In the news, you can often hear about devastating hurricanes that pass through USA. But America did not know such terrible ones as Katrina in 2005 and, hopefully, will never know again. The highest level of damage was in New Orleans in Louisiana. The city was almost completely under water, and the damage was estimated at 125 billion dollars. Of course, there were tragic casualties.
For a huge number of entrepreneurs, the consequences of the hurricane were fatal. The place that failed to recover is Six Flags on the border New Orleans. Today one of the largest abandoned amusement parks in the world.
The history of the park begins in 2000, with a resounding opening under the name Jazzland. After was purchased by Six Flags in 2003 and the new name of Six Flags New Orleans (SFNO).
Today, an abandoned amusement park in New Orleans is an extremely closed place. It is really difficult to get here, especially not knowing the right places to call. I did not manage to overcome the border of the guard post, so further photos will be only from the drone.
All amusement parks are built according to a certain concept. Six Flags was inspired by the French Quarter, which is so popular in New Orleans.
After the hurricane, the park remained standing at a depth of up to 2 meters and suffered severe damage from wind and flooding.
The severity of the damage led to the park's indefinite closure.
In 2006, Six Flags declared the park beyond restoration and attempted to relinquish its 75-year lease.
At that time, the park was already one of the least profitable in Six Flags.
This is due to eits location in a low-income neighborhood away from other classic New Orleans tourist attractions.
There have been numerous attempts to open or reconstruct the park. In 2008, Southern Star Amusement announced plans to completely renovate the park and even expand it, but these ideas were abandoned in 2009.
In 2009, Nickelodeon announced its own plan to redesign the amusement park into a theme park based on the company's concept. True, these plans also had no destiny to be fulfilled.
The next ambitious plan to redevelop the abandoned park was proposed by the city of New Orleans in 2011. According to the plan, a new shopping center, Jazzland Outlet Mall, was to appear on these lands. But there was no place for these ideas either, after 2 years the project was curtailed without starting work.
In parallel, ideas were put forward to open the park under its original name Jazzland. While the New Orleans Industrial Development Board initially stuck to the mall plan, Jazzland remained hopeful and kept their interest in buying the land well into 2017.
To relieve themselves of responsibility on a complex issue, the decision rights were transferred to the mayor of the city. But the difficult task still remains. 14 years after Hurricane Katrina. And the abandoned amusement park still stands as a marker of the devastation caused by the storm.
Interesting Six Flags Park Facts:
The land on which the park is located cannot be called completely unused. Many expensive films have been filmed in the park. For example, "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters", where the park was called Circeland.
Also, the depressive and post-apocalyptic scenery of the park was used on the set of Jurassic World and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Another picture in the park locations was the film "Deepwater Horizon" in 2015.
Alligators live in the park. Still Louisiana. That place is really dangerous.
Despite its abandoned appearance, the park attracts many industrial tourists. With which the guards are actively fighting. On the territory of Six Flags, you can really feel the King's atmosphere of “disappearance”. It remains to be believed that the city leadership will decide how to deal with this place correctly.
Video abandoned amusement park – Six Flags drone
Another interesting abandoned place in America - Penn Hills Resort Hotel.
