Subscribe to our new Patreon for BONUS content
Sept. 27, 2026

Six Flags Faces Another Sale Push, More X2 Lawsuits

Key Takeaways

  • JANA Partners is pushing Six Flags to explore a potential sale for a second time this year, driven largely by disappointing second-quarter results and mounting pressure from high debt loads.
  • With a significant portion of Six Flags' roughly $5 billion in debt tied to variable interest rates, recent Federal Reserve rate hikes and higher refinancing costs are putting immense pressure on the company's financial model.
  • Three additional riders have filed lawsuits against Six Flags Magic Mountain over alleged brain injuries sustained on the X2 roller coaster, with their legal representation claiming over 100 more clients are slated to file.
  • The new X2 lawsuits introduce serious allegations of fraudulent concealment, claiming the park continued operating the ride despite knowing about prior injuries.
  • Industry experts note that while exploring a sale and managing high debt are normal business practices, finding a buyer with deep enough pockets to take on Six Flags' massive financial obligations in the current economic climate remains a major hurdle.

JANA Partners is pushing Six Flags to explore a sale again, according to The Wall Street Journal. It's JANA's second push this year, but this time there's no public letter and no statement from Six Flags. JANA pointed to disappointing second-quarter results, and Philip thinks interest rates explain the timing. About $1.48 billion of Six Flags' roughly $5 billion in debt has a variable rate, so the Fed's September hike adds about $4 million a year in interest, and each bond that comes due will likely be refinanced at a higher rate. That debt also makes a sale harder, because any buyer is mostly buying the debt.
Meanwhile, three more riders have sued Six Flags Magic Mountain over brain injuries they say they suffered on X2, and their law firm says more than 100 others have hired it. The complaints allege fraudulent concealment, claiming the park kept running the ride after learning of injuries. None of it has been proven, but the story keeps getting worse for Six Flags.
Enchanted Parks is running Halloween at all six of its parks, including its first season at the parks it bought from Six Flags. Every park has a daytime family event, four add haunted houses at night for an extra fee, and all of them offer allergy-safe trick-or-treating. Running both formats in a transition year lets the new owner see which one pays.
Finally, five Six Flags parks made the top 10 of a Stasher study of America's most overrated attractions, with Great Adventure at number two. The Hollywood Walk of Fame ranked first and Plymouth Rock third, so take the list with a grain of salt.
Listen to weekly BONUS episodes on our Patreon.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is JANA Partners pushing Six Flags to sell?

JANA Partners is pushing Six Flags to explore a sale due to disappointing second-quarter results and mounting financial pressures from the company's massive debt load in a rising interest rate environment.

How much debt does Six Flags have?

Six Flags carries roughly $5 billion in total debt, with approximately $1.48 billion of that tied to variable interest rates that become more expensive with every Federal Reserve rate hike.

What are the latest lawsuits against Six Flags Magic Mountain about?

Three additional riders have sued Six Flags Magic Mountain alleging brain injuries sustained while riding the X2 roller coaster, bringing new claims of fraudulent concealment against the park.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.630 --> 00:00:01.570
Okay. Hello.

2
00:00:01.929 --> 00:00:04.730
This week from our studios in Los Angeles and Tampa,

3
00:00:04.830 --> 00:00:08.240
this is Green Tagged Theme Park in 30. I'm Philip

4
00:00:08.259 --> 00:00:11.179
from Ganton Lighting Controls, and I'm joined as always by

5
00:00:11.220 --> 00:00:15.259
my delightful co-host Scott Swenson of Scott Swenson Creative Development.

6
00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:16.920
Here on Green Tagged, of course, we look to the

7
00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:18.559
top news each week, and we try and pick the

8
00:00:18.579 --> 00:00:21.179
stories we think matter most to industry professionals, and we

9
00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:25.629
discuss them here on the show. And this week, we

10
00:00:25.670 --> 00:00:29.320
are back to Six Flags because it just It does

11
00:00:29.379 --> 00:00:35.329
not end for our favorite chain that is also America's

12
00:00:35.530 --> 00:00:39.969
largest theme park chain. But really quick, before we get

13
00:00:40.049 --> 00:00:43.350
into that story, I did want to do a thank

14
00:00:43.380 --> 00:00:46.219
you to everyone who left comments last week. Kind of

15
00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:53.020
very thoughtful comments in response to mostly Scott's rant from

16
00:00:53.079 --> 00:00:55.840
the previous week. But we thank all of you for that,

17
00:00:55.950 --> 00:01:00.460
and especially people... from pointing out when we had made

18
00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:04.659
some mistakes in some of the pronunciations. The comments are

19
00:01:04.700 --> 00:01:06.719
very helpful, and I think that's why we do the show.

20
00:01:06.819 --> 00:01:08.760
That's kind of why we started it originally, was to

21
00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:12.079
have discussions and ask questions. So we appreciate those comments.

22
00:01:12.099 --> 00:01:14.239
We do read all of them, although don't always have

23
00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:17.859
time to reply because I'm barely alive. And yes.

24
00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:22.579
Well, it is the season, you know, and I... I'm

25
00:01:22.609 --> 00:01:27.719
sitting here right now going, I have opened two Halloween

26
00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:32.959
events in two different parts of the country. And on Monday,

27
00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:36.540
I fly out to go do a third. And in

28
00:01:36.579 --> 00:01:40.409
between now and Monday, we're recording this on Saturday. So tomorrow,

29
00:01:40.450 --> 00:01:43.090
I have an art show that I'm doing. So yeah,

30
00:01:43.189 --> 00:01:45.510
it's just a crazy, crazy time. But to echo what

31
00:01:45.530 --> 00:01:47.989
Philip said, yes, thank you so much for sharing those comments.

32
00:01:48.750 --> 00:01:51.620
We do appreciate them. And, you know, we've always said

33
00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:53.780
from the very beginning, we're not here, we're not here

34
00:01:53.819 --> 00:01:55.200
to give all the answers. We are here to make

35
00:01:55.219 --> 00:01:57.500
sure that we are all asking the right questions. And

36
00:01:57.620 --> 00:02:00.900
when we make mistakes or when we, when we need

37
00:02:00.920 --> 00:02:04.200
to be redirected in the questions that we're inspiring, then that's,

38
00:02:04.900 --> 00:02:07.319
that's exactly what we hope that you will do because

39
00:02:07.379 --> 00:02:09.819
that shows engagement and shows that, you know, you care

40
00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:12.259
about this industry and care about making certain that we

41
00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:14.030
remain honest. So thank you.

