Trivia / Six Flags

• Creator Killer:
  • While it didn't kill the firm outright, the Haunted Castle fire at Six Flags Great Adventure did not help Six Flags' reputation. Up to that point, they were the biggest theme park operator in the states, but the fire also came the same year as the Disney Management Shift; both were major factors in Six Flags losing dominance.
  • The decision to shut down and pave over Six Flags Astroworld (the only major theme park to have ever operated in Houston, Texas city limits) led then-CEO Kieran Burke to be fired shortly after the park shuttered. The move to close the park was supposedly justified by low park attendance (blamed on the humid weather compounded with parking issues with the Houston Texans and Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which also has its own amusement carnival when the show and rodeo are open in March/April) and an expected appraisal of $150 million for the land. As fallout from closing the park and spending $20 million to bulldoze it, and then only receiving half of what they expected the land would be worth, Burke was kicked out by shareholders and replaced by ex-Disney executive Mark Shapiro. The land that Astroworld was on was never rebuilt into anything else; the bridge over I-610 that connected the parking lot to the park is the only thing left, and the area is still a grass field that is used for overflow parking.
  • Despite the positive reception the coaster received, the many design issues with X at Six Flags Magic Mountain drove designer Arrow Dynamics into bankruptcy.
• Development Hell: Southwest Territory at Six Flags Great America had been planned as early as 1979, during Marriott's ownership of both it and California's Great America. It didn't come to exist until 1996.
• Dueling Works:
  • Six Flags Magic Mountain's Revolution was under construction at the same time as Cedar Point's Corkscrew, both of which competed for the title of the first modern-day coaster with a vertical loop. Revolution was finished and opened eight days before Corkscrew and earned the title, although Corkscrew was the first to have three inversions.
  • Until it closed, Six Flags Astroworld had to duel the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's Carnival, which was a smaller mobile amusement park that was set up over a parking lot in the Astrodome/Reliant Stadium/NRG Stadium's parking lot, only a few steps away from Astroworld's parking lot (though the carnival almost never operated at the same time as Astroworld).
  • Because they were both originally opened by Marriott Hotels, Six Flags Great America and California's Great America both have an Arrow looping coaster named Demon.
• Hey, It's That Place!: Six Flags Magic Mountain, no doubt due to its close proximity to Hollywood, has been the setting for many movies and TV show episodes; most notably as "Walley World" in National Lampoon's Vacation, the opening credits of Step by Step (a body of water was digitally added over the parking lot), and the park in question in the infamous KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. Many gamers will recognize Magic Mountain as the park featured on the title screen of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2.

• Prop Recycling: At Six Flags Over Texas, some figures and decorations from long-gone attractions have been set up along the park's railroad track to add to the scenery for train passengers.
• Referenced by...:
  • Animaniacs in the episode "Hot, Bothered, and Bedeviled", when Yakko says "I don't think this is Six Flags Over Flushing."
  • Also by Family Guy in the episode "Amish Guy," where two fictional Six Flags parks in Quahog and Columbus, Ohio appear.
  • In Santa Clarita Diet, characters meet up at what they mention is Magic Mountain's parking lot to plan out several illegal acts.
• What Could Have Been:
  • A water park was originally going to be added to Six Flags New Orleans, and was to be announced in August of 2005. However, Hurricane Katrina struck in that same month, not only canceling those plans but also closing the whole park.
  • This concept art shows plans for a theme park attractions based on the animated film Quest for Camelot at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio but it was scrapped due to the films critical and Box Office failer.
  • Six Flags Great America could've gotten a Mister Freeze launch clone in 1998, which would've been installed in Yukon Territory by Iron Wolf. However, the issues Six Flags Great Adventure was facing on Batman & Robin: The Chiller, as well as on the clones at Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags St. Louis, led to the Great America ride being scrapped. In its place went a Vekoma junior coaster as part of Camp Cartoon Network.
    • As this video illustrates, the park's coaster lineup would've probably been altered a lot if the Mister Freeze clone had been built. While Raging Bull would've still been built, a Mister Freeze clone would've likely meant the park wouldn't get either of its 2001 shuttle coasters (Vertical Velocity and Deja Vu). Goliath, the RMC ground-up coaster that replaced Iron Wolf in 2014, would've had to have a different layout due to Mister Freeze being in the way. And Maxx Force likely wouldn't have been built.

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