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Credit: DisneyIf you like filming POV videos of attractions, or just like snapping a photo of you and your family on a ride, get ready to cut that out of your life forever at a majority of theme parks across America, and beyond.
Taking photos and videos at a theme park is an essential part of visiting, as it is what helps preserve your memories. At theme parks like Walt Disney World, photos and videos are allowed on almost any ride (without flash, of course), but that is not the case for all theme parks. Just down the road, for example, Universal Orlando Resort does not allow filming at Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure.
The Six Flags theme parks also do not allow for filming on their rides, as we recently shared after a popular YouTuber unknowingly broke the rule, pulling out his phone on a rollercoaster and ended up not only causing a ride stoppage, but immediately getting escorted out of the theme park. We can see in the video that the creator made that he was not fighting back, and the video was not intended to be about getting kicked out, but actually, a scientific explanation about the speed of roller coasters.
Even so, the consequences were strict.
According to Six Flags, “No commercial photography of any kind is permitted without the written consent of Six Flags. The use of the following equipment is strictly prohibited: Cameras mounted to a vehicle, drone, cart, scooter, or other moving object. No cameras of any kind are allowed on any rides and any time.” This rule is seemingly put in place to protect guests from loose articles hitting others during the ride, as well as not leaving the park liable to fetch lost items on a consistent basis.
In a significant move last year, Six Flags, a major amusement park corporation, joined forces with its competitor Cedar Fair in an $8 billion merger.
This strategic alliance brings together a total of 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks, and nine resort properties across North America. With the merger complete, the combined companies anticipate generating over $3 billion in revenue, as stated in an official announcement.
“The combination of Six Flags and Cedar Fair will redefine our guests’ amusement park experience as we combine the best of both companies,” said Selim Bassoul, the president and chief executive of Six Flags.
“Our merger with Six Flags will bring together two of North America’s iconic amusement park companies to establish a highly diversified footprint and a more robust operating model to enhance park offerings and performance,” said Richard Zimmerman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cedar Fair.
“Together, we will have an expanded and complementary portfolio of attractive assets and intellectual property to deliver engaging entertainment experiences for guests. The combination also creates an enhanced financial profile with strong cash flow generation to accelerate investments in our parks to delight our guests, driving increased levels of demand and in-park value and spending. I have great respect for the Six Flags team and look forward to joining forces as we embark on this next chapter together.”
Additionally, the combined company will reportedly retain Six Flags as its corporate name and trade under Cedar Fair’s ticker.
With the companies both merging together, one may assume that the rules would merge under the Six Flags name, as that will be the corporate name for all of the parks across America, Canada, and Mexico. This would mean that filming at locations like Knott’s Berry Farm, Canada’s Wonderland, Cedar Point, and more will likely ban filming, photos, and overall cell phone usage on rides unless given permission.
Considering there is no other theme park mogul that owns this vast amount of parks in the world, this new national filming ban would be expansive, and would affect millions of guests every year from around the world. That being said, Six Flags has gone as far as to place “affection bans” in their parks, to reduce PDA, so these large rule rollouts are nothing new to the corporation.
So far, the rules on the original Cedar Fair parks have not been changed, however, it has been a short time since the merger, and for many of the parks located in more northern regions, they are currently closed due to their seasonal schedule.
Do you think that theme parks should ban filming and photos on all rides?