42
00:02:14.439 --> 00:02:19.069
Yeah. Yeah. Well, Uh, let us back to Six Flags,

43
00:02:19.550 --> 00:02:24.610
then we shall, we shall go. And I'm sure that, again,

44
00:02:24.650 --> 00:02:26.069
this is one of those things, because this is an

45
00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:30.099
industry show, I'm sure everyone listening is already aware of

46
00:02:30.539 --> 00:02:33.759
the news that came out this week about Jana pushing

47
00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:39.000
again for Six Flags to sell. They, and it came

48
00:02:39.099 --> 00:02:43.099
out from a few outlets, although this time, you know,

49
00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:46.530
this happened in March previously. And in March, we got

50
00:02:46.550 --> 00:02:49.830
an actual letter that was a pretty strongly worded letter

51
00:02:50.629 --> 00:02:55.680
that referenced the known buyer interest, I guess, that supposedly exists,

52
00:02:56.300 --> 00:03:00.900
and also talked about there being a pattern of board dysfunction, right?

53
00:03:01.819 --> 00:03:05.419
This time, from what I've seen, and maybe I missed something,

54
00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:07.340
but from what I've seen, there isn't a public letter.

55
00:03:07.969 --> 00:03:10.849
This is more that reporting that came out from big

56
00:03:10.889 --> 00:03:14.969
news organizations that they don't have a published letter, right?

57
00:03:15.009 --> 00:03:16.669
And Six Flags has not given a statement or anything.

58
00:03:16.849 --> 00:03:20.729
This is more reporting stories. So it seems like it's

59
00:03:20.750 --> 00:03:23.650
a little bit different in nature. But essentially, even though

60
00:03:24.930 --> 00:03:28.030
there's been a lot that has changed since the first letter,

61
00:03:28.110 --> 00:03:31.449
including the leadership, a lot of the board leadership has changed.

62
00:03:31.750 --> 00:03:34.310
There's been a lot of changes since that first letter

63
00:03:34.349 --> 00:03:38.020
came out. So despite all of that, Jen is still

64
00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:42.789
urging for a sale. And They didn't say why they

65
00:03:42.830 --> 00:03:47.229
just said disappointment with a second quarter results. That's it.

66
00:03:47.469 --> 00:03:50.900
So those are kind of like the facts. So now

67
00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:56.379
we can go into Philip's crazy world. And I think

68
00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:00.840
this all comes down to debt. That's it. And I,

69
00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:03.719
I don't want to, you know, I don't want to oversimplify.

70
00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:05.280
I'm sure there's a lot of other things, but I

71
00:04:05.300 --> 00:04:07.000
think it all comes down to the day as it

72
00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:09.729
always does. It's all about, it's always all.

73
00:04:09.629 --> 00:04:10.129
About the money.

74
00:04:10.150 --> 00:04:12.080
It's like follow the money. And I think the money

75
00:04:12.139 --> 00:04:15.039
here is the debt. And here's why I think now.

76
00:04:15.060 --> 00:04:17.730
And this is just me. This is just me. And

77
00:04:17.769 --> 00:04:20.689
this is not an investing show. We're not financial advisors.

78
00:04:20.709 --> 00:04:23.470
So just take all that in mind. But we all

79
00:04:24.069 --> 00:04:27.790
know also that the Fed recently hiked interest rates. Well,

80
00:04:28.870 --> 00:04:31.480
remember that Six Flags has a lot of debt. Some

81
00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:33.639
of that debt is variable.

82
00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:35.040
Actually, $ 1.

83
00:04:34.939 --> 00:04:35.500
46 billion or $ 1.

84
00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:36.240
48 billion of it is variable.

85
00:04:40.370 --> 00:04:43.810
Variable, which means that interest rate on that $ 1. 48 billion

86
00:04:43.829 --> 00:04:48.870
actually moves. So when the Fed raised interest rates last week,

87
00:04:49.930 --> 00:04:53.040
it cost an extra $ 4 million for Six Flags in

88
00:04:53.100 --> 00:04:55.480
just interest that they have to pay on that. And

89
00:04:55.500 --> 00:04:57.199
it looks like the Fed's going to continue to raise

90
00:04:57.240 --> 00:05:01.220
interest rates. We're not sure, but right now people are

91
00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:03.730
thinking they might raise it. So every time they move it,

92
00:05:04.910 --> 00:05:08.279
That's an extra $ 4 million that they're paying on that

93
00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:10.819
because that is variable. But it gets a little bit

94
00:05:10.860 --> 00:05:14.300
more complicated because if you remember in January, we talked

95
00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:17.759
about them having to refinance and roll over some of

96
00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:23.610
their maturing bonds. So each time that a new bond

97
00:05:23.649 --> 00:05:26.290
is going to come due, they're going to likely refinance it.

98
00:05:26.310 --> 00:05:28.069
We talked about how that's normal. This is all normal.

99
00:05:28.149 --> 00:05:31.480
But I'm just saying, when you're refinancing into a higher

100
00:05:31.540 --> 00:05:34.920
interest rate environment, that means it's costing more. And so

101
00:05:34.980 --> 00:05:39.560
I think this could be maybe why Janet is pushing now,

102
00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:43.290
just because we started off the year thinking the Fed

103
00:05:43.350 --> 00:05:47.370
might cut interest rates. And now we just had a

104
00:05:47.410 --> 00:05:49.529
rate hike, the first one in a long time, and

105
00:05:49.550 --> 00:05:53.189
it looks like more might be coming. I think that

106
00:05:53.350 --> 00:05:56.290
is more the impetus, is that because of the debt load,

107
00:05:57.550 --> 00:06:00.050
And even though all this is normal, like this is all,

108
00:06:00.449 --> 00:06:02.750
this is all how companies operate normally, but I'm just

109
00:06:02.810 --> 00:06:05.120
kind of highlighting that the big problem Six Lives has

110
00:06:05.129 --> 00:06:07.800
had is that they are over levered with their debt

111
00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:12.079
and debt is becoming more expensive and money's becoming more expensive.

