Fate of the Chain's Largo Location Remains Unclear
By Krissah Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 24, 2006
As new Six Flags Inc. chief executive Mark Shapiro toured the desolate Largo theme park for the first time yesterday, he pointed to a yellow booth called Articature Cartoons, where caricatures of guests are drawn and sold.
"This does nothing. What does this do for your per capita?" Shapiro asked.
"About 2 cents an hour," a park manager replied.
"Get this out of here," Shapiro said. "It's not a good value."
The hard-charging manager that Six Flags chairman and Washington Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder picked to run the Six Flags parks came to Largo to lay out his plan for boosting revenue. He addressed about 100 employees inside the park's Crazy Horse Saloon.
Shapiro, who took the company's helm 36 days ago, energetically rallied employees, announced a plan to increase the number of seasonal employees by 400 to 2,000, and promised to add a daily parade and 30 costumed characters to the park.
But the two-hour staff meeting left unanswered the most pressing question: whether the Largo Six Flags will be sold when the company reviews a report assessing the value of its real estate holdings scheduled for release next month.
"This park has a great history," Shapiro said as he toured it. However, he added, "We have to look at it in terms of expenses."
Closures at the company's 30 parks will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, Shapiro said. The 115 acres beneath the Largo park are the most valuable in the company's portfolio; that land is worth $105 million, according to a 2005 assessment conducted by previous ownership.
Shapiro, a former ESPN programming executive who visited Walt Disney Co. theme parks six times last year, said he won't close any parks this season. His first mission is to draw more visitors, he said.
"We're not a theme park. We're an experience. It's only going to work if you're committed," he told employees, jabbing his pen in the air.
Shapiro painted himself as man in a hurry to implement change, as employees peppered him with questions.
To a question about Snyder's involvement with Six Flags, he said the Redskins owner stepped back after he won the months-long proxy fight to take over Six Flags. "He called and said 'Come tomorrow; I'm not going to really be around that much. If you need me, call me'," Shapiro said.
A maintenance worker asked about promised raises at the park, but Shapiro told him the company's coffers were nearly dry.
"The company has $2.4 billion in debt," he said. "We all have to make sacrifices."
The company has renewed its relationship with Warner Bros. and will feature employees dressed as Batman, Superman, Scooby-Doo and other characters strolling the park. Smoking will be banned, and marketing programs will target families.
Dennis L. Speigel, president of consulting firm International Theme Park Services Inc., said Shapiro probably won't see a quick return with the kind of changes he is enacting. "Over the next several years, they should start getting the Six Flags train back on the track that it left 10 years ago," he said.
The Largo park has had its ups and downs. Last summer, a shooting occurred in its parking lot, and a woman had a fatal heart attack on a water ride. Also last year, a rebuilt water park boosted attendance a few percentage points after a three-year slide. A new security plan will add more plain-clothes detectives and work more closely with Prince George's County police, park managers said.
Shapiro's long-term strategy includes revamping the company's marketing program and developing sponsorships and partnerships with large companies, such as selling corporate branding for rides or allowing a video game company to buy the rights to its arcades.
Disney and Universal Studios theme parks have used similar strategies to offset operating costs much more effectively than Six Flags, said John Robinett, a senior vice president at Economics Research Associates who follows the amusement park industry.
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