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

[TombRaiderFTW]

On 11/13/2025 at 10:14 PM, SonofBaconator said:

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

While the CGA closure decision predates the merger, I think we technically have two examples of there being two parks (at least one of which isn't a top performer in the chain) in the same market and one of those parks gets shut down.

I have no insider knowledge and I'm definitely not an expert, but I'd keep an eye on Six Flags St. Louis/Worlds of Fun and Six Flags Great Adventure/Dorney Park. My money would be on WoF and SFGAdv staying. Whether that means SFSL and Dorney would get demolished or sold, it's hard to say. Herschend is the only domestic chain that seems like it'd be willing to purchase a park of that size, but neither of those parks make a ton of sense in terms of the kind of experience Herschend typically offers**. Would a European or Asian chain be interested in them?

I don't lump Knott's and Magic Mountain together because LA, in my mind, operates like Orlando in that destination parks are more able to coexist because of the large local population and high tourism.

I don't lump Michigan's Adventure and Cedar Point together because Michigan's Adventure is a large FEC and surely isn't pulling people from anywhere other than central/northern Michigan. It's a local destination whose pre-CF ownership overinvested in it and it wouldn't be able to sustain becoming any bigger than it currently is, which is why it doesn't get new additions.

Texas is an odd one. SFoT and SFFT have both been heavily invested in recently. San Antonio is able to sustain both SWSA and SFFT and has done so for years. The Dallas area is about to get a Universal park. (Meaning, there's competition for SIX to pay attention to in both cities.) I wouldn't count on either Texas theme park going anywhere, but I'm curious to see if there will be a change in the investment in either park going forward.

I feel like the smaller parks without much competition (Michigan's Adventure, Valleyfair, Great Escape, La Ronde, Frontier City) could go any direction. If the chain is HURTING hurting for money, I expect we could see them either get demolished and have their land sold (if they're in locations where the land is valuable) or sold to another chain. Otherwise, they seem to be able to sustain themselves and bring in money without needing frequent or big investments, so there might be an argument for keeping them.

If I were to take a stab at what I think will happen with the smaller parks: Michigan's Adventure and Great Escape will stay open, La Ronde will be demolished, Frontier City will be demolished or sold to a chain like IB Parks & Entertainment, and Valleyfair will either stay open or be sold to whatever chain might be interested in a park that size.

(**Neither does Kentucky Kingdom, though, so it's hard to say.)

[IBEW_Sparky]

As much as I hate to say this considering I USED to consider it my adopted home parl, WoF needs to go.  The company with all of its current problems doesnt need WoFs problems, buuuuuuuut since I have a feeling FUN will wish to remain in that region and the choice would be WoF or SF/StL they will dump SF/StL given the choice.  With the condition of their financials, I can most certainly see VF, MiA, and/or Dorney out the door as well.

 

Now, with all that being said, I already envision Herschend pulling a bit of a Gary Story here with the number of expenditures they have been making in the past few years, so to me it is not something I see them being able to do in the very short term, maybe 3-5 years but does FUN have that long?  My thoughts are "no", but Im spitballing and on my way out anyway so Im just putting thoughts out as a JAFO.

[SonofBaconator]

17 hours ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

Whether that means SFSL and Dorney would get demolished or sold

I think Dorney would be sold since they just installed a Dive coaster, which would increase the resale value, and since Herschend owns Kennywood, I could see them making a push to buy them. 

[jzarley]

23 hours ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

 

Texas is an odd one. SFoT and SFFT have both been heavily invested in recently. San Antonio is able to sustain both SWSA and SFFT and has done so for years. The Dallas area is about to get a Universal park. (Meaning, there's competition for SIX to pay attention to in both cities.) I wouldn't count on either Texas theme park going anywhere, but I'm curious to see if there will be a change in the investment in either park going forward.

Texas also has the advantage of population—both in the state overall and the individual MSAs (I’m assuming SFFT pulls pretty well from the Houston and Austin markets as well). San Antonio is also a pretty long drive from DFW—close to 5 hours if I recall correctly. San Antonio has been able to support two large theme parks in the same market for many years with both SFFT and SWT (granted, SWT is the lowest attended of the SeaWorld parks…)

Doesn’t SFOT have some weird ownership situation (or maybe did int he past?). I seem to recall something about the park actually being owned by a local ownership group separate from the other parks. I may be remembering that incorrectly, but that sticks in my mind for some reason…

I’m really curious about how the new Universal “kids park” will do in the DFW market—I’m sure there will be some crossover, but wonder if the target demographic is so different from SFOT they won’t really impact each other much?

[BeeastFarmer]

Over Texas and Over Georgia both have some sort of partnership arrangements with investors. 

SFEC has taken their option to buy out the investors at Over Georgia, I don't know the timeframe, but it's a couple of hundred millions to a few hundreds of millions of dollars. Id expect them to call in the same options at Over Texas.

But with the way the finances are, who would loan them the money to do so?

[SonofBaconator]

I’m conflicted about Six Flags and Missouri. Prior to the merger, Missouri was pretty diverse when it came to parks and ownership: Cedar Fair, Herschend, and Six Flags coexisted. 

Now Six Flags has 2/3 control of the Missouri’s parks, and while Herschend still arguably owns the superior park, I don’t see the ladder having desire to own either SFSTL or WoF if they were up for sale. Additionally I don’t see the Six Flags giving either the GL/SFA treatment.

In short I think both parks stay Six Flags properties for the foreseeable future. If anything, I could see Herschend looking into Valleyfair! if that property was ever available since they own Adventureland in Iowa.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

2 hours ago, jzarley said:

Texas also has the advantage of population—both in the state overall and the individual MSAs (I’m assuming SFFT pulls pretty well from the Houston and Austin markets as well). San Antonio is also a pretty long drive from DFW—close to 5 hours if I recall correctly. San Antonio has been able to support two large theme parks in the same market for many years with both SFFT and SWT (granted, SWT is the lowest attended of the SeaWorld parks…)

The Texas parks are in a similar situation to the Ohio parks and the Southern California parks. Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Over Texas are far enough apart and are separated enough in focus as to not interfere with each other.

The Missouri situation is also similar to the one the 3 Ohio parks were in circa 2006/2007, although there's no way for Six Flags to get SDC in the way Cedar Fair got Cedar Point, Geauga Lake, and Kings Island.

[Oldiesmann]

I could see one of the MIssouri parks going to Herschend (maybe Worlds of Fun), but I don't know if both of them would. I haven't been to either of them (though SF St. L is on the agenda for next year's summer coaster trip - unfortunately I won't have time to do WoF as well since I'm also doing SDC and want to have time to actually see some things besides amusement parks in both Branson and St. Louis) but both are far enough apart from one another (about 4 hours) and SDC (3½ hours for each) that they wouldn't be overlapping too much if both ended up in the hands of Herschend, especially given that there's nothing of note in Kansas as far as amusement parks go.