If you’re a teenager going to Six Flags on free or discount-ticketed days, the amusement park corporation doesn’t care for your business.
The theme park company, which has 27 parks across North America, is shifting its strategy and target demographic.
It’s doing so by raising ticket prices, upgrading amenities and eliminating promotional deals, as well as any all-you-can-eat meal packages, per the Los Angeles Times.
Six Flags president and CEO Selim Bassoul said during an August earnings report that the variety of discounts has turned the parks into a “cheap day care center for teenagers.”
“Raising prices is no easy task for a company that has trained customers to expect discounts,” said Bassoul. “And in 2022, we have shocked the system with a significant increase in ticket prices.”
This change comes as the year-to-date park attendance dropped by about 35% compared to 2018, according to the Washington Examiner.
Meanwhile, a recent study found that the cost of family outings like baseball games, movie theaters and theme parks increased by two to three times the rate of inflation.
It also compared the cost of family outings in the 1960s to today and found that families now have to work up to twice as many hours as 60 years ago.
Every park has different daily and annual ticket passes but, according to the LA Times, the “per capita spending on admission at Six Flags parks rose by 29% compared with the previous year, from $29.67 per capita to $37.75.”
“I think many of our customers, even if you kept the pricing the same as last year, their disposable income has been hit pretty hard,” Bassoul said in reference to the higher cost of goods.
But he hopes that when the economy finds its new normal, those people can come back to enjoy “the new premiumization and beautification,” shifting away from “the Kmart, Walmart to maybe the Target customer.”
“Our objective is not to become a park that’s not affordable to everyone,” he added.