On a recent Investor Day call, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation confirmed what many industry watchers had long suspected: California’s Great America will be shutting down. The Santa Clara theme park, a fixture in the Bay Area for nearly 50 years, is now on track to close after the 2027 season—unless the company chooses to extend its lease.
This news arrives amid a sweeping reassessment of assets following the 2024 “merger of equals” between Six Flags and Cedar Fair, a deal that brought more than 40 properties under a single banner and positioned the combined company as the largest amusement park operator in North America.
The move also handed the reins to Cedar Fair’s Richard Zimmerman as CEO and kicked off a wave of structural and financial reviews. Many longtime fans feared that the newly merged company would begin scaling back, especially at parks that didn’t deliver high margins or long-term value. Those fears have since proven valid.
A Portfolio in Flux
In recent months, the company has closed or announced the closure of several signature attractions. Kingda Ka, once the tallest and fastest coaster in the world, was retired at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. In California, Superman: Escape from Krypton was also closed from Six Flags Magic Mountain. And in May 2025, the company confirmed that Six Flags America and its waterpark, Hurricane Harbor, would permanently shut down at the end of the season.
“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 growth plan,” Zimmerman said at the time.
Now, California’s Great America joins that list.
CFO Brian Witherow addressed the park’s future after an audience member raised the question. “Unless we decide to extend, and exercise one of our options to extend that lease, that park’s last year without that extension would be after the ’27 season,” Witherow said, according to PEOPLE. He also mentioned both Six Flags America and California’s Great America as parks that “are very low on the ranking of margins.”
Though not framed as a formal closure announcement, Witherow’s remarks all but confirmed the end.
Land Sold, Clock Ticking
The writing has been on the wall since 2022, when Cedar Fair sold the land beneath California’s Great America to real estate giant Prologis for $310 million. At the time, the company agreed to a leaseback deal lasting between six and 11 years, with a plan to close the park after the lease expired. The initial lease ends in June 2028.
Prologis appears to be planning for that outcome. “We’re focused on identifying and partnering with planning and design experts to help us create a master plan for the property,” a spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year.
California’s Great America first opened as Marriott’s Great America on May 20, 1976, and later passed through the hands of Paramount Parks before Cedar Fair acquired it in 2006. Over the years, it became a regional favorite, home to more than 40 rides and attractions. Popular coasters like Gold Striker, RailBlazer, and Flight Deck have earned critical acclaim and repeat riders, while the South Bay Shores waterpark and Planet Snoopy kiddie area helped broaden its appeal.
Despite its passionate local fanbase and nearly five decades of operation, it appears Great America will soon become another casualty of a changing industry—one where land value and shareholder returns now weigh heavier than nostalgia.
Will you miss California’s Great America?
