Re: Shapiro, The Death of Six Flags ?

"David H.--REMOVE \"STOPSPAM\" to reply" <davidhhhSTOPSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
: On 7 Aug 2006 06:29:32 -0700, "steelforce" <steelforce@xxxxxxx> wrote:
:
: >I still think we should wait and see. Shapiro isn't David Copperfield,
: >these changes will take time, and patience. I think when the dust
: >clears we'll see a company that has clear vision for the future, a
: >stock that grows, and a gate that welcomes more people than ever.
:
: Actually, I think it IS fair to compare Shapiro to David Copperfield.
:
: All he had to do was raise the parking costs to $15 and ***POOF*** the
: crowds disappeared at almost all of the Six Flags parks nationwide for the
: entire season. And most importantly, he lost the all-important family
: crowd that he's been working so hard to get.
:
: Seriously, I believe that it is the number one thing that is keeping people
: away this year, more than gas costs, more than fewer new attractions, more
: than anything else.
:
: It's not JUST that the parking cost is so high, but that it sets the tone
: and the first impression on people for the rest of their day -- if they
: even choose to stay.
:
: They're angry and feel ripped off before they even get in the gate. Then
: they wait in long lines to get their tickets and to get in the park because
: there isn't enough staff in the front.

Gee, Dave, have you read my Magic Mountain trip report (it's on my web
site, and I will repost it here, but I want to post all of those
together...) or something?

I paid $15 to park the car, nearly got run over by an unspeakably rude
tram driver, paid $0 to get in the gate with my Wyandot Lake pass, and after
the first hour of filthy, ugly, non-functioning rides I started to think
that the $15 I had paid was far more than the experience was worth.

Six Flags needs to understand that their job is to get their customers to
WANT to pay them money. Charging $15 for parking is borderline
extortion, particularly given the conditions in most of their parking
lots.

I have visited five different Six Flags parks this season
(Kentucky Kingdom, St. Louis, Elitch Gardens, Magic Mountain and Wyandot
Lake) and of those, the only one that has any business charging any kind
of a fee for parking is Elitch Gardens. Of course, Kentucky Kingdom and
Wyandot Lake ($4 and $3 respectively for parking) have parking lots not
operated by Six Flags. Here's an idea...Some parks need to have tram
service (SFOG, SFMM for instance) and some could do without. For the
ones where the distance from the car to the gate is unreasonable, drop
the parking fee to $5. For the ones where the walk isn't so horrible,
abolish the tram service and drop the fee to $0. At the ones with the $0
fee, put up a gigantic sign that says, "FREE PARKING" and be sure to
mention it in the advertising campaign. Then add the lost parking
per-cap to the gate admission. I figure the parking per-cap is about $5
on a $15 parking fee.

Then, increase the gate admission price and the season pass price. But
don't do it in the most obvious way possible. Figure out what the
average admission price is, and work from there. The trick isn't to
increase the gate price to the point where people complain about it. At
this point the trick is to scale back on the discounting. People will
pay $40 to get in the gate at a park the scale of Magic Mountain. Don't
charge $60 and blanket the area with BOGO tickets and $30 discounts.
Instead, charge $45 and offer a $5 discount. Then issue a press release
that notes how you lowered the gate price by $15. If you're reading
carefully, you should notice that the paid gate per-cap just went up by $10.

In the waterpark, if the lockers are not selling out every day, then the
price is too high. If the rental tubes are not selling out every day,
then the price is too high. If the vending machines full of $COLA are
not selling out several times a day, the price is too high. If a food
joint is not busy, figure out why. Instead of closing a food joint
because it isn't profitable, make it profitable. Lower the price, fix
the menu, do whatever it takes to get people to spend their money at the
stands. Too often, Six Flags takes the option of shutting down an
operation (such as a food joint) that is losing money instead of fixing
it. Lowering prices seems counter-intuitive, but which brings in more
money? 0 units at $3.50, or 100 units at $2.00?

This is all basic stuff. And that's just in the pricing. What about
operations? Understand what kind of a business this is. It's an
entertainment business. People are coming to the park to be
entertained. People are coming to the park to ride the rides, to see the
shows, and to otherwise be entertained. That's why the most important
thing to do is to meet or exceed those expectations. That means you have
to make people happy from the moment they walk in the gate. That means
not torquing them off with the parking fee. That means having enough
lines open at the opening rush that they don't have long lines to get
into the park. That means making sure that all of the rides are
operating, and are operating efficiently. Most important it means making
sure that every customer receives full value for his admission, that
every customer doesn't just come, but wants to come back, and wants to
bring his friends.

In a financial sense the trick is not just to increase per-caps or
attendance, and certainly not to do what Six Flags did this season, which
was to increase per-caps at the expense of attendance. The goal is to
increase both per-caps AND attendance, and that means increasing per-caps
without making people feel like they got ripped off. That means
understanding what business this is, and what that means. It's not
impossible, and there are a bunch of companies out there that are doing a
great job. I can name a few right off the top of my head: Walt Disney
Company, Cedar Fair, L. P., Kennywood Entertainment, Koch Development
Corp., and Herschend Family Entertainment are all obvious examples. The
formula isn't especially difficult. My question is, why is Six Flags not
on that list?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
/X\ _ _ *** Ride carefully! Now open daily! ***
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/XXXXX\ /XXX\ /XXXX\_ /X\ /XXXXX\ /X\ /X\ /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX
.

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