Six Flags Entertainment Corporation today reported a net loss of $220 million for the first quarter of 2025.
That's a period when few of the company's mostly seasonal parks are open. Indeed, Six Flags attributed much of its poor revenue performance for the quarter to a calendar shift that led Knott's Berry Farm to start its annual Boysenberry Festival later in the year, shifting to late March due to a later Easter holiday this year.
"We expect to recover attendance related to these timing shifts as we expand our operating calendars in the second and third quarters and move into the heart of the summer season," Six Flags CEO Richard Zimmerman said.
Six Flags reported $202 million in revenue for the quarter, with Adjusted EBITDA loss of $171 million. Attendance was 2.8 million guests, with average in park spending of $65.40.
For context, Six Flags also reported today that 2.8 million guests visited its theme parks in just the first five weeks of the second quarter, through May 4, as more parks open for the 2025 season. That is up 1% over the same five-week period one year ago for what were then the legacy Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks. Those companies merged last summer to form the new Six Flags.
Again, what hurt the company in the first quarter helps in the second, as the shift put Easter - and the heart of that Knott's Boysenberry Festival - in the second quarter this year. However, the company also said that annual pass sales were up 6%, or 41,000 passes sold, during that five-week period this year compared with 2024.
"While our start to 2025 was largely shaped by calendar timing shifts, weather variability, and near-term economic uncertainty, these are precisely the types of challenges our merger positioned us to more effectively navigate," Zimmerman said. "We remain focused on what we can control – integrating the combined company, optimizing our cost structure, driving demand by enhancing the guest experience across our properties, and laying the foundation for future growth and long-term value creation.”
Zimmerman acknowledged growing uncertainty in the U.S. economy, which could lead consumers to spend less on discretionary expenses such as theme park visits.
"Our operating plan anticipated some consumer caution given heightened macroeconomic uncertainty. Accordingly, we have been taking proactive steps to mitigate these impacts – including refinements to our operating calendars, targeted cost reductions, and more aggressive yield management on tickets and in-park products. These measures are designed to improve profitability while ensuring we are positioned to attract guests heading into our peak season."
I had a membership for 9 continuous years, and I just canceled this past fall after my rates went up for the first time ever.
After seeing the "Kingda Ka is closing" rumors, I started planning a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure, as I had never had the chance to ride it. My friends and I were planning on flying out the weekend of Nov 23, but the ride closed with no announcement on Nov 10.
Now, Superman: Escape from Krypton at my home park is permanently closed.
Obviously, a lot of these are specific to me, but the point is that Six Flags has only done stuff in the past year that makes me less likely to visit in the future. So much stuff has closed/has been announced to close/is rumored to close that I feel like it's easier to just have less personal investment in this stuff than to worry too much about riding everything anymore.
TLDR: "The economy is F'd. But the good thing is we merged and formed a monopoly, so we are better prepared for it [than we otherwise would have been]."
-Six Flags
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Typical financial mumbo jumbo used by CEOs/CFOs to pacify investors and the overall market. Given the financial headwinds right now with a rapidly changing economic climate, Six Flags needs to really accelerate their efforts to synergize the 2 chains together, because they're going to lose more than $171 million during the offseason if they can't figure out how parks that draw from adjacent markets can coexist.