The entire Six Flags chain is a hot mess right now, which is surprising since they emerged from the pandemic in such a strong position. I'll explain further.
They got a new CEO in November 2021 named Selim Bassoul. He replaced Mike Spanos, who was only there for 2 years. Initially, it confused me, because the chain seemed to be on the right track under Spanos. Attendance had rebounded after the pandemic year, and they were opening some cool new rides for the 2022 season. They were also moving away from the previous decade of bargain basement prices for tickets and passes. You'd pay more, but also get a better experience, as they were adding rides of a level that hadn't happened in a while. However, it seemed like Bassoul largely wanted to continue with the business model used under Spanos, so I was optimistic.
The first red flag was when they repeatedly changed their pass structure. They went through at least 3 different pass structures in less than a year. No one did that previously. Not Six Flags, nor any other chain. Then I started to notice that the parks were surprisingly empty, even as we got into the summer season. While I always welcome shorter lines, it was so empty at some parks that you could stay on pretty much any ride again and again without getting off. Something didn't seem right. I also noticed that staffing levels, which were improved from 2021 at the beginning of the season, had started to decline. Then I came across this letter.
It showed that things had really deteriorated. The new employee strategy was to underpay and fire anyone who disagreed with the CEO. They were also reportedly skimping on things like maintenance. Shortly after was their 2nd quarter results and earnings call. That's when shit really hit the fan. Attendance was down 22%, revenue was also down. While per guest spending was up, it wasn't enough. Guest satisfaction scores were also higher, but only due to the lack of lines from attendance so low that it put the company in the red. Having listened to the earnings call, it became clear that not only would the chain get no new rides in 2023 or 2024, but that the CEO in fact has no clue what he is doing.
Then we started to see rides or even entire sections of the park get shut down for the season, often without warning, in August. The cycle worked like this: 1. raise prices. 2. when attendance drops, raise prices to compensate. 3. If attendance still doesn't increase, then stop operating entire sections of your park.
They claim they want to be family friendly, yet the parks have thrill rides. They'd need to invest heavily in family/kids rides in order to get to where they want, yet they refuse to do even that.
The bottom line is management has no clue what they are doing. It's become ORDA level bad. The board needs to oust the CEO before something is done that can't be reversed, like removing a major ride (Six Flags Over Texas may actually be doing it).
As for El Toro, they should be test riding it every morning. But that ride runs a lot slower in the morning than it usually does, and during testing, there's typically only one person on the train. They ride the ride and look and listen for anything out of the ordinary. Keep in mind that on El Toro, trains run much slower in the morning when the ride isn't warmed up. I believe whatever failed was not detectable unless the train was fully loaded and fully warmed up. That being said, to give people confidence that the ride is safe, they should be replacing all the track with Intamin made pieces (they typically make their own in-house). But this is expensive, and I'm not sure this CEO will do it, meaning El Toro will be El Lawn Ornament for now. Even with a full retrack, it's likely done for the season, and will also be closed for part of next season. This is due to lead times, and how long the track takes to install.
