Suggest Changes for Next Year!

[Ilovthevu']

I'm not talking about new rides for next year, but other types of changes. These are what I think should happen for next year.

1. I believe the park should change Iron Wolfs harnesses again. They are just horrible now. Bring back the old ones, or buy better wider ones.

2. I don't think the park should have fireworks everyday. This costs a lot of money. Instead use lasers, or nothing at all. Thus, the pararde only needs to be one time a day whether during the day or at night!!

3. When the park gives you the brochure, they should actually put the times in it so people can know when the park is open all year.

4. The park doesn't need a ton of characters. The most they should have is 2-3 an hour with only one person watching them. There is no real point in having multiple people watching the characters.

5. Relating to characters, the Justice League should be done with. A lot of people don't have any clue who Flash or Green Lantern are. Instead add Batgirl, Supergirl, Riddler, Mr. Freeze, or some other villians. Keep Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman from the Justice League. They all shouldn't have to appear all at once. Call them Superheroes and villians instead of the "Justice League." This makes them easier to separate.

6. Don't have an individual and a family pass. Instead have half season passes, and kids, and adult season passes. The regular adult (greater than 54 inches or equal to) season pass should cost around $85.00 while the kids under the 54 should be $75.00. The half season passes would be May-July ($40.00-adults and $35.00-kids), Aug-Oct ($45.00-adults and $40.00-kids).

7. For regular admission prices, there should be an adults price (height related) $45.99, kids price $34.99, and a senior's (60+) price $14.99. For a two day pass, adults should be $70.00 and kids $60.00.

8. Advertise in April Come and enjoy the new stuff. Why wait when it gets crowded? They should really advertise the rides along with the prices.

9. Don't have Buy one, Get one Free admission (SFMM had this!). Instead, since the prices are cheaper, make the coupons only $5.00, and $8.00 off.

10. Parking prices should be $8.00 for every car/bus. You won't get a map anymore! Parking pass should be $20.00 a year.

11. Bathroom attendants shouldn't be stationed. They should be like they were before.

12. Deja Vu should be open on low staffing days. There are other non-popular rides such as Jester's Wild Ride, (1 worker), Big Easy Balloons (1 worker. You have the swings open!!), Roaring Rapids (6 workers), Splash Water Falls (2 workers), Logger's Run (2 workers), and maybe even Iron Wolf (3 workers).

13. Smoking should be legal once again on the midways. Smoking is already illegal in stores, restaurants, lines, bathrooms, and so on. Smoking in designated areas is stupid, and those people look like caged up people!!

14. Food prices and drink prices should reasonable. This is not to say that they shouldn't be overpriced, but not the way the prices are now. I would definitely buy more food in the park if that was the case!!

15. I believe that the park should once again actually sell coaster shirts even if the rides are older. What about Demon, Deja Vu, V2, Superman, Whizzer, Raging Bull, Viper, and even King Chaos. They should have the actual ride on the shirt, and not just the slogan or words. I won't even buy it with the words on the short. It looks stupid. I know they have Superman, and Batman, but they could make more.

16. Sell merchandise on the Internet. This could be a big business. This should be for more than one park.

[Jackluver18]

^1 get rid of Wolf all together it sucks
2 Fireworks and daytime and nighttime parades are awesome because they attract more people
3 i agree
4 More characters more fun for kids
5 Not true
6 no comment
7 kinda agree
8 yeah that's ok
9 I like the idea buy one get one free
10 i agree
11 They were gross the last couple years
12 hmm no comment
13 i agree there
14 yeah i agree, 20 dollars for 2 slices of pizza and 2 small rootbeers please
15 that would be cool
16 I like that idea
17 take out JWR that ride isn't even worth going on

(Mod Edit: Removed Quote, no need to quote the post above)

[andyvball93]

/\ I think all of those are excellent except for smoking, however there should be more designated areas were smoking, and IW new harnesses suck my heads too big that it hits the side of them when i come out.

I also recommend...

Removing queues that aren't being used as much (roaring rapids, Loggers Run, The great American Raceway, AE Sky Tek Tower etc,


Remove the rails on Roaring Rapids so people get drenced from water falls


Make the music in more frightening rides get you pumped ( I heard she's a maniac in line for Vu and I was so excited, and Riddler's music in the station is awesome)


Put "sideshows" in queues ( There was a giant snake on the ground by the station of TTD and it made a half hour fly by)

[Galvan]

To improve Six Flags you need to build on what victories you have made this year, NOT tear down everything like some people have suggested and restart all over. Shapiro has some great ideas that need to be tweeked a little.

