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Corporate Park News
---- THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS ----
(9/8/2026) Six Flags Confirms The Purchase of ArieForce One Roller Coaster
(9/8/2026) Six Flags Announces New Way To Pay For Season Passes and More
(9/7/2026) Six Flags To Make Two Big Announcements This Week
(9/3/2026) Disney Working With Frontier On New Park Simulation Title
(8/27/2026) Six Flags Is Moving Corporate HQ Back To Texas
(8/19/2026) New Disneyland Abu Dhabi Details Expected This Week
360 Parks - (4/19/2026) 360 Parks is growing already it seems. Jimmy Holmes, the head of 360 Parks, the new owners of Wonderland Amusement Park in Amarillo (Texas), announced on LinkedIn that they are “proud to welcome Boomtown Bay Family Aquatic Center” in Burkburnett (Texas) to 360 Parks.
Compagnie des Alpes - (8/9/2026) According to a report at Blooloop, CDA (Compagnie des Alpes) has now acquired a 33.9% ownership stake in Padel City, a unique German operator of “Padel tennis facilities” that are popular in Europe. A quick note to US readers… Padel or Padel Tennis is not the same thing as Pickelball, a booming tennis like sport of it’s own spreading across North America.
CDA’s purchase into Padel City has future options built in that will allow them to increase their stake to 75% in 2028 and to a full 100% ownership by the end of 2030.
 Disney - (9/3/2026) Video game company, Frontier, has announced that they will be working with Disney to create a new interactive game title. Frontier of course is known for being the force beind the Planet Coaster game, as well as other interactive park titles like Planet Zoo and the Jurassic World Evolution games. So this begs the question, could we get a fully Disney authorized and approved game title similar to Planet Coaster that will let all you armchair coaster designers out there take a stab at becoming full fledged Disney Imagineers?!
(8/19/2026) New details about the upcoming Disneyland Abu Dhabi theme park resort project are said to be coming on Thursday on Disney+ as part of the new “Worldbuilders” documentary. Head on over to Forbes to read more about what might be revealed.
(8/15/2026) New concept art of Disney’s Abu Dhabi park concept features an image showcasing fireworks being viewed by a walkway over the water, which suggests that at least a decent portion of the Abu Dhabi park could still potentially feature large outdoor sections where guests can gather and watch a major nighttime spectacular show.
(7/14/2026) The Walt Disney Company will host a live webcast on Wed, August 5, 2026 to discuss the company’s Q3 2026 earnings report.
(5/8/2026) For those wondering is Disney is having any second thoughts about building a future theme park resort in Abu Dhabi due to the violence taking place in the region amid the US-Israel war with Iran, it seems Disney is not deterred at all.
In a statement issued to Disney shareholders the company stated that “The strategic logic of our Abu Dhabi plans is unchanged.”
(4/18/2026) Six Flags isn’t the only theme park company to announce lay-offs just prior to the summer season. Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro has also confirmed that about 1,000 positions are expected to be cut from the Walt Disney Company in order to streamline operations. Many of these cuts are expected to take place within the Marketing, Studio, TV and ESPN divisions.
(4/10/2026) This one is a bit out there, but could The Walt Disney Company be considering a new full-scale theme park concept rumored to be called DisneySky? Take this with a grain of salt, as the source of this latest tale comes from the latest master of Disney clickbait headlines, DisneyDining.
The thing is, a rumored concept for a DisneySea was tossed about years ago as an idea for the Tokyo Disney Resort, where such a name would only make sense as the name for a third theme park there as a Disneyland and DisneySea would have to be DisneySky. At the time the Oriental Land Company denied any such plan was in place, and instead they went on to focus on a large expansions to Tokyo DisneySea and huge renovation projects at Tokyo Disneyland that are still ongoing. But… if the Tokyo resort had the land to expand… could a Tokyo DisneySky still be on the backburner?
According to the Disney Dining update, they claim former Imagineer, Jim Shull, name dropped DisneySky as a possible alternate future location for the planned Avatar attraction project planned for California. There has also been talk of adding a second park to the Shanghai Disney Resort as well, which is said to be working under the codename, Project Atlas.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see what the next wave of projects brings to light…
Enchanted Parks - (3/22/2026) Coaster101 had the chance to speak with the new Enchanted Parks CEO, James Harhi on their podcast which may be worth a listen. During it they discuss Enchanted Parks plans to grow and rebuild the parks, their plans for the rest of the 2026 season, how they will determine what kind of new additions guests want for 2027, 2028 and beyond, and much more.
Herschend Family Entertainment - (10/12/2025) We reported back in July how Herschend had struck a deal with Lucky Strike to sell off some of the newly acquired attractions they had purchased as part of the deal to acquire the Palace Entertainment properties. The five property sale included Castle Park, Raging Waters and Wet ‘n Wild Emerald Point along with two Boomers FECs in California (in Vista and Palm Springs).
This left Herschend with two FECs left from Palace, both in great Atlanta, Georgia area: Malibu Norcross (just East of Atlanta off I-85) and Mountasia in Marietta (just North of Atlanta, near the I-75 and I575 split). It has been confirmed that Herschend has now closed both of these locations permanently, with September 28th being their last day of operation.
While nothing has been said about trying to sell either attraction to a new owner, it is worth noting that both locations were positions right next to major freeways, in locations where the property could easily be sold to developers for either commercial or residential use. Herschend CEO’s (Andrew Wexler) own statement about the closures was just to say that “This decision is in no way a reflection on the hosts or the quality of the experiences offered, but rather a recognition that Family Entertainment Centers operate differently than the types of attractions we are best structured to support”.
In other words, running FECs fall outside the scope and scale of the attractions that Herschend typically owns and operates. But my guess is that the land under these attractions was far more valuable than the lower level of profits that the FECs were able to generate. Thus, selling off these valuable properties could generate a good bit of profit for Hershend, and put towards paying down the debt added to the company from the purchase of Palace Entertainment. While I haven’t found a commercial listing for the Mountasia property yet, the Malibu Norcross site is already being listed for commercial redevelopment on Loopnet, and available on July 31, 2026.
Looping Experiences - (7/8/2026) I’m told that the Looping Group, a theme park operator in Europe, will now be rebranding itself as Looping Experiences to reflect the company's increasingly diverse portfolio of attractions. The chain started off in 2011 with the initial purchase of seven parks from CDA and has since expanded to operate 21 different leisure attractions across France, the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Croatia and Switzerland.
Merlin Entertainment - (7/12/2026) Good news for both the planet and your wallet! Merlin Entertainments has officially renewed its sustainability partnership with Coca-Cola to bring back their highly successful reverse-vending machine incentive scheme across the UK. Guests who bring empty plastic bottles to recycle at dedicated machines located throughout parks like Thorpe Park, Alton Towers, and Legoland Windsor will instantly receive high-value discount vouchers for park entry and select experiences.
Miral - (4/5/2026) In a move that is very telling about their view of the future, it has been reported that Abu Dhabi’s Miral is planning on adding about 1,000 new hotel rooms to the Yas Island area over the next five years in order to meet the demand of the expanding entertainment venues there. This not only includes the existing attractions, such as Ferrari World, Warner Bros World, SeaWorld and Yas Waterworld, but there is also the upcoming plan to build the first Disney theme park resort in the region.
So far, with careful planning throughout the years, Miral has developed something of a “magic formula” when it comes to how they have developed new attractions and leisure resorts throughout the Yas Island area.
Parques Reunidos - (5/14/2026) Parque Reunidos is now finishing up a major expansion for their Aquasplash Antibes waterpark. When the park opens for the season on June 13th, it will feature four new attractions and be about 40% bigger than it was before. The new attractions include the Riviera Sphere (raft slide), Azur Fall (drop slide), Nice Race (parallel racing slides) and a new wave pool.
Puy du Fou - (9/1/2025) Blooloop reports that Puy du Fou has now submitted their planning application to build a £600 million history-based theme park in the UK near Bicester. If everything proceeds as planned, the park could be ready to open the first phase as early as 2029. The project is more than just the themed park environment and shows however, it will also feature up to three different themed hotels on the property as well as a conference center.
  Six Flags - (9/9/2026) The big news from Six Flags today was confirmation that the chain has purchased the iconic ArieForce One coaster (RMC - Rocky Mountain Construction) from the now closed Fun Spot Atlanta park. “For three years, ArieForce One built a devoted following among roller coaster enthusiasts who traveled from across the country and around the world to experience its signature blend of speed, airtime, inversions and nonstop intensity. Named in honor of Fun Spot America founder John Arie Sr. by the family-owned company that developed the attraction, ArieForce One represented both an ambitious investment and a personal legacy for the Arie family. ”
While Six Flags is not ready to announce WHICH one of their parks will become the new home for ArieForce One, they did confirm that it will rise again sometime between the 2028 and 2029 seasons. So today’s announcement will launch what is likely going to be one of the most intensely discussed topics over the next couple of years as enthusiasts try to figure out which Six Flags park will install the roller coaster.
There is the issue about what park has the room to fit it right now, but with a timeline set a few years in advance, any of the park’s would be able to remove existing attractions or buildings if needed to make it fit. I know many Six Flags over Georgia fans have been pitching for Six Flags to buy it and bring it down the road ever since the ride’s closure was first announced over the summer, but the reality is most of the Six Flags parks could probably find a way to make it work if need be.
