Ride / Six Flags

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Six Flags is the name used by Six Flags Entertainment Corporation to oversee the operation of many theme parks and water parks under the Six Flags name, that began in 1961 with the opening of Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas.^note The company was also based in Arlington, from 2020 to 2024 (after moving from Grand Prarie), when Six Flags and Cedar Fair merged and moved the latter's headquarters to Charlotte (where Carowinds is situated) after renaming itself to the current Six Flags Entertainment Corporation.

The first Six Flags parks were built by the Great Southwest Corporation, which was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad, which would become Penn Central Corporation in a couple of years. Time Warner gradually gained ownership in the corporation by 1993. On February 1998, Premier Parks purchased Six Flags Theme Parks from Time Warner and began converting their standalone theme parks into the Six Flags brand the following year. After all of the individual parks that Premier owned at that time (including their theme parks in Belgium and the Netherlands which were previously under the Walibi name prior to Premier's purchase of the Walibi company and its parks in 1998) were converted into the Six Flags name, the company changed its name to Six Flags, Inc. in 2000. In 2004, Six Flags sold its European division (sans Movie World Madrid, which they only operated) to Palamon Capital Partners who renamed them StarParks. Six Flags filed for bankruptcy in June of 2009, but then reorganized and emerged from bankruptcy in May of 2010 as Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, selling off many of its parks in the process. Despite no longer being owned by what's now Warner Bros. Discovery, they still license various Warner Bros. properties, including Looney Tunes and DC Comics characters, for use in their parks. In 2023, Six Flags announced that it would merge with Cedar Fair which was completed on July 1, 2024 with Cedar Fair inheriting the Six Flags name, which made the original Six Flags entity (that existed since 1971, when Tierco, the predecessor to Premier Parks was founded) defunct that same day.

Legacy Six Flags-owned parks:

• Frontier City in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - opened in 1958 and was purchased by the Tierco Group in 1981. It was sold alongside an assortment of parks in the chain to PARC Management before the 2007 season. The current owner; EPR Properties, leased the park's operations back to Six Flags in 2018.
• La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, opened for the 1967 World's Fair and owned by the city. They sold operations to Six Flags in 2001 under a sixty-five-year lease ^note Other interested buyers included Parc Asterix, Cedar Fair Entertainment and Paramount Parks..
• Six Flags America in Mitchellville, Maryland - Opened in 1974 as The Wildlife Preserve, later known as Wild World and Adventure World, and was acquired by Tierco Group in 1992. It was the first of Premier Parks' operations to be rebranded under the Six Flags brand. Set to close after the 2025 season.
• Six Flags Darien Lake in Darien, New York - Opened in 1981 as Darien Lake Fun Country and purchased by Premier Parks in 1996 along with its then-sister parks Wyandot Lake and Geauga Lake. It was renamed Six Flags Darien Lake in 1999, and was sold alongside an assortment of parks in the chain to PARC Management before the 2007 season; renaming it again as Darien Lake Theme Park Resort. The current owner; EPR Properties, leased the park's operations back to Six Flags in 2018 and reverted back to the Six Flags Darien Lake name for the 2019 season.
• Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, California - Opened as a Zoo in 1968 as Marine World, later named Marine World-Africa USA.The City of Vallejo leased the park's operations to Premier Parks in 1997 and renamed it as Six Flags Marine World in 1999. It was renamed to its current name - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in 2007, and the company took on full ownership from the city afterward.
• Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, Texas - Opened by the USAA Real Estate Company as Fiesta Texas in 1992. Six Flags purchased park operations in 1996 and added their brand to the name; taking on full ownership in 1999.
• Six Flags Great Adventure and Safari in Jackson, New Jersey - Opened as Great Adventure in 1974 and was acquired by Six Flags in 1977. After the separately paid "Wild Safari" facility was merged into the park grounds as the "Safari Off-Road Adventure" in 2013, it became the largest theme park in the chain and is marketed as the second-largest theme park in the world after Disney's Animal Kingdom.
• Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois - Opened in 1976 as Marriott's Great America and was acquired by Six Flags in 1984.^note Former sister park of California's Great America in Santa Clara, California, owned by Cedar Fair
• Six Flags Great Escape in Queensbury, New York^note Just on the boundary between the Capital District and the Adirondacks - Opened in 1954 as Storytown USA, renamed as The Great Escape in 1982 and acquired by Premier Parks in 1996. It fully adorned the Six Flags brand in 2022.
• Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California - Opened in 1971 as Magic Mountain and acquired by Six Flags in 1979.
• Six Flags Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico, opened in 1982 as Reino Aventura and was acquired by Premier Parks in 1999. It was fully reconstructed as Six Flags Mexico in 2000.
• Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts, opened in 1940 as Riverside Park and was acquired by Premier Parks in 1997.
• Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas - opened in 1961, the original park in the chain. Owned under a limited partnership.
• Six Flags Over Georgia in Austell, Georgia - opened in 1967. Owned under a limited partnership.
• Six Flags St. Louis in Eureka, Missouri - Opened in 1971 as "Six Flags Over Mid-America" and renamed in 1996. It is the only one of the three original Six Flags parks to be fully owned by the company.

Current Six Flags Water Parks:

• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Queensbury, New York^note Just on the boundary between the Capital District and the Adirondacks - Opened in 1995 as Splashwater Kingdom and renamed in 1999. Situated within Six Flags Great Escape and included with admission to the park.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Austell, Georgia - Opened in 2014. It is situated within Six Flags Over Georgia and is included with the price of admission.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Eureka, Missouri - Opened in 1999. It is situated within Six Flags St. Louis and is included with the price of admission.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Chicago in Gurnee, Illinois - Opened in 2005, and located adajent to Six Flags Great America. It was originally included with park admission but became a separately ticketed park in 2021.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Concord in Concord, California - Opened in 1995 by Premier Parks as Waterworld USA Concord and renamed Six Flags Waterworld for the 2005 season. It was sold alongside an assortment of parks in the chain to PARC Management before the 2007 season and was renamed Waterworld California. The current owner; EPR Properties, leased the park's operations back to Six Flags in 2018, who renamed it to its current name for the 2019 season. It is a stand-alone park situated about 15 miles from Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Darien Lake in Darien, New York - Opened in 1990 as Barracuda Bay. It was sold alongside its sister park Six Flags Darien Lake to PARC Management before the 2007 season and was renamed Splashtown at Darien Lake in 2010. The current owner; EPR Properties, leased the park's operations back to Six Flags in 2018 and adorned the Six Flags Hurricane Harbor name for the 2020 season. It is situated within Six Flags Darien Lake and is included with the price of admission.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Los Angeles in Valencia, California - Opened in 1995, adjacent to Six Flags Magic Mountain but is separately ticketed.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Maryland in Mitchellville, Maryland - Opened in 1982 as Paradise Island and renamed to Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in 2005. Adorned the "Maryland" suffix in 2023. It is situated within Six Flags America and is included with the price of admission.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor New England in Agawam, Massachusetts - Opened in 1997 as Island Kingdom and renamed in 2003. It is situated within Six Flags New England and is included with the price of admission.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor New Jersey in Jackson, New Jersey - Opened in 2000, adjacent to Six Flags Great Adventure but is separately ticketed.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Oaxtepec in Oaxtepec, Mexico City - Opened as Parque Acuatico Oaxtepec and acquired by Six Flags in 2017. A stand-alone park situated about an hour away from Six Flags Mexico.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Oklahoma City in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - Opened as White Water in 1981. It was sold to the Tierco Group in 1991 and renamed White Water Bay. It was sold alongside an assortment of parks in the chain to PARC Management before the 2007 season. The current owner; EPR Properties, leased the park's operations back to Six Flags in 2018, who renamed it to its current name in 2020. It is a stand-alone park situated about fifteen miles from Frontier City.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona - Opened in 1993 as WaterWorld Safari and renamed to Wet 'n' Wild Phoenix in 2009. The current owner; EPR Properties, leased the park's operations to Six Flags in 2018 and was renamed under its current name the following year. It is a completely stand-alone water park.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Rockford in Cherry Valley, Illinois - Opened as Magic Waters in 1984. Owned by the Rockford Park District, who secured a ten-year operation lease to Six Flags in 2018 and renamed the park as such in 2019.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas - Opened with Fiesta Texas in 1992 as Ol' Waterin' Hole. Renamed Armadillo Beach in 1999 and Hurricane Harbor in 2005. Located adjacent to Six Flags Fiesta Texas and was originally included with park admission but became a separately ticketed park in 2023.
