I really hate to think that Elitch Gardens is avant garde but it looks like Six Flags is following suit with Giant Loop carnival rides. I thought the whole idea behind having a permanent location was that you then were able to put up rides better than traveling carnivals…but then again… And another thing…what is with this boring names that don’t make any sense. Was the marketing department out on a team building exercise at the local bar when the names were agreed on? Did someone just rubber stamp them? I’m surprised the roller coasters weren’t named “Roller Coaster.”
Six Flags Over Georgia – The park is getting a Giant Loop named Jokers Chaos
Six Flags Over Texas – The park is getting a dark ride named Battle for Metropolis, which seems to be themed toward something related to Batman. One could then only expect that it is going to go into the region near their Batman ride.
Six Flags Great America – This is the only item that we are unclear about. The name of the attraction is 40 Seasons. Which is strange because next year will only be Great America’s 39th season. Could this be their way of saying that they are getting nothing this year in order to get something spectacular for their 40th birthday? Or is this may a show or exhibition of some kind? Great America got something really good last year, so an off season seems like a good bet.
Six Flags Magic Mountain – Okay, so we know the name: Twisted Colossus. What we can assume from the name is that Rocky Mountain coasters is going to give the coaster a remake. What we don’t have at this point are any details to the wild rumors. Typically if Magic Mountain is going to do something that everyone else in Six Flags is doing, they are going to have to go extreme. There is some talk about the first drop attempting to mimic a combination of what X2 and Gatekeep do as a first trick.
Six Flags New England – Wicked Cyclone is going to be the name of their old Cyclone roller coaster after Rocky Mountain Coasters has their way with it. Apparently the marketing team has forgotten that they still own the copyright for the word Psyclone.
Six Flags Great Adventure – The park is getting a Giant Loop named Looping Dragon. Is it going to be themed to a dragon? Umm…probably not.
Six Flags Fiesta Texas – The parking is getting their very own Batman the Ride. But I don’t think this is going to be your typical Batman roller coaster. I still suspect that S&S is putting up their 4D Free Spin roller coaster. This should lead to plenty of confusion about what a Batman ride is.
Six Flags St. Louis – I suspected that a flat ride was going to replace Scooby. Now that we know that their new ride will be called Battle for Metropolis and with its location just across from Mr Freeze, it seems to seal the deal. Hopefully they will keep the shooting mechanism on this, but don’t hold your breath. Batman doesn’t like guns.
Six Flags America – The park is getting a Giant Loop named Bourbon Street Fireball. Maybe I’m just getting clever by half no this name, but this sounds like three buzz words that don’t really go together very well. I mean these three words together sound like a drink you would order in New Orleans. Other than that, it sounds like what would happen when a drunk gets on this ride, mixes well, and then protein spills too close to an open flame.
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom – The park is getting the free Giant Loop from the buy 3 get one free deal and naming it Dare Devil Chaos. This is another one of those cases where the three words together just don’t make any sense at all. Dare Devil? Sure. Devil Chaos? Not so much, but it still works. Even Dare Chaos isn’t too bad. But all three of those words together make it sound like they were buzzwords picked out of a hat at random. Well, dunk poo splatter to you, too.
Six Flags La Ronde – The name of their new attraction is Maison Rouge, but right now we don’t have a clue what it is. This makes me think that it is probably going to be a show or a restaurant of some sort. Or maybe it’s a literal description of what they are going to do and build a red house. You can never tell when it comes to Canadians. Or maybe it has a deeper meaning of a medical center or a hockey rink which are both houses of blood.
Six Flags Mexico – The park is getting a Sky Screamer called Sky Screamer. I mean not even Cielo del Chillón. You do realize that they speak Spanish in Mexico? How lazy is that? Such originality in the name makes me wonder if this is a ruse and maybe they are also getting a Giant Loop and calling it Sky Screamer. I would have sworn that Six Flags had bought enough Sky Screamers a couple of years ago to put two in every park.
Oakwood (UK) – The park is going to replace their Wild West area with a Legend of Sleepy Hollow area. One brutal make-believe land transforming into another brutal make-believe land. Maybe the real reason is to get all of the wannabe cowboys off of the payroll, which is something I completely understand and sympathize with. The exchange is that you are going to have a bunch of people running around with no heads. And the lead character is one of the original nerd/geeks. So a cowboys-for-geeks exchange sounds pretty good to me. It will make it a much more relaxed place to work for all of the good looking ladies.
