Medusa42
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Posts posted by Medusa42
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This seems like a missed opportunity to nickel and dime customers. Where are the oversized bag and second/third bag fees like the airlines charge?
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https://amusementtoday.com/2022/10/joyland-auction-cancelled/
"The auction of Joyland Amusement Park by Norton of Michigan Auctioneers — which was originally scheduled for Thursday, October 27, 2022 — has been cancelled.
This information comes to Amusement Today per the owners of Joyland and Norton of Michigan Auctioneers. Other opportunities have presented themselves with further details to follow."
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Video of the El Toro repair options being discussed with Selim.
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With Alan Schilke retiring, it will be interesting to see how a Joe Draves design at BGW differs from Iron Gwazi at BGT.
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On 9/12/2022 at 5:27 PM, GAcoaster said:
Sad-- maybe someone will come in a buy it like Apex. They have 3 parks now including Clementon, all of similar size.
Did you mean IB Parks and Entertainment or Boomers Parks (formerly Apex Parks Group)?
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It looks like some buildings were removed.
From Google Earth:
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6 hours ago, Gyrotron said:
I heard a rumor that Great Adventure was going to get something absolutely massive by 2024 (something unheard of for Six Flags). But apparently, as of now that rumor is no more due to the recent changes in business model.
For context, it is pretty obvious from the post history that the person spreading that rumor on /r/sixflags is a former user of this site that was banned for annoying everyone.
https://old.reddit.com/user/sixflagsmania2
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16 hours ago, MarioSonic94 said:
So yeah...judging by El Toro's woes in the last couple of years, what are the odds of the ride getting a Topper Track redo.
Not a full New Texas Giant/Steel Vengeance rebuild. Just replacing the Intamin Pre-fab track with Topper Track, while keeping the same layout.
RMC no longer offers Topper Track, they could do what you are suggesting with the steel 208 Retrak product.
https://www.rockymtnconstruction.com/wood-coaster-refurbishment/
Other options are GCI Titan Track (steel) and Gravity Group has a laser cut wood product.
None of these options will fix the issue if Six Flags continues to allow the structure to fall into disrepair.
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The Q1 results appear to show that Selim's plan was working and he said they were planning to use cash to pay down debt and refinance the debt later this year. The company isn't paying a dividend to shareholders. We will have a better idea if Six Flags is still on the right track when the Q2 numbers come out at the end of July/early August.
Herschend Family Entertainment, Palace Entertainment/Parques Reunidos, and Premier Parks with help from EPR Properties are also looking for parks to acquire.
Cedar Fair is in a much better position with their debt due to the California's Great America sale and is reinstating the unitholder distribution by the end of Q3. They could be interested in picking up a park if it is a good fit and the price is right.
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Lease terms.
QuoteOn June 27, 2022, and as a condition to the sale of the Park, the Company entered into a lease with Prologis pursuant to which Cedar Fair, L.P., through its subsidiaries will continue to operate the Park. The lease has a six-year term, and the Company has the option to extend the term for an additional five years. The lease is subject to a right in favor of Prologis to terminate the lease early by providing at least two years’ prior notice. The annual base rent under the lease is $12,247,500 and will increase by 2.5% each year.
https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0000811532/78a5bf4c-e155-489d-b56b-5161d8809409.pdf -
Update on the sign:
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SFGAm has a new Batmobile.
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^ I believe that Zadra number is correct because it was paid for with EU funds and the costs had to be made public during the bidding process. Keep in mind that labor costs are much cheaper in Poland and that tends to bring the overall cost down. It was announced that a smaller RMC, ArieForce One. will cost $13 Million USD to build this year.
Not sure how much Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger costs, but one of the goals was to save money on steel by using standard sized B&M track instead of the bigger track that is normally on Dive coasters. B&M also did a complete overhaul on the trains so they can move around tighter turns. I would not be surprised if Six Flags did a package deal with B&M. There are already rumblings of SFGAm getting a B&M in 2023 and SFMM in 2024.
