Growth and acquisitions
What year did Six Flags open in the state of Georgia?
Six Flags
The original park, in Arlington (between Dallas and Fort Worth) was sold in 1966 to a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was actively pursuing non-railroad investments in an effort to diversify its sources of income. (In 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the New York Central Railroad to form Penn Central Corp.) With the new owners came a more abundant supply of capital for geographic expansion and park additions. Six Flags opened Six Flags Over Georgia in 1967 and Six Flags Over Mid-America in 1971, which would, along with Six Flags Over Texas, be the only three parks that would be constructed by the company. The company continued to grow by acquiring independent parks. Six Flags purchased AstroWorld in Houston, Texas in 1975, Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey in 1977 and Magic Mountain in Valencia, California in 1979. These purchases were followed by Penn Central selling assets to Bally Manufacturing in 1982. In 1984, the Great America theme park in Gurnee, Illinois was acquired from the Marriott hotel chain. Also in 1984, as a result of its acquisition of Great America, Six Flags acquired the rights to Time Warner/Warner Bros.' "Looney Tunes" animated characters for use in Six Flags properties. Bally surrendered control of the chain to Wesray Capital Corporation in a 1987 leveraged buyout. Time Warner quickly began to gain more leverage in the company, gaining a 19.5% stake in Six Flags in 1990 and then 50% in 1991, with the remaining shares of the company being split by Blackstone Group and Wertheim Schroder & Company. Time Warner purchased the remaining stake in Six Flags in 1993, changing the company's name from "Six Flags Corp". to "Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc". In 1996, Six Flags began to manage Fiesta Texas theme park in San Antonio, Texas and purchased the park from USAA in 1998.