Walk Time: Six Flags races into 2026
In theme parks and entertainment, "walk time" is the name for the final paid minutes of your shift, when you gather your stuff and start heading home. At Theme Park Insider, "Walk Time" is our weekend look back at the past seven days in theme park news.
Speedway Stunt Coaster opens officially today at Six Flags Mexico in Mexico City. It's the third North American installation of the Vekoma Family Boomerang roller coaster, following Holiday World's Good Gravy and Kings Island's Snoopy's Soap Box Racers. My apologies for not flying down to Mexico City for this one, so I have no POV video to offer you. But... it's a family boomerang.
In Anaheim, officials at the Anaheim Transportation Network, which runs the buses that take visitors from area hotels and the Toy Story parking lot to Disneyland and back, have announced that they will "wind down operations" by March 31. (Here is the story.) I do not believe for a minute that Disney will leave visitors using the Toy Story lot stranded starting April 1, nor will local hotels start directing all their guests to hoof it to the park and back.
But given that the largest expense for the ART system is labor, I do suspect that ART ceasing operations is a way to reset labor contracts and to create a new system that pays drivers less, so that the books balance going forward.
Ultimately, Disneyland's solution involves closing Toy Story for redevelopment, with its new eastern parking garage - which will not require a bus service - accommodating guests now parking at Toy Story. But that will not be ready for at least a couple of years.
In other news this week, Disney Cruise Line this week announced that Tracy Wilson will take over as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Disney Cruise Line Operations. She comes over from her most recent role as Senior Vice President, Finance, Disney Signature Experiences. Wilson replaces the retiring Sharon Siskie.
Universal theme parks owner Comcast kicked off the latest round of financial earnings reports this week. The debut of Epic Universe at Universal Orlando continues to drive record earnings for the Universal theme parks, as quarterly EBITDA crossed the billion-dollar mark for the parks segment for the first time: Epic Universe drives record earnings at Universal theme parks.
Paint the Night returned to Disneyland this week, as the park completes its pivot from holiday entertainment back to the 70th celebration. The resort will have another anniversary on its mind soon, as Disney this week announced its plans for Disney California Adventure's 25th birthday: Soarin' Over California returns for park anniversary.
Finally, my favorite story this week might have been Knott's reaction to the Johnny Rockets collapse. The park was ready to do with an announcement that its installation of the burger restaurant will become the new home of Knott's original character Crafty Coyote, who will be serving fried chicken tenders and Boysenberry pie shakes: Knott's hires its pie-stealing coyote to replace Johnny Rockets.
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