Fierce Pancake

Six Flags needs money desperately because they are over $2 billion in debt and doesn't know how to come up with the quick cash other than to continue selling assets. Plus they get to save even more money by putting our used rides in other parks. What more validity do you need? It's rotten, and Houston gets the shaft, but the guys from Premier Parks who took over SF in 1998 have treated the park like an unwanted child all along. Astroworld was performing well considering how poorly the Premier Parks buffoons cared for the property, it didn't deserve to die like this.

If anyone intends to build a new park its to their advantage to be out in an undeveloped area, away from suburbs (which traditionally complain about noise and expansion) where land is cheap and the risk of sprawl creeping in's minimized. Most successful parks are way out of the way like Cedar Point, Magic Mountain, Great Adventure. Some of the older parks like Disneyland and Six Flags Over Texas (and even Astroworld) were originally in the boonies and the city encroached, boxing those properties in. I dont see anyone building along I45N in the Woodlands area and am skeptical about Katy. Further, very few companies are building parks these days. Cedar Fair doesn't build parks. Six Flags doesn't build parks. Paramount and Busch stopped building parks long ago as well. Disney and Universal feel they have North America pretty well covered right now and are more concerned with Asia expansion. I wouldn't count on any of the large amusement park chains to move into Houston if Astroworld's land is sold out from beneath it.

There are no intentions to move Astroworld. Six Flags intends to cannibalize the park and add attractions to other properties on the cheap. City of Houston has shown no interest in courting any amusement park operators, but there are outlying towns which realize the potential. La Marque, for example: http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?...79aa685c6f13e09