Abandoned: Six Flags New Orleans
Show on mapBy Sean Fraga
The Bus/RV entrance to Six Flags New Orleans. The barbed-wire fence was added after the storm. June, 2008.
Interstate 10 curves up and out of New Orleans, looping out of the Big Easy and chasing the Gulf Coast towards points east. About thirty minutes outside the city, just after the I-510 interchange, a set of faded blue structures rises on the southern horizon. These are the derelict roller coasters of Six Flags New Orleans, which closed in advance of Hurricane Katrina and has yet to reopen.
The park was not so much shut down as abandoned—sacrificed, almost, to the encroaching storm. Merchandise stayed on shelves, electronics remained in place, and the logs in the flume ride were left stuck halfway up their plastic hills. The sole preparation for Katrina seems to be a message on the park’s signboard, still visible more than three years later: CLOSED FOR STORM.
The empty and overgrown parking lot for Six Flags New Orleans, with roller coasters on the horizon.
The property opened as Jazzland in 2000. Rides such as the Bayou Blaster and The Big Easy Ferris Wheel were sprinkled through lands with similarly local-sounding names, including ‘Cajun Country’ and the ‘French Quarter.’ After low visitor numbers forced Jazzland into bankruptcy, Six Flags purchased the park in 2002. The park was rebranded as Six Flags New Orleans and expanded, but the expansion did little to improve the park’s profitability. Since Hurricane Katrina, the park has been derelict, with Six Flags claiming that insurance disputes are holding up the re-opening of the park.
The park as it appeared immediately after Hurricane Katrina. Photos from the online forums of Theme Park Review.
Six Flags New Orleans was flooded by Hurricane Katrina. After the storm, the park sat in water that was between four and six feet deep for several weeks. After the waters had receded, the parking lots were used as a staging area for FEMA trailer distribution. The trailers are still visible in the Google Maps satellite view of the park.
Since the storm, Six Flags has removed some ride equipment from the park, refurbishing it and deploying it to other Six Flags properties. “Batman: The Ride” has been rebuilt as “Gotham” at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Awnings, light posts, security cameras, and other salvageable equipment has also been sent to other Six Flags properties, an invisible diaspora of amusement park ephemera.
The park’s Main Street Square, just inside the main entrance.
More interesting than what Six Flags has taken from the park is what they have left behind. The level of preservation is incredible. Parts of the park look as if they were abandoned only hours earlier. Stores, restaurants, rides were all still standing and unlocked when I visited this past summer.
An abandoned restaurant in Cajun Country.
In part, the park owes this level of preservation to its location in a desolate stretch of suburban New Orleans East, about half an hour outside of New Orleans proper. There was some graffiti and some vandalism—coin-operated lockers, vending machines, and cash registers had all been forced open—but overall, there was very little sign of human presence or activity, especially recent activity.
In a merchandise kiosk, Tweety Birds and Scooby-Doos await purchase by children who will never arrive.
Video from the park while it was active.
Even three years later, Katrina remains the strongest presence in the park. The remaining merchandise approximates how high the waters rose: Everything still on shelves was above the waterline. The surrounding bayou has started to reclaim the park, and plants are encroaching on walkways and threading themselves through rides. This part of New Orleans is sinking, at up to 2 inches per year. In 10 years, Six Flags New Orleans may again be underwater.
I spent about an hour inside the park and covered most of the south side. What I found most interesting is how the park is historically flat: Most places, especially in New Orleans, have layers upon layers of history, capturing decades of construction, demolition, change, and reuse, each layer with its own story.
Six Flags has none of those layers: The park is so young—barely 10 years old, and derelict for the last three—that it has very little history. There was nothing before Jazzland but swamps; the park came from the swamps and to the swamps it will return. The ersatz theming of the amusement park heightens that feeling of emptiness. Not only is there nothing here, but what is here isn’t even real.
An abandoned photo kiosk, with computers, receipt printers, and sample photos still there.
The future of the property is complicated by the ownership arrangement between Six Flags and the City of New Orleans. The land is owned by the city, and Six Flags is committed to a 75-year lease requiring it to operate the park. Both Six Flags and the City owe money on a $25 million construction loan from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Joker continues to survey his overgrown domain.
The city is loath to allow Six Flags to exit the lease, because it would have to assume the full burden of the HUD loan. Other companies have approached Six Flags about buying the property, with grand ideas about a water park or a full-scale resort, but none of these ideas have solidified.
A look across the park’s central lagoon, formerly Jazz Lake.
For the time being, the park remains caught in a post-Katrina catch-22: it is both too expensive to rebuild and too expensive to abandon.
Further Research:
- The official Six Flags New Orleans website has carried the same message for three years.
