Six Flags Adds Five More Parks to US Portfolio

[Medusa42]

Wow!!  This is a pretty big move.

 

http://investors.sixflags.com/news-and-events/press-releases/2018/05-22-2018-210951050

 

Quote

Six Flags Adds Five More Parks to US Portfolio

 

May 22, 2018

 

Six Flags Adds Five More Parks to US Portfolio

 

Houston, Phoenix, Buffalo, and Oklahoma City Parks Expand Market Reach

 

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Six Flags EntertainmentCorporation (NYSE:SIX), the world’s largest regional theme park company, today announced it has entered into a purchase agreement with affiliates of Premier Parks, LLC to acquire the lease rights to operate five parks owned by EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR). The parks have previously been operated by Premier Parks, LLC of Oklahoma City. These latest acquisitions will expand the company’s portfolio of North American parks to twenty-five.

 

“Today’s announcement represents another milestone in our strategic North-American growth initiative to seek out park acquisitions that expand our addressable market,” said Six Flags Chairman, CEO, and President, Jim Reid-Anderson. “These are all fantastic properties that complement our existing portfolio and provide tremendous added value and cross-visitation opportunities for our extensive Membership and Season Pass base.”

 

The parks joining the Six Flags family are:

 

• Wet n’ Wild Splashtown, Houston’s largest waterpark, with more than 48 lush acres and a wide selection of thrilling waterslides and attractions, along with two children’s areas;
• Wet n’ Wild Phoenix, the largest waterpark in Arizona (located in the Adobe Dam Recreation Area), featuring 35 acres of high-speed slides and two pools, and also offering a Wet n’ Wild Jr. section with kid-friendly versions of some of the park’s most thrilling attractions;
• Darien Lake near Buffalo, NY, a beautiful resort property located on approximately 1,000 acres that includes a theme park, waterpark, campground, hotel, and a 21,000-seat amphitheater;
• Frontier City, an iconic part of the Oklahoma City landscape, is steeped in tradition. The park features a western theme and offers an extensive lineup of exciting rides, attractions, and shows geared to every member of the family; and
• White Water Bay, near Frontier City, a tropical oasis with more than 25 acres of waterslides, interactive water play areas, and pools.

 

Six Flags is the largest regional theme park operator in the world and upon closing of the transactions, will be the largest waterpark operator in North America. With the addition of these five properties that entertained approximately two million guests in 2017, there will be an additional 20 million guests within a 100-mile radius of a Six Flags park, significantly expanding the company’s national footprint.

 

“We are thrilled to welcome these outstanding properties and employees into our family of parks and look forward to sharing the thrill of Six Flags with guests of all ages in these key markets,” added Reid-Anderson.

 

Closing of the transactions contemplated by the agreement is expected to occur in June, 2018 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

 

Edited May 22, 2018 by Medusa42

[GAcoaster]

So will Darien Lake get "re-flagged"?!?  

 

 

[Medusa42]

I would assume so.  More importantly, I am hopeful they will buy a second train for Ride of Steel now.

[Mr.Six]

Frontier City owns 1 side of Lightning Loops and it’s operational as “Diamondback”.  Happy to see Lightning Loops owned by Six flags again.

[GAcoaster]

Interesting they only bought five of the parks. 

 

[Medusa42]

Between this deal and Waterworld California deal, it seems like Six Flags is developing a good relationship with EPR Properties.  I would keep an eye on what happens with Schlitterbahn Kansas City because EPR is the debt holder and could take ownership of three of the parks.

 

http://www.kansascity.com/news/article208441519.html

Quote

Schlitterbahn mortgage lender fears Verruckt indictments could endanger repayment

 

By Steve Vockrodt

svockrodt@kcstar.com

 

April 10, 2018 06:16 PM

Updated April 10, 2018 07:06 PM

 

A company that holds the mortgage on the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kan., is warning investors that criminal indictments against its operator and co-owner could hurt Schlitterbahn's chances of repaying the $174.3 million balance on the loan.

 

EPR Properties, a Kansas City-based real estate investment trust, reported in a filing Monday to the Securities and Exchange Commission that the March indictments against Jeff Henry, Schlitterbahn and other defendants "may negatively impact the likelihood of repayment of the related mortgage loans."

 

The filing is the first public indication that the indictments could imperil Schlitterbahn's business in Kansas City, Kan., if not the entire company itself.

 

EPR Properties said that if Schlitterbahn defaults on the KCK mortgage, EPR may restructure the mortgage loan or foreclose on collateral that secured the loan. That collateral includes the KCK property as well as Schlitterbahn property in New Braunfels, Texas, and South Padre Island, Texas.

 

 

[Yoshi]

All were former Six Flags owned parks except Wet n Wild Phoenix. It would be like going back to the early 2000's if they reacquired Elitch Gardens too.

[coliwood_studios]

This is great news! When do you think we can uses our passes/memberships to visit?

Now only if they could get the Busch properties....

[Medusa42]

This regulatory filing shows that Six Flags paid approximately $23 million to acquire these leases.

http://otp.investis.com/clients/us/sixflags1/SEC/sec-show.aspx?Type=page&FilingId=12772121-4024-7732&CIK=0000701374&Index=11100

 

Here is some more info from the B. Riley Investor Conference this morning.

Six Flags beleives they will make back the $23 million in 3 years.  These are multi decade leases. 

Combo Passes will be sold between Wet N' Wild Phoenix and Magic Mountain

Combo Passes will be sold between the OKC and Dallas parks.

Combo Passes will be sold between Wet N' Wild Splashtown and Fiesta Texas and possibly Wet N' Wild Splashtown and Over Texas.

Darien Lake offers similar opportunities.

