Earlier this year, I took some time to reflect on an unpleasant trend from the latter half of 2024, where an unprecedented number of rides and attractions at numerous theme parks permanently closed.
While some parks announced these closures in advance, giving guests a chance to return to the theme park for a last ride, a large number of closures came as a surprise. Often, the announcements that the rides would be removed came after they had already shut down for the season.
Goodbye to favourite rides
Six Flags Great Adventure (New Jersey) closed and removed several attractions without warning at the end of the 2024 season. This included Green Lantern (a B&M Stand-Up Coaster), Skyride (an extremely rare Von Roll Dual Gondola Lift), Zumanjaro (Custom Intamin Giant Drop), and the world-famous Kingda Ka (Intamin Accelerator Coaster, pictured, top).
Six Flags wasn’t the only company to remove attractions, though. The trend was not just in North America, either. We saw closure announcements from Disney and Universal. There were also removal announcements in the UK from parks like Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach Resort and at Merlin Entertainments’ Alton Towers.
The feeling is that most of these bigger parks and chains were taking the time to shed some dead weight. They took the time to re-examine the financial situations each park was facing in today’s new reality, where the cost of almost everything has changed dramatically.
Payroll costs are up, and spare parts costs more than ever. In general, the overall cost of doing business daily has changed forever. And it shows no sign of returning to the way things were. Clearly, it seems that many parks felt it was time to “trim the fat” a little.
As you would expect, the cost to run any given ride will vary quite a bit from the others. Some rides require more operators to staff the attraction than others, and some rides require a substantially higher maintenance budget. Meanwhile, some attractions will generate a higher power bill at the end of the day.
On that note, I’d love to see a side-by-side comparison someday of the daily operations cost of a regular roller coaster, versus a magnetic launched roller coaster, versus a multi-launch roller coaster.
Internal changes
While we saw the closures of a large number of theme park rides, waterslides, and other attractions for good due to these factors, as well as low guest satisfaction numbers, the next step for many chains was to turn their attention to their own internal labor needs and corporate structure.
As a result, countless staff at theme parks (especially in North America) suddenly found themselves without a job just as the various parks were gearing up for the 2025 season. It seemed like an unusual time to begin layoffs, just as these parks were trying to hire for the season. It couldn’t have sent a positive message to anyone planning to apply for a job.
The newly merged Six Flags has been in the headlines for this over the past several weeks. But earlier this year, we also saw Merlin Entertainments opt to do the same thing.
There were numerous jobs cuts in both their European properties and North American locations. The Entertainment Departments of their US Legoland parks were hit particularly hard. Merlin announced a plan to “outsource” most of those jobs as needed for each location.
So with the summer season now in full swing, what is next on the chopping block? If I had to guess, I’d say that the trimming may not yet be over. I anticipate that even more rides will be cut this fall, and possibly more staff, as the season winds down.
Theme park closures: the leaseback problem
But what happens once a park determines that they’ve cut about everything they can from their budget, and they are still just getting by? Even worse, what if they are running as lean as they can and are still unable to generate a profit?
That is the direction that I believe many small parks are already heading towards in today’s market. The situation may be even worse. These properties felt that they needed to make a “leaseback” deal in order to survive the COVID years.
A leaseback occurs when a park sells the property under its ownership to a new owner and then immediately enters into a lease agreement to continue operating the park on the property in exchange for lease payments. In these deals, the attractions are rarely able to repurchase the properties they have sold. With the added expense of making lease payments, it becomes even more challenging to sustain a successful business over the long term.
Over the past few years, we’ve already seen several small park forced closures. This includes Gillian’s Wonderland Pier in New Jersey, which shut down just last year.
Following the announcement that the famous oceanside park would be closing permanently after 94 years, Jay Gillian confirmed that to survive the pandemic, the park had entered into a leaseback deal. It was never able to financially recover.
Before that, we also saw several small parks close down when facing similar financial hardship. This would include properties under the control of the now-defunct Apex Parks Group. It was unable to continue operating Indiana Beach (Indiana), Fantasy Island (New York), and Clementon Park (New Jersey).
However, after closure, the formation of IB Parks & Entertainment by Gene Staples saved all three of these properties. He purchased them and has been able to reopen them all.
Parks no more
However, the financial situation of today’s world has not been kind, and several properties are either continuing to struggle, have put themselves up for sale, or have been forced to do so. Some have already just closed down completely. There are few left with the ability or willingness to purchase and save them.
Between 2020 and 2023 the list of theme park closures include Funplex Myrtle Beach (South Carolina), Splashes Oceanfront Waterpark (South Carolina), Styx River Water World (Alabama), Big Surf (Arizona), Wild River Country (Arkansas), Hydro Adventures (Missouri), Coney Island Cincinnati (Ohio), Joyland (Texas), Splashtown San Antonio (Texas), and Schlitterbahn Corpus Christi (Texas).
Countless small attractions and FECs were also just unable to make the numbers work any longer.
Jumping ahead, several parks have already confirmed that the end is near. Additionally, there are many more that I believe may also be in danger.
Theme park closures: in the danger zone
In the headlines just a few weeks ago, it was confirmed that Dixie Landin’ & Blue Bayou in Louisiana were now closed for the rest of the season, just days after opening the small amusement park for the season.
The owner confirmed that the Dixie Landin’ amusement park side is now permanently closed. They hope to open the Blue Bayou waterpark in 2026. However, there is speculation that a business deal may be in the works to make this happen, as the waterpark was unable to operate at all in 2025.
