If you’re a teenage roller coaster enthusiast who takes advantage of free or discounted tickets to visit amusement parks, Six Flags Entertainment Corp. he makes it clear he doesn’t want your business. The nation’s largest regional theme park company, which operates Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia and 26 other parks across North America, is trying to attract more middle-class families by raising ticket prices and upgrading food, beverage and its comforts. At the same time, it does away with the promotions, freebies, discounts and all-you-can-eat meal packages that have attracted teenage and low-income parkers. Too many sales and promotions have turned theme parks into “a cheap day care for teenagers,” Six Flags President and CEO Selim Bassoul said during an earnings call in August. He wants to put an end to this with what he calls “premium initiatives”. Ticket prices have yet to increase this year at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but Bassoul said other parks have already imposed higher prices and canceled discounted promotions. “Raising prices is not easy for a company that has trained customers to expect discounts,” he said. “And in 2022 we have shocked the system with a significant increase in ticket prices.” Day passes and annual passes vary in the access they offer, but in the first half of 2022, per capita spending to enter Six Flags parks increased 29% compared to the previous year, from $29.67 per capita to $37.75, according to company reports. The price hike comes as other theme parks grapple with overcrowding and brawls that threaten to drive away big-spending visitors, such as international tourists. Several fights broke out on July 16 at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, prompting the park to adopt a chaperone policy requiring all guests 17 and older to be accompanied by an adult 21 or older on weekends and at the Halloween event after the operating hours. The story continues A fight broke out at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida in July over complaints of line cutting. After a pandemic shutdown that lasted up to 13 months, many U.S. theme parks are now reporting attendance numbers in line with 2019. Many industry leaders, including Disney, are focused on boosting revenue and eliminating overcrowding issues as they try to attract high spending tourists and discouraging locals who frequent it — making commuting lines longer — but spend less. At Six Flags Magic Mountain, the park last month opened its 20th roller coaster, Wonder Woman: Flight of Courage, the tallest and longest roller coaster in the world. The park’s Halloween celebration, which begins in September, will include a new haunted house, two new “scare zones” and a new haunted happy hour and buffet. “We continue to execute on our premiumization strategy by focusing on guests who are willing to pay more for a premium experience,” Bassoul said during his recent earnings call. Reaction to Bassoul’s plan has been mixed, with some roller coaster fans calling it “classy” and others saying they are still willing to pay higher prices to visit the parks. Jesse James Suazo, a 16-year-old roller coaster fan from Northridge, questioned the strategy, since adults with younger children are unlikely to get many seats on the park’s marquee attractions: extreme roller coasters. “The whole point of them doing this is just for money,” Suazo said. “The parks really don’t care if it’s a teenager or a family. It all comes down to maximizing profits.” Sarah Anderson, an Orlando, Florida resident who helps run a YouTube channel about roller coasters, called Bassoul’s comments about Six Flag customers “classist,” saying the plan would “price out those families and guys who want to have a good time in themselves. which means.” Derek Perry, a Los Angeles nightclub DJ and longtime coaster fan, said he is skeptical of the changes because higher-income families typically spend their vacation dollars at Disneyland or Universal Studios Hollywood, while teenagers and thrill-seeking young adults prefer adrenaline. Six Flags roller coasters. “I understand the plan from a business standpoint, but I don’t know how successful it will be,” he said, adding that he is willing to pay a higher price to continue visiting Six Flags parks. Six Flags’ biggest challenge may be shaking off its decades-old reputation as a low-cost, thrill-ride hangout, according to industry experts. “It’s not clear that the chain’s image will change enough to attract higher-spending customers,” said Martin Lewison, a theme park expert and professor of business management at Farmingdale State College in New York. To upgrade the park’s image and attract higher-income visitors, he said Six Flags may need to invest in new attractions — the kind of multimillion-dollar rides offered at competitors like Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood. “They don’t have that kind of budget,” Lewison said. Although Six Flags has the rights to create attractions based on DC superheroes and Looney Tunes characters, Disney can create themed attractions based on characters from Disney films, the Star Wars franchise, Marvel comics and Pixar , including. Universal Studios can make themed rides based on the Harry Potter franchise and dozens of Universal Studios movies dating back decades. John Gerner, a theme park consultant and managing director of Leisure Business Advisors, said Six Flags should stick to its excitement niche and find ways to operate more efficiently. “I’m not saying it’s impossible,” he said. “I say it’s really challenging.” Bassoul, who took over Six Flags in November, recently told analysts that the strategy would shift the company “from what I call Kmart, Walmart to maybe Target customers.” Six Flags representatives declined to answer questions about specific changes to prices and food offerings at the parks. The company’s earnings data suggests the shift may have already begun. Since the beginning of the year, attendance at the parks is down about 35% from 2019, which has allowed the company to reduce the number of full-time staff by 25%. The company says attendance is down due to recent higher ticket prices and the end of discounted fares. Although the parks saw fewer visitors, each park visitor spent 23% more in the second quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2021, due to higher spending on food, merchandise and admission tickets, the company reports. In the same period, the company reported total revenue of $435 million, which represented a decrease of $24 million, or 5%, compared to the second quarter of 2021. “We’ve changed our customer base to have more families in our parks today,” Bassoul said during the recent earnings call. “And we know that families spend a lot more money at our parks than young adults. The percentage of our families in the first semester that attended our parks, given our safety, was huge.” This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