#1 Fireworks- Keep them, hell add them and the lazer shows, people love that. Its fun, its exciting and It gives families just another reason to stay in the park longer.

#2 Characters- I hate to compare the two, but Disney has there parks crawling with characters, Why? To give families and little kids an experience they'll never forget. Image the looks on there little faces when they see a character they have been watching since birth live and in person! Thats a big thing for a little kid. Its kinda like going to see Santa Claus. So increase or maintain the levels of Characters.

#3 Parking- The 15 dollars is steep, but not if im a School Bus or RV, I say make the parking by vehicle, 15 for Buses and RVs and 9 for Cars.

#4 Staffing- I beleive that maintence and supervisors should run rides whenever possible, They especially maintence are certified for there specific rides in thier areas, they should help out in low staff days. In the case of ride breakdowns, supervisors should take over the role as ride ops when maintence is needed in other areas of the park.

#5 General Admission- For what you are getting, I think General Admission should remain where it is now.

#6 Season Passes- For 150 dollars you get a full season at Great America plus parking. for 125 Dollars you get the full season minus the parking.

#7 Food- Continue to bring in well known national chains into the park like Subway, Panda Express, Papa John's. And lower the price of food about 10%

#8 Promotions- Expand the promos, Partner up with Southwest Airlines and create package deals where you get Airfare, Hotel, Car Rental and Park admission together. Thus, marketing your parks as more of a destination park then just an over priced Carnival with Rollercoasters. Busch parks do this why cant Six Flags.

#9 Incorporate Animal Shows- Animals are a HUGE draw for families, At SFGadv, the Tiger show was great, and its a great time for families to rest during the summer months etc.

#10 Ride Downtime- If a ride, anyride is going to be down for a period of time, post it on the website. Kingda Ka had this as did Giant Drop.

#11 Christmas- Dress the parks ip for Christmas, Ice Skate on the Pond, STT/Columbia open and celebrate the season! Also have a canned food drive and Pictures with Santa and Xmas Bugs.

These are some of my ideas.

[Director_Guy]

^ I like the idea of the park being "open"in the winter. Maybe they could even host special events and concerts.

[RBull4life]

#2 Characters- I hate to compare the two, but Disney has there parks crawling with characters, Why? To give families and little kids an experience they'll never forget. Image the looks on there little faces when they see a character they have been watching since birth live and in person! Thats a big thing for a little kid. Its kinda like going to see Santa Claus. So increase or maintain the levels of Characters.

That is right on the money. When we were there on Labor Day, the characters were by where the parade starts, and the kids flocked over there like flies on...well you know. Your right Galvan, the looks on the kids faces, including my kids, were simply a great site to see. If Shaprio keeps the vision that he is trying to make Six Flags into, I have no doubt that the chain will be one of wonder in a few years.

[zjohn1988]

They cant even get enough employees for the summer..no way theyd find staffing for the winter.

[revolutiongurl]

1. No comment
2. I agree w/ jackluver18
3. I agree
4. I definetly agree w/ Galvan
5. No comment
6. I actually think $100 for a regular pass is a great deal, but you know $85 would work too and a combined season parking/regular pass is a very good idea
7. Yeah, $55 is way too much for adults
8. I agree
9. No comment
10. $20 is a bit too cheap for a pass, maybe $35, but they definetly charge way too much now
11. I couldn't say, my first trip to the park was last September
12. Yeah, and put more attendants on more popular rides
13. Even though I hate smoking, I would have to agree with this one
14. Uh, YEAH
15. I definetly agree
16. I agree

[Galvan]

They cant even get enough employees for the summer..no way theyd find staffing for the winter.

You're telling me they cant find a few people to work from say 5 to 9 a few days a week? Im sure they can.

[Ilovthevu']

Shapiro realized his flaws when that second quarter earnings came out. If you notice now, we are in a promotional gimick kind of a season. This wasn't as much as in the beginning of the season. This is because Six Flags has lost so many people. It's the higher prices, plus gasoline!

Now, we are finally getting the people back even though it's a little late. This is because of the offers of season passes, and admission being around $35 for everyone who orders on there website. This is about $20 off the regular admission. We have had a slow first half of our season. This is both and . We can't keep on losing people like this!!

Many characters were cut because of the slow season we have had. That's why I say that we don't need a ton of them. Have enough, and change them every hour so your son or daughter can see everyone.

17. Also, don't have the streetmosphere people. Just keep the characters (Looney Tunes, Superheros, Fred, Barney Rubble, Scooby, Shaggy) instead. Can we dump the Grandma??

