New Orleans preparing to sue Six Flags....

[raptorcp21]

City of New Orleans is preparing to sue Six Flags for their failure to reopen and operate the long lost Six Flags New Orleans property.

This article from Forbes outlines the sequence of events which has taken place this week between Six Flags and the city.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/04/23/ap6331270.html

[violakat03]

All this bad news is making me leery of buying a Six Flags season pass this summer. As long as they hold out long enough for me to make it to 3 parks though, it should be worth my while - and give them one more paying customer. But this bad news does not bode well for the company, as I'm sure I'm the only one having thoughts like that. It doesn't help that so many of the Six Flags parks that are a certain population's home park are in such disrepair that the patrons flee to further away non-SF parks (such as those in Louisville going to Kings Island, those in D.C. going to Kings Dominion, etc).

So many mistakes have been made with this chain, it's just sad to see. Usually hindsight is 20/20 but I don't think Shapiro is seeing straight yet.

[Guest rcfreak339]

All this bad news is making me leery of buying a Six Flags season pass this summer. As long as they hold out long enough for me to make it to 3 parks though, it should be worth my while - and give them one more paying customer. But this bad news does not bode well for the company, as I'm sure I'm the only one having thoughts like that. It doesn't help that so many of the Six Flags parks that are a certain population's home park are in such disrepair that the patrons flee to further away non-SF parks (such as those in Louisville going to Kings Island, those in D.C. going to Kings Dominion, etc).

So many mistakes have been made with this chain, it's just sad to see. Usually hindsight is 20/20 but I don't think Shapiro is seeing straight yet.

I could go both ways with this.....The park is in such horrible shape I dont' think they could ever open that park up again....But yet Six Flags should do something with the old park.

[The Interpreter]

With what money? It's a zero sum game, especially at this point. Every dime spent there is a dime that can't be spent at, say, Kentucky Kingdom or Six Flags America.

[KIfan1980]

Here's a case where Six Flags is actually doing what's right and making the right business choice. Think of the options they had:

- Default on the lease (worst outcome of this option is they get sued and have to pay the lease off, but would likely have been settled for less)

- Try to re-open (yeah right, this would be like building a new park - not a good business decision)

- Do what they did. Pay the lease, but shutter the place. Life may not be fair, but lots of things change following natural disasters.

[RailRider]

New Orleans should have taken the $14 million 2 years ago, because now they are likely to get nothing.

[violakat03]

SFNO really didn't take as much damage from Katrina as they make it out to seem. They've actually moved many rides from there to other parks. They could have opened it with any severely damaged rides closed (why not, they've had Twisted Twins at SFKK closed for no reason for how many years?) and been trying to make some money off of it. It would have been a big help to the local economy too, with the jobs it brought it and with the little bit of relief it could provide.

We went past it when we were there around the first anniversary of Katrina. I can't find most of my photos of it, but here are two.

[The Interpreter]

You've been past it? Excuse me, but that park suffered major infrastructure damage that would cost tens of millions to fix. Sometimes, things are not as they seem.

Terpy, who once again has bordered on saying far too much...

[Kenban]

SFNO really didn't take as much damage from Katrina as they make it out to seem. They've actually moved many rides from there to other parks. They could have opened it with any severely damaged rides closed (why not, they've had Twisted Twins at SFKK closed for no reason for how many years?) and been trying to make some money off of it. It would have been a big help to the local economy too, with the jobs it brought it and with the little bit of relief it could provide.

We went past it when we were there around the first anniversary of Katrina. I can't find most of my photos of it, but here are two.

I am positive your wrong everything I have read says the park was under 5 to 10 feet of water for over a month. The park is below sealevel and it had a berm which normally kept the water out. But when the park flooded and its pumps failed the berm turned the park into a lake. With no way to remove the water it just sat there for a month and salt water is very corrosive. Only ONE ride was salvaged and moved to another park which was the Batman coaster which moved to one of the parks in Texas. I don't know of a single flat ride which was moved.

[The Interpreter]

And the Batman coaster required refurbishment that cost nearly as much as a new one would have....

[Shaggy]

Those who doubt the severity of the SFNO damage need only look here.

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18622

I have it on good authority that the gears/mechanics/motors of nearly every ride in the park were shot by the flooding. Its not as simple as sweeping up and plugging things back in. It would essentially mean re-building the park. SFNO started life as a troubled park called Jazzland. It was never a big performer. So for Six Flags (who has little to no money to spare right now) to spend a dime on re-opening a devistated park, during depressed ecomonic times, and in one of the most depressed areas in the country... would be ludicrous.

Shaggy

[Diamondback FOF]

This is indeed very sad news for Six Flags. Do you think the company will be around for a couple more years, or will this season probably be the last?

[The Interpreter]

It's hard to say. The parks will be there...under whose management and whether as a group or under several or more different ownerships remains to be seen.

[Oldiesmann]

I'm wondering why the city is just now suing Six Flags nearly 2 years after Katrina hit. If they wanted to sue them for not reopening the park, they should have done so a long time ago.

I don't blame Six Flags for trying to walk away from it considering how much it would cost them to reopen that park, not to mention how long that would take (a couple years at least depending on how badly damaged the rides are).

[Dalefan]

This kinda makes me wonder if Six Flags even contacted the insurance company on helping them rebuild the park. And for them to sign that long of a deal was dumb and crazy. And Six Flags is looking to loose more money due to that accident at SFKK. That could be 6 to 7 digits.

[AintNutinElse2Do]

As far as rides moved from there. The Drop Towers are showing up this year at Great Escape as Sasquatch.