If you follow the Photo Trip Reports, it appears that the Northern Star Arena could be on the way out. It looks like there is a lot of land behind the arena that could be used for a coaster.
https://www.greatadventurehistory.com/GATrips_Spring_2022_05_12.htm
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8 hours ago, Daved Thomson said:
Seems there's a bit of turmoil in this company's highest ranks, especially amongst the board. I get the impression they're doing a lot of painting lipstick on pigs, and not sure how much longer the public or shareholders are going to buy into their BS.
Not really, the current board was just reappointed by the shareholders during the proxy vote and the shareholders supported the boards recommendations during the vote. The previous board failed to keep Jim Reid Anderson and Marshall Barber in check and was ousted as part of an agreement with H Partners management. There was a lot of turmoil in the corporate management because Selim cut down the layers of management and gave park presidents more control over the decision making.
Six Flags is unable to buy/sell parks until they get clear of the 2025 Secured Notes that were issued during the pandemic. It sounds like the company is planning to pay down some of this debt with cash on hand in July and they plan to restructure the remaining debt with new unsecured debt in the next 12-18 months. This would remove the noose from their neck.
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Here is the official Q1 2022 Earnings Call Transcript:
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On a positive note, Six Flags Great America is reopening Roaring Rapids.
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New year, new round of ride removals? Keep an eye on Cyborg.
Six Flags Over Texas just removed two rides from the website and park map.
Rodeo (Huss Breakdance)
Harley Quinn Spinsanity (ABC Rides Tourbillon)
Music Mill Amphitheater is also removed.
https://static.sixflags.com/website/files/sfot_park-map.pdf
https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas/things-to-do/all-rides
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It looks like Carowinds is planning to retheme the Crossroads section of the park and add four new flats rides (Zamperla Nebulaz, Zamperla Disk-O, Zamperla Air Race, and a Chance Trabant or Freestyle) for 2023.
https://parkfans.net/threads/project-2023-crossroads-overhaul-four-new-rides.7240/
https://twitter.com/CarowindsFansOn/status/1507019674692763649/photo/1
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https://www.sixflags.com/greatamerica/events/all-new-dc-universe
QuoteIntroducing DC UNIVERSE™ at Six Flags Great America in 2022!
The Thrill Capital of the Midwest— in partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, on behalf of DC, introduces DC UNIVERSE™, an exciting, newly themed section of the park where guests can immerse themselves inside a DC comic book-inspired world. This area of the park will feature three reimagined attractions – THE FLASH™: Vertical Velocity, a high-speed launch coaster, AQUAMAN™ Splashdown, a winding flume ride with a watery plunge, and DC Super-Villains Swing™, an exhilarating spinning attraction twirling guests in a 360-degree orbit. This one-of-a-kind themed section will also include park favorites BATMAN™ The Ride and THE JOKER™ Free-Fly Coaster.
Reimagined Dining Experience
Guests can satisfy their super hero-sized appetites at the all-new Steelworks Pub, Gotham City Snacks, Central City Snacks and Captain Cold Ice Cream, located within DC UNIVERSE and available for mobile ordering on the Six Flags app when visiting the park. Guests can enjoy the all-new beer garden and patio at Steelworks Pub and delicious new treats, including Dole Whip, Oreo Funnel Cake Sundaes, and Buffalo Chicken Mac ‘n Cheese, in DC UNIVERSE and throughout the park.
Elevated Guest Experience
DC UNIVERSE, located in the former Yankee Harbor section of the park, will also offer new dining and shopping experiences, as well as elevated guest comforts, like a broad, open midway, new patio space to enjoy refreshments and photo op installations featuring favorite DC characters.
DC UNIVERSE at Six Flags Great America will debut to guests Friday, April 15!
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California's Great America is adding a scrambler back to the park in the old Huss Top Spin location.
https://www.cagreatamerica.com/rides-experiences/liberty-twirler
QuoteLiberty Twirler
Opening May 2022
Take a spin on this dizzying fair ride that is fun for all ages! Riders will spin clockwise while the ride rotates counterclockwise. No doubt, you will be scrambled after enjoying this classic carnival ride. Families can't get enough of Liberty Twirler as they get a thrill from the illusion that they will crash into other spinning cars.
