I'm glad I got to go to Geauga Lake when I did back in 2005. The park seemed pretty dead as it was and it was interesting walking across that wooden bridge to get to the old Sea World side, it was even more dead there, just some water slides and a few flat rides. Memories.
My wish list for SFOT: 1. Refresh all current buildings with high quality materials. 2. All pathways either made concrete or turned into a lighter color (for summertime). 3. Complete overhaul of Gotham City into something that actually resembles a city. Plus more trees and shade. 4. Music throughout whole park. Yellow Rose of Texas playing on repeat at the entrance like they used to, theme music everywhere else. NO pop music. 5. Intamin or Mack launch coaster similar to Maverick or Copperhead Strike. A long launch coaster that focuses on inversions and airtime. 6. New table service restaurant that serves good food. 7. Good food throughout whole park.
Man they won’t care about them request maybe the ride part but the no pop music 🥱🤣 dude do u understand that they have to have a lot of music for the guest not just one guest preference 😅😅😂 sorry it don’t work like that
I was talking about music in an atmospheric way. They never had pop music until about 2009 when they redid their speaker system. Music in theme parks is supposed to make you feel a certain way. I’m not talking about what people’s taste in music should be or my own taste. I’m talking about using music as a way of immersing yourself in a theme park. Like how movies use orchestral music. Look at places like Disney World and how they have music for their different themed areas. It’s part of the experience.
@@cody_t look man not everyone listen to that especially the younger crowds our generations are way different then our generations especially gen z I was born 00s and I was ok with that old classly music but look at the times we all are at now way past the 1930s and now in the future everything is going to change for a reason like cars from metal to plastic and cheap titanium metal yea that’s the truth
If there’s ever been a time for them to try and be competitive with Disney/Universal, it’s now. Especially with people’s opinions souring on Disney. Universal is going to get a huge boost next year, but that will also allow more regional parks to shine. Dollywood and Silver Dollar City have exploded in popularity post-pandemic since Disney has been in love with streaming, Seaworld has been adding new attractions, and Universal is building new parks. If the now combined Six Flags Entertainment wants a piece of the action, there’s no better time than now.
Regional theme parks don't compete with Disney/Universal. Disney's profit in 1 quarter from their theme parks is more than the gross revenue of SF/CF combined for an entire year.
FYI, the notion "Cedar Fair will handle the business side and Six Flags will handle the rest is laughable." SIX FLAGS IS HANDLING NOTHING, THEIR EXECS, CULTURE, IDENTITY OF FAILURE WERE ALL LET GO.! They call it a merger of equals, it's not! Cedar Fair have 51% stake, but have 10 of the 11 Executive Team. CEDAR FAIR IS ESSENTIALLY COMPLETELY RUNNING THE SHOW! The only position of SF is Chief Integration Officer, which is a made up position during the merger that will surely go away within a few years as the "integration" of the 2 companies will be completed in all aspects. The CEO and the executive team run the parks, which are all CF. This is a complete management takeover by Cedar Fair people, while the Six Flags name is being retained for corporate. Hence, since it's all Cedar Execs retaining their roles CEO, CFO, COO, down to Head of Procurement . HR, etc,,, things at legacy Cedar Fair parks aren't going to change. They are going to keep doing what has made them successful. The changes will come ideally at SF legacy parks. The fact that the Exec team is 10 of 11 Cedar Fair people means Selim Bassoul nor his Board thought much of his Execs and wanted the Cedar Fair management team to do a massive takeover and/or this was a demand by Cedar Fair. You don't see a merger executive teams this lopsided in "merger of equals", this is the level of lopsidedness of an acquisition of a company in financial/managerial trouble.
This is not true at all. Cedar Fair is basically going to be exec management. Six Flags execs will be running the corporate board, meaning final say on the money side. Bankruptcy is a decision, not a statement on how business is going. Lots of businesses probably should file for bankruptcy, but refuse to. Many file for bankruptcy as a strategy but probably shouldn't. Cedar Fair wouldn't be doing this if they weren't struggling.