[Zorba]

I'm wondering why the city is just now suing Six Flags nearly 2 years after Katrina hit.

For what its worth, it has now been almost 4 years.

[The Interpreter]

This kinda makes me wonder if Six Flags even contacted the insurance company on helping them rebuild the park. And for them to sign that long of a deal was dumb and crazy. And Six Flags is looking to loose more money due to that accident at SFKK. That could be 6 to 7 digits.

Uh, the insurance company has been a major part of this from day one. And how long is Cedar Fair's deal with Santa Clara, California? Who on earth would put an amusement park on leased property with all the concomitant investment without the assurance of a long term lease? That would be "dumb and crazy." The accident at SFKK was settled several months ago. And insurance was involved there as well. By all accounts, the settlement was outside the range you speak of...And that's all I will say about that.

[Dalefan]

The accident settlement wasnt posted anywhere that i know of on the net or it wasnt said on the news. Unless i missed it.

[The Interpreter]

The amount thereof was not and will not be. The fact the case was settled was posted here:

http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=256306

http://www.wkyt.com/news/headlines/34901049.html

It also appeared many other places.

[violakat03]

From what I've been reading, especially from people who've been to the park since the storm, MegaZeph is very much repairable, though it would need to be completely re-tracked due to rot. The other coasters would possibly be repairable too - if SF's insurance company would pay out. As of 07 (no news reports since then) SF was suing, because they were only paying out about 1/3rd of estimated repair costs. The official SFNO website says they are still in negotiations with insurance. Many of the flat ride components (though not the rides themselves) as well as coaster trains have wandered off to other parks as standbys or parts donors.

There have been a few interested buyers for the park, the most prominent being Southern Star Amusements, but nothing has come to fruition. Whether that's because Six Flags won't cooperate until the insurance comes through, or the city wants to hold Six Flags to it, or whether it's because with Six Flags removing things and letting everything else sit and rot they decided it wasn't worth it, who knows.

Here's the article on Southern Star:

http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index....xml&coll=1

[Dalefan]

The amount thereof was not and will not be. The fact the case was settled was posted here:

http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=256306

http://www.wkyt.com/news/headlines/34901049.html

It also appeared many other places.

Cool. Ty.

[windshawne]

Reopening SFNO would be foolish-the whole city is on borrowed time anyway. As I said in a previous post, I had relatives barely escape with their lives in Slidell, and the fact they went back and lived in the fema trailer up until a year ago baffles me. One cousin is so traumatized from it, he stayed here in Ohio, and is still struggling. I would never live in a bowl. Why dump millions of dollars into a property in such a major flood zone, when it could happen again?

[violakat03]

The same reason people live in Tornado Alley, the San Andreas fault zone, the New Madrid fault zone, on the volcanic Hawaiian islands...

Pretty much the entire country is one natural disaster away from Katrina-like destruction. If a major earthquake were to hit the New Madrid fault, Memphis and St Louis would be gone. A major earthquake did hit L.A. and caused massive destruction in the 80's. Fires strike yearly in California and Texas, tornadoes take out entire towns in the great plains, and Hurricane Andrew nearly wiped Homestead FL off the map.

[Zorba]

The same reason people live in Tornado Alley, the San Andreas fault zone, the New Madrid fault zone, on the volcanic Hawaiian islands...

Pretty much the entire country is one natural disaster away from Katrina-like destruction. If a major earthquake were to hit the New Madrid fault, Memphis and St Louis would be gone. A major earthquake did hit L.A. and caused massive destruction in the 80's. Fires strike yearly in California and Texas, tornadoes take out entire towns in the great plains, and Hurricane Andrew nearly wiped Homestead FL off the map.

The major difference between New Orleans and the rest of the country is NO is setup to have vast secondary damage. The secondary damage from Katrina did much more damage than the Huricane itself.

[Zorba]

This kinda makes me wonder if Six Flags even contacted the insurance company on helping them rebuild the park. And for them to sign that long of a deal was dumb and crazy. And Six Flags is looking to loose more money due to that accident at SFKK. That could be 6 to 7 digits.

Uh, the insurance company has been a major part of this from day one. And how long is Cedar Fair's deal with Santa Clara, California? Who on earth would put an amusement park on leased property with all the concomitant investment without the assurance of a long term lease? That would be "dumb and crazy." The accident at SFKK was settled several months ago. And insurance was involved there as well. By all accounts, the settlement was outside the range you speak of...And that's all I will say about that.

Thats what happened to my Home Park . They had 5 year leases with the county, for over 50 years. Then some new commisioner decided that it would be best to kick out their best tenate to put in a no-charge parking lot. The very small park had to leave over $5M in infrastructure behind, not to mention the couple of million they spent packing everything up, like the Zingo

Short term leases on land requiring major infrastructure investment is just a bad business plan.

[The Interpreter]

That certainly rings a bell....

[violakat03]

Southern Star Amusements restarts efforts to aqcuire SFNO

[WyldChild]

From a person who is in no way an expert on how to build and maintain a park...there is no way they could re-open that park without totally starting over. Six Flags doesn't have that kind of coin laying around....and again not an expert here but I think an insurance company would be totally foolish to insure a park that is under sea level. Not that anyone could have predicted what happened during that hurricane...but it would be a poor decision on their part.

[Diamondback FOF]

But you see, an insurance company had ALREADY insured the park. So it's not that is WOULD be a poor decision on their part. If you look at it that way, then it WAS a poor decision on their part.