Hurricane Harbor at Night

[BuddyChrist]

A lot of the lifeguards are also minors, so it's hard to keep the park open past 7 due to laws governing the hours that minors can work. It would be really bad to have a barebones staff for night swimming, attractions such as the Lazy River and Discovery Bay would have to close early due to the amount of lifeguards it takes to staff them.

[The Master]

Still it would be nice if HH could stay open to 7 PM on weeknights like it did in past years. It is just every passing year they keep reducing HH's times and I am getting tried of it.

[Thunderbolt]

They're not "too cheap", they just won't stay open unless crowds warrant it. This is a business they are running and it doesn't make sense to open up or stay open for just a handful of people. ANY time either HH or the theme park has a large crowd, they will always run a soft closing if they possibly can. As long as people are spending money, they're not kicking anyone out.

I believe keeping parks open later has to do with potential overtime issues, more so than revenue loss. Let say Great Adventure closes at 10:00 P.M. Guests usually linger in the park some 20-30 minutes past initial closure either purchasing food or a final souvenir. Perhaps they'll play a game. I'm sure the park is operationally profitable most days in that final hour. What kills the revenue stream are guests waiting 1-2 hours past closure on "E-Ticket" rides such as "El Toro" or "Kingda Ka". To ensure these guests have a favorable experience, ride, maintenance, emergency, and security staff must be kept on site.

 

Additional electricity is utilized by these "E-Ticket" attractions in a period where retail and gaming operations have already ceased for the evening. The park is unable to tap the remaining captive audience for ancillary spending. If the park closes early, the staff budgets are already accounted for that part of that (now) additional time period. The effects of overtime become minimized against the bottom line. It's financially prudent to pay one hour of overtime versus two. Guests may feel cheated, but Six Flags must feel the negative impact is minimal.

 

Six Flags remains in a precarious situation. Customers don't feel the product commands a premium price as demonstrated by the current season pass pricing. They can't put forth a better quality product, on their current operational model. Guests are unwilling to spend more money on admission pricing due to Six Flags's operational model. Until Six Flags realizes that a high quality product hurts the short term revenues; but helps exponentially in the long term; it's due to ownership turnover and debt issues infinitely.

[BuddyChrist]

Seasonal employees don't get overtime, so even if they work for 10 hours, they will only get paid their regular rate due to NJ classifying seasonal jobs as temporary and not entitled to the same benefits as permanent part-time jobs.

 

The problem, as you say, is that the management is unwilling to sacrifice revenue for a high quality overhaul. Unfortunately, at this time and in this shaky economy, spending more than what you take in will hurt you with investors, no matter what the payoff in the end is. And I really don't see season pass prices as being "premium" compared to other parks and chains. With the amount of discounts at the parks (there are so many besides the Coke offer, there's a giant book full of them), people aren't paying for the entire gate price. The only thing that really is "premium" is parking, which has no discounts or credits that are offered.

 

Everyone knocks on Six Flags for not having what other chains have, but they always don't see that they have global corporations behind them that are well funded and very stable with other business ventures that keep them secure. Six Flags doesn't have that luxury anymore like it did with Time Warner, it has to make it's money on the parks alone and then distribute them accordingly.

 

I'm not saying that the company is perfect, but a lot of things have to come together in order for it to rise back to prominence like it once was. Unfortunately, the guest experience may be negatively impacted as the company finds its footing again but after that, the payoff should be significant.

[Thunderbolt]

Seasonal employees don't get overtime, so even if they work for 10 hours, they will only get paid their regular rate due to NJ classifying seasonal jobs as temporary and not entitled to the same benefits as permanent part-time jobs.

 

The problem, as you say, is that the management is unwilling to sacrifice revenue for a high quality overhaul. Unfortunately, at this time and in this shaky economy, spending more than what you take in will hurt you with investors, no matter what the payoff in the end is. And I really don't see season pass prices as being "premium" compared to other parks and chains. With the amount of discounts at the parks (there are so many besides the Coke offer, there's a giant book full of them), people aren't paying for the entire gate price. The only thing that really is "premium" is parking, which has no discounts or credits that are offered.

 

Everyone knocks on Six Flags for not having what other chains have, but they always don't see that they have global corporations behind them that are well funded and very stable with other business ventures that keep them secure. Six Flags doesn't have that luxury anymore like it did with Time Warner, it has to make it's money on the parks alone and then distribute them accordingly.

 

I'm not saying that the company is perfect, but a lot of things have to come together in order for it to rise back to prominence like it once was. Unfortunately, the guest experience may be negatively impacted as the company finds its footing again but after that, the payoff should be significant.

I didn't know that about seasonal employees and overtime. Thank you for informing me of that. Regardless of classification, non-salaried employees are usually entitled to overtime pay above 40 hours. Closing the parks an hour early seems worse, if all the company owes is straight time. Are maintenance workers considered seasonal employees? First-Aid employees are contracted IIRC. As for season pass pricing, I think you misunderstood my point. Six Flags sells their season passes so cheaply, because few people consider the product worthy of a premium price. Certainly you can find discounts everywhere for Six Flags. The company wouldn't offer them if they believed people would pay full price however. Gate pricing was ridiculous IMO considering the product.

 

As for global corporations backing up theme park divisions, you're mistaken. In today's corporate environment, all divisions must perform their own accounting and report projections to their board of directors. They also must be self-sustaining. Under Sarbanes–Oxley, Corporations can't simply arbitrage capital from one division to artificially prop up the other. If troubled assets can't be brought back to profitability, they must be divested or face possible law suits from shareholders. Don't forget, parent companies of these theme parks possess exponentially greater debt loads than Six Flags. Time Warner had an $8B(!!) debt load (in 1998 dollars) at time Six Flags was sold to Premier Parks.

 

While theme parks are a form of entertainment, they are hardly core (or related) products for any global entity. NBC Universal owns about 50% of Universal Orlando Resort and even less of the overseas parks. Busch Entertainment Corp. was also divested due to its lack of synergy with the former parent despite profitability (it was sold to reduce merger debt just like Time Warner had to do with Six Flags). The only company that owns its theme parks outright is Disney. Even the house of mouse has been rumored to consider a spinoff of that division.

Edited July 18, 2010 by Thunderbolt

[BuddyChrist]

You bring up a lot of good points, I never knew that they couldn't prop up divisions. I fold my hand good sir