Six Flags will sell seven parks to EPR for $331 million

BrettV:

That said, I have a feeling these seven parks have a better chance of not being the next Geauga Lake or Six Flags America with this transaction.

That's my sense too, and so this seems like a better outcome than many.

They don’t own Darien. There are several parks leased to six flags. EPR already owns several of these.

I fully expect them to try to sell the leases before the contract is up.

Galveston is also on leased land as is La Ronde so less value there in selling those parks. That’s city land I recall.

Great escape has the lodge and indoor water park. Worlds of fun has the village cabins cottages and campgrounds.

The interesting thing is what this will do to season pass sales for next year already. Living in WI, I was looking forward to the potential of having more regional parks on our pass than just SFGAm. Guess we'll be heading to WOF and Valleyfair while we can.

The market did, at least today, seem to like this news....

I got a kick out of this from the FAQ on the corporate website:

Six Flags:

Is my Dining Pass / Fast Lane / Photo Pass / Drink Plan still valid?

Details on how these programs will be handled are still being worked through and information will be shared prior to completion of the sale of these seven parks. Per the Terms and Conditions of your dining plan, participating locations and menus are subject to change. Consistent with that provision, we are updating the participating parks for the 2026 season to reflect the new Six Flags portfolio. To ensure you are receiving fair value for your dining plan purchase, we are providing you with a $10 credit to be used in F&B at your home park this season.

"Sorry we sold your home park after you bought a $125.00 dining plan. Here's ten bucks for half a cheeseburger"

I completely forgot EPR already owned Darien. I wonder how long the contract is for the Name and Operations?

It also makes sense for them to take over the other parks on leased land such as LaRonde and Galveston. It’s been clear they don’t what things they don’t have full control of (selling the land at CGA after dealing with the city and 49ers / buying out the option at SFOG)Which probably also reflects the lowness of the sale price overall.

I mean CF paid 40 mil for WoF in 95, which is roughly 85 mil today.

If EPR can’t handle the new scale, I bet Hereschends would be interested in at least WofF and VF, and maybe MA, at a discount rate but they also are now sitting on a mountain of debit more then ever.

I am also curious if they will license the Schlitterbahn name post 26 for Galveston. SF would prob like some licensing money without the headaches.

Worlds of Fun, based on Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days," has to be the most unappreciated, underinvested "theme park story" that could have been developed like an Efteling park but nobody ever had the visionary leader to get it there. Kind of sad and I don't think Enchanted Parks, another Keiran Burke attempt at being a park operator, will see the uniqueness of what could be.

The books of Jules Verne are considered to be "voyages extraordinaires" and that is a theme park experience that would excite me!

The closest we have is obv Holiday World, although Im also curious to see what the Hereschends do with Dutch Wonderland and Idlewild, they have a lot of vintage charm, but with some smart investment could rival some of the quirkier well themed euro parks.

Gunkey Monkey:

Worlds of Fun, based on Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days," has to be the most unappreciated, underinvested "theme park story" that could have been developed like an Efteling park but nobody ever had the visionary leader to get it there.

yea, back in the 70s to early 90s it was much better themed and a better overall experience. Not a bad park currently, but not what it once was either.

It’s also interesting cause EPR already also owns Frontier City, I wonder if they will transfer it and Darien to Burke as well sooner rather than later. It’s interesting cause TopGolf and the Theaters they own are the bulk of their revenue.

Gunkey Monkey:

Enchanted Parks, another Keiran Burke attempt at being a park operator, will see the uniqueness of what could be.

I think you're confused. Kieran Burke is operating La Ronde, not the six American parks.

Wasn’t Kieran Burke (and the late Gary Story) behind the more modern Premier Parks that managed Darien Lake etc before Six Flags bought the managing contract, and Premier Parks also owned Elitch Gardens? I wonder why he felt the need to start a whole new company to “operate” La Ronde?

It’s interesting that Six Flags went from being over-saturated in Missouri to not represented at all.

Why do they insist on calling Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun two different parks? Are they, or have they ever been, separate gates?

Jeff mentioned these parks have all been described as profitable. I’m pretty sure they were profitable on a percentage scale but never really added much to the bottom line. They weren’t big money makers but what they did provide is cash flow.

I’ll bet dollars to donuts that Darien Lake, Frontier City, and all the EPR waterparks are de-flagged and become “Enchanted” within in two years.

If anyone is curious what the future looks like for these parks, take a gander at Darien Lake since 2016. For that matter check out Darien Lake since 2006 to see how a park is run under a real estate investment firm. Spoiler alert: It ain’t promising.

I guess as long as Enchanted Parks keeps Steel Venom’s holding brake operational at ValleyFair, I’ll call it a win.

Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun were separate gates initially. There's a timeline here that shows they were integrated after 10 years.

I don't understand the Kieran Burke thing, nor the exact relationship between the REIT EPR, Enchanted Parks, and whatever he's doing. Franceen Gonzales is the COO of Enchanted Parks, FWIW. She seems like she's the real deal, although running a chain of seven or ten parks would be a step up for almost anyone.

If you want a new ride every year, yeah, this deal might make you unhappy. If you want a well-run local park ... let's see. I'm less of a doomsayer about this than some. I never thought these parks were going to thrive in the conglomerated Cedar Flags, so I think there are possible benefits to this sale.

So many ride name changes to come!!! La Ronde will be the only park not run by Enchanted Parks, but instead by Kieran Burke's La Ronde Operations Inc. I don't know if there will be major investments (rides) for any of these parks in the future?!

Especially in the kids' areas! Didn't Michigan's Adventure just drop a boatload of money* building out Camp Snoopy? If I had been Enchanted Parks, part of my negotiation would have been, "look, we're going to have to spend a bazillion dollars de-Snoopying and de-Bugsing these places."

*May not have been a very big boat, I don't know.

Huge opportunity to bring back Hanna Barbera IP here.

I wonder if they'll hire Bill Spehn to come in with his branding iron to help with the deflagging process

ShaneDenmark:

I’m pretty sure they were profitable on a percentage scale but never really added much to the bottom line. They weren’t big money makers but what they did provide is cash flow.

Right, and I think keeping your portfolio as diverse as possible is a reasonable, long-tail strategy. No single McDonald's anchors the company, so they have as many as possible. But mostly I cringe at the "focus" argument. Like the company can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

I basically agree; if you have two kinds of parks in your company, big and small, you create a big parks division and a small parks division and mostly let them do things separately. (I never fully understood the old Cedar Fair dividing things geographically as opposed to according to the nature of the properties.)

There are challenges, and what I was referring to above when I said I didn't think the smaller parks would thrive is that there's naturally going to be a tendency to pay more attention, and devote more capital, to the biggest dogs. In a company solely built around smaller properties, maybe they get better attention?

Just back to WOF/OOF, even when there was the same day gateway, you still needed one of those Sister Park Maxx Passes or two tickets, as they were separately ticketed. If I recall right, it was around 2012-13 when Schlitterbahn was coming to KC, Kansas when the "Two Parks for the Price of One" came in, like they used at Geauga Lake and WWK, MiA, Dorney, VF, etc.

Article about Six Flags St Louis, complete with a statement that the park will be called "Mid America by Enchanted Parks" which [sigh].

(Non-paywalled here, for some reason with a picture of Discovery Kingdom.)