I have not been to a Sea World in about ten years. Is that what Sea World has become? It certainly wasn't like that before.
While I agree with all of this, it sort of misses the point. The point is that this project was never supposed to get off the ground. It was a complete scam from the very get-go.
I'd just rather move to Florida where I can choose a number of parks to go to than to wait any longer for one to be built in Houston.
You know I would not be the least surprised if that was actually Don, when I was at Gizmondo, the same scam artist that was running that place would search the internet and try to protect his image on every message board etc. They are physcopaths....they will edit their Wiki page night in and night out to protect their name on the web - they will outlast the people that want to put up the negative info, because they know that if they do, and they can keep their rep somewhat positive they can find another sucker in a few years and do another scam. DD
I hate to do this but can you please show your sources? I have seen almost nothing to promote Katy as being Houstons city center. The amount of families living in the Katy area are not only overmatched by the populations of Sugarland, baytown, and Pasadena, but more over their wealth level and median income is much smaller than West U, or Memorial...not to mention every data ive seen on Katy, they Pop. density is lower than Memorial or West U even. I am just curious as to how Katy is anywhere near a city center for Houston, which it is more than a 30 minute drive from 99% of Houstons population.
I don't remember where I read this, but I do remember it was probably 5 or 6 years ago, so it is possible it has shifted somewhat. But it is important to be aware that I was not referring to the city of Houston's population center, but that the I-10 West area (approximate location of Katy) was described as the 'population center' of the entire region. Now as to exactly how big that region was supposed to be, I couldn't tell you. I can try to see if I can find it though.
I don't think I-10 West implies Katy. Katy is TOO far west. I-10 West could imply the Memorial area even. That's a very vague term.
and I suspect that if the article said Katy, they probably mean I-10 corridor instead. I was basing my argument to Nero on the idea that Katy is far as hell from everyone! And that even the median income in Katy coupled with the Pop density is pretty low... but the I-10 corridor makes more sense.
If you discount the area that technically isn't Houston (Spring Branch), then it's moreso 59 @ WestPark. Spoilered for size. Spoiler
Astroworld was making a profit on its own. It was consistently profitable and if it were a standalone park would have been doing quite well for itself. Six Flags didn't operate that way, however. They worked on a company-wide budget and provided a budget for capital improvements to each park on an annual basis. Furthermore, since the profit made at the park was shuffled into the overall company pool, the local park never got to reap the rewards of their efforts. Local park management consistently stretched the budget given them as thin as possible to keep things running, while watching their profits sent to other parks and having to put up with corporate promising them improvement after improvement, only to eventually send it off to another park in the chain instead. Mr. Freeze in Arlington was originally designated for Houston. The SFOT trustees complained. It was then sent to Arlington instead. Houston was also to be the location for the first ever wooden looping coaster. Six Flags then cancelled the deal and the coaster company struck a deal with Paramount to put it in King's Island instead. After a custom re-design, it became Son of Beast. Goliath, which ultimately went to La Ronde, was originally intended for Astroworld in 2006 before the closure happened. For two consecutive years in 2000 and 2001, corporate promised a custom CCI Wooden Coaster. That project went so far as to be announced by CCI at the IAAPA trade show before Six Flags cancelled the order. Then, for the 35th anniversary a complete revamp of the front gate with an additional ride package was planned, then scrapped in favor of shifting the money to New Orleans when they made the deal to take over management of the park there. Finally, there was 'Splash Battle', which I found information on from a former member of park management, with the following quote: "2005/06: Splashbattle -- an interactive family ride to be placed in the main lagoon where riders boarded a themed vehicle and were able to exchange water cannon fire with targets in the water and people on the shore. This was to be part of a general overhaul of the Main Lagoon into a older kid's area with games, food, retail, small shows, and activities aimed at kids a little too big for Looney Tunes Town, but not yet ready for the big coasters. Corporate let us propose it as new capital in 2005 even while they were planning the destruction of the park. They even authorized us to hire an Architect to draw preliminary plans. That was several thousand dollars they spent on pure deception. Nice guys, huh?" Instead, as a "consolation", Astroworld got a series of temporary or stock rides such as Taz's Texas Tornado (a German fair ride), Serial Thriller (stock SLC from Vekoma), and earlier, rides like Viper, Batman: The Escape and Ultra Twister were simply moved here from other parks as consolations for losing out on the money to build something more unique or custom, while Six Flags spent all it's time and money trying to compete with Cedar Point by tossing coaster after coaster