112
00:06:12.519 --> 00:06:15.339
And when you have this much of it, that's putting

113
00:06:15.420 --> 00:06:18.740
pressure on the business model. I think that's kind of

114
00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:25.300
just my thoughts on it, but Otherwise, Riley has been

115
00:06:25.339 --> 00:06:28.339
doing everything we've been discussing every week. I mean, they're

116
00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.600
trying really hard to right the ship and move this

117
00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:35.819
Titanic going in the right direction. But the question has

118
00:06:35.860 --> 00:06:38.100
always been, could they outrun the debt? And I think

119
00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:42.920
that Jan is probably just getting cold feet about it

120
00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:45.279
because of the environment.

121
00:06:46.819 --> 00:06:48.209
Well, and I'm going to.

122
00:06:50.779 --> 00:06:53.519
I think everything you have said is exactly spot on.

123
00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:57.170
I think, you know, but I also want to say

124
00:06:57.290 --> 00:07:00.050
that because going back to the very beginning when you

125
00:07:00.069 --> 00:07:02.850
first started talking about this, there has been no letter.

126
00:07:02.889 --> 00:07:06.329
There has been no official statement. This is all reporting.

127
00:07:07.730 --> 00:07:10.310
So I'm not saying it's untrue. I'm just saying that

128
00:07:10.670 --> 00:07:14.069
the company is not 100% confident enough to put something

129
00:07:14.209 --> 00:07:18.060
out quite yet. It is very common for companies to

130
00:07:18.139 --> 00:07:22.310
constantly say, evaluate what, um, other companies are going to

131
00:07:22.350 --> 00:07:24.889
be willing to pay for them. This is not, this

132
00:07:24.970 --> 00:07:28.410
is not an unusual thing in this or any other industry.

133
00:07:28.829 --> 00:07:31.269
You know, part of the reason that people form companies

134
00:07:31.470 --> 00:07:38.009
is so that eventually they can sell them for a profit. So, uh, there,

135
00:07:38.100 --> 00:07:41.000
there is, there is that. So this is, this is

136
00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:43.240
going back to what you're saying. This is just normal.

137
00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:47.120
This is very normal. Um, I think the challenge is.

138
00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:53.470
the with these with this incredible debt and with the

139
00:07:53.569 --> 00:07:57.709
interest rates going up that doesn't make them terribly marketable

140
00:07:58.490 --> 00:08:01.649
um unless it's going to someone who's got very very

141
00:08:01.730 --> 00:08:04.540
very very very deep pockets and they're they're in it

142
00:08:04.579 --> 00:08:09.790
for the long game um because you know it's like Yeah,

143
00:08:09.850 --> 00:08:14.129
we're selling because we've got this anchor of debt around

144
00:08:14.180 --> 00:08:16.180
our neck and we're sinking. You want to buy us?

145
00:08:16.860 --> 00:08:22.579
That's not the best sales pitch. Buy us before we sink.

146
00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:27.620
That's not the best sales pitch. So I think it's interesting.

147
00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:31.470
I'm sure, quite honestly, I am sure that there are

148
00:08:31.629 --> 00:08:35.210
plenty of investors, plenty of Janna folks who are kind

149
00:08:35.230 --> 00:08:38.509
of going, Hey, we, uh, we might want to dump

150
00:08:38.549 --> 00:08:40.549
this before it gets too much worse.

151
00:08:41.250 --> 00:08:41.450
Right.

152
00:08:41.549 --> 00:08:44.539
But their ability to do that, I think is going

153
00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:48.360
to be significantly limited by what's happening with interest rates,

154
00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:51.220
what's happening with the, and the fact that they are,

155
00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:54.970
I mean, they are in a world of hurt when

156
00:08:55.009 --> 00:08:58.870
it comes to debt. Um, what I think is also

157
00:08:58.950 --> 00:09:01.879
interesting is is, and this goes back to the March letter,

158
00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:03.980
but I haven't seen anything, and Philip, maybe you have,

159
00:09:04.039 --> 00:09:07.889
but I haven't seen anything that countermans this yet, and

160
00:09:07.929 --> 00:09:11.649
that is that, you know, Jana still seems to support

161
00:09:11.990 --> 00:09:15.750
Riley as the CEO. They may have issues, they may

162
00:09:15.789 --> 00:09:17.789
still have issues with the board, and that the board

163
00:09:17.850 --> 00:09:20.750
continues to operate in a way that seems, I don't know,

164
00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:22.809
what do they say in the original, like disjointed or

165
00:09:22.850 --> 00:09:27.179
dysfunctional or something like that. They may still have issues

166
00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:29.559
with that, but but the fact that they've got John

167
00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:32.980
in there and maybe, maybe they're supporting, you know, here's,

168
00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:36.179
this is Scott's crazy theory. Maybe they're continuing to support

169
00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:40.179
John Reilly because, well, first of all, I have a

170
00:09:40.179 --> 00:09:42.100
great deal of respect for John. I've known, I've, I've

171
00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:46.639
seen his work for years, but, but it's also possible

172
00:09:46.970 --> 00:09:49.490
that they are continuing to support John Reilly as, you know,

173
00:09:49.529 --> 00:09:51.470
we may have debt, but look at this great leader

174
00:09:51.509 --> 00:09:54.629
we have um, who's going to take it, you know,

175
00:09:55.129 --> 00:09:57.789
take it to the, the, the, uh, take it through this,

176
00:09:57.889 --> 00:10:01.629
this storm here and make it to the end. Um,

177
00:10:02.269 --> 00:10:05.250
so maybe they're using him as a selling point because

178
00:10:05.289 --> 00:10:08.720
he is, you know, he is the CEO, not, not

179
00:10:08.740 --> 00:10:10.929
a member of the board, which, you know, usually shifts

180
00:10:11.009 --> 00:10:15.659
anyway when there's a big sale. So, um, yeah, it's

181
00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:19.159
an interesting situation. I, I, I think that, you know, it,

182
00:10:19.850 --> 00:10:23.610
Everybody's everybody who's seen this and everybody I've talked to

183
00:10:23.629 --> 00:10:25.870
who's seen this is, you know, kind of up in

184
00:10:25.929 --> 00:10:28.610
arms running around going, Oh, they're looking to sell already

185
00:10:28.649 --> 00:10:30.190
and they can't stick it out, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

186
00:10:30.529 --> 00:10:32.389
But this is kind of common practice. I think we

187
00:10:32.429 --> 00:10:36.049
have to take that into consideration as well. Um, do

188
00:10:36.090 --> 00:10:38.889
they want to get out from under this debt? Absolutely.