3 every hour * 9 hours (10 am-7 pm)=27 characters per day

That's more than enough!! They would move from area to area of course. The Superheroes can't really change though so the list goes down some characters a kid can see.

[w00dland]

5. Relating to characters, the Justice League should be done with. A lot of people don't have any clue who Flash or Green Lantern are. Instead add Batgirl, Supergirl, Riddler, Mr. Freeze, or some other villians. Keep Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman from the Justice League. They all shouldn't have to appear all at once. Call them Superheroes and villians instead of the "Justice League." This makes them easier to separate.

Did you ready what you wrote? Everybody knows who the flash is! Green Lantern may not be quite as possible, but he's still way more well known than Mr. Freeze will ever be!

[RagingBullFan]

1. Will not happen you have no idea how much those harnesses cost. Plus the old ones were destroyed.

2. Buying Fireworks in bulk is quite cheap, not only that but it shows that the park will put the extra effort foreward small kids love fireworks.

3. I thought hours were on the back of the park map? The other map is not for navigational purposes.

4. The more characters the better. I have seen countless times small children run up to a group of characters and have their day made because of it. That and some high profile characters require more guard ( Think Wonderwoman.) because some people act stupid.

5. We want children to have fun not be scared by villians. This is not like Disney where the villians are not totally evil, but even then Disney doesn't use all their villians as characters. And appearing in groups makes the most sense. Also it costs LESS to have them in a group because you need less people to act as security for them. Seperate them and you have to have 1 guard for each. Put the 4-5 of them together and put 2-3 security guards with them = SAVE.

6. Uh, Prices should be much higher and based solely on height. Adult should be around $120 each and Childrens around $80 each. Six Flags is NOT a babysitting service. It is NOT ok to drop your young teens off and just come back later to pick them up because your too busy to take care of them.

7. Prices for a shared gate are quite good right now, cheaper than Cedar Point + Soak City. And HH is much better than Soak City.

8. Pretty sure they did that this year, especially with the opening of Hurricane Harbor and Tornado.

9. Buy one get one bring in more people than just save $10. Makes people feel like they are getting more.

10. While $15 is a little high on parking its just slightly above average for other major attractions.

11. Ok so you like dirty restrooms? I don't they are kept quite clean.

12. Deja Vu will NEVER be open on low staffing days. It just doesn't move the amount of people needed plus mechanically its cheaper. Plus we want FAMILY attractions to be open, last time I checked Deja Vu is not a family attraction.

13. This helps keep the park nice and clean plus if the state decides to get involved smoking may be entirely banned. I enjoy not having to work in cigarette butts thank you very much.

14. Agreed.

15. They don't market to you. The market is towards families as teenagers hardly spend any money. And having shirts that are geared more towards them would be a waste of money.

16. Agreed.

17. Streetmosphere people were canned a LONG time ago.... Aunt Martha is not Streetmosphere she's been with us a long time and hopefully a long time to come.

To what Galvan Said...

#1-3 Agreed.

#4 Sorry Galvan but this is where you are quite wrong. This will never ever happen for extended periods of time. Not only does maintenance need to be waiting for calls for the ride but we are paid more than ride crews. They would have to pay us our higher rate for a menial job. This May some maintenance was running rides. Thing is we do have to go through the ride training whether we work on it or not it is required by the state.

#5-7 Agreed

#8 Wait for Nov. Conference call.

#9/10 Agreed

#11 While this would possibly work in other parks there isn't enough in the front area to warrant being open during the winter. Parts are stored everywhere and the carsouel needs protection from the elements. That and STT will not run in those condidtions.

[Galvan]

Kyle, you know this more then I do, but, If maintenance is on the clock waiting for calls getting paid anyway, why cant they or Supervisors run the rides?

People are failing to realize one thing, and that is Shapiro had what 6 weeks before the opening of the Texas' parks to come up with the ideas, impliment them and so forth, alot of people and im going to call out Ilovthevu' on this one, are not giving Shapiro a fair shake, One season is not in any streatch of the imagination going to turn the corner for Six Flags, hell Shapiro pretty much said the season was for loss after the June confrence call.

The thing is, people are tying to band-aid a broken leg when it comes to the serious issues Six Flags was under. Magic Mountian is Six Flags cooprate personaified, in that too much was poured into rollercoasters and not enough into paint and family experience.

Six Flags is in my opinion is still trying to figure out alot of things and establish an identity for itself that has been ruined by years of failure at the top cooprate level, Especially in Southern Califorina where Disney, Knotts and others have crushed any of the market share that Six Flags had.


Folks remember, Six Flags is a business and businesses are in business for one thing, MAKING MONEY!

