Six Flags has hung a For Sale sign out in front of two parks in the Washington, D.C. area and is looking to sell more of the 42 locations in the North American amusement park chain following an $8 billion merger with rival Cedar Fair.
Six Flags announced on Thursday, May 1 that the Six Flags America amusement park and Hurricane Harbor water park in Maryland will close after the 2025 season.
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The two parks sitting on 500 acres in Bowie, Maryland, will be sold and marketed for redevelopment as part of Six Flags’ ongoing portfolio review.
“We have determined that Six Flags America and Hurricane Harbor are not a strategic fit with the company’s long-term growth plan,” Six Flags CEO Richard Zimmerman said in a statement. “We anticipate strong interest in the property and will continue to strategically pursue portfolio optimization opportunities as we work to unlock the full value of our portfolio.”
Six Flags America opened for the season on April 12 and will permanently close on Nov. 2 after the Halloween season.
Six Flags announced that some smaller parks in the chain were up for sale during the company’s quarterly earnings call in February after completing a comprehensive portfolio review following the merger of Six Flags and Cedar Fair in July.
Six Flags plans to share more details about its long-term strategy at an upcoming investor day on May 20 at Ohio’s Cedar Point theme park.
Six Flags America seemed like a likely contender to be sold after the Cedar Fair-Six Flags merger. The Maryland amusement park and Virginia’s Kings Dominion both compete for visitors in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Six Flags has two other markets with competing parks — Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain are among the chain’s two biggest attendance draws and aren’t likely to be sold anytime soon.
The San Francisco Bay Area rivalry will soon sort itself out with California’s Great America set to close in the next few years — leaving only Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in the Bay Area.
Which parks might be up for sale or in play? And which ones are untouchable or safe for now?
Let’s take a look at all the possibilities.
Riders crest the top hat element on the Xcelerator roller coaster at Knott’s Berry Farm in 2018. (Photo by Mindy Schauer / Orange County Register) Mindy Schauer / Orange County Register
Untouchable Parks
The chain’s eight largest parks based on attendance include Buena Park’s Knott’s Berry Farm (4.2 million annual visitors), Ohio’s Cedar Point (4 million), Ohio’s Kings Island (3.5 million), Valencia’s Six Flags Magic Mountain (3.4 million), Canada’s Wonderland (3.2 million), Illinois’ Six Flags Great America (3 million), New Jersey’s Six Flags Great Adventure (2.5 million) and Six Flags Mexico (2 million), according to the TEA/AECOM report.
Those locations seem like core properties in the new Six Flags and appear to be untouchable at the moment.
Safe For Now
Four more of the chain’s parks are located close to major metropolitan areas: Philadelphia (Dorney Park), Dallas/Fort Worth (Six Flags Over Texas), Atlanta (Six Flags Over Georgia) and Boston (Six Flags New England).
Without any major local competition, those locations seem safe for now.
Fury 325 at Carowinds debuted as the tallest and fastest version of the wildly popular Giga coaster model from Swiss designers Bolliger & Mabillard. (Courtesy of Carowinds) Carowinds
On the Bubble
Four parks in the chain sit on the bubble in mid-sized metropolitan areas: Carowinds (Charlotte, North Carolina), Six Flags Fiesta Texas (San Antonio, Texas), La Ronde (Montreal) and Six Flags St. Louis (Missouri).
Carowinds is likely safe since Six Flags corporate headquarters is now located in Charlotte.
The other three parks could be on the market if Six Flags finds the right bidder.
Potentially For Sale
That leaves the six smallest parks in the chain — Frontier City (Oklahoma City), Six Flags Darien Lake (Buffalo, New York), Valleyfair (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Worlds of Fun (Kansas City, Missouri), Six Flags Great Escape (Albany, New York) and Michigan’s Adventure (Grand Rapids).
Michigan’s Adventure could argue that it’s near Detroit and Chicago, but likely couldn’t compete with the bigger Cedar Point or Six Flags Great America.
The dueling Six Flags parks in upstate New York have coexisted for years — but are both among the smallest in the chain. Six Flags doesn’t own Darien Lake and only serves as the lease operator, which likely means costs are lower there.
The Black Snake water slide at the Hurricane Harbor water park at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia. (Special to The Press-Enterprise)
Water Parks
The water parks in the newly combined chain all draw fewer than 1 million visitors a year.
Most of the water parks are connected to amusement parks in the chain, but not all of them.
The two Sclitterlitterbahn water parks in Texas rank first and third in attendance among Six Flags water parks, according to the TEA/AECOM report. Knott’s Soak City sits in between the Sclitterlitterbahn parks.
The other top water parks in terms of attendance are tied to Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Over Georgia and Cedar Point.
The stand-alone Six Flags Phoenix water park also makes the TEA/AECOM Top 20 North American water parks list.
Four stand-alone water parks in the chain — in Northern California, Texas, Georgia and Mexico — aren’t directly tied to amusement parks and could be among the smallest locations in the Six Flags chain.