Edited May 23, 2018 by Medusa42
More info

[Pineracer]

The only park they would not get is Clementon due to Great Adventure. I don't think Cedar Fair would take it either due to Dorney. Perhaps Hershey or Palace would end up taking it

[GAcoaster]

Interestingly Jeff Seibert (GM of SFFT) was on site at Splashtown yesterday as the deal was announced. It appears he may be managing both parks in this deal:

 

[Medusa42]

^That’s correct.  They said in the presentation today that the parks were selected based on where a lot of single day ticket sales were coming from.  People from the Houston area were visiting Fiesta Texas, people from Phoenix were visiting Magic Mountain.  A lot of people from Oklahoma come to Arlington for a Cowboys or Rangers game and may be interested in visiting Over Texas next to the stadiums.  Darien Lake is close to a few other Six Flags parks.  According to the 2017 TEA/AECOM Attendance Report, the water parks in Houston and Phoenix are ranked 12th and 13th for highest attendance in North America.

[FlumeOp1974]

I just hope  that Sf just inproves on Frontier City, And D. Lake...And keeps the Six Flags branding outta the mix.

 

[Medusa42]

I have a feeling Magic Waters Waterpark in Rockford, IL will be another Six Flags acquisition.

 

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/illinois/articles/2018-05-24/rockford-park-district-mulls-sale-of-well-known-water-park

Quote

Rockford Park District Mulls Sale of Well-Known Water Park

The Rockford Park District is considering selling a well-known water park because of financial challenges.

 

May 24, 2018, at 5:37 a.m.

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — The Rockford Park District is considering selling a well-known water park because of financial challenges.

The Rockford Register Star reports someone approached the district recently about buying or leasing Magic Waters water park.

Park District Executive Director Jay Sandine says the district has explored a sale before because the park's business is so weather-dependent. He says if there's a bad summer it can affect the whole district's finances.

Under state law, the district must get voter approval to sell the park. Some local lawmakers are pushing legislation to allow a sale if four of the five district board members approve, and if the sale price is at or above the average of three independent appraisals.

Sandine says the park hasn't been appraised recently so he doesn't know what it's worth.

___

Information from: Rockford Register Star, http://www.rrstar.com

 

 

[Medusa42]

1 hour ago, Six Flags FUN! said:

With Indiana Beach and Fantasy Island is closing soon. Will Six Flags will try buy the park along with other three parks: Kennywood, Kentucky Kingdom and Elitch Gardens or Dutch Wonderland or other parks?

- Indiana Beach and Fantasy Island aren't a very good fit for Six Flags.  If Six Flags wants to tie the Northwest Indiana market to SFGAm, they should go after Deep River Waterpark in Crown Point, IN.

 

- Elitch Gardens is going to be removed and redeveloped by one of Stan Kroenke's companies.  If they are actually serious about building a new amusement park in the Denver area, there might be an opportunity for Six Flags to partner with them on the new park.

 

-Kentucky Kingdom would be a good fit for Six Flags if they owned the land that the park and parking lots are on and didn't have issues with the Kentucky Fair Board all the time.  Ed Hart is going to have to fix these issues if he wants to sell the park and have it stay open.  This is basically the Astroworld problem all over again.

 

- Kennywood and Dutch Wonderland are a part of Palace Entertainment (Parques Reunidos).  John Reilly from SeaWorld is running Palace Entertainment now and was brought in turn around this money losing operation.  It is possible some or all of the Palace Entertainment parks are for sale.  Kennywood might be a good fit for Six Flags because it opens up the Pittsburgh and Cleveland markets.

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Medusa42
fixed typo

[Yoshi]

If Six Flags were to ever buy Kennywood, it would be interesting to see how the coaster community reacted to it. I could see the outrage already even though I think there would be a lot of improvements like having more than a few rides open for their Holiday Lights event and better operations (Phantom's Revenge only running 1 train at the beginning of most days even if it is crowded).

[Medusa42]

1 hour ago, Yoshi said:

If Six Flags were to ever buy Kennywood, it would be interesting to see how the coaster community reacted to it. I could see the outrage already even though I think there would be a lot of improvements like having more than a few rides open for their Holiday Lights event and better operations (Phantom's Revenge only running 1 train at the beginning of most days even if it is crowded).

People on reddit became extremely hostile when I mentioned this possibility awhile back.  I received so many downvotes and insults that mods removed my post and all replies to my post.

[Coaster Justin]

I don't see Dutch Wonderland working with Six Flags. It would be like Sesame Place getting bought by Six Flags

 

I could see Six Flags buying Raging Waters LA to share the workload in Southern California

[Pineracer]

I don't see Six Flags snagging any of those kiddie parks up. I could see Hersehy buying Dutch Back and Sesame Place is owned by SeaWorld and is land locked-the only thing they can do is build a new coaster in the ravine on the "old" side, build a parking structure across the street, and if they were dire for the land where preferred parking and HR is-they could move the offices into the mall which would generate revenue for the mall and double the footprint the park can use (plus the last of the Handicap lot and a sliver that touches Buckstown road that could fit a water coaster if they really wanted it-the upcoming San Diego Park has thrilling slides, but we are good in that department. I'd say different when it comes to the Monterrey Park)

[Matt Kaiser]

On 2/19/2020 at 2:46 PM, Yoshi said:

If Six Flags were to ever buy Kennywood, it would be interesting to see how the coaster community reacted to it. I could see the outrage already even though I think there would be a lot of improvements like having more than a few rides open for their Holiday Lights event and better operations (Phantom's Revenge only running 1 train at the beginning of most days even if it is crowded).

 

*cough* Sky Rocket wouldn't be closed waiting for parts for a year *cough*

Edited February 21, 2020 by Matt Kaiser