189
00:10:39.309 --> 00:10:41.909
Are they going to look at every single opportunity to

190
00:10:41.950 --> 00:10:46.000
get out from under this debt? Absolutely. Is sale one

191
00:10:46.029 --> 00:10:46.960
of those opportunities?

192
00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:47.980
Perhaps.

193
00:10:48.659 --> 00:10:52.620
Perhaps, but I don't know who has deep enough pockets

194
00:10:53.580 --> 00:10:55.899
to buy them at this point to be able to

195
00:10:55.960 --> 00:11:01.700
take care of that debt. If there is a turn

196
00:11:01.940 --> 00:11:07.360
in the interest rates, then I think the possibility of

197
00:11:07.799 --> 00:11:15.990
sale for profitability or sale to stop loss is much

198
00:11:16.029 --> 00:11:19.929
more realistic. But at this point, I'm not sure who

199
00:11:19.950 --> 00:11:20.350
it would be.

200
00:11:21.049 --> 00:11:21.230
Right.

201
00:11:21.409 --> 00:11:23.409
I'm not sure who it would be. Yeah.

202
00:11:23.509 --> 00:11:26.909
I think it would have, I don't think it would

203
00:11:26.929 --> 00:11:30.100
be anyone that we're thinking of because the 5 billion,

204
00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:32.299
I mean, you're buying 5 billion of debt. Like that's

205
00:11:32.340 --> 00:11:35.139
just the debt is 5 billion. And then it's, it's

206
00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:38.080
costing more, not just to define it. It's causing more

207
00:11:38.100 --> 00:11:41.200
to finance it. So I think it probably isn't anyone

208
00:11:41.220 --> 00:11:42.919
that we're thinking of. I think if it was going

209
00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:45.259
to be somebody, it would be somebody that we are

210
00:11:45.299 --> 00:11:49.259
not thinking of. I mean, that's not, In a world

211
00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:54.820
where we have trillion-dollar companies, a $ 5 billion thing is

212
00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:58.710
not a lot. It's just in our sector, it seems

213
00:11:58.750 --> 00:12:00.990
like a lot. But maybe if it was someone like

214
00:12:01.889 --> 00:12:06.629
Meta or Google or Apple, there's plenty of people that

215
00:12:06.649 --> 00:12:08.889
can afford this. I think it's just that the people

216
00:12:08.909 --> 00:12:12.149
that usually is in our industry that go around and

217
00:12:12.190 --> 00:12:14.039
purchase parks, I think it's a little bit outside of

218
00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:17.059
any of their budgets. Yep. Yep.

219
00:12:17.139 --> 00:12:19.240
It's got to be somebody who all of a sudden goes, hey,

220
00:12:19.580 --> 00:12:21.580
you know what? I think I want to own the

221
00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:24.340
largest theme park chain in the United States. Who is that?

222
00:12:25.570 --> 00:12:25.730
Yeah.

223
00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:26.429
Because they don't know.

224
00:12:27.090 --> 00:12:27.250
Right.

225
00:12:28.289 --> 00:12:29.049
And they owe how much?

226
00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:37.279
Yeah, that's right. Well, okay. We're keeping with Six Flags

227
00:12:37.299 --> 00:12:40.840
News here because there's an update to the X2 story

228
00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:44.610
that we talked about. Basically, it also came out on

229
00:12:44.870 --> 00:12:49.789
September 21st that three more writers have sued Six Flags

230
00:12:49.809 --> 00:12:53.250
Magic Mountain over brain injuries. And the firm that's representing

231
00:12:53.289 --> 00:12:57.289
them says that there's 100 additional clients that they have

232
00:12:57.330 --> 00:13:02.970
retained that will be filing soon, apparently. And who knows

233
00:13:03.029 --> 00:13:04.429
if that's actually going to happen. But at least we

234
00:13:04.460 --> 00:13:07.000
have these three news. We have three new ones on

235
00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:09.059
top of the two from July. So we have three

236
00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:13.129
new ones that just came in last week. And What's

237
00:13:13.230 --> 00:13:16.600
interesting to me about this one is that they're kind

238
00:13:16.649 --> 00:13:21.659
of alleging a broader pattern, basically, of kind of like

239
00:13:21.820 --> 00:13:30.320
criminal concealment, basically, where they're saying that basically the complaints

240
00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:33.120
allege that Six Flags knew of the rider's injuries immediately

241
00:13:33.259 --> 00:13:37.039
after they rode and that nevertheless continued to operate X2

242
00:13:37.100 --> 00:13:40.549
without adequately investigating the cause of the injury or warning

243
00:13:40.590 --> 00:13:47.039
subsequent riders. And what they're claiming is fraudulent concealment, right?

244
00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:51.490
Because they're framing it as kind of that they kind

245
00:13:51.539 --> 00:13:53.639
of knew, you know, fraudulent concealment. They knew this was

246
00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:55.429
going on and they're continuing to do that. And that

247
00:13:55.450 --> 00:13:57.990
Six Flags has repeatedly sought to restrict public disclosure of

248
00:13:58.049 --> 00:14:02.029
evidence concerning X2 injuries and safety issues and understood that

249
00:14:02.090 --> 00:14:04.470
publicity could deter members of the public from writing the

250
00:14:04.490 --> 00:14:12.460
interaction and thereby adversely affect revenue. So... It's interesting because

251
00:14:12.500 --> 00:14:15.980
last time we talked about the story, I think the

252
00:14:16.100 --> 00:14:19.480
one thing everyone agreed in the comments is that it's

253
00:14:20.299 --> 00:14:24.970
like the worst ride, the roughest ride that anyone in

254
00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:27.909
the comments has experienced. And everyone I have spoken to

255
00:14:27.990 --> 00:14:31.049
since then has kind of, it's like that's what they

256
00:14:31.090 --> 00:14:34.330
remember is how rough this ride is. And I just,

257
00:14:34.409 --> 00:14:38.309
I don't think that's good. I mean, I, and now

258
00:14:38.750 --> 00:14:41.220
if there really are a hundred additional rides people and

259
00:14:41.259 --> 00:14:44.600
they put together a big consortium that comes after this

260
00:14:44.740 --> 00:14:50.379
i i don't know i mean i think it's all

261
00:14:50.419 --> 00:14:53.370
gonna shake out you know we'll you know we'll see

262
00:14:53.929 --> 00:14:57.090
because it's too early right now other than the the

263
00:14:57.149 --> 00:14:58.850
three new ones right it's too early to know how

264
00:14:59.110 --> 00:15:01.710
how scale how much of a scale this thing is

265
00:15:01.789 --> 00:15:07.220
but criminal concealment is a big allegation and i don't

266
00:15:07.250 --> 00:15:09.450
know I'm not an attorney.

