Pruning Parks, Powering Up Hotels: Six Flags Shutters as DC Invades Gaylord

Six Flags/Cedar Fair’s first post-merger casualty is Six Flags America, erasing 70 full-time and 700 seasonal jobs and $3.5 million in local tax revenue—freeing capital for “marquee” investments elsewhere. At the same time, Marriott’s Gaylord resorts are turning their glass atriums into mini-comic-cons with a DC-branded summer slate, headlined by a 17,500-sq-ft lantern trail of 24-ft heroes, to lure families who might skip a theme-park trip. Philip and Scott ask whether strategic portfolio pruning and shoulder-season IP pivots are the new survival play as rising rates have already killed Sacramento’s planned $300 million Elk Grove zoo. Listen for the implications—and catch the gloves-off bonus chat on Patreon.