Green Tagged: Theme Park in 30

Comcast confirmed it will separate into two independent publicly traded companies, one focused on entertainment and one focused on connectivity, through a tax-free spin-off of NBCUniversal, expected to be completed within roughly 12 months. The new NBCUniversal, with Mike Cavanagh as CEO, will be a focused media and entertainment company “anchored by its growing theme parks division,” with Univers...

Three news items this week, all of them about change: when to make it, when to skip it, and how to communicate it. Disneyland is facing backlash after replacing one of the old skeletons in the Pirates of the Caribbean with a new projection-mapped animatronic. Screens and AI are deeply unpopular right now, and replacing a classic animatronic with a projection might have been a misstep. Enchanted Pa...

Universal has priced its new Universal Kids Resort 50% above local family-market alternatives, but does it justify the markup? The 20-acre Frisco park opened for press previews this week ahead of its July 1 launch, priced from $54.99 on weekdays to $79.99 over Labor Day weekend, and aimed at children aged 5 to 9. A family of four runs about $220 to $320 before parking and food, against $50 to $130...

This week is a catch-up: seven news items we hadn't gotten to yet, with a quick read on each.-Oogie Boogie Bash. Disneyland is replacing the Frightfully Fun parade with a Madame Leota's Swinging Wake cavalcade for 2026. For a limited-ticket event, swapping wait-and-watch for come-and-go gives guests more of their evening back, as long as it's well executed.  -Magic of Disney Animation. Disney deta...

Disney and Six Flags both shared details about new projects, and this week, we’ll compare them. Disney announced the story behind Monstropolis, the new Monsters, Inc. land coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios. The experience is built around H.U.M.A.N. Day, short for “Humans Understand Monsters Are Nice”, a citywide celebration that brings humans into the monster world for the first time. Set after...

Six Flags found itself at the center of a chicken nugget fiasco this week, amidst a power struggle on its board. Six Flags banned content creator Alan Farrell for life from all its parks after he posted an Instagram video of himself eating a 10-piece box of chicken nuggets atop Millennium Force, in violation of the park's safety policy banning loose articles on rides. The situation raises question...

Epic Universe Vice President Jeff Polk sat down with a small group of reporters to mark the park's first year, discuss its unique design elements, and push back on expansion timelines. The design choices, the new Captain Cacao meet-and-greet, and Universal's beta tests of an open Celestial Park hub all point in the same direction: they need smaller experiences to soak up crowds, and they may event...

United Parks Q1 was rough across the board: attendance & revenue were down, and the net loss widened to $34.1 million. CEO Marc Swanson blamed unfavorable weather (again) and a decline in international visitation. Despite the misses, United Parks repurchased approximately 2.6 million shares for nearly $93 million, reiterating its belief, as in last QTR, that the stock is materially undervalued...

Six Flags posted a strong Q1: 2.9 million guests (+4%), net revenues up 12% to $225.6 million, and per-cap spending up 6% to $69.26. More interesting, though, is that the new regional pass is driving cross-park visitation, and CEO John Reilly named SoCal and Texas as the markets where the pass is already working. Six Flags is leaning into this by announcing expanded summer programming and teasing...

Six Flags St. Louis updated and reinstated its chaperone policy following fights in the parking lot on opening day. The planned teen takeover brought roughly 100 juveniles to opening day, prompting fights around the park's 8 PM closing time. Guests 16 and under must now be accompanied by a 21-plus chaperone, with a max of 6 guests per chaperone, daily, all operating hours. ICON Park introduced a s...

Comcast's Q1 earnings call delivered good news almost across the board, and Philip and Scott break down what it means for the theme parks division. Universal's theme park revenue was up 24%, driven mostly by Epic Universe doing exactly what it was supposed to do: increasing per-cap spending and length of stay across the entire Orlando resort.  The one cloud on the horizon is Asia. Universal called...

Six Flags is reinstating park president positions at 10 of its parks, less than a year after eliminating the role. This is the first major structural change under new CEO John Reilly, who, after his listening tour, described a chain that suffered from inconsistent standards and a lack of accountability after the 2024 Cedar Fair merger. When you lose a park president, you lose accountability and co...