• Six Flags Hurricane Harbor SplashTown in Spring, Texas - Opened in 1984 as SplashTown USA and purchased by Premier Parks in 1999, renaming it to Six Flags SplashTown for 2000. It was sold alongside an assortment of parks in the chain to PARC Management before the 2007 season and was renamed SplashTown Houston and eventually Wet 'n' Wild SplashTown'' in 2013. The current owner; EPR Properties, leased the park's operations back to Six Flags in 2018, who renamed it to its current name for the 2019 season. It is a completely stand-alone park.
• Six Flags White Water in Marietta, Georgia - Opened in 1984 as White Water Atlanta and purchased by Premier Parks in 1999, renaming it under its current name. A stand-alone park situated about 15 miles from Six Flags Over Georgia.
• White Water Bay in Queensbury, New York - An indoor theme park that is connected within the Great Escape Lodge. It opened in 2006 and is located opposite Six Flags Great Escape.

Former Six Flags properties:

• Admiral in St. Louis, Missouri - An indoor entertainment complex housed within the decommissioned SS Admiral riverboat. It opened in 1987 but subsequently closed at the end of the year after failing to pay off its electricity bill. The boat was repurposed as a Casino before being scrapped in 2011.
• American Adventures in East Cobb, Georgia - A small family-oriented theme park (marketed as a "Family Entertainment Center") located next to Six Flags White Water. It opened in 1990 and was sold alongside White Water to the management of Six Flags Over Georgia in 1999, while Six Flags themselves operated the park. They licensed out the park to a third-party company known as Zuma Holdings in 2008, before abruptly closing in February 2010 and giving the lease back to Six Flags. All attractions (aside from the Scrambler) were eventually removed from the site.
• Bellewaerde Park in Ypres, Belgium - Opened in 1954, acquired by the Walibi Group in the 1990s, and was included in the group's purchase by Premier Parks in April 1998. It was sold with the rest of the Six Flags European Parks division to Palamon Capital Partners in 2004, and again to Compagnie des Alpes in 2006.
• Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park, California - A wax museum that originally opened in 1962. Six Flags purchased the museum in 1970, becoming their first acquisition. The company sold the museum to private owners in 1985 to focus more on their theme park offerings; of which the museum traded until the end of October 2005. It has since been demolished.
• Six Flags AstroWorld in Houston, Texas - Opened in 1968, forming as part of the planned "AstroWorld" complex. Six Flags purchased the park's lease in 1974 and took on full ownership by 1978. It closed at the end of the 2005 season following conflicts over parking at the nearby Reliant Stadium among other issues. It was entirely demolished following closure.
• Six Flags Atlantis in Hollywood, Florida - Originally constructed under the name of Atlantis the Water Kingdom, Six Flags completed the rest of the park following the bankruptcy of its owners and opened it in 1983. It was sold in 1989 and reverted to its original name before closing in 1992 and eventually demolished following the events of Hurricane Andrew.
• Six Flags AutoWorld in Flint, Michigan - An indoor theme park focusing on the automobile industry which was opened by Six Flags in 1984. It closed six months later by its investors; of which Six Flags exited out of ownership. The park continued to trade until 1994 and has since been demolished.
• Six Flags Belgium in Wavre, Belgium - Opened in 1975 as Walibi, being the first park within the Walibi chain; and renamed to Walibi Wavre in 1981. It was included in the Walibi Group purchase by Premier Parks in April 1998 and renamed Six Flags Belgium for the 2001 season. It was sold with the rest of the Six Flags European Parks division to Palamon Capital Partners in 2004 and renamed Walibi Belgium for the 2005 season. It was sold again to the current owner Compagnie des Alpes in 2006.
