UPPER MARLBORO, MD - OCTOBER 28: Biomedical engineering and physics students from Johns Hopkins University learn about physiologic responses by tracking heart rate and other measures while riding rollercoasters like the Jokers Jinx at Six Flags amusement park in Upper Marlboro, Maryland October 28, 2022. (Photo by Michael Connor for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Santa Clara, California – California’s Great America, the sprawling amusement park in Santa Clara, may shut its gates permanently following the 2027 season, according to remarks made by Six Flags Chief Financial Officer Brian Witherow during the company’s Investor Day on May 20.
“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 while responding to an audience question. He added that California’s Great America and Six Flags America in Bowie, Maryland—also slated to close after the 2025 season—rank among the lowest-performing parks in the company’s portfolio when measured by profit margins.
The Santa Clara park, which first opened in 1976 as Marriott’s Great America, covers more than 100 acres and has been a Bay Area institution for nearly five decades. Its potential closure is the latest ripple in a series of corporate shifts following the $8 billion merger between Six Flags and Cedar Fair in 2024. Prior to the merger, Cedar Fair sold the land beneath California’s Great America to real estate giant Prologis for $310 million in 2022. As part of the deal, Cedar Fair agreed to lease back the property for six to 11 years, signaling plans for an eventual closure.
The current lease is scheduled to end on June 30, 2028, with a possible five-year extension available. So far, Six Flags has made no public decision on whether to exercise that option.
In 2022, then-Cedar Fair CEO Richard Zimmerman cited Prologis’ “deep ties in the Bay Area” and “reputation for working closely with local communities” as reasons for selecting the logistics company as a partner. Prologis, for its part, has already begun planning for the land’s future. “We’re focused on identifying and partnering with planning and design experts to help us create a master plan for the property,” spokesperson Jennifer Nelson told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year.
The looming closure of California’s Great America stands in contrast to its Midwestern counterpart, Six Flags Great America near Chicago, which will receive new upgrades and commemorate its 50th anniversary in 2026. No such celebration is planned for the California park.
Six Flags has not yet released an official closure date, but if current plans hold, the final rides and haunted mazes will wrap up in October 2027 following the Halloween season.
