Planning a trip to Six Flags this year? Expect to spend more money at the park.
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. will raise the price of its entry fees and shift away from heavy discounts on admission to its parks in the coming weeks, the Arlington-based regional theme park operator said Thursday.
The increase will affect single-day tickets, group tickets and season passes, according to executives.
In the past, Six Flags famously ran discount program after discount program to lower the cost of a single-day ticket, in particular. For a long time, visitors could bring a can of Coca-Cola to the park and get a discounted ticket. It’s not clear which discount programs will stick around.
Six Flags did not respond to a request for additional information.
The cost increases are coming for a few reasons laid out by new chief executive Selim Bassoul on a call with investors on Thursday.
For one, Six Flags is shifting to a new revenue model based on lower attendance and higher prices, which it will justify by making improvements to the guest experience, executives said. That means changing everything from the quality of food and drink to improved wait times for rides.
The theme park plans to begin focusing on “premium” guests that it believes are willing to pay more both for entry and once they’re inside the park.
Bassoul told analysts that the theme park’s prioritizing of heavy discounts and filling the park to capacity was not generating the growth it needed.
Bassoul also noted that inflation has given the company additional cover to increase prices. “Consumers are accepting price increases,” he said.
Overall, Six Flags is targeting families with the changes it plans to implement.
“We want more strollers in our parks,” Bassoul said, “which has not been the case in the past.”
The company anticipates attendance this year will be higher than 2021, though not as high as in pre-pandemic 2019. It saw 28 million guests visit its parks last year, down 5 million compared with 2019.
The company’s total revenue, however, increased $9 million over that same period to $1.5 billion. It attributes that growth to higher spending per visitor.
Bassoul also said the company is prioritizing increasing revenue and then paying down debt. It had nearly $2.3 billion in debt at the start of 2022.
Six Flags operates 27 regional theme parks throughout the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
