Six Flags Episodes

Six Flags is being pushed to sell again amid additional X2 lawsuits at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Six Flags now lets guests finance a season pass, or any online order of $49 or more, through Flex Pay by Upgrade. It is presented as a way to spread a pass into monthly payments, and it is a loan from an outside lender, with a credit check, an 18-and-over requirement, a possible down payment, and an APR from 0% to 36% depending on the borrower. For a company this cash-constrained, the move makes sense: Six Flags gets paid up front, the lender carries the risk, and no internal department has to e...

Six Flags settled the wrongful death lawsuit over X2 at Magic Mountain on August 27, two weeks before trial. Christopher Hawley, 22, rode the coaster in 2022, lost consciousness after exiting, and died the next day of a subdural hematoma. The settlement is not an admission of liability, and Six Flags maintained the ride passed daily inspections. X2 has been closed since July, when two riders were hospitalized with brain hemorrhages within days of each other, and Cal/OSHA opened an inspection that is still ongoing. We're divided on this, so let's take some time to tease it out.

Six Flags is moving its corporate headquarters from Charlotte to Arlington, Texas, with the transition complete by March 2027. CEO John Reilly framed the move as "concentrating our personnel, processes, and decision-making" in one office to improve coordination among the new executive team. This is an efficiency of time. The pure money play would be stipends and no office at all. A turnaround built on live entertainment rollouts, reinstated park presidents, and new layers of communication needs ...

Six Flags announced its largest Halloween lineup ever: 448 experiences across the chain, including 11 new haunted mazes, 196 scare zones, and live entertainment offerings. Four new licensed franchises headline the year, with Jason: Blood Reign, Final Destination: Death's Playground, Blair Witch: No Signal, and Diablo: The Infernal Path each landing at multiple parks alongside returning brands like The Conjuring, Saw, and Trick 'r Treat. The timing is the strategy: the announcement dropped three ...

Universal detailed its Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood plans at Midsummer Scream, and the throughline is small IPs moving fast. Art the Clown returns in three controlled deployments: a Terror Tram takeover built around an original storybook and metal Christmas covers from Ice Nine Kills, a dedicated photo op, and a character encounter. Nikki from Curry Barker's Obsession joins as a character experience two months after the film premiered, the kind of deal that only closes that fast with an ind...

Six Flags found itself at the center of a chicken nugget fiasco this week, amidst a power struggle on its board.

Six Flags and Disney both had excellent earnings calls, but they seem to have opposite strategies.

Six Flags St. Louis updated and reinstated its chaperone policy following fights in the parking lot on opening day.

Six Flags is reinstating park president positions at 10 of its parks, less than a year after eliminating the role. This is the first major structural change under new CEO John Reilly, who, after his listening tour, described a chain that suffered from inconsistent standards and a lack of accountability after the 2024 Cedar Fair merger. When you lose a park president, you lose accountability and coherent differentiation planning. Corporate can drive real economies of scale, but corporate don't al...

Six Flags appointed Richard Haddrill as executive chairman of the board, replacing Marilyn Spiegel (who stays on as lead independent director). Haddrill comes from the gaming industry — he was CEO of Bally Technologies and executive vice chairman at Scientific Games. The move continues the board refresh that Jana Partners demanded, and it puts more pressure on CEO John Reilly to deliver results now that the "board is in the way" excuse is gone. Merlin Entertainments reported its 2025 annual r...

Jana Partners sent a letter to the Six Flags board pushing the company to explore a sale and replace board chair Marilyn Spiegel — just one week after the Travis Kelce brand ambassador announcement. We break down what Jana actually wants, why the timeline doesn't add up, and what this means for CEO John Reilly's turnaround plan. Then: Sesame Workshop filed a federal lawsuit against United Parks to terminate their licensing agreement. United Parks stopped paying royalties in September 2025, took...

Six Flags is selling seven of its parks to EPR Properties for $331 million in cash, but will they sell more? We think so.

Six Flags posted Q4 2025 results this week, and the results weren't good.

Six Flags is rolling out a simplified season pass structure and Disney has a new CEO.

Six Flags is expanding Grad Nite in 2026, adding Knott’s Berry Farm and Carowinds to a program the company has relied on for years; Meanwhile, Disney is poviting the story of Galaxy's Edge.

A new set of trademark filings has raised fresh questions about Six Flags’ long-term portfolio strategy.

Six Flags has announced a major debt refinancing, issuing $1.0 billion in senior notes due in 2032 at an 8.625% interest rate to retire bonds coming due in 2027.

Six Flags Magic Mountain has delayed its highly anticipated “first-of-its-kind” coaster to 2027, and will instead add a Looney Toons Area.

Six Flags has appointed John Reilly as its new CEO—a leader who spent 21 years at SeaWorld and later held top roles at Palace Entertainment, the parent company of regional parks like Kennywood and Lake Compounce.

Disney’s stock dipped 7% after its latest earnings show cable is collapsing faster than expected.

Six Flags is doubling down on its “smaller and more nimble” plan, prioritizing core parks and openly confirming that more closures or sales are on the way.

Kansas City Chiefs star—and Taylor Swift’s fiancé—Travis Kelce now owns a 9% stake in Six Flags alongside hedge fund Jana Partners, instantly making the struggling park chain a national headline. Former Cedar Fair CEO Matt Ouimet, however, wasn’t impressed—publicly calling out the board for “cycling through CEOs, destroying value, and failing to show ownership” while urging the next chief executive to rebuild with leaders who actually understand entertainment. Philip and Scott unpack what Kelce’...

Six Flags is losing more of its board - what will happen next?