Six Flags and their free days, bring a friend free to six flags are all well known brands. Being aware of them doesn’t mean you know everything about them. In fact, they may be the very reason why you’re reading this!
In 2018, Six Flags has announced plans to construct two new parks in the United States: Main Street, USA at Kings Island in Kent, Ohio and Great Adventure at New York Harbor in Staten Island, New York. Both of these projects will have over 10 million visitors each by 2025.
Six Flags is one of the world’s largest amusement park and water park companies with over 50 parks worldwide. Their flagship park is Six Flags Magic Mountain located in Valencia, California.
It was founded by brothers George Epps and Edward L. Butterfield as The Epps Funland Company in 1929 as a business venture for their father who died before he could collect his inheritance from his family’s estate when he was only 34 years old.
The company managed to sell its first amusement park at the age of 16 years old which was billed as “The world’s first Six Flags.”
History
In the early 1950s they changed their name to SixFlags Entertainment Corporation and purchased its first theme park, Fiesta Texas (now Fiesta Texas State Park) in Corpus Christi Texas. In 1954 they began construction on a second theme park near Las Vegas called “Six Flags Over Nevada” (now known as “The Strip”).
They used international hotel chains such as Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and Marriott Hotels & Resorts to provide hotels for the theme parks.
It also had a large influence on America’s luxury travel industry through its involvement with hotels such as the Westin St Regis Resort & Spa and W Hotel chain which are still present today under new management companies such as Marriott International Inc., Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., La Quinta Hotel & Resorts Worldwide Inc., and Le Meridien Group Ltd.
In 1960 it changed its name back to Sixflags Entertainment Corporation again but kept its family ownership structure with George Epps still owning 51 percent of the company while Edward L would own another 49 percent of it or 999 thousand shares each..
In 2004 it was rebranded into Sixflags Theme Parks by an agreement between Disney/MGM Studios (61%) and Tom Wright (39%) that went into effect in 2005 after Disney bought the rights from MGM Studios for $1 billion. By 2006 most of Disney’s