Back in May, Six Flags dropped a bombshell when they confirmed that 2025 would be the last season for Six Flags America (Maryland). The term “ portfolio optimization” was used to describe a situation where the land under the park was determined to be worth far more than the theme park itself if sold to developers.
Cedar Fair, before the merger with Six Flags, announced that essentially the same fate would befall California’s Great America. Prologis bought the land under the park in 2022.
As part of the deal’s terms, Cedar Fair can continue operating the park for several more years. However, the most recent Six Flags investor call in May confirmed that 2027 will most likely be the last season for California’s Great America.
Elitch Gardens (Colorado) is also facing a similar fate. The land under the park is now fully under the control of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, who have confirmed their intent to redevelop this property and much of the surrounding property that they also own into a new urban mixed-use project that they are calling the River Mile development.
No final date has been set for Elitch Gardens. However, they have confirmed that the park has no place to remain with their future vision for the current site.
If it is to survive at all, it would need to ‘move’ and be rebuilt somewhere else. Elitch Gardens has faced this problem once before. This is the second site for Elitch Gardens after the original park site that opened in 1890 was closed in 1994, with a new park built on the current site opening in 1995.
Worldwide park closures
Another park in the headlines for all the wrong reasons is Marineland in Antibes, France. The marine life park closed permanently in January, leaving only a skeleton crew in place to continue caring for the many animals still on site that they have been unable to find new homes for.
Unfortunately, this list includes two killer whales and about a dozen dolphins left behind. The news here is even more unfortunate, as the operator, Parques Reunidos, did not close Marineland due to financial reasons. The park had to close because of a law passed in France that outright bans all marine mammal performances.
This has no relation to another Marineland park in Canada. This has also apparently ceased operations this year after being under fire for years about the care and well-being of its animals.
The UK has also been affected by theme park closures. A once-popular park has been abandoned by its current owners, following the closure of Oakwood Theme Park in Wales.
And while it hasn’t been closed entirely, Lightwater Valley in North Yorkshire is a shadow of its former self, having given up on keeping the one ride that they were known for, The Ultimate. This was the longest roller coaster in the world while open.
Looking ahead, I have concerns about several other parks that are potentially at risk.
Will the park closures trend continue?
Lakemont Park in Pennsylvania, famous for being home to the Leap the Dips wooden side-friction roller coaster that opened in 1902, surprised everyone when the park suddenly opened without any rides at all for the 2024 season, which included both Leap the Dips and the park’s popular Skyliner wooden coaster.
This trend has continued for the 2025 season. Park management has stated that the rides are now too costly to maintain and operate.
Lakeside Amusement Park in Colorado could also be in danger. While the park remains open, Cyclone, the park’s most famous ride, closed in 2022. This followed a guest complaint about a possible injury.
The park claims to have addressed the issue. Yet the local government will not allow the 1940 wooden coaster to reopen unless it can meet new safety standards with a wider rider envelope around the train.
The original design of the coaster brings the structure within close proximity to riders at several points. Meeting these new requirements would not only be extremely cost-prohibitive but also alter the design of the attraction itself.
With no solution in sight and the Cyclone kept closed, it seems likely that the park will struggle to meet its financial goals.
Frontier City in Oklahoma finds itself in an interesting situation. Six Flags is currently serving as the “management company” or “operator” for the park. However, Six Flags does not own the property itself. The park (and the land beneath it) was sold long ago to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) company. The current owner is EPR Properties.
Six Flags is taking care of the park, with guests mentioning several improvements this season alone. Yet the park’s daily summer operating schedule is mostly evening-only operations on most weekdays (4 pm to 9 pm). Weekends are the only days it is open with a more typical morning-to-evening schedule.
While there has been no news about closing the park, the operational schedule is telling that some kind of issue may be afoot.
A lack of investment
Magic Springs in Arkansas is also on my list of endangered attractions. It also falls into the leaseback/REIT problem area. EPR Properties, the same group that owns Frontier City, currently owns the park. It runs under a management contract with Premier Parks LLC.
In this case, I’m concerned about the park’s overall lack of investment in new attractions. The last I’m aware of was in 2018. Many of the previous additions were in the waterpark rather than the dry park side.
Local fans were unhappy earlier this year with the news that Magic Springs would no longer operate the park’s signature wooden coaster, Arkansas Twister. The wooden coaster isn’t that old, dating back to 2000. The ride is not only “permanently closed”, but it will also remain standing. There are no plans in place to actually remove the huge attraction.
The lack of overall investment for years, combined with the non-allocation of funds to remove the Arkansas Twister structure, is a cause for concern regarding the long-term health of the property.
And lastly, I’m going to add ZDT in Texas to this list. The small amusement park is still open and running today. But comments from the owner in 2024 during a “coaster con” did confirm that he did plan on “retiring soon” and that he had been looking to sell the park to someone else if possible.
If unable to sell the park, he said he would then look into possibly selling off the park’s signature roller coaster (the unique Switchback shuttle wooden coaster from Gravity Group) and then selling off the property to another developer.
Added complications
Of course, this may be just the tip of the iceberg. There could be countless other parks and attractions struggling to navigate their way through the muddy waters.
Labor costs or even shortages may force some attractions to experiment with more non-typical operational schedules.
Meanwhile, the increasing number of behavioural issues has led to the relatively widespread use of new “Chaperone Policies”. These prohibit underage guests from visiting parks and attractions without adult supervision. This adds yet another unexpected complication to the goal of simply doing business in today’s modern world.
Unfortunately, I fear that things may worsen over the next few years before they begin to improve.
