This rumor stems from the fact that Six Flags might declare bankruptcy in the next few months and thanks to mass media it got hyped up into meaning they will be closing.  Bankruptcy is NOT the end of the world!  GM declared bankruptcy today and they are going to do just fine (assuming the government doesn’t run them into the ground for a 2nd time, but that is a different story).

Six Flags is doing better than ever from an operational standpoint.   The parks are cleaner and more family friendly than anyone can recall in recent memory.  No longer is it just a haven for teens to hang out.  While the teens can still come enjoy the huge attractions us enthusiasts love, you can bring mom and dad and younger sister and brother to enjoy in the fun too.

Going to end with this: don’t believe everthing you see or here, especially from the news.  Heck, don’t even believe me.  Do your own research and discover the facts for yourself and formulate your own opinions.  The best thing to do would be to visit the parks and find out for yourself!

Six Flags Over Texas will begin to offer 6 visits for $49.99 beginning Friday to help families suffering from the economy.  According to Mark Shapiro, the parks are doing amazingly well so far this summer.  Listen to an interview from him over at KRLD – CEO Spotlight.

Also notable, Six Flags will be blowing up whole sections of the Texas Giant.  Shapiro also stated the ride would be getting new trains and new controls.  Sounds like all good things to me!

Check out the full article at the Star Telegram.

Six Flags, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SIXF) announced today that it received the proceeds of a loan from a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. to fund approximately $53 million of 2009 “put” obligations related to its Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags Over Georgia parks, including Six Flags White Water Atlanta (the “Partnership Parks”).

The Company had previously announced that, as of the end of the 2009 “put” period on April 28, 2009, it had received “put” notices from holders of units in the limited partnerships that own the Partnership Parks, with an aggregate “put” price of approximately $66 million. The general partner of the Georgia limited partnership elected to purchase Georgia units having a total purchase price of approximately $7 million, and an additional $6 million of the “put” obligations was funded with cash that was being held in escrow.

A subsidiary of Time Warner loaned approximately $53 million to the Company’s subsidiaries that are obligated to fund the “put” obligations. Interest on the loan will accrue at a rate of 14% per year, and the principal amount of the loan matures on March 15, 2011. The loan requires semi-annual prepayments with the proceeds received by the Company related to the Partnership Parks limited partnership units owned by the Company’s subsidiaries. The loan is guaranteed by Six Flags, Inc., Six Flags Operations Inc. and Six Flags Theme Parks Inc. up to an aggregate amount of $10 million.

The Company also announced that on May 14, 2009, it irrevocably paid in immediately available funds to the paying agent of its 9-3/4% Senior Notes due 2013 (the “2013 Notes”), interest on the 2013 Notes in the amount of approximately $7 million previously due on April 15, 2009, together with the additional interest owed, and distributed notices to the holders in connection with such payment, in accordance with the indenture.

The Company has also chosen to take advantage of the applicable 30-day grace period for making the semi-annual interest payment of approximately $6 million due on its 4-1/2 Convertible Senior Notes due 2015 (the “Convertible Notes”) as it continues to assess and evaluate the Company’s restructuring options. Under the applicable indenture relating to the Convertible Notes, use of the 30-day grace period does not constitute a default that permits acceleration of the Convertible Notes or any other indebtedness. Additional details regarding the Convertible Notes are available in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Six Flags

Six Flags, Inc. is the world’s largest regional theme park company with 20 parks across the United States, Mexico and Canada, and soon will be expanding beyond North America with destinations in Dubai and Qatar. Since 1961, hundreds of millions of families have trusted Six Flags to combine friendly-clean-fast-safe service with affordable, value-packed thrills, record-shattering roller coasters and special events like the Summer Concert Series, Fright Fest and Holiday in the Park. Six Flags’ wide array of entertainment options reaches all demographics – families, teens, tweens and thrill seekers alike – featuring themed attractions based on skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, the ultimate daredevil Evel Knievel, movie franchises The Dark Knight and The Mummy; as well as world-renowned, kid-friendly brands including Looney Tunes, the Justice League of America, The Wiggles and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Six Flags continues to develop new avenues for growth, acquiring ownership and management of Dick Clark Productions, producer of such perennial television hits as the American Music Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and So You Think You Can Dance. Six Flags, Inc. is a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in New York City.

Forward Looking Statements:

The information contained in this news release, other than historical information, consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, Six Flags’ success in implementing a restructuring plan and the adequacy of cash flows from operations, available cash and available amounts under its credit facility to meet its future liquidity needs. Although Six Flags believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Important factors, including the failure to successfully consummate a restructuring and factors impacting attendance, local conditions, events, disturbances and terrorist activities, risk of accidents occurring at Six Flags’ parks, adverse weather conditions, general financial and credit market conditions, economic conditions (including consumer spending patterns), competition, pending, threatened or future legal proceedings and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from Six Flags’ expectations. Reference is made to a more complete discussion of forward-looking statements and applicable risks contained under the captions “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” in Six Flags’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, its Preliminary Proxy Statement for its 2009 Annual Meeting, and its other filings and submissions with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available free of charge on Six Flags’ website http://www.sixflags.com/.

Source: Six Flags, Inc.

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“Our guests recognize that Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is the ideal place to spend quality time with family, enjoy a full-day of entertainment and really get value for their hard-earned dollars,” said Eric Gilbert, park president. “Our goal is to provide families with a much-needed respite from the current economic climate.”

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom extended its hours for the Friday and weekend crowds to accommodate guests and enhance the overall entertainment experience. Attendance was driven by the popular online “Everyone Pays Kid’s Price” offer and the sale of Season Passes at the limited time value price of $49.99 per person.

