Six Flags New Orleans
 
Six Flags New Orleans's entrance in June 2004
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| Slogan | "It's playtime!" |
|---|---|
| Location | New Orleans, Louisiana, United States |
| Coordinates | 30°3′4.0″N 89°56′3.9″W / 30.051111°N 89.934417°WCoordinates: 30°3′4.0″N 89°56′3.9″W / 30.051111°N 89.934417°W |
| Owner | City of New Orleans |
| Opened |
May 20, 2000 (as Jazzland) |
| Closed | August 21, 2005 |
| Previous names | Jazzland (2000–2002) |
| Rides | |
| Total | 21 |
| Roller coasters | 4 |
| Water rides | 2 |
| Status | SBNO |
May 20, 2000 (as Jazzland)
Six Flags New Orleans (SFNO) is a 140-acre, abandoned theme park in New Orleans, Louisiana that has been closed since Hurricane Katrina struck the state in August 2005. It is owned by the Industrial Development Board (IDB) of New Orleans. Six Flags had owned the park since March 2002, but after assessing the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the related exorbitant expenses of repairing the damage, sought to terminate its 75-year lease with the city, beginning in July 2006. The city agreed in September 2009. The park is located in New Orleans East, off Interstate 10. Despite various announced plans to redevelop the site, as of March 2017, it is still an abandoned amusement park in extremely poor condition. The site is owned and maintained by IDB. The site has 24-hour security and trespassers are prosecuted. Videos and photos of the site have surfaced over the years from thrill-seekers. This encouraged city officials to become more diligent in its approach to secure and ban tours of the park. The park is no longer operational and safety is a concern. Trespassing is prohibited, and the property is only visible from the highway. The New Orleans Police Department officers can be seen patrolling the park daily to prevent trespassing.
The park opened under the name Jazzland in 2000. It was operated by Alfa Smartparks (later Odgen Entertainment and now known as Palace Entertainment), but owned by a Spanish company called Parques Reunidos. 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 located 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 rollercoaster called a Zydeco Scream (there are well over a dozen of these identical coasters in parks in the US). The park had a log flume 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 Alpha Smart Parks specialized in running water parks and smaller amusement arcade centers. In 2001, the lease was put up for sale, and in March 2002 Six Flags purchased the lease, although the park's name did not change that year.
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