@@rantanamo Lol. You haven't any idea what you're talking about nor how corporations work. Cedar Fair is running the show. already explained, but since you nothing about corporate structure and governance it was beyond you to comprehend. Call when you have an MBA finance from the #1 MBA program in the country. Hint, that's what I have. The notion Cedar Fair is struggling just shows how ignorant you are of Cedar Fair. Six Flags is the struggling company. Try educating yourself on the financial reports of the companies. Cedar fair just produced a record Q2 report on a bunch of metrics, SF legacy parks were worse than Q2 2023 and shat the bed once again, like they have for years.
Six flags over Texas has the worst food and prices for said food. It feels like eating old food out of a dumpster. The sodas are so old tasting like they never clean the hoses. Only redeeming quality is the big coasters and even those seem very run down.
Biggest reason for this merger is. Both companies have a lot of debt. So they want to get it down. But I can see smaller parks getting sold off or shut down. If they can sell CGA anything is possible
Nope not the reason. Actually educate yourself on the companies. CGA land was sold b/c the park was a low revenue/Ebidta/profit park. They made more in the sale of the land than they would make in about 12 to 14 years operating the park. FYI, CF never wanted CGA, they tried to get it out of the Paramount deal, but it was jammed in as take all of the parks or no deal. CF tried to sell it off in 2011, again they didn't really want it b/c of the difficulties of operating it with the land lease(at that time), zoning restrictions, high Opex with little pricing power to compensate.
I would use a late 1960’s railroad merger as a better allegory. Both the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central were major railroads in the East connecting New York to Chicago primarily out of New York Penn Station and Grand Central. Due to popularization of the car, air travel, and suburbanization, many east coast railroads started to fold. Things got so bad that the Pennsylvania railroad sold the air rights to Penn Station-leading to the creation of Madison Square Garden above the present terminal and the railroad to shortly thereafter merge with their rival, New York Central. The joined company had assets and shares in other ventures such as Six Flags, Madison Square Garden (20%), and aviation (one of the execs was an Avgeek). The execs own interests and failure to mix their operating styles backfired, leading to bankruptcy and (indirectly) the formation of Amtrak
Great video! It’s very informative and well throughout. I will disagree that Dorney needed what they got, but they needed something. Just anything besides B&M. If Hydra wasn’t there, it would have been a better addition. With Possessed possibly on the way out, a multi-launch coaster would have been fantastic!
As far as Frontier City and Darien Lake goes, Six Flags does not own these parks, EPR Properties owns them and Six Flags leases/operates them. EPR gets to call the shots as to what investments goes into these parks, in which it seem like a lot of investment is going into Darien lately with Titan Track on Predator these past few years, new track on Boomerang and next year Mind Eraser will be getting refurbished with new track and trains and a possible retheme of the area. So the good news is if things go downhill from the merger, these 2 parks would be safe from closing, EPR would just have to find a different operator, on the other hand, if things go well, Six Flags could be interested in buying one or both parks for better investments.
Both of those parks have garbage financials, lower per caps & Ebidta margin, etc...than SF legacy parks. FC is a particular disaster. There is a reason FC was closed 2 days a week all summer and running 11 to 6pm hours weekdays and just 7pm close weekends. SF took a 16M impairment on FC the previous year and stated they don't expect the situation to change any time soon. FC is dumpster fire for SF, CF management will try to get out of the lease early if they can or ar worst not renew it.
Cedar Fair and Sf weren't actually competitors except in 2 or 3 markets, this misnomer is constantly spread there will be lack of competition, it never actually existed in most markets. Regional theme park operators like Cedar Fair/Six Flags don't actually compete with destination park models,such as Disney and Universal. Regional theme parks biggest competition is other other activities in the area, not other parks
What do you mean by that? Six flags parks are single, unless they have hurricane harbor, so the video idea should be what if they built a third six flags park in texas
Really hope they don’t change names, or add the title to names. I would hate to drive to Cedar Point and have it say “Six Flags Cedar Point”. And also, CF was not doing the same as Six Flags lol. CF’s business model was way better than anything SF has ever done. No bankruptcy for CF vs bankruptcy and struggling yearly for SF.
