All other Six Flags parks around the country operate on a seasonal basis, closing after Halloween or Christmas, then reopening in spring. But in Southern California, the Disneyland parks and Universal Studios Hollywood open every day of the year, and Knott's Berry Farm opens every day but Christmas, putting Six Flags Magic Mountain at a disadvantage against other Los Angeles and Orange County theme parks. The operational switch should provide Six Flags Magic Mountain with an attendance boost, as fans no longer have to check to see if the park is open on any given day. They can just go.
"With the best collection of thrills in the world and the Six Flags brand expanding globally, this is the perfect time for one of our flagship properties to make the business transition to a 365-day operating schedule in order to maximize travel industry opportunities," Jim Reid-Anderson, Chairman, President and CEO of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, said in a statement. "We can also now further leverage our thrill brand to the population base of 24-million Southern Californians and take advantage of new shoulder season business growth."
Now, even though a park is scheduled to be open every day of the year, weather can change those plans. The Disney and Universal parks typically stay open in what we soft Southern Californians consider "inclement weather," but that's because they have many more indoor and covered attractions that can run in the rain. Knott's and Six Flags Magic Mountain, with their heavier emphasis on coasters and outdoor rides, closed several days due to rain over the past winter. So let's put it this way: With its new year-round schedule, Six Flags Magic Mountain now will be open every day of the year that anyone actually will want to go. (What can I say? We're wimps about going out in the rain around here.)
Sunny winter weekdays actually might turn out to become the best days to visit the park, as fans can escape the typically scorching Santa Clarita valley heat from the rest of the year. The questions for fans then become... how many of the parks' coasters will be operating on any given day during the winter, and at what capacity?
"Off season" months typically bring much shorter lines... but at the cost of not being able to get on certain attractions due to refurbishments. That's been an issue on winter weekends at Six Flags Magic Mountain but should become more of an issue in 2018 as running coasters more often throughout the year presumably would necessitate accelerating their refurbishment schedules. Six Flags could minimize that need by keeping more coasters closed during the winter months and reducing capacity on those that do run, but that then runs the risk of generating frustration among fans who do show at the park during the extra operating days.
So there's a whole slew of operational questions involved when expanding a park's calendar. But if operating more days leads to higher attendance, which makes a park more money, then there's an incentive to keep the cycle spinning forward by offering even more to those new fans. That's the business model that Disney and Universal have followed to great success, so we will see if Six Flags tries heading down that route, as well.
Of course, world-class IP helps, too. Time for a "Winter with Wonder Woman" festival at Magic Mountain?
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I visited Six Flags Over Texas the Friday prior to Memorial Day 2016. I left hungry as there were very few food locations open, maybe 1/3. Perhaps a rainy morning that kept away the crowds kept locations closed (lucky for me, as the afternoon was beautiful).
Aside from a single BBQ location, most stands were selling the same dozen food items: chicken fingers, hot dogs, frozen lemonades. I looked for an iced coffee or an ice cream—no luck. They lost out on revenue by operating too efficiently.
Although when they opened, park staff were very much the high school/college summer break type, over time they've come to resemble the rest of the California service industry makeup. In short, they're largely Hispanic, overwhelmingly adult, and most working multiple jobs.
This could actually be a good thing for staff retention and development, since many more employees should be able to get enough hours to be full-time (assuming Six Flags doesn't intentionally limit people's hours to avoid paying benefits, which we all know they will).
As for closing coasters in the off season, I don't think that is likely. However, closing non-coaster rides (pretty much anything except Lex Luthor and Justice League would probably be fair game) and running one train on all but the most popular coasters is probably a realistic picture.
I'm wondering if this is a move toward an emphasis on SF annual passes. Selling another 10,000 of those would certainly make this a worthwhile move. The rest of the Southern California market thrives on that model, so it makes sense for SF to do the same.
I don't think so, as long as they're up front about which rides are closed at any given time. At some point rides will have to be taken down for maintenance, or break because they're being run 365 days a year. The park is going to naturally be less crowded on winter weekdays, so why push to have every ride open for a few thousand people? Rotate closures around the park in the low season, but just make sure that guests know up front what's open and what's closed.
Disney and Universal do the same thing. Splash Mountain is going down during my visit to WDW in October, and while it's upsetting that it's not running while I'm there (I went 3 straight visits to IOA when Dudley Do Right was down), I don't feel "ripped off", because there's plenty of stuff to do in the MK to fill a day. I've known for months about the closure and could have changed the dates of my visit if a ride on Splash Mountain was essential to my WDW vacation.
If SFMM closed just 3-4 of their coasters on any given day, there's still plenty to do. SFMM arguably has 6 world class, unique, destination coasters: X2, Tatsu, Full Throttle, Goliath (arguable since it's almost an exact copy of Titan), Twisted Colossus, and Riddler's Revenge. As long as 4 or 5 of those are running along with a half dozen of the other coasters, almost every guest should go home happy. Certainly if I planned a trip a year or more in advance and found out that my planned trip fell on a day that X2 and Tatsu would be down, I'd be upset, but I wouldn't feel ripped off. After all, coasters/attraction could go down at any time even if they're scheduled to be operating, so a walk through any theme park gates could lead to frustration from closed rides and the feeling of being ripped off. At least SF could let people know ahead of time, while still making sure all of the coasters receive their needed annual maintenance. If SF is really doing this as a way to lure more people into buying season passes, locals can much more easily plan around announced closures, reducing the likelihood of guests feeling ripped off.
I do see an argument for a rotating maintenance cycle, and I do think it would be reasonable to take one or two coasters down at a time. However, most non-enthusiast passholders that I know simply will not visit if their favorite ride is closed, so minimizing closed coasters is probably necessary to keep attendance acceptable. Also, if the park intends to attract more tourist traffic (which I'm guessing is part of the reason behind this), they need to keep everything open as much as they can. Closing major rides simply to save on staffing would be shooting themselves in the foot on that front.
They can still operate the whole park on weekends and holidays, but I don't see any reason for them to try to run every coaster just for a handful of coaster fanboys. It will be interesting to see what they do, and if they're able to sustain 365-day operations beyond 2018.
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