Gardaland (Italy) – The park is hard at work on their new B&M Dive Coaster.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg – Track for their low-capacity cloned roller coaster is now on site while land clearing is underway. I’m not quite certain why they went with this coaster instead of one of many cloned roller coasters that are in fact cheaper and run much rougher thus thinning the crowds for the ride of season pass holders who will refuse to ride the thing a second time. I’m sure Elitches would sell their Vekoma Boomerang or Mind Eraser for pennies on the dollar if you really wanted to go cheap.
SeaWorld/Busch Gardens – SeaWorld is in a bind. They have some investors that are talking about a class action lawsuit against SeaWorld. Even the CEO this week admitted that they should have done more to counter the Blackfish movie. Now the stock is near all-time lows and the only one to have made any money out of the deal was Blackstone who originally bought SeaWorld/Busch Gardens from InBev, took them public, and then quietly sold all of their shares and backed out completely. Currently their stock price is so low that they are bait to be taken over. But the question becomes: who would want them? In pieces there are plenty of people who would like a piece of the pie. Herschend and Six Flags would be interested in the two Busch Gardens parks, or maybe a split between the two where Six Flags get Busch Gardens Tampa (and their long desired foothold in Florida) and Herschand would take Williamsburg. But the big question would be who would buy SeaWorld/Busch Gardens and then divvy it up? Reports are that Comcast is currently looking into this. They had a shot a while ago when InBev was doing the selling but passed on the opportunity. This time, I think Comcast has something they can bring to the party and turn around a dying park.
If…and this is a big if…Comcast were to take over SeaWorld, the first thing they would have to do is change the name. Something like UniversalSea would be ironic, but I’m sure they could come up with something much better. The second thing they would need to do would be to fire all of the Shamu’s. Getting rid of the killer whales is something that SeaWorld can’t do because the killer whales are their corporate symbol and part of their identity. UniversalSea would have no such attachment and could win a huge PR battle with the outspoken environmentalists by just getting rid of them. As consumers we lose because it would make killer whales extremely rare in captivity, but that is not Comcast’s problem. SeaWorld has decided not to pursue the litigation of allowing trainers back in the water with the killer whales, so the old way of doing business is now officially dead.
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So in case you were interested...
One of the problems that SeaWorld has had is the identity crisis trying to figure out if it is an amusement park, a highly detailed theme park, or a zoo. Comcast would solve that problem very quickly and in a matter of years would have UniversalSea set up as a highly detailed theme park.
A huge win for Comcast would be the SeaWorld park in San Antonio. This is an underutilized market that has plenty of land around it and no competition from the Mouse. Just putting in a parking garage at SeaWorld would allow the expansion of the park to put in a new Islands of Adventure park along with a Harry Potter Land feeding the middle of the United States. There is a Six Flags park nearby but a highly themed park with Harry Potter could bury Six Flags Fiesta Texas in a short amount of time. From where I live, I would much rather go to San Antonio (even though it is in Texas) instead of Los Angeles or Orlando. With the original Schlitterbahns nearby, this would make San Antonio the emerging market of the theme park industry.
Another huge win would be the Sesame Street IP. The kiddy lands at the Universal parks are aging poorly and while the Dr Seuss area is wonderful, an immersive Sesame Street environment would be probably the only other evergreen children’s IP and exactly what the company has been looking for. Overseas, Universal has the IP rights to The Street, so it already has some rides that could be cloned in the United States for fractions of what it would cost to build something new from scratch. Even Sesame Place in Pennsylvania could be kept as a boutique park with new rides cloned from the other larger parks.
Here are your Captain Hindsight ideas: Acknowledge that the Orcas captured were done so in distasteful methods. Suggesting that the current Orcas were captive animals and not fit to survive or be rehabilitated to the wild. Pulling the shows and trainers and focusing on an aquarium type exhibit. Releasing the blue sky plans to improve orca habitats much sooner. Providing a larger sum of money and effort into conservation and rehabilitation of injured aquatic animals. Give the dads and moms enough free beer to forget about the controversy... Lots and lots of beer.
The animal rights movement is a scary one. They aren't easy to win against.
On a serious note, if anything, the ride will probably have something to do with the upcoming Batman v Superman movie. With comic book fans pummeling it left and right, it's going to need all the marketing help it can get.
