The Many Happenings

If you are following me on Twitter then you probably know that yesterday I went to Six Flags. I usually go once or so annually, unless I have more free time – and then in that case I usually buy a season pass. However, due to the extremely high gas prices and the Six Flags closest to me is about 2 hours away, my friends and I decided to hold off until the time was right. I guess to them that the time that was right was yesterday, because we were tired of waiting for our dose of g-force. We all got up at 7 a.m and hit the road.

Another reason we went was because we had coupons that let us pay for a child’s price ticket. It is very hard for me to pay full price at a theme park, and if I do, I will probably have less fun there during the day than if I got in cheaply. So, after a long ride there, we finally pulled up to the parking area. The lady in the booth said, “Welcome to Six Flags, parking is $15.” What? Is parking really the price of one month of WoW? Didn’t it used to be several dollars, maybe $5 at the most?

As we angrily gave them a $20 and awaited our $5 change amount that we know already wouldn’t go far today, that’s when I saw it. On the side of the Batman roller coaster was a HUGE Geico banner, which was hung on the metal support beams. This banner was so huge it practically took up the whole half of the first incline when the ride starts. I had never seen an advertisement this huge nor on the side of a roller coast, but we let it go - we see advertisements everyday and are used to it by now.

Finding a parking spot in the Section A was as easy as accepting our $5 change with at the parking booth. There were maybe 20 cars in the parking lot at this time, but it was early, so there is a good possibility that more people will come later in the day. We hoped they wouldn’t come though, because no people equals no lines, and no lines equals more fun. We walked to the ticket area.

Ghost town. I asked my friend if he was sure the park was even open today, and that the parking booth lady was an impostor, but then after we saw the employees behind the ticket center’s glass, we knew that it was. We paid for our tickets and walked into the park.

You know how much Coca Cola advertises at these parks? A lot, right? Well, take that, multiply it by 1000, and you have the amount of advertising at Six Flags today. Geico, ABC, TBS, TNT, The Marines, and many other advertisements were scattered through newly placed low-ground billboards, posters in windows, and get this, on the side of the trains on the roller coasters. Almost every train had a printed advertisement on it.
So let’s get this straight - ridiculous parking pricing, extreme advertising, and absolutely no one at the park in the middle of the summer? Something’s not going well for Six Flags.

Amongst the advertising the price of a medium Coke in any of the restaurants was $4, and NO refills. They have a souvenir cup, (that used to get you unlimited refills,) that is now $12.99, and $1 per additional refill. I saw a small Cotton Candy bucket for $8.99, and a single scoop Ice Cream at Ben & Jerry’s was $7.99.

Now we all know that Six Flags has always had the worst pricing ever, but it has always been tolerable. It’s like buying popcorn at a movie theatre. It’s obviously gauged, but it’s still tolerable in knowing the fact that they have to make profit somehow. But buying a medium drink for the price of a meal just hurts, and it hurts really badly.

The good thing about our day was that we never had to wait in any lines, because basically no one was there. There were even several instances where the operator just let us stay on the ride several times. However, the staff was indeed limited, and many of the coasters seemed to break or shut down for a good part of the day. I tried to sway away from the theory that if Six Flags is giving out less hours to staff and if they are ultimately hurting financially, that they are not inspecting the rides as well or as frequently. I’m hoping that that stays a theory.

Sorry for the bad quality, but this was taken with my cell phone. This was in the middle of the day in the loading dock on the Batman ride, which is usually the most crowded ride in the park.

So what impression I get from our unpopulated, overly advertised and priced trip to Six Flags? That they are hurting badly, and my guess is that it has to do with the increased oil prices. No matter how cheap Six Flags makes its tickets, people still have to spend almost a whole take of gas to get there and back, no matter where they are. I’m not sure about the rest of the country, but I know our Six Flags is definitely hurting. Six Flags does most of its business in the summer, and if the scenario we witnessed yesterday is the same throughout the country, then Six Flags may have stop putting their hands in the air and yelling “Weee!!” It’s time to hold on, and think of new ways to make profits, with a smaller cost on us, their guests.

Technorati Tags: Six Flags, Coke, Coca Cola, Batman, Roller Coasters, Theme Parks, Geico, WoW, ABC, TBS, TNT, The Marines