• Six Flags Elitch Gardens in Denver, Colorado - The current incarnation of the park opened in 1995 and was acquired by Premier Parks in 1996; adorning the Six Flags brand within the 1999 season. It was sold alongside an assortment of parks in the chain to PARC Management before the 2007 season, reverting the park to non-Six Flags branding.
• Six Flags Holland in Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Opened in 1971 as Flevohof and closed in 1991. Acquired by the Walibi Group and reopened as Walibi Flevo in 1994. It was included in the Walibi Group purchase by by Premier Parks in April 1998 and renamed Six Flags Holland for the 2000 season. It was sold with the rest of the Six Flags European Parks division to Palamon Capital Partners in 2004 and renamed Walibi World for the 2005 season. It was sold again to current owner Compagnie des Alpes in 2006, and renamed to its current name Walibi Holland for the 2011 season.
• Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky - Opened in 1987 and acquired by Premier Parks in 1997, adorning the Six Flags brand in 1999. Following a contract dispute with the Kentucky State Fair Board, the owners of the site; Six Flags announced not to reopen the park for the 2010 season. The Kentucky State Fair Board soon reopened the park under their management in June 2014.
• Six Flags New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana - Opened in 2000 as Jazzland and acquired by Six Flags in 2002. The park was closed for Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and never reopened after it was flooded and damaged — causing it to become abandoned — with Six Flags selling the site land to the City of New Orleans following a lawsuit in 2009, with what few roller coasters that could be saved moved to other parks. Ironically, the park had found more popularity as an abandoned theme park than when it was open (where it was one of Six Flag's worst performing parks), as it was a popular spot for urban explorers,^note Despite being long abandoned, the park is still actively patrolled by security that will arrest any trespassers. The park is also extremely dangerous because of decay and wildlife. Going to explore the ruins of the park is very much discouraged. and served as a filming spot for various movies during The New '10s (such as Jurassic World, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, amongst many more). After nearly two decades, the park was eventually demolished beginning in late 2024, with the park's land planning to be redeveloped as the site for the Bayou Phoenix complex.
• Six Flags Power Plant in Baltimore, Maryland - An indoor theme park housed in the repurposed Pratt Street Power Plant. It was marketed as having a "No Rides" policy and was the reason for its short time in existence, from July 1985 to January 1987. The site was eventually redeveloped.
• Six Flags Worlds of Adventure in Aurora, Ohio - Originally opening as Geauga Lake in 1887, it was acquired by Premier Parks in 1996 along with sister parks Darien Lake and Wyandot Lake. It was renamed Six Flags Ohio for the 2000 season and became Six Flags Worlds of Adventure in 2001 after Six Flags acquired the neighboring SeaWorld Ohio park, forming the then-largest theme park of all time. Following low attendance, the park was sold to Cedar Fair Entertainment in 2004, who soon restructured the park to be a cheaper alternative to their own Cedar Point and eventually closed it entirely by 2007; with the connected water park - Wildwater Kingdom^note Situated on the former SeaWorld Ohio/Wild Life site. The park's existing water park Hurricane Harbor (renamed Hurricane Hannah's after the Cedar Fair purchase) closed at the end of the 2005 season. trading until the end of the 2016 season.
• Stars Hall of Fame in Orlando, Florida - Opened in 1975 as the second and final wax museum operated by Six Flags^note and the only one constructed by the company although it was near similar to the Movieland Wax Museum. It was sold to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in September 1984 after purchasing the adjacent SeaWorld Orlando but was closed the following month. Its site eventually became part of SeaWorld Orlando.
• Warner Bros. Movie World Germany in Bottrop, Germany - Originally opened in 1996 by Warner Bros.' European Parks division on the site of Kirchhellener Märchenwald, which had originally opened in 1967 and went under various ownership and name changes. The sale of the division to Premier Parks in 1998 allowed the European Six Flags parks to hold the Warner Bros. license in addition to North America. It was sold with the rest of the Six Flags European Parks division to Palamon Capital Partners in 2004, and was renamed "Movie Park Germany" for the 2005 season as the Warner Bros. license was not included in the sale.
• Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid in San Martín de la Vega, Spain - The second of the European Warner Bros. Movie World parks. It opened in 2002 and while it was operated by Six Flags; it only held a 5% minority stake, with the rest under various Spanish shareholders. Six Flags' contract to manage the park was terminated in November 2004 and its ownership stake went to Warner Bros., with the park being renamed "Parque Warner Madrid" in 2006.
• Waterworld Sacramento in Sacramento, California - A water park situated within the Cal Expo grounds. Premier Parks acquired operations sometime after its opening in 1980. After Six Flags announced it would not renew its operations deal after the 2006 season, Palace Entertainment took over for the 2007 season and renamed the park as Raging Waters Sacramento.
• Walibi Aquitaine in Bordeaux, France - Originally opened by the Walibi Group in 1992 and was included in the group's purchase by Premier Parks in April 1998. It was sold with the rest of the Six Flags European Parks division to Palamon Capital Partners in 2004. It was sold again to Compagnie des Alpes in 2006, and renamed "Walibi Sud-Ouest" in 2011. It was sold to Aspro Parks in 2016 which secured a license from CDA to continue using the Walibi brand and characters until the end of 2020. After that, the park was renamed Walygator Sud-Ouest; becoming a sister park to the former Walibi Lorraine once more.
• Walibi Lorraine in Metz, France - Originally opened in 1989 as Big Bang Schtroumpf, and purchased by the Walibi Group in 1990 and renamed Walibi Schtroumpf after the park declared bankruptcy. It was was included in the group's purchase by Premier Parks in April 1998, and was renamed to "Walibi Lorraine" for the 2003 season after Six Flags' license with Peyo was not renewed. It was sold with the rest of the Six Flags European Parks division to Palamon Capital Partners in 2004, and separated from the rest of the Walibi chain in 2006 after being purchased by travelling showmen Claude and Didier Le Douarin, who renamed it as "Walygator Parc" in 2007. It was sold to another group of showmen in 2013 after the park's major financial issues, and was eventually acquired by Aspro Parks in 2016. It was renamed as Walygator Grand-Est in 2020 to match its sister park, itself having formerly been under the same ownership.
• Walibi Rhône-Alpes in Lyon, France - opened 1979 as Avenir Land and acquired by the Walibi Group in 1989. It was included in the group's purchase by Premier Parks in April 1998. It was sold with the rest of the Six Flags European Parks division to Palamon Capital Partners in 2004. It was sold again to Compagnie des Alpes in 2006. As of 2016, it is the only Walibi park that still remains in France.
• Wild Waves & Enchanted Village in Federal Way, Washington - This was a combined theme park and water park complex that Six Flags acquired in 2000. It was sold alongside an assortment of parks in the chain to PARC Management before the 2007 season.
• Wyandot Lake in Columbus, Ohio - Another theme and water park complex. It originally opened in 1896 and was acquired by Premier Parks in 1996 along with its sister parks Darien Lake and Geauga Lake. It was sold to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium (which was located adjacent to the park property) in 2006, which reinvented the site as a water park named Zoombezi Bay in May 2008, while the theme park portion was merged into the Zoo.

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Tropes associated with Six Flags:

• Abandoned Playground:
  • Six Flags New Orleans. Opened as Jazzland in 2000 and acquired by Six Flags in 2002, the park was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and hasn't been open since. Plans are in the works to turn the park into a multi-use entertainment complex.
  • For a few years, Kentucky Kingdom, located in Louisville. It was purchased by Premier Parks in 1997, and became a Six Flags property in 1998 when Premier bought SF. It was closed after the 2009 season amid Six Flag's bankruptcy due to a dispute with Kentucky's state government (which owns the site), and stood vacant until Ed Hart and the Kentucky State Fair Board reopened it in 2014. In the course of the closure, Chang, the park's stand-up coaster, was relocated to Six Flags Great Adventure and renamed Green Lantern.