- Six Flags New Orleans has an unofficial fan site, SNFO.com. The website has maps, forums, a comprehensive photo archive, and ongoing updates about the future of the park.
- Recent Times-Picayune coverage, here and here.
- The park has spawned several tribute videos on YouTube, which show the park when it was active.
- A collection of photos on Shutterfly, likely taken by a Six Flags employee, show the extent of the flooding.
- A high-resolution satellite photo shows the park during flooding.
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January 16th, 2009 at 5:16 am
[...] The excellent built-environment blog Bearings has just published an article of mine, about a trip I took to the derelict Six Flags New Orleans amusement park this past summer. Check it out here! [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 7:39 am
awesome
January 16th, 2009 at 9:30 am
awesome
January 16th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
That area has always been a highlight for me. I love the large concrete sign the proclaims ‘New Orleans East’ in the middle of nowhere.
http://www.jimandchris.com/weblog06/20060406_new-orleans-east-1.JPG
Along that area is also several Interstate exits that were built before they realized how fast the area is sinking. They are overgrown (trees on the overpasses), and the exits are flooded and blocked. They go nowhere.
Also to add to the intrigue, across the lake is the home of the Swamp Monster!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_Island_Swamp_monster
And then there’s the Stennis Space Center (Space engine testing and data analysis center) right there as well.
ahhh, good times….
January 16th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Great post! I love the picture of the “It’s Playtime” marketing scheme that Six Flags used a few years ago- these pictures definitely feel like a step back in time!
I’m extremely curious to see what happens to this space – keep us updated!
January 16th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
yeah, NOLA east is a weird area. we parked in a small residential development about five minutes from the park proper, and the lady who’s house we parked in front of came out and warned us that a little further down the road, in the opposite direction from the park, is an exit spur that just loops back onto the interstate, and that gangs will hijack cars, take them to that exit, and torch them.
in addition to the NASA facility and six flags, NOLA east also has a thriving vietnamese community, many residents of which have built vietnamese-style gardens into the bayou behind their houses. there are some amazing vietnamese restaurants out there.
January 17th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
[...] Abandoned Six Flags: New Orleans [...]
February 8th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
[...] images are almost more startling than the idea, reminiscent as they are of certain abandoned amusement parks. This appears not to be a museum of nature, but a museum appropriated by nature. We’re so [...]
February 10th, 2009 at 6:13 am
Six Flags New Orleans: the place that i had so much fun. its awesome.
February 13th, 2009 at 10:50 am
[...] there is Jazzland/Six Flags. That project received a huge HUD loan and taxpayer subsidies. Now the park is a blight in the [...]
February 17th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
[...] Abandoned: Six Flags New Orleans [...]
February 19th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Frighteningly similar to pictures of the former U.S.S.R. here on the net! They even have a park for kids , totally deserted, on their site! Photos of the U.S. “Rust Belt” in Ohio, also compare to old soviet shots, and most shots of deserted factories have almost identical counter-shots from Russia. What the Hell is happening to us? They show train yards with deserted trains. Can you find comparable U.S. shots? They show waste mining sites very similar to shots from Kentucky. I wonder how many other parallels can be drawn? This is scary stuff, Americans, scary stuff!
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I went their as a kid numerous times. It’s definately one of the most depressing places out of the whole city. It’s all gray and depressing around that area now.
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:37 pm
It’s kinda creepy to look, almost eerie.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:27 am
[...] -Parque de atracciones en New Orleans- Unas atracciones en deterioro, de Terratories [...]
February 26th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I remember going to Six Flags NOLA back in 04 with my three best friends. Even then, it was eerie…isolated from the city, and there weren’t many people at all. The rides we only OK. Six Flags Great America outside of Chicago is much better. But yeah…today when I pass it, it’s a little depressing. Too bad that zone is a major flood zone. I’m rambling.
March 7th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
This is chilling, absolutely chilling. I’ve driven past here a number of times post-Katrina on the way between New Orleans and Gulfport, and have always noticed it on the horizon. Seeing it up close though puts it in an entirely different perspective. Well done.
March 30th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
I’m very much obsessed with theme parks and their histories and for my own use only, I won’t re-post these or anything, I just want pictures because I’m so curious and so morbidly astonished, if anyone has any more pictures of this park AFTER the flood waters went down, I would appreciate if you’d contact me with them. =D
Rogue_hamster@yahoo.com
April 8th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
[...] The park wasn’t creepy, wasn’t thrilling. It had none of the drama or tragedy of Six Flags New Orleans. Despite the decayed statuary, there was nothing about it that summoned “Ozymandias.” [...]
