Striving for More Family Value

Six Flags Looks to Clean Up Its Parks and Finances With a Focus on Fun for All Ages

Michael Chapman sat sheepishly beside his two daughters at the Six Flags America concert hall in Largo last Thursday. He clapped his hands and bobbed his head and smiled good-naturedly. All around him, a throng of adoring adolescent fans took to their feet, stomping, cheering and dancing as the punk-pop group the Plain White T's burst into its first song of the night.

This was precisely how the Chapmans had planned to end their seven-day road trip from Raleigh to Boston and back -- three rows away from their favorite band.

The Chapmans are the type of customers Six Flags is trying to lure this summer as the company rolls out a family-friendly image, with attractions intended to appeal to toddlers, teens, moms and dads, as much as the chain's traditional thrill-seeking demographic.

This focus on families is perhaps the most visible piece of a turnaround strategy orchestrated by Six Flags chief executive Mark Shapiro, who was installed after Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder took control of the troubled theme park company in a 2005 proxy battle. The chain is seeking to refurbish its financial performance and its public reputation, but those efforts have been complicated by the company's heavy debt and sagging stock price.

Six Flags management is targeting families because the company has found that they spend more money, stay longer in the parks and are more likely to make return visits. Several new marketing partnerships, attractions like the Thursday night concert series and an emphasis on cleanliness and efficiency are key to drawing that demographic, company executives said.

"We really are focused on the parks as complete, family destinations," Wendy Goldberg, a Six Flags spokeswoman, said.

This summer is important for the company's efforts. It marks the first full year that new management has had to influence every aspect of the business. And, like other theme park operators, Six Flags draws most of its revenue in the second and third quarters.

In a conference call with analysts last month, Shapiro said there were some early indicators that the strategy was taking hold. Attendance through June 3 was flat compared with the same period last year, but revenue was up 5 percent, he said. The unchanged attendance could be attributed in part to fewer operating days, Shapiro said, as the company closed parks to cut costs on days when attendance had historically been light. Repeat visits increased about 15 percent, and spending per visitor rose about 3 percent, he said.

"Our audience is shifting, more families, less teens, same total audience," Shapiro said. "We're getting more strollers and less tattoos. But just as importantly, we're getting spenders."

But some analysts say the company still has a way to go. "Too many consumers still think of Six Flags as a dirty, abandoned, run-down set of theme parks where troubled teens loiter, smoke cigarettes, and cause trouble," David Miller, an analyst who follows Six Flags for SMH Capital, wrote in a report following Shapiro's conference call. "The good news is, we are still in the early innings of an extra-innings ballgame in the endeavor to turn that image around."

Creating a Family-Friendly Face

Although Six Flags is perhaps better known as an adrenaline-junkie's haven, it began as a theme park, Six Flags Over Texas, based on the cultures of the six flags that had historically flown over the state: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America and the United States.

The chain grew through acquisitions and construction of new parks, changing hands several times and deemphasizing its original theme. As roller coasters became faster and more popular, the company focused on installing big rides.