  • The former Geauga Lake/Six Flags Ohio/Six Flags Worlds of Adventure counts, too. After Six Flags sold it to Cedar Fair, the latter company wound up turning it into a waterpark only park (since they already owned Cedar Point, which Premier/Six Flags had unsuccessfully attempted to turn Geauga Lake into a rival to, including buying the nearby SeaWorld Ohio); the rest of the park decayed and the rides were sold off, with the entire land now slated for redevelopment (Cedar Fair having closed the water park in 2016).
• American Eagle: Six Flags Great America has a wooden roller coaster known as the American Eagle. The ride is painted in red, white, and blue and has a bald eagle in its logo.
• Amusement Park of Doom:
  • The Haunted Castle maze attraction at Great Adventure. Thanks to a severe case of No OSHA Compliance, in 1984 an accidental fire that started when a disturbed kid with a lighter ignited a polyurethane bumper pad ^note  The exact same kind of padding that was used in the Station in Rhode Island in 2003 during that fire disaster, which had much bigger ramifications. inside the castle destroyed the attraction and killed eight guests. This resulted in legal cases, but the juries found Jackson Township negligent in inspecting practices and Six Flags virtually escaped, though the fire, along with the rerise of Disney after a management shift later that year, still put a serious dent in Six Flags' business.
    • That's not even considering how 5 years prior, a nigh-identical incident happened on Luna Park Sydney's Ghost Train ride, killing seven guests in the process, meaning that Great Adventure should've been even more aware of the severity of fires and be even more concerned about fire safety.
  • The aforementioned Six Flags New Orleans, which may have served as the inspiration for the Dark Carnival level in Left 4 Dead 2.
  • The original motif and waiting-line soundtrack for The Demon played with this trope, using the premise that an actual demon had possessed the roller coaster and was lurking in wait to prey upon riders as a promotional gimmick.
• The Artifact:
  • At Six Flags Over Texas, the red oil derrick observation tower. It used to have slides attached to it, and up top, there were two levels of observation decks. Now only one is barely open during the entire season (it has to be closed if the wind blows too much), and it's not even the tallest landmark at the park anymore.
  • The compacted layout of the Batman: The Ride inverted coasters is because the original version at Six Flags Great America was built to replace a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop coaster that was landlocked in the middle of the park.
• Artifact Title: The Six Flags brand name originally referred to the six countries that have flown their flags over Texas: Spain, Mexico, France, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America. The countries, or at least theme park versions thereof, each themed a different area of the park (yes, even the Confederates). The idea worked well in Georgia too, with Mexico and Texas replaced by The U.K. and Georgia, but after that, well, how much difference do the flags of Missouri and Illinois make in the history of St. Louis? At any rate, since 2017, they're all the USA flag.
  • At the least, their "More Flags, More Fun" campaign attempted to make it not so much of this trope.
• Blackout Basement: The "Total Darkness" Fright Fest maze has guests wandering through a pitch-black maze.
• The Bus Came Back: Speelunker Cave, a very early dark ride that debuted at Six Flags over Texas in 1964, was replaced by Yosemite Sam and the Gold River Adventure in 1992, using the same flume-esque ride mechanic and building. The cave retained a loyal following and returned as Pirates of Speelunker Cave in 2022, with a number of callbacks to the original ride including most notably the return of the Speelunker characters.
  • ​Literally in 2024, when Mr. Six was brought back for a Fright Fest promotional event.
• Cool Old Guy: "Mr. Six", the bald bespectacled elderly character that was first seen in an oddball ad campaign in 2004, but would then serve as Six Flags' mascot for the next several years after that. Once you see him, you'll practically hear that Vengaboys song in your head.
• Compressed Adaptation: The RMC hybrids are noticeably shorter than the wooden roller coasters they were converted from. Part of the reason for this is that steel coasters don't carry speed as well as woodies. For this reason, you'll notice that most RMC conversions get either a height buff (as Cedar Point did converting Mean Streak into Steel Vengeance), or a shortened length to compensate. Six Flags's RMCs go for the shorter length. New Texas Giant eliminates the helix that wraps around the lift hill, but otherwise retains the original layout. But Iron Rattler eliminates the slow triple helix atop the quarry wall, as well as another helix that followed the dive into the quarry tunnel. Wicked Cyclone at Six Flags New England retains its original layout, but the heights of most of the hills are significantly shortened. Twisted Cyclone at Six Flags Over Georgia is a double out and back, whereas it was a triple out and back when it was the Georgia Cyclone.
