The Six Flags chain announced reopening dates for most of its theme parks on Friday, but not all of them are set in stone. 

In a press release announcing the dates, as well as announcing virtual job fairs to fill seasonal positions around the country, Six Flags touted the safety measures that will remain in place for the 2021 season. 

“We kept our guests and team members safe by requiring masks to be worn in the parks, providing contactless temperature and security screenings, enhancing our cleaning and sanitization measures, and closely monitoring attendance throughout operating hours in order to maintain proper social distancing,” said Bonnie Weber, Six Flags’ senior vice president of park operations. “Now we are hiring and preparing to reopen every Six Flags park in our system as we continue to work with state and government officials to set firm reopening dates for our parks in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mexico City, and Canada.”

Several of the parks had already announced reopening dates, such as:

  • Six Flags Over Texas: Already open on weekends
  • Six Flags Fiesta Texas: Already open on weekends
  • Six Flags America: March 6
  • Frontier City: March 13 
  • Six Flags Over Georgia: March 6
  • Six Flags St. Louis: March 20

The updated list also includes new reopening dates in places where state governments have given theme parks the OK to reopen, including:

  • Six Flags Great Adventure: March 27 (debuting the new Jersey Devil coaster)
  • Six Flags Great Escape: May 1
  • Six Flags Darien Lake: May 21 

One park that had remained shuttered in 2020, Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, announced a specific reopening date (April 24) without express government approval.  In a statement to Theme Park Tribune, Great America said the April 24 reopening is “pending final approval from state and local officials.”

The park’s official Twitter account had previously said it would reopen on May 1. However, Illinois’ COVID-19 reopening guidelines state that amusement parks cannot reopen until the final phase of its “Restore Illinois” plan, which would require a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19 to be widely available (rather than the vaccine’s current limited availability). 

Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) spokesperson Cristobal Martinez confirmed to Theme Park Tribune that the state’s reopening guidelines have not changed. “The state is in Phase 4, we are using data and public health guidance to guide our decision on when to move into Phase 5 where amusement parks will be allowed to open,” he said.

Another IDPH spokesperson, Melaney Arnold, told Theme Park Tribune that state agencies “expect to be in ongoing discussions with Six Flags Great America about its plans for operating this summer.” 

Four parks were described by Six Flags as preparing for a spring 2021 reopening, pending government guidelines:

  • Six Flags Mexico
  • La Ronde
  • Six Flags New England 
  • Six Flags Magic Mountain

No reopening dates or timetables were given for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

Correction: An earlier version of this article had an incorrect opening date for Six Flags Great Escape. We apologize for the error.

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