Zoombezi Bay announcement

Gifts for Coaster Nerds

Profit Maximizing an Amusement Park: Six Flags Food Rebranding

Just read the rumor over on Screamscape.com about Six Flags rebranding the food options in their parks (ie. Papa John's Pizza to a generic pizza place). At first glance, this doesn't make any sense to me. In this report from January 7th, 2010 they claim branding their food significantly increased their revenue:

Six Flags' ability to rapidly identify and effectively capitalize on sponsorship opportunities is a part of the significant growth in gross revenue per capita and gross profit per capita.  For example, replacing unbranded pizza in 2006 with Papa John's, a newly-acquired national sponsor, increased gross revenue per capita spending on pizza by 93% and increased gross profit per capita on pizza by 87% by 2008.  Similarly, replacing unbranded hamburgers with Johnny Rockets increased gross revenue per capita spending on hamburgers by 42% and increased gross profit per capita on hamburgers by 30% by 2008.

 

If branding their food resulted in increased gross revenue why would they suddenly un-brand it? Well, I think the key word here is REVENUE. Their revenue increased and they make no mention of what the PROFIT was. So, branding their food options may have increased revenue but profits could be down, we just don't know. Another key missing piece of information is the price of the food. The revenue may have gone up only because the price of a piece of pizza dramatically increased. If the price was higher for Papa John's brand, then you've got your per-cap growth right there. That's just an increase in spending however, it doesn't reflect an increase in profits if the cost of that product was also higher.

From what I've heard, for many of these name brand sites, the deals had Six Flags only getting

a percentage of the cost of the items... and not the full profit. Not sure, but I wonder if they were franchised out entirely with the staff being employees of Papa John's and not Six Flags.

 

This is much the same way that a lot of ride photo stands started out long ago, and I know Lo-Q works the same way with the flash passes. Lo-Q runs the stands, Lo-Q pays for the install in the park and still owns the devices and system. This is why Six Flags Flash Pass is so expensive, because Lo-Q takes most of the profits from the system as the operator, and just gives Six Flags a percentage off the top.

 

Same goes with all those crazy locker systems Six Flags put in. Six Flags didn't pay for them, they are leased out by an outside vendor, much like all the soda machines in the parks. That's why you don't see soda machines in Disney... they make more money by having their own stands with employees running them to sell plastic coke bottles all day. I'm guessing Six Flags can't staff enough employees to make this work out for them, so they went the automated machine route.

 

If it made better financial sense to outsource, even the big parks in Orlando would think about it, but they don't... because you always make more money in the end by owning everything you sell and cut out all the middle-men whenever possible.

 

Anyway, from what I'm told, all of these deals are under renegotiations and unless the terms are a lot better for Six Flags, they are leaving.

 

 

 

Cantilevered Coaster Update

Just a quick CRC update for you. I'm working on a new simulation with a longer length track and more realistic movement (more sweeping transitions). This are just a few quick screen shots so the quality isn't great. Video coming soon (hopefully)!

What are Lock Out Tag Out Procedures and how are they used?

Lock Out Tag Out (LOTO) is a practice or procedure used to safeguard employees from unexpected startup of machinery, rides and attractions, or the release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance. OSHA 1910.147 requires that only an authorized or qualified individual is to perform a Lock Out Tag Out operation. These rules require that all energy sources be turned off and either locked out or tagged out while service or maintenance work is being performed.

When performing maintenance on a piece of equipment or a machine, it must be locked out before performing work. The technician needs to de-energize the power source by setting a switch of some sort to the off position. Once the power source is de-energized, the technician will need to put a safety device on the switch, plug, valve, etc. The technician will need to place a pad lock and a tag (signed and dated by technician) on the safety device. Once the maintenance is performed, the technician will need to work in reverse order (removing lockout device and powering the equipment back on) and finishing the maintenance by testing the equipment.

The LOTO procedure should capture all valuable aspects that a maintenance person will need to know to perform the work including:

1. Equipment being de-energized
   
2. Location of equipment
   
3. Total Lockout Points
   
4. Description of equipment
   
5. Warnings
   
6. Required Equipment
   
7. Potential Hazards
   
8. Pre-Lockout procedures
   
9. Lockout Hazards
   
10. Lockout Procedure
    
11. Additional Information
    
12. Ride Access Control (RAC) is a term used when an authorized personnel performs certain tasks before powering down an attraction/equipment.
    
    1. Announce over the PA system that the ride will be shut down.
       
    2. Lock gates.
       
    3. Verify no personnel is in proximity of attraction.
       
    4. Depress the E-stop.
       
13. RAC is also performed after attraction/equipment has been serviced, mentioned as "bringing the ride back to life."
    

Recently, there was an incident at Disneyland Paris where a worker was killed while working on the "it's a small world" attraction. This is a tragedy that should never happen if LOTO procedures are performed and followed correctly.

Big Thunder Mountain CAD Recreation

 I decided to start a computer model recreation of one of my all time favorite attractions: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Walt Disney World. It's one of the best themed rides around. I started with one of the switches for the dual loading station. The picture below is model with the 3D Via stand alone player using 3dxml files. Enjoy!

What is the rail to rail dimension on a roller coaster?

I've modeled a number of roller coasters with different CAD programs. The hardest part of trying to recreate a ride in 3D or even creating an original yet realistic design is coming up with the dimensions. I have often wondered what the rail center to center distance is. I've searched high and low on the internet but it is not something that is easily found. Well, today I finally got some definitive data. The center to center rail distance on the Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World is exactly 30 inches. Each rail has a diameter of 3 inches.