Six Flags - (7/21/06) After reporting about a Disney themed gift shop that has sprung up at Six Flags Darien Lake earlier this week, the feedback from readers so far has pointed out additional shops selling Disney merchandise at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Six Flags Great America and Six Flags America so far. Additional information leads us to believe that this is likely happening chain wide at all of the Six Flags parks right now. Now the question is, why would anyone want to buy a Mickey Mouse plush or key chain after just having their picture taken with the Justice League?
This could be a variety of things from just license agreement to a juicy rumor for a takeover. You have to ask though, why? What is SF thinking by selling Mickey Mouse stuff, the idea is to set yourself apart from the competition. I know they want to become a family park, but lets create our own brand here.
Maybe Disney is seeing how well some of the stuff sells before they make a final decision on making an offer? I just don't see Disney buying the Six Flags chain, these parks don't exactly fit into their portfolio.
Here's a couple pics I took at Magic Mt. last month.
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My duaghter modeling the Pirates T-Shirt we bought there.
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Disney licenses the creation of this stuff to the manufacturer, then the manufacturer sells it to any retailer they want to.
So, this isn't a deal worked between Disney and Six Flags. Six Flags cracked open a manufactures catalog and placed an order.
Why would Six Flags sell Disney merchandise? Because it sells better than the DC comics and Looney Toons stuff. What Six Flags needs now is profitable revenue. Selling a T-shirt for $20 that sells at Wall Mart for $12 is profitable revenue.
They can worry about building their own brand when they are no longer on the very brink of bankruptcy.
The store sells a wide variety on non-Six Flags themed merchandise. Lots of generic California T-shirts. Lots of cheap jewelery. Lots of nick-nacks and stuff. And, Disney stuff.
The store appeared to be owned and run by Six Flags. They weren't selling Disneyland themed merchandise, just general Disney stuff: Mickey, Tinkerbell, Pirates, Pooh...
Will they do anything for buck??? Well, in case you haven't heard, there is a serious risk of Six Flags going into bankruptcy. So yeah, they'll do just about anything to avoid that, even if they have to buy some Disney merchandise and sell it at an obscene profit in their parks.
