It’s the 4th largest population the company serves. The only metro areas larger in the country are NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago. SFOT should be a MAJOR player, especially now that Universal is coming in as a competitor.
@@jaygardnertenor at this point I really just want them to deep clean the park like never before (drain the swamp, better irrigation, and have a top notch cleaning crew to keep the park clean). Once they get that on track everything else will fall into place. They already have space marked off and areas expanded for new additions (by La Vibora and where Harley Quinn used to be). As a park things can get better with time and care. I just worry that with other parks added to the chain SFOT will get lost in the shuffle a little.
When I was young my home park was Cedar Point up to when we moved to Texas in the mid 80’s. At that point SFOT became my home park. The differences even back then were/ are night and day. So I heard about the merger my first thoughts were great, cleaner parks, better ride experiences, and a more expanded entertainment department (IP swaps and characters integrated into each park). While I still believe those things will happen I can’t help but feel like some of things that made each park unique will go away. I also believe that now that there are more parks to the chain, parks like SFOT will be even more neglected in favor of Knott’s Berry Farm and definitely Cedar Point (I could be wrong and hope I am). What are considered mid tier parks 2 years ago will now be considered low tier by corporate standards. Either way I am hopeful that things change for the better and can’t wait to eventually be able to use my pass and benefits At Schliterbahn as well. Anyway thanks for the video and reality check. Thanks for what you do.
Cedar Fair parks are not switching to Six Flags pass system, which has been a cluster F&ck for years that has changed 10 times in 4 years. Cedar Fair system is actually simple, Silver/Summer pass are only thru Labor Day passes. Gold gets you into your home park includes the fall/halloween/winterfest, You can buy a passport for an additional $110 to get into all parks. Prestige is just a VIP system that gets extra benefits, lounges, etc... The days of the ridiculous sales at SF legacy parks are going to end. You're not going to get a free upgrade from just your home park(platinum) to all parks Diamond, with that all park pass being $75 to $110, depending on the park.
Prior to Selim's reign, I would have been anti-merger. The current state of the Six Flags chain makes me pro-merger. I am hopeful we see improved and consistent management, pricing, entertainment offerings, and food service. Also, bringing back single rider lines would be a major plus.
I couldn't have said it better. I'm a current Six Flags Over Texas patron. When I was a kid we went to Cedar Point. I really hope Cedar Fair improves Six Flags. I also hope single rider lines are brought back. Some of my family won't ride some of the bigger coasters with me, so I have to go on by myself. I am concerned about a price increase for Six Flags passes. I guess we're the "Walmart customers" SF complained about. We're not dirt poor, but we're not rich either. We can't really afford the current daily ticket prices. We do the monthly payment for an annual pass, & we have a two meal dining pass added to it. We go often enough that the annual pass ends up being at least equal to what we would have paid buying daily tickets. We buy souvenirs occasionally and before we got the dining pass we would buy a food item. Usually snack so under $10.00 maybe? We always bought the all season drink cups before they were included in the pass.
Cedar Fair invested in their smaller parks in other things than dry park rides, which is what enthusiast base things on . The smaller Cedar Fair parks like Dorney, CGA, WOF are kept up aesthetically, that takes Capex. They got major food upgrades and water park stuff. The smaller Cedar Fair parks often have their draw for attendance via the waterpark...ie..Dorney, which kept getting new water park stuff. Their water park is always packed while the dry park lines are typically short
I'm a Cedar Fair guy and I was totally against the merger and gave them hell over it. I didn't want our great experience to become a Six Flags situation. Salim Bassoul ruined your company or actually finished ruining it after several others over the last 3 decades ruined it. I didn't want that to come to Cedar Fair. Since there doesn't seem to be anything we can do to change it now, I guess I'll just have to live with this situation. I hope it will be a positive situation! I'll try to be open about it until I see that it's going to be detrimental and if it is, I'll definitely say something about it!
I grew up going to six flags over Texas but live to far away now and havent been for years. We bought season passes this year to Kings Dominion which is a cedar fair park and we love it there. They are building a new roller coaster right now. Seems to be going up quick.
I ran into the head of creativity for SFOT leaving the park last weekend, looked her up on LinkedIn too, and she told me more live shows are making a comeback. I have a sense they want to make things better, but I don't know what that cost would be vs. making sure stock holders are getting a return, too. I wonder if they are past the point of no return? I also asked about staying open until later, too, as I remember as a kid in the 80' and 90's. The nightlife and lights are the best.
We ran into the head of food and beverage for all Six Flags on the day Dino Adventure opened. He said all the food was overpriced and needs a $4-5 price drop across the board, the food quality needs to be better, and it is inexcusable that a lot of the food stalls run out of ice by 2pm at SFOT. It sounded like he was really handcuffed in what he could do by management above him
Six flags as a whole was on a downward spiral in every category. This merger was needed or they probably would have went bankrupt. Cedar Fair is better in almost every way. If they can’t turn the old Six Flags parks around, no one can. Be gone Six Flags flash pass system! I think it would be ideal for Cedar Fair to sell off a few parks to Herschend or Universal. Then they can focus on the middle tier parks.
