Information AboutSix Flags |
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Six Flags () is the world's largest chain of Amusement Parks and Theme Parks and is headquartered in New York City . There are 20 such parks run by Six Flags. The first Six Flags amusement park, Six Flags Over Texas , was built midway between the cities of Fort Worth and Dallas in Arlington ( Tarrant County ), Texas , United States . The park took its name from the six flags that have flown over the State of Texas during its history, namely those of Spain , France , Mexico , the Republic Of Texas , the United States of America and the Confederate States Of America . In 2006 , the company celebrated the 45th anniversary since the opening of Six Flags over Texas. HISTORY Beginnings The Six Flags chain began in 1961 with the creation of Six Flags Over Texas by Angus G. Wynne at Arlington in Tarrant County , which initially featured a Native American village, a Gondola ride, a Railroad , some Wild West shows, a Stagecoach ride, and "Skull Island", a pirate-themed adventure attraction. There was also an excursion aboard "French" boats through a wilderness full of animated puppets. Over time, all of those attractions, except for the railroad, would be replaced by others, such as Roller Coaster s, swing rides, Log Flume s, and shoot-the-chute rides, as well as an Observation Tower . Growth (acquisitions) The original park in Arlington was sold to Penn Central Corp. in 1966 and the company began to expand with the acquisition of other parks. Six Flags Corp. opened Six Flags St. Louis in 1971 and purchased Six Flags Astroworld in Houston, TX from the Hofheinz family in 1975. The chain continued to expand, acquiring Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA and Frontier City in Oklahoma City before Penn Central sold its assets to Bally Manufacturing Corporation in 1982. Great America in Gurnee, Illinois was added to the company in 1984. This park had been founded by the Marriott hotel chain in 1976 and featured an Americana theme throughout. The company established a relationship with Time Warner in 1984 with the acquisition of the rights to Warner. Bros animated characters for use in their properties. Bally surrendered control of the chain to Wesray Capital Corporation in a leveraged buyout in 1987. Time Warner quickly began to gain more leverage in the company, gaining a 19.5% stake in Six Flags Corp. in 1990 and then 50% in 1991, the remaining shares of the company being split by Blackstone Group and Wertheim Schroder & Company. Time Warner purchased the remaining stakes in the company in 1993 changing the company's name from Six Flags Corp. to Six Flags Theme Parks Inc. Premier parks Six Flags Theme Parks Inc. was purchased in whole on , Six Flags Belgium , and Six Flags Mexico . The Walibi properties lasted a mere three years under the Six Flags name. Six Flags' European division was sold to Star Parks Group in 2004, with the exception of the Movie World park in Madrid which was sold back to Time Warner and renamed "Parque Warner Madrid". The other re-branded parks in Europe have since been renamed "Walibi World", "Walibi Belgium", "Movie Park Germany". The chain has continued to lose money every year since 1998 amassing more than $2 billion in debt due to over expansion and mismanagement. Headquartered in New York City , Six Flags is now the largest amusement park operator in the United States. Bill Gates owns about 11% of Six Flags and rumors were flying around that Bill Gates ' Cascade Investments and Daniel Snyder 's Red Zone LLC (which owns 12% of Six Flags) may take it over. Indeed, on August 17 , 2005 , Red Zone began a proxy battle to gain control of Six Flags' board of directors. On November 22 , 2005 , Red Zone announced success in the attempt. After gaining control of the board, CEO Kieran Burke was ousted on December 14 , 2005 and replaced by Mark Shapiro, former EVP of Programming at ESPN . Moreover, Six Flags named former Representative Jack Kemp , entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein , and the former president, Michael Kassan, of the Interpublic Group Of Companies Incorporated , a global marketing and advertising agency, to their newly revamped board of directors. Marketing Until 2004, Six Flags parks would do separate commercials for each park, sometimes with special themes (like Great America's 25th anniversary in 2001). In 2004, Six Flags began a series of commercials linking all of the parks. The commercials were notable for a new mascot, " Mr. Six ", and would each begin with an old man in a tuxedo and red bow tie slowly exiting a bus, only to start frenetically dancing to the Vengaboys ' '' We Like To Party ''. The commercials were an immediate hit and Mr. Six almost instantly became the official mascot, although he was retired after the 2005 season. Subsequently, Bugs Bunny became a mascot, whose image is on the 45th anniversary banner, since Looney Tunes , along with DC Comics characters, dominates the park's themes. Papa John's Pizza deal On March 30 , 2006 , Six Flags announced that it will sell no other pizza besides Papa John's at its parks. In turn, Six Flags will receive an annual sponsorship and promotional opportunities from Papa John's, though financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. Sale of properties In 2004, Six Flags Inc. began to close and sell properties in an effort to help alleviate the company's growing debt. Astroworld's closing On September 12 , 2005 , Six Flags announced that it was closing its legendary Six Flags Astroworld theme park in Houston , Texas, at the end of the 2005 season. The company cited issues such as the park's performance, and parking issues involving the Houston Texans football team, Reliant Stadium , and the Houston Livestock Show And Rodeo leveraged with the value of the property upon which the park is located. The land was sold to a development corporation in 2006 for $77 million with a demolition cost of $20 million (reported in a corporate earnings report). http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2006/05/08/daily27.html?from_rss=1 Frontier City On January 27 , 2006 , Six Flags announced the sale of Frontier City theme park and White Water Bay water park, both located in Oklahoma City , at the conclusion of the 2006 operating season. At the same time, Six Flags also announced its plan to close corporate offices in Oklahoma City. Six Flags CEO Mark Shapiro said he expects the parks to continue operation after the sale, unlike Six Flags Astroworld . Six Flags also announced that it would be moving all of its corporate operations to New York City . 2005 sale of properties In April 2006, Six Flags announced its selling their Ohio park, Six Flags World's of Adventure, to Cedar Fair, L.P. (Now Cedar Fair Entertainment Group ). The park was purchased by Premier Parks in 1996 and later expanded and given the Six Flags name in 2000. After mismanagement the company offered the park to Cedar Fair. Since then Cedar Fair has slowly been turning the park around by changing the parks name back to "Geauga Lake" and enforcing its policy. Even with all these changes the company has yet to beat, or even match, the high attendance Six Flags had with the park. 2006 sale of properties In June of 2006, Six Flags announced it was considering closing or selling up to six of its parks, including '', June 13 , 2006 . 2007 sale of properties On January 11 , 2007 , the company announced it sold seven parks to PARC Management for $312 million to help the company's debt burden. Six Flags will receive $275 million cash and a note for $37 million for four theme parks and three water parks. PARC 7F, of Jacksonville, Florida, is expected to sell the parks to CNL Income Properties Inc., a real-estate trust based in Florida, and then lease them back. Six Flags sold Darien Lake , Elitch Gardens , Frontier City , White Water Bay, Splashtown , WaterWorld , Wild Waves , and Enchanted Village . The company decided not to sell Magic Mountain and its adjacent water park. Spokeswoman Wendy Goldberg said that upon further evaluation, the company decided that the Los Angeles parks remained too valuable to let go as season passes and general sales were up. Purchase of Dick Clark Productions On June 19 , 2007 , Six Flags announced it has purchased 40% of Dick Clark Productions, which owns rights to '' American Bandstand '' and other shows and productions.http://investors.sixflags.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=61629&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1016920&highlight= CURRENT PROPERTIES United States California
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FORMER PROPERTIES listed by the final name of the park while under Six Flags control
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ACCIDENTS See Also: Incidents at Six Flags parks REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS Six Flags park sites
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