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

Agree that Mid America by Enchanted Parks is dire.

I also wonder how important a reference to the chain is in the name? It's not like Enchanted Parks is ever going to become synonymous with amusement parks like 'Six Flags'.

People are not going to say, "Let's go to Enchanted Park" the same way they say, "Let's go to Six Flags." They're going to say, "Let's go to Mid America."

Neither of those sounds great. Enchanted Parks St. Louis, or Enchanted Parks Mid-America sounds better then Mid-America by Enchanted Parks.

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't it cost Six Flags more to buy the remaining ownership in Six Flags Over Georgia, then they ended up selling these 7 parks for? $331 million for 7 parks seems like a terrible return for Six Flags.

The "big vs small parks" theory is something that happens in other industries, especially retail world. Big box stores tend to be grouped by volume: AAA, AA, A, B, C, etc. as a way to categorize, manage, develop, replenish, design, test, etc. It makes sense to call parks like WoF and Mid-America the AAA parks for Enchanted and to focus resources on things like bringing the Jules Verne storytelling back to WoF in incredible ways, getting Mid-America missing attractions like an RMC conversation of The Boss, maybe replace Ninja with a wonderful Vekoma coaster, etc. to hit the ground running.

Based on comments in the media the past few days, I do worry Enchanted is going to low-ball gate/pass pricing and make the parks a baby-sitting service. Please, someone tell the industry to stop doing the same thing that gets you the same problem-filled result! Please call Holiday World and learn a better way!

I think the reason I am most skeptical about this transition is that this industry is filled with botched ownership transitions. Seems like for every one Kentucky Kingdom rebirth, there are two Freestyle Music Park closures.

The single biggest hurdle to overcome is market awareness and confusion. Whatever amount of money Enchanted Parks thinks they will spend on marketing and PR, it will not be enough. Especially St. Louis, which has always been a Six Flags park. They will have to fight the perception that "Six Flags is Closed".

For St. Louis, ValleyFair, Worlds and Michigan, the most pressing decision they have to make at these parks is what to do with IP. The connection and awareness of these known brands cannot be overstated. Generations of their passholders have been coming for DC, Looney Tunes and Peanuts. If Enchanted Parks even has an option to extend all licensing (I assume they wont past 2026) their market is going to be flooded with negative press via social media posts saying those beloved rides are being "removed", even if the ride is still there under a different name. The only thing they could do to offset this perceived loss is replace with a more modern brand like Nickelodeon, Paramount, etc.

I would expect somewhat less of these hurdles at La Ronde and Great Escape, as the market already refers to them by their de-flagged names, and they don't have Looney Tunes and DC. But for all previously Six Flags named parks, they are going to really have to bend over backwards for SERPs in those markets, because guess what, SixFlags.com is still going to come up first when you type in Six Flags in your search bar in Albany New York.

I don't know if these parks are doomed, but I completely understand why EPR got these parks at such a discount. It will be a ton of work and a lot of risk for such a small company.

Fun:
Generations of their passholders have been coming for DC, Looney Tunes and Peanuts. If Enchanted Parks even has an option to extend all licensing (I assume they wont past 2026) their market is going to be flooded with negative press via social media posts saying those beloved rides are being "removed", even if the ride is still there under a different name.

I keep loosing track here on IP, but didn't Cedar Fair (aka Six Flags) just renew Peanuts, even though they had a longer license for DC and Looney Tunes. Could it be that the "more expensive" IP ends up going the Enchanted Park route, while CF/Six keeps the cheaper Peanuts?

I don't think people stopped going to Geauga Lake because Batman became Dominator and Superman became Steel Venom. They stopped going because the product kept changing in a way that the majority of visitors didn't like. (Legacy) Six Flags built cool stuff but took the soul out of Funtime era Geauga Lake and combined that with horrible guest service. Cedar Fair improved on coaster dispatch times and painted some buildings, but the perception was they never made a significant investment to improve the guest experience and instead started to slowly dismantle the park and were less than forthcoming about their intentions.

