Six Flags says closing or selling more parks is ‘priority’
Six Flags may close or sell more of its theme parks — after already shuttering several — as the company continues to evaluate its portfolio after merging with Cedar Fair.
Six Flags may close or sell more parks
Brian Witherow, executive VP and CFO of Six Flags, expressed that “getting the portfolio smaller and more nimble is a priority” during the company’s quarterly earnings call on Nov. 7, 2025. “So we’re going to look at the parks where our returns are the greatest, where the opportunities for growth are the highest, and we’re going to focus on those parks, and the other parks we’ll look to monetize and use those proceeds to reduce debt.”
Witherow and Richard Zimmerman, CEO of Six Flags, frequently referred throughout the call to the corporation’s “core” (high-performing) and “non-core” (low-performing) assets, though did not identify which parks belong to which category. (Following the 2024 merge with Cedar Fair, Six Flags owns over 50 theme parks and water parks.)
Witherow said the company has two options with non-core parks: “migrating those parks toward the performance profile of our best parks in the portfolio, or classifying them as non-core and divesting them where it makes strategic and financial sense.”
See the full transcript of Witherow’s comments below.
What else has Six Flags closed?
Six Flags America near Washington, D.C., closed permanently in November 2025 after 50 years of operation, along with its water park, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor. Six Flags announced the D.C. park’s closure in mid-2025 following what the company called a “portfolio review” of all of Six Flags and Cedar Fair’s properties.
Photo courtesy of Six Flags
The company will also close California’s Great America in Santa Clara sometime between 2028 and 2032, and recently sold excess undeveloped land surrounding Kings Dominion near Richmond, Va. (though Kings Dominion itself remains open with no announced plans to close).
Full transcript of remarks
The following are transcripts of remarks made by Brian Witherow, executive VP and CFO of Six Flags, on Nov. 7, 2025, during the company’s quarterly earnings call. Witherow spoke at length about the possibility of selling Six Flags parks at three separate points during the call, each excerpted below.
As we look ahead, our roadmap for the underperforming parks centers on two primary pathways: migrating those parks toward the performance profile of our best parks in the portfolio, or classifying them as non-core and divesting them where it makes strategic and financial sense.
We’re approaching this process with objectivity and discipline. We are re-evaluating pricing strategies, operating cost structures, capital allocation plans, and long-term market potential. These evaluations are underway with the full support of our board. We are committed to making decisions that strengthen the long-term output of the company, even when those decisions are difficult.
This isn’t new for us. Remember we have already taken action to monetize real estate in northern California; Bowie, Maryland; and Richmond, Virginia.
When you look at the portfolio of parks — and we talked about this all the way back when we completed the merger — that as a combined company of this scale, the ability to sell off and monetize parks that weren’t going to contribute a great deal of growth may be nice parks from a standpoint of what we would consider mini cash cows, so to speak, parks that don’t require a lot of capital generates a nice amount of EBITDA [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization] for our cash flow, those had a home, I think, in both [Cedar Fair and Six Flags] stand-alone portfolios.
In a bigger company where we’re trying to narrow our focus and shrink our capital needs as well as our risk or our liability exposures, getting the portfolio smaller and more nimble is a priority. So we’re going to look at the parks where our returns are the greatest, where the opportunities for growth are the highest, and we’re going to focus on those parks, and the other parks we’ll look to monetize and use those proceeds to reduce debt.
The D.C. property and the Santa Clara property were exactly that: parks where we felt like the underlying land outstripped any potential for growth and long-term cash-flow generation of those parks based on a number of factors, most notably structural challenges or limitations on the ability to build out those properties. I think those were the two most obvious.
We’ll continue to look for more opportunities like we have with the excess land in Richmond, but for the most part, most of that low-hanging fruit has already been plucked. There are always assets in the portfolio that we get inbounds from that are core, critical, top-performing parks in our system that have been in great markets with high property value — Toronto, Southern California* — but those are parks that are critical to the long-term growth of the business and I think from that perspective would not be something, at least where we said today, that we would be interested in pursuing.
*Six Flags parks in these areas include Canada’s Wonderland in the former and Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain in the latter.
Major Six Flags moments since merging with Cedar Fair
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company and Six Flags Entertainment Corporation merged in 2024, forming a conglomerate of 56 theme parks and water parks.
In the 15 months since its merge with Cedar Fair, Six Flags has removed park presidents from all locations and reduced its full-time staff by more than 10%.
Photo courtesy of Six Flags
The company has also continued announcing and opening new attractions, including Tormenta Rampaging Run (opening at Six Flags Over Texas in 2026), Speedway Stunt Coaster (opening at Six Flags México in 2026), Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare (opening at Kings Island in 2026), and a suite of new attractions themed to “The Conjuring” (which debuted at Carowinds, Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Canada’s Wonderland this Halloween season).
In October 2025, Travis Kelce — NFL player, Super Bowl champion, “New Heights” podcast host, and, of course, fiancée of Taylor Swift — along with JANA Partners and two other business executives invested in Six Flags with an approximately 9% ownership stake.
Photo by Blake Taylor
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Big if true
Honestly… I’m not too shocked. Industry veteran Dennis Spiegel recommended a reduced portfolio last month.
I want to know if Six Flags corporation thought about all the jobs they have taken from these kids during the summer. Or the elderly employees who have been working there for years just to have something to do. I don’t think they care about nothing but them selfs.
There was 84 year old man that had been coming to the park for 49 years straight. What is he supposed to do now that Six Flags America is now closed!!! Again they don’t care!! Open the park back up and allow the guest to give some opinions on how the park can do better
Retired Imagineer Jim Shull predicted this at the time of the merger: Smaller parks will close, ride manufacturer’s profits will get squeezed, some staff will get laid off, and that will be about it.