Six Flags Magic Mountain can no longer say it’s open 365 days a year.
The Valencia, California park is reducing its operating schedule starting Nov. 1, when it will be closed Tuesdays through Thursdays for most of November and December. The exceptions will be the week of Thanksgiving and the final two weeks of December, when the park is scheduled to be open every day.
“These changes will allow the park to deliver a more exceptional guest experience,” Magic Mountain spokesperson Alexandria French said in a statement.
Magic Mountain had first transitioned to the 365-day schedule, a first for the Six Flags chain, at the beginning of 2018. Six Flags’ then-CEO and president, Jim Reid-Anderson, said at the time that the change would “maximize travel industry opportunities.”
That was a different regime, however, as Six Flags is now led by Selim Bassoul, who has shifted the chain’s strategy towards reducing crowds to improve the guest experience instead of increasing season pass sales and building major coasters. The last Six Flags quarterly earnings report was among its worst as public company, according to MarketWatch, with attendance down 35 percent across the chain from January to July 2022 compared to the same period in 2019.
The company’s biggest competitor in the regional theme park market, Cedar Fair, is moving in the opposite direction when it comes to expanding operating days. Two of its parks, Carowinds and Kings Dominion, will be open on weekends in January and February for the first time in 2023.