Without going into a deep dive for every single park right now, I can see two parks right off the bat that are unlikely to get it. The rather hilly terrain of Six Flags Magic Mountain would make it rather difficult to fit in there, especially with so many other coasters packed in, and I’d also write off Six Flags Great America, simple because the park already has Goliath, which is a similar style of coaster also built by Rocky Mountain Construction. Beyond that is anyone’s guess right now… but the fun is trying to figure it out!
For example… the name ArieForce One always kind of reminded me a bit of a lost Knott’s Berry Farm ride, the XK-1. Hmmm… could XK-1 possibly rise again in California? Probably "Knott", but check out the action that awaits some lucky Six Flags park very soon below.
(9/8/2026) Six Flags’ announcement for Monday was the introduction of the new “Flex Pay by Upgrade” system that will allow guests to plan and pay for Season Passes and other qualified products via fixed monthly installments. These are being offered for eligible online products that cost $49 or more.
(9/7/2026) In addition to Six Flags Magic Mountain planning to make an announcement on the 10th this week, Six Flags itself has confirmed that the chain plans to make two other major announcements this one, one on Monday that is thought to have something to do with making park’s more “accessible” while a second mystery announcement on Tuesday is something Six Flags promises “that will turn heads across the amusement industry and reinforce Six Flags’ position as the home of world-class thrills.”
(8/27/2026) I don’t know if the Queen City just proved to not be the right fit for the merged Six Flags / Cedar Fair HQ location, but Six Flags announced this week that they’re moving their entire HQ operations back into the former office space in Arlington, built inside the former stadium of the Texas Rangers essentially right across the street from Six Flags over Texas. Not that they completely left the Texas office, but since the merger they had been trying to move everyone to North Carolina. While Charlotte is a fine city, and with one of the nations bigger airports with connections to about anyplace you could want to go around the world, I’m guessing the fact that Texas has no state tax on employee income continued to be hard to ignore, as office salaries would likely have had to be increased for positions moved to Charlotte. Six Flags did confirm that some office positions will still continue to be run out of Sandusky, Ohio as well at Cedar Fair’s former HQ.
(8/16/2026) Even amid what appears to be a decline in stock price value, Six Flags CEO, John Reilly, has apparently decided to put his money where his mouth is, and has personally purchased nearly 16,000 shares of company stock this week, valued at nearly a quarter of a million dollars. The average price per share of the purchase was $15.80 at the time, which was said to be about 36% down from where it was the year before.
But as someone who clearly knows the company’s plans, and has laid the tracks as to how they were execute those plans over the next year, clearly Reilly is feeling very good about what Six Flags is going to do in the future and how it will affect the future stock prices over the months to come.
(8/6/2026) Six Flags posted their Q2 2026 earnings report this week for the three-month period ending on June 28, 2026. According to the summary Six Flags reported higher attendance at the company’s parks this quarter, aided by having a strong and active season pass base firmly in place, that should ensure good attendance trends for the rest of the season most likely.
The report also confirms that after shedding several parks earlier this year, the new “more focused park portfolio consolidates management efforts and resources to maximize returns at the high-potential parks”.
The numbers, upon first viewing, can be a little weird, mainly because Six Flags sold off parks earlier this year, so Year to Year, Quarter to Quarter direct comparisons are not quite the same, simply because Six Flags now has less parks in 2026.
For example, Attendance in Q2 2025 was said to be 14.191 million… and attendance in Q2 2026 was just 13.128 million, which would be a drop of about a million, however when they narrow down the 2025 attendance number to only count the parks that Six Flags still owns, the better comparison of this year’s 13.128 million would be an increase for 2025’s 12.679 million on a same-park basis.
Similar comparisons can be made when looking at New Revenue (down nearly $65 million) but on a same-park comparison, they are actually up $20.225 million.
(7/18/2026) According to a few trade reports, Six Flags is said to be in discussion with the Kingdom of Bahrain about the idea of building a new theme park. I really haven’t heard much about Bahrain and any interest in theme parks before, but they are promoted heavily in terms of general tourism in the region. As the Kingdom is located between Qatar and north-eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, who have both been pushing forward with their own efforts to create theme park style tourist attractions, it does make sense that Bahrain wants to get in on the action as well with other Persian Gulf nations.
According to one update on the project, the idea is to build a project that would “complement, rather than compete” with Six Flags Qiddiya City in Saudi Arabia, which is about a 5-hour drive away. “We want Six Flags under a new concept with record-breaking ideas. It is not competition with Riyadh that we seek - it is a unique offer of our own.” So far the concept has been endorsed by local development and economic boards, and is said to have the backing of the Parliament’s financial and economic affairs committee. Potential concepts already proposed include hybrid water coasters, more unique interactive dark rides, a launched straddle coaster and more.
(7/11/2026) Six Flags has confirmed that SAW is returning to terrify guests this Halloween season with “SAW: Legacy of Terror”. The IG post from Six Flags mentions the following parks: Six Flags Great America, Six Flags over Texas, Six Flags over Georgia and Six Flags Fiesta Texas.
Six Flags has listed two other horror IPs coming to select parks this fall as well:
The Conjuring: Beyond Fear is coming to Cedar Point, Carowinds, Canada’s Wonderland and Kings Island and The Stranger: No Escape was announced only for Six Flags over Texas.
(7/8/2026) Six Flags has officially locked in August 6, 2026, to report its second-quarter financial results, with the conference call kicking off at 8:00 AM EDT. It should be interesting to see how the spring and early summer numbers are tracking at the parks under new CEO, John Reilly’s first busy summer season.
(7/3/2026) Six Flags has officially appointed Mark Pauls as the company’s new Chief Operating Officer (COO), who will oversee daily operations and corporate strategy across the chain of parks. Pauls will start on July 15th where he will succeed Tim Fisher, who will remain on as a Special Advisor to Six Flags through to December 15th, 2026, in order to ensure a smooth transition.
Mark Pauls comes to Six Flags from his last position where he served as Senior VP of Operations for the Herschend Family Entertainment parks. He came into Herschend as part of the company’s purchase of the Palace Entertainment chain of parks from Parque Reunidos, where he was the VP of Operations for Palace at the time. Pauls also spend some time working in leadership roles for the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks as well prior to that, so he appears to have a well rounded and long list of experience that should serve Six Flags well.
(6/10/2026) A little bit of good news for Six Flags this week, as the company’s stock prices surged upward by about 7.3% so far. According to AlphaStreet, this is part of “a sector-wide rally” that has also seen rises take place at other amusement related companies this week, including Dave & Busters, Lucky Strike Entertainment, and United Parks.
(6/6/2026) If you caught my update about how Six Flags Membership plans were just added to Dorney Park for the first time, then know that Six Flags was not done there. According to a press release from Six Flags the new Membership plans are now coming to six of the legacy Cedar Fair theme parks starting on June 8th. The list includes the previously mentioned Dorney Park, as well as Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Kings Island, Knott’s Berry Farm and Schlitterbahn New Braunfels. The Gold-term Membership plans also include access to the other parks within the updated regional park groupings: West, Texas, Midwest and East:
The current regional levels are defined as:
East Regional Membership - Dorney Park, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Six Flags New England, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags over Georgia and Six Flags White Water
MidWest Regional Membership - Kings Island, Canada’s Wonderland, Cedar Point, Six Flags Great America, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Rockford, Six Flags Darien Lake
Texas Regional Membership - Schlitterbahn New Braunfels, Six Flags over Texas, Hurricane Harbor Arlington, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Hurricane Harbor Splashtown, Six Flags Frontier City and Hurricane Harbor Oklahoma City
West Regional Membership - Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, California’s Great America, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Concord, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Phoenix, Six Flags Mexico and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Oaxtepec.
Also, remember if you upgrade to the full Prestige level tier, your Membership will be good at every park in the Six Flags chain across North America.
(5/9/2026) On the corporate level, Six Flags is making some changes, bringing in some new names while some others are leaving. A common voice in the quarterly performance calls, Brian Witherow has officially stepped down as Chief Financial Officer as of yesterday. While they are still working on naming a permanent replacement, Dave Hoffman (Chief Accounting Officer) will be filling in as Interim Finance Lead.
Amy Martin Ziegenfuss will join the company on June 3rd as Chief Marketing Officer, coming in from Carnival Cruise Line where she served in the same role. She is replacing Christian Dieckmann who departed Six Flags on May 2nd.
Christopher Bennett is coming in as the new Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, replacing Brian Nurse who left the company yesterday.
And the responsibilities of the Chief Commercial Officer position will be split into two positions… one being the Chief Marketing Officer we already mentioned above and the rest of the duties will be taken by Chris Meyering who is being promoted from VP Revenue Management to SVP Commercial as of June 3rd.
Six Flags also released the Q1 2026 earning results this week, reporting an attendance increase of 4% for the quarter over the Q1 2025, a net revenue increase of 12%, and a 6% bump in PerCap spending. Q1 is always a tough one for Six Flags as most of the parks are closed, and the few that can be open are typically offering weekend only operations. For example, Q1 2026 only had a total of 369 days of operation across all the parks, which is down from 393 days available from Q1 2025, so seeing the numbers move in the right direction with less days open is a very good sign. According to CEO, John Reilly, “We delivered meaningful year-over-year improvement in the first quarter driven by higher attendance, increased guest spending, and disciplined execution.”
The adjusted EBITDA loss for the quarter was $123 million, which is a $48 million improvement from the same quarter in the previous year. As for the future Reilly stated that, while still early, the trends so far for Q2 2026 “are encouraging”.
