Contemplating a trip to Six Flags? Read this, first!

[JB2K]

It was recently reported that Six Flags is cutting-loose most of its' "licensed" content at all of their parks, nationwide.

This means that any attractions based on such well-known franchises such as "Thomas the Tank Engine", "The Wiggles", "Terminator", "Evel Knievel", and "Tony Hawk" will all be re-imagined into something more generic (if not dismantled, altogether).

It appears the Warner Bros. (Looney Tunes, DC Super Heroes, Scooby-Doo) content all remains unaffected, as those characters were negotiated under seperate long-term contracts.

There are also rumors that SF may terminate their deals with Papa John's, Cold Stone Creamery, and other national fast foods.

Thoughts?

 

[KibbyCat]

They'll probably just invent new ways to make $$. Last year, our Six Flags voted to start selling beer in the park.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

It was recently reported that Six Flags is cutting-loose most of its' "licensed" content at all of their parks, nationwide.

This means that any attractions based on such well-known franchises such as "Thomas the Tank Engine", "The Wiggles", "Terminator", "Evel Knievel", and "Tony Hawk" will all be re-imagined into something more generic (if not dismantled, altogether).

It appears the Warner Bros. (Looney Tunes, DC Super Heroes, Scooby-Doo) content all remains unaffected, as those characters were negotiated under seperate long-term contracts.

There are also rumors that SF may terminate their deals with Papa John's, Cold Stone Creamery, and other national fast foods.

Thoughts?

I would be more interested in your comments.

 

[Planogirl]

I keep hoping that someone else will take over the Warner Brothers content. Six Flags uses them very poorly.

 

[cvjw]

We have been Six Flags season pass holders for many years. This rumored news would not affect me in the least. My boys are ride fanatics, so we only go to Six Flags so that they can get their ride fix in between Disney visits. It doesn't matter to us if the ride has a licensed name, or a generic Six Flags one. I would be more interested if our Six Flags would take better care of their park, and make their food more appetizing. We have to eat after we leave our Six Flags park because the food is so bad - we don't even mind that we have to pay the ridiculous prices - it just needs to be fit to eat!

 

[NotUrsula]

I'd guess that it won't make a whole lot of difference. IME, Six Flags parks get the bulk of their business from local teens and young adults; they really don't care about theming as much as they care about thrills. As long as the coasters stay large and fast, that core audience won't care if there is a theme associated with them.

Selling beer? Yep, that'll make a difference. It will bring in more young men, but it will cost more in security, because you'll need more guards to deal with D&D patrons. Licensed food vendors make a difference too; people eat more when the food is a favorite, as opposed to just whatever is there to keep you from feeling like you're starving. (However, in some locales that have "street pricing" ordinances, getting rid of name-brand chains will mean being able to raise food prices.)

 

[JB2K]

I would be more interested in your comments.

My comments?

OK...

IMO, Six Flags is nothing like what it once was -- in fact, my local park (Six Flags St. Louis, which was one of the company's "Original Three") was pretty depressing when I dropped-in, last summer. I never compare SF to WDW when I visit, because that's like comparing apples to oranges (SF is a local amusement park, WDW is a resort with rides).

It's the general upkeep (or lack, thereof) that doesn't attract guests into their parks -- these recent licensing deals was supposed to be a "band-aid" for SF's ills (and the deals with Thomas and The Wiggles were supposed to be an effort by SF to make their parks more "family-friendly").

I guess it didn't work-out for SF, as they went into bankruptcy, shortly afterwards.

And after SF exited bankruptcy, they started cutting all this "new content" loose. And, yes, I believe the rumors about the branded food services being cut, as well (going from expensive, "known" food back to expensive "unknown" food -- lovely).

My opinion? I'm not quite sure what to expect when (if) I return to SF...it seems like they have a lot of problems getting things "right"...

 

[kelcoppens]

Six Flags has never been a place for families with little ones. I have two kids under the age of 5 and we choose not to go there. We go to Sesame Place or Hershey Park instead (Im in PA obviously)!

So with them taking out Thomas the train and other younger age generation type stuff, I dont see the issue with that because I dont think they need to attract families with little kids anyway. They get plenty of teenagers and young adults visiting for the coasters!

 

[RadioFanatic]

Six Flags has never been a place for families with little ones. I have two kids under the age of 5 and we choose not to go there. We go to Sesame Place or Hershey Park instead (Im in PA obviously)!

So with them taking out Thomas the train and other younger age generation type stuff, I dont see the issue with that because I dont think they need to attract families with little kids anyway. They get plenty of teenagers and young adults visiting for the coasters!

I disagree - our SF in Lake George has a TON of rides for our almost 3 year old. Four in the wiggles area, six or seven in the looney tunes area, and this does even count the train ride, different boat rides or the western area rides. We went often this summer bc they had so much for him.

 

[DCbride]

I have been to the Lake George one...world of difference between that one and the NJ one. I don't mind the "characters" leaving, but I hate to see the food companies leave. Even the McDonalds outside of the park is expensive their sign say something like "We charge NYC prices for our menu items"

 

[hipchickie]

I disagree - our SF in Lake George has a TON of rides for our almost 3 year old. Four in the wiggles area, six or seven in the looney tunes area, and this does even count the train ride, different boat rides or the western area rides. We went often this summer bc they had so much for him.

I think it really depends on the location. We stopped going to the closest SF (agawam MA) because the majority of rides had a height limit of 48" (IIRC - it may have been 54") either way, it was too tall for my son, and the whole day was spent trying to find things he didn't think were too "babyish" but that he could go on.
Lake George was better than most SF for kid options, but I thought the amount of rides you had to pay extra for once you got in was absolutely ridiculous

 

[Disneycrazymom]

We had season passes to the StL Six Flags for several years in a row about 8 years ago. We gave them up and have not been back in a good 6 years. My kids are older now and might enjoy the thrill rides but the park is just never very fun to me. For about the same price we can spend a weekend in Branson and go to Silver Dollar City. We prefer that. I really don't think the characters will matter much to the target audience.