267
00:15:09.570 --> 00:15:10.950
Well, I mean, I don't know. I guess my question,

268
00:15:11.470 --> 00:15:13.289
my question is, I'm not an attorney either. And I

269
00:15:13.330 --> 00:15:17.590
guess my question is, is that, is that what has

270
00:15:17.669 --> 00:15:21.190
been filed because, or is that is what they're alleging

271
00:15:21.269 --> 00:15:22.009
and leading to?

272
00:15:22.389 --> 00:15:25.100
They're just alleging, you know, you know how it is,

273
00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:26.039
you know how it is where.

274
00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:27.799
They go out and give spicy statements. Oh, I know

275
00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:29.519
exactly how it is. And that's, and that's why I

276
00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:30.919
want to bring, yeah, that's why I want to bring

277
00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:35.639
this up because so it, from, from what I understand,

278
00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:38.549
I mean, and again, Keep us honest. Correct me if

279
00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:42.559
this is incorrect. But it appears as though they have

280
00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:47.360
not been charged with criminal concealment.

281
00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:50.059
No, no, no, no. That's way down the line, right?

282
00:15:50.100 --> 00:15:55.139
We're just at step zero where you have these complaints

283
00:15:55.179 --> 00:15:57.419
being filed and the law firm is trying to make

284
00:15:57.460 --> 00:15:58.899
a bunch of noise about it because that's what they do.

285
00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:02.320
They're going out and they're like, hey, we have these...

286
00:16:02.610 --> 00:16:04.870
you know, three more people have come forward and we

287
00:16:04.909 --> 00:16:07.009
have a hundred more that are on retainer that are

288
00:16:07.129 --> 00:16:09.220
potentially going to come forward. And this is a mass

289
00:16:09.250 --> 00:16:11.840
conspiracy that, you know, that's kind of what the, but

290
00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:13.039
that's the law firm's job.

291
00:16:13.740 --> 00:16:16.360
I mean, that is exactly, they are setting, they are

292
00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:21.919
setting the stage for a, a big controversial. And, and

293
00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:26.860
it amazes me how much people will support parks until

294
00:16:26.899 --> 00:16:28.539
such time as they think they can make money off

295
00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.799
of them from a lawsuit. And then all of a sudden,

296
00:16:33.370 --> 00:16:36.190
And I'm not saying that these five cases are not legit.

297
00:16:36.289 --> 00:16:41.470
I'm not saying that X2 is a pleasant boat ride

298
00:16:41.990 --> 00:16:45.070
through a dark warehouse. I get it. I get it.

299
00:16:46.740 --> 00:16:51.879
But I kind of want to right-size the indignation here.

300
00:16:51.899 --> 00:16:55.379
I guess that's kind of my mood today. I don't know.

301
00:16:56.120 --> 00:16:59.570
Maybe I'm just too tired to be all stand-up and fight.

302
00:17:00.379 --> 00:17:02.139
But I want to write it because I love it when,

303
00:17:02.299 --> 00:17:06.529
when anyone on either side of any sort of allegation

304
00:17:07.009 --> 00:17:11.309
uses phrases like there are more than 100 additional clients.

305
00:17:11.930 --> 00:17:12.170
Yeah.

306
00:17:12.750 --> 00:17:17.250
Okay. So that's just vague enough that, that, that have

307
00:17:17.289 --> 00:17:19.579
retained it, that have retained us, that have retained us.

308
00:17:19.589 --> 00:17:21.769
So that doesn't even mean they've charged. It doesn't mean

309
00:17:21.789 --> 00:17:24.160
they have any claim. It means that they've contacted a

310
00:17:24.150 --> 00:17:28.359
lawyer because they found out hey, you're handling those X2 things.

311
00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:30.619
I had a headache for two days. I bet I

312
00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:34.349
have a brain injury. And I'm not saying that they don't.

313
00:17:34.430 --> 00:17:36.710
Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that these are not legit.

314
00:17:36.750 --> 00:17:43.789
What I am saying is once the avalanche starts, the

315
00:17:44.190 --> 00:17:48.809
pebbles chime in much quicker. And again, the lawyer's job

316
00:17:49.150 --> 00:17:53.089
is to make money. So when the law firm throws

317
00:17:53.170 --> 00:17:56.410
out things like, there are over a hundred additional clients.

318
00:17:56.630 --> 00:17:59.509
It's like, Oh, well, gosh, then I guess my claim

319
00:17:59.569 --> 00:18:03.359
was legit. Maybe I should contact them too. Um, you know,

320
00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:06.400
and eventually it becomes what a class action because it

321
00:18:06.460 --> 00:18:10.859
becomes so many people. Um, and that makes a whole

322
00:18:10.900 --> 00:18:12.500
heck of a lot more money if they win for,

323
00:18:12.900 --> 00:18:19.680
for the, uh, for the legal firm. Um, Yeah, I

324
00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:25.059
don't know. There's no question that X2, although I've never

325
00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:28.220
ridden it, but from everything I've seen, there's no question

326
00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:28.720
it's a rough ride.

327
00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:29.539
Yep.

328
00:18:29.700 --> 00:18:33.859
There's no question at all. And, you know, if people

329
00:18:33.900 --> 00:18:38.400
got injured, when they immediately lean into that the companies

330
00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:47.619
are trying to hide facts or I even go into...

331
00:18:48.700 --> 00:18:56.519
the not properly maintained, all of, all of that. It

332
00:18:56.680 --> 00:18:58.880
sounds a little me thinks that does protest too much

333
00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:01.119
that they don't really have as much of a claim

334
00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:03.099
or as much of a case as they would like.

