Six Flags has hung a For Sale sign out in front of its smallest parks without specifying which of the 42 locations in the North American amusement park chain are officially on the market — but we have a good idea which ones might be available to the right bidder.
Six Flags announced that some smaller parks in the chain were up for sale during the company’s latest quarterly earnings call last week after completing a comprehensive portfolio review following the merger of Six Flags and Cedar Fair in July.
“We have completed our initial review having identified properties that are less strategic and critical to our long-term growth objectives, properties that we would consider divesting under the right circumstances,” Six Flags CEO Richard Zimmerman said on the call.
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Six Flags didn’t announce which parks were for sale, but the company 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.
Which parks might be up for sale or in play? And which ones are untouchable or safe for now?
Let’s take a closer look at all the possibilities.
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 are untouchable at the moment.
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Safe For Now
Eight of the chain’s remaining parks are located close to major metropolitan areas: Philadelphia (Dorney Park), Dallas/Fort Worth (Six Flags Over Texas), Atlanta (Six Flags Over Georgia), Washington D.C. (Six Flags America and Kings Dominion), Boston (Six Flags New England) and San Francisco (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and California’s Great America).
But a couple of those eight parks aren’t necessarily safe.
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You’ll notice immediately that two markets have competing parks — Washington D.C. and San Francisco.
The San Francisco rivalry will soon sort itself out with California’s Great America set to close in the next few years, likely pushing Discovery Kingdom into the safe column.
Kings Dominion would likely win out if Six Flags settled on the idea of having only one park in the D.C. area, which could put Six Flags America in play.
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, Canada) 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 found the right bidder.
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The Wonder Woman Golden Lasso single-rail roller coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. (Courtesy of Six Flags)
On the Market
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.
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Water Parks
All of the water parks in the newly combined chain each draw less than 1 million visitors a year.
Most of the water parks are connected to an amusement parks, but not all of them.
The two Schlitterbahn 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 Schlitterbahn 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.