News Six Flags America & Hurricane Harbor to Close Following 2025 Season

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We used to get SFA season passes, but stopped quite a few years ago.

When they opened up the Thomas the Tank (later Whistlestop) section of the park, it really looked like they were heading in the right direction. More and more families with young children started to come. They also added the bigger kiddie area of the water park that was always packed. They also added improved the food quality and choices quite a bit, while adding the all season dining. We went from arriving after lunch and leaving before dinner (spending $0 in the park) to spending all day in the park with the all season dining. The park was filled with families with lots of children.

Unfortunately, a few years later, they regressed. The food choices and quality went down a lot. The last year we went we didn't get the season dining, and went back to $0 spent outside of tickets. At the same time, season passes became dirt cheap, under $50. The last few times we went there were hardly any families, and it became all teens. Then, (predictably, IMO) after that huge gang fight about 10 years ago, we stopped going completely, and switched to BGW season passes.

Lots more money, and much further away, but we didn't feel unsafe walking around with young children (though they aren't that young anymore!)

Maybe we'll go one day this summer though. Our youngest never got to ride Batwing or Wild One.
 
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rswashdc said:
The land is not that valuable for non theme park uses. There's no demand in that area for mixed use or other high intensity land uses that would generate high returns. The most likely use is for single family homes, but that's not a very desirable area for anything but lower to middle end housing.

The property's location just isn't great, and comparable nearby locations closer to metro and the beltway haven't grown a lot either.
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I agree. I think they're kidding themselves (or the stockholders) if they think any developer will want this land. It sits at the very edge of the developed DMV area. Lots of undeveloped land available just east of SFA. There's a reason no one has built anything nearby.

I think the best thing would be for the county/state to buy it and run it as a county park, something like Rye Playland (though that park is in trouble now, too).
 
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PrincessArlenasDad said:
I agree. I think they're kidding themselves (or the stockholders) if they think any developer will want this land. It sits at the very edge of the developed DMV area. Lots of undeveloped land available just east of SFA. There's a reason no one has built anything nearby.

I think the best thing would be for the county/state to buy it and run it as a county park, something like Rye Playland (though that park is in trouble now, too).
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That land to the east (I highlighted that area below) is not available. It is Reserved open space (ROS) on their GIS. From their municipal code -

"The purposes of the Reserved Open Space (ROS) Zone are:
  • To encourage the preservation of large areas of agriculture, trees, and open spaces
  • To protect scenic and environmentally-sensitive areas
  • To ensure the retention of certain areas for nonintensive, active, or passive recreation uses
  • To provide for a limited range of public, recreational, and agricultural uses
The use of the ROS Zone is intended to facilitate the permanent maintenance of certain areas of the County, both publicly and privately owned, in an undeveloped state."

Meanwhile the land around SF America and the ROS is all housing. So yes, developers will want this land. The reason no one has built nearby is because that land is protected and not for sale.
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Mattatee said:
That land to the east (I highlighted that area below) is not available. It is Reserved open space (ROS) on their GIS. From their municipal code -

"The purposes of the Reserved Open Space (ROS) Zone are:
  • To encourage the preservation of large areas of agriculture, trees, and open spaces
  • To protect scenic and environmentally-sensitive areas
  • To ensure the retention of certain areas for nonintensive, active, or passive recreation uses
  • To provide for a limited range of public, recreational, and agricultural uses
The use of the ROS Zone is intended to facilitate the permanent maintenance of certain areas of the County, both publicly and privately owned, in an undeveloped state."

Meanwhile the land around SF America and the ROS is all housing. So yes, developers will want this land. The reason no one has built nearby is because that land is protected and not for sale.
View attachment 37449
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Sorry, I wasn't referring to the land adjacent to SFA. I was referencing east of 301.
 
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nickp said:
However if they save Wild One then they'd get positive PR headlines like "Six Flags Chain Saves 100+ Year Old Roller Coaster from Demolition in Park Closure." "Historic Roller Coaster Saved from Demolition by Six Flags." "Second Oldest Roller Coaster in the US/North America Evades Demolition a Second Time: How Wild One cheated death twice."
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I hope if they scrap it the headline is "HISTORIC 100 YEAR OLD ROLLER COASTER BRUTALLY DESTROYED BY SIX FLAGS CORPORATION"
 
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PG County Council is saying that SF did not reach out to them in advance of this announcement. They are further saying that the property is not zoned in such awayas to allow for residential redevelopment and that there has already been a significant outcry from residents asking that they NOT redone it. They apparently have no plans to do so an except to meet with SF representatives to discuss possible future plans for the site in the near future. Obviously this can all change but it might be a significant pot hole in the road foward as SF had envisioned.

www.fox5dc.com

PG County Councilmember discusses Six Flags America closing

Prince George's County Councilmember Wala Blegay joins FOX 5's LiveZone to discuss Six Flags America closing in November
www.fox5dc.com www.fox5dc.com
 
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horsesboy said:
PG County Council is saying that SF did not reach out to them in advance of this announcement. They are further saying that the property is not zoned in such awayas to allow for residential redevelopment and that there has already been a significant outcry from residents asking that they NOT redone it. They apparently have no plans to do so an except to meet with SF representatives to discuss possible future plans for the site in the near future. Obviously this can all change but it might be a significant pot hole in the road foward as SF had envisioned.
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Why would Six Flags reach out to them? The property will go through the rezoning process when a developer proposes a project for the site.
 
