Great Adventure's Holiday in the Park: A Sign of Rebranding?

Hi everyone, longtime reader but first-time poster here! I’ve been following CoasterBuzz and PointBuzz since 2005. It’s great to see these forums still active with fans who share a passion for coasters and parks.

Something interesting caught my attention recently that I wanted to share and hear your thoughts on. At Six Flags Great Adventure’s Holiday in the Park, I noticed new signage that omits the Six Flags logo or name entirely. Instead, it simply refers to the event as “Great Adventure’s Holiday in the Park.” The same branding seems to appear on their social media as well.

Do you think this could be an early indication of a rebranding effort, possibly dropping the Six Flags name? Or could there be another reason for this shift in how they’re presenting the park? I’d love to hear your insights or theories on this!

Some parks would do well to drop the Six Flags name which has negative connotations, especially a park like Fiesta Texas which seems to be the most similar to legacy Cedar Fair standards. Hopefully this is the direction they are going.

I have wondered since all this started if the Six Flags prefix would be deemphasized on the parks that had significant history prior to being flagged.

Tapping into the history of parks like Great Adventure, Magic Mountain or Great America (Illinois) that had a strong identity in their pre-Six Flags days could be a way to get the word out to their respective markets that things are changing for the (hopefully) better. And continuing to strongly utilize Six Flags branding on the original 'Over' parks makes just as much sense as the promise they have made to not incorporate Six Flags branding onto the Cedar Fair legacy parks.

I think there is a way to continue to utilize the Six Flags brand in many ways while also depending on it less at parks where it only has a neutral impact.

I wouldn't say that Great Adventure had a significant history prior to being flagged. The park was only unbranded for 4 seasons before Six Flags acquired it. Very few potential customers remember it as anything other than Six Flags.

Good find, ChrisBurritos! What do locals call the parks? Is every Six Flags park "Six Flags," or are they the park name? Do people say they are going to Six Flags, or do they say they are going to Great Adventure?

It's probably different for each park. I'll be very interested in seeing what they have planned for the branding, if anything.

In NYC I mostly hear Six Flags. I usually say Great Adventure (because I’m that guy) and everyone knows what I’m talking about of course.

Wasn’t the plan to use the six flags name after the merger. I thought they were talking about the value of that brand and whatnot.

I usually call it Great Adventure but that's just me. I've been going since season 1 though so that may be why.

Regarding the logo- the answer on this oddity is that Great Adventure shares markets with Six Flags America and Six Flags New England. Those parks discontinued Holiday In The Park after 2021.

To prevent confusion on the social channels, they are using the specific park name in this instance. This is not an indication of a future rebranding.

How many people know or care about pre-Six Flags history for any of these parks? I consider myself pretty "in-the-know" and I couldn't tell you anything about any of these parks prior to their "flagging." I suspect that Six Flags, as much as it gets a bad rap in the (tiny) enthusiast world, is a national brand and most people use it synonymously with "local amusement park." I don't think I've ever heard a local refer to Discovery Kingdom as anything other than "Six Flags."

I remember going to Wild World in Largo, MD, then Adventure World, back in the 80s and early 90s. Then it became Six Flags America in the late 90s. I call it "Six Flags" or "the Six Flags in Maryland" (or DC).

I think I usually call the NJ park "Six Flags in New Jersey" when I'm talking to non-enthusiasts. No one around here knows what or where Great Adventure is, Six Flags or otherwise.

I suspect that for those legacy SF parks who have a holiday event, it will switch to “Winterfest” with a subheading “a Six Flags Holiday in the Park”