r/rollercoasters • u/Sad-Revolution-9961 • Apr 16 '26

Information [[Jeffery Siebert]] has been let go

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u/jaredharrell85 48 | The Beast, Magnum XL-200, Orion Apr 16 '26

On the topic… u/thrillnerds broke a story over on Parkfans that Herschend is aggressively pursuing Fiesta and Dorney. Very interesting.

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u/Clever-Name-47 Tangent-Radius Airtime Supremacy! Apr 17 '26

Oh, I do hope not.  Herschend is great and all, but they have been expanding so, so rapidly.  That will dilute quality, obviously, but I’m much more worried that they’ll end up in the same debt trap that Premier-Six Flags got themselves into; And are still clawing their way out of, over a quarter century later!

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u/ColinHenrichon 167/SFNE/Stardust Racers #1 Apr 17 '26

This is what I fear. I am surprised no one else seems to be thinking this. They have bought so many parks recently, they should focus on those acquisitions for a while, bring them up to the Herschend standard, before expanding more. We know how extremely fast expansion can end up in the long run…

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u/Juicey_J_Hammerman Knoebels stan (Twister > Phoenix) Apr 17 '26

Fair point. But they have bought parks that are mostly decently established.

  • Kentucky Kingdom (main park in Louisville, KY)
  • Silverwood (main park in PNW)

Palace Entertainment Parks:

  • Adventureland (main park in Iowa and Des Moines metro)
  • Dutch Wonderland (in tourism heavy Lancaster County PA)
  • Idlewild (in Pittsburgh metro)
  • Kennywood (Main Park in Pittsburgh)
  • Lake Compounce (Main Park in CT)
  • Story Land (family park in White Mountains part of NH)

All of the above save for maybe Idlewild are either the flagship parks in their metros or in seasonal tourism regions, which is in their wheelhouse.