335
00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:06.339
So they are trying to find more and more things to,

336
00:19:06.619 --> 00:19:10.519
to add onto it, to make it, to make it grander. Um,

337
00:19:10.579 --> 00:19:12.759
because again, that's the way they make money. That's what,

338
00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:15.420
that's the way they get money for their, for their,

339
00:19:16.019 --> 00:19:20.839
for their clients as well. So, Yeah, I'm curious to

340
00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:24.839
see how this frames out. And again, I don't think it's...

341
00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:28.619
If I were going to make a case based on

342
00:19:28.660 --> 00:19:31.259
what I've heard and what I've known, I don't think

343
00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:37.299
fraudulent concealment is... Well, it clearly hasn't been proven. Let's

344
00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:39.880
just put it that way. It clearly hasn't been proven.

345
00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:43.940
And if these cases do move forward and that comes

346
00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:48.160
up and there is more evidence presented, that's fine. But again,

347
00:19:48.180 --> 00:19:49.529
I just want to make sure that we're looking at

348
00:19:49.569 --> 00:19:52.599
this going, okay, this is definitely something to keep our,

349
00:19:53.470 --> 00:19:55.900
our eyes on. And, and I will tell you, if

350
00:19:55.940 --> 00:19:59.920
you are truly outraged by this, do not ride X2.

351
00:20:01.019 --> 00:20:09.539
Just saying. Oh, okay. Uh, Yeah.

352
00:20:09.559 --> 00:20:11.000
Well, there's our quick updates.

353
00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:11.599
We're not.

354
00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:14.119
Yeah. Again, we don't have the legal specialty to.

355
00:20:14.170 --> 00:20:15.230
And we're not lawyers.

356
00:20:15.789 --> 00:20:18.150
Nope. But not at all. Just an update on that

357
00:20:18.190 --> 00:20:20.829
story where it's not getting better. I think that's my point,

358
00:20:20.890 --> 00:20:23.710
is that it's not getting better. And now that the

359
00:20:23.789 --> 00:20:27.819
avalanche is starting, I don't think it's going to. So... Nope.

360
00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:29.319
It's just going the wrong direction. But.

361
00:20:30.579 --> 00:20:30.900
Okay.

362
00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:35.619
Let's... We're not really leaving Six Flags. We're kind of

363
00:20:35.660 --> 00:20:36.319
leaving Six Flags.

364
00:20:36.339 --> 00:20:36.940
You know, we....

365
00:20:39.109 --> 00:20:42.589
We're now moving Six Flags adjacent. Yeah, it's Six Flags adjacent.

366
00:20:42.609 --> 00:20:44.759
So remember that Six Flags sold a lot of parks

367
00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:48.299
to Enchanted Parks. That's what we call formerlies in our household.

368
00:20:48.339 --> 00:20:50.039
This is a formerly story.

369
00:20:50.059 --> 00:20:53.680
This is about parks that were formerly Six Flags parks.

370
00:20:54.180 --> 00:20:56.220
Yes, there are parks that were formerly Six Flags parks

371
00:20:56.259 --> 00:20:59.720
that then transformed into the Enchanted Parks brand. And it

372
00:20:59.900 --> 00:21:04.779
is now officially Enchanted Parks' first Halloween season. All of

373
00:21:05.019 --> 00:21:08.259
their events are open as of when we're recording this.

374
00:21:08.710 --> 00:21:12.569
this and they are doing halloween at all of the

375
00:21:13.930 --> 00:21:16.549
parks that in their chains would be valley fair worlds

376
00:21:16.589 --> 00:21:19.859
of fun mid-america adventure great escape digger land and water

377
00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:22.230
safari are all the ones in the internet parks chain

378
00:21:22.259 --> 00:21:25.559
and they're all doing halloween events and what it's just

379
00:21:25.619 --> 00:21:28.319
it's interesting because they are trying to kind of keep

380
00:21:28.539 --> 00:21:33.160
the same rough format and i guess we'll see if

381
00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:36.960
they continue with that next year. It's just, this is

382
00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:39.140
the hard year. Cause this is the transition year, right?

383
00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:40.920
Where you kind of have a lot of stuff kind

384
00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:43.940
of mid, mid processing. Right. And a lot of the

385
00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:46.839
regular consumers are not even aware of the sales as

386
00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:49.140
they never are. A lot of the people that just

387
00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:51.609
go are just never aware of what's going on. But

388
00:21:51.950 --> 00:21:54.529
so I think it's hard to sometimes change the events

389
00:21:54.589 --> 00:21:57.210
too much because the guests don't know what's going on.

390
00:21:57.650 --> 00:22:01.190
But basically what's interesting to me is all of them

391
00:22:01.250 --> 00:22:05.029
have a pretty heavy ham family. focus on them. And

392
00:22:05.589 --> 00:22:09.019
so all, all six of them are keeping with family events.

393
00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:13.019
And then for Valley fair worlds of fun, mid America

394
00:22:13.059 --> 00:22:17.079
and great escape are doing after dark haunt experiences. And

395
00:22:17.259 --> 00:22:21.500
they're following the same rough format where the daytime stuff,

396
00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:25.250
all of that entertainment is included. And then the nighttime

397
00:22:25.269 --> 00:22:29.150
haunted houses are an extra fee. And then the fee

398
00:22:29.190 --> 00:22:32.740
just depends on the park that they're at. Uh, I

399
00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:36.900
guess from an entertainment perspective, Scott, is there anything here

400
00:22:37.049 --> 00:22:41.349
that jumps out to you as to how they're handling Halloween?

401
00:22:41.369 --> 00:22:43.470
Well, there's a couple things that I think we need

402
00:22:43.490 --> 00:22:46.470
to take into consideration. My guess is that even by

403
00:22:46.509 --> 00:22:51.019
the time this sale was confirmed, most of this stuff

404
00:22:51.059 --> 00:22:55.279
was already at least half-baked, if not fully baked. So

405
00:22:55.839 --> 00:23:01.170
they probably didn't want to just go ahead and... throw

406
00:23:01.210 --> 00:23:03.450
out the baby with the bathwater here and start from scratch.

