Six Flags, New Orleans

**Six Flags New Orleans** is an abandoned theme park located near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Interstate 510 in New Orleans. Following the substantial damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, the park remained closed to the public in order to make efforts to repair and reopen it. However, in 2009, the city of New Orleans ended its 75-year lease with Six Flags, and the park consequently became permanently closed due to the extreme damage that was too severe to be repaired. Six Flags salvaged several rides and relocated them to other parks. Following several failed proposals to redevelop the site, it remains abandoned and in poor condition. Videos and photos of the site have emerged over the years from thrill-seekers. As a result, city officials became more diligent in securing the park and banning tourists, tasking the New Orleans Police Department with patrolling the abandoned site and arresting trespassers.

## Story

Tom and Dian Winingder spent almost ten years arranging the partnership that would open Jazzland, the former name for the Six Flags in New Orleans.

The park opened under the name *Jazzland* on May 20, 2000; the crowd was estimated at 20–25,000 people, and 75–80,000 season passes had been sold. It was operated by Alfa SmartParks, a Greek holding company that purchased the Odgen Entertainment theme park division; the company has since changed hands and now is known as Palace Entertainment, owned by the Spanish company Parques Reunidos. Rides included Mega Zeph, a wooden roller coaster track built on a steel frame to prevent termite infestation and withstand hurricane-force winds. Other rides included a junior steel coaster called Rex's Rail Runner, a wild mouse steel coaster, and a common steel shuttle looping Vekoma boomerang rollercoaster called Zydeco Scream. The park had a log flume called Cypress Plunge and a splashwater falls ride called Spillway Splashout. In addition, the park had common amusement park spinning rides and a carousel merry-go-round.

The park was not profitable, as Alfa SmartParks specialized in running water parks and smaller amusement arcade centers. It attracted 1.1 million visitors for its first season, but that decreased to 560 to 580 thousand the next season; Alfa filed for bankruptcy reorganization in February 2002. Citing its benefit to the local economy, HUD loaned $25.3 million to build the park, and after Alfa went bankrupt, the city of New Orleans became liable for the remainder of the loan. In 2001, the lease was put up for sale, and in March 2002 Six Flags purchased it for $22 M, although the park's name did not change that year. The New Orleans city council approved the 75-year lease in August 2002; under the negotiated agreement, repayment of the remaining $24.4 million loan from HUD was to be split between the park ($1.4 M/year) and the city ($1 M/yr).

Six Flags spent $20 million to upgrade the park and reopened it in April 2003 under the name Six Flags New Orleans. Six Flags added more shaded areas , d They added a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster named Batman: The Ride relocated from the defunct Thrill Valley in Japan, and a Vekoma multiple looping coaster called The Jester relocated from Six Flags Fiesta Texas. A water park that would be included in the admission (like Six Flags Parks such as Six Flags St. Louis and Six Flags America, for example) was in the planning stages in early 2005 and was going to be announced at the end of August. However, Hurricane Katrina was about to strike New Orleans, which put those plans and the continued operations of the park in question.

### Abandonment

The last day the park operated was Sunday August 21, 2005, eight days before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Weekday operations had ended a couple of weeks earlier, however, as schools start early in August in the New Orleans area and end in mid-May. The park was scheduled to reopen for the weekend on August 27 or August 28, but once Katrina was forecast late on Friday, August 26 to directly hit New Orleans, the weekend re-opening was cancelled in order to prepare for the storm and begin evacuations. By the time the park closed in 2005, Six Flags had spent $44 M on park upgrades. As of today, the park remains untouched and left devastation to it's wake, leaving rides to rot and several places jammed with mold.