April 8th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
[...] The park wasn’t creepy, wasn’t thrilling. It had none of the drama or tragedy of Six Flags New Orleans. Despite the decayed statuary, there was nothing about it that summoned “Ozymandias.” [...]
April 17th, 2009 at 11:11 am
That place is creepy, nobody been there sine 2005 and it all gray and dull around there. Six Flags should thought about taking it over because New Orleans mostly gets hit by hurricanes
May 1st, 2009 at 7:07 pm
The park is able to be rebuilt and we wish to do the job. We are now trying to gain control of the park check our web page for up dates. http://www.southernstaramusement.com
Danny R Rogers
CEO
Southern Star Amusemnet Inc.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
[...] Jon has also photographed Michael Jackson’s empty Neverland Ranch and a flooded Six Flags amusement park in New Orleans. [...]
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:20 am
i think that city hall should re-open this b/c n.o east is a big area n i think more people will attend if they re-open
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:21 am
plus kids dont have any to do this summer or nithing
June 27th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Absolutely creepy! I live two states over and it’s always really eerie driving past on our way to New Orleans, but this is unbelievable. The water pictures are terrifying to me!
July 1st, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Great pics and gives a good idea of Katrina aftermath. I used to live in NOLA and glad I’m out of there. What a dump around the French Qt. Numerous murders everynight there. It needed a good flushing. I went to Six Flags one time, wasn’t impressed but sad to see it in that shape.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:52 am
although the closing and sftermath inflicted is a real shame, the info and pics are facsinating and very informative. I also agree the remaining situation is quite a dilema for six flags and the city.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I wonder what’s going to happen now that Six Flags has filed for bankruptcy? Seems like that can’t improve the situation at all…
July 10th, 2009 at 3:17 am
Its going to be reopened by some outfit from Baton Rouge.
July 11th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
They moved Batman: The Ride to Fiesta Texas, I wish they would move the Jester back to Fiesta also & change it back to The Jokers Revenge! It was my first upside down roller coaster & it was loved by many many people & alot were sad to see it go. I read on the internet somewhere that they could possibly move it back. Anyone hear anything about that?
July 19th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Well There Did file For Bankruptcy.But Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. they filed for bankruptcy PROTECTION so they dont go bakrupt
August 14th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I live about an hour away from the city. Hurricane Katrina caused so much damage that I just I hadn’t given much thought to what had happened to Six Flags until I saw a recent article in The Times-Picayune (a New Orleans newspaper). It talks about a California company buying Six Flags and turning it into a sports complex. More about it can be found here: http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2009/08/shuttered_six_flags_site_could.html
Seeing the article made me decide to look online for more pictures or the abandoned amusement park. These pictures are great, and they do give a good incite to the impact that the storm had on LA. For those of you not from the area, you should know that New Orleans is rebuilding and coming back in great strides. Don’t think that it is a wreck or unsafe to visit. There are plenty of tourists, and you should consider being one of them.
August 20th, 2009 at 7:31 am
There is something so poetic and beautiful about images of entertainment facilities that are abandoned
September 6th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
This is trippy. Very creepy Fallout-esque feel to it. Captivating! <3
September 8th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Nickelodeon and a Baton Rouge firm named Southern Star Amusements announced today that they would reopen the park by the end of 2010 as a $165,000,000 Nickelodeon theme park, mostly funded by “GO Zone” hurricane Katrina recovery bonds. They said that phase one of the project will occupy 85 acres and employ 600 people. Another 80 acres can be developed later. Some of what you see on this web site will remain. The sale of the bonds may be a problem. Site planning will begin tomorrow! This sucker won’t die. Jazzland, Six Flags and now Nickelodeon! Is three the charm?
September 22nd, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Time for a road trip to Georgia for some more Six Flags?
wcbstv.com/breakingnewsalerts/floods.rain.georgia.2.1200596.html
Let’s do it!
September 28th, 2009 at 10:57 am
i sorry 4 wat hurricane katrina did to yall beautiful state i wish i could help but im only 13 and my prayers go out to all of you dat lost your homes
September 30th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
[...] View the entire photo gallery at Bearings. Tagged with: Abandoned, photos, Secret Places leave a comment « taryn simon photographs secret places [...]
October 16th, 2009 at 7:05 am
I went there just a couple of months before it hit, and it’s so weird to see it like that.
October 24th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
I’LL BUY IT$$$$$
October 29th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Southern Star Amusements failed to provide the needed funds ($500,000) to sell bonds at the State Bond Commission meeting today, so their planned redevelopment of the Park may be dead. Stay tuned.
