Andy Grove is the legendary former CEO of Intel and his office actually overlooked California’s Great America. One of the most important conversations in the history took place as he was looking out his window at the park. At that point in time Intel was primarily in the memory chip business and losing to Japanese companies subsidized by the government of Japan. Grove remarked to Gordon Moore (then CEO and co-founder), “If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what do you think he would do?” Moore replied immediately, “He would get us out of memories.” At that point Grove remarked, Why shouldn’t you and I walk out the door, come back and do it ourselves?”

Six Flags has begun more aggressively marketing the regional access that comes with their Gold Season Pass. They have even created great maps like the one below that highlight the parks of each region. Although only a small percentage of season pass members will go to a distant park, the program does increase the perceived value of a season pass. It may serve to build loyalty and perhaps have some members plan a vacation around visiting a new park. Six Flags has even built web pages highlighting attractions at each park and even places to stay like this one for the Six Flags East Coast Region. This year I’v had the chance to travel to several Six Flags parks outside my home park of Six Flags Over Georgia and I couldn’t recommend using this benefit more!

Great Escape has unveiled its new park logo and begun the process of converting over from the old Six Flags name and logo. 2026 was slated to be a year of transition with the move over to Enchanted Parks branding expected by 2027. The logo incorporates the Adirondacks mountains, a roller coaster, a water ride and Merry Miller’s Mill in the storybook section of the park, tracing back to the park’s Storytown USA roots. Similar identity changes for the Great Escape Lodge and the water park are expected by the end of the year.

The Platinum Season Pass at SeaWorld San Antonio has long been one of the best values in the theme park industry. The 2027 version still is a tremendous value, but a major change in the guest ticket redemption windows may have a big impact on some guests. Typically platinum season passholders receive 8 free guest tickets per season and that is still the case for 2027, but the change is in the redemption periods. Previously guests would essentially get two tickets every 4 months and both guest tickets could be used on the same day. However, for 2027 passholders will get one ticket every 2 months, eliminating the ability for passholders to bring multiple guests on the same day. This change appears to be uniform across the United Parks chain to include SeaWorld Orlando Platinum Pass, Busch Gardens Tampa Platinum Pass and others.

Disney has increased the peak single day ticket price for Magic Kingdom $10 to $219 for the 2027 season. EPCOT has also crossed the $200 barrier going form $199 to $214 while Disney Studios and Animal Kingdom increased to $209 and $184 respectively. The $10 increase is unlikely to have many Disney fans canceling their vacations, but the $200 per person per day price had me thinking of the relative value of a single day at Magic Kingdom versus a whole season at another park or chain of parks. This isn’t to demean Disney World in any way, it’s awesome, we’re merely looking at what ~$200 gets you at different theme park options in the Southeast today: