Universal or Disney in Maryland: A Return Possibility or Just a Pipe Dream?

[Coaster Lover]

Six Flags America in Largo, Maryland will be closing at the end of this season. The total property is just over 500 acres with the current theme park on property taking up only about 150 acres. The park is located just off I-95 in a property zoned for amusement parks and the local city council wants the property to stay an amusement park (and has indicated that they would make life "tough" if Six Flags sells to anyone who wants to do anything with the property BUT a theme park). As of 2024, the local Balitmore and Washington markets are ranked 22nd and 8th respectively based on a 2024 survey of radio market population with designated market areas published by A.C. Nielsen Media Research. The property has over 8 million residents within 50 miles and 14 million residents within 100 miles and the DC area welcomes over 27 million tourists every year. The areas is serviced by three major airports. The area does has some significant local theme park competition in Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens, Hersheypark, and Six Flags Great Adventure, but all are traditional "amusement parks" who rely more on thrills and less on theming. The park is not directly on the DC metro, but is only a few miles away from the end of the Blue Line and, with the right local support, may be able to get the Metro extended to the park to get public transit access (which would also directly connect the park to two of the airports and countless hotels).

There is also the potential for a second plot of 150 acres just 8 miles down the road when FedEx Field shuts down after the Washington Commanders move to their new stadium.

Six Flags will have control over who they sell the property to, and ultimately, they will sell it to the highest bidder, and one could imagine a situation where they would be hesitant to sell to a theme park operator who would keep the park as is as it could be competition for Kings Dominion and Six Flags Great Adventure (which they own). But might they be willing to sell to Six Flags or Universal who would potentially help lift overall theme park attendance to the region as a whole?

Disney wanted a park in the area for a long time, but are they ready to try again? Universal has been expanding their U.S. footprint. Might the North East be next (either with a full-on park or another Universal Kids resort)? Seems if either chain was even considering expansions into the North East, this may be one of the best options that could come their way.

 

[coffeefan]

A Universal park heavy on coasters would make sense for a former Six Flags site. I think Disney should look into the Great Lakes region or Ontario if they want to use Marvel IPs on the east.

 

[cheezbat]

Dream on.

 

[Pizza Moon]

Maryland or New Jersey for a new build could easily support an Epic Universe or Shanghai complex/resort. Reclaimed land would work in the event there’s not a good large site near an airport/interstate/high speed rail corridor, but my guess is you’d have to position it to take advantage of those transport options.

Same with the triangle in Texas between Austin/Dallas/Houston. The Universal Kids park was so stupid, they should’ve actually built an Epic type of park.

It would just canibalize the Orlando market a bit, but tbh, from a brand perspective and synergy, and taking advantage of massive new local markets that’s totally currently being left on the table, it’s a no Fing brainer long-term for Disney, Universal, or another company that can toss billions at it and do it right.

I bet you could run simulations where it makes sense, it’s just the ROI per dollar would be less than plopping a second park at Shanghai and expanding the existing US Resorts, even adding more parks to them. It could all happen though in conjunction as cost of goods and services plummet over the next decade due to automation, and eventually the ROI will probably make sense, maybe in a decade, we’ll see. The existing parks are just too under built as-is.

All eyes will be on Universal UK and how that affects the Orlando parks, and while it won’t be a god-tier park it is still a new theme park with a name that represents quality, so the consequences of that on top of whatever new expansions are happening across the domestic parks in addition to Epic will all determine how this plays out, same with political situations and market growth in countries like India and Brazil.

 

[cheezbat]

No way. No point.

 

[Pizza Moon]

No way. No point.

There absolutely would be a point.

It would just eat into Orlando, the ROI just wouldn’t make sense as just expanding Orlando for the next decade and deciding whether to plop a resort in Texas or New Jersey Maryland or at WDW once Orlando is better built up, as they are “more so” the same market, ignoring locals for a moment.

Disneyland is its own beast mostly, so whatever happens in Texas or to the East wouldn’t really affect a third park at DLR.

