Six Flags is back in business.
On Friday, the theme park operator in Texas announced its plans to reopen all 26 of its locations for the 2021 season, including five locations that remained closed in 2020 due to the ongoing coronavirus restrictions.
The company has further confirmed its intention to hire “thousands of team members” for the coming season exclusively via online rental opportunities.
“Our guests and team members are ready for the return of fun and the unique Six Flags excitement of 2021,” Bonnie Weber, senior vice president of Park Operations, said in a press release. “Last year, we set the standard for the safety of our parks and entertained millions of guests in accordance with government and CDC health guidelines at 21 of our 26 parks.”
Weber added that the company is currently setting “fixed reopening dates” for its parks in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mexico City and Canada.
Six Flags warned that the reopening dates, although planned for 2021, would also be subject to change, depending on local, state or federal guidelines.
Six Flags initially discontinued its theme park activities in mid-March 2020 and only reopened its first location – Frontier City in Oklahoma on June 5. Twenty of its other parks followed through the end of the year, all with new cleaning, hygiene and social distancing protocol in place.
Other policy changes included face masks and temperature controls for guests and employees; a new online booking system used by guests before booking a visit; limited capacity at all parks; and only switching to credit card or mobile payments to limit contact between guests and sellers.
On its website, Six Flags still warns guests to ‘evaluate their own risk’ before deciding whether to attend the parks.
“People who show no symptoms can spread Coronavirus if they are infected. Any interaction with the general public carries an increased risk of being exposed to Coronavirus,” the website reads. “By coming to the park, you acknowledge and agree that you accept these inherent risks associated with attendance.”
However, Six Flags CEO Mike Spanos said the parks are ready to embrace a ‘new normal’ following the reopening of the Frontier City location in June 2020.
“This ‘new normal’ will be very different, but we believe that these additional measures are appropriate in the current environment,” Spanos said.
Information on all Six Flags additions and announcements, including the rental initiatives, can be found here.