Disney is laying off 1,000 employees across film, streaming, and marketing as it continues to shed costs and reorient itself. This comes against the backdrop of two major digital plays failing: OpenAI killed the Disney/Sora partnership and Epic Games (which Disney invested $1.5B into) laid off 20% of its workforce after a 25% slump in Fortnite players. It's clear where Disney's moat lies, as its e...

Six Flags appointed Richard Haddrill as executive chairman of the board, replacing Marilyn Spiegel (who stays on as lead independent director). Haddrill comes from the gaming industry — he was CEO of Bally Technologies and executive vice chairman at Scientific Games. The move continues the board refresh that Jana Partners demanded, and it puts more pressure on CEO John Reilly to deliver results no...

We just got back from TransWorld's Halloween & Attractions Show in St. Louis, a show any attraction with a Halloween or Christmas event should attend. This week, we discuss the growing trend of immersive booth experiences, the robotic pig that won Best New Product, rising insurance costs hitting independent haunts, the record-breaking OSCARES ceremony, and why it all matters for professionals....

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

Six Flags has officially named Travis Kelce as a brand ambassador. Kelce, who joined investor group Jana Partners when they acquired a 9% stake in the company last October, will provide marketing support across Six Flags' portfolio of parks — including digital content on his own social media platforms and the use of his name, image, and likeness in broadcast, streaming, and in-park marketing. We a...

Six Flags is selling seven of its parks to EPR Properties for $331 million in cash. Back in January, we flagged a series of trademark applications from an Orlando-based LLC called Enchanted Parks Holdings and connected those filings to the parks now being sold. This week, it became official. EPR is buying the real estate, Enchanted Parks is stepping in as the management company for six of the prop...

United Parks & Resorts reported fiscal 2025 results this week; Revenue, attendance, net income, EBITDA were all down. "Our fiscal 2025 results did not meet our expectations. While the consumer environment was uneven and our results were impacted by negative international tourism trends and volatile weather during certain peak visitation periods, we should have delivered better results, particu...

Six Flags posted Q4 2025 results this week. Modified EBITDA margin fell from 33.2% to 27.1%. Attendance dropped 13%, with roughly 425,000 of those lost visits tied directly to cutting winter holiday events at four parks — a decision the company now calls a self-inflicted headwind. New CEO John Reilly is two months into the job and was candid about not yet having a full plan. He's toured 14 parks,...

Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on February 9 after a $116 million wrongful death judgment. The park generates up to $16 million a year and is operationally healthy, but a judge's "felonious killing" ruling removed Colorado's damages cap, turning what would have been a $1.2 million verdict into one that's seven times the park's annual revenue. We break down what hap...

Six Flags is rolling out a simplified season pass structure. Silver passes grant access to a single park. Gold passes now cover all parks within a regional tier: East, Midwest, Texas, or West. Prestige passes unlock the entire North American chain. Existing gold passholders who added the All Park upgrade are automatically bumped to Prestige, and for a limited time, gold passes are available at the...

Comcast’s Parks division crossed $1 billion in quarterly EBITDA for the first time in Q4 2025, driven by a 22 percent increase in parks revenue and a 24 percent increase in EBITDA. Much of the attention went to Epic Universe, but the most striking numbers came from hotels. Universal added 2,000 new rooms in Orlando and still raised average daily rates by 20 percent, with occupancy up 3 percent. Th...

Six Flags is expanding Grad Nite in 2026, adding Knott’s Berry Farm and Carowinds to a program the company has relied on for years. These closed-park events are built around a highly invested audience—graduating students—offering predictable attendance, controlled environments, and a clear value proposition for schools looking for local, cost-effective celebrations. We discuss why this expansion m...

A new set of trademark filings has raised fresh questions about Six Flags’ long-term portfolio strategy. An entity called Enchanted Parks Holdings, LLC—linked to Orlando-based Innovative Attraction Management (IAM)—has filed trademarks incorporating the names of several current Six Flags properties, including Michigan’s Adventure, Six Flags St. Louis, Oceans of Fun, Water Safari, and Great Escape...