[viperchick85]

[quote="RagingBullFan"]

15. They don't market to you. The market is towards families as teenagers hardly spend any money. And having shirts that are geared more towards them would be a waste of money.
quote]

Then why don't they just take down all the coasters and put in more childrens parks? Seems like that would be geared more to families. Hell, just torch the whole park, and make it look like every other generic theme park out there? No thanks. Families have kids that grow up and turn into teenagers, the "forgotten demographic", and with luck, they'll return as adults with their own families.

Teenagers have the most disposable income because they don't have anything to pay for, its a proven statistic.

[RagingBullFan]

Well Mike the reason why is simple, if a ride goes down, and we're running a ride we can't just up and leave the ride we were running. And Supervisors have to go to the downtimes as well so they don't spend much time at each individual ride.

And Viperchick, I never said teenagers don't have money. I said they don't spend it. And we don't need to go about tearing everything out Coaster do have a place as some family members do want to ride roller coasters. The thing is recently we've been too focused on them so don't expect the changes that will happen for next year to lure in more teen spending. And at Six Flags teenagers have not been a forgotton demographic for years it is time that the teenager demographic gets put onto the back burner while we bring the families up front. The key is profit. You will get more profit out of a family than a teenager even if the teenager has more money to spend. The teenager simply will not buy things that a family would ( Say stuffed animals, going for a sit down meal, etc.)

[viperchick85]

OK...families, thats great. Wouldn't you think they'd lower the prices at the resturants if they wanted to attract more families, not spend more money on advertising and costumed characters? They're essentially going to be losing money either way, and with the lowering of the prices, maybe more teenagers would actually buy food there. Very seldom as a kid did we eat at the park, and that was when prices were a lot lower.

[RBull4life]

Wouldn't you think they'd lower the prices at the resturants if they wanted to attract more families, not spend more money on advertising and costumed characters?

I agree that the prices for food are pretty damn high, and lowering them would be a good idea, but you need to spend as much money as you can on advertising to bring in the guests. Spend the money on costume characters because kids love them. The streetosphere characters seemed alittle silly, and out of place, and I for one didn't even miss them when they were gone.

Teenagers have the most disposable income because they don't have anything to pay for, its a proven statistic

But will they spend the money on say.......an autograph book, lunch with Bugs Bunny and gang, or a picture of them with Batman, Robin, Wonderwomen whomever? Kids can goat their parents into buying them almost anything, and that is what Shaprio is aiming for.


18. If you are going to have streetosphere characters, Southwest Territory is the best place to have them. I know they were there at the beginning of the year, but expand on it. Add more than 3 customed characters, and try to get the feel that you really are in the old west. Maybe some Indians as well (though I'm sure the PC crowd would love that).

19. Bring on Superman. Next to Batman, he is one of the most well known of the DC comic superheroes.

Oh and Jackluver, I would really disagree about getting rid of Jesters Wild ride, that would be a complete boneheaded move. It may suck for you, and others, but, again, kids think that it is great.

[Jackluver18]

^ I know that but whatever it's just taking up space but ok

[Bob O]

If teenagers had alot of money and spent it at the parks, SF wouldnt be in debt as bad as they are, the reality is they buy cheap season passes, spend little in the park while being loud and contribute to longer lines and detract from a family atmosphere.

The park should end the day with a much bigger/new parade and also a bigger fireworks show.
They should increase the cost of season pass's to cut down the amount of teens who use the park as a babysitter .
They should increae the amount of characters in the park for guest interaction, but shouldnt have characters wallking into area's they dont belong in. As a example Justice League characters shouldnt be in southwest Terr.

They should re-do the entrance to the park to include new/better stores and more food options. When you enter the park in the morning they should sell breakfest items/bakery etc and then also sell items to people as they leave. When you have been to alot of parks you can see how much money can be made by selling fresh bakery/cookies/high quality food etc, with a place to sit down in air conditioning to eat it rather than wait in heavy traffic.

Six Flags lost money because most people still think of the parks as being a place for teenagers and not families, it will take several years to get the message out. You cant become a family friendly place like WDW or HW over one off season , but have to work at it for several years.
And keep the smoking policy as is, and enforce it and bad behavior in a no holds barred manner by ejecting people for not following the rules with no warnings!!!!!!!!!
Wish list follows-
And if there was money available i would get rid of the space shuttle attraction and add a simulator with a Batman/justice League theme.
I would make the pictorium into a 4D attraction where the seats move and spray water etc.
I would add a interactive dark ride where people can shoot at things on the ride to keep score.
And i would get rid of American Eagle and add a wooden coaster that would have a 48" height limit that would be a excellant air time ride but wouldnt be so big as to scare away alot of people. These attractions for the most part would be family friendly and could be enjoyed by most of the family except for the last one.

