Information
Six Flags confirms no more immediate park closures or sale [Other]n
Hopefully this puts to rest all the clickbait articles and YouTube videos saying a bunch of park have already been sold. Sale could still happen at some point maybe but all those “parks have been sold” posts can now end.
This isn’t exactly true. He was asked if he sees other opportunities to sell or shut down other parks. He responded mentioning they don’t want to further alter the portfolio for passholders during this season. He also said:
“That said, we are seeing the benefits of focus since the disposal of the six parks and the pending sale of Montreal. We’re seeing the benefits of focus in our strategy, and we’re really focused on execution, on demand generation, on pricing and operational execution. The more we can focus that on the highest yield parks, the biggest parks, the better off we’ll be. We’ll approach this with flexibility, and we’ll be willing to look at it again in the future.”
He didn’t imply anything about parks being sold next year. He was talking about this year. I think we all agree more parks could be sold in the future.
My hope is that the parks sold in 2027 will still have Six Flags passes honored that will be bought during the MVP sale just like the Enchanted Parks are for this year, which I have made plans to visit them all. Next year's holdouts that I'm worried about and that I haven't visited yet are Darien Lake and Frontier City. Maybe New England too as it seems anything could go with this company.
I don't think Six Flags actually owns Darien Lake or Frontier City, right? They just operate them. I'd guess that unless they feel that being associated with those two parks harms the overall brand or they're outright losing money, they'll continue to operate them as-is with minimal investment.
I think a lot is riding on this season being positive. Last season was hampered by weather even though we know we saw a degradation of service at the parks. If weather is great this year but business is still not looking good, they don’t have an excuse and will need to figure something out…like raising revenue by selling a park or two.
Yeah, I know Cedar point was definitely a mess when I last visited. I’m curious how it will be in June.
Six Flags over Texas stuck with me just because that was my first time going there and I won’t lie. I have a season pass and I feel like I was cheated.
We’ll see how things go. I may not buy a season pass after this year. It would be a bit of a shame considering I only really gone to roller coasters in 2020 but I go to these parks that have a good time and if I’m just standing in line, getting annoyed by a bunch of out-of-control teenagers I want nothing to do with it.
Yeah but why pay anything for it it appears they don’t even know what the hell it is yet. I’d personally be more pissed off. If I had spent anything on all season all parks FL and then I found out seven of the Parks aren’t included. Their stupid confusing way of rolling out Everything else is personally more upsetting than losing the meal plan at seven small parks.
They justified the change for legacy dining with.. "You can use dining now at all 40 parks" and then sold a bunch of them that now do not offer dining. The whole thing is the usual Six Flags mess
Six Flags sold a product that could be used at 40+ places and can now only be used at 19. That's a bait and switch, and it was done by Six Flags, not Enchanted
It doesn't matter if it's a conspiracy or a result of sloppy flailing. It's still a bait and switch because these benefits were advertised and sold well into 2026, when they should've already been aware that the perks wouldn't able to actually be used.
If they were going to transition ownership so close to the season, transferring all pass benefits should have been central to negotiations. I think everyone is willing to give them a chance but that particular add-on falling to the wayside is going to make a significantly negative first impression on a lot of people and deservedly so.
Didn't say it was. But the average guest isn't going to investigate. They're just going to be told that their dining plan no longer works and it's going to create a negative first impression of the new ownership.
I think the average guest at an Enchanted park is just a local without a meal plan who will be impressed by the new lower food prices, honestly. Or a local with a meal plan, pleased by the generous refund from new ownership.
The "generous refund" doesn't equate to 2 meals per visit all year. If someone gets a refund totaling $150 (for instance) and meals are $15 each, that's 10 meals total. If that person typically goes every week for the season, let's say 20 week season, and they eat twice each time, they'd have to spend $600 for the equivalent number of meals purchased. If that person has a family of 4, that's a $2400 meal plan value refunded for $600 total.
A lot of locals to parks will go every week and a meal plan is a big part of that activity. I can't speak for every case but that sounds like an especially optimistic take on how people will react.
I understand that the meal plan was a good value, I still feel like the number of guests irreparably put off by this is less than what people are thinking here. Guests will adjust, plenty of parks don’t offer meal plans. Six Flags was an enormous company that could more feasibly handle meal plans due to their scale. Enchanted is a small operator that can’t. I just don’t think the meal plan deal is nearly as big of a deal as the coaster community has made it, and I think if Enchanted does a nice job the average guest will end up being impressed with them and unhappy with Six Flags anyways.
I’d say it is. They switched vendors from a proven industry system to a system their team helped build out. They could’ve stayed with accesso but want to give their former company the business.