407
00:23:05.910 --> 00:23:08.400
So my guess is that some of it was already

408
00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:13.500
just in the works so they can start earning money

409
00:23:13.539 --> 00:23:16.579
back on their investment. They said, no, let's not mess

410
00:23:16.599 --> 00:23:22.700
with this too much. I also think from a content standpoint,

411
00:23:22.740 --> 00:23:25.200
I think it's a wise move. I think it's smart

412
00:23:25.259 --> 00:23:31.880
to see what does... have the most financial return? You know,

413
00:23:32.059 --> 00:23:35.799
is it, is it the family friendly or is it the, the,

414
00:23:35.880 --> 00:23:40.160
the after dark scary stuff? And there was a time that,

415
00:23:40.339 --> 00:23:41.809
and you've heard me say it on this show, there

416
00:23:41.829 --> 00:23:43.069
was a time that I used to think it was

417
00:23:43.170 --> 00:23:45.130
all about the after dark scary stuff. And that's the

418
00:23:45.150 --> 00:23:46.910
only way you could make money. Family doesn't make money,

419
00:23:47.529 --> 00:23:52.430
but that's not, that has changed significantly. And so, um,

420
00:23:53.579 --> 00:23:56.720
I think it's wise to sort of dip your toes

421
00:23:56.779 --> 00:23:59.799
into both if you can, and and figure out you

422
00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:03.160
know what does work um as you say philip the

423
00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:05.819
vast number of guests don't even know that it's a

424
00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:09.140
different ownership so yeah um and in fact they're probably

425
00:24:09.220 --> 00:24:17.559
still calling um they're still calling mid-america six flags even

426
00:24:17.740 --> 00:24:19.059
even when they look at the sign they'll get their

427
00:24:19.079 --> 00:24:20.599
picture taken in front of the sign and go yeah

428
00:24:20.619 --> 00:24:21.720
we had our picture taken in front of the new

429
00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:27.960
six flag sign um so So, yeah, I, I think that,

430
00:24:28.500 --> 00:24:30.940
I think that this is, this is a wise move.

431
00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:35.789
It is a, um, it is a, it is a

432
00:24:35.890 --> 00:24:40.490
low investment move because, um, it is much, it is

433
00:24:40.529 --> 00:24:44.670
much more cost effective to do family friendly, generally speaking. Um,

434
00:24:46.150 --> 00:24:49.349
and it doesn't impact, you know, if you're just doing

435
00:24:49.390 --> 00:24:52.509
family friendly and not doing for the parks that are

436
00:24:52.549 --> 00:24:56.500
not doing the, the after dark haunts, um, it doesn't

437
00:24:56.539 --> 00:24:58.279
impact their operating hours either that much.

438
00:24:58.480 --> 00:24:58.640
Yeah.

439
00:24:58.920 --> 00:25:02.200
So, um, the whole park doesn't have to add additional

440
00:25:02.220 --> 00:25:07.220
labor to their, to their costs. I'm hoping, I'm hoping

441
00:25:07.289 --> 00:25:10.509
that they will find that, uh, Halloween continues to be

442
00:25:10.529 --> 00:25:14.509
a viable addition to their product lineup and that they

443
00:25:14.549 --> 00:25:20.150
will continue to either expand or, um, find new and

444
00:25:20.190 --> 00:25:25.980
different ways to stand out in their, in their markets. Um, It's,

445
00:25:26.099 --> 00:25:29.420
it's interesting for me because, you know, I've, I've done,

446
00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:32.819
I've done some work for a Valley fair when it

447
00:25:32.859 --> 00:25:36.980
was under six flags and, uh, or actually under Cedar fair.

448
00:25:37.029 --> 00:25:37.240
Sorry.

449
00:25:37.269 --> 00:25:40.509
It was under Cedar fair at the time. And it's, uh,

450
00:25:41.029 --> 00:25:44.630
it's interesting because when I was doing that work, they

451
00:25:44.650 --> 00:25:48.650
were putting all their eggs in the scary basket. And, uh,

452
00:25:49.309 --> 00:25:53.349
so now these things, the times they are a changing.

453
00:25:53.369 --> 00:25:54.369
Yeah.

454
00:25:54.390 --> 00:25:54.690
Yeah.

455
00:25:55.210 --> 00:25:58.609
Yeah. I think that one is still the most robust.

456
00:25:59.230 --> 00:26:01.509
I would say they do have a pretty robust offering

457
00:26:01.630 --> 00:26:04.990
at Valley Scare is what it's called, right? But I

458
00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:07.359
think it's just they're also making sure that there's a

459
00:26:07.380 --> 00:26:10.859
family component at each thing for the daytime. And they're

460
00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:16.339
also introducing allergy-free options for trick-or-treating for daytime. So there

461
00:26:16.420 --> 00:26:20.720
are non-food items available for trick-or-treating during the day at

462
00:26:20.740 --> 00:26:25.200
the locations, all the locations for allergies. So kind of

463
00:26:25.380 --> 00:26:32.890
really another family play, right? Playing into the family, diverse family. Well,

464
00:26:33.130 --> 00:26:37.599
let's maybe finish up with some more fun news. We

465
00:26:37.619 --> 00:26:41.140
don't usually cover stories like this because they're very clickbaity,

466
00:26:41.160 --> 00:26:43.279
but I just thought it couldn't resist because of the

467
00:26:43.339 --> 00:26:47.799
theme of today's show. So this is coming from Attractions Magazine,

468
00:26:48.019 --> 00:26:54.000
but it's basically five of the 10 most overrated attractions

469
00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:59.619
in America are Six Flags Park. Oh, there. And so

470
00:26:59.740 --> 00:27:02.480
this is one of those things. So this was a

471
00:27:02.519 --> 00:27:06.519
study that was conducted by a company called Stasher and

472
00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:10.730
they looked at 665 US attractions and they looked at the,

473
00:27:10.750 --> 00:27:14.230
so attractions is pretty broad because they looked at the,

474
00:27:15.569 --> 00:27:18.880
it came from the TripAdvisor. They basically scraped TripAdvisor and

475
00:27:18.890 --> 00:27:23.960
they compared that with sentiment analysis from the TikTok posts,

476
00:27:24.029 --> 00:27:26.269
Instagram posts, and like all the social stuff. So they

477
00:27:26.309 --> 00:27:27.910
kind of looked at both of these two things together

478
00:27:27.930 --> 00:27:32.910
and then put together this wide ranging list of basically attractions,

479
00:27:32.950 --> 00:27:39.309
like tourist attractions of many kinds that people think are overrated.

