Six Flags to ‘rethink’ holiday events strategy
Six Flags will “rethink” its strategy for winter holiday and Christmas events following a decision to cancel multiple parks’ events in 2025.
Photo courtesy of Six Flags
Brian Witherow, CFO of Six Flags, and John Reilly, CEO of Six Flags, reflected on the cancellation of holiday 2025 events during the company’s quarterly earnings call on Feb. 19, 2026.
“In hindsight, that decision did not optimize profits at every park the way we needed it to,” Witherow said. “Those events can be meaningful demand-drivers, and removing them created a self-inflicted headwind in terms of both attendance and operating leverage.”
Photo courtesy of Six Flags
Looking ahead, Witherow said, “We’re taking that learning directly into our planning for 2026 and we will rethink the winter holiday strategy with a tighter, returns-driven approach, market by market, rather than applying a broad brush.”
Reilly added, “Our experience with several winter holiday events this past year provided valuable lessons. We will approach seasonal programming with market-specific rigor, clear ROI [return on investment] thresholds, and tested scale methodology.”
During its 2025 season, Six Flags canceled:
- WinterFest at California’s Great America in Santa Clara, Calif.
- WinterFest at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Va.
- Holiday in the Park at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, N.J.
- Holiday in the Park at Six Flags Over Georgia near Atlanta
Demonstrating an alternative strategy, Carowinds in Charlotte, N.C., still hosted its annual WinterFest event in 2025, but did so with limited nighttime hours, minimal entertainment, and reduced Christmas lights compared to previous years.
Photo by Ryan Carpenter
During the same earnings call on Feb. 19, 2026, Reilly also shared remarks about the company’s ongoing portfolio evaluation across its parks and fielded a question about the recent “Enchanted Parks” rumor. See our separate coverage for more details on that.
Six Flags merged with Cedar Fair in 2024. Together, the combined company owns a portfolio of over 50 parks.
In December 2025, Six Flags installed SeaWorld alum John Reilly as its new CEO, and big-picture changes to Six Flags as a corporation are already in progress. Such changes include a complete restructure of the corporation’s season passes, a new policy for riders filming on roller coasters, and a revised structure for passholder rewards.
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