The parent company of Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain is considering selling or closing a few of its 42 theme and water parks following the merger of the 2 largest regional amusement park chains in North America.
Six Flags raised the potential for selling some theme parks as a part of Project Accelerate in the course of the company's most up-to-date quarterly earnings call on Wednesday, November sixth.
Six Flags and Cedar Fair merged in July after a Justice Department review that allowed the newly combined company to maintain Magic Mountain and Knott's – which compete within the Southern California market.
In an investor presentation, Six Flags cited “portfolio optimization” as a key goal and promised a “comprehensive review of the portfolio to evaluate the potential divestiture of non-core assets to help reduce debt.”
“In layman’s terms, Six Flags will review its park list and may consider selling some of them,” it said Attractions Magazine.
The possible closure or sale of some Six Flags theme parks “is now on the table,” it says Theme Park Insider.
The combined portfolio of Cedar Fair and Six Flags includes 27 amusement parks and 15 water parks within the United States, Canada and Mexico, attracting 48 million visitors annually.
Six Flags owns seven of the 20 largest amusement parks in North America based on annual attendance, in response to the TEA/AECOM annual report.
The chain's largest parks include Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park (4.2 million visitors per 12 months), Cedar Point in Ohio (4 million), Kings Island in Ohio (3.5 million), Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia ( 3.4 million), Canada's Wonderland (3.2 million), According to the TEA/AECOM report, they were Six Flags Great America in Illinois (3 million) and Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey (2.5 million).
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