 

[mrsw94]

As a West Coaster, I figured I'd chime in on this one. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is about an hour away. We have a Cedar Fair Great America about 20 minutes away. For the past several years we have gotten SF season passes. Ours happens to have animal shows as well as rides, so that works for our family. It's also a better value than the Great America passes since they are open from March through December. My kids (3 and 8) aren't HUGE ride fans, so SF works well for us because of the animal rides.
That being said, I was VERY disappointed when we went at Christmas time and they had already removed Thomas. That was one of my 3 year old's favorite things, and it was just sad to see him gone.
We are tightening out belts this year trying to pay off our debt, and it's quite likely that with all the problems they have been having, we won't spend the $$ on season passes this year.

 

[skjuls]

My son will be unhappy if they get rid of Thomas. The one is DC has several rides. And the only reason why we got passes *** they were super cheap.

 

[las3888]

I didn't even know that SF had Thomas! At least ours does not. Ours does however have a whole land dedicated to Wiggles. The rides are very specific to the Wiggles, i.e. the Big Red Car, and Dorothy's spinning tea-cups. This is one of DS favorite areas...

What about Batman?

Hmm...we already have season's passes for 2011 and will still continue to go, but it will be interesting to see how these are re-done I guess...

 

[Aliceacc]

Last year I went to Six Flags for the 1st time in at least 20 year. (Great Escapes, in Lake George NY) So I'm not exactly an expert.

But it seems to me that they probably pay some pretty decent money for the use of those character images. In tough economic times, it makes sense to stop paying those licensing fees; it doesn't change the main draw-- the rides themselves-- and can probably save them some money.

If it means they can keep more people employed and/or not raise ticket prices, then I see it as a very bright move on their part.

 

[LBIJim]

Six Flags has never been a place for families with little ones. I have two kids under the age of 5 and we choose not to go there. We go to Sesame Place or Hershey Park instead (Im in PA obviously)!

So with them taking out Thomas the train and other younger age generation type stuff, I dont see the issue with that because I dont think they need to attract families with little kids anyway. They get plenty of teenagers and young adults visiting for the coasters!

Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ has lots of stuff to do for the pre-school crowd. I think they have 4 distinct kiddie areas.

And they have something like 13 coasters, two or three of them world-class. The problem seems to be there's very little in between. Maybe 6 to 8 other rides are left, down from over 20 they had in the early 2000s. They really need some good "flat" rides.

The park is cleaner than it had been previously, and employees seem somewhat more motivated. The food, however, continues to suck.

Jim

 

[Yoshi]

^ I agree, Great Adventure has removed or stopped operating 33 rides in the past 10 years! I often finding myself struggling to find a flat ride if I want to take a break from the coasters. It would be very simple to reopen the bumper cars, music express and Tango.

The loss of the character doesn't bother me. It's the other cutbacks with the new management I don't like. For 2011 there no Glow In the Park parade for all parks except Chicago, a shorter operating season for almost all of their parks and shorter park hours on some of the days they are open for every park, no season pass appreciation nights and no more Funatics rewards program for passholders.

For anyone wondering, the Thomas areas are now going to be called Whistle Stop Junction with the same rides (except New England that is removing the section), the Wiggles areas are going to be themed to some generic kids area except Great Adventure which is changing the area to Safari Kids. Great Escape is also losing the Looney Tunes (the other parks are keeping them).

 

[crazelion]

^ I agree, Great Adventure has removed or stopped operating 33 rides in the past 10 years! I often finding myself struggling to find a flat ride if I want to take a break from the coasters. It would be very simple to reopen the bumper cars, music express and Tango.

The loss of the character doesn't bother me. It's the other cutbacks with the new management I don't like. For 2011 there no Glow In the Park parade for all parks except Chicago, a shorter operating season for almost all of their parks and shorter park hours on some of the days they are open for every park, no season pass appreciation nights and no more Funatics rewards program for passholders.

For anyone wondering, the Thomas areas are now going to be called Whistle Stop Junction with the same rides (except New England that is removing the section), the Wiggles areas are going to be themed to some generic kids area except Great Adventure which is changing the area to Safari Kids. Great Escape is also losing the Looney Tunes (the other parks are keeping them).

I thought Six Flags Great Adventure was worst Six Flags I ever been too. Dear God if only want ride coast all day I would not went. Don't me I like coasters but I need a break. The safari was awful. I wondering where was the water rides at I don't seen one. I went in 2010 when our Boys scout troop to NYC. I never want go park again. I easy please.

I do like Six Flags over Georgia better because they have mixed of rides for everyone. My kids like it better.

 

[RadioFanatic]

I think it really depends on the location. We stopped going to the closest SF (agawam MA) because the majority of rides had a height limit of 48" (IIRC - it may have been 54") either way, it was too tall for my son, and the whole day was spent trying to find things he didn't think were too "babyish" but that he could go on.
Lake George was better than most SF for kid options, but I thought the amount of rides you had to pay extra for once you got in was absolutely ridiculous

We don't have to pay anything more for the rides once we got in. It was all included. And we had a season pass which cost about $60 and went 4-5 times this past summer which made it worth while.

One thing I was ticked about last year was we bought the season pass when they were advertising it could be used for halloween and christmas too. Then mid summer, they decided not to be open for christmas season. It was one of the reasons we bought the pass. I haven't decided if I'm buying it again this year.