All of us are like excited children when turned loose for a fun-filled day at an amusement park. The commotion of the enthusiastic crowd combines with mouthwatering scents of delicious snacks waiting to be gobbled up, and then mingles with flashing lights and pounding music from rides and attractions. Yet when an amusement park becomes abandoned and an eerie silence descends to blanket the decay, the atmosphere seems to twist and takes on a nightmarish vibe. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, leaving Six Flags as another of its victims.
Everyone knows that Hurricane Katrina left New Orleans in utter devastation. That happened on August 29, 2005, and by August 31, New Orleans, Louisiana, was 80% flooded. Parts of it were under 15 feet of water, but the storm surged to over 20-feet high in some areas. This drowning of the city included Six Flags. At the time, an amusement park was the least of people’s worries. However, 4 1/2 years have passed, and the good people of New Orleans have suffered more than their share. Does that mean they will also never regain this former place to play? In theory, the fate of Six Flags is undecided.
You are here, Six Flags New Orleans, a defunct amusement park. It closed in 2005 for the oncoming storm and never reopened. Four and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, Six Flags New Orleans is still abandoned. Six Flags officials claim the park was 70-80% damaged or destroyed. The defunct park is too expensive to rebuild and too expensive to abandon, so it sits and waits for decay to claim it. The park opened as Jazzland in 2000, but Six Flags bought this amusement park in 2002. Before Jazzland, the area was swamps. If no one steps up and does something, will the swamps reclaim the abandoned amusement park?
The worn and weathered Mardi Gras character hanging over the roof of the haunted car ride seems menacing now. But New Orleans is the home and heart of the Mardi Gras. Before Six Flags was abandoned, it would have surely been a happy reminder to see this jester holding beads. Beads are a highly valued prize when one is lucky enough to catch those that are tossed into the parade crowd.
Hungry? There’s no scrumptious food to found in concession stands here. Instead, the walls, shelves, stoves, and glass food displays still show a scummy waterline where 4–7 feet of rainwater and sea water submerged the park for over a month when Katrina tried to swallow New Orleans whole. Six Flags tried to get out of the park, since it was going under even before the storm. Trying to get out of its contract and 75-year lease in 2006, they offered the city of New Orleans $10 million in cash and another 86 acres of land it owned in the area. The city refused on the basis of the amount being too small to repay a HUD loan or to clear the property.
The amusement park suffered fatal damage. Six Flags collected only a portion before suing the insurance company for the remaining $175 million in coverage. At one point, Six Flags removed Batman: The Rideroller-coaster and other salvageable pieces. The city of New Orleans owned the land, yet Six Flags was pursuing legal action to keep the park closed. Six Flags filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June. The city fined Six Flags $3 million dollars and ordered them to vacate the lease. Nickelodeon was supposed to redevelop the park into a water and thrill ride theme park, but that fell through late last year. In December 2009, California-based Big League Dreams expressed interest in possibly turning the amusement park into a 50-acre sports complex. For this to occur, New Orleans would need to cough up about $25 million for the cost of construction, and then Big League Dreams would staff and maintain the complex for 30 years.
From gifts shops to Gotham City, crumbled and decayed Six Flags New Orleans suffers from catastrophic damage. Dark, desolate, and dejected, this post-apocalyptic setting might be the perfect place to make a movie about zombies or some such horror/disaster film. Revamped or refurbished, is there a chance for Six Flags to end up as more than another defunct amusement park?
Way beyond the state of falling into disrepair, what was once cheerful is now cheerless and downright creepy. Although there has been some cleanup after Katrina ripped the amusement out of this park, it’s still left to be ravaged by the elements and unmaintained. The creepy clown, menacing jester, and other statues with once happy open mouths now seem to utter a silent yet never-ending scream. These dismayed busts have “seen” their home destroyed. The stuffed animals which should bring children of all ages great joy, now seem hopeless and an ever-present and depressing reminder of 4 1/2 years passing after abandonment.
See all 69 photos at: weburbanist.com