Oh… and while many are worried about the fate of those parks like Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Discovery Kingdom and Kings Dominion that were left out of the Park President assignments, Reilly confirmed that there are no additional park sales planned for 2026. “The first thing I think it's important to say that we've said to our consumers and our pass members and our prospective visitors is that we have no other plans in 2026. If you're buying a pass...the portfolio is the portfolio, and we're focused on the summer and execution”
Of course there is always the possibility of more potential deals in 2027… but for 2026, the park line-up is now locked and loaded. For those properties not assigned a dedicated Park President, I’m assuming 2026 will be a year where they are really put under the microscope and will potentially be a make-or-break season performance-wise to see where they can fit into the greater hierarchy.
This could also be more about giving time to any potential buyers they may have been in talks to to get their financial package offers in line for 2027… as the most common rumor going around claimed that Herschend may have been sniffing around and kicking the tires in a big way for a couple of the Six Flags parks, especially Fiesta Texas, which I could easily see becoming something like a southern version of Dollywood or Silver Dollar City. Herschend however is still busy absorbing the purchase of the former Palace Entertainment properties from last year, of which they also spent time selling off many of those non-core assets. So for now… we will wait and see. But how would you feel if Herschand were to take over Kings Dominion or rebrand the San Antonio park into something more like “Dolly Parton’s Fiesta Texas”?
(5/1/2026) For those interested, Six Flags did release the list of 10 names who will be returning to take over 10 of their parks in the returning “Park President” role:
Canada’s Wonderland — Park President: Christopher Mortensen
Carowinds — Park President: Bridgette Bywater
Cedar Point — Park President: Colleen Brady
Kings Island — Park President: Tony Carovillano
Knott’s Berry Farm — Park President: Raffi Kaprelyan
Six Flags Great Adventure — Park President: Mike Fehnel
Six Flags Great America — Park President: John Krajnak
Six Flags Magic Mountain — Park President: Brian Oerding
Six Flags Over Georgia — Park President: Richard Pretlow
Six Flags Over Texas — Park President: Pete Carmichael
While this change is widely reviewed as a good thing, by essentially putting someone on-site on a full time basis, in each of these parks who has the authority to oversee and make changes as needed on their own, rather than rely on communication to corporate or a remote Regional Manager position, it does raise concerns about the rest of the Six Flags parks. While some parks who did not get appointed a park manager are smaller or part of management contracts for properties not owned directly by Six Flags, such as Six Flags Darien Lake or Frontier City, there were a few major parks left out of the list such as Kings Dominion, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. This has left many to speculate that perhaps some of those parks might also potentially be seen as being “up for sale” if the right bidder were to come along.
I reached out last week to Six Flags to ask directly why some of these parks were left out, or who was going to oversee their operations and Six Flags Corporate Director of PR, Kristen Fitzgerald was kind enough to respond.
“To better support our parks, we are modifying our regional support structure by moving from a geographic operating model to a new model that better aligns our resources with our strategic priorities. This approach shifts more support to the park level, reduces positions in our centralized Park Support Centers (formerly called Corporate) and changes certain roles and responsibilities.”
“As we shared this morning, we are reintroducing park presidents in 10 key markets and adding functional expertise to their leadership teams. These changes increase accountability at the park level and allow the organization to move faster with fewer layers and less complexity.”
“The remaining parks in our portfolio will continue to be led by experienced park managers, supported by a dedicated operational senior vice president and shared services structure. This model allows Six Flags to balance localized leadership with centralized expertise, ensuring every park benefits from strong operational oversight, streamlined support and access to enterprise-wide resources.”
“Previously, all park managers were focused on operations and guest service, while other functional areas like finance and marketing were managed by a shared services team. Moving forward, park presidents will assume responsibility for all areas of their business. They will report to an operational senior vice president. Current park managers will remain focused on operations and guest service, and continue to be supported by shared services for other functional areas. Park managers will continue to be supported by an operational senior vice president.”
(4/24/2026) A new rumor is starting to surface, claiming that we may see a Six Flags park potentially open North America’s first S&S Axis coaster as early as 2027. Rumor has it that this project has been on the books for a bit, and likely waiting for the first S&S Axis coaster to open at a SEVEN property in Saudi Arabia first as a Transformers themed indoor ride.
There is no telling what or which park this could go to if it is for 2027, or potentially for 2028, if this rumor holds true. Some parks are obviously spoken for for 2027 already, with construction already under way for things like Project Purple at Six Flags Great Adventure, the rumored water ride at Carowinds, and the Vekoma coaster that pieces are already piling up for at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Again…just a rumor right now… so stay tuned.
(4/16/2026) Lots of changes taking place within Six Flags Entertainment this week.
For starters, we led off the week with reports of massive layoffs taking place within the company, which honestly, is never good to do right as we are on the cusp of starting the busy summer season. We don’t really know the official damage toll from this yet, but the rumor mills are claiming that it was mostly targeting Entertainment, Marketing and some IT positions within the parks, as I assume the goal will be to either consolidate to cover the losses, or to outsource where possible. The other rumored target was rumored to have strategically hit some corporate management positions as well.
The other big change that came out earlier today was Six Flags Entertainment is going to be reversing a major shake-up to the corporate structure that was just put into place last year during another round of layoffs, where they removed all the Park Presidents. At the time, they appointed a “Regional General Manager” to oversee several parks, after dividing the chain into four specific regions. Of course, they just finished selling off six of those parks, with the final details being worked on to finalize the sale of La Ronde in Canada. Plus there was the closing Six Flags America late last year and they are preparing to close California’s Great America in about a year or so most likely.
So with change likely in the air… Six Flags just announced something we didn’t quite expect… which was the confirmation that they would be bringing “Park Presidents” back to 10 park properties this year.
According to the list posted by the OC Register, the 10 parks are:
Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Canada’s Wonderland, Six Flags Great America, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags over Georgia, Six Flags over Texas and Carowinds.
The article goes on to confirm that Raffi Kaprelyan who was previously the western Regional General Manager will return to his previous post as Park President of Knott’s Berry Farm.
It also confirmed that Carowind’s Brian Oerding will be coming west to take over as Park President of Six Flags Magic Mountain.
While they say the list of new Presidents will be released in the near future, we’re also unofficially seeing posts claiming that the Regional North East Manager, Pete Carmichael, may be taking over Six Flags over Texas and John Kranjak may be returning as Park President of Six Flags Great America. Again… just rumors for now…
Now… the one big rumor that is hitting everyone the hardest right now is a claim that Jeffrey Siebert… the Texas Regional General Manager and before that the Park President of Six Flags Fiesta Texas, is no longer with the company. Jeffrey probably had the best reputation of elevating the park product over anyone in the company in years.
Personally, I have been able to confirm that this news is true… BUT… I also have to state that the rumors that Jeffrey was part of the corporate lay-offs earlier this week is absolutely NOT TRUE. That is all I can say on that topic… so no need to project any hate on the Six Flags corporate board of directors.
Now, the one thing that does seem odd however is that Six Flags Fiesta Texas was not listed as one of the 10 parks to get new Park Presidents. It is certainly big enough. Other parks not included on that list also include:
California’s Great America - Not surprising, as it will be closing…
Dorney Park - a smaller park, duties could be shared with another park possibly…
Frontier City - another smaller park, but also just a Management Contract park, owned by EPR Properties.
Kings Dominion - An interesting one… large enough park, unless they’re going to appoint someone to oversee KD and Dorney Park.
Schlitterbahn - Make me wonder if all the stand-alone Hurricane Harbor waterparks could be put under one leadership position. If Fiesta Texas was getting a Park President, I’d like to think that Schlitterbahn might also be close enough for that position to run it as well.
Darien Lake - Another EPR owned park that Six Flags just runs, and does not own.
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - Smaller park, but far enough away from everyone else that someone should be overseeing things.
Six Flags Mexico - Another odd omission… as someone should be overseeing all of the Mexico properties.
Six Flags New England - Again, another odd omission to not have a Park President.
So I’m curious to see where this is all going myself…
(4/7/2026) Well… it’s official Six Flags has confirmed that they have completed the sale of six of their US theme parks to EPR Properties this week. The only park sale still in the works is La Ronde in Canada, of which they expect to have the sale of that park complete before the end of the second quarter.
(3/31/2026) Six Flags will release for Q1 2026 earnings report on May 7, followed by an earning call online at 8am (Eastern). Visit the official Investors website for more information and the links to listen in live or on the recording afterwards.
(3/28/2026) Six Flags Entertainment has announced that they have appointed Richard Haddrill as the new Executive Chairman on the board of directors, while previous Chair, Marilyn Spiegel, will transition into the Lead Independent Director. This move appears to have been made to appease Jana Partners, who had been requesting that someone new be placed in the Chairman spot.
(3/26/2026) Six Flags shocked the theme park community a few weeks ago when they announced they were selling off seven of their parks. While this may have seemed to be a sign of things failing for some, the new shrinking kingdom may actually become all the stronger for it after shedding these lower performing parks. Take a deeper dive into the matter in my latest feature article that also looks into what each of these parks meant for Six Flags.
(3/21/2026) Oh boy… while Travis Kelce has just teamed up with Six Flags… his partners, JANA Partners, are already kind of starting up shit with the board. Sorry, but that’s the way I’m calling it right now.