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MrBradferd said:
Has a wooden coaster ever been taken down and re put up?
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A handful of others have been relocated too. Although I don't think there's been a wooden coaster relocated since 2011 with Zippin Pippin in Wisconsin. Most parks don't seem all that interested in putting in the effort to do it anymore to be honest. I think a lot of parks corporates just view it as "Hey we're gonna spend a lot of money building a 100 year old coaster that has absolutely no significance to 90% of our guests". Phoenix @ Knoebels, Skyliner @ Lakemont, Comet @ the Great Escape, are some other examples of wooden coasters that have been relocated.
 
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MaxxForceFan said:
Why would Six Flags reach out to them? The property will go through the rezoning process when a developer proposes a project for the site.
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IMO as a township planner, typically major revenue generators (tourism, employment, taxation, etc.) will want to work with townships for an exit of this scale. Now I don't know how much they pay in taxes, how many local people they employ, and how many people come in from outside to spend money; but with the way this sounds, close with no plans of what to do with the land and rides when it closes now the township has a non-revenue generating piece of property sitting there. Now, without that, the township/county needs to quickly figure out where they will get that money in the 2026 budget (or at least know what to cut); but with advanced notice they could risk financial issues for the county.

And while a developer could apply rezone the project, townships like the ability to be able to control that to some degree, and by being out ahead of it, they could have been back into the undeveloped parts of the property doing all kinds of water, environmental, and sustainability tests. And they could, in advance, do conditional zoning, so when the park goes down it can only be used for certain things. Given this is in the middle of a residential zone last thing you want is a developer trying to rezone it for commercial use or data center use. Your going to want it to be smaller business, mixed use, mixed density residential, of just pure residential.

Then there's the expanded issue I always add: Townships and Township planners talk to each other and pay attention to things like this. One of my things is that it's really important for revenue generators to the township/county to be good partners because we can make life impossible. What you can run the risk of is the localities for KD, Dorney, SFGA seeing this happen and decide that - if the new SF isn't going to be a good partner with us, why should we just give them what they want? Especially with what has happened this past year with random rides closing and being removed with poor press backup and now this closure, if there's more with this being just the start, they could (and should) feel themselves working an uphill battle.

My best example? The township I interned at had a Walmart shipping depot close up and leave town in literally a 72 hour span. So what did they do? They re-wrote the commercial square foot maximums for front facing first floor shopping stores to be 100 square feet smaller than Walmart wants as their minimum. So for Walmart to build their store they need to do a second story (they won't do that) or they needed to go undersized (the market style didn't exist yet) so they just never came back to the township. And instead they have a Target that was willing to do a smaller store on a second floor as well as many of the mom and pop stores in town thriving because people don't stop from going into town due to seeing Walmart on the main strip.
 
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Unagi said:
None at all. But like I said, they're gonna make so much money from the sale they could be like "Screw it just throw it out!" rather than spending extra money dismantling, transporting and reassembling it someplace else within the chain. Also, a small flat ride with atrocious capacity like a NebulaZ would not significantly increase gate attendance at another park so it may not even be worth the relocation.
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What about a large (also relatively new) headliner attraction like Harley Quinn? Considering its higher price and ability to attract guests (imagine what it would do for a park like valleyfair) I’d be surprised if that didn’t get relocated. Same for their shiny new Water coaster, Ripqurl
 
Having talked to someone recently about the impact of Herschend's recent acquisitions on the pre acquisition parks I feel fairly confident in stating that IF SFA were to come up for sale as an operational park that they would NOT be interested in acquiring it at this time..
 
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harry580 said:
watch the park closed only for someone to buy it and reopen it Kentucky kingdom style
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1. The chain is closing it with the intent of selling the land, and will presumably be gutting it of anything worth saving
2. Slightly relating to the first point, this land is expensive and is not already owned by an entity like the Kentucky State Fair Board, so it’s not like there’s an appetite to do something theme park related with it no matter what. Reopening it as a theme park would be prohibitively expensive for anyone to buy

In short, not happening. Sorry to burst your bubble
 
ifs that the case, maybe Washington DC better open their own nickelodeon universe now that Six Flags America going
 
harry580 said:
ifs that the case, maybe Washington DC better open their own nickelodeon universe now that Six Flags America going
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Something like this is far more likely than SFA being sold to a competitor. Finding a usable plot of land would be tricky (maybe Lorton with the ski hill falling out), but I could see someone wanting to do that on the NoVa side of the DMV.
 
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