Old Six Flags has been purchased and sold over and again by investment companies or other entertainment companies which weren't skilled in amusement park operations.... And it showed. Six Flags finally landed in a spot where it could operate with consistent practices and never got stablized. Now this merger happened in the nick of time for the old SF. Luckily, more of the Cedar Fair corporate culture is going to occupy more space than the Six Flags corporate culture in this merger....thank goodness.
Awesome video but the days of cedar Fair in six flags competing with universal Disney SeaWorld they don't get the foot traffic they're not going to build coaster war type coasters anymore
That’s the point. Cedar Fair has been able to retain what Ghost Town is, including leaning into it with Ghost Town Alive. Plus the new Fiesta Village refresh is 🤌
Spot on analysis. I'm very hopeful to say the least, but I'm also a realist to understand that it may come at a price with potentially losing parks or being too big resulting in it eating into great former Cedar Fair Parks. With Six Flags Over Texas, I hope that it receives some TLC to what is already there with quality capital investments in the future.
To answer your last question, i think no, they're still going to deliver top quality products especially to compete with no only the big dogs, but also family choices so they can go to their local theme/Amusement park. However, i think the days of having the next investment to always be the biggest and baddest roller coaster is over, especially with the new themed/family approach Cedar Fair has been taking
I imagine that if they end up streamlining the pass system for both sets of parks then they’ll disappear. If it stays separated then you may be safe for a time longer.
I haven't seen Cedar. Park I have no comments but if they are the management for all six , but I am a home six flags over texas I remember six flags over texas was fun Shows in the 90 Early 2000. I'm hoping they can bring that back.
I hope this leads to a major overhaul at Six Flats Over Texas. It has become really run down and lackluster.
It’s the 4th largest population the company serves. The only metro areas larger in the country are NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago. SFOT should be a MAJOR player, especially now that Universal is coming in as a competitor.
I hope so too
I predict the Texas and California parks will get those overhauls. Look to 2026!
@@jaygardnertenor at this point I really just want them to deep clean the park like never before (drain the swamp, better irrigation, and have a top notch cleaning crew to keep the park clean). Once they get that on track everything else will fall into place. They already have space marked off and areas expanded for new additions (by La Vibora and where Harley Quinn used to be). As a park things can get better with time and care. I just worry that with other parks added to the chain SFOT will get lost in the shuffle a little.
six flags over georgia is the same way. so run down that i skipped going this year.
When I was young my home park was Cedar Point up to when we moved to Texas in the mid 80’s. At that point SFOT became my home park. The differences even back then were/ are night and day. So I heard about the merger my first thoughts were great, cleaner parks, better ride experiences, and a more expanded entertainment department (IP swaps and characters integrated into each park). While I still believe those things will happen I can’t help but feel like some of things that made each park unique will go away. I also believe that now that there are more parks to the chain, parks like SFOT will be even more neglected in favor of Knott’s Berry Farm and definitely Cedar Point (I could be wrong and hope I am). What are considered mid tier parks 2 years ago will now be considered low tier by corporate standards. Either way I am hopeful that things change for the better and can’t wait to eventually be able to use my pass and benefits At Schliterbahn as well. Anyway thanks for the video and reality check. Thanks for what you do.
Cedar Fair parks are not switching to Six Flags pass system, which has been a cluster F&ck for years that has changed 10 times in 4 years. Cedar Fair system is actually simple, Silver/Summer pass are only thru Labor Day passes. Gold gets you into your home park includes the fall/halloween/winterfest, You can buy a passport for an additional $110 to get into all parks. Prestige is just a VIP system that gets extra benefits, lounges, etc... The days of the ridiculous sales at SF legacy parks are going to end. You're not going to get a free upgrade from just your home park(platinum) to all parks Diamond, with that all park pass being $75 to $110, depending on the park.
Thank you for the update. I was curious what this merger might mean for Six Flags over Texas.
Prior to Selim's reign, I would have been anti-merger. The current state of the Six Flags chain makes me pro-merger.
I am hopeful we see improved and consistent management, pricing, entertainment offerings, and food service.
Also, bringing back single rider lines would be a major plus.
I couldn't have said it better. I'm a current Six Flags Over Texas patron. When I was a kid we went to Cedar Point. I really hope Cedar Fair improves Six Flags. I also hope single rider lines are brought back. Some of my family won't ride some of the bigger coasters with me, so I have to go on by myself. I am concerned about a price increase for Six Flags passes. I guess we're the "Walmart customers" SF complained about. We're not dirt poor, but we're not rich either. We can't really afford the current daily ticket prices. We do the monthly payment for an annual pass, & we have a two meal dining pass added to it. We go often enough that the annual pass ends up being at least equal to what we would have paid buying daily tickets. We buy souvenirs occasionally and before we got the dining pass we would buy a food item. Usually snack so under $10.00 maybe? We always bought the all season drink cups before they were included in the pass.