480
00:27:39.849 --> 00:27:43.359
And then we get to where looking at the top

481
00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:46.380
10 and Six Flags is five of the top, different

482
00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:49.599
Six Flags locations are in the five of the top 10,

483
00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:53.400
including Six Flags Great Adventure at number three, Number four,

484
00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:57.150
Six Flags Great America. Number five, Six Flags Over Georgia.

485
00:27:57.589 --> 00:28:00.069
And then Six Flags Yes to Texas is number eight.

486
00:28:00.109 --> 00:28:01.650
Six Flags New England is number nine.

487
00:28:01.730 --> 00:28:08.099
So, yeah. But I think it's interesting, though, because I'm

488
00:28:08.140 --> 00:28:10.740
going to take this with a grain of salt. Of course.

489
00:28:11.079 --> 00:28:15.119
Simply because number one is the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Right,

490
00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:17.509
which is pretty overrated. Since when is a sidewalk an attraction?

491
00:28:18.220 --> 00:28:18.460
Yeah.

492
00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:21.109
I mean, I would think that you would be able

493
00:28:21.170 --> 00:28:25.910
to modify your own expectations. It's a sidewalk with stars

494
00:28:26.089 --> 00:28:28.789
on it. Let me tell you, though. Calling that an

495
00:28:28.849 --> 00:28:33.250
attraction is the thing that I find the most difficult.

496
00:28:33.269 --> 00:28:34.589
I know what you're saying.

497
00:28:34.609 --> 00:28:35.309
I get it.

498
00:28:35.829 --> 00:28:39.039
But I'm just saying, as someone who lives like 20

499
00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:43.589
minutes away from that sidewalk, it's like, Every time people

500
00:28:43.630 --> 00:28:46.319
come into town, that's what they want. It's like, you know,

501
00:28:46.339 --> 00:28:49.819
I try telling people, it's just a sidewalk. But every

502
00:28:49.859 --> 00:28:52.680
time they want to go and they want to see it.

503
00:28:52.740 --> 00:28:55.599
So it is kind of an attraction because many tourists

504
00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:58.009
just want to look at the sidewalk.

505
00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:03.089
But I think when you put the Hollywood Walk of

506
00:29:03.230 --> 00:29:07.670
Fame in the same list as a Six Flags theme park.

507
00:29:08.109 --> 00:29:08.230
Yeah.

508
00:29:08.930 --> 00:29:12.349
I mean, that seems a little, I don't know, skewed

509
00:29:12.390 --> 00:29:15.109
and odd to me. And don't misunderstand me. I have

510
00:29:15.190 --> 00:29:17.049
my photos from the first time I went to the

511
00:29:17.069 --> 00:29:22.119
Walk of Fame with my favorite stars on the sidewalk. Yes, yes.

512
00:29:22.599 --> 00:29:25.940
But overrated? No, it was exactly what I expected. It

513
00:29:25.980 --> 00:29:28.819
was a star on a sidewalk.

514
00:29:28.819 --> 00:29:35.289
But number three is literally a rock. It's Plymouth Rock.

515
00:29:35.289 --> 00:29:38.339
Number three is literally a rock.

516
00:29:38.650 --> 00:29:43.359
Valid. Valid. I got a rock. Yeah, exactly right. Well,

517
00:29:43.380 --> 00:29:45.539
and I will say that number four, seeing Six Flags

518
00:29:45.559 --> 00:29:47.440
Great America on there because that was my home park

519
00:29:47.460 --> 00:29:49.380
growing up when I was a kid, I will tell

520
00:29:49.420 --> 00:29:52.000
you part of the reason that, and I'm guessing this

521
00:29:52.059 --> 00:29:53.720
is true with some of the other flags parks as well,

522
00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:56.119
I'm guessing that part of the reason that those are

523
00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:59.269
so overrated is because of the nostalgia factor and the

524
00:29:59.309 --> 00:30:02.180
fact that When I was going to Six Flags Great America,

525
00:30:02.339 --> 00:30:07.180
it was run by Marriott originally. That's who opened the park.

526
00:30:07.859 --> 00:30:13.690
And it was something special. It was Disney-esque in its design.

527
00:30:13.750 --> 00:30:17.750
They were very adamant that it's not an amusement park.

528
00:30:18.190 --> 00:30:22.049
It is a theme park. And they used to have

529
00:30:22.089 --> 00:30:25.970
different wardrobe for different people in different areas. So it

530
00:30:26.029 --> 00:30:29.309
really did... It had a great nostalgia, and it will

531
00:30:29.390 --> 00:30:31.549
always hold a very special place in my heart. And

532
00:30:31.609 --> 00:30:33.490
like I said on the show, last time I was there,

533
00:30:33.549 --> 00:30:37.349
which was last year, it had started to come back.

534
00:30:37.450 --> 00:30:40.529
So I'm going to throw a little defense in there

535
00:30:40.589 --> 00:30:45.380
for that one, but I do understand how these things

536
00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:47.799
can happen. But I just think we need to take

537
00:30:47.819 --> 00:30:49.079
it with a grain of salt because we've got a

538
00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:54.660
rock and a sidewalk in the list. So... So there's that. Unfortunately,

539
00:30:54.759 --> 00:30:58.740
my friends, hopefully we've met your expectations, so we're not

540
00:30:59.079 --> 00:31:02.160
overrated because it's time for us to move on. Show's over.

541
00:31:02.180 --> 00:31:05.029
Our 30 minutes are up. On behalf of Philip Hernandez

542
00:31:05.069 --> 00:31:07.869
with Gantam Lighting and the Haunted Attraction Network, and myself,

543
00:31:07.890 --> 00:31:10.650
Scott Swenson, with Scott Swenson Creative Development, this is Green

544
00:31:10.670 --> 00:31:13.039
Tagged Theme Park in 30, and we will see each

545
00:31:13.150 --> 00:31:14.279
and every one of you next week.

546
00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:14.940
Bye.

Related to this Episode

Why Six Flags' $5 Billion Debt Makes a Corporate Buyout Nearly Impossible

When activist investor JANA Partners pushes for a corporate buyout of America's largest theme park chain, industry insiders know the real obstacle isn't leadership dysfunction or declining attendance—it is a crushing $5 billion debt load. In this de…