Does anyone else think that Disney is like Six flags?

[sir clinksalot]

As far as Disney trying to be like six flags, well I don't buy into that. Even at DCA. Disney's least themed attraction would be six flags best themed attraction.

You guys are just spoiled

Agreed 100%. While some of the newer rides at parks like Great Adventure have very nice queues and some nicer surrounding area's (The area around Kingda Ka comes to mind) it's still not on par with Disney.

I will admit that the Golden Kingdom area looks nicer than say, the Route 66 area at DCA but as a whole, Disney's got them beat hands down.

A few pics that show the Golden Kingdom area at SFGADV, basically the best "Theming" any Six Flags park I have been to has to offer:

[alex-jmp]

You guys act like six flags is the heart of all evil. Six Flags is not disney and they are not trying to be. It's a park for people who like roller coasters and is not trying to be like Disney at all.

As far as Disney trying to be like six flags, well I don't buy into that. Even at DCA. Disney's least themed attraction would be six flags best themed attraction.

You guys are just spoiled

Apperently you never saw Six Flags New Orleans (Jazzland), my it rest in peace. This park both before and after the Six Flags purchase rivaled DCA's theme quality. This park was the queen of the North American Six Flags parks. Now is Disney becoming Six Flags, not at all. Six Flags bases their expansion on the aquiring of pre-established parks wishing for outside investment. With the exception of 4 of the Six Flags parks this is how the company spread accross the globe. Even the notorious Magic Mountain was originaly a pre-existing park owned by SeaWorld and the New Holland Land Company. For the past decade the Disney parks have became more of a prarllel to, as someone stated eariler, Starbucks. Like Starbucks the Disney Corperation has picked locations to put a somewhat simmilar "Disneyland" park in an area that currently has a strong themepark market. This ensures that the locals of that area do not visit the local Mom and Pop instead of the Disney park across the continent or the globe but instead visit their local Disneyland. This can also be seen when you look at some of the other proposed locations of disney parks that did not get built. A good example of this was the park that was to have been built in Virginia, Disney's America. This location of the park was rather logical due to the fact that there was a large number of people in the mid Eastern US that were not visiting WDW but instead visiting another two park first Six Flags over Gerogia, but most noteably of all Dollywood. This is not that I am saying that Disney is evil and trying to pop Dolly's bussiness, but just that, this is bussiness. As another quick Starbuck's comparison for those who remember the Disney company had visions of having "Disney Parks" in almost all of the US, and possibly the worlds, major city's. A Corner of Disneyland on your Main Street, DisneyQuest. Why go to the arcade, movie theater, or local amusement park when you had a virtual Disneyland in your own backyard.

[sir clinksalot]

^ I would also include Busch Garden's Williamsburg as a park that Disney's America would have been in direct competition with.

[alex-jmp]

^ yea I forget about them sometimes

[DifrntDrmr]

Even the notorious Magic Mountain was originaly a pre-existing park owned by SeaWorld and the New Holland Land Company.

I don't think SeaWorld ever actually owned Magic Mountain. They were originally going to build Sea World in that location but decided on San Diego instead. Newhall Land and Farm then built Magic Mountain without them and later sold it to Six Flags. At least that is my understanding of the history of the park.

[alex-jmp]

I don't think SeaWorld ever actually owned Magic Mountain. They were originally going to build Sea World in that location but decided on San Diego instead. Newhall Land and Farm then built Magic Mountain without them and later sold it to Six Flags. At least that is my understanding of the history of the park.

No offience but your a little mistaken

source:http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/mm0100.htm
In 1968, executives of Sea World, Inc., were looking for a place in Los Angeles County to build a new theme park. Knowing that The Newhall Land and Farming Company had enough undeveloped land and that the company wanted to attract attention to its New Town of Valencia, a county planner asked company president James F. Dickason if he was interested. He was. After intense negotiations, Sea World and Newhall Land formed a partnership and began to build a 200-acre amusement park at the western edge of Valencia. Seventy acres would be used for the park itself -- rides, theaters, games, food, landscaping -- and the rest for parking and ancillary services. Ground was broken in January, 1970.

SeaWorld San Diego opened on March 21, 1964 and the next SeaWorld Park opened in 1970 at Aurora, Ohio. In 1968 SeaWorld went public to generate funds to expand into other areas of amusement and in the following year of 1969 work began on Magic Mounain. SeaWorld did not pull out of the partnership untll after all the bad press about the park lacking any "thrilling" rides in the early 1970's.