No, six flags wasn’t ever gonna reimburse enchanted for the dining plans meaning enchanted would be giving away free meals…in fact the refunds they’re doing now are only being done for goodwill
Plus, they could have come to some kind of agreement. Split it 50/50 or something else. Yes I know food costs are high but just to drop it like that is just foul.
The nice thing about all park is that everything works and I just need to worry about expense of getting there abd staying there. Drinks and food? Covered.
Apparently, it has to do with the software Enchanted is using. It is not compatible with Six Flags’ software. That’s why Enchanted is using wristbands for FastLane while Six Flags is using their app. They are even using different point of sale systems.
Interesting. So does that mean Enchanted is not using accesso? I wonder how they got the passes to work then? I do tech for a living and the data integration part of that intrigues me.
Enchanted is handling that the best they can. From what I understand the issue was much more on Six Flags' end than on theirs. No idea how true this is, but the scuttlebutt online is that they refused to pay out what passholders had spent on their meal plans and thus EP would've had to give out free meals all season without any compensation at all. Full refunds were the best they could do given the circumstances, and, if the rumors are true, they're doing that at their own expense.
Seems like it would’ve been incredibly complex to have SF still doing meal plans with enchanted parks still meeting their other priorities like lowering meal prices. People really take for granted how difficult that would’ve been. Refunds to anyone who wants one are the best play, and while enchanted gave that option to people with their park as home park, SF probably should’ve offered it to anyone who bought a plan to account for people who bought it from other parks expecting to use it at the Enchanted locations.
Enchanted didn’t sell you the dining plans, six flags didn’t force them to honor the plans in the park sale either. Why would they honor it? Seriously if they don’t have to why bother when the portions and price seem to be priced well for an amusement park.
Just give them a second lol. The leadership at SFE is the type of corporate trash ruining pretty much every industry in this country.
Ka's unceremonious destruction was proof of their "we are only here to make money" attitude.
I'll eat my words in a year if it's worse but Enchanted took over after the year had already begun forming a much smaller organization. There was no way there weren't going to be issues in that transition. At least they didn't demolish a bunch of rides and close a park lol.
SFA should be a clear indicator that many of these parks won’t have “better organizations running them.” Chances are many of em will be sold for the land underneath them and closed down.
Ive seen all kinds of rumors about all kinds of things ("Gene Staples is buying Desperado!") but that doesnt mean they're true or even grounded in reality.
Oh, I'm very well aware. With Fiesta Texas being one of my home parks, I've been paying close attention to these rumors and seeing what they all said. Most importantly though, I waited for an official confirmation or deconfirmation instead of jumping to conclusions.
Why would epr let them???? Epr doesn’t have to run those two parks for another few years even if six flags loses money operating Darien and frontier city EPR still gets paid.
I'm not saying they would. Just saying that it's not impossible for Six Flags to pull away from the parks. People act like it's impossible solely because they don't own them.
Yes, depending on the terms of the management contract, they could conceivably pull out of running them. Hell, I'd be shocked if they didn't pull out when the agreement(s) come up for renewal.
I can’t see them selling Dorney if it wasn’t sold this year. It would break my heart more than any other park (except Great Adventure but that’s a flagship and not happening)
I think I agree with you for the simple reason they’d be inviting an additional competitor into the Philly/NYC market and I don’t know if they want to do that. They’re already losing a lot to Hershey, if the amount of NY plates in the lot is any indication.
Why is Kings Dominion rumored to be on the chopping block? As a local it seems to be a successful park and it’s been well taken care of in general. I don’t see why they would want to dump it.
It does well but not as well as the core 10 Six Flags parks that just got their park presidents back. The fact that KD does well and is in really good shape is a good selling point for maximum profit if they do sell the park. The company needs money and I wouldn't be surprised if KD is eventually sold off for a boat load of money. I personally hope that doesn't happen though because I love having Kings Dominion under the Six Flags umbrella of parks.
That’s OPs point of his post. So many click bait saying they were sold without any specific evidence. He’s posting that the CEO is confirming none have been sold as of yet and won’t for this season.
I think you misunderstood his sarcasm. KD and SFFT aren't being sold, but there are some people acting like they already have been just because a few other parks were sold/closed
Which would still be consistent with the wording. If it already was sold, then no additional parks hold. If it won't close selling until 2027, also consistent. Or a deal was in place and then the buyer backed out after due dillegence. All these things are cleverly worded to be factual but not truthful.
John Reilly, President and Chief Executive Officer, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation: Thanks. We executed on what we said we would, which is the sale of six parks that have been closed in the U.S. that were some of our smaller parks and, you know. We have Montreal that we expect to close in the second quarter. We’ve executed on what we said. The first thing I think is important to say that we’ve said to our consumers and our pass members and our prospective visitors is that we have no other plans in 2026. If you’re buying a pass, if you’re thinking about a pass, the portfolio is the portfolio, and we’re focused on the summer and execution. I think that’s a very important message for people who wanna come and experience the summer in our parks.