As known “activist investors” JANA Partners is already pushing for Six Flags to look into exploring a sale of the entire chain itself as well as an ouster of the current Chairman of the Board, Marilyn Spiegel, who was just appointed two months ago.
According to this article, this is a typical course of action for JANA Partners, who now owns a 9% stake in Six Flags. They point out that back in 2017, with an 8.8% stake in Whole Foods, they pretty much did the same thing and profited quite well when they convinced Whole Foods to sell themselves to Amazon later that year. Before that they did the same thing with PetSmart in 2014, and when the pet store chain was sold to BC Partners for $8.7 billion, JANA also got a huge payout.
So now JANA is once again recommending a similar course of action, claiming that Six Flags is in need of a new chairman of the board (one who would have a sympathetic ear to their concerns of course) and that “it is now in the best interest of shareholders for the company to reverse course and engage with known buyer interest in Six Flags”.
Given that Six Flags is now under the leadership of a new CEO who is attempting to steer the company in the best direction for his own plan of success, I think it’s a bit soon for anyone to be listening to JANA Partners requests at this time. Or at least we can hope we can give them time to see their plans through before we put up the rest of the company under the carving knife like a thanksgiving turkey.
(3/13/2026) According to Six Flags, they’ve officially agreed to work with Travis Kelce on new marketing content, with Travis serving as a new brand ambassador for the theme park chain throughout the 2026 season. Follow the link to read all the details.
(3/6/2026) A quick update to the Six Flags sale of parks to EPR Properties. According to a press release from EPR themselves, the REIT lists the financial transition to purchase the seven properties at a value of $342 million, with $315 coming from EPR and the “operating tenants” (aka: Enchanted Parks and La Ronde Operations) “provide the balance, including funds for working capital and capital improvements.”
So that answers not only how much cash Six Flags is gaining from the sale, but also answers a burning question from so many park fans about who provides the capital needed for new attractions at these parks going forward, but clearly it isn’t EPR Properties. So how well a park continues to perform will clearly dictate if and when the operating groups are able to fund new additions and attractions.
The press release also confirms details about who “La Ronde Operations, Inc.” really are. It reports that the new company is owned by “Kieran Burke”, who we know is the CEO is Premier Parks, who also manages other properties for EPR Properties. As Premier Parks currently owns or manages a variety of parks all across the US and Canada, including a Wet ‘n’ Wild in Toronto, the Valcartier park/hotel/spa in Quebec, and Calypso in Ottawa. So clearly Premier is familiar not only with running parks in Canada, but La Ronda is also in Quebec, so it does bring up the question as to why Burke set up a separate company just to manage La Ronde.
The ownership of La Ronde is a little more complicated than most however, as the park is now going to be owned by EPR Properties, and operated by La Ronde Operations, but on top of all of that the park itself is leased from the City of Montreal until 2065 until the terms of the original deal that Six Flags struck with the city to take over the park.
(3/5/2026) Huge news from Six Flags today as it was confirmed that the company has indeed now opted to sell off 7 (SEVEN!!!) of their current theme park properties to EPR Properties. The list includes:
Six Flags La Ronde in Montreal, Canada
Six Flags St. Lous in Missouri
Six Flags Great Escape in New York
Michigan’s Adventure in Michigan
Schlitterbahn Galveston in Texas
Valleyfair in Minnesota
Worlds of Fun in Missouri
EPR Properties is the same company that already owns a few of the parks that Six Flags manages, such as Six Flags Darien Lake and Frontier City. This list of seven properties also includes the 5 properties that were previously highlighted as part of the “Enchanted Parks” trademark story that came to light in early January 2026.
At the time we were also told to keep an eye out for EPR Properties to be deeply involved with the deal, as they were likely going to be the ones funding it. This does seem to be the case as the press release from Six Flags does state that “EPR Properties will partner with experienced operators - Enchanted Parks for the six U.S. parks and La Ronde Operations, Inc. for La Ronde”.
So what does this mean for the 7 parks? According to Six Flags all seven parks will “continue normal operations through the 2026 season.” This means all 2026 season passes and memberships already sold will be honored for the rest of 2026, which includes multi-park access to other Six Flags properties as noted in whatever style pass you may have had.
EPR will be taking ownership of the parks during the 2026 season, once the deal is finalized, but they will be given “the right to use the Six Flags brand through 2026”, so you won’t see any changes to park or attraction names or the experiences offered during the 2026 season.
Going forward, Six Flags says this will allow them to more focused on the parks that they will be keeping, a “collection of 34 Six Flags parks across North America” with “a stronger financial position, and a renewed commitment to operational excellence.” The sum EPR is paying for the parks was not released, but Six Flags says that they will be in a better position to invest in new attractions, upgrade park infrastructures, enhance the guest experience and introduce new innovations going forward.
Six Flags does address a number of potential guest questions in their press release as well, which is nice. This includes a question for “Members” who may want to cancel their membership early during this time of transition. According to the Q&A, Six Flags does confirm that “we are providing the flexibility for you to cancel after the sale is completed should you choose to do so, even if you have not yet fulfilled your minimum term commitment.”
Also… exactly how Dining Pass / Fast Lane / Photo Pass and Drink Plans will work at those parks once they are sold is still being worked out, and per the terms of the original deal, the participating locations and menus were always “subject to change”, so there may be some changes to come there during the 2026 season.
Oh… and guess what? The new “Enchanted Parks” website is now live and lists the six parks to be purchased from Six Flags as well as Diggerland (NJ), Enchanted Forest Water Safari (NY) and Calypso’s Cove (NY). So it looks like we officially have a new big chain of theme parks in North America who will be operating/managing these parks for new owner, EPR Properties.
(2/20/2026) Six Flags posted their Q4 / Full Year 2025 earnings results this week, which was also the first earnings call from new company CEO, John Reilly, who just joined in December. So how were the numbers? For the most part, and as many expected… 2025 was disappointing. Net Revenue for Q4 was $650 million, down $37 million (5%) from Q4 2024. Attendance also declined in Q4 from 2025 compared to the year prior, coming in as 9.3 million (down 1.4 million / 13%). Despite it all, Guest spending Per Caps were actually up 8% to $66.41, so at least one of the markers was moving in the right direction for the company.
According to the statements made, much of 2025 saw them spending capital and time to improve many of the various parks, bringing infrastructure of many of the legacy Six Flags parks up to the levels of the legacy Cedar Fair parks. All the while they still added a few new attractions, and are working towards planned new introductions of products and services that will come online in 2026.
Management duties and positions were refined as the two chains worked to become more integrated. According to Reilly, “This is not a broken model” and that the various issues being faced are more of a park by park, market by market issues and not something “systemic” that is plaguing the entire chain of parks at once across the board. “When you come to our parks, your entertainment experience on each visit should meet or exceed your expectations. We want you back, so we plan to earn your trust to ensure that happens.”
And in case you were wondering, the subject of the cancellation of many of the winter holiday events at several parks did come up as well. We’ve been seeing reports that most of the parks that had their events canceled have been sending out guest surveys to get data about the possibility of bringing them back in some fashion. According to Six Flags CFO, Brian Witherow, “In hindsight, that decision did not optimize profits at every park the way we needed it to. Those events can be meaningful demand-drivers, and removing them created a self-inflicted headwind in terms of both attendance and operating leverage.” As such, they are now rethinking their winter holiday strategy going into 2026, looking at things on a market-by-market basis to see what, where and how things could possibly be brought back in a way that would make the best financial sense for each park.
(2/12/2026) Filming on roller coasters at Cedar Fair parks has always been a big “no-no” in the chain’s rule book. Six Flags on the other hand has been sort of a mixed bag that could vary by park and even by ride on if guests are allowed to film or not while riding, or while using certain specific camera gear.
Now it seems a new policy was just announced by Six Flags permiting guests to film on their rides, but only if they are using a “glasses-based micro camera” device, like Meta Glasses, that is secured by a safety strap. GoPros, DJI Osmos, and other common action cameras are not allowed, though many previously would use them with wrist or chest strap attachments.
Of course, before you run out and buy one of these camera glasses, always keep in mind that policies are always subject to change, and while they are permitting these right now, next month they could change their mind again.
(2/2/2026) Six Flags has announced “a significant enhancement” to the Gold Season Passes and Memberships, with the launch of “regional park access”. There will also be a limited time promotion this Spring allowing guests to purchase a Gold pass for the price of a Silver pass at select Six Flags parks during specific dates in February.
So let's dive into this new perk that has divided the Six Flags theme park empire into four specific “Regions”. “All Gold passes and memberships will include access to a designated group of parks within its geographic region, allowing guests to enjoy multiple destinations with one pass. ”
“We’re redefining what a season pass or membership can be,” said John Reilly, president and CEO of Six Flags. “By including multiple parks with every Gold pass, guests can explore more rides, more events and more experiences all with one affordable pass. We’ll unlock more fun and adventure at an unbeatable value.” Throughout the month of February, regional benefits will appear on park product webpages and benefits grids as each region launches its new Gold benefit. Texas regional access launches today, with the other three regions to follow.
Here are the regions…
TEXAS REGIONAL PASS: This includes access to Six Flags over Texas, Hurricane Harbor Arlington, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Hurricane Harbor San Antonio, Schlitterbahn New Braunfels, Schlitterbahn Galveston Island, Hurricane Harbor Splashtown, Six Flags Frontier City and Hurricane Harbor Oklahoma City.
