Six Flags New Orleans

In 2005, America felt the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. 1,836 people died in the horrific chaos caused by this powerful display of nature. In the aftermath of the destruction, from hurricane and floods, people across Louisiana were left to pick up the pieces of their lives. The hardest hit area being New Orleans. The Levee they thought to protect them critically failed, the resulting floods devastated the area.

After the flood people began rebuilding their lives, their homes, their businesses, but not everything was saved. Now without owner or without care, buildings crumbled into ruin... Areas laid destroyed, torn by winds and corroded by water. Through all the destroyed areas, nothing stood as a symbol of natures danger more than Six Flags New Orleans. The parks haunting images and scenery remains to this day a powerful reminder of how fragile our creations truly are.

The park started its life in 2000, when Alfa Smartparks opened it to the public as Jazzland. The park took off, seeing over 1,000,000 visitors in its first season. However Alfa Smartparks soon fell into bankruptcy, Jazzland became the property of New Orleans. For the park to stay running New Orleans had to find a new tenant to lease the land. The tenancy soon fell on Six Flags, the worlds largest Amusement Park Corporation. They bought the lease in 2002 and turned it into Six Flags New Orleans, signing to keep the park for 75 years. 

The park, while being the lowest earner in Six Flags collection, managed to remain profitable for its lifetime. With the facility seeing an average of 830,000 visitors a year. Sadly though, once the disaster struck, the gates would remain closed. Problems with legal proceedings, insurance companies and lack of profit lead to Six Flags abandoning the park. Now back in the hands of New Orleans, the city needed a new tenant to rebuild the park.

The parks future was unsure, until April 2008 when Southern Star Amusements announced they would take a look at redeveloping the land and reopening the park with 60 rides (over twice the size of the original park). This was exciting news that sadly did not last long. On 27th of September, 2008, SSA announced that it would no longer consider reviving the New Orleans Themepark. While they didn't give any reasons, many speculated that it was due to Six Flags removing rides from the park, to be repaired and reinstalled elsewhere.

No serious considerations for the parks redevelopment appeared until January 21st, 2011, when Southern Star Amusements officially announced redevelopment plans.  Along with a 22 Page redevelopment plan, SSA stated: "We have been reaching out to various non-profit groups that serve the community to find ways to work with them should we be successful. We are looking for ways that the park can benefit those groups directly. Our goal is to create jobs for the city's musicians and artisans and to inspire the youth that there are fun and rewarding careers available to them if they stay in school and get the best education they can."

Hopefully the park will reopen, and the nightmare dreamscapes of the park can finally be put to rest... But for now, Six Flags New Orleans stands there. Dead but not forgotten; reminding us all that this planet is not as docile as it seems.