Magic Mountain ‘highly profitable’ despite bankruptcy cloud looming over Six Flags
I spoke today to Six Flags President and Chief Executive Mark Shapiro about the future of the amusement park company in the wake of a New York Times story that asked the question: Will parents let their children ride a roller coaster owned by a bankrupt company?
Six Flags remains in discussions with bondholders in an attempt to restructure its enormous debt load and keep the company out of bankruptcy court.
Shapiro said safety remains a top priority for Six Flags, which operates Magic Mountain in Valencia and Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo in Northern California, along with 10 more amusement parks in the United States and Mexico. Six Flags, which has $200 million on hand, plans to increase hiring and expand maintenance in 2009, Shapiro said.
“The guest won’t see a difference this summer,” Shapiro said.
Despite the perilous economic climate, Shapiro said Six Flags’ focus remains on planning for the amusement park chain’s 50th anniversary in 2011 and continued international expansion.
The Six Flags Dubailand project, solidly funded and now in the design and development stage, could see its 2012 debut delayed by up to a year, Shapiro said. The Dubai park will include two “world-class coasters” — one wood, one steel — on the order of El Toro and Kingda Ka in New Jersey’s Great Adventure park, Shapiro said.
The recently announced Qatar project, still in the conceptual stage, will emphasize water rides — taking the daunting desert heat into consideration.
Additionally, Shapiro said Six Flags is in discussions to develop an amusement park-water park-hotel project just outside Johannesburg, South Africa. A similar project in South Korea is “close to fruition,” he said.
Closer to home, Shapiro said Six Flags Magic Mountain is coming off one of it’s best seasons ever.
“Magic Mountain is highly profitable,” Shapiro said. “And we intend to keep it that way.”
Shapiro said Magic Mountain will get a new roller coaster in 2010 and a Wiggles World kiddie land by 2011. The adjacent Hurricane Harbor water park will see a new attraction in 2010, he said.
Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the Los Angeles Times Funland blog: latimes.com/funland.
— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer
Image: Six Flags
8 Comments on “Magic Mountain ‘highly profitable’ despite bankruptcy cloud looming over Six Flags”
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March 16th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
This is an actual text message sent by my boyfriend to our friend on Saturday, March 14, 2009:
“This sucks. I’m never coming to Magic Mountain again. Horrible! We won’t be speaking of this awful place or joke about anything like this cesspool ever again. Crowded as hell. Been here for 4 hours, zero coasters ridden. Waited 2 hours for one and it broke right before we got on. Seriously, never again!”
March 16th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Ride at your own risk. If you get hurt, a bankrupt company isn’t going to pay you a nickel for your health costs, much less damages, lost wages, etc.
March 16th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Magic Mountain is actually a great park! I don’t know what your boyfriend was talking about, but I visited the park just last month and the crowds were pretty light. We rode every coaster in the park during the time we were there, from opening until 6:30. We even had time to re-ride Goliath, Batman, and Riddler.
I hope Magic Mountain does stay a profitable park, like Shapiro said. I love going as often as I can, so I hope the future for Six Flags is a bright one.
March 17th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Sounds like a great reason to add a new coaster! Parks being crowded is a good thing for Six Flags. Obviously it stinks that the ride broke down when he got close but that’s an unfortunate risk at ANY amusement park.
March 17th, 2009 at 7:52 am
To CJ-
Magic Mountain is awesome. It has some of the best coasters around, but timing is everything. The park is going to get extremely popular from now until late September, so tell your bf to visit again between October and April, when the park is open on weekends. It is nowhere near as crowded during that time as it gets in the summer months.
He also should have spent more time than just four hours at the park. Of course he wont ride any coasters in that amount of time when the park is busy!
Anyway, cant wait for the new coaster and Terminator!
March 17th, 2009 at 10:47 am
SFMM is the last park that needs yet another new coaster at the present time because SFAmerica in Largo MD. hasn’t seen any new coaster additions since 2001 & no new rides in the theme park since 2003,ever since then it’s been nothing but waterpark additions once every couple years while other parks in the chain got coaster after coaster year after year & the park is losing yet another ride(a coaster) in 2009.This is one of the reasons that I stopped going to Six Flags in MD. after 9 years of being a season pass holder there, that along with the horrible operations of the park so it’s no wonder why the company is now on the verge of bankruptcy.
March 17th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
In the very very very unlikely event you do get hurt on their rides they will still pay your medical bills. Bankruptcy does not mean they are stopping payment on their own insurance, they have enough money to pay for operations this year already. The only issue is their debt from years ago. Six Flags isn’t going anywhere, if they do file bankruptcy the company will still be there and you can still sue them.
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
As a season pass holder since 07, Magic Mountain has changed so much..Honstly only time I’ve have seen long lines were during their halloween haunt and this years 4th of July weekened…As for that persons boyfriend, he just went on a terrbile day…I went on Memioral Day weekened when Terminator opened and I still got on almost everything, but like 2 or 3 rides i dont care for riding their…..Honstly as a Season Pass holder, I say lines are quicker then ever, even standing for X2 goes by quick and thats always a long time… Just remember though, only ride at Magic Mountain that actually locks its resiturants before dispatch is Tatsu…Everything else is programmed and capable of having the lap bars or shoulder harness up before dispatch