{"id":63457,"date":"2026-03-06T19:33:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63457"},"modified":"2026-03-06T19:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:33:07","slug":"enchanted-parks-acquires-multiple-six-flags-properties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/06\/enchanted-parks-acquires-multiple-six-flags-properties\/","title":{"rendered":"Enchanted Parks acquires multiple Six Flags properties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s official: the “Enchanted Parks” rumors that have been swirling in the coaster community since January were confirmed on March 5, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In a massive $331 million deal, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation<\/strong> is divesting seven of its properties to EPR Properties<\/strong> (a real estate investment trust). While EPR will own the land, Enchanted Parks<\/strong> (a spinoff of Innovative Attraction Management) will take over operations for the six U.S. parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Impacted Parks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following seven parks are part of the sale:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Park Name<\/td>Location<\/td>Operator<\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
Valleyfair<\/strong><\/td>Shakopee, MN<\/td>Enchanted Parks<\/td><\/tr>
Worlds of Fun \/ Oceans of Fun<\/strong><\/td>Kansas City, MO<\/td>Enchanted Parks<\/td><\/tr>
Michigan\u2019s Adventure<\/strong><\/td>Muskegon, MI<\/td>Enchanted Parks<\/td><\/tr>
Six Flags St. Louis<\/strong><\/td>Eureka, MO<\/td>Enchanted Parks<\/td><\/tr>
Six Flags Great Escape<\/strong><\/td>Queensbury, NY<\/td>Enchanted Parks<\/td><\/tr>
Schlitterbahn Waterpark<\/strong><\/td>Galveston, TX<\/td>Enchanted Parks<\/td><\/tr>
La Ronde<\/strong><\/td>Montreal, Canada<\/td>La Ronde Operations (Kieran Burke)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Key Details for Guests<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • 2026 Season Passes:<\/strong> If you\u2019ve already bought a pass, don\u2019t panic. All 2026 season passes and memberships will be honored through the end of the year, including multi-park access to remaining Six Flags locations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Branding:<\/strong> EPR has licensed the “Six Flags” name through the end of the 2026 season. Expect a rebrand to “Enchanted Parks” (or something similar) starting in 2027.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Management:<\/strong> Enchanted Parks is led by James Harhi and recently-appointed COO Franceen Gonzales. They\u2019ve stated a goal to be “nimbler and more efficient,” with a heavy focus on improving ride uptime and community relationships.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Why did this happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This move is part of Six Flags’ “Project Accelerate” to pay down debt following the 2024 merger with Cedar Fair. By offloading these regional “legacy” parks, the company aims to focus capital on its highest-performing flagship assets like Magic Mountain and Cedar Point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At the helm is\u00a0James Harhi<\/strong>, who is no stranger to the amusement industry. Having been CEO for\u00a0Innovative Attraction Management<\/strong>\u00a0(2013 \u2013 present),\u00a0StarGuard Elite<\/strong>\u00a0(2013 \u2013 present),\u00a0Thrive Property Group<\/strong>\u00a0(2013 \u2013 present) and\u00a0JFH Technologies<\/strong>\u00a0(2005 \u2013 present), as well as senior vice president for\u00a0ProParks Attraction Group<\/strong>\u00a0(2020 \u2013 2023) and recreation specialist at\u00a0Walt Disney World<\/strong>\u00a0(1996 \u2013 2002), Harhi comes with an extensive knowledge of many facets of the amusement industry. His strength in operational strategy, financial planning and analysis, and product management will combine with personal passion to build top-performing teams to drive change and growth at all levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It\u2019s official: the “Enchanted Parks” rumors that have been swirling in the coaster community since January were confirmed on March 5, 2026. In a massive $331 million deal, Six Flags… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"17","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTEtMy53ZWJwP2ZpdD0yODglMkMxNzUmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJFbmNoYW50ZWQgUGFya3MgYWNxdWlyZXMgbXVsdGlwbGUgU2l4IEZsYWdzIHByb3BlcnRpZXMiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.2qmZUnOpFjR8AA8VcEIE5xTS27E3PBtxhqH--gwhLmgMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[13969],"class_list":["post-63457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional-and-world-news","tag-enchanted-parks-acquires-multiple-six-flags-properties"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63457"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63459,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63457\/revisions\/63459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}