into Magic Mountain. Local management worked WONDERS with the budget they were given. Most years they didn't even have a proper maintenance budget. Do you know what their big improvement budget was for in 2005? Paint. Paint for buildings and rides. Just in time to close the place down. Six Flags was hemorrhaging money around the time they decided to sell Astroworld. As someone else noted above, they also sold about a dozen other parks, either scrapping them completely or selling them to other chains to be reimagined and rebranded. Additionally and probably one of the most important factors was that they were in a bitter struggle with Reliant Park over parking issues. The parking lease for space from the county and Reliant Park people had ended and they were going to have to agree on a new contract. They were behind the eight ball on it, RP had all the leverage and knew it, squeezed Six Flags hard, and ultimately Six Flags decided to see what they could get on the land. They vastly overestimated its value and lost a fortune in the deal. It's also important to note that as a result of this and other losses during that time, the entire board of the company was swept from leadership and the company ultimately had to go through bankruptcy proceedings and relisting to get where it is now. Six Flags didn't even try to sell the park to another company. A few entertainment companies supposedly inquired about the park (rumor), but were told it wasn't for sale as a whole park deal. They made the decision to scrap it and tear it all down and that was that. And the worst parts of the deal are, the people who did it are long gone, and the lot is just plain empty seven years later.
I thought Astroworld started going downhill because the thugs took over, and families no longer felt safe. Hoodlums would buy an $85 season pass and loiter there all summer.
Lack of investment from the parent company and, actually, the exact opposite of your season pass comment. Season passes in the last five years all over the chain were more like $49.99, and in some markets as low as $39.99. Additionally, as someone mentioned earlier in the thread, they went so far as doing buy one, get one free days. This wasn't just at Astroworld, by the way. They did this all over the chain. I clearly remember being able to bring a coke can to Six Flags Fiesta Texas back in the day and getting in for $19.99. One of the first thing the new management team did when they came out of bankruptcy was re-evaluate their pricing structure. Now, the season pass at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, at least, is $69.99. Hell, a one day ticket was $59.99 I think, or close to it.
Whether or not all the financial stuff is true, and there is no reason to doubt it is true, this is ALSO true. In the early 2000's, I had a young teenager and a toddler, and so Astroworld was a favorite destination, along with Waterworld, several times each summer. I remember getting all four of us season tickets, and I could swear we didn't end up having to pay more than about $25 each, maybe it was a package deal, I don't remember. But the last time we went, and the day we decided to never bother going back, was when we were made to just feel so terribly uncomfortable in every area of the park, because it was just as you state - throngs of teens, just loitering around, standing around in large groups. Not riding rides, going to shows, shopping, none of that. Just 'hanging out', staring at people, and frankly behaving in a very intimidating manner to a family pushing around a stroller. It was no longer a pleasant experience. And while the decisions to divert newer rides elsewhere may not have been fair, I can completely understand, if just based on feet on the ground and eyeballs in the park, I would have had a very hard time putting any large investments into that park any more, despite it being profitable. Profitable because of operating on a skeleton crew and not properly maintaining or policing the park? Not a good kind of profit.
The lack of investments goes back to the very beginning of Six Flags' involvement with the park. It goes back to recycling rides like Viper, Batman and Ultra Twister and taking out unique rides like the Alpine Sleighs (which admittedly needed an overhaul at the time) and Excalibur. The thug mentality came in around the time you mentioned due to the extreme drop in prices and the marketing to a teenage "thrill ride" mentality and away from a "theme" mentality. Again, this was true all over the chain by this time. Six Flags was also known for pretty awful customer service as well. Executive management at the chain level had the ability to fix these problems the way the current management has turned it around now. They were simply incompetent. Instead of fixing it properly, they scrapped it. They also sold quite a few other parks at the same time, and almost scrapped others, but they had a community uproar and ended up selling them to other chains instead -- Elitch Gardens is an example of this (off the top of my head).
Regarding the Katy talk...Im opening a new practice in Katy. We had been doing demographic research on different parts of the city before picking a location for the dental practice. Katy, far and away, blew everything out of the water as far as growth over the last 10 years and projected growth, coupled with median income. 10 years from now, Katy will be a monster with the ridiculous amount of activity that is planned over there.
From what I hear, you are correct. That's why all those hospitals are coming up around that area. Memorial Hermann at Gessner is like the epicenter of that mini-Medical Center.