MIDWEST REGIONAL PASS: This includes access to Cedar Point, Cedar Point Shores, Kings Island and Soak City, Six Flags Great America, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Chicago, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Rockford, Six Flags St. Louis & Hurricane Harbor, Valleyfair, Worlds of Fun & Oceans of Fun, Six Flags Darien Lake & Hurricane Harbor, Michigan’s Adventure & WildWater Adventure, Canada’s Wonderland & Splash Works, and La Ronde.
WEST REGIONAL PASS: This includes access to Knott’s Berry Farm, Knott’s Soak City, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Hurricane Harbor Los Angeles, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, California’s Great America, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Concord, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Phoenix, Six Flags Mexico and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Oaxtepec.
EAST REGIONAL PASS: This includes access to Six Flags New England & Hurricane Harbor, Six Flags Great Escape & Hurricane Harbor, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Wild Safari, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor New Jersey, Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, Kings Dominion & Soak City, Carowinds & Carolina Harbor, Six Flags over Georgia & Hurricane Harbor and Six Flags White Water.
Phew… that was a lot… but now select parks within each division are offering a free upgrade to a Gold level season pass with the purchase of a silver pass during special limited-time spring promotions that will begin in February, with details to be posted on each park’s website.
The parks participating in the “free upgrade to gold” offer include:
Texas: Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Six Flags Frontier City, Hurricane Harbor Oklahoma City
Midwest: Six Flags Great America, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Rockford, Six Flags St. Louis, Worlds of Fun
West: Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Concord, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Phoenix
East: Carowinds, Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags White Water, Kings Dominion, Six Flags Great Adventure, Dorney Park, Six Flags New England
For those who already have Gold Access passes or memberships, you will get “automatic regional park access” upon the launch of your region. If you had previously purchased an “All-Park Passport” add-on, you will receive a “free upgrade to the Prestige level on Feb. 27.” If you purchased your Gold Pass or Membership during the 2025 MVP Sale, you will retain your All-Park Access through 2026, which will then convert to Regional park access in 2027 for those who maintain active memberships. Meanwhile the Prestige season pass and membership levels will be the one to continue to exist and include the All-Park Access benefit going forward.
(1/25/2026) It has been all quiet on the “Enchanted Parks” story so far, with IAM and Six Flags going completely radio silent ever since those trademark applications were discovered in the government’s database. One reader has also suggested that we might want to keep an eye on EPR Properties as well, the real estate group who actually own parks like Frontier City and Darien Lake, who then hire other companies to come in and manage and operate those parks for them. For example Six Flags is on the payroll to run Darien Lake, Frontier city, as well as several of the stand-alone Hurricane Harbor waterparks. Premier Parks runs a number of small amusement parks and water park properties for EPR as well like Wet n’ Wild Hawaii, Rapids Water Park, Pacific Park, Magic Springs, etc. And finally, we also have IAM running the Diggerland USA park in New Jersey as well as the Water Safari Resort in New York for them… and as you recall Water Safari was also part of those trademark findings, with the concept to rename the park as “Enchanted Parks Water Safari”.
As we’ve seen happen in the past in other deals, sometimes a deal to purchase a park property can be more complex below the surface. It was suggested that someone like EPR, who is familiar to both Six Flags and IAM, may possibly be the ones funding the purchase of the parks from Six Flags, through IAM. Once the sale of any properties is complete and signed off by Six Flags, then existing private contracts between EPR and IAM could then activate, triggering a lease-back deal, where IAM would then immediately sell the properties to EPR in exchange for a long-term lease-back deal to own and operate the parks in exchange for land lease payments.
Again, this is all just some explorative thinking based on past deals involving other parks who signed their own lease-back deals with EPR or previously with CNL who later sold their parks to EPR. But for those wondering how a relatively unheard of group like IAM could find the funding required to buy a large number of parks from Six Flags and launch their own mini-chain and park branding… this is exactly how it happens.
(1/10/2026) Is Six Flags preparing to sell a whole batch of parks to a new owner? Quite possibly… and new filings in the US Trademark database show us who appear to be interested in buying several parks, and re-branding them under a new name.
If you visit the Trademark search page and enter “Enchanted Parks Holdings, LLC” into the search bar, you’ll see a list of new pending trademark names have been registered, with a number that may sound very familiar to Six Flags and Cedar Fair park fans:
Enchanted Parks Great Escape Lodge = Six Flags Great Escape Lodge
Enchanted Parks Oceans of Fun = Oceans of Fun is the waterpark attached to Worlds of Fun
Enchanted Parks Galveston = There is a Schlitterbahn waterpark in Galveston, Texas
Enchanted Parks St. Louis = Six Flags St. Lous
Enchanted Parks Michigan Adventure = Legacy Cedar Fair park, “Michigan’s Adventure”
Enchanted Parks Water Safari = (see below)
Enchanted Parks Camping Resort = (see below)
Enchanted Parks Water’s Edge Inn = (see below)
And finally one filed for just the name “Enchanted Parks” which has already seen some interesting changes. Current a visit to that domain just takes you to a temporary “parked” page from GoDaddy, but if you visited EnchantedParks.com earlier today the domain was being auto forwarded to the owner’s current website, i-amllc.com, Innovative Attraction Management, based in Florida.
Who? IAM’s website says that “We are actively seeking to acquire high performing water and amusement parks” and the site already lists a “Water Safari Resort” in Old Forge, NY (potentially to become the Enchanted Parks Water Safari) as well as Diggerland in West Berlin, NJ. Water Safari was purchased by IAM in 2024, and according to a news article about the sale, the sale also included the “Old Forge Camping Resort” and “Water’s Edge Inn”.
Oceans of Fun is connected to Worlds of Fun, so I don’t see them being split apart, and while The Great Escape Lodge could technically be sold as a separate property that is near The Great Escape theme park, one would think that they would likely change the name unless this is just a partial list and more names are to be added in the coming days.
Either way, it does indeed sound like this group is in negotiations to purchase five parks from the current Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. The fact that they quickly jumped on the fact that the EnchantedParks.com domain was being forwarded to their current corporate website and requested an immediate change to a generic parked domain speaks volumes. I can verify it first hand, as I saw it myself.
I suspect we’ll likely find out more as the mainstream media picks up on this over the weekend and demand some answers on Monday.
(1/6/2026) I’m very surprised… but I also understand… in a huge announcement Six Flags Entertainment made the announcement that they would NOT be exercising their option to take full ownership of the Six Flags over Texas theme park from the SFOT partnership.
Under the terms of the deal, Six Flags had until December 31st, 2025 to announce if they were going to exercise their purchase option or not, which would have required the full payment by January 2028.
As much as they want to make the purchase, Six Flags under new CEO John Reilly, has made a very tough call here and stated, “This was a difficult and deliberate decision. Six Flags Over Texas is a foundational park in our system and a prized asset within our portfolio. While the contractual terms do not currently align with our capital allocation priorities, we remain deeply committed to the long‑term success of the park and believe it has a bright future as part of the Six Flags portfolio.”
In other words, John Reilly knows the difficult financial situation that the mega theme park chain currently finds itself in, and is making the best financially responsible move they can make right now. He went on to say that Six Flags would “maintain constructive discussions with our partners regarding our continued interest in Six Flags Over Texas.” All while maintaining focus on “operational excellence in the park”.
Now if you remember, in December of last year, Six Flags did however confirm that they would be exercising their option to take full ownership of Six Flags over Georgia, which was shared with a partnership in a nearly identical arrangement. So since Six Flags is already on the hook to make those funds appear to complete the Georgia deal, it looks like they’re going to have to try and work out another opportunity in the future, when they’re in a better financial position, to try and take full ownership of the Six Flags Over Texas park.
One more note, for those interesting in the financial side of things within the company, Six Flags announced earlier today the “Private Offering of $1.0 Billion of Senior Notes and Redemptions of 2027 Notes” which I believe is being done in order to refinance some of their major debts.
SONY - (6/27/2026) Sony Pictures Entertainment is reported as having invested $100 million into COSM, a chain of theaters offering unique experiences with a domed screen system that surrounds audiences. From my basic understanding of looking into what I saw being offered by a COSM in Dallas during a visit to the area this month (sadly, we did not have time to experience it) the concept sort of sounds like a smaller scaler version of what the Sphere is Las Vegas is offering with their unique Wizard of Oz screenings. Except at COSM you can also add in a whole dining experience with your show.
For their investment, Sony has now acquired a minority ownership stake in COSM. COSM currently has locations in Dallas, Los Angeles and Atlanta, with a new location to open in Detroit this fall and another location coming online in Cleveland in 2027.
It’s worth noting that traditionally, Sony hasn’t been a studio to really get too involved directly with the themed attraction or venue spaces. They did open the one Wonderverse indoor attraction in the Chicago area in early 2024, but we really haven’t heard much about it since it opened, and nothing about updates or new attractions added to it.
United Parks & Resorts (aka: SeaWorld / Busch Gardens) - (8/6/2026) United Parks posted their Q2 2026 earnings results this week. The quick summary is that attendance dropped once again, down to 6.1 million guests (a 2.9% drop from the same quarter in 2025). Total revenue AND net income both dropped, (1.4% and 21% respectively), all while total revenue PerCap spending increased 1.5%.