I do think having trainers in the tank with Shamu to be irrelevant. It isn't that important. The park's attendance hasn't dropped that much, but it could be better.
SeaWorld definitely needs to have a buyout to take the park private to save itself from the Wall Street vultures. This takes a lot of money and much litigation. I have no fear for SeaWorld if Comcast wants to buy it, but it needs strong management to keep the course with Shamu. Save the Killer Whales.
BTW: Changing the name to UniversalSea is lame and worse as a marketing scheme to erase Blackfish. SeaWorld is fine as it is.
Has the chain made some missteps in the wake of the scandal, yes. Were they financially hurt as a result of the inaccuracies and misrepresentations presented in Blackfish, yes. Should the park have fought harder against the documentarians more focused on a gold statuette than presenting an objective look at the Orca captivity, absolutely. But they didn't, and it's too late now to try to clean up the mess that Blackfish created. They have also focused too much on bottom line attendance instead of per-cap spending, which resulted in a slight dip in revenue during the 2Q14. The chain has been honest and up front with investors as to what caused the dip, despite slight attendance growth, and instead of blaming it on the weather, like Six Flags and Cedar Fair love to do, they looked in the mirror. Instead of pulling in the reigns, which many parks tend to do with declining revenue, it triggered a huge investment. People seem to forget that their most profitable park is caught in the crossfire of the biggest theme park war in history as Disney and Universal are poised to continue to fire volleys back and forth at each other for the next decade or more. Sea World has been able to maintain attendance without any new attractions, despite the opening of Diagon Alley and New Fantasyland. Sure, the park didn't increase as investors would like, but it is holding steady as a sideshow to the massive battle for Orlando supremacy.
I think the park model (50% animal attractions/50% rides) can survive in this market, but they appear to be a bit rudderless in terms of vision as a company. Blackfish damaged their reputation and mission as a vehicle for conservation, and perhaps a renewed focus on that may help. They could use a strong CEO to lead the company through this recovery, and I don't think getting snatched up will save their park model. The only advantage of being bought would to eliminate the unhelpful influence on the parks from parties that have ulterior motives. They need to focus on the older crowd, and appeal to guests that are willing to open their wallets for more exclusive experiences, like Discovery Cove and Up-Close Tours. Partnerships should be forged with local upscale resorts and conventions to bring in bigger spenders, instead of trying to appeal to locals and value-conscious tourists.
It's too bad Hurricane Harbor is in between Colossus and the entry, it would have been amazing to create the same truss work entrance with the supports of Twisted Colossus.
Season passes (with parking) are $62 for this weekend.
I too like the idea of Herschend Family Entertainment (owner of Dollywood, Silver Dollar City, & Wild Adventures) acquiring BGW, but not sure what BGW would be renamed as. Another possible buyer I could picture, if Herschend doesn't get BGW... CNL Lifestyle Properties (owner of Herschend-operated Darien Lake, Premier Parks operated Elitch Gardens and Frontier City, and Amusement Management Partners' Magic Springs & Crystal Falls).
Also like the idea of Six Flags acquiring BGTB, which I believe would be huge... and could already picture it getting "Six Flags Tampa Bay" name. And like the idea of Universal Theme Parks acquiring SWSA. The fate of SWO and SWSD would remain to be seen.
I'm looking forward to Six Flags 2015 announcement. I figured SFMM and SFNE wood coasters Colossus and Cyclone, respectively, would likely be in line to receive RMC transformations. Not sure what to make of Larson Super Loops ride that a couple of Six Flags parks are to receive. I would prefer SFGADV getting GCI wood coaster to make up for Rolling Thunder's departure... or SFGADV getting something along the lines of X-Flight, X-2, or Full Throttle. I believe SFSTL and SFOT are getting DC Comics themed dark ride/SFX coaster. Great Escape is long overdue for new coaster. I'm hoping that SFGAM could receive either 242ft tall SkyScreamer, or a Tsunami Soaker/Aqua Twist, or maybe both as part of proposed 40 Seasons celebration.
Off year for us! Kind of a "year of a million dreams" thing going on!
Oh well, Goliath is awesome!
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Herschend buying BGW would be huge. The park would fit right in with SDC and Dollywood and as a season Passholder to SDC, I would get half price admission to the Williamsburg park. Terrific!