Six Flags America is a theme park located in the Woodmore CDP of Prince George's County, Maryland, near Upper Marlboro, and in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Founded as a wildlife center in 1973 by Ross Perot, ABC television operated the park as a drive-through safari called The Largo Wildlife Preserve beginning in 1974 until its closure in 1978. The property was bought by Jim Fowler's Wild Kingdom; thereafter the site was gradually converted from a wildlife preserve into a theme park named Wild World. In 1992, the park was renamed Adventure World after being acquired by Premier Parks, and ultimately was branded as the 10th Six Flags park when Premier Parks acquired Six Flags Inc. and adopted its name in 1999. The "America" in the park's name was chosen due to the park's proximity to the U.S. capital.
History
Early years
In June 1971, Irish brothers Frank and William Stephenson, who were both animal trainers, approached Texas billionaire Ross Perot about financing an animal park they wanted to open somewhere on the East Coast of the United States. The Stephensons and Perot formed the company C.T. Industries, Inc. to build and run the park. Ultimately they narrowed their decision to the Washington area, and purchased of land in Prince George's County, Maryland. On December 22, 1971, they applied for special zoning exception to the Prince George's County planning board. The park was announced to the public in February 1972, with it expected to open before the end of 1972.
In 1973, the plans for the park were taken over by the American Broadcasting Company Scenic and Wildlife Attractions division. On April 28, 1973, John E. Campbell, president of ABC Scenic and Wildlife Attractions, confirmed they were negotiating the purchase of another 125 adjoining acres for the park.
The park opened as a drive-through animal safari, The Wildlife Preserve, on July 14, 1974. Initially, estimated attendance was approximately 850,000 visitors a year. Those reasonably ambitious visitor projections never materialized. In 1975, the park added narrated tours through four-car, 150-person-capacity trains. However, the park failed to generate public interest or profits. In an effort to course-correct ABC Scenic and Wildlife Amusements announced a $30 million amusement park expansion to the struggling drive-through safari.
Plans for expansion were scrapped, and in February 1976, it was announced the park would close permanently. ABC released a statement explaining the park, "had unacceptable attendance and revenues in 1974 and 1975." In a report on 1975 operations, ABC said The Wildlife Preserve, resulted in a $4 million loss for the American Broadcasting Company.
The park stayed open with a decreased staff in 1977, but was closed altogether for the 1978 season.
Before the year 1978 came to an end, however, the park was sold to Jim Fowler, the host of Wild Kingdom. For the 1979 season, the park reopened with a guided train tour through the safari exhibits, and a smaller park with a children's playground, animal shows, and a petting zoo. Alas, the park continued to flounder in terms of public interest, yet nevertheless remained operational for the summer, through the 1979 season. Fowler's company ultimately bowed out as well. The park again was closed for the 1980 season.
Wild World
In the Summer of 1980, the safari was sold to a group of local businessmen, who invested $11 million into expanding the park. The animal drive-through safari remained, and the park added three flat rides, two kid's rides and a carousel. The park was named Wild World and open by June 26, 1982. In addition to the select amusement rides, four tube waterslides were added, along with two body slides and a children's water play area. This brought modest improvements in revenue.
The 1983 season saw the addition of four more flat rides, including the High Seas (a swinging pirate ship attraction) and giant swings. The waterslide area was expanded, at the time, to a full water park; with the addition of more water slides and a large wave pool, a more successful 1983 season was underway. Dubbed the 'Wild Wave', $2 million was spent adding the wave pool and it officially opened May 30 for the 1983 season.