(7/31/2026) Something strange is happening over at United Parks this week. According to reports from a Screamscape source the park President of SeaWorld Orlando has either suddenly “retired” or was “forced out” (depending on who you ask) without any kind of warning. The person in question of Jon “JP” Peterson. While I don’t care to speculate, the instant buzz is that there is a bit more to this departure story that has yet to be released to the media, though if even just some of the rumors are true, this could potentially blow up big time for United Parks. So for now… we will just wait and see…
In other news however, United Parks has apparently gotten in trouble with the government yet again. The last time it involved the banning of the “Rollator Walkers with Seats” within their Florida parks, and now this time it involved ignoring the formation of a union. For the first time in the history of a SeaWorld park, a union was formed between the Divers that work at the Aquatica and Discovery Cove parks in Orlando, which so far has been ignored by United Parks management.
Now the National Labor Relations Board has gotten involved and confirms that SeaWorld has “violated federal labor law by refusing to recognize and bargain” with the Union of Operating Engineers Local 30 union after the employees voted to join back in May 2025. As of this month the NLRB has now ordered SeaWorld to “officially recognize the union”, start good-faith negotiations, and now has to post notices in backstage employee-only spaces (like the employee lounge) confirming that they “violated federal labor law”.
While there doesn’t seem to be a penalty other than that right now, this sounds more like old fashioned teaching asking a student to write “I violated federal labor law” on the chalkboard 100 times in front of the entire class.
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(7/16/2026) Look for United Parks to release their Q2 2026 earnings report and host a conference call on Tuesday, August 4, 2026. Follow the link to listen in through the investor website.
(5/12/2026) United Parks has released their Q1 2026 earnings report for their Busch Gardens and SeaWorld theme parks. According to the report attendance in Q1 2026 came in at 3.2 million, which is a drop of about 171,000 compared to the same time period in 2025. As most theme park chains do… they blamed the weather, but in this case the weather from early 2026 was a bit on the extra cold and nasty side across much of the nation, especially the south and east. So in this case, the excuse is probably a valid one.
Total Revenue came in at $278.3 million, down $8.7 million from the prior year, however per-cap spending went up 5.3% to $40.62, which may indicate that Q2 numbers could be very much improved over this quarter if attendance levels return to normal. Weather wasn’t the only thing blamed however, as they also described a sharp “decline in international attendance” as well.
(4/11/2026) According to a post from In The Loop on Facebook, United Parks has officially posted their own court documents in response to the pending lawsuit from Sesame Workshop that addresses a number of issues.
This brings up a number of other issues, such as Sesame’s complaints were not just about missed royalty payments, but about potential lost revenue from the theme park chain removing the Sesame themed characters from SeaWorld San Antonio kids area during the 2025 retheme that turned it into the Rescue Jr. themed land, as well as how Sesame balked at the fall closing of the Sesame Place park in San Diego. Apparently Sesame viewed this as United’s way of taking the potential guests from that park and funneling them into SeaWorld San Diego instead during the winter season. So from the sound of things, some of these lost royalty payments they are claiming are due to what is perceived lost revenue from the closing of these Sesame areas over the past year and not necessarily just about United not paying them at all.
United’s response has been to say that they do reserve the right to “changer the programming in a park based on the needs of the park”, which is absolutely true, as that falls under their right as the owner and operator of these parks. So if the Sesame Place San Diego park was not going to be profitable to run during the colder winter months, it would make sense to make the operations there that of a “seasonal” park rather than as a year-round park, which is how they have also ran the Philadelphia for years. While it would be great if the San Diego park could operate with a profit all year long, it does seem that the change was simply because the numbers were not adding up.
And in a final note… apparently they also mentioned that by removing the Sesame themed land from the San Antonio park, “it now unlocks Sesame workshop to have [the] ability to build their own FEC in Dallas according to the license agreement.” This is news to me… and interesting as many years ago there was a short lived Sesame Place park in the Dallas area that quickly failed under the Busch Entertainment era of management. But this does make it sound as if Sesame Workshop may be seeking to terminate their long-time working agreement with the theme park chain in order to pursue other new potential developments with new unknown potential business partners.
(3/28/2026) You may recall late last year that United Parks was in the news after SeaWorld Orlando and their other Florida area parks began to ban guests from visiting the park with “Rollator” devices… which are essentially a walker-style assistance device, but with wheels and a seat. According to United Parks, they claim that the devices were being misused and causing safety related incidents in the park when guests were attempting to use them as wheelchairs, by being pushed around while seated, which is also apparently not an approved use for the device by the manufacturers. The seat is apparently only to be used while not in motion.
The guest complaints about the ban reached the Department of Justice who said they would open an investigation into the issue, and that has apparently now been completed. As such, the DOJ is now suing United Parks for alleged discrimination against disabled guests at the parks over the device ban, claiming a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In response to the safety issues, apparently safety requirements “must be based on actual risks and not on mere speculation, stereotypes, or generalizations about individuals with disabilities,” according to the Justice Department. They also claim that United Parks was charging guests to rent alternative mobilities devices, though previous statements from United Parks last year claimed that guests were offered free alternatives at that time, so I don’t know if something changed between now and then, or if not every affected guest was offered a complimentary suitable alternative.
Either way, it seems that the issue is going to court, with the Justice Department seeking an official ruling on the ADA violations, damages, and updates to park policies and training procedures.
(3/18/2026) The lawsuit from Sesame Workshop against United Parks seeks to bring the decades-long relationship between the two companies to a quick and sudden end. While this could result in the closure and removal of the Sesame themed lands and characters from Busch Gardens Tampa and Williamsburg, as well as SeaWorld Orlando and San Antonio, the consequences for the two dedicated Sesame Place parks (Philadelphia and San Diego) could be much more severe and devastating.
In fact, the sudden and unannounced closure of the Sesame Place park in Chula Vista, CA, on the outskirts of San Diego, is mentioned as one of many key points of contention between Sesame Workshop and United Parks as Sesame says the unexpected closure of the previously year-round park damaged their brand’s image. The dissatisfaction between the two has been brewing for awhile now, and actually went to federal court over non-payment issues in 2024, which ruled in Sesame Workshop’s favor that Universal Parks had to may $11 million in unpaid licensing fees. Apparently it took a whole year and yet another bit of legal action via the court system for the park chain to finally make this payment.
According to United Parks, they apparently “look forward to setting the record straight in court” and have reconfirmed that Sesame Place in Pennsylvania reopened for the season on March 14th and that the Chula Vista park will reopen to guests on Friday, March 27th. Meanwhile United Parks claims that Sesame Workshop is actually the one in violation of the licensing agreement, because they have failed to invest in their own brand. Sesame Workshop claims this couldn’t be further from the truth after they had just secured a deal to begin airing Sesame Street on Netflix.
I hate to say it, but playing the “refusal to pay” what they owe game has become a standard bit of practice for United Parks since the pandemic. Even worse, this practice, which seems to be condoned by the board of directors, is only going to serve to burn bridge after bridge, and give the theme park company a reputation of not only being difficult to work with, but one who seems to struggle to pay their bills on any kind of agreed schedule.
For example, there is currently a long running fight between the company and the city of San Diego over unpaid back-rent owed for the lease of the land under SeaWorld San Diego. Now… to give United a bit of credit here… this all began during the COVID Pandemic when the park was forced by the California government to close down. Unallowed to operate for months on end does make it hard for your park to generate any kind of revenue to pay the lease agreement with the City. And unlike a regular theme park that could just go dark, SeaWorld San Diego had to keep key staff on site to take care of all the animals. So… I’ll give them a break on this one.
The company proceeded to burn other bridges since then in relation to other legal filings against them for non-payment to ride manufacturers and construction companies who worked on building new attractions at many of the various parks. This resulted in a large number of construction liens being placed on several of the parks from various contractors between 2020 and 2022, owing in total well over $23 million. Work done on most of the big high profile new projects were involved at the time, including Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa, Ice Breaker at SeaWorld Orlando, the Antarctica project at SeaWorld Orlando, about $4 million on an assortment of projects at SeaWorld San Antonio, Emperor at SeaWorld San Diego, work at Aquatica (now Sesame Place) in San Diego, and Pantheon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
In the end, through negotiations these projects are completed, the liens dropped and companies get paid… just later than they expected, and due to the secretive nature of the closed negotiations, we don’t even know if they were paid the full amount they were owed or if lesser sums were part of the negotiation process instead.
So am I surprised about the current legal action from Sesame Workshop? Not at all… but if Sesame Workshop is willing to play hardball and is truly ready to end the relationship, the end result could be devastating for United Parks going forward, as they would have no choice but to shut down the two Sesame Place theme parks until they could be entirely rethemed in every, removing every piece of Sesame IP in the parks, and the destruction of all Sesame themed merchandise in the parks and warehouses.
(3/14/2026) Bad news for United Parks, as Sesame Workshop, non-profit group who owns the rights to the Sesame Street brand and characters, is now filing a lawsuit against the owner of the SeaWorld parks. The group has had 45-year relationship with the theme park chain that has been very positive over the year, resulting in two Sesame Place branded theme parks and the creation of Sesame Street themed areas within four of the main SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks.
According to the lawsuit from Sesame Workshop the theme park chain has stopped making their required royalty payments as well as stipulated amounts in the relationship agreement for the “closure” of the Sesame Street themed attraction in San Diego, as well as sums owed for a possible “planned third park”.
After being unable to work out the issues directly with United Parks, Sesame Workshop says that “we have regrettably determined that the termination of our agreement is the only path forward.”
