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View Full Version : Annual Passholders, why different than Six Flags



ppmuse
03-08-2004, 09:23 AM
Got a stupid question. My wife and I are bigger fans of Disney theme parks than we are of Six Flags. BUT, Six Flags season pass is 100 dollars a person, and it includes ALL Six Flags parks. Why can't Disney do this? I think I would be more incline to go to WDW once a year if the season pass includes all disney parks. Does the pass do this, or is it just for Disneyland? If it doesn't, and you have to pay 200 dollars for an annual pass for both Disneyland and CA Adventure, how can disney get away with this? Especially when Six Flags annual pass is SOOO much cheaper. Just thought I'd ask.

coaster53
03-08-2004, 09:35 AM
SFMM is a seasonal park as well as the other Six Flags across the country. You are purchasing a pass that will allow you to visit during a limited operating season. I am sure Six Flags has done the math and realizes that very few people use the pass to visit outside their home park. Disneylaynd is a local park and relies upon the annual passholders during the off season. Disney World is a world destination and in the past has not needed the local population as much. Luckily, the dip in attendance due to travel fears seems to be fading at WDW. Also, I think you get more bang for your buck at a Disney theme park. There are the costs of parades, shows, and upkeep of more complicated attractions. Six Flags has very little like this. In a side by side comparison Disney gives you more value, my opinion of course.

Brian Noble
03-08-2004, 09:37 AM
For one, six flags is going broke *and* attendance has been falling literally across the chain. Somehow, despite the fact that every other theme park operator had either steady or rising attendance chain-wide, Six Flags was plagued by "continued bad weather". Not exactly a winning business model.

I did give SFMW my $60 for 2004, though.

sediment
03-08-2004, 10:10 AM
SFMM are mostly the same parks. You get what you pay for. The true coaster freak (me, about 20 years ago) would have loved this. I'd have planned an around-the-country road trip. I'm not doing this now, at my advanced age.

sediment
03-08-2004, 10:11 AM
Also, it's not a whole year. just the "season."

cstephens
03-08-2004, 10:52 AM
Originally posted by ppmuse
If it doesn't, and you have to pay 200 dollars for an annual pass for both Disneyland and CA Adventure, how can disney get away with this? Especially when Six Flags annual pass is SOOO much cheaper.

Disney can get away with it because their parks are a superior product, in the opinion of many. Six Flags passes are cheaper because that's what the market will bear. Same thing with Knott's and Universal, and Sea World too probably. I don't think many people would be willing to pay $200 for a pass to any of those parks, but many do for Disney. It's not really that different than any other commodity where one thing costs more than another, but the perceived value that you get is different.

Forbin
03-08-2004, 11:15 AM
Exactly..

1) Six Flags closes during the week sometimes. I remember trying to go there and it was closed, so I went Skiing instead.

2) Six Flags isn't located in what I call 'downtown LA'. Valencia is about a good hour from Universal for the NORMAL driver...not the manaic one..hehe...that's 20 minutes.

3) Universal's Annual Pass is only $50, a heck of a lot less than Six Flags or Disney, but it still doesn't draw the crowd Disney does.

4) Disney doesn't even Advertise their Pass as heavy as Six Flags or Universal....because they don't have to.

5) Disney has more wider age appeal than Six Flags....Last time I was at Six Flags I was courting girls...hehe...many years ago. Now I don't even CONSIDER going there.