debit card wasn't accepted at the ticket booth so I had to pay for an Online ticket, it came to over $100CAD!!!! And that was JUST admission!
@@coastaku1954 tbh that isn’t to bad considering that’s one of the better sf parks
@@brucegibson1813 I was only there for two hours and no coaster I went on really blew me away, that's including Goliath...
I have a Diamond Elite VIP (Diamond Elite who didn't cancel during COVID got this special perk). The main difference between VIP and Diamond Elite is I get 4 flash passes per visit. I pay $25 a month, and it includes the dining plan. From what I read, my benefits are locked in for as long as I keep paying, but they could jack up my price at any moment (which I'm shocked they haven't). I will hold on to my pass for as long as I can, even though I am visiting my park far less than I once was. I feel holding on to my pass is a better way to stick it to Selim rather than canceling.
The prices actually went down from the latest prices from the old passes. The ultimate pass was $450 before they switched over
Jeez, well lets see how these memberships change in price down the line
lots
of parks prices went down the more popular parks went up
Here in six flags in San Antonio Texas the prices and benefits are very different than this video. It varies in every state
Wait am I stupid? So why would you ever buy anything over bronze at any park other than Frontier City which is half the price of most parks but gets you into all of them. Is it a pick up issue? Because I’ll make some money sending passes out for y’all from Oklahoma lol
Passes have to be activated at the park they are purchased from. SF ha always done that to prevent the scheme you just posted
I STILL HAVE A GRANDFATHERED IN PLATINUM MEMBERSHIP THAT WAS UPGRADED TO DIAMOND DURING COVID. I WAS PLANNING ON ENDING MY MEMBERSHIP THIS FALL. I MAY JUST KEEP IT. SOUNDS LIKE A CONTINUED GOOD VALUE.
I bought my Ultimate Pass in March of 2022 and it was only $300 for SFGAdv! Events they changed the price to $390 and it does include the 50% off all season flash pass!
This company right now is just screaming to its shareholders, “This limbo can go lower, but how low can YOU go?”
Sad to, I had many good memories of Magic Mountain… maybe if they kick out the new CEO and do some other sweeping changes to help rebuild consumer trust, maybe then they can start to regain respect
man, what a trip. I cancelled my membership along with my husbands back in 2021 bc we never went to our home park in 2020. Wish I kept it though! It makes me sad to think six flags could tank, but idk what else to expect with the massive increase in price and the quality they are refusing to put into the park :(( but maybe not the best time to jack up the prices at the beginning of a possible economic recession.. Let’s see how this plays out
the price of Disney is 5x the price of SF or Cedar fair for season passes ... But this CEO needs to make sure all the rides are operational and parks are up to date to push people to higher prices than they are used to.
hey! can you do a hershypark coasters by the numbers vid?
Prices went substantially up through out the 22 season MM went up as high as $450 for an ultimate pass and had less benefits than it did In January. We will be done with six flags for a while if benefits don't go up
Wow really? I didnt see that. I must have grabbed the discount flash sale prices
Yeah, I believe the new membership prices are less than what they were selling the passes for a week or 2 ago. But they were changing their passes pricing and benefits constantly throughout the year, it's confusing.
@@AirtimeThrills yes prices were like $195 $299 and $450. They came down sort of back to January prices but they took out benefits like HHLA for the basic pass. So you aren't wrong prices are still going up.
Less for more, apparently. Not adding or replacing coasters is insane to me. If they significantly improve the guest experience over the next 5-7 years and don't bankrupt themselves, it might work and then they can start adding coasters again, but I'm perplexed and disappointed.
I'm for sure canceling mine after this year. With my home park being Darien Lake and such abysmal perks, it's just not worth it anymore.
I had an old platinum membership before, but they bumped it up to a diamond without changing the price (I think this was a covid-related thing). My "home" SF park is America, but I used it at Great Adventure earlier this year and all of the benefits still worked. I'm glad that I made it up there when I did, because I have a feeling that they won't keep the legacy memberships going for much longer.
I honestly could see a few of the unpopular parks closing. SFMM, SFGA, SFGAdv, SFOG, SFFT, and maybe another park will stay open.
My experience at Six Flags parks has been much better than Cedar Fair since the pandemic. It’s like they want to switch places, which I can appreciate given that CF has more enjoyable queues since you’ll be in them all day.
Interesting. Cant say ive noticed a big difference. But the parks during the height of the pandemic and now that the severity has waned is totally different
So, as an Orlando native, what I’m getting out of this is that Disney would be dead if they didn’t have popular IPs
Great America in Chicago gold pass is 90 dollars and they ran a promo twice so far to upgrade to platinum for free.
Thank goodness I'm grandfathered in with my Diamond Elite VIP. 🥵 Haven't been able to use it this season, but I have one.🤦🏾♂️😭
One thing to note, membership prices vary between parks. Without seeing any fine print, it looks like you could buy the platinum pass for SFNE for $155 bucks even if it wasn't your home park, then use it Magic Mountain, which is actually cheaper than MMs gold tier.
You could, but none of the benefits go to other parks. Amusement chains are starting to crack down on people doing that, see the new tiers of Cedar Fair passes.
You have to activate it at the park you bought it at.
I went to Six Flags Great Adventure on the Sunday before Memorial Day pre El Toro incident as it rode well that day. I got the Season Pass through Labor Day as it was only a little bit more than the daily ticket and it was the Flash Sale at the time. I had a good time overall, but can definitely see the frustration with how it's not the same as before and with increasing prices. That's most parks in general raising rates. Thank God Knoebels, the largest free admission amusement park, is only an hour 15 minutes from me and I go there more than Hersheypark which is a less than 20 minute commute. I seldom go to Six Flags parks and that will probably remain the same as I care about the overall atmosphere when visiting amusement parks. I'm a coaster lover, but it's gotta have more than that. I did Six Flags Great Adventure, Hersheypark, Knoebels, & Busch Gardens Europe/Williamsburg this year.
It'll be interesting to see how this all shakes out in New England. In most of the country, Six Flags actually has competition from Cedar Fair or SeaWorld or somebody else to worry about. Here, their only competition is much smaller parks offering a substantially different experience--actually, in some ways, more the kind of experience the new CEO thinks he wants--but they are nothing like Six Flags. Not only is Six Flags New England the only big thrill park in the region; the closest alternatives outside of it are also Six Flags parks (La Ronde, Great Escape [if that even counts], Great Adventure). You have to go quite a long way to find somebody else operating in their league.
So in a way it ought to be the best possible environment for them. Can Bassoul kill the company even there?
(The one New England park that I think potentially could play in their league is Lake Compounce, but it would take massive additional investment that Parques Reunidos is probably not going to sink into it. If, say, SeaWorld bought them, I could maybe see it happening. And the change wouldn't necessarily be for the better--Lake Compounce is a pretty nice place as it is.)