Unfortunately i believe it will be an utter failure. Six flags already tried this in the late 90s when premiere parks purchased the chain from time Warner in the fall of 1998. Simply put 40 plus parks in one chain are too much to manage from a financial standpoint. Also both cedar fair as well as six flags pre merger were both facing financial difficulties in managing their respective chains so what makes them think that by taking on even more debt is going to improve their financial situation?
Frontier City is a financial disaster,they took 16M in impairment charges last year. The OK City and Houuton water parks also took impairments ranging of 8M to 15M. These are all lease parks from EPR, which were a terrible deal. Darien Lake is also languishing. Cedar Fair management will look to get out of these lease parks deals early if they can, depending on the penalty clauses. CF doesn't in general like lease deals.
Nothing is changing at CF parks b/c the management is CF people...10 of the11 executive team are CF people. CF parks will keep doing what they have been doing with the Seasons of Fun model. That model has been very successful, producing record financials again in Q2 2024
I'm glad I got to go to Geauga Lake when I did back in 2005. The park seemed pretty dead as it was and it was interesting walking across that wooden bridge to get to the old Sea World side, it was even more dead there, just some water slides and a few flat rides. Memories.
My wish list for SFOT:
1. Refresh all current buildings with high quality materials.
2. All pathways either made concrete or turned into a lighter color (for summertime).
3. Complete overhaul of Gotham City into something that actually resembles a city. Plus more trees and shade.
4. Music throughout whole park. Yellow Rose of Texas playing on repeat at the entrance like they used to, theme music everywhere else. NO pop music.
5. Intamin or Mack launch coaster similar to Maverick or Copperhead Strike. A long launch coaster that focuses on inversions and airtime.
6. New table service restaurant that serves good food.
7. Good food throughout whole park.
Man they won’t care about them request maybe the ride part but the no pop music 🥱🤣 dude do u understand that they have to have a lot of music for the guest not just one guest preference 😅😅😂 sorry it don’t work like that
I was talking about music in an atmospheric way. They never had pop music until about 2009 when they redid their speaker system. Music in theme parks is supposed to make you feel a certain way. I’m not talking about what people’s taste in music should be or my own taste. I’m talking about using music as a way of immersing yourself in a theme park. Like how movies use orchestral music. Look at places like Disney World and how they have music for their different themed areas. It’s part of the experience.
@@cody_t look man not everyone listen to that especially the younger crowds our generations are way different then our generations especially gen z I was born 00s and I was ok with that old classly music but look at the times we all are at now way past the 1930s and now in the future everything is going to change for a reason like cars from metal to plastic and cheap titanium metal yea that’s the truth
Bro, another awesome video as always I love watching your videos! 12:46
I love your vids so much and I love how much attention you give to sixflags over Texas its my home park and it has such a big chance to become big
@@TTMfred thank you! I seriously love SFOT and want to see that park get better
It would be amazing
Hey another SFOT local :)
I recently went to Six Flags Great Adventure and some if not all the rides are open on time for its 50th season to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
I just went two weeks ago.. so many ride closures.. including Ka, GL, and the two biggest flat rides. Nitro opened late both days as well.
Six Flags Great America local here, our park desperately needs our theming back
If there’s ever been a time for them to try and be competitive with Disney/Universal, it’s now. Especially with people’s opinions souring on Disney. Universal is going to get a huge boost next year, but that will also allow more regional parks to shine. Dollywood and Silver Dollar City have exploded in popularity post-pandemic since Disney has been in love with streaming, Seaworld has been adding new attractions, and Universal is building new parks. If the now combined Six Flags Entertainment wants a piece of the action, there’s no better time than now.
Regional theme parks don't compete with Disney/Universal. Disney's profit in 1 quarter from their theme parks is more than the gross revenue of SF/CF combined for an entire year.