[Ride Warrior]

2005 Top Theme Park Attendance Nationwide

1. Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando, 16.1 million, +6.5 percent
2. Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. 14.5 million, +8.5 percent
3. Epcot at Walt Disney World in Orlando, 9.9 million, +5.5 percent
4. Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World in Orlando, 8.6 million, +5 percent
5. Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando, 8.2 million, +5 percent
6. Universal Studios Florida at Universal Orlando, 6.1 million, -8.5 percent
7. Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, Calif., 5.8 million, +3.6 percent
8. Universal's Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando, 5.76 million, -8.5 percent
9. SeaWorld Orlando, 5.6 million, +0.2 percent
10. Universal Studios Hollywood, 4.7 million, -6 percent
11. Adventuredome at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, 4.5 million, +2.3 percent
12. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, 4.3 million, +5.1 percent
13. SeaWorld San Diego, 4.1 million, +2.5 percent
14. Paramount Canada's Wonderland in Maple, Ontario, 3.6 million, +7 percent
15. Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif., 3.47 million, -3 percent
16. Paramount's Kings Island in Kings Island, Ohio, 3.3 million, -5.1 percent
17. Morey's Piers in Wildwood, N.J., 3.1 million, +1 percent
18. Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, 3.1 million, -2 percent
19. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, Calif., 3 million, flat
20. Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J., 2.9 million, +6 percent
21. Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Ill., 2.8 million, +24 percent
22. Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Calif., 2.8 million, +5 percent
23. Hersheypark in Hershey, Pa., 2.7 million, flat
24. Busch Gardens Williamsburg, 2.6 million, +8.3 percent
25. Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., 2.3 million, +7.3 percent

As you can see, Disneyland was the second most heavily attended theme park in the US in 2005. With a figure of of 14.5 million guests, it was only surpassed by WDW's Magic Kingdom - itself standing at 16.1 million.

Percentage wise, Disneyland kicked even the Magic Kingdoms duff (+8.5% & +6.5% respectively). The percentage figures for Disneyland also surpassed those of the Magic Kingdom in 2004. It is clear to me that Walt Disney's original park will overcome even it's Orlando counterpart at some point within the next several years - making it the top American park all the way around.

Why, you might ask? The "old girl" (sn affectionate Disney family name for Walt's original gate) remains highly competitive for one thing. In addition, a good number of people that visit Disney parks in Orlando and abroad become so impressed that they want to see the original more than they would otherwise.

Just for good measure, it may come as a surprise that DCA is currently the 7th most popular park in the world. The only non-Disney park that faired better than it in 2005 was Universl Studios Florida. Once the DCA moniker is changed (probably to a studio park name), new rides and better theming are added, it is foreseeable that DLR's second gate will become far more popular.

Six Flags Over Texas (the original mother ship of the company (as brout up by lazyboy), wasn't even in the radar in 2005. To the Six Flags company's credit, three of it's parks did take the twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-second spots in terms of popularity in 2005. That's pretty impressive for a park that doesn't budget anywhere near the amount of money for attractions that Disney does - even though I'm not care much for the themeless theme park style of park myself.

Mind you, I am head over heals crazy about Six Flags Marine World. She's a whale of an adventure. Digressing to Disney once again, increasing the number of Disney theme parks across the globe will only continue to create more interest in the original, and thereby bolster it's attendance figures.

[Sters]

It seems like more and more Disney oriented parks are opening... I isn't really much of a tourist attraction in Anahiem where Disney originated if they keep building more Disney parks... does anyone else feel the same way?

I think Disneyland is more like a 6 Flags than Disneyworld. Why? Because it caters to day trippers that are primarily interested in rides, rides, rides. At WDW, there is just as much Disney detail to the restaurants, entertainment, and the resorts and the clientele is much, much, MUCH more family oriented. Not so many busloads of locals dumped at the park. I always think of it like this. Disneyland is to Atlantic City as Disneyworld is to Las Vegas . . . but I digress.

What I think you are saying is that each of the Disney parks are becoming more the same, with fewer unique attractions to draw you in so, yes, I agree with that.

As for Disneylnad, like so many have said before, it will always have its special niche as the origianal park and is definitely a "tourist attraction.'

[ah schucks]

You guys act like six flags is the heart of all evil. Six Flags is not disney and they are not trying to be. It's a park for people who like roller coasters and is not trying to be like Disney at all.

As far as Disney trying to be like six flags, well I don't buy into that. Even at DCA. Disney's least themed attraction would be six flags best themed attraction.

You guys are just spoiled

I only say this because my recent experiance there was awful. Themeing aside which I will get to in a moment, the park is awful. They now have buses from some bad neighborhoods all over LA that bring young kids to the park. With all the discounts and cheap AP programs it allows for a much more seedy crowd.

I have never seen such inappropriate park behavior in my life and there was no security to stop it. Kids cutting through lines constantly, use of fowl langue, public urination, I watced people carve there names in walls, tagging, lewd public displays of affiction.

The park of course is not the cause of the behavior but in there attempts to bring in attendence they have discounted themselves so MUCH it allows people to hang out there like they would the mall.

