jmanporty7 wrote:How have crowds been the past couple of weeks during the middle of the week? (Mon-Thurs)
I found out the following day that it was a "Bring a Friend Free" day, so that may have had something to do with it. Wednesday's are typically not that bad. Yesterday was a bonus BAFF day; this may have exacerbated the length of the weekend lines seen by _FuryBull_330_.
School just got out. SF will thus have a bring a friend free , 9.99, 19.99 etc..for almost every day till the end of August. Ie...SF sent out an email last Saturday that it's bring a friend free every day June 17th thru June 29th, extra bonusdays They will surely add more bonus free days like last year.
June 17 - 29th free July 10 -13 free July 23 - 27 1/2 price Aug 6-10 - 1/2 price Aug 13-17 - 19.99 Aug 20-24 free
About crowds, you wonder why this place is so packed, it has to do with really cheapening the admission price. Of course, till the end of June it's bring a friend free (season pass), but they also had this promotion this weekend (at least) in which they sold tickets for 1/2 price. It's all discount / free / free / discount this and that. So, when you look at those attendance number figures, this is why they gain attendance. Who doesn't want free or cheapened admission?
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
Ilovthevu' wrote:About crowds, you wonder why this place is so packed, it has to do with really cheapening the admission price. Of course, till the end of June it's bring a friend free (season pass), but they also had this promotion this weekend (at least) in which they sold tickets for 1/2 price. It's all discount / free / free / discount this and that. So, when you look at those attendance number figures, this is why they gain attendance. Who doesn't want free or cheapened admission?
It would be interesting to know what actual attendance was with out BFF days, 9.99. 19.99, days. I concur that the SF chain attendance numbers are inflated. Other chains don't do this number of discount days and as big. I don't remember CF, BG, Hershey doing free days on any consistent basis. 1/2 price is about as good as it gets for these chains and that's not ubiquitous.
The only possible hopeful thing is that SF seems to have realized they have essentially reached a plateau on the benefit of these discounts to grow attendance significantly. The attendance increases across the chain have been in a decline from 3M to 1.5M to just 300K last year. Actually, attendance would have been slightly down without the Concord Water park addition last year. SF has realized they need to get more money from some patrons, hence the membership push. SF actually alluded to this in the last of their series of investor presentation in the last month. They talked about getting up to $240 from higher level memberships when talking about growing per caps, where they lag their competitor such as CF, BG, etc..
Attendance numbers are going to show growth in 2019 b/c of the new parks they are operating. If the increase is minimal that would support the plateau concept.
Last edited by Sven18 on June 25th, 2018, 9:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
It would be interesting to see Six Flags test the Cedar Fair model at just one park (Preferably Great America) Get rid of almost all discounts and sales, and charge a flat rate for Season passes. Say, $100 for a Season pass and $180 for a season pass with parking.
There would obviously have to be a major attraction or a major beautification of the park in order to avoid sticker shock, but it would be interesting to see what happened.
Would it chase too many customers away and hurt them? Or would it benefit them and increase revenue?
SFGAMNUT9302 wrote:It would be interesting to see Six Flags test the Cedar Fair model at just one park (Preferably Great America) Get rid of almost all discounts and sales, and charge a flat rate for Season passes. Say, $100 for a Season pass and $180 for a season pass with parking.
There would obviously have to be a major attraction or a major beautification of the park in order to avoid sticker shock, but it would be interesting to see what happened.
Would it chase too many customers away and hurt them? Or would it benefit them and increase revenue?
The model could sort of be tested depending on how SF price season passes during the flash sale. The cheapest membership is a $100, so if they don't sell gold passes for $65 like last year, it will test the model. In fact, if they are really trying to convert people to memberships selling the passes for $35 less would be bad marketing. After getting flash sale gold passes for $63 and then $65 the last 2 years, any significant increase could cause sticker shock for some . SF however could make the same or more money on lower attendance, which would make it more enjoyable for patrons with shorter lines for rides, food, etc..Just drive up the per caps and they would be fine.
SFGAMNUT9302 wrote:It would be interesting to see Six Flags test the Cedar Fair model at just one park (Preferably Great America) Get rid of almost all discounts and sales, and charge a flat rate for Season passes. Say, $100 for a Season pass and $180 for a season pass with parking.
There would obviously have to be a major attraction or a major beautification of the park in order to avoid sticker shock, but it would be interesting to see what happened.
Would it chase too many customers away and hurt them? Or would it benefit them and increase revenue?
The model could sort of be tested depending on how SF price season passes during the flash sale. The cheapest membership is a $100, so if they don't sell gold passes for $65 like last year, it will test the model. In fact, if they are really trying to convert people to memberships selling the passes for $35 less would be bad marketing. After getting flash sale gold passes for $63 and then $65 the last 2 years, any significant increase could cause sticker shock for some . SF however could make the same or more money on lower attendance, which would make it more enjoyable for patrons with shorter lines for rides, food, etc..Just drive up the per caps and they would be fine.
I like the direction they're going with these memberships. I wish they would create at least a $100 floor, making the cheapest membership the lowest they will go at any time during the season.
You and me would obviously pay more for better quality and operations. Can they convince the GP to do the same? It would be very interesting to see!
^I don't think for the most part, the operations of rides are bad. The only flaw with RIDE operations is that they don't have 2 people for Rue Le Dodge, Lobster, or the Balloons & Sky Trek Tower closes during the middle of the day for no reason. Yes, sometimes you do see 1 lady employee out of the bunch that is very, very, very, very, very slow (cough Ricochet Monday June 25th, 2018 at 5:45pm); but otherwise I don't see it for the most part, bad ride operations. 1 more person for 3 rides is not a back breaker deal. The reason for Lobster is because it has a lot of cars / lap bar + seatbelts. Balloons have locks with keys + seatbelts, and Rue Le Dodge is a gigantic floor (One of the biggest bumper car floors out there).
