Six Flags Pricing......

[SFaddiction84]

Correct me if im wrong here, but why do prices keep going up?

Do they seriously think, by raising prices, i will spend more, i seriously won't. As a matter of fact, because prices have gone up, i have stopped going to six flags.

I know many people feel like i do, and if anyone says "They wont turn a profit, or thats not possible" to what im about to say, i ask you to think about how stupid that sounds.

Now, lets take these basic prices and drop them, if prices were cheaper, i would spend WAY more money in the park then i ever did.

Parking: make all parking $15!
Gate Admission: Drop it $15 dollars
Season PAss: Maybe drop it $15 as well
food/drink: ya, lets drop those as well


Now, this is were everyone tells me that inflation in food and all this keep going up so they MUST raise prices. Trust me people, well this may be true, its not the answer. I work in a grocery store, and we have decided NOT to raise our grocery prices during inflation and our business is busier then ever, because we have not followed suit like other grocery stores and made a gallon of milk $3.58 a gallon.

If a funnel cake less then $5, or or other food prices were cheaper, i would consider eating inside the park again.

I do admit, i am probably going insane right about now, but doesn't logic make it seem like the park would get a higher attendance and expense boost if prices were lower? I say CHARGE $20 ticket fee for the water park. I mean, gate admission went up because now the park has a "Better Value". Well seeing that i DON'T go into the water park, why should i pay extra for it. Id gladly pay $20 for a water park wrist band for the 1 time a year i go to the water park.

Ok, so correct me if im just plain stupid, but that's how i see things. Lower the price, ill go!

[rasslin]

I agree with most of what you have suggested. However, I draw the line at the $20.00 surcharge for Hurricane Harbor.
I buy 7 season passes and 2 Parking passes every year and all we go to is the Harbor.
I wouldn't know there was an amusement park there at all if it weren't for the incessant screams of pre-pubescent hillbillies coming over the fence. That and of course the wobbling, bobbling crawl through a maze of fanny pack wearing blobs that I have to meander through to get to the Harbor from the front gate.
Now if they want to have a separate pass ( and even better; entrance) for the Harbor, I am all for that.
But when the day comes that I have to pay an additional fee to get into the Harbor, I'll go on my boat instead.

[FParker185]

Actually, most of it is a good idea, except for lowering the gate price and $15 parking. What they should do is drop parking to like $7-10 or so then roll that into the front gate, so raise the gate price by about $10 or so. The GP expect the gate to be expensive, but charging $15 to park your car just gives you unhappy guests before they're even in the park. One big benefit of that is you get that "parking" money even if someone were to walk to the park or ride a bike or public transportation or whatnot.

If they cut prices on food and drink to say Street price plus a 10-15% premium, they'd sell a whole lot more food, and most people would stop leaving the park to eat. Either that or SF should do what Paramount did in a few markets and just run their own fast food franchises near the park. PKD was a dead giveaway when 2 blocks from the park I paid over $8 for a Double Cheeseburger meal (and this was 7 years ago)

[SFaddiction84]

Ok, so lets raise gate admission to $60. that will include Theme and Water parks.

Season Passes should include water park for sure.

But if im a once a year kinda guy, and don't plan on paying for the water park, i should get a cheaper ticket, say $45. Food should def be cheaper, i would actually EAT in the park.

I also think that if they would TIER up the package offerings, people would be more satisfied and not feel forced into getting 1 all is included pass. lets say.....

1 2008 Water/Theme Season Pass: $100
1 2008 Theme ONLY Season Pass: $80 (If i know im never gonna go to the park, why pay)

I know this will never happen, but now that Deja Vu, Splash water falls have been removed, i don't see any reason Gate price had to go up, let alone parking.

[rasslin]

I think you're on to something here.

If the season pass were $100 for park AND Harbor and a season pass for just one or the other was only $60.00 That would be a great idea.

I also think lower parking prices for cash especially would be a good idea. When you have wads of cash being collected at a satellite location, you enevitably run into the problems of safe collection and transport of cash. You know the Gurnee PD is at the front gates, but being from Chicago and having lived in Las Vegas and other such toilets around the country, it's only a matter of time before some gun weilding thug decides to stick up the parking kiosks.

Lower food prices would come if they just let independent operators run the restaurants and concessions on a percentage of gross sales basis. You would get lower prices and much better food that way.

To be honest, I had always hoped that they would set up a convention center and hotel as well as retail shops and winter attractions so they could earn year round income. Key Lime Cove beat them to the punch. There is/was plenty of land around the park they could have purchased for a lot less per acre in Gurnee than in their other locations.

[onyxhotel08]

I always thought they would get more business actually being located in Chicago not Gurnee. A lot of people don't like driving all the way to Gurnee; especially when construction is going on.

[rasslin]

Chicago is too expensive for building that sort of thing. Plus the taxes and surcharges are the highest in the nation.
All that money to sit in snarled traffic waiting to be carjacked. I go into Chicago from Gurnee a lot and it takes as long to go from Howard Street (Chicago's Northern boundary) to Jackson and LaSalle (Just South of Chicago's middle point. (Middle being State and Madison) as it does for me to go from Gurnee to Lake Cook Road. Plus with the exception of Lincoln Park and The Gold Coast, there aren't many affluent people to draw from.
That's why Chicago lost almost all of it's major conventions to Vegas and Miami. Better weather, less hassles and far, far less expensive. Now they want to host the Olympics? I would rather hold the Olympics in downtown Beirut Lebanon!

[wishman35]

I agree with most of what you have suggested. However, I draw the line at the $20.00 surcharge for Hurricane Harbor.
I buy 7 season passes and 2 Parking passes every year and all we go to is the Harbor.
I wouldn't know there was an amusement park there at all if it weren't for the incessant screams of pre-pubescent hillbillies coming over the fence. That and of course the wobbling, bobbling crawl through a maze of fanny pack wearing blobs that I have to meander through to get to the Harbor from the front gate.
Now if they want to have a separate pass ( and even better; entrance) for the Harbor, I am all for that.
But when the day comes that I have to pay an additional fee to get into the Harbor, I'll go on my boat instead.

dont get wrong, i love waterparks and all..alot actually, but why in the heck do you choose Hurricane Harbor for your main stay. The crowds get unbearable for some of those slides. Maybe you live close by?