FYI, the notion "Cedar Fair will handle the business side and Six Flags will handle the rest is laughable." SIX FLAGS IS HANDLING NOTHING, THEIR EXECS, CULTURE, IDENTITY OF FAILURE WERE ALL LET GO.! They call it a merger of equals, it's not! Cedar Fair have 51% stake, but have 10 of the 11 Executive Team. CEDAR FAIR IS ESSENTIALLY COMPLETELY RUNNING THE SHOW! The only position of SF is Chief Integration Officer, which is a made up position during the merger that will surely go away within a few years as the "integration" of the 2 companies will be completed in all aspects. The CEO and the executive team run the parks, which are all CF. This is a complete management takeover by Cedar Fair people, while the Six Flags name is being retained for corporate. Hence, since it's all Cedar Execs retaining their roles CEO, CFO, COO, down to Head of Procurement . HR, etc,,, things at legacy Cedar Fair parks aren't going to change. They are going to keep doing what has made them successful. The changes will come ideally at SF legacy parks. The fact that the Exec team is 10 of 11 Cedar Fair people means Selim Bassoul nor his Board thought much of his Execs and wanted the Cedar Fair management team to do a massive takeover and/or this was a demand by Cedar Fair. You don't see a merger executive teams this lopsided in "merger of equals", this is the level of lopsidedness of an acquisition of a company in financial/managerial trouble.
This is not true at all. Cedar Fair is basically going to be exec management. Six Flags execs will be running the corporate board, meaning final say on the money side. Bankruptcy is a decision, not a statement on how business is going. Lots of businesses probably should file for bankruptcy, but refuse to. Many file for bankruptcy as a strategy but probably shouldn't. Cedar Fair wouldn't be doing this if they weren't struggling.
@@rantanamo Lol. You haven't any idea what you're talking about nor how corporations work. Cedar Fair is running the show. already explained, but since you nothing about corporate structure and governance it was beyond you to comprehend. Call when you have an MBA finance from the #1 MBA program in the country. Hint, that's what I have. The notion Cedar Fair is struggling just shows how ignorant you are of Cedar Fair. Six Flags is the struggling company. Try educating yourself on the financial reports of the companies. Cedar fair just produced a record Q2 report on a bunch of metrics, SF legacy parks were worse than Q2 2023 and shat the bed once again, like they have for years.
Six flags over Texas has the worst food and prices for said food. It feels like eating old food out of a dumpster. The sodas are so old tasting like they never clean the hoses. Only redeeming quality is the big coasters and even those seem very run down.
Biggest reason for this merger is. Both companies have a lot of debt. So they want to get it down. But I can see smaller parks getting sold off or shut down. If they can sell CGA anything is possible
Nope not the reason. Actually educate yourself on the companies. CGA land was sold b/c the park was a low revenue/Ebidta/profit park. They made more in the sale of the land than they would make in about 12 to 14 years operating the park. FYI, CF never wanted CGA, they tried to get it out of the Paramount deal, but it was jammed in as take all of the parks or no deal. CF tried to sell it off in 2011, again they didn't really want it b/c of the difficulties of operating it with the land lease(at that time), zoning restrictions, high Opex with little pricing power to compensate.
I would use a late 1960’s railroad merger as a better allegory. Both the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central were major railroads in the East connecting New York to Chicago primarily out of New York Penn Station and Grand Central. Due to popularization of the car, air travel, and suburbanization, many east coast railroads started to fold. Things got so bad that the Pennsylvania railroad sold the air rights to Penn Station-leading to the creation of Madison Square Garden above the present terminal and the railroad to shortly thereafter merge with their rival, New York Central. The joined company had assets and shares in other ventures such as Six Flags, Madison Square Garden (20%), and aviation (one of the execs was an Avgeek). The execs own interests and failure to mix their operating styles backfired, leading to bankruptcy and (indirectly) the formation of Amtrak
Great video! It’s very informative and well throughout. I will disagree that Dorney needed what they got, but they needed something. Just anything besides B&M. If Hydra wasn’t there, it would have been a better addition. With Possessed possibly on the way out, a multi-launch coaster would have been fantastic!
