The Magic's Gone

Six Flags issued a statement to investors Thursday, announcing its plan to shed several of its underperforming parks -- including Southern California's Six Flags Magic Mountain (located off the 5 in Valencia):

Following a comprehensive review of the Company's assets, Six Flags, Inc. today announced its decision to explore potential strategic options with respect to six of its properties. The properties are: Six Flags Darien Lake (outside Buffalo, New York); Six Flags Waterworld (Concord, California); Six Flags Elitch Gardens (Denver, Colorado); Wild Waves and Enchanted Village (outside Seattle, Washington); Six Flags Splashtown (Houston, Texas); and Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor (near Los Angeles, California).

Although the Company cannot predict when, or if, any specific transaction will occur with respect to these properties, potential options include a sale of the parks as going concerns in a single transaction or a series of transactions, dismantling and re-utilizing certain rides and attractions and selling the underlying land for real estate development purposes, as well as other potential alternatives.

Aha. It's all about the real estate. Shoulda known.

The decision to sell comes just as Six Flags Magic Mountain took on the distinction of offering more roller coasters (17) than any other amusement park in the country (beating Ohio's Cedar Point). Magic Mountain did so with the new coaster "Tatsu," which opened in May.

Wikipedia notes that Magic Mountain first opened on May 29, 1971:

It wasn't until 1979, when the park was purchased by Six Flags that the name was lengthened to include Six Flags. It is probably the most well-known park in the Six Flags amusement park chain, as it played the part of the fictional park "Wally World" in the 1983 movie "National Lampoon's Vacation," was shown during the beginning credits to the sitcom "Step by Step," was the fictional park shown in the movies "Encino Man," played a pivotal role in the finale to the film "Rollercoaster," and was the setting of the infamous made-for-TV movie "KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park."