[viperchick85]

And i would get rid of American Eagle and add a wooden coaster that would have a 48" height limit that would be a excellant air time ride but wouldnt be so big as to scare away alot of people. These attractions for the most part would be family friendly and could be enjoyed by most of the family except for the last one.

See, this is what I'm talking about, Great America is slowly losing its character and turning into a typical theme park. The Eagle is a classic, though rough, its still a great ride. Taking it out along with some of the other things would just make GA another cookie cutter theme park, with newer rides and nothing showing its history.

[Cryptkeeper]

One thing that has to happen, I believe, is that poor Columbia gets some TLC! I haven't been on it yet this year, but if it's in the same shape as it was last year, that carpet *has* to go. It's just in disgusting shape. When I went out to PGA last year and saw their carousel with no carpet and nice wooden floors (that were still in good shape/taken care of), it reminded me just how bad of shape SFGAm's Columbia (floor) is in, especially compared to PGA's.

Here's hoping they do something with that carpeting (and also remove the stupid seatbelts, but I don't see that happening).

[Galvan]

A few things, since when was American Eagle: Rough, Scaring people away and not have any airtime?

Secondly, I dont know how else to put this, but, Why is it so hard for people to grasp the notion that Six Flags is NOT repeat NOT cartering to teenagers anymore? I know this is a difficult pill to swollow for some people, I know you all probably dont like the idea but, Six Flags in order to continue to stay in business, MUST cater to the likes of families period.

[scbb11Sketch]

#6 Season Passes- For 150 dollars you get a full season at Great America plus parking. for 125 Dollars you get the full season minus the parking.

So you're prosposing a 65 dollar increase just to include parking? Good way to chase away every family, teenager, and other person even thinking of buying a season pass. If anything pass prices need to go down.

[RBull4life]

And i would get rid of American Eagle and add a wooden coaster that would have a 48" height limit that would be a excellant air time ride but wouldnt be so big as to scare away alot of people. These attractions for the most part would be family friendly and could be enjoyed by most of the family except for the last one.

See, this is what I'm talking about, Great America is slowly losing its character and turning into a typical theme park. The Eagle is a classic, though rough, its still a great ride. Taking it out along with some of the other things would just make GA another cookie cutter theme park, with newer rides and nothing showing its history.

Like Cedar Point. That park has been around over 100 years, and I beleive there is not much of anything, besides the museum, thats left ride wise, that shows the parks history. Take Kennywood for example, another park thats been around along time, but it still has classic rides from its golden years. The Whip, Noah's Ark, The Racer, The Turtle, are all rides that shows that Kennywood has been around a long time. You take away Columbia Carousel, The Whizzer, and The Eagle, all staples of the park, Great America would loose its landmark attractions that are well known to the casual visitor. I see where you are going with this viperchick, and its an execellent point.

[Ilovthevu']

The debt is in result of buying too many parks that aren't paying off.

http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/shawg/artic ... eline.html

Teenagers bring in the money. The problem is that there is a big debt in Six Flags hands. Six Flags made a billion last year with there net income only being around 110 million.

The dilemia that Shapiro is thinking is to sell some parks, and make other parks open, but basically do very little with them. He doesn't really care if these parks are going to suffer, but he cares more about the debt. This year he raised prices, and pretended to do a whole lot to each park which has failed thus far.

The problem I have with parks budget cutting is that a number of rides just won't open for the year. Sometimes, these are people's favorite ones. It also might lead to people saying that this park is a dump because all these rides aren't working. Why should we come back next year??? The unpopular rides are really the only ones that should be like this. However, nowadays everyone likes even those. In my opinion, by us Iron wolf should be budget cut if there was another ride that it is happening to. It just has gotten so bad that ride.

In the end, attendance just starts soaring downwards, and you have to build something big to get people in your park again like a rolller coaster. I'm still looking for more parks that have enough "good" roller coasters that they don't need anymore. Sadly, I only know of three as of now. Of course, I haven't been to all of them. These are SFGAm, SFOG, and SFMM. One might close.

The other two I set foot on are SFKK, and SFStL. SFKK doesn't come close, and SFStL has some, but not enough. Once you have enough good roller coasters at one park, go to another one. As I always say, SFGAm doesn't need anymore for awhile. There are other desparate parks out there. I will never buy the revenue thing at all. Parks that don't have the good stuff are always going to have bad revenue compared to others. They can't help it.