Company targets 58 million guests and $3.8 billion revenue by 2028 through focus on fundamentals, loyalty programs, and operational excellence
by Philip Hernandez
Against the backdrop of Lake Erie at Cedar Point’s historic Hotel Breakers, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation laid out an ambitious four-year plan that CEO Richard Zimmerman characterized as transformational. “This is a fundamentally different and fundamentally stronger company,” Zimmerman told investors gathered at the May 20, 2025, Investor Day presentation.
The plan is indeed aggressive: recover 10 million lost visits from the pandemic era, invest 12-13% of revenue annually in new attractions, deliver $180 million in operational synergies, and reach $3.8 billion in revenue with $1.5 billion in EBITDA by 2028—representing a targeted 40% margin.
These targets exceed the company’s previous projections, which Zimmerman attributed to having “more information and a better grasp of the potential now” following nearly a year of post-merger integration.
Market Position and Opportunity
The merged entity operates 42 parks and nine resorts. Its geographic reach places it within a day’s drive of 250 million people, while diversification protects against regional downturns – no single region represents more than 30% of 2025 EBITDA guidance, with southern and western markets combining for over 50%.
The portfolio follows an 80/20 profile where the top 15 locations generate more than 80% of attendance and revenue. Only four parks exceed their 2019 attendance levels, highlighting significant upside potential across the remaining properties.
Chief Commercial Officer Christian Dieckmann emphasized the company’s recurring revenue strength: “70% of our attendance comes from season pass and from group sales that’s booked in advance, and they show up.” This advance-purchase foundation provides stability even during challenging weather or economic conditions.
The “Great Reset” Through 2026
Dubbed the “great reset,” CFO Brian Witherow outlined $180 million in targeted cost savings, with $60 million achieved in 2025 through a net 3% reduction in operating costs and two-thirds coming from labor efficiencies.
“This is the best labor market we’ve seen in almost a decade,” Zimmerman noted, citing minimal wage pressure except in isolated categories. The 2026 phase will deliver an additional $60 million in savings through a 50/50 mix of labor and operational improvements.
The financial discipline extends to debt reduction, with Witherow targeting net leverage below 4x by year-end 2026. Portfolio optimization remains under evaluation for non-core assets, though all 42 parks will operate through 2025.
Volume-First Attendance Strategy
Overall, Six Flags is refocusing on raw attendance. The strategy centers on under-penetrated markets, where raising low-quartile properties to 25% market penetration could generate the full 10 million visit recovery.
The starkest example lies in California, where Six Flags Magic Mountain draws half the attendance of Knott’s Berry Farm despite serving a comparable market. “If we double the penetration at Magic Mountain, that’s 3 million people,” Zimmerman explained. Over the past decade, Magic Mountain’s attendance has actually declined 15% cumulatively since 2012.
The correlation between guest satisfaction and market penetration drives the operational focus. High-penetration parks score above 7.5 on net promoter surveys, while under-performing properties hover around 7.0. “Moving parks over to the right on the guest satisfaction front will push them up along that arrow,” Dieckmann said.
Back to Basics: Rides and Operations
Getting more guests to attend relies on improving guest satisfaction, but what does guest satisfaction mean at the new Six Flags? Zimmerman was direct about one element: “What will the guests give us credit for? Ridership.” The company will target 95% availability with goals of 8-10 rides per guest visit. “As ridership goes up, as rides per guests go up, NPS goes up.”
Capital allocation follows this philosophy, with 54% of the annual budget dedicated to marketable attractions. The 2025 program includes major additions at 11 flagship parks, including Cedar Point’s reopened Top Thrill 2 and new attractions like Wrath of Rakshasa and Rapterra.
Historical data supports the investment thesis. Legacy Cedar Fair coasters averaged 15% revenue growth, 20% EBITDA increases, and 30% cash-on-cash ROI in their debut year. However, construction costs have inflated significantly. “What used to be able to be constructed for 70, 75 cents on the dollar…those costs have now accelerated in some markets to as much as 125, 150%,” Witherow explained. This reality means “maybe five big attractions is now four big attractions.”
