The Fall of Six Flags: 7 Years Later
2021 marks seven years since the bankruptcy of Six Flags. Many thought that would have been the end of the industry in the United States (excluding smaller parks, Disney, and Universal) but those fears never came to fruition. The industry as a whole has rebounded from the era of Six Flags and is now entering a new golden age. From the ashes of Six Flags, two of the five “Baby Flags” have risen to become the dominant players: Themeparks LLC and Premier Funtime, Inc.
Themeparks LLC was established by Kentucky Kingdom founder Ed Hart in 1999 to run Magic Springs in Hot Springs, AR. The company expanded in 2002 when it bought two Wet n’ Wild waterparks in Las Vegas and North Carolina, then in 2004 built Thrillopolis, a 340-acre park in Nashville, TN right off I-40. Three years later during the Six Flags-Cedar Fair consolidation they acquired Knott’s Berry Farm and with it the rights to Charles Schultz’
Peanuts characters who grace Themeparks LLC’s properties to the present day. Ed Hart resumed his management of Kentucky Kingdom in 2011 as well as acquiring Darien Lake in the first bankruptcy selloff before acquiring their current roster of parks from the Six Flags liquidation sale in early 2015. Themeparks LLC is known for their focus on cost effective, yet fun, attractions. The company has never worked with Intamin and has only worked with B&M three times. They instead prefer to work with companies such as S&S, Gerstlauer, Gravity Group, Chance Morgan, Zamperla, and Triotech. Recently the company has been working with Mack Rides, which could signal a change in strategy for the company. In line with Ed Hart’s focus on cost effective, yet fun, attractions, many older rides, even popular ones, have been removed due to maintenance costs. Many mourned the loss of coasters such as Demon and Rattler, but Themeparks LLC has replaced each one with worthy successors. While theming isn’t a huge focus, their few forays into it have been well executed, as was the case with the restoration of Frontier Town at Cedar Point, Spaceport Houston at Astroworld, and the Great Southwest at California’s Great America. Eschewing from season passes entirely, Themeparks LLC has used a membership system since 2015. There are several tiers offering increasing benefits from free refills all season to free preferred parking and fast passes.
Premier Funtime was formed in the aftermath of the liquidation sale by a variety of investment firms, the largest being Chinese firm Wanda Group. The backing of this Chinese behemoth allowed the corporation to swipe up most of Six Flags’ most visited parks, including their flagship park, Six Flags Magic Mountain. During the US coaster drought of the mid-2000s and early 2010s Chinese amusement park companies such as Wanda Group kept roller coaster manufacturers such Intamin afloat. When Premier Funtime was formed, Wanda Group secured a bulk purchase deal at a great price from Intamin leading to new Intamin coasters added at all their parks. B&M is another popular supplier of rides for the chain, as is Chinese-based Jinma Rides. The use of Jinma Rides as a supplier has caused much controversy due to potential patent issues and rising tension between China and the United States. Premier Funtime also has the exclusive right in North America to use IPs related to Cartoon Network. Premier Funtime originally offered the traditional season pass but phased it out in 2018 in favor of a membership system like Themeparks LLC. Premier Funtime has taken the membership system further than their rival, offering members reward points for accomplishing certain tasks such as riding a particular ride X amount of times in one day or spending X amount of dollars over the course of a season with the ability to redeem the points for rewards such as limited versions of the perks of higher membership tiers. Plans are currently in place to test universal virtual queuing (think Tapu Tapu at Volcano Bay but you can queue for more than one ride at a time) at two parks in 2021 with the intention of rolling it out chain-wide by 2024. Despite their innovating and healthy profits, the future of Premier Funtime is uncertain as government crackdowns in China might force Wanda Group to dump the chain in the not-so-distant future.
The Themeparks LLC-Premier Funtime duopoly on the North American amusement park market might soon be broken by up-and-coming player, Kennywood Amusement Company (KACO). In a stark contrast to the two titans of the industry, KACO has prided itself on its preservation of classic amusement park attractions and the installation of new version of classic models like the S&S Steeplechase at Mt. Olympus and Lake Compounce. Their emphasis on the theme of “classic amusement park” (or in the case of Mt. Olympus, Greco-Roman mythology) and attention to detail saw their attendance numbers increase year after year. Their attendance records have soared since they partnered with Vekoma in 2017 and began adding Vekoma's newer and incredibly popular models to their parks. KACO has also stuck by the traditional season pass model as part of its branding as a "classic amusement park experience" with no sign of switching to the membership system anytime soon.
Despite being the first company to greatly benefit from Six Flags’ decline, Palace Entertainment has been the worst off. Declining revenues, increasing debt, and a lack of capital investments over the past decade have forced them to put Indiana Fun Park up for sale in late 2020 with rumors floating around that KACO and Premier Funtime are looking to acquire the chain.
The weirdest of the Baby Flags is definitely Ultratainment LLC. Six Flags Japan (Nagashima Spa Land) had been majority owned by Nintendo and Sony, leaving them without an operator come 2014. At the same time, Triple 5 Group, the owner of Mall of America, was forced to close their incredibly popular Super Nintendo World and was afraid of having to permanently close it. Both had a vested interest in keeping their parks open, so talks were held and eventually Ultratainment was formed. Originally two investment firms, one Japanese and one American, had an ownership stake in the group as well but they quickly sold their shares to Merlin Entertainment. Merlin’s management expertise and bundling with its other attractions such as Sealife and Legoland Discovery Centers have seen attendance increase at all Super Nintendo World parks as well as more capital investment, ultimately culminating in the transformation of Six Flags Florida into a Super Nintendo World in 2016 and a third at American Dream in 2017. Construction is currently underway for Triple 5’s newest megamall, Great Cascadia Mall, which will feature a 4th Super Nintendo World when it opens in 2022. Merlin themselves bought Six Flags Great Adventure outright at the liquidation sale and have since turned it into the Great Adventures Resort with the opening of Legoland New Jersey in 2017.
Busch Gardens purchased Six Flags St. Louis in early 2013 as part of the 2nd selloff and rebranded it Busch Gardens St. Louis (unofficially Busch Gardens America) with its theme set to the Americas. The company has spent the past 8 years bringing the park up to the standards of the other two Busch Gardens, but still remains behind in theming and ride collection. Despite this, the park has seen significantly more care and attention since its days as a Six Flags park.
Not every Six Flags amusement park survived the company’s fall. White Water in Marietta Georgia and Six Flags Maryland met with the wrecking ball during 2015 and 2016, joining parks such as Six Flags Marine World and Kings Island in being relegated to the history books.
As for Kings Island itself? During mid 2006 to early 2007 Six Flags chop shopped the park and stripped it of most of its rides, most finding their way to other Six Flags parks across the country. By the 1-year anniversary of the Son of Beast tragedy Six Flags had sold the land to a developer who immediately announced plans for a new mixed use development centered around a new lifestyle center. The project was only able to demolish the water park to redirect Columbia Road and the Northeast section of the park for the first phase of the project, along with pouring the foundations for the lifestyle center, before the project’s backers went bankrupt as a result of the Great Recession. A new developer was brought in to complete the project in 2010 but they, too, went bankrupt. Various developers have come forward with plans of their own but have always fallen through. The remains of the park have since become overgrown and a popular place for urban explorers. Some have claimed the park is haunted with intense paranormal activity, many examples of which have been posted online. It doesn’t help that the park’s Eiffel Tower observation tower still stands as a landmark visible from the road, its slightly rusty finish adding a sense of eeriness to the area.
Below is a a list of the Six Flags successor companies and the parks they own, including non-Six Flags parks.