Six Flags New Orleans was a theme park located near the interchange of Interstate 10 and Interstate 510 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It first opened as Jazzland in 2000, and a 75-year lease agreement was established with Six Flags in 2002 following the previous operator's bankruptcy proceedings. Six Flags invested $20 million in upgrades, and the park reopened as Six Flags New Orleans in 2003. Following substantial damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the park was closed to the public to make efforts to repair and reopen it. However, in 2006, Six Flags declared the property a total loss, and the park was permanently closed. The lease was terminated in 2009 during Six Flags' bankruptcy proceedings.
Six Flags salvaged several rides and relocated them to other parks. The Industrial Development Board (IDB) of New Orleans owns the property and oversees redevelopment plans. Following several failed proposals to redevelop the site, it remained abandoned and in poor condition. Videos and photos of the park emerged over the years online from urban explorers and YouTubers. As a result, city officials became more diligent in securing the park and banning tourists, tasking the New Orleans Police Department with patrolling the abandoned site and arresting trespassers. An option to demolish and clear the land was explored in 2019 following complaints from residents, which was estimated to cost the city $1.3 million.
In 2023, plans were approved by the city for Bayou Phoenix to begin redeveloping the land. In the meantime, the city continued to generate revenue from the property by occasionally leasing the park to various production companies as a filming location.
Demolition of the theme park began in early November 2024 and was completed in 2026.
Functioning theme park period, 2000–2005
Tom and Dian Winingder spent almost ten years arranging the partnership that would open Jazzland. In 1995, the developers solicited a loan from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), initially for $15 million, to complete the park.https://www.newspapers.com/image/1073428221/?match=1&terms=jazzland The partners included Burroughs & Chapin located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which withdrew in 1997, and Ogden Corporation, which sold its theme park division to Alfa Alfa for $148 million in March 2000.https://www.newspapers.com/image/808727636/?match=1&terms=jazzlandhttps://www.newspapers.com/image/1037841702/?match=1&terms=jazzland The New Orleans City Council approved of its final master plan in April 1998, with the state of Louisiana providing funding in July 1998.https://www.newspapers.com/image/218869143/?match=1&terms=jazzlandhttps://www.newspapers.com/image/470205197/?match=1&terms=jazzland|url-access=subscription The park is built on a concrete deck thick.
Jazzland (2000–2002) The park opened under the name Jazzland on May 20, 2000; the crowd was estimated at 20–25,000 people, and 75–80,000 season passes had been sold. It was operated by Alfa SmartParks, a Greek holding company that purchased the Ogden Entertainment theme park division; the company has since changed hands and now is known as Palace Entertainment, owned by the Spanish company Parques Reunidos. The original themed areas were Mardi Gras, Pontchartrain Beach, Cajun Country, Jazz Plaza, Kids' Carnival, and The Goodtime Gardens; the first season ran until October 29, with season passes available for $89.99 (individual) or $219.96 (family of four). Rides included Mega Zeph, a wooden roller coaster track built on a steel frame to prevent termite infestation and withstand hurricane-force winds. Mega Zeph was inspired by the old Zephyr roller coaster at the closed Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park that was next to Lake Pontchartrain by the University of New Orleans. The intent was to rebuild the Zephyr, but it was a smaller roller coaster, so that idea was scrapped in favor of the current larger Mega Zeph. Other rides included a junior steel coaster called Rex's Rail Runner, a wild mouse steel coaster, and a common steel shuttle looping Vekoma boomerang roller-coaster called Zydeco Scream. The park had a log flume called Cypress Plunge and a splashwater falls ride called Spillway Splashout. In addition, the park had common amusement park spinning rides and a carousel merry-go-round.
The park was not profitable, as Alfa SmartParks specialized in running water parks and smaller amusement arcade centers. It attracted 1.1 million visitors for its first season, but that decreased to 560 to 580 thousand the next season; Alfa filed for bankruptcy reorganization in February 2002. Citing its benefit to the local economy, HUD loaned $25.3 million to build the park, and after Alfa went bankrupt, the city of New Orleans became liable for the remainder of the loan. In 2001, the lease was put up for sale, and in March 2002 Six Flags purchased it for $22M, although the park's name did not change that year. The New Orleans city council approved the 75-year lease in August 2002; under the negotiated agreement, repayment of the remaining $24.4 million loan from HUD was to be split between the park ($1.4M/year) and the city ($1M/yr).