The company employs a “zone of impact” strategy, upgrading food service, restrooms, and theming around each new ride installation. Restroom quality particularly matters, Zimmerman noted: “Mom really wants a clean restroom and she wants a restroom that looks really fresh.”
Food & Beverage Evolution
Aside from rides and creature comforts, Six Flags’s guest satisfaction is increasingly impacted by food. Consumer research reshaped the company’s food strategy after Generation Z respondents delivered a stark message: “I’m not gonna come if you don’t have good food,” as Zimmerman recounted. Legacy Cedar Fair parks that implemented F&B improvements saw 7% compound annual revenue growth over nearly a decade.
The transformation includes operational and experiential elements. Following renovation, JB’s Barbecue at Six Flags Over Texas generates twice the revenue of its previous configuration. Across the system, the company plans 11 kitchen renovations in 2025 and 50 total upgrades over five years.
Seasonal food also drives substantial incremental revenue, exemplified by Fright Fest’s signature blood bag beverages—250,000 units sold annually at $15 each, with 30% being non-alcoholic mocktails for younger guests. “If you told me five years ago we’d be selling $4 million worth of blood bags, I probably would just fall over,” Dieckmann admitted.
The company is adding 22 Coca-Cola freestyle stations in 2025, focused on high-opportunity parks to reduce queue times while increasing beverage penetration. The strategy also incorporates adult beverage expansion, which doubled both penetration rates and revenue within the beverage category at legacy Cedar Fair properties.
Transaction-Focused Revenue Growth
By shoring up the guest experience, Six Flags hopes to bring back the crowds at its underperforming parks, but where will they come from? Season Passholders. But generally, season passholders lower per caps, so, the team urged investors not to obsess over future dips. The team highlighted that a single-day visitor generates approximately $85 in spending while a season pass holder contributes $275 annually across multiple visits.
“If we could turn every one of our single day visitors into a season pass holder, we would,” Witherow stated. This volume strategy drives 80% of the targeted 10 million attendance recovery through expanding the season pass base and increasing average visitation among existing pass holders.
The CRM infrastructure supports this transition through targeted campaigns that migrate day visitors up the value chain to season passes, then focus on renewal rates and visit frequency. A comprehensive loyalty program launches in 2026, built on a new centralized customer data platform.
Friction and Pricing
Once guests are inside the park, Six Flags will use new technology to remove friction and improve transactions per guest. A unified mobile app will launch in July 2025, supported by next-generation Wi-Fi infrastructure across all parks. Six Flags will gather all its customers into a centralized CRM this year and use it as a launching point for the new loyalty program. The team teased the potential to target offers to unique guests based on their patterns individually.
Increasing season pass sales means pricing correctly, and the team seemed to indicate they would keep prices steady while they improve the value proposition of the lagging parks. The ‘regional passport’ concept leverages the company’s unique footprint, with 14 park clusters positioned within driving distance of each other. This product offers more pricing flexibility than national passes while capturing higher guest value through multi-park visitation.
Premium products like Fast Lane, Flash Pass, cabanas, and VIP lounges align with the attendance growth strategy and become more valuable as parks achieve “comfortably crowded” status. The company operates over 100 cabanas across multiple parks and plans to double cabana revenue over the coming years.
Path to 2028
“We are doubling down on what’s worked,” Zimmerman concluded. The strategy reflects confidence in fundamental operational excellence —a bet that superior guest experiences, powered by reliable attractions and quality food service, will drive sustainable attendance recovery.
With integration progressing and early guest satisfaction metrics trending positive, Six Flags positions itself as a fundamentally different company than its predecessors. The success of this ambitious plan will ultimately depend on executing these back-to-basics principles across 42 parks serving a quarter-billion potential guests.
Philip Hernandez is a journalist reporting on the haunted house industry, horror events, theme parks, and Halloween. He is also the CEO of Gantom Lighting and Founder / Publisher of the Haunted Attraction Network, the haunted attraction industry’s most prominent news media source. He is based in Los Angeles and co-founded/co-hosts the Green Tagged podcast
