Six Flags in Bowie to close later this year

BOWIE, Md. — The rollercoaster ride is coming to an end for Six Flags America in Bowie.

The Maryland amusement park will close at the end of the 2025 season, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation's CEO announced Thursday. Six Flags America's final day has been scheduled for Nov. 2.

Six Flags' CEO Richard Zimmerman said the park's closure was ultimately a financial decision, adding that he planned on putting the property's 500 acres up for sale.

"As part of our comprehensive review of our park portfolio, we have determined that Six Flags America and Hurricane Harbor are not a strategic fit with the company's long term plan," Zimmerman said. "After reviewing a number of options, we believe that marketing the property for redevelopment will generate the highest value and return on investment. We anticipate strong interest in the property."

The park opened as a wildlife preserve and theme park in 1974 and had once been owned by businessman and future presidential candidate Ross Perot. The property eventually became the tenth Six Flags park and changed its name to Six Flags America in 1999.

While it's unclear what will happen to park employees, Six Flags' 70 corporate associates will be offered severance and other benefits, according to Zimmerman.

"This was a difficult decision, and we recognize the impact it will have on our Six Flags America and Hurricane Harbor park associates and guests," Zimmerman said. "We are grateful to our park associates who work hard to create lifelong memories for our guests, and Six Flags is committed to supporting all impacted associates through the closure process at the end of this year."

Acting Prince George's County Executive Tara Jackson was among local leaders who said they were disappointed about losing Six Flags America.

"We are saddened by the announcement," Jackson said on Thursday. "... For decades, Six Flags has been more than just a theme park -- it is a cherished part of our county's identity, a source for joy for families and a hub of economic activity."

County Council Chair Edward Burroughs III said that Prince George's leadership will have to figure out ways to fill the void after the amusement park leaves in November.

"The closure disproportionately affects working-class families, who may not have the means to travel outside the county for similar experiences," Burroughs said. "As an elected leader and a frequent visitor to the park, I pledge to work with my colleagues to find a viable solution to this loss."

Council Member Wala Blegay, whose district includes the theme park, said she was optimistic about the future of that space.

"While this news is difficult, it is also a pivotal moment for us to reimagine what comes next," Blegay said.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/entertainment/six-flags-america-closing-maryland-bowie-prince-georges-county/65-4819a65c-6f98-4357-b1be-d139f04ba551

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5719465&forum_id=2)#48897862)

Kinda went full circle.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5719465&forum_id=2)#48897937)

this is actually really sad. i have so many memories from my childhood and into my adulthood there. i've taken my kids there.

anyone who followed my spiraling will recall the mistress i left my wife for. she was someone i'd known in high school. she worked at Adventure World in the early 90s.

that said, nigs had shootouts in the parking lot a couple times when i was in hs. this actually isn't even in bowie, it's in largo, which is a ghetto.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5719465&forum_id=2)#48897944)

Guest Essay

By Evan39

May 3, 2025

The Last Ride at Wild World: Notes from a Forgotten Parking Lot

I don’t remember the ride. I remember the line.

Summer 1997.

Largo, Maryland.

Humidity thick as legalese. The queue to the Mind Eraser was crawling—teens with wet socks, moms with sunburned cleavage, and a few of us, boys in polos too small and hopes too large, pretending this day would matter.

I had just graduated. Not from anything official. From caring. From thinking the world was fair.

Back then, it was still Adventure World, not yet Six Flags.

And even then—the decline was visible.

Not just the cracked pavement or the sun-bleached animatronics.

But in what we whispered about in the parking lot.

There had been a shooting. Not our group, of course.

A "group of young people." A fight. A flash.

We still went. We were young and stupid and scared and pretending not to be.

I brought my church girlfriend there once.

She worked front gate.

We made out behind the funnel cake stand while kids screamed from the Tower of Doom.

Later that year, I left my wife for her.

A mistake? Possibly.

But not the biggest one made in that parking lot.

When I read the closure notice this morning, something broke.

It wasn’t nostalgia. It was something colder.

The kind of grief you feel not when something ends,

but when you realize it was already gone long before.

“Wild World,” they called it in 1974.

They weren’t wrong.

About the Author

Evan39 once got heatstroke in line for Roar. He now gets panic attacks in Whole Foods. His memoir, “Everything Is Fine: Dispatches From a Failing Food Court,” is forthcoming from Crown Legal Press.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5719465&forum_id=2)#48901020)