L.A. Times Six Flags article 07/07/06

[TacAlert]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...ck=1&cset=true

[FantasyWatersDude]

That doesn't suprise me...

[kcnole]

I think he'll get it done but it's going to take a while and people are going to need to be patient. He's going to have to sell a lot of parks, wind up knocking the stock even lower over the next couple of years and almost start over from scratch. If he has the fortitude to see it through I think he can do it though. The parks need some of their coasters knocked down and replaced with family dark rides and the like. They need a ton more theming. And they need better customer service.

That's a tall order, but one that can be reached. Personally I think at most each park needs no more than 3 quality coasters. Personally I'd say 2 great thrill coasters and one family coaster. The rest of the rides need to be family rides because as we've discussed elsewhere, the families are who bring in the money.

The fact is, I'm past the thrill ride age. I have no plans of setting foot in a coaster park and I'll probably never take my children there unless they change their goals. To succeed you can't cater only to the teen demographic because teens eventually grow up. If you cater to the family and hook the children, when they grow up and have the nostalgia they'll come back with their children who you can also hook. It's the way Disney's done business for years (which is why I'm actually concerned about the thrill ride changes over the past few years) and its why they're so successful.

[Cousin Orville]

Sell them all and build one awesome thing that will creatively blow Disney away. It wouldn't be that hard either. Get Lucas or James Cameron (insert hollywood visionary here) to get behind it and set some new standards.

[alex-jmp]

What would be nice is if the Blackstone group bought up the park and and turned it into something along the lines of IOA West. Possibly remove some of the not so functional coasters, add dark rides, and retheme(add theme) to the remaining rides and lands. The park has the potiental to be an excelent "theme" park, with just the proper overlays and modifications. Underneath all of those coasters is a beautiful theme park waiting to shine.

When RCT2 came out (Six Flags Edition) one of my favorite things to do would be to open the Magic Mountain Scenero and transform the park from "X-tream" park into a "Themed" park. The peeps seemed to like it, even though they enjoyed "extreame" rides, there was a lot to do for the whole family. I should try this in RCT3 some day when I have the time.

[DisneyMickey]

Originally Posted by Cousin Orville

Sell them all and build one awesome thing that will creatively blow Disney away. It wouldn't be that hard either. Get Lucas or James Cameron (insert hollywood visionary here) to get behind it and set some new standards.

Shut up.

[Radiobarry]

Originally Posted by Cousin Orville

Sell them all and build one awesome thing that will creatively blow Disney away. It wouldn't be that hard either.

According to whom, exactly? I'm assuming you have market research to back this up?

--Barry