Six Flags (Better 2000s)

Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc., is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amusement-park company and has the seventh highest attendance in the world. The company operates 27 properties throughout North America, including theme parks, amusement parks, water parks, and a family entertainment center. Originally, the company was known as Six Flags, Corp., and later Six Flags, Inc. Founded in the 1960s, its name is derived from its first property, Six Flags Over Texas. The company maintains a corporate office in Midtown Manhattan, and headquarters in Arlington, Texas.

## **History**

### **Origin**

Six Flags Theme Parks originated in 1957 with the creation of The Great Southwest Corporation by Angus G. Wynne and other investors. Construction of Six Flags Over Texas started in 1960 and the park opened the next year for a short (45-day) season. The park 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, inspired by the historical La Salle Expeditions in the late 1600s, called "LaSalle's River Adventure", aboard French riverboats through a wilderness full of animated puppets. Over the years, all of those attractions, except the railroad, were replaced by others, such as roller coasters, swing rides, log flumes and shoot-the-chute rides, as well as an observation tower.

The name "Six Flags" originally referred to the flags of the six different nations that have governed Texas: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States of America, and the Confederate States of America. Six Flags parks are still divided into different themed sections, although many of the original areas from the first three parks have been replaced.

### **Growth and acquisitions**

In 1964, Toddie Lee Wynne announced he would be selling his stake in the Great Southwest Corporation, which he created with his nephew Angus G. Wynne Jr. The sale was expected to be around $6 million. The Pennsylvania Railroad purchased 500,000 shares of the Great Southwest Corporation, giving them a controlling interest in the company and the park.

The original Six Flags park, Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington (between Dallas and Fort Worth), was officially sold in 1966 to a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was actively pursuing non-railroad investments in an effort to diversify its sources of income (in 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the New York Central Railroad to form Penn Central Corp which was absorbed into Conrail in 1976). With the new owners came a more abundant supply of capital for geographic expansion and park additions. Six Flags opened Six Flags Over Georgia in 1967 and Six Flags Over Mid-America in 1971, which were the last two original parks constructed by the company.[citation needed]

Six Flags continued to grow by acquiring independent parks. Six Flags purchased AstroWorld in Houston, Texas, in 1975; Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, in 1977; and Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, in 1979. These purchases were followed by Penn Central selling assets to Bally Manufacturing in 1982.

In 1984, the Great America theme park in Gurnee, Illinois, was acquired from the Marriott hotel chain.

Also in 1984, as a result of its acquisition of Great America, Six Flags acquired the rights to Time Warner/Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes animated characters for use in Six Flags properties. Bally surrendered control of the chain to Wesray Capital Corporation in a 1987 leveraged buyout. Time Warner quickly began to gain more leverage in the company, gaining a 19.5% stake in Six Flags in 1990 and then 50% in 1991, with the remaining shares of the company being split by Blackstone Group and Wertheim Schroder & Company. Time Warner purchased the remaining stake in Six Flags in 1993, changing the company's name from Six Flags Corp. to Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. In 1995, in an effort to reduce its debt load, Time Warner sold 51% of Six Flags for $200 million in cash to an investment group led by Boston Ventures, shifting $800 million in debt to Six Flags.

In 1996, Six Flags began to manage Fiesta Texas theme park in San Antonio, Texas, with a ten-year option to buy, and purchased the park (as Premier) from USAA in 1998.

### **History of Premier Parks**

Premier Parks originally operated as the Tierco Group, Inc., an Oklahoma-based real estate company. The company purchased the Frontier City theme park in Oklahoma City in 1982 for $1.2 million, although Tierco had no intention of entering the amusement park business. Company officials described Frontier City as "beat up" and "run down"; they planned to demolish it, subdivide the land and build a shopping center. However, given an oil bust in Oklahoma, developers lost interest in converting the park into a shopping center. In 1984, Tierco hired Gary Story as general manager of Frontier City and invested about $13 million into improving the park. As the new head of Frontier City, he quadrupled the park's attendance and revenues. Under his leadership, two rides, a ticket booth, sales office, and a petting zoo were added to the park. Food service improved.