October 29th, 2009 at 1:56 am
Since this is the official abandoned stuff website, and since some people are curious about the abandoned interchanges on Interstate 10 in East New Orleans, I’ll tell you the story of an entire phantom city. The two interchanges east of the Michoud exit were originally intended to serve a giant development called ‘New Town in Town’. The whole area was once owned by a wealthy Texas oil family. The story goes, that they had enough political connections to President Lyndon Baines Johnson to get the interchanges built in the 1960′s, so as to increase the value of their vacant property. The City of New Orleans got Federal funds to create a plan for the development of the entire swampy area. Then, with the election of Republican Presidents, Louisiana’s enormous Democratic Party political power in Washington began to wane. Federal money could never be obtained to build the infrastructure, so the site just sat there for decades. But development crept toward it. Eventually, the owners sold, or donated the land to the Federal Government, and it became the Bayou Savage National Wildlife Refuge. While working for the New Orleans Planning Commission 20 years before the land was transferred, I did a preliminary design for an airport, which would have covered the entire area. I could just fit two parallel runways 5,000 feet apart in the marsh. I put another runway along US Highway 11. My secret motive was to prevent residential development while saving as much of the wetlands as I could. I knew that development of the area would put way too many people at risk from potential hurricane flooding. Luckily, the mayor, who liked the plan, was about to leave office and wasn’t interested in starting the project near the end of his term. The ‘New Town in Town’ plan can probably be found in the archives of the Main Branch of the New Orleans Public Library. The Times Picayune Newspaper archives might have some articles about it. After Katrina, I shutter to think of what would have happened, had the area been developed when the Federal levees failed. That is the true story of the abandoned interchanges.
December 2nd, 2009 at 3:10 am
graffiti photos???
January 25th, 2010 at 5:33 am
I remember going to Jazz land when i was a kid,
and it was pretty amazing for me.
Today i was over in new orleans and i remembered it and my old
memories that i had there, soon after we passed it in the car.
It was so sad to see what had become of it,
the gates were completly blown off.
But i plan to return there once i get out of high school.
Its kind of a bucket list thing for me.
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:50 pm
i was there on a mission trip and its possible for anybody to enter the park the fence was open
March 17th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
i think ya’ll need to open the six flags again because six flags was decated to new orleans and the children and family’s in the city.if you start a donation you can raise the money to open six flags again i personally myself will donate because this was my favorite park please don’t change any of the rides we love them all thanks for your cooperation
March 18th, 2010 at 5:36 am
Is it legal to be in there? Is it easy to get in? I’m from around there and it sounds like a fun place to visit when I go back.
March 18th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Hey nick I went in there with some of my friends a few months ago. no it is not legal. we had a lot of fun and took some pics, but as soon as we got out, the cops were waiting for us. but the cop just fussed at us, and let us go. BTW its not that hard to get in, there’s a service road of of the interstate, that leads to the employee parking lot. there’s a barbwire fence blocking you from getting in, but its pretty easy to crawl under it.
March 20th, 2010 at 1:32 am
My plan is coming together nicely isn’t it?
March 20th, 2010 at 6:02 am
i drove by via I-10 (going to and coming from NO) and i thought the place looked odd almost creepy from the highway its this amusement park in the middle of god greenish brown nowhere with rollercoaster tracks breaching the skyline… i got home and looked for info on the park only to learn they closed for katrina and then it got ran over by the other 6 canes aftr thatand the park is locked in legal battle with the city of new orleans and sixflags sent out their “scavenger crews” scavenged everything worthwhile and not damaged and repairable and split with a big “F U NO!”. and now new orleans is trying to sue to get the equipment back and to get the place up and running again even tho everything that remains is a total loss due to corrosion caused by the salt water on the various rides and tracks that were submergeds between 1 and 8 feet deep…
April 15th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
[...] of abandoned Six Flags New Orleans http://www.terrastories.com/bearings…-flags-orleans __________________ ———————————————— XBOX Gamertag: makvli199 [...]
April 28th, 2010 at 6:04 am
Oh My! Nostalgia… I’ll always remember JAZZLAND! at its best:
From Sept 1999 to Sept 2000, I was becoming a health care chaplain in New Orleans, in a program that required long hours of study and intense hospital work. After graduation a young chaplain from Lithuania and I celebrated by going Jazzland, newly opened with bright lights sparkling. A full 50 years earlier, I had my First Roller Coaster Ride on Coney Island. It was terrifying for a 9-year-old! So in 2000, 50 years later, although I was excited to be taking in the sights and sounds across the Jazzland Lagoon, my young companion convinced me that the best celebrations included high adventure. I now have the thrilling memory of my Second Roller Coaster Ride at Jazzland. I loved it! Indeed, I now live life enthusiastically and plan to have a roller coaster ride every 50 years for the rest of my life.