Tech & Business

Will Six Flags Keep the Exclusive DC Characters License or Will it Move to Universal?

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DC Universe at Six Flags Fiesta Texas
DC Universe at Six Flags Fiesta Texas

It has been reported that Warner Bros. Discovery is considering licensing its DC characters to Universal. Six Flags currently holds exclusive theme park rights to DC Comics characters in theme parks, so the question is if the characters would potentially be found in both chain’s parks going forward or move exclusively to Universal. Warner Bros. currently license Harry Potter to Universal, so the two companies already have a track record of working together on theme park attractions. A DC license could also be seen as a replacement for the Marvel IP Universal still has in its park Disney now owning the rights to Marvel. Given the media merger landscape, we could see a major reshuffling of theme park IP in the coming years.

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Rides from Six Flags America Briefly Appear for sale on Used Ride Website

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Screenshot fromAmusement-Rides.com showing rides from Six Flags America for sale
Screenshot fromAmusement-Rides.com

Three rides from the former Six Flags America park briefly appeared on the prominent used ride website Amusement-Rides.com. The rides included the park’s Zamperal NebulaZ SteamWhirler, its Zampera spinning coaster Ragin’ Cajun and its Zamperla Discovery Harley Quinn Spinsanity. The NebulaZ and Giant Discovery were especially surprising given they were nearly new and seemed likely to be relocated to another Six Flags park. The spinning coaster was a tad older, having originally come itself in a relocation from Six Flags Great America, but also was seen as likely to find a new home.

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Travis Kelce’s Investment in Six Flags Could be a Game Changer

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Travis Kelce Mr. Six Flags Kansas City Chiefs Jersey
Travis Kelce Mr. Six Flags Kansas City Chiefs Jersey

Kasas City Chiefs tight end and Taylor Swift fiancé Travis Kelce is now a major investor in Six Flags. He has partnered with activist investor Jana Partners to take a 9% stake in the company. They plan to engage with the company’s board and management regarding opportunities to enhance shareholder value and improve the guest experience and the company seems willing to accept the help. Kelce was a fan of Cedar point as a child and wants future generations to have the same experience he did growing up.

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Brian Bacica Leaving Post as President of Busch Gardens Tampa to Join LegoLand Florida

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Busch Gardens Tampa sign with now hiring sign in front

It appears that Brian Bacica will shortly no longer be with Busch Gardens Tampa and will be moving to LegoLand Florida. This is according to well informed sources at Busch Gardens as well as a Screen shot of an internal Merlin message announcing him joining LegoLand Florida as VP on December 10th. I was able to independently confirm the LegoLand VP opening through a connection vying for the position. Busch Gardens will have its 3rd park President in the last year, which is an incredible amount of turnover. The new President inherits a park with tremendous history and world class coasters, but with increasing perception that Busch Gardens Tampa is a park on decline. Hopefully 2026 will bring great things for the park!

Is the Closing of Six Flags America a Sign of Things to Come for the Theme Park Industry?

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Entrance to Six Flags America
Entrance to Six Flags America

Six Flags America is closed, likely forever, unless the land is bought by a group who intends to reopen it, which seems unlikely. There have already been reports of trains from Professor Screamore’s SkyWinder being moved to Canada’s Wonderland for their Vekoma SLC Flight Deck, so it appears the dismantling is underway. Six Flags also announced on an earnings call its intention to divest other “non-core” parks, but it is yet to be seen if these sales will be to another operator or result in closure with the land seeing other uses. A closure is often in the best interest of a seller in order to drive business to their other parks nearby. National news gave lots of coverage to the Six Flags America closure, laying part of the blame on a “sluggish economy that’s hit Six Flags’ core middle-class customers particularly hard”. So what does this mean for the industry going forward?

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Universal Orlando Announces 2026 Military Freedom Pass Offering a $220 Annual Pass!

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Universal CityWalk Orlando

If you are active duty or retired military or a department of defense civilian employee you can get a Universal Orlando Resort Annual Pass incredibly cheaply. The pass is called the Military Freedom Pass and it starts at just $220 (compared to the cheapest standard pass at $425). You can choose From 2-Park or 3-Park options where Volcano Bay is added as the 3rd park. Keep in mind that no Universal annual pass currently gets you into Epic Universe, but more on that later. This is quite the bargain when a single day ticket starts at $119, so for less than the cost of 2 days you get the whole year.

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The TEA Rankings are Out of for the Top 25 Theme Parks Worldwide and Almost Half are in Asia

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Super Nintendo World Sign at Universal Studios Japan
Super Nintendo World Sign at Universal Studios Japan

The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) is a international non-profitwho releases a free annual report about the leisure and travel sectors including the theme park industry. The 2024 TEA Global Experience Index™ is out and the results show that Asia is a growing theme park powerhouse with 12 of the top 25 theme parks by attendance. It’s not uncommon for enthusiasts to travel internationally these days, but most seem to travel to Europe, not Asia. Most of the Asian parks in the top 10 are in Japan including #3 Universal Studios Japan, #4 Tokyo Disneyland and #7 Tokyo DisneySea, but you’ll also find several parks in China and two in South Korea. However, this report shows that if you’ve never visited a park in Asia you’re missing almost half of the top 25 parks in the world.

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Six Flags Could See Boost in 2026 with Release of “Coyote vs. Acme” Movie Starring John Cena

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Looney Toons characters at Christmas at Six Flags Over Georgia

There is a new movie coming out in 2026 featuring the Looney Tunes characters which are a prominent license of Six Flags. Although it is entitles “Coyote vs. Acme”, it features other iconic Looney Tunes characters such as Bugs Bunny. The movie stars John Cena who is red hot right now with his WWE retirement tour, “Peacekeeper” show and new Amazon movie “Head of State”. This can only be good for Six Flags as anything that brings attention to an IP in your park can generate visits and merchandise sales.

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New RetroEscapes Theme Park in Las Vegas?

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Images courtesy of RetroEscapes

Could a new theme park be on its way to Las Vegas? RetroEscapes has been announced by Daniel-Leo Jr., influencer and self-proclaimed “CEO of Las Vegas,” and his father, Daniel-Leo Sr. as a new theme park where guests are transported into rides and lands inspired by the 1950s -1990s. There has been no location, construction date or potential opening date announced as this park is in the early planning stages. The use of portals for “time travel” seems similar to to the portal concept at Epic Universe and the combination of indoor and outdoor is probably a necessity with the hot Las Vegas weather.

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The Water Park in the Movie “Nobody 2” Was Based on Bob Odenkirk’s Childhood Wisconsin Dells Trips

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Nobody 2 (image from Universal)

In the action comedy “Nobody 2” Hutch Mansell (played by Bob Odenkirk) is a “working class” dad who happens to be an assassin. The plot centers on him taking his family on a vacation to Plummerville, a resort area from his childhood with an iconic water park, Wild Bill’s Majestic Midway and Waterpark. However, Plummerville is a stand-in for Wisconsin Dells where Odenkirk took vacations as a child and “Wild Bill” is a stand-in for the iconic Tommy Bartlett who built many of the famous Wisconsin Dells attractions. Nobody 2 wasn’t filmed in Wisconsin Dells though, but near Winnipeg Canada (same as the original) water park scenes being shot at the Lilac Resort in nearby Saint Anne. A carnival was constructed in Winnipeg Beach and these scenes were later stitched together through the magic of editing.

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