As long as the parks are given appropriate attention and upkeep I don't think IP (or lack of IP) will be a make or break.

No Flags Over Mid-America has a nice ring to it.

Personally, I haven't been back to Cedar Point since they got rid of the Berenstain Bears.

Fun:

Generations of their passholders, etc.

But passholders are the easiest people to market to - the parks already have all their information. They can send email, direct mail, call if they need to. Throw Six Flags crappy customer service under the bus. "Your favorite rides are all still here - and we're bringing back the fun!" I'm not saying they won't screw it up - the name suggests they will! - but they shouldn't screw it up in that way.

Gunkey Monkey:

I do worry Enchanted is going to low-ball gate/pass pricing

The St Louis article says "Harhl wouldn't specify future price changes, but said he doesn't want customers walking back to their cars dreading checking their credit card statements. He said the goal is to make the park 'much more value-priced for people.'"

Agreed that's unclear, but if your fear is that people think you're closed, probably jacking up the gate price out of the, uh, gate, is not the way to go. But I took the bit about "dreading checking their credit card statements" to mean they're looking at prices inside the park. Speaking as a focus group of one, I'd rather pay a bit more to get in and not be paying $15 for an ice cream cone inside.

In terms of investments and upkeep my concern is that ERP is going to treat these parks the same way they do with Darien Lake. Run the park on a shoestring budget and invest very little.

It's possible. Darien Lake is in a different situation from the newly purchased parks, though. Six Flags manages it, while it's owned by EPR. (The Six Flags filings describe it as leasing the park, i.e. not just leasing the land.) I don't know the details of that, but that could certainly change the investment decisions. I would assume investment decisions are joint, or maybe they're made by Six Flags? And maybe Six Flags owns any new rides they install, but do you want to install a fancy new ride if your lease expires in five years?

Enchanted Parks will own their new parks outright, and that's a different scenario entirely.

hambone:

Your favorite rides are all still here - and we're bringing back the fun

Oof. Using a PT Cruiser convertible in an ad? So that's why Geauga went belly-up.

Oh man who knew I could channel peak Dick Kinzel?

Hambone- I thought EPR owns the parks and Enchanted Parks (plus La Ronde Park Operations) will manage/operate them? Isn’t that the same scenario as EPR owning Darien Lake and Six Flags (or Premier or Herschend or PARC) managing/operating the park?

EPR already owns some of the worst parks in the nation. Darien Lake in frontier city. They are closing wild waves. And they have systematically disassembled magic springs.

none of these parks have received significant investment. With the money they have spent purchasing these new parks. How are they also going to invest in them when they refuse to invest in their other parks?

ShaneDenmark:

I thought EPR owns the parks and Enchanted Parks (plus La Ronde Park Operations) will manage/operate them

You're right; I stand corrected. Here's what EPR says:

The six regional parks that are located throughout the U.S. will be leased to and operated by Enchanted Parks (formerly Innovative Attraction Management) pursuant to a long-term master lease, and the one park located in Canada will be leased to and operated by La Ronde Operations, Inc. following the completion of the transaction.

super7*:

How are they also going to invest in them when they refuse to invest in their other parks?

To paraphrase an old CoasterBuzz cliche, More Enchantment, More Fun?

Remember, part of the problem at California's Great America was the fact the land wasn't owned by the park and they payed a lease agreement to the city. Then, Matt Ouimet made the financially sound decision to purchase the land from Santa Clara, ending the lease payments that could then be re-directed to park investment or to Cedar Fair's bottom line. As we know, Zimmerman reversed that decision, sold the land back into a lease agreement, and now the park is closing.

Bassoul wanted to do this with many parks, like Magic Mountain, to extract value out of the debacle he created with the merger. Can you imagine what would happen to parks in places like CA, NJ, IL, etc. had this come to fruition?

Amusement parks and land leases/REIT strategies never work out for the parks. Hopefully EPR and Enchanted Parks have a strong desire to make this work out because the parks they own now do generate profit, it's up to them to build on that.