Six Flags Eliminates All Park President Positions, Including Southern California's Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain
The ramifications of the Cedar Fair and Six Flags merger continue to echo through the company.
Six Flags has fired the park Presidents of two major Southern California theme parks as the company continues to restructure after merging with Cedar Fair.
What’s Happening:
- The Orange County Register is reporting that Six Flags has fired the park Presidents of Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain.
- Both Knott’s president Jon Sorbeck and Magic Mountain president Jeff Harris will hold their positions until the end of May.
- Last summer, Six Flags and Cedar Fair completed an $8 billion merger that positioned the company as one of the largest amusement park operators on the planet.
- With a combined 27 theme parks, 15 water parks, and 9 resorts, the 51 property company has made drastic changes over the past approximately 11 months.
- The latest being eliminating park presidents from all 27 theme parks in their portfolio.
- According to the news source, Six Flags is switching to a regional operating structure and has streamlined many of the responsibilities of park leaders.
- Several park presidents from around the company are expected to be placed in new positions.
- This comes as Six Flags intends to eliminate 10% of its full time positions across the company.
- For the four California-based parks, including Knott’s, Magic Mountain, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, and the set-to-close California’s Great America, 135 positions will be eliminated or reclassified as part-time.
- Since the merger, several roller coasters and attractions across the chain have been scrapped, with the most shocking being Six Flags Great Adventure’s Kingda Ka.
- The chain also announced earlier this month that Six Flags America and its accompanying Hurricane Harbor water park will close at the end of the 2025 season.
- As the company attempts to maximize profits, hopefully we will see positive changes in guest experience, attraction lineup, and value take precedence. Cedar Fair has always had a pretty solid reputation for their park operations and quality. Six Flags, on the other hand, was notorious for poorly maintained, heavily commercialized parks.
- Cautiously, I hope all of these massive changes will benefit the overall park going experience. However, eliminating the head of each park makes me nervous certain properties in the chain will be overlooked.
- Hopefully, Six Flags can continue to honor Knott’s unique history and Magic Mountain’s thrill capital status.
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