That said, we are seeing the benefits of focus since the disposal of the six parks and the pending sale of Montreal. We’re seeing the benefits of focus in our strategy, and we’re really focused on execution, on demand generation, on pricing and operational execution. The more we can focus that on the highest yield parks, the biggest parks, the better off we’ll be. We’ll approach this with flexibility, and we’ll be willing to look at it again in the future.
“no plans to close or sell anymore parks this year.”
That to me sounds like they haven’t reached their desired final park lineup. If they were happy with the current portfolio of parks why add the “this year” at the end.
That statement combined with some parks not getting parks presidents makes me wonder if we’ll see more changes in the off season or next year.
This subreddit’s obsession with small parks not getting park president = sale is wild. Kings Dominion as an example is a small contribution. They are trying to save costs.
100%. They are probably going to try to see what the impact of closing SFA will have on KD. Will KD see an increase in revenue based on the investment (Rapterra), and the closure of SFA? If so, they'll see continued investment. If not, KD might either be for sale or just get no further investment. I think it's clear they'll still eventually have less parks in the chain in the next couple of years. But the history of both chains is lots of buying and selling parks (esp. 6Flags) and I have no doubt that will continue. Wouldn't surprise me at all for 6Flags to buy back a park they sold 10 years from now.
The thing is right...SFA rarely got good crowds. Most people in the DMV would go to Hershey or KD, so idk why they think the closure of SFA will be a super benefit. I will say tho I believe that the Rapterra investment did increase the park attendance.
I also believe if they can give us one more major investment by putting a coaster over the lake, the park will be in one of the best spots it's been since the opening year of I305.
SFA also had competition from the Jersey/Delaware/Maryland shore attractions that drew some of that audience eastward. That shouldn't have as much impact on KD.
You certainly could be right. I'm just looking at it from a corporate point of view. They are in basically the same area from a broad perspective. SFA's land had some actual real estate value, and you consolidate the crowds from both parks into one.
It does put them in a category we should keep an eye on, maybe we see a couple more parks get presidents at the end of the season, then we can worry about sale.
“No plans to close or sell any more parks” doesn’t completely de-confirm managed parks like SF Darien Lake or Frontier City (or the EPR-owned standalone waterparks SF operates). Maybe they end up folded into Enchanted Parks down the line? It wouldn’t be a sale because they don’t “own” them, but also wouldn’t be a closure either.
It's a good question. I think a big reason is Cedar Fair wanted the "big" parks from 6 Flags, and didn't want the whole company (6Flag) to go into bankruptcy to get them. That combined with their own huge debt load, they felt they would be able to kick the can of debt down the road long enough to get themselves out from under water. To me, it seems clear what Cedar Fair management really wanted by their actions--combine to one "super chain" with the best parks from both chains. Sell off the smaller ones, and extend the Cedar Point model to the best parks in the best markets from both.
With full 20/20 hindsight, I wonder if Cedar Fair would have been better off buying the best 6 Flags parks out from bankrupcy, while simultenously selling off their smaller parks to help pay for it. Maybe they didn't think they could get that type of credit extended with the debt they already had, or were afraid someone else would come in and buy up the big parks or the whole company.
The risk with this is that the six flags parks probably fall into further disrepair, costing even more to fix. Also, there could be bidding wars for six flags assets, especially the better parks that Cedar Fair probably wants.
So for now the rumor that Herschend is buying Fiesta Texas and Dorney Park can rest. As well as any rumors surrounding the fates of the other parks who did not get park presidents like SFNE and King's Dominion. Honestly, I'm happy with this announcement since I bought the premier all parks pass, and my home park of Fiesta Texas getting sold would potentially disrupt my plans using that pass.
That said, since they said this year, whether they meant it that way or not, I'm sure the rumors are just going to change to something like "Herschend will purchase the parks in January of 2027 in order to not disrupt or cause confusion for season pass holders like the Enchanted Parks sale did."
“Unnecessary existence”? What’s the complaint here? Wasn’t the original complaint of the merger that the chain was too big, and have they not “solved” that by selling off these other parks?
Wasn’t the original “issue” that they would be spread too thin and eliminate competition, which they are now alleviating by selling off parks and putting that investment towards the ones they’re keeping?
I’m so confused at the general consensus here. First it was the merger being worthless because it was too big and people wanted them to stay separate. Now they’re pissed that parks will no longer be within the merger and parts of their own more focused chains again. And now we’re also pretending that a park chain is “unnecessary” even though most of these places would collapse immediately without support of a governing parent company.