For additional information on operating hours, rides, shows, special events and to purchase tickets, please visit www.sixflags.com/discoverykingdom.

About Six Flags Inc.:

Six Flags, Inc. is the world’s largest regional theme park company with 20 parks across the United States, Mexico and Canada, and soon will be expanding beyond North America with destinations in Dubai and Qatar. Since 1961, hundreds of millions of families have trusted Six Flags to combine friendly-clean-fast-safe service with affordable, value-packed thrills, record-shattering roller coasters and special events like the Summer Concert Series, Fright Fest and Holiday in the Park. Six Flags’ wide array of entertainment options reaches all demographics — families, teens, tweens and thrill seekers alike — featuring themed attractions based on skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, the ultimate daredevil Evel Knievel, movie franchises The Dark Knight and The Mummy; as well as world-renowned, kid-friendly brands including Looney Tunes, the Justice League of America, The Wiggles and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Six Flags continues to develop new avenues for growth, acquiring ownership and management of Dick Clark Productions, producer of such perennial television hits as the American Music Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and So You Think You Can Dance. Six Flags, Inc. is a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in New York City.

Website: http://www.sixflags.com/discoverykingdom/

Notably, Six Flags Great America and Six Flags Great Adventure made the list for top 20 North American parks while Six Flags Magic Mountain didn’t.

It was nice to see a hometown favorite (Noah’s Ark) make the list for top waterparks given that it is located in a less than hospitable climate 6 months out of the year.

It did show that the economy is affecting destination parks more harshly than regional theme parks and I expect that trend to continue.

Check out the full report here.

NEW YORK, April 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Six Flags, Inc. (NYSE: SIX – News) announced today that it has chosen to take advantage of the applicable 30-day grace period for making the semi-annual interest payment of approximately $7 million due on its 9 3/4% Senior Notes due 2013.

“We clearly have ample cash and liquidity to fund the April interest payment, but will for the time being put it on hold while we assess and evaluate the restructuring options before us,” said Six Flags President and CEO Mark Shapiro. “We have this window for a reason and we’ve decided to utilize it. This decision has no impact on payments to vendors, with which we remain current, or our park operations.”

Under the applicable indenture relating to the Senior Notes, use of the 30-day grace period does not constitute a default that permits acceleration of the Senior Notes or any other indebtedness. Additional details regarding the Senior Notes and our debt, equity and other upcoming cash obligations are available in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Six Flags

Six Flags, Inc. is the world’s largest regional theme park company with 20 parks across the United States, Mexico and Canada, and soon will be expanding beyond North America with destinations in Dubai and Qatar. Since 1961, hundreds of millions of families have trusted Six Flags to combine friendly-clean-fast-safe service with affordable, value-packed thrills, record-shattering roller coasters and special events like the Summer Concert Series, Fright Fest and Holiday in the Park. Six Flags’ wide array of entertainment options reaches all demographics — families, teens, tweens and thrill seekers alike — featuring themed attractions based on skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, the ultimate daredevil Evel Knievel, movie franchises The Dark Knight and The Mummy; as well as world-renowned, kid-friendly brands including Looney Tunes, the Justice League of America, The Wiggles and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Six Flags continues to develop new avenues for growth, acquiring ownership and management of Dick Clark Productions, producer of such perennial television hits as the American Music Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and So You Think You Can Dance. Six Flags, Inc. is a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in New York City.

Forward Looking Statements:

The information contained in this news release, other than historical information, consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, Six Flags’ success in implementing its restructuring plan and the adequacy of cash flows from operations and available cash to meet our future liquidity needs and cash obligations. Although Six Flags believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Important factors, including the failure to successfully consummate a restructuring and factors impacting attendance, local conditions, events, disturbances and terrorist activities, risk of accidents occurring at Six Flags’ parks, adverse weather conditions, general financial and credit market conditions, economic conditions (including consumer spending patterns), competition, pending, threatened or future legal proceedings and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from Six Flags’ expectations. Reference is made to a more complete discussion of forward-looking statements and applicable risks contained under the captions “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” in Six Flags’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, which is available free of charge on Six Flags’ website http://www.sixflags.com.

The Fidelity Investments bond holder is looking at a payment of about $100 million due in 2010, and they might be waiting to see if the company will be able to pay it (they had over $200 million free cash flow last year).  They also might stand to make more money if the company should go under through some type of insurance policy.  2010 is a much nicer deadline than August though.  I think if Six Flags can continue their goal of paying off debts as they become due (like tomorrow, which I hope they pay), eventually they will be able to refinance some of the more long-term debt as creditors see that the company is becoming more able to pay its obligations.

Overall I’m happy with the optimism of the article instead of the recent onslaught of Six Flags haters.  Six Flags 2009 is not the Six Flags of 2003.  It is not just about thrill-seeking teenagers anymore.  Six Flags is making the transition to cater to the whole family, people need to realize these things take time.  The worst thing they can do is abandon the parks now.  Within 5 years, Six Flags parks across the country will be the Six Flags parents remember from their childhood.  It will be a place you can bring the whole family (including your teenagers) to enjoy an affordable, fun place to spend a day or two.

Check out the article @ Dallas Morning News.

Six Flags will continue to operate as usual and its stock will trade on the OTC (Over the counter) market and you will be able to buy and sell it like usual.   Obviously they will attempt to get back into the NYSE but it will take some time while they continue to work on restructuring their debt.  Once they get their debt issues worked out, this stock is going up, but they have to get it restructured before August.

In the meantime, visit their parks! Show your vote of confidence for Six Flags. While coaster enthusiasts may not like their move to be more family oriented, it will let them build new thrill rides in the future.