Thank you for this fantastic video. You are always fair and balance!!!
Cedar Fair invested in their smaller parks in other things than dry park rides, which is what enthusiast base things on . The smaller Cedar Fair parks like Dorney, CGA, WOF are kept up aesthetically, that takes Capex. They got major food upgrades and water park stuff. The smaller Cedar Fair parks often have their draw for attendance via the waterpark...ie..Dorney, which kept getting new water park stuff. Their water park is always packed while the dry park lines are typically short
They should rename it to Cedar Flags so it'll have the Cedar parks identity in with it.
I'm a Cedar Fair guy and I was totally against the merger and gave them hell over it. I didn't want our great experience to become a Six Flags situation. Salim Bassoul ruined your company or actually finished ruining it after several others over the last 3 decades ruined it. I didn't want that to come to Cedar Fair. Since there doesn't seem to be anything we can do to change it now, I guess I'll just have to live with this situation. I hope it will be a positive situation! I'll try to be open about it until I see that it's going to be detrimental and if it is, I'll definitely say something about it!
I grew up going to six flags over Texas but live to far away now and havent been for years. We bought season passes this year to Kings Dominion which is a cedar fair park and we love it there. They are building a new roller coaster right now. Seems to be going up quick.
I ran into the head of creativity for SFOT leaving the park last weekend, looked her up on LinkedIn too, and she told me more live shows are making a comeback. I have a sense they want to make things better, but I don't know what that cost would be vs. making sure stock holders are getting a return, too. I wonder if they are past the point of no return?
I also asked about staying open until later, too, as I remember as a kid in the 80' and 90's. The nightlife and lights are the best.
We ran into the head of food and beverage for all Six Flags on the day Dino Adventure opened. He said all the food was overpriced and needs a $4-5 price drop across the board, the food quality needs to be better, and it is inexcusable that a lot of the food stalls run out of ice by 2pm at SFOT. It sounded like he was really handcuffed in what he could do by management above him
I hope the Runaway Mine Train will not be removed from Six Flags Over Texas. It is a classic ride.
And it’s probably the best Arrow mine train overall.
Six flags as a whole was on a downward spiral in every category. This merger was needed or they probably would have went bankrupt. Cedar Fair is better in almost every way. If they can’t turn the old Six Flags parks around, no one can. Be gone Six Flags flash pass system! I think it would be ideal for Cedar Fair to sell off a few parks to Herschend or Universal. Then they can focus on the middle tier parks.
Old Six Flags has been purchased and sold over and again by investment companies or other entertainment companies which weren't skilled in amusement park operations....
And it showed. Six Flags finally landed in a spot where it could operate with consistent practices and never got stablized. Now this merger happened in the nick of time for the old SF. Luckily, more of the Cedar Fair corporate culture is going to occupy more space than the Six Flags corporate culture in this merger....thank goodness.
Awesome video but the days of cedar Fair in six flags competing with universal Disney SeaWorld they don't get the foot traffic they're not going to build coaster war type coasters anymore
Knotts Berry Farm always had the Old West Ghost Town theme since its opening. Fiesta Village section was opened back in 1969.
That’s the point. Cedar Fair has been able to retain what Ghost Town is, including leaning into it with Ghost Town Alive. Plus the new Fiesta Village refresh is 🤌
Spot on analysis. I'm very hopeful to say the least, but I'm also a realist to understand that it may come at a price with potentially losing parks or being too big resulting in it eating into great former Cedar Fair Parks.
With Six Flags Over Texas, I hope that it receives some TLC to what is already there with quality capital investments in the future.
To answer your last question, i think no, they're still going to deliver top quality products especially to compete with no only the big dogs, but also family choices so they can go to their local theme/Amusement park. However, i think the days of having the next investment to always be the biggest and baddest roller coaster is over, especially with the new themed/family approach Cedar Fair has been taking
As the merger is now completed, do you think they'll keep the legacy memberships still?
Great question. I think that they are going to raise their prices for all passes and memberships. I hope not, but I see rising prices coming.
We shall see @@mhs0407
I imagine that if they end up streamlining the pass system for both sets of parks then they’ll disappear. If it stays separated then you may be safe for a time longer.
@@AmusementSource so you see the entire program going away some time in the future?
Six flags have safely, maintenance, upkeep, ride, cleanliness issues. I mean seriously they are a mess.
How does this affect licensing with DC and WB will six flags continue using those characters?
Licensing continues to carry through as normal. We will see what happens once licensing is up for renewal later down the road.
I haven't seen Cedar. Park I have no comments but if they are the management for all six , but I am a home six flags over texas I remember six flags over texas was fun
Shows in the 90 Early 2000.
I'm hoping they can bring that back.
This is so confusing