Now lets discuss theme- you can't call yourself a theme park if you ain't got theme! Its a thrill park at best. They blow millions developing new coasters and hardly maintain the ones they already have! If theme areas exist they need paint and repair so bad its not even worth keeping.

Overall I would say Six Flags is not only a poor experiance its a waste of my money. You maybe get to ride 6-8 excellent coasters at the cost of a horriable experiance in line and in and around the park. This is a conscious decession by management to get bodies in the park and build coasters rather than build a more enjoyable experiance.

[Ride Warrior]

.
Now lets discuss theme- you can't call yourself a theme park if you ain't got theme! Its a thrill park at best. They blow millions developing new coasters and hardly maintain the ones they already have! If theme areas exist they need paint and repair so bad its not even worth keeping.

Overall I would say Six Flags is not only a poor experiance its a waste of my money. You maybe get to ride 6-8 excellent coasters at the cost of a horriable experiance in line and in and around the park. This is a conscious decession by management to get bodies in the park and build coasters rather than build a more enjoyable experiance.

I agree with you all the way around, shucks. The themeless theme park sucks on all levels. Your money is probably better spent on a carnival or county fair.

Due to the hoodlums that are attracted to parks such as Six Flags Magic Mountain, the company should consider re-dubbing it Six Flags Tragic Mountain, or perhaps Six Tags Gansta Mountain In da Hood.

One has to wonder why Six Flags has three parks in the top twenty list of greatest attended theme parks worldwide, while Paramount only has one park that made the chart. Paramount parks are considerably more themed than Six Flags, and they are makeng a considerable effort to keep improving each year. I certainly prefer Paramount over Six Tags...err...I mean Six Flags.

[ah schucks]

To be fair I want to be very careful to point out that I am not attacking the inner city of LA as a whole or something, I just noticed the buses from all over Southern California that less afluent young teenagers and children are riding to the park and as such they hang around and lotter in the park.

The behavior is not racially or financially motivated but is the result of a park which does not take pride in itself and ALLOWS unrulley behavior because of the cost of security and maintance.

[sediment]

One has to wonder why Six Flags has three parks in the top twenty list of greatest attended theme parks worldwide. while Paramount only has one park that made the chart. Paramount iparks are considerably more themed than Six Fags, and they are makeng a considerable effort to keep improving each year. I certainly prefer Paramount over Six Tags...err...I mean Six Flags.

Well, people like thrills. And it helps to be near very large metropolitan areas. King's Island is smack dab in the middle of nowhere (actually, Southwest Nowhere). The three SF parks are near NYC, Chicago, and LA.
It also helps to be in a year-round climate. #14 (Paramounts Canada's Wonderland, presumably near Toronto(?)) is the highest cold-weather park on the list

Attendance is not a perfect proxy for "best."

[Ride Warrior]

Today, as throughout history, there is/has existed hoodlums of every race, creed, color and gender. Again, and in agreement with shucks, Six Flags has done little if anything to discourage this element from using their parks as a hangout. The company is cheap, and they are probably afraid of legal problems as well.

[ZedIzDead]

I think there is Magic Mountain: the perception and then Magic Mountain: The Reality. The perception is pretty much what shuks described above. I’m not saying you didn’t see what you did, but in the 3 summers I worked there and the many many times (I’m an AP and a Valencia Resident) I have NEVER seen what you described above. Ever. MM gets a bad rep for this unfortunately.

Then there is the reality. The people who go there are teenagers. And you know how they behave? Like Teenagers. Do you see sometimes a seedy person? Yes. Do they act up? Most of the time no. It does happen from time to time, but not often. It happens at DL too.

There is no way I can defend MM here. You folks are Disney snobs. (I mean that in a good way) I am too. You can’t help but want to compare parks. It’s in your blood. But I can see the difference between the greatest theme park in the world and magic mountain. It a different atmosphere and crowd. And personally, I don’t see a problem with kids being bussed in from poor neighborhoods, are they not allowed to have fun too?

On a side note – I LOVE that DCA beat universal Hollywood AND IOA.

[Ride Warrior]

Well, people like thrills. And it helps to be near very large metropolitan areas. King's Island is smack dab in the middle of nowhere (actually, Southwest Nowhere). The three SF parks are near NYC, Chicago, and LA.
It also helps to be in a year-round climate. #14 (Paramounts Canada's Wonderland, presumably near Toronto(?)) is the highest cold-weather park on the list

Attendance is not a perfect proxy for "best."

Yeah. there are a lot of different factors to take into consideration.

Although the point is moot, Six Flags parks (with the exception of Marine World) are so utterly inferior to Paramount parks that it isn't even funny - in terms of themed family rides and unadorned but original thrill rides. The company is even starting to add clever theming to some of its thrill rides.