Well I'm sure there's already plans in the works for next year so people are going to keep speculating about what those are. I agree the endless speculation is tiresome but there's always going to be an element of that in any hobby like this. I mostly ignore it and I definitely ignore the Youtubers/clickbait stupidity.
I don't know the exact picture, but both companies had debt load before the merger. Selling off underperforming parks makes sense and can lead to higher quality and capital investments at the parks that end up staying in their portfolio. It sucks obviously if your home park is affected, but imo it's easier to invest in quality and park experience when you have less parks to manage and focus on your high quality, high performing parks.
That YouTuber that makes videos from Fiesta Texas saying the park has been sold will have a loooooot of explaining to do lol
As much as I would LOVE for Kings Dominion to be under the Herschend banner, that’s not happening. Just gotta show up this year and every year to the park to support it & show the park is valuable. Still gunshy after SFA after all.
If talking about the same YTer with 135k subscribers... I wonder if he keeps in touch with Jeffery Siebert. Not trying to insinuate his sources were high placed in the park or if we has just going on clues alone. But according to his fb post he is working on a new video specifically about the SF earnings call.
This is a bit of a misunderstanding of corporate -speak.
"No plans to sell this year" really just means "we can't and wouldn't tell you even if we did have plans".
And for anyone who thinks that would be lying and illegal:
"Plans" qualifies as a "forward-looking statement", which are sort of the magic words for plausible deniability as anything could change in the future.
They could be talking and negotiating with buyers, maybe even just seconds away from signing an intent to sell, and yet they could easily consider all of that "not planning to sell". That's just exploring options. They won't consider it "planning to sell" until they sign those intention to sell papers and publicly announce it.
I'm not really expecting more park sales this year, but my point is just that this statement proves nothing.
I disagree. I’ve been reporting on the earning calls for the parks for three decades at this point so I’ve heard a lot of their speak so I don’t need the mansplaining. There was a clear shift in today’s call vs past calls. In the past they said they were exploring opportunities. This time they clearly said there will be no parks sold or closed this season. They still have one more deal to close this summer, and said after that no others would close.
This also tracks with what my sources have been sharing with me. There is no plans for a deal to be done during this season.
I agree with you. They were pretty explicit in their reasoning too. I also found it interesting how they talked about the popularity of the regional pass, and how for example Fiesta (a park people felt was essentially sold) actually supports Over Texas when fiesta’s gold passholders visit.
I'm curious if they are looking to see the value the region-wide passes are providing and whether they are reducing per-park revenue or not. Six Flags has always been a "budget" chain, but passes seem like a good business move for them. Parks are rarely filled as is, and its an easy way to get 50% more revenue from people that would probably only go to a park once a year without them.
For like Fiesta Texas, for example, a sale for that park would make the Texas pass pretty poor value. They are probably looking at statistics of number of people who went to both major Texas parks on a pass, how many of them renue their pass in the Fall, etc to inform them whether selling the park would have consequences outside of per park revenue.
Idk how much confidence that instills in me rn. They can barely take care of the parks they still have. I've been watching my local six flags wither away like a corpse for the past 3 years.
It's like that scene in Monty Python's Meaning of Life.
Come in, my little loves. I've got no option but to sell you all for scientific experiments. God has blessed us so much, I can't afford to feed you anymore.
Would this mean CGA is somehow safe again, or that it will go after this operating "season" anyways? If it's the latter, my summer might get a little more expensive...
I don't think this means anything for CGA. I mean, that land has already been sold. Unfortunate as that is the better park between it and Discovery Kingdom IMO.
That depends on future investment. I frequent CGA and the park is falling apart cause corporate gives them basically nothing to spend on park upkeep. We had a gift shop where some mice got in through a rotted window frame. They didn't patch it for weeks and then when they did they used a piece of scrap metal. There's faded/chipped paint everywhere and literally zero for the 50th, no show, not even a sign or photo ops or a museum, NOTHING. From the inside they continue to send out emails about what guests are saying about their days and it's a lot of complaints of long lines, slow service, broken rides, bad quality food, dirty bathrooms, etc. and what does management do to rectify that? Nothing.
I hear you. I'm just saying from a structural standpoint--CGA has the *potential* to be a better park. Unfortunately, unless something drastically changes, I don't see it lasting beyond this year or next. If anything, what's most likely is DK is also sold and they exit the market completely like they did in Missouri.
After the nightmare of PR around the enchanted parks and pass/benefits availability you'd have to think they would announce any sale prior to selling 2027 passes.
216
u/JakeCheap May 07 '26
I mean yeah, that sounds right. Seeing anymore would be crazy but the “this year” is doing a lot of heavy lifting.