Six Flags Hires a New COO, Meow Wolf Flips the Disney Model

Six Flags has appointed Mark Pauls as Chief Operating Officer, an operator who worked alongside CEO John Reilly at both Palace Entertainment and SeaWorld. At Kennywood, Pauls converted Phantom Fright Nights into the hybrid Phantom Fall Fest and expanded Holiday Lights to 24 nights, adding the park's first January operating days. Reilly has board support for now, but not much time, and a partner with shared shorthand and a proven seasonal-events record saves years as they pivot back to the seasonal model. The hardest fight in expanding events is convincing your own operations staff, and that fight goes better with a COO who has run them.Meanwhile, Universal announced Universal Nights, an after-hours event at Epic Universe on two October Saturdays, with all five worlds open from 9 pm to midnight, character appearances, and unlimited specialty snacks for $179.99. We’ve advocated this model for a while, and this is clearly a test. Although the price is high, it should help validate the model. Finally, Meow Wolf and animation studio Titmouse announced a multi-year partnership covering original animated series built from Meow Wolf's story universe, as well as animation for the Los Angeles exhibition opening late this year. Three months into CEO Matthew Henick's tenure, the deal does exactly what he promised: screen content built outward from worlds that began as physical spaces, inverting the model on which Disney built an empire.Listen to weekly BONUS episodes on our Patreon.