(8/10/2025) An interesting thing was noted curing the United Parks Q2 2025 conference call. CEO, Marc Swanson, mentioned that the company is in active discussions for at least two more international projects, and plan to early “Memorandums of Understand” agreements signed with partners by the end of this year.
For many years the SeaWorld brand has tried to extend the chain’s reach into international territory. Under Busch Entertainment you may remember they had once signed a deal to build a whole integrated resort on a manmade island in Dubai that would serve as the far end of the Palm Jebel Ali project, that would have been killer whale shaped and featured four parks: a SeaWorld, a Busch Gardens, a Discovery Cove and an Aquatica park, all built side-by-side.
While the global financial crisis in 2008/2009 scuttled those ambitious plans (and halted construction to finish building the Palm Jebel Ali itself until just last year) SeaWorld eventually found a partner with Miral in neighboring Abu Dhaibi wh sought to build a SeaWorld park built from the ground up for the 21st century. No longer seen as a sprawling outdoor park with giant salt-water stadiums to serve as home to killer whales, this new SeaWorld concept is almost entirely built indoor and mixes heavily themed environments and creative rides while borrowing a bit of DNA from attractions like the Georgia Aquarium to create something entirely new.
With two possible new international projects in discussion, there is no telling if these will be for old school style SeaWorld parks, or to create something more like what was done for Abu Dhabi. A lot of this may have to do with the location, as a key factor in the creation of the indoor Abi Dhabi concept is the harsh warm weather, but if the location is somewhere more mild, perhaps an outdoor park may also work. Of course, I’m assuming this is for another SeaWorld park, as that was used as the example of how their future international partnerships would likely work, but new projects could also be for something like Aquatica or a Discovery Cove style attraction instead.
Hopefully we’ll know more by the end of the year about what and perhaps most importantly, where, these projects may come to be.
Universal Studios - (7/25/2026) Comcast reported some interesting facts this week about their future plans to split the company into two halves and about the current tourism conditions in Orlando.
For starters, as previously reported the split would separate the theme park division, along with the network, streaming and studio side of things off into its own company. Overall this side of the company seems healthy, with the Peacock streaming service singled out for reaching profitability for the first time since it launched in 2020. Peacock will also benefit from live sports moving into the next quarterly report as well, as the service included games from the NBA post season games as well as the FIFA World Cup. As for the theme parks… while revenue was still listed as benign up 3%, this was also reported as a result of some “softness” in the market, including in Orlando which is seeing some attendance declines, which they believe to be do to higher traveling costs keeping potential travelers at home, as well as some overall cuts in leisure spending due to increases in costs at home for just about every essential these days, from food to gas. They do expect to see this return to form when “economic conditions and consumer demand stabilizes for us we’ll be getting that attendance back.” It is worth mentioning that elsewhere is social-media land, attendance at Walt Disney World has also been reported as being a bit slower than normal for the summer, but we’ll have to wait on Disney to see if they confirm this or not.
The interesting thing is that the traditional cable and broadband side of the company that will be separating from the entertainment side of things is where Comcast is seeing the biggest issues right now, with revenue dropping and the loss of 167,000 broadband and 280,000 cable subscribers over this latest quarter alone. To make up for it, Comcast is pushing forward to drive up business to their mobile strategy to off-set the loss of traditional connected connections.
(6/30/2026) Comcast made a surprising announcement this week, as the giant company announced plans to spin off NBCUniversal as a separate independent but publicly traded company. So after gathering all these assets to create the giant Comcast we know today, they now want to break it apart… with Comcast itself returning to its roots as the broadband / wireless / cable empire giant, NBCUniverse to keep the theme parks, as well as the Universal film, TV studio and networks, as well as the Peacock streaming service and Sky. So in short, we’re going back to having a broadband tech company and a media company… or one to control the pipeline and the other to control the content that flows through it.
This kind of reminds me of what happened back in the 90’s when Viacom took over Paramount back in 1993 and then Viacom merged with CBS in 2000, only to split the company in half in 2005 as CBS Corp and Viacom Inc. Oh… then jump ahead to 2019 and Viacom and CBS re-merge as ViacomCBS, though along the way over the years they chose to shed the Paramount Parks theme park division, selling it to Cedar Fair back in 2006 I believe.
I’m not really sure about the reason behind this, other than much like Paramount / Viacom in the day, they feel that two successful companies might be more successful than just the one company. I do fear that in this day and age when major studios are being bought, sold and merged in huge mega deals in an alarming frequent fashion, that Comcast may be setting up NBCUniversal as a possible acquisition target for someone else (Netflix maybe?) after failing to come up with a winning bid of their own to take over the various other studios that has been put up for sale, such as FOX and Warner Bros.
Comcast says that the procedure to split the company in half will likely take about a year to complete.
(6/24/2026) I had not heard this myself… but to be honest, I’m not surprised in the least at the moment. According to NDTV, Comcast may be doing some early due diligence work to determine if building a future Universal Studios theme park resort in Saudi Arabia would be a worth-while project. After all, Disney is coming to Abu Dhabi, and Universal once had a deal to build a park in Dubia before global economy problems cancelled that project. But with Saudi Arabia now very much looking to get into the high end tourism market, a deal between Saudi Arabia and Comcast to bring a Universal theme park to life may actually be a very beneficial deal for Comcast, especially as these kind of deals end up working out as more of a franchise operations, with the Kingdom footing the majority of the costs and Comcast standing to get paid quite handsomely for the use of their IPs as well as tasking out the design of it all to their in-house Universal Creative team.
According to the article, Comcast’s CEO did apparently visit Saudi Arabia last month for an investment conference, where he was also seen taking a visit to Qiddiya City, the new theme park development near Riyadh that is home to Six Flags Qiddiya City and the cutting-edge Aquarabia water park, both of which have just opened in the past six months.
(5/12/2026) Universal has teamed up with the University of Central Florida (aka: UCF) in order to launch a new school program to “train future industry leaders” in the art of themed entertainment. They are calling it the Universal School of Experience Leadership and Innovation. The program will exist within the current Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Follow the link for more details about the new program.
(4/24/2026) According to Comcast, Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park continues to see boosts in attendance while increasing revenue for the theme park division. As documented in the Q1 2026 earnings reports results, for the quarter than ended on March 31, 2026, Comcast reported taking in $2.3 billion in revenue from their theme park division, an increase of 24.2% from Q1 2025, which would have been just prior to the opening of Epic Universe in 2025. So the key difference in the two time periods can be directly attributed to the performance of the new Epic Universe theme park this year.
(3/11/2026) Comcast, parent company of the Universal theme parks, will be hosting a Q1 2026 conference call to discuss their latest earnings report on April 23, 2026 at 8:30am ET. You can listen in online live at cmcsa.com or come back for the replay at 11:30am.
(1/29/2026) Comcast revealed some great data about the performance of their theme parks during the Q4 2025 / Year End earning call earlier today. For the first time the Universal theme parks earned over $1 billion in a quarter, driven by huge performance numbers from the Orlando parks and the opening of the new Epic Universe park. They were quick to point out that Epic has been running below capacity in order to allow operations to ramp up and not overwhelm the park during the first year, but they will be working up to their full capacity numbers by the end of 2026.
Other quick projects notes included the confirmation that the Universal Kids Resort in Texas will open this year, the new UK park and resort project will begin construction this year, and they noted that Universal Studios Japan delivered their second-best EBITDA performance year in the park’s history.
(1/26/2026) Universal has filed for a new trademark to use the name, “Oztacular Spectacular”, which would seem to indicate that some sort of new show is in the works with a Wicked or Wizard of Oz theme. This could be for a nighttime style spectacular to be shown in the skies over one of the theme parks, or perhaps it could also be some sort of show with live actors as well.
(12/30/2025) Comcast has confirmed that they will host their Q4 and Full Year 2025 conference call on January 29, 2026 at 8:30am ET. The timing should be interesting, as I’m sure there will be lots of questions about the possibility of building a park in Saudi Arabia, especially following the opening of the new Six Flags park there. You can listed in online here.
(12/20/2025) According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Comcast may be considering getting into a licensing deal to bring a Universal Studios theme park projects to Saudi Arabia. The idea would be to build something to compete in the middle east to complete with the already announced Disney theme park resort that was announced earlier this year to be coming to Abu Dhabi.
Currently Saudi Arabia has been previewing their new Six Flags Qiddiya City theme park project that already has additional phases and other attractions to open in the years to come, including a water park, race track and even a Dragon Ball themed park. So opening talks with Universal to talk about future concepts would seem to be a likely next-step for the middle-east nation as they seek to transition from an oil-export based economy into a more tourism based business concept, following in the footsteps of UAE kingdoms like Dubai and Abu Dhabi as well as neighboring Qatar.
(12/6/2025) It’s just a thought but along with the reveal that Warner Bros. was revealed to have been talking with Universal about bringing the DC Comic characters into the theme parks… everyone's immediate thought was that it would simply come in as a replacement for Marvel Super Hero Island.
But what is that was not the case? What if Universal were looking to simply double-down on the Superhero genre and not only keep Marvel Super Hero Island as it is for the time being at Islands of Adventure, and then create an all new DC Comics themed world somewhere else… like say… Epic Universe maybe?
Again… just a thought… but it is within the realm of possibility…
Also... I can also confirm that this is hardly the first time that WB has tried to convince Universal to put their DC characters to use in the theme parks. Long before Epic Universe was ever under construction, back when the DC’s “Arrowverse” shows were growing spreading rapidly across the CW network, and the studio was trying to relaunch the DC films with the Sniderverse version of the characters and Justice League film, WB execs were heavily lobbying for Universal to adopt the DC characters into their theme parks.