• Downer Beginning/Little Dead Riding Hood: The "Red's Revenge" maze at Magic Mountain's Fright Fest begins with the story of how Little Red Riding Hood was eaten by the wolf (as she was in the original tale), and how she came back to life to get her revenge on the townspeople that didn't rescue her. And she also takes her vengeance out on the guests!
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Six Flags Over Texas upon its initial debut in 1961 was more or less a Disneyland with a focus on Texan history, of course, as time went on, more and more thrill rides were added, and the Warner Bros. licenses along with, and today, the only remaining ride from the park's 1961 debut is the railway.
  • Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America is one of Bolliger & Mabillard's first two hypercoasters (the other being Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens Williamsburg) and it shows in the fact that it has a signature B&M pre-drop on it, something that hasn't been used on any B&M hypercoasters since then.
  • It's often debatable whether Rocky Mountain Construction's steel/wood hybrid coasters are considered all-new rides or renovations of pre-existing ones, but the New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas comes closest to being the latter. The ride's layout is 90% identical to the original ride and features no inversions, whereas later RMC coasters would semi-drastically change the layouts, add one-to-multiple inversions, and even give them completely different names. Additionally, New Texas Giant and Iron Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas are the only RMC coasters whose trains were made by Gerstlauer, instead of built in-house by RMC.
  • The Six Flags Over Georgia version of Superman: Ultimate Flight has several features that its successor clones at Six Flags Great America and Six Flags Great Adventure don't have: a dual loading station, and a short tunnel during the overbanked turns. The 2003 clones, on the other hand, have longer trains to make up for only having a single track station.
  • Roar at Six Flags America is unique for being the only Great Coasters International woodie to use PTC trains instead of GCI Millennium Flyers, which didn't debut until a year later on Roar's west coast sister at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.^note Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa used PTC trains until 2009; and Wildcat at Hersheypark used PTC trains until 2007
• Everything Sounds Sexier in French: La Ronde is located in Montreal, Quebec. Because French is the primary language spoken in that province, all park workers, including many guests, will be heard speaking it.
• Last of His Kind:
  • Whizzer at Six Flags Great America is one of only two Anton Schwarzkopf "Speedracer" coasters still in operation^note  The other operates at the National Coffee Park in Quindío, Colombia. . The ride nearly was demolished in 2002 to make way for Superman: Ultimate Flight, but was ultimately saved by fan protests, causing Superman Ultimate Flight to replace Shockwave instead.
  • Viper at Six Flags Magic Mountain is the last of a set of three seven-inversion looping coasters Arrow Dynamics built at the end of the late 1980s. Its sister coasters were Shockwave at Six Flags Great America (replaced in 2003 by Superman Ultimate Flight), and Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags Great Adventure (replaced by Green Lantern in 2011).
• Let X Be the Unknown: X (now X2) at Magic Mountain.
• Long-Lost Relative: Six Flags Great America and California's Great America were originally built, owned, and operated by Marriott Hotels.^note Originally there were going to be three parks, with a flagship third park being planned for the Baltimore-Washington DC metropolitan area. Various locations throughout the region were looked at for this park, like Laurel, Maryland and Manassas, Virginia, all of which ran into opposition from locals and were eventually scrapped in 1979 When Marriott sold the parks in 1984, Six Flags got the Illinois park, while Kings Entertainment Company^note at the time, the owners of Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds and Canada's Wonderland got the California park, which later was a Paramount Park from 1993 to 2006 before the Paramount parks were bought out by Cedar Fair. The two parks ended up being brought back under common ownership with the Six Flags-Cedar Fair merger.
• Mine Cart Madness:
  • The Runaway Mine Train at Six Flags Over Texas. Notable for being the first tubular-steel coaster in the nation, having opened in 1966.
    • ​A coaster with the same name, but a much different layout, exists at Six Flags Great Adventure.