The rotating cars change force and direction rapidly, so prepare yourself for a flurry of fun. This classic fair ride will make you twist and shout, and you'll probably laugh and scream even more as Liberty Twirler spins you around time and time again. Things will start to look a little scrambled as you go round and round, but it's fun to go with the flow as you slide to one side and back again
Height Requirement: 48” minimum or 36” and accompanied by a supervising companion.
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From the annual report:
In 2022, we are excited to add (i) the world's steepest dive roller coaster featuring a 95-degree drop at Six Flags Fiesta Texas (San Antonio, TX); (ii) the tallest and longest single rail coaster on the planet and record-breaking 20th roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain (Valencia, CA); (iii) a state-of-the-art, all-new family cave ride experience and a first-of-its-kind in North America water coaster thrill ride at Six Flags Over Texas (Arlington, TX); (iv) a combination family coaster and animal exhibit experience at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (Vallejo, CA); (v) a 164 foot tall, dual action, spinning and looping thrill ride at Six Flags St. Louis (Eureka, MO) and a multi-level kids water play center featuring 4 slides and 71 interactive water features at Hurricane Harbor in Six Flags St. Louis (Eureka, MO); (vi) a 5-story, fast-paced waterslide stretching 500 feet in length at Six Flags White Water Atlanta (Marietta, GA); (vii) a brand-new Summer Vibes festival at Six Flags Great Adventure (Jackson, NJ); (viii) DC Universe, a newly themed area featuring three reimagined attractions at Six Flags Great America (Gurnee, IL); (ix) a rebrand of the Jr. Thrillseekers family area and Medusa top-rail floorless coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure (Jackson, NJ); and (x) a rebrand of Splashtown to Hurricane Harbor at Six Flags Darien Lake with a brand-new, 60-foot water slide (Corfu, NY). -
The new strategy:
QuoteSelim Bassoul
Thank you, Sandeep. While our results in the fourth quarter were strong, there is enormous and top potential for our business that we can capture through a shift in strategy. I would now like to discuss our new strategic direction in more detail, focusing on three areas: first, the guest experience; second, pricing; and third, capital allocation.
Improving the guest experience is our primary focus. While there are many different ways to further delight our guests, we will prioritize the following six initiatives. Number one, improve our right efficiency and convenience. This includes reducing wait times at rides, reducing ride downtime and opening rides when our guests arrive.
To accomplish this, we reallocate staff from lower-value activities to rides, and will improve our processes in order to load ride faster, and ensure cars are full every cycle. This includes adding a single rider lane so that we can fill single seats that would have otherwise been empty.
We will also experiment with virtual queueing technology to help reduce wait times and allow guests to spend more time exploring our parks and less time standing in line. We're also in the process of testing digital screens throughout our parks that display current wait time for rides and restaurants, which should help our guests navigate our parks more efficiently.
Number two, create fun through employee friendliness. This means treating our guests like family, having a positive attitude and smile. Attitudes are infectious. And my experience has taught me that a little smile can go a long way in the customer service business.
Number three, park cleanliness. This includes better curb appeal at the front gate, better in landscaping and clean rest rooms. In fact, we are currently in the process of updating the front gate entrance experience at several of our large parks, and we hope to complete this work in advance of our peak summer season.
Number four, better quality food. This is a core expertise of mine, and an area in which we have -- we can have an immediate impact. We have already hired a renowned executive chef to oversee our culinary program, and we have brought in a foodservice expert to help us deliver fast food -- food fast and efficiently. We'll start by focusing on the top-selling items like burgers, pizza, and chicken tenders.
Over the past 100 days, we have been reformulating our menu and testing new recipes on a daily basis. In fact, I have tried over 100 burgers, 200 slices of pizza and 100 orders of chicken tenders. We are still putting the final touches on our new culinary offerings. But based on what I've tasted so far, the quality of these items is better than any theme parks I've ever visited.
So, we are very excited to welcome back our guests this spring with new and improved versions of our top-selling food items. Over time, we will expand our focus to include healthier menu items, more grilled option as well as better refreshments including coffee and alcoholic beverages.
In addition, we'll upgrade our point-of-sale system and kitchen operation to reduce lines and provide fresher, healthier and better-tasting food. Food and beverage represented 21% of our total revenue last year, but it can be much bigger over time.
