Herschend Signs Deal to Acquire Silverwood Theme Park

[DiamondbackFan]

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251112641518/en/Herschend-to-Acquire-Silverwood-the-Pacific-Northwests-Largest-Theme-and-Water-Park

[SonofBaconator]

They’re growing at a fairly large rate

[Diamondback_Is_King]

Very excited to see what they decide to do with the park! Silverwood without Herschend was able to buy Eagle Hunt and Stunt Pilot (which both are really fun rides!). Just imagine what they could do with Herschend!

[TombRaiderFTW]

Herschend's recent expansion combined with Six Flags's announcement that they'd like to offload more parks makes me wonder which Six Flags parks we might see become Herschend Parks. And if those parks have "Six Flags" in their name, what those parks' names become.

[SonofBaconator]

1 hour ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

Herschend's recent expansion combined with Six Flags's announcement that they'd like to offload more parks makes me wonder which Six Flags parks we might see become Herschend Parks. And if those parks have "Six Flags" in their name, what those parks' names become.

Any working theories? Also would they all be Six Flags or former Cedar Fair parks as well?

Personally, I think our chain would sell off a park to a competitor if it was in a “dead area.” For example, Valleyfair! would be a “good” candidate because it was always in the bottom tier of CF parks pre merger.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

7 hours ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

Herschend's recent expansion combined with Six Flags's announcement that they'd like to offload more parks makes me wonder which Six Flags parks we might see become Herschend Parks. And if those parks have "Six Flags" in their name, what those parks' names become.

Most would likely revert to their pre-Six Flags name if sold. The only exceptions would be the original three Six Flags parks, but I believe Six Flags St. Louis is the only one that doesn't fit into the company's Core or Almost-Core park category. SF New England could revert to Riverside Park while most other parks might just drop the Six Flags brand as happened with Elitch Gardens and Kentucky Kingdom (notably a park that is in the precise situation you described).

 

I am personally surprised by this decision because I was under the impression that they didn't have the immediate capital required to purchase more parks. If they're in the position to buy anything from Six Flags I would think the package might include a major park (Core/Almost Core) in an area they don't currently service. 

[johnjniehaus]

I don't see six flags selling parks to hershlend especially in any market that there's any opportunity to compete in. Did they sell SFA or CGA to other amusement operators? Absolutely not be because it's a better strategy to eliminate competitors or "unneeded" parks. They didn't sell geauga lake either. If six flags is looking to unload more parks through sale to another operator like hershlend, it'll be ones that don't compete in any way with the properties they want to keep. For example Valleyfair is a good candidate for that. Is a sad day in the industry when parks close because of too many monopolies and big corporation bottom lines. I get that parks have to make money I'm just making the point that competition helps the industry and monopolies don't 

[johnjniehaus]

19 hours ago, Diamondback_Is_King said:

Very excited to see what they decide to do with the park! Silverwood without Herschend was able to buy Eagle Hunt and Stunt Pilot (which both are really fun rides!). Just imagine what they could do with Herschend!

Absolutely love Silverwood and said first time I visited that it felt a lot like Dollywood in some ways. While I worry a bit about hershlend growing too fast, I do think this will be a positive thing for Silverwood considering it will be one of their flagship parks considering its size and location with next to no competition. It pulls from Washington, Idaho, Canada, and Montana markets which is something alot of parks don't do. 

[Diamondback_Is_King]

7 hours ago, johnjniehaus said:

Absolutely love Silverwood and said first time I visited that it felt a lot like Dollywood in some ways. While I worry a bit about hershlend growing too fast, I do think this will be a positive thing for Silverwood considering it will be one of their flagship parks considering its size and location with next to no competition. It pulls from Washington, Idaho, Canada, and Montana markets which is something alot of parks don't do. 

I don't know if I would say it feels like Dollywood...

But I really do hope Herschend is somehow able to help with making operations faster, especially on the two woodens. Timber Terror and Tremors can take forever even with a short line because ops aren't great. And faster ops would also be good on Aftershock as well. Stunt Pilot has great ops, mainly because of the continuous loading station. But increased ops would be a great benefit for that park! The park is growing rapidly, good move on Herschend imo as long as they can avoid becoming like Six Flags 

[johnjniehaus]

17 hours ago, Diamondback_Is_King said:

I don't know if I would say it feels like Dollywood...

But I really do hope Herschend is somehow able to help with making operations faster, especially on the two woodens. Timber Terror and Tremors can take forever even with a short line because ops aren't great. And faster ops would also be good on Aftershock as well. Stunt Pilot has great ops, mainly because of the continuous loading station. But increased ops would be a great benefit for that park! The park is growing rapidly, good move on Herschend imo as long as they can avoid becoming like Six Flags 

I meant aesthetically with the Western style buildings, shops, etc to feels like Dollywood. Dollywood does have better ops. I've never personally seen Aftershocks have more than a 15-20min wait. Timber Terror does need a second train. They just put a second one on tremors this year and it helped ALOT