Six Flags New Orleans (2003–2005) Six Flags spent $20 million to upgrade the park and reopened it on 5th April 2003 under the name Six Flags New Orleans. Six Flags added more shaded areas and many new flat spinning rides. The park was renamed Six Flags, and the "it's playtime!" theme was adopted, which included a dancing old man, Mr. Six. They added a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster named Batman: The Ride (a mirrored version of the B&M Batman: The Ride coaster model) relocated from the defunct Thrill Valley in Japan, and a Vekoma multiple looping coaster called The Jester relocated from Six Flags Fiesta Texas. A water park that would be included in the admission (like Six Flags Parks such as Six Flags St. Louis and Six Flags America, for example) was in the planning stages in early 2005 and was going to be announced at the end of August. However, Hurricane Katrina was about to strike New Orleans, which put those plans and the continued operations of the park in question.
The last day the park operated was Sunday, August 21, 2005, eight days before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. However, weekday operations had ended a couple of weeks earlier, as schools start early in August in the New Orleans area and end in mid-May. The park was scheduled to reopen for the weekend of August 27 and 28. However, once Katrina was forecast late on Friday, August 26, to hit New Orleans directly, the weekend reopening was canceled to prepare for the storm and begin evacuations. By the time the park closed in 2005, Six Flags had spent $44 million on park upgrades.
Themed areas
Immediately after entering the main gate on the east side of the park, guests were directed to (clockwise): Main Street Square (Formerly Jazz Plaza) Cajun Country Pontchartrain Beach DC Comics Super Heroes Adventures (park expansion, added by Six Flags in 2003) Mardi Gras Looney Tunes Adventures (Formerly Kids' Carnival) Goodtime Gardens The park was built in a loop around Crescent City Basin; Pontchartrain Beach fronted Jazz Lake.
Hurricane Katrina
Because the park was located in low-lying swampland near Lake Pontchartrain, the park installed drainage pipes to protect it from flooding. On the morning of August 29, 2005, just after sunrise, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Southeast Louisiana, resulting in 1,464 deaths and over $100 billion in damages. As many as 26,000 city residents took shelter at the Louisiana Superdome, and over 80% of New Orleans was flooded.
Water from Lake Pontchartrain overflowed and overwhelmed the drainage system at Six Flags New Orleans, which could not keep up with the water flow, flooding the theme park for the duration of Katrina. In the storm's aftermath, the park was left submerged deep, taking over a month for the water to leave the park and leaving devastation in its wake.
After Hurricane Katrina
The park grounds are located on a low-lying section of Eastern New Orleans, with a earthen flood berm running along the perimeter, creating an artificial basin. As such, this area was heavily flooded in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. After the park's drainage pumps failed during the storm, the berm retained the combination of rainwater and seawater overflow from Lake Pontchartrain caused by Katrina's massive storm surge, submerging the entire park grounds in corrosive, brackish floodwater to a depth of for over a month. Due to the extensive water and wind damage sustained, the park was closed indefinitely without plans to reopen.
Initial damage reports by Six Flags inspectors stated that the park buildings, the flat rides (except for one that was being serviced off-site at the time of the storm), and attractions were 80% destroyed by long-term salt-water immersion and both the wooden track and steel superstructure of the Mega Zeph were likely damaged beyond repair. The only large ride to escape relatively unscathed was the Batman: The Ride roller-coaster due to its elevated station platform and corrosion-resistant support structure.
On July 1, 2006, having announced that the park would be closed "at least" through 2007, Six Flags announced that it had concluded its damage assessments and declared the park to be an "effective total loss"—with no desire or intent by the company to undertake the prohibitive cost of rebuilding—and was in negotiations with the City of New Orleans to make an early exit from the 75-year lease that Six Flags entered into on the property in 2002. However, then-Mayor Ray Nagin said he planned to hold Six Flags to the lease agreement and force them to rebuild. If held to the terms of the lease agreement, Six Flags would have been legally obligated to rebuild the park on the same site, but only to the extent of the insurance money Six Flags received. Six Flags determined the value of assets the storm destroyed was $32.5 million. As of September 2006, Six Flags had collected $11.5 million of insurance proceeds, bringing the insurance receivable balance to $24.4 million. In January 2007, Six Flags officials revealed to the New Orleans Times-Picayune that the company was suing its insurers for the remaining $17.5 million in coverage.
The park had been one of the least profitable parks in the Six Flags portfolio. Though the park was located in New Orleans East near some of the area's more affluent neighborhoods, the park was originally budgeted to bring in tourists from the city's downtown attractions to supplement the city's relatively smaller population base (New Orleans had been experiencing a declining population before Hurricane Katrina). However, near the time that the storm struck, Six Flags had already begun closing some of its smaller, less profitable parks across the country. Hurricane Katrina cemented the New Orleans park as another part of Six Flags' portfolio which would eventually close permanently.
On December 15, 2006, Six Flags confirmed that it was removing Batman: The Ride for refurbishment and relocation to a new park, considered the only salvageable ride. Batman: The Ride was reassembled at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio and opened under the new name Goliath on April 18, 2008. In addition to Batman: The Ride, Six Flags removed shade coverings, ride parts, lights, security cameras, planting structures, and various other salvageable items.