Even as Japan has declined in population they’ve raised prices and still hit like 200+ minute waits on rides all the time, I imagine theme parks will only grow more popular over time if products like Epic Universe are what’s constantly delivered, right now, Disney could easily support parks in Texas and the Northeast, just as it is, but why drop $10B on a complex requiring tons of infrastructure when you can just expand current underutilized and under capacity parks?

 

[Coaster Lover]

No way. No point.

I'd be curious on your rational. The North East has a huge and dense population base and (arguably) some of the best connectivity through highways and trains of anywhere in the country. Putting a park in the North East provides some protection for if/when costs of traveling go up and people would prefer to stay closer to home and would inevitable get more people from the North East visiting a Universal park more frequently even when travel costs are less. Further, if you differentiate your offerings enough, you would help minimize cannibalization (Harry Potter fans would for sure want to visit both a North East park AND an Orlando park if the Harry Potter offerings were different at both destinations; same could be said for Nintendo offerings). If Disney was seriously looking at building a park in the North East at one point and only backed out because of pressure from NIMBYs, I don't know why things would have changed enough now that it still wouldn't be at least considered by either Disney or Universal. Just curious why you think there is definitively "no way" and "no point."

 

[Pizza Moon]

I'd be curious on your rational. The North East has a huge and dense population base and (arguably) some of the best connectivity through highways and trains of anywhere in the country. Putting a park in the North East provides some protection for if/when costs of traveling go up and people would prefer to stay closer to home and would inevitable get more people from the North East visiting a Universal park more frequently even when travel costs are less. Further, if you differentiate your offerings enough, you would help minimize cannibalization (Harry Potter fans would for sure want to visit both a North East park AND an Orlando park if the Harry Potter offerings were different at both destinations; same could be said for Nintendo offerings). If Disney was seriously looking at building a park in the North East at one point and only backed out because of pressure from NIMBYs, I don't know why things would have changed enough now that it still wouldn't be at least considered by either Disney or Universal. Just curious why you think there is definitively "no way" and "no point."

Totally agree, it would also provide a large local pool that would never otherwise even visit, at all, or as APs, or become die hards. Plus it exposes your brand to more people in general.

Literally all it would take is an Epic Universe or a Shanghai Disneyland level park with 2-3 hotels and a Disney Springs/DisneyTown/CityWalk District and it could easily be supported in New Jersey, Texas, and at some point probably India and South America too.

 

[mkt]

Pipe dream.

Crack pipe dream.

 

[HakunaMatata89]

There's no way Disney or most likely Uni are going to open any type of major footprint in the Northeast where winter will keep them shuttered for half the year between snow or the temperatures. The only way they do is some type of indoor only operation but I don't see Disney ever being interested in that when so many people from the NE willingly travel to Orlando several times a year.

 

[CoastalElite64]

Pipe dream.

Crack pipe dream.

How? When that region was seriously considered by Disney at one point?

 

[mkt]

How? When that region was seriously considered by Disney at one point?

It was the 1990s.

The DMV has changed dramatically since then.

In 2026, it's a crack pipe dream.

 

[CoastalElite64]

It was the 1990s.

The DMV has changed dramatically since then.

In 2026, it's a crack pipe dream.

I lived in NYC and Virginia in the 2010s. What changed exactly?

 

[mkt]

I lived in NYC and Virginia in the 2010s. What changed exactly?

As a cab driver in DC once told me when I complained about a fare, New York.

NYC is irrelevant here. This is the DMV.

Since the 90s, that region went from semi-developable to fully built out, extremely expensive, and politically hostile to mega-projects. The land is fragmented and infrastructure is already strained.

Then layer permitting, zoning fights, staffing costs (higher than any of their other parks), and the fact that anything built in that corridor becomes political on day one, whether it tries to be or not.

This isn’t just buying land and building a theme park. Disney would be negotiating with entire communities of politically active, well-connected type A personalities who have the resources and knowledge to fight it.

Disney couldn’t get Disney's America done in the 90s when the area was easier.

In 2026, it’s not a comeback idea.

It’s a crack pipe dream.