As far as Frontier City and Darien Lake goes, Six Flags does not own these parks, EPR Properties owns them and Six Flags leases/operates them. EPR gets to call the shots as to what investments goes into these parks, in which it seem like a lot of investment is going into Darien lately with Titan Track on Predator these past few years, new track on Boomerang and next year Mind Eraser will be getting refurbished with new track and trains and a possible retheme of the area. So the good news is if things go downhill from the merger, these 2 parks would be safe from closing, EPR would just have to find a different operator, on the other hand, if things go well, Six Flags could be interested in buying one or both parks for better investments.
Both of those parks have garbage financials, lower per caps & Ebidta margin, etc...than SF legacy parks. FC is a particular disaster. There is a reason FC was closed 2 days a week all summer and running 11 to 6pm hours weekdays and just 7pm close weekends. SF took a 16M impairment on FC the previous year and stated they don't expect the situation to change any time soon. FC is dumpster fire for SF, CF management will try to get out of the lease early if they can or ar worst not renew it.
Cedar Fair and Sf weren't actually competitors except in 2 or 3 markets, this misnomer is constantly spread there will be lack of competition, it never actually existed in most markets. Regional theme park operators like Cedar Fair/Six Flags don't actually compete with destination park models,such as Disney and Universal. Regional theme parks biggest competition is other other activities in the area, not other parks
Jb I have a video idea : “what if six flag over Texas got a second park” I know it would not happen but would what to see your ideas for one
What do you mean by that? Six flags parks are single, unless they have hurricane harbor, so the video idea should be what if they built a third six flags park in texas
@@SlushysSecret it just a idea
Don’t think SFOT would get a 2nd park but would be cool to see a 3rd park come to Tx maybe the return of astroworld
@@Thebeauhford I was questioning your logic since six flags isn’t a resort kind of a chain
@@SlushysSecret it is just a idea i been have I will never happen
Magic Mountain is doing good in attendance, but they're operations and maintenance are on the decline and been very poor
Really hope they don’t change names, or add the title to names. I would hate to drive to Cedar Point and have it say “Six Flags Cedar Point”. And also, CF was not doing the same as Six Flags lol. CF’s business model was way better than anything SF has ever done. No bankruptcy for CF vs bankruptcy and struggling yearly for SF.
Jb thrills if you go to your Google maps It says the gully washer from frontier city is Permanently close
Unfortunately i believe it will be an utter failure. Six flags already tried this in the late 90s when premiere parks purchased the chain from time Warner in the fall of 1998.
Simply put 40 plus parks in one chain are too much to manage from a financial standpoint. Also both cedar fair as well as six flags pre merger were both facing financial difficulties in managing their respective chains so what makes them think that by taking on even more debt is going to improve their financial situation?
Jb thrills what will frontier city and Six flags over Texas will get
Usually SF and CF make amusement parks, not theme parks..
Last time a mega park happened with them (geauga lake) it didn’t go well…
Yup that’s why I had to mention it toward the end of the video but I believe this time will be different
Tbf that wasn't a conjoined effort between both companies
@@JBThrills Not at all the same situation.
wish me luck, I'm going to six flags for the first time
Frontier City is a financial disaster,they took 16M in impairment charges last year. The OK City and Houuton water parks also took impairments ranging of 8M to 15M. These are all lease parks from EPR, which were a terrible deal. Darien Lake is also languishing. Cedar Fair management will look to get out of these lease parks deals early if they can, depending on the penalty clauses. CF doesn't in general like lease deals.
Tell me that the park currently isn't named "Six Flags Knott's Berry Farm". I fear for the boysenberry theme.
Nothing is changing at CF parks b/c the management is CF people...10 of the11 executive team are CF people. CF parks will keep doing what they have been doing with the Seasons of Fun model. That model has been very successful, producing record financials again in Q2 2024