(12/4/2025) In an interesting update, it has now been confirmed that Comcast is indeed placing an offer for Warner Bros. The bidding war sounds steep however, as Paramount is also said to have increased their own bid with the backing of some “sovereign wealth funds” from Saudi Arabia.
Comcast’s offer right now is possibly more interesting however, as it may fall in line more with WB Discovery’s concept of splitting their own assets into two groups. Comcast is said to have proposed merging NBCUniversal with HBO and WB’s film and TV studios to form a “separate stand-alone entertainment company” that would stand on it’s own. This would essentially merge the Universal and WB studios and create a single very deep IP library, as well as lead to a merger of the Peacock and HBO Max streaming services to create something that would very well rival Netflix. The Universal theme parks would also benefit heavily from being able to tap into the combined IP library. While this would be a separate company, Comcast would maintain the “controlling stake” in the new shared company that both Comcast and WB would earn from.
The various player bidding for WB are hoping that increased bids and updated offers coming soon could bring about some kind of decision from WB Discovery before the end of the year.
(11/27/2025) Universal has been granted a couple of interesting new technology patents in the last few weeks. According to WESH, one new patent approved involved the creation of a robotic device that can travel along roller coaster tracks when a ride is closed to scan for any and all potential issues. This kind of work is normally done by maintenance staff who can inspect sections of rides daily, or close a ride and send a crew to crawl over every inch for a closer and more detailed inspection. So the creation of a robotic sensor car that can travel the tracks after-hours to complete basic inspection far more easily would be a great addition, and can focus the maintenance team’s efforts on specific areas that are detected by the scans.
The other patent involves an array of sensors to be placed on ride vehicles around the rider’s seat and restraint system. The great thing here is that the sensors “can check anything from your height to your weight to even if you're adjusted a little bit left or a little bit right inside of that seat. And all of that works together to automatically be able to adjust the seat, not only for comfort but for safety.”
(11/23/2025) If you are still wondering if we might see some kind of Wicked themed attraction or themed land come to the Universal Studios theme parks, consider these little facts. The first Wicked that opened in theaters in late 2024 grossed approximately $759 million globally. This year’s sequel, Wicked: For Good just opened this weekend and has already raked in $150 million in the US and $226 globally… in just an opening weekend.
With those kinds of numbers the rumor is that Universal Creative is being given the directive to give Wicked the same kind of treatment that they did with Harry Potter back in 2010. This is quite literally the freedom to create whatever it is that they think they will need, because just like Harry Potter, Wicked has the ability to essentially “print money” for the company. So stay tuned!
(11/2/2025) With the idea being floated about that Warner Bros. is possibly up for sale due to debt issues following the Warner Bros. / Discovery merger, it has raised some questions about what could happen if certain other companies decide to buy it.
Probably a worse case scenario concept has been seen in a spoofy AI generated video making the rounds on social media showcasing a Mickey Mouse head on a Thanos’ body, wielding an Infinity Gauntlet adored with gems representing all the IPs Disney has collected in the past several years (Pixer, Marvel, Star Wars, etc) and then dropping a new gem into place with the DC Comics logo, much to Batman’s dismay.
WBD stock jumped the other day when a report came out that Netflix is exploring their options to purchase all or part of the company, as WBD was looking into the option of splitting themselves into two separate companies: one for the studio and steaming divisions and the other to contain their legacy TV businesses. In addition to Netflix showing interest, the newly merged Paramount Skydance also apparently placed a bit for the Studio/Streaming half of WBD.
And now it seems that Comcast / Universal is also showing interest as well for the Studio / Streaming side of the business. They obviously could merge their HBO Max and Peacock services into a bigger and more powerful streaming service that could compete better against Netflix and Disney/Hulu. Though one thing not being discussed that that might attraction Comcast/Universal to purchase WB’s studio side of things would be to gain the massive IP library. Universal has worked extensively with WB over the years on a number of projects involving their theme parks to great financial success for both sides, most notably the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Now imagine if Universal were to gain full control of the Potter IP, and no longer had to share the profits with WB. The same could be said for Universal suddenly gaining control of their own Superhero universe by gaining DC Comics, along with control of so many other highly valued IPs from the Warner Bros. vault like The Matrix, the new Monsterverse (Godzilla / Kong) films, not to mention the classic WB Looney Tunes characters.
Though a bit of inactivity of their own, Universal did watch as Disney was able to scoop up assets that they were using in their parks such as The Simpsons and the Marvel Comics, which has definitely complicated the future of things at the Universal theme parks. Now imagine if Universal were to suddenly gain control of a whole new set of IP assets that could be leveraged within their theme parks going forward, and possibly used as future replacements for things that have now fallen under the Disney’s umbrella.
In addition to the properties owned directly by WB, the studio also owns New Line Cinema which controls significant assets for huge franchises like the Lord of the Rings, fan favorite IPs like Pacific Rim, and numerous horror properties that could be used at will for Halloween Horror Nights (Nightmare of Elm Street, IT, The Conjuring universe to name a few). Just for the IPs alone and how they could benefit the studio side as well as the theme park side of things, I would almost think that Universal might be the best ones to benefit from any such deal to purchase Warner Bros, especially in light of how they did bid on buying 20th Century FOX and lost out to Disney on that deal.
(11/1/2025) Comcast (Universal’s parent company) reported their Q3 2025 earnings this week and confirmed that their theme park division's revenue increased to $2.717 billion in 2025, up 19% from 2024’s $2.289 billion. The launch of the new Epic Universe park was the key for this, and since the park opened the CEO confirmed that the new park is “The idea was to have Epic head us towards a week-long vacation type of experience. What we're seeing as Epic is now in the market is that it's driving higher per cap spending and attendance across the entirety of Universal Orlando.”
He went to confirm that they saw less cannibalization of attendance from the two existing parks than they had expected, and when it comes to Epic Universe itself he mentioned that the focus is “driving increased ride capacity. It's a new park and very technologically advanced, so working on the labour and the kinks to drive it to full capacity.“
In fact… in terms of attendance at Epic Universe, he also confirmed that the company had been “holding back a little bit to make sure the experience is what we want it to be. We expect it to fully scale up in the months ahead, and we’ll really be driving higher attendance, per caps, and improved operating leverage.”
(9/4/2025) Universal has posted a teaser for their next theme park documentary special coming to Peacock later this month. It is called Epic Ride: The Story of Universal Theme Parks and will be a 3-part series that will kick off on Monday, September 29th. The series will “pull back the curtain” to give a look at the process of creating some of the world’s greatest theme parks and themed attractions.
(8/2/2025) According to Comcast’s Q2 2025 earnings report revenue from the Universal theme park division increased by 19% for the quarter (to $2.349 billion), boosted by the new Universal Epic Universe theme park that was open for preview visits at the start of the quarter and officially open for a little over the month when the quarter officially ended on June 30th, 2025. The theme parks are part of Comcast’s “content and experiences” division, which also reported 6% growth overall.
Even better news is perhaps that Comcast’s president reported that the opening of Epic Universe had minimal impact on attendance levels at Universal Orlando’s other two theme parks, which means that most guests visiting Epic were not sacrificing a visit to one of the other Universal parks to spend a day at Epic. This would imply that guests either extended their stay at Universal Orlando by a day to visit Epic as well as the other parks, or that they might have possibly opted to spend one less day at one of the other area attractions or parks.
The “extension” concept may be the most likely consider that for much of the advanced pre-sale time-period to get a pass into Epic Universe, many guests were required to book multi-day packages to the Universal Orlando parks that included one day at Epic.
(7/4/2025) Another interesting note has come to light about the Chicago location for the second Universal Horror Unleashed attraction. According to local news reports the new Universal year-round horror attraction would actually be located quite literally across the street from a planned $1.7 billion permanent casino complex from Bally’s that would run along the river. The Bally’s casino is taking over another former Chicago Tribune owned site on the south side of W. Chicago Ave. The combination of the two projects should really reinvent this former industrial segment of the city with all kinds of new entertainment options. Reports say that the casino was intended for late 2026, but delays will likely push it back until 2027. Currently there is no timeline for the Universal Horror Unleashed project in Chicago yet.
(6/28/2025) Just in case you were wondering, that second Universal Horror Unleashed announced for Chicago may be a little more ahead of schedule than you might think. In Las Vegas, after the attraction was announced two years ago, work quickly began on constructing the massive building that UHU would be located inside, which is just one part of a huge Phase 2 expansion for the Area 15 attraction collective.
It turns out that Chicago already had the perfect building they were waiting for up for sale and available, as Chicago’s Universal Horror Unleashed will be constructed inside the former headquarters of the Chicago Tribune on Chicago Ave, located a little over 2 miles in from Chicago’s Navy Pier. In fact, the raw concept art from Universal looks like it was inspired by the Google Street View of the building as seen here.
It’s quite perfect, as the building itself already has a “Creepy AF” feel to it, located in an industrial area across the Chicago River from what appear to be more upscale urban housing and business towers.
(6/26/2025) Would you believe that ONE “Universal Horror Unleashed” attraction was not enough for Universal Studios? Believe it… because the company confirmed that a SECOND location has now been confirmed for Chicago, IL even before they’ve opened the first location in Las Vegas.
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