On May 1, 2025, Six Flags Entertainment Corp. announced that Six Flags America in Baltimore, Maryland, would not reopen for the 2026 season. Since the 2024 merger with Cedar Fair, the former owners of Cedar Point, the company’s focus has been on taking cost-cutting measures. In late 2024, the company decided to quietly close the world’s tallest roller coaster, “Kingda Ka”, among several other attractions in its parks nationwide.
“As part of our comprehensive review of our park portfolio, we have determined that Six Flags America and Hurricane Harbor [the water park] are not a strategic fit with the company’s long-term growth plan,” said Richard Zimmerman, former CEO of Six Flags Entertainment Corp., in a press release. Just like that, the park’s fate was sealed.
On the night of Nov. 2, 2025, Six Flags America closed its gates for the final time. The melancholy throughout the park was palpable. While the midways were filled with people, instead of happiness, grief was the collective sentiment that day. The rides, some being over 100-years-old, thrilled their final riders. Roller coasters, such as “Firebird” and “Superman: The Ride,” now have their futures in limbo: their fate either being relocated or becoming scrap metal. The theme park that served the D.C area for 50 years closed anti-climatically. Dormant rides, closed shops and restaurants, and empty pathways, all waiting for their inevitable demolition. A place where memories were once made is now to be replaced with apartments and housing. 70 full-time employees lost their jobs that day.
The closure of Six Flags America is just one instance of a dangerous trend for the amusement industry: selling the park’s land to reap extra profits. Within the last three years, this is the second amusement park to be set to close for this exact reason. In June 2022, Cedar Fair announced that California’s Great America in Santa Clara, CA, would be set to close within 10 years. The company sold Great America’s land to real estate developer Prologis for $310 million. After the lease expires, rumored to be in 2027, another theme park will be demolished.
The amusement park industry is mostly controlled by major corporations, with Six Flags being the biggest for regional operations. With a portfolio of 40 theme parks and water parks, its portfolio will likely continue to downsize. When the two companies were separate, they often competed with each other to reel in the parkgoers. Now that they are merged, that competition is nonexistent. It is not financially logical for a company’s properties to compete with each other, and as a result, one property may be shut down to cut costs.
When a chain closes a park, they often argue it was due to a lack of return-on-investment (ROI). The part they do not say out loud is that they barely attempt to invest in these parks to begin with. In Six Flags America’s case, even before the merger, the company showed it no love. Their last two roller coasters came from Six Flags Great America in Illinois. When the “Iron Wolf” and” Rajun Cajun” coasters finished their time in Illinois, the two coasters were shipped down to Maryland, marketing them as a new investment. The last time Six Flags America got any roller coaster ground-up was in 2001. There can not be an ROI if there is no investment. If there is no investment, people will go to competitors if they believe they will get a better experience. Because of its lackluster investments and quality, the public decided to go to competitors in hopes of a better day out.
Overall, if this trend continues, the industry will continue to lose more and more amusement parks. The number one goal for any company is to make a profit; however, it often comes at the cost of the misfortune of others. Theme park companies need to stop doing the bare minimum to support lower-profit properties. Shutdown should only be an option if regular investment fails to cover its costs. Overall, these companies blame the industry and the public for closures, when in reality, they have no one to blame but themselves.