  • Dahlonega Mine Train at Six Flags Over Georgia.
  • River King Mine Train at Six Flags St. Louis.
  • Gold Rusher at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
  • Canyon Blaster at Six Flags Great Escape.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Diabolical from Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger at Fiesta Texas. She lures guests with a false claim of finding the key to eternal life, but she instead harvests the fear and adrenaline to raise an army of monsters.
• Nutritional Nightmare: Nearly all of Six Flags' food, but SF being an amusement park chain arguably justifies this.
• On a Scale from One to Ten: The short-lived "More Flags, More Fun!" ad campaign in the late 2000s, where some lame or boring activity would be shown, along with a "flag meter" that would give it "One flag!" or "Two flags!" Meanwhile, of course, riding something at a Six Flags park merits "Six flags!" Later ads featured Mr. Six rating the activities, instead of the Asian man who originally appeared (as people protested the seemingly stereotypical depiction of the Asian man), and still later saw Mr. Six participating in the boring activities alongside "Little Six" (it's unclear as to whether Little Six was a kid or an actual little person).
• Overly Narrow Superlative: When Green Lantern: First Flight opened at Magic Mountain, the park proudly boasted that it was "the first completely vertical-pattern zig-zag roller coaster featuring 360-degree spinning seats in North America". The coaster was a clone of Insane in Sweden.
• Politically Correct History: The original layout of Six Flags Over Texas was based on the six nations that laid claim to all or part of Texas. This included the Confederate States of America, whose area was known as the "Confederacy" until the 1990s, when it was Bowdlerised into "Old South".
  • To their credit, the "Stars & Bars" Confederate flag, and not the more notorious "Rebel flag", were flown much longer, from its 1961 opening to 2017 in the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally, when they were replaced with six American flags.
• Put on a Bus: Despite the immense popularity of Mr. Six, he disappeared after 2005 — when new management had come in, and apparently cited focus group research showed that a minority of people hated the character...and went with their opinion. Mr. Six returned in 2009 (replacing the Asian man in the "More Flags, More Fun!" campaign), then vanished again in 2011, before returning YET AGAIN in 2024.
• Retraux: Both the "Good Times" section at Six Flags Over Texas and "Rockville" at Fiesta Texas are themed after The '50s.
• The Rival: Six Flags is perhaps the second-best known theme park chain behind the Disney Theme Parks. During the Time Warner years, they explicitly marketed themselves as a closer, cheaper alternative to Disney. In practice, however, they served more as rivals to the Cedar Fair chain^note many of the parks owned by them were also bought by an entertainment company — Paramount Pictures in this case — and had rides and attractions based on Paramount/Viacom properties before being sold by CBS to Cedar Fair in 2006 and other regional and local theme parks than to either Disney or Universal Studios.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: The basic premise behind their Flash Pass. Pay upwards of $40 for the privilege of reserving specific times to bypass the long lines and ride the most popular rides.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: After Hurricane Katrina, Six Flags ran the numbers on the heavily damaged Six Flags New Orleans location^note which had been their least profitable park even before the hurricane, mostly due to being too far from the main tourist areas of the city and decided it simply wasn't worth rebuilding it and abandoned the park despite the best efforts of the New Orleans governing bodies to hold them to their lease. The site was demolished in 2024.
• Shaped Like Itself / The Theme Park Version: The old-fashioned carnival section of Six Flags St. Louis is called "1904 World's Fair". And true to the nature of the latter trope, everything's safer and more sanitized than the original version may well have been.
• Shockingly Expensive Bill: Entering a Six Flags park without getting a Season Pass will generally result in one.
• Suddenly Voiced: Mr. Six upon his return in 2009; he didn't speak at all in his original appearances.
• Toon Town: The little kids' area at most Six Flags parks is usually named "Bugs Bunny Boomtown", "Bugs Bunny National Park" or some variation withof. Guess which characters are featured.
• Zombie Apocalypse: The "Aftermath" maze at Magic Mountain's Fright Fest takes place in a desolate town plagued by zombie. During this time, there's also a dark pathway elsewhere in the park populated by zombies.

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