And I don't think everyone giving them $40 more dollars is going to make them have 2 employees for those rides - 2 people for those rides is NOT a lot at all.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
Ilovthevu' wrote:^I don't think for the most part, the operations of rides are bad. The only flaw with RIDE operations is that they don't have 2 people for Rue Le Dodge, Lobster, or the Balloons & Sky Trek Tower closes during the middle of the day for no reason. Yes, sometimes you do see 1 lady employee out of the bunch that is very, very, very, very, very slow (cough Ricochet Monday June 25th, 2018 at 5:45pm); but otherwise I don't see it for the most part, bad ride operations. 1 more person for 3 rides is not a back breaker deal. The reason for Lobster is because it has a lot of cars / lap bar + seatbelts. Balloons have locks with keys + seatbelts, and Rue Le Dodge is a gigantic floor (One of the biggest bumper car floors out there).
And I don't think everyone giving them $40 more dollars is going to make them have 2 employees for those rides - 2 people for those rides is NOT a lot at all.
They can use the people who assign rows as another operator for Rue Le Dodge, Big Easy Balloons, and Lobster. Make operations faster and no assigned rows will make everyone happy, the GP and us enthusiasts.
1.) Steel Vengeance 2.) Maverick 3.) Goliath (SFGAM) 4.) Top Thrill Dragster 5.) Mystic Timbers Ragin Cajun and Iron Wolf went from Six Flags Great America to Six Flags America. I guess they weren't GREAT anymore.
The park was not crowded at all today! Most coasters were a 1 cycle wait, most flat rides were walk-ons, and a lot of rides overall, you could ride over and over again. Last year, 4th Fest seemed crazy busy, but not this year. It could be because of the heat.
Park was dead yesterday as well. I stayed in water park all day but I saw several cycles in Viper & Raging Bull with half empty trains. Water Park of course was packed but most everyone just seemed to leave after water park closed at 6. We stayed till around 8 and the park was surprisingly slow.
Saturday was dead. Waited less than ten minutes combined at JB's and Strutters. We rode Goliath 10 times in under an hour. We walked onto Justice League. Got re-rides on Goliath, Eagle, X-Flight, and Demon.
1.) Steel Vengeance 2.) Maverick 3.) Goliath (SFGAM) 4.) Top Thrill Dragster 5.) Mystic Timbers Ragin Cajun and Iron Wolf went from Six Flags Great America to Six Flags America. I guess they weren't GREAT anymore.
Out of curiosity.... This sounds bat s*it crazy.... But would it be possible to convert Raging Bull into a Giga Coaster? Next year is the 20th anniversary, and if the first drop and turn around were removed, would it be possible to add an extra 100 feet to the lift hill and have that thing stretch all the way out to Sky Trek Tower?
_FuryBull_330_ wrote:^ What, they can't do that. If so it has to go over Whizzer which might interfere. Yes it may be possible but I don't think that possible.
If possible, It would have to go through the trees by Whizzer in order to connect with the original track. But the first drop and turn around would be removed, and the new 300 + foot drop would be followed by several camel backs and turn around by the Sky Trek Tower.
I'm just thinking of that concept video that Six Flags posted regarding Superman at Magic Mountain. Six Flags LOVES big rides and claiming the tallest, fastest, etc. They just don't want to spend the cash building one from the ground up. lol
If it were possible and cost effective. A Giga Raging Bull would be one of the best, if not the best, Roller coaster in the world. Easily dominating Millenium Force and creating a huge buzz for Great America.
It's just speculation on my behalf, but you never know with Six Flags, lol
The wait times for rides says that for the past 2 days (maybe), that the Lobster, and Triple Play are closed. This is unless no one is updating these rides.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
Just got back from the Park. 10 minute waits for most coasters. Some were walk-ons. MGH was parked upside down for a couple hours earlier today, it eventually opened this afternoon.
I was there as well. We got in around 6:20 and headed to MGH. One cycle and it went down. We waited thinking it would be a simple reset, but they parked it upside down and gave us skip the line passes.
I'm no mechanic, but it looked like there were issues with some electrical contacts not making a connection. Maintenance was under the ride spraying what looked like contact cleaner. It was back up after maybe another 15 minutes. It seems like they've been having a lot of issues with MGH. Every time Ive tried to ride, its gone down.
What a day! What a place! What a smile on your face!
So this has been a gradual occurrence, but the old themed music is slowly starting to pop up at the park again.
As always, Columbia Carousel is playing the carousel music and the Demon has the soundtrack going still, and the Carousel Song plays at the end of the night.
El Mercado (the exit store for Viper) on rare occasions plays the old Southwest Territory music. I worked in retail and we'd often have to turn on the music ourselves, so it's largely at the discretion of the employees.
Last month, the Hometown Square railway station started playing the old Hometown Square music (ragtime and Scott Joplin, that sort of stuff), which I'm very thrilled about. JiggidyNDG posted a video of it here: https://youtu.be/l9tSuXBNrqY. This music can also be heard in Trudy's Sweet Shoppe.
Most recently, and also most significantly in my opinion, is the section of County Fair around the Games Gallery and American Eagle is playing the old County Fair music (early 20th century popular songs). From what I've heard this started this past weekend. This is big because all the other cases have been confined to buildings or small spaces; this is the first instance where the Marriott music is playing in a large section of the midway.
Hopefully this is a sign that the themed music will be phased back into other parts of the park. The area that needs it the most in my opinion is Carousel Plaza definitely. I'm hoping for the upcoming Mardi Gras Festival they will bring back the Dixieland music to Orleans Place and Mardi Gras (possibly permanently, please ).
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