Number five, more guest amenities. In talking to our guests, they consistently requested more benches through our parks to sit and relax, more shaded areas to cool off and parent lounges for some quite time. We are already in the process of adding some of these amenities to our parks for the upcoming season.
Finally, priority six is to upgrade our guest-facing technology, and in particular, our mobile app. We are updating our app to make it effective, intuitive and relevant, improving personalization by using the wealth of data already available in our system.
Over the next few months, we plan to improve our mobile app to deliver a more seamless guest experience in the following ways: by increasing speed of entry at the parking lot and at the front gate, increasing access to a digital flash path, enable guests to skip the line with a click of the button, and increasing usage of our mobile ordering system for food and beverage. More features will be added over time as the app becomes a remote control that facilitates a seamless guest experience.
We are also committed to investing in technology that will help ensure a more sustainable future, such as solar energy and waste reduction.
Improving the guest experience is our obsession. We will wake up every morning and go to sleep every night thinking of ways to further delight our guests.
Next, I would like to talk about pricing. Our guest surveys and our guest interviews have both indicated that customers are willing to pay more for better quality of service.
However, we have historically ignored this data. And instead, we prioritized filling our parks to maximum capacity at the expense of the guest experience. Data shows that guests who came on heavily discounted or free tickets pre-pandemic did not match -- spend much time -- much money in the parks, yet they used up our park capacity.
So, based on our analysis, our historical reliance on heavy discounting was not the right strategy. Through premiumization, we are focused on guests who are willing to pay more for a premium experience which will lessen the crowding of our parks, reducing pressure on operations and elevating the guest experience.
Our pricing goal is to provide value for our guest times and value for the price paid. We'll simplify our ticket offerings, but combining season passes and memberships into a new product lineup with fewer choices and targeted blackout dates.
Our new pricing architecture will not only be simpler for customers to understand, but we will also create credible upsell opportunities, and have the opportunity to dynamically adjust prices based on the season and the day of the week.
We have already run a successful test of our new pricing program over the past month and we are ready to roll out the changes company-wide over the coming weeks. It is important to note that our ability to raise price is directly related to our ability to deliver a higher quality guest experience. So these two strategic priorities go hand-in-hand.
Finally, before opening the call for questions, I would like to briefly comment on our capital allocation strategy. Our capital priorities have evolved and we are currently focused on only two areas.
Our number one priority is reinvesting in our business. Our goal is to lead the industry in terms of innovation. And to do that, we need to invest in our parks and in our system. Historically, innovation was measured in terms of thrill rides. In fact, for years, we have spent about 60% of our capital expenditure budget on new rides and attraction, and we have been able to build an exceptional portfolio of thrilled rides.
While this strategy provides an effective marketing tool to attract new guests and increase the capacity of our parks, the marketing impact of each ride was short-lived. As we sit here today, we have ample thrill rides in our parks.
And while we continue to selectively add new coasters over time, our near-term focus will be to deploy our resources into guest-facing technology, food and beverage offerings, and other part infrastructure improvement for a higher guest experience impact with a lower cost than adding new rides.
Now, once we have reinvested in our business, our second capital priority will be to pay down debt. These are the only two capital priorities for the time being. In conclusion, Six Flags has a truly unique portfolio of parks.
And with our new culture, our reset organization and our updated strategy in place, I'm confident that we will delight both our guests and our shareholders over time. Hopefully, you can sense that I'm highly energized to serve in this role, and I look forward to updating you on our continued progress in the months ahead.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4490022-six-flags-entertainment-corporation-six-ceo-selim-bassoul-on-q4-2021-earnings-call-transcript
Edit: Six Flags provides an official call transcript now:
Cedar Fair Additions for 2023
in Industry Rumors
Posted
Kings Island is adding two new rides as part of the new Adventure Port area.
https://www.visitkingsisland.com/new-in-2023
"The myths of an ancient civilization and its mighty city carved out of stone have lured travelers from around the globe to this bustling port community for more than a century.
Welcome to Adventure Port. New in 2023, and located between Coney Mall and Action Zone, the park’s newest themed area will feature two new family rides, enhanced theming for Adventure Express, Enrique’s quick service restaurant and the Mercado."