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Six Flags
built 191 days ago
Six Flags Inc is a rebadging of Premier Parks, which originated as Oklahoma City-based real estate developer the Tierco Group. Tierco acquired Frontier City (on the outskirts of Oklahoma City) in the early 1980s. That park had been launched in 1958. By 1989 Tierco had divested its real estate holdings to focus on the amusement park industry and in 1994 changed its name to Premier Parks. In 1995 it acquired three properties from Funtime, going public during the following year. It acquired four parks in 1996 (taking its holdings to seven parks) and bought three more (including Kentucky Kingdom near Louisville and Marine World near San Francisco) in 1997.
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"Six Flags has been a terrific partner for St. Jude," said Marshall Kleiser, Director of Volunteer Support for ALSAC, St. Jude's fund-raising arm. "The Six Flags coupon and free admission pass give that extra incentive for kids to participate and its something families can appreciate all around. The kids benefit from doing math problems. The families benefit with the Six Flag coupons and free admission passes. The schools benefit from prizes their students can win. And the children of St. Jude benefit most of all, with so many generous people and groups dedicating their time and energy to helping in the battle against childhood cancer."
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Like several other Six Flags theme parks, including Six Flags Great America, it has the potential to draw huge crowds because of its location between two major metropolitan areas. Thus, even on weekdays, lines for some of the park's most popular rides such as Batman The Ride, Superman, Nitro, Congo Rapids and Sawmill Log Flume can stretch to about an hour. Attractions like Kingda Ka (due to low capacity and amount of temporary breakdowns) can have lines as long as three hours even on a not so busy day. On Saturdays, lines on all the major attractions can last for well over two hours. New York and Philadelphia are an easy reach for inner-city crowds who tend to dominate the park on Saturdays. Suburbanites seem to prefer the weekdays.
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One of Six Flags' signature properties, Great Adventure generally has more guests clicking its turnstiles than any of the other parks in the chain. Among the reasons for its success: Its prime locale puts it within easy traveling distance of the heavily populated New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania area, and it features some kick-ass coasters. In 2005, it took the crown for the world's tallest, fastest thrill machine when it debuted the rocket coaster, Kingda Ka. (Unfortunately, it promptly broke down and sat out most of its inaugural season.) Also included in its impressive collection: the wonderful hypercoaster, Nitro, the flying coaster, Superman Ultimate Flight, and the floorless coaster, Medusa. New for 2006, Six Flags Great Adventure unleashed El Toro, a new-age wood coaster.
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As the decade drew to a close, Six Flags began developing another first in the industry: the whitewater rapids ride. Bill Crandall, manager of the AstroWorld park, discovered the idea for the ride that would later become commonplace in theme parks across the country while watching the kayak competition in the Munich Summer Olympic Games in 1972. Fascinated with the artificial river used for the kayak competition, he believed that a ride simulating the fast-paced action of the event would provide a unique experience for his park patrons. Crandall enlisted the services of Intamin, a top Swiss ride manufacturer, to design and build the first ride of its type in the world. The product of their efforts, Thunder River, opened for business in Houston in 1980 and has since been emulated in amusement parks throughout the world.
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Six Flags Fiesta Texas Online[I]s the complete unofficial guide to the theme park in San Antonio, Texas, Six Flags Fiesta Texas. This park was born in 1992 when it completed construction and had its grand opening. The park was originally built by USAA and Gaylord Entertainment, and was created to be a show park. In 1998, Premier (Six Flags Inc.) took control of the park. Ever since then, innovative roller coasters and other thrilling rides have been installed.
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