In 1988, Tierco shifted its strategic direction to amusement parks. It sold much of its property in the late 1980s, generating capital to reinvest in Frontier City. As this reinvestment paid off, more capital became available, creating further growth. By 1991, Tierco opened White Water waterpark in Oklahoma City (the name later became Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Oklahoma City). The company realized the key to boosting a park's attendance was to add new and exciting rides and make it family-friendly.

Tierco acquired the financially troubled Wild World in Largo, Maryland, in 1992 and later changed that park's name to Adventure World. With a $500,000 investment, Tierco expanded Wild World's kiddie section and remodeled its buildings to give the park a tropical look and feel. Story was promoted to executive vice president after the purchase of Wild World. In 1994, he was promoted again to president and chief operating officer (COO). More flat rides and two roller coasters were added to that park.

Since Tierco was on its way to becoming a "premier" regional theme park operator, in 1994 it changed its name to Premier Parks, Inc. Kieran E. Burke, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), noted that the new name signified the beginning of a new era for the company.

In the second half of the 1990s, Premier picked up speed. In 1995, the company acquired these Funtime, Inc. properties: Geauga Lake near Cleveland, Ohio, Wyandot Lake in Powell, Ohio and Darien Lake near Buffalo, New York. In 1996, Premier added to its portfolio, buying Elitch Gardens in Denver, Colorado, the Waterworld USA waterparks in Sacramento and Concord, California, Riverside Park in Agawam, Massachusetts, and Great Escape and Splashwater Kingdom in Queensbury, New York.

Geauga Lake, Wyandot Lake and Adventure World included water parks, while Frontier City was 14.8 miles away from White Water Bay that required separate admission. Riverside added one just before being sold. Premier Parks, in 1995 and 1996, added water parks to Darien Lake, Lake Compounce (immediately before the Kennywood sale), Elitch Gardens, and Great Escape.

Premier went public in 1996 and raised nearly $70 million through an initial offering at $18 per share. The company planned to use the money to expand its ten parks and acquire others. On September 26, 1997, Premier announced that they would purchase Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville for $64 million, the deal finalized on November 7. Also that year, the company purchased Marine World near San Francisco. A second public offering, at $29 per share, raised an additional $2 million. In December 1997, Premier entered a definitive agreement to purchase a controlling 94 percent interest in Walibi Family Parks in Europe. The deal was finalized in March 1998 adding five Walibi Parks and Bellewaerde to the chain. In 1997, almost 11 million people visited parks owned by Premier.

Premier added amusement park rides and roller coasters to Marine World in 1998.

### **Acquisition of Six Flags by Premier Parks**

Premier Parks purchased Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. from Time Warner on April 1, 1998, for $1.86 billion. Premier began to apply the Six Flags name to several smaller parks that the company had already owned: Darien Lake, Elitch Gardens, Kentucky Kingdom and Marine World. Adventure World was rebranded as Six Flags America.

In 1999, Premier Parks purchased Warner Bros. Movie World Germany and the yet-to-be-built Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid from Warner Bros. As part of the acquisition, Premier Parks had the opportunity to open more European theme parks with Warner Bros. Movie World branding. Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, Australia was not part of the deal. The same transaction saw Premier Parks obtain exclusive rights for Warner Bros. licensing in Europe and Latin America, in addition to their existing rights for the United States and Canada. In March 1999, Premier Parks purchased Reino Aventura for an estimated $59 million.

In 2000, Premier Parks assumed the Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. name and continued re-branding its parks, including Geauga Lake park into Six Flags Ohio and Riverside Park to Six Flags New England. The company also rebranded one of the recently acquired Walibi parks — Walibi Flevo as Six Flags Holland, and Mexico's Reino Aventura as Six Flags Mexico.

In 2001, Six Flags acquired the former SeaWorld Ohio from Anheuser-Busch, merged it with the adjacent Six Flags Ohio and re-branded the combined park as Six Flags Worlds of Adventure. The park was positioned to compete against northern Ohio's Cedar Point. In May 2001, Six Flags negotiated with the city of Montreal to operate La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Six Flags acquired the assets of the park and has a long-term contract to lease the land from the city. Walibi Wavre was rebranded as Six Flags Belgium. In 2002, Six Flags acquired New Orleans' Jazzland amusement park from Alfa Smartparks for $22 million. On August 29, 2005, Six Flags New Orleans (which was acquired by Six Flags in 2002) is never damaged by Hurricane Katrina is Prevented.