The new Six Flags has made its first big, chain-wide operational change since the former Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks merged earlier this month.
Six Flags Entertainment Corporation confirmed today that it has eliminated a guest surcharge fee on in-park food, beverage, and retail purchases at the legacy Six Flags theme parks. The former Cedar Fair parks had not been charging extra fees on in-park purchases.
Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in California earlier had dropped their fees in anticipation to a California law that prohibited so-called "junk fees" starting July 1. California amended that law in late June to continue to allow restaurants to add surcharges, so long as they are disclosed on menus before customers order.
Other states also are taking legal action against surcharges, as more consumers are getting angry and calling lawmakers to do something about prices that are listed as reasonable, but become outrageous once all their associated fees get added.
"We always welcome feedback from our guests on how we can improve their park experience, and the surcharge fee at the legacy Six Flags parks was a frequent target for criticism," Six Flags COO Tim Fisher said. "This decision shows we are listening to our guests and that we value their input. It also reinforces our focus on enhancing guest satisfaction, improving the value proposition and ensuring that families can enjoy a memorable day filled with fun and entertainment."
To keep up to date with more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
And to help support Theme Park Insider while saving money on discounted theme park tickets, please visit our international and U.S. attraction ticket partners.
Now I see that Six Flags Over Georgia, America, and Discovery Kingdom have adopted a Cedar Fair-style chaperone policy, too.
These fees are such a rip off. At SFGA, we paid a $1.30 fee to have the employee ring up and hand us a $6 bottle of water. Kudos to the Cedar Fair management team for eliminating these!
Nice, easy win for the new Six Flags. Here's hoping we see more staffing and some F&B price cuts as well (there have already been a few of the latter).
United Parks, you watching?
Elimination of surcharge and limited adoption of chaperone policy is a win win.
Pretty confident the Six Flags parks are going to see a slow but steady rollout of policies common to Cedar Fair properties over the coming weeks and months. Small scale changes like this will probably come sooner rather than later, but I expect next season we'll see some pretty drastic changes.
United Parks will continue their predatory surcharge practices. Too easy to shakedown their unsuspecting guests. Plus, they need a way to continue to finance their monthly free money giveaways (they call them rewards, but it is really a bribe) to get passholders to spin the turnstiles to juke their attendance numbers.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
I’m waiting the news of the revamp season passes and ending the legacy memberships from Six Flags.