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May 2, 2025 20 mins
Maryland's theme park to close after the 2025 operating season.
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, when is the last time you went to six Flags.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Oh it's been a couple of years.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Wow, I give you credit. That's that's more recent than
I expected you to say. All right, very good. Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
No, it just may have been for FrightFest and it
was kind of a weird experience.

Speaker 4 (00:18):
So we haven't been back since. Then.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Tell me, uh, what was when you say it was
a weird experience. What was so weird that it kept
you away for so long?

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Well, it was a little bit like people jumping over
the lines and you know that kind of stuff that's
not too much fun.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
You felt you felt as though it was unsafe. Yes, yeah, okay,
that's fine. You can say that. Listen, they're they're shutting down.
It doesn't your bad review isn't going to hurt that.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
No, she didn't know, but you had no idea.

Speaker 5 (00:47):
It just came out yesterday.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, but I figured it wasn't everybody watching the news. Yes,
six Flags is shutting down. They're going out of business.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Oh wow, Well, I won't ass much.

Speaker 5 (00:56):
Then, I guess the location in Maryland.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yes, it's not all that's the one I'm talking about.

Speaker 5 (01:01):
Say six Flags. People think of how it's a nationwide okay.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
But if somebody were like, do you want to go
to an amusement park, you go, Yeah, you want to
go to King's Dominion or six Flags. Nobody's going. Do
you want to go to King's Dominion or Six Flags America?
Six Flags?

Speaker 4 (01:14):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:14):
No, okay, So let me back up, man, Hold on
a second. Look are the problems you've caused? Hold on
one second, Hold on one second. No, you're okay, You're okay. Yes,
six Flags America is shutting down after this season. Yeah, right,
so they'll go through November. So they'll get through frightfast.
Where I hear it's very unsafe and then and then
that will be it. And it's also the what is

(01:37):
the name of the water park, Hurricane Harbor or something. Yes,
that's also the whole area is gone like that, that
whole area will be empty.

Speaker 5 (01:45):
Big piece of property is there.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
So a couple of things. Well, can I tell you
what I learned yesterday? Like when I moved here in
nineteen ninety nine, right, I only know it as six Flags. Yeah,
I didn't know that. I just said wild World. Is
that what it used to be? Well, that's what it
was before or before.

Speaker 5 (02:07):
Oh, when did it become six Flags?

Speaker 1 (02:09):
I want to say it became six Flags in was
it ninety mid nineties? Mid nineties?

Speaker 4 (02:18):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Before that it was Adventure World? Okay?

Speaker 5 (02:22):
Who owned that?

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Wild World? A wild World is what it was before
Adventure Work?

Speaker 5 (02:28):
What's it now? I don't know any of this. So
what kind of timeline are we talking about?

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Okay? So here's the timeline, Kristen. Will you do me
a favor? Will you find me somebody who knows wild
World or Adventure World? I don't expect anybody to know
it as the wildlife preserve like a Safari well originally, yes,
when was that in nineteen? Are you ready for this?

(02:54):
It was founded as a wildlife center in nineteen seventy
four and operated as a drive through Safari called the
Largo Wildlife Preserve really from nineteen seventy four until it
closed in nineteen seventy eight. Do you know you'll know

(03:14):
the name who was behind opening it as a wildlife
center and drive through safari. It was actually set up
as the guy who funded it actually had it set
up where they were going to do like research and
study animals and so. But because they had all this property,
they were also going to allow it to be a

(03:34):
drive through safari park, but it was really set up
as like a wildlife educational system.

Speaker 5 (03:41):
Is it like a famous actor from the seventies?

Speaker 1 (03:44):
No, no, no, no, he was most famous. He was
most famous for politics.

Speaker 5 (03:52):
Politics Ronald Reagan.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
The no Cyanne. No, how high up did the person
get ran for president and didn't make it? Who was this?
H Ross Perrot?

Speaker 5 (04:06):
Really?

Speaker 1 (04:07):
I loved date Tross Perot. I love I voted for him.
I loved day Tross Perot. Ah Ross Perot was behind
the opening of the the Largo Wildlife Preserve.

Speaker 5 (04:19):
Hmm, that is not a day wasted a drive.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Through wildlife park. It opened July fifteenth and nineteen seventy four.
They estimated that attendance would be around eight hundred and
fifty thousand people a year. They missed severely, Yeah, they
missed severely.

Speaker 5 (04:41):
What kind of animals did they have?

Speaker 1 (04:43):
They had? I'm looking they had like they had like elephants,
Like they had legitimate animals. No, they had legit A
Tross Bureau is a billionaire. He can buy whatever he wants.
So they had they had a ton of them. And
when they when it, when it couldn't be Look at
that old foot how old does that f and thing look? Yeah,
giraffes like it was a legit drive through safari. Like

(05:06):
I always joke about the ghetto Safari in New Jersey.

Speaker 5 (05:09):
Part of Six Flags Great Adventure.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Right, this thing was a legit drive through. Yeah, minus
the monkeys that would rip your windshow wipers off.

Speaker 5 (05:17):
Those fences aren't very high the no, but it was like.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
You know what, it's largo, who cares?

Speaker 5 (05:23):
Seriously? Those big cats are not inclosed, nor are those rhinos.
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, but we are out doing a safari when So
when it went out of business on.

Speaker 5 (05:34):
The grounds of what is now six this.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Was the the There was this plot of land that
h Ross Perrot ended up buying.

Speaker 5 (05:43):
Look at the Ostrich. This is great archival footage.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
It ended up a handful of years later being sold
from a wildlife preserve that was.

Speaker 5 (05:58):
It was the cars. Look at the pinto it was going.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
It was going to be used.

Speaker 5 (06:02):
Remember the Ostrich's pecking on the window.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Something's never changed, never change. So they ended up selling
it to somebody else who was going to use it
as an animal preserve and television set. Jim Fowler's Wild Kingdom.
They ended up buying it from h Ross Perrot And.

Speaker 5 (06:22):
This was in seventy eight.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Uh, this was in seventy eight.

Speaker 5 (06:28):
Yes, like you said, it lasted for four years.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
And then that also died. Yeah. Now they had like
cars that you could drive through on like almost like
trains and trails and a train at exactly that also
went tits.

Speaker 5 (06:48):
Up after how long after that?

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Ostrich the In the summer of nineteen eighty, the Safari
was sold to a group of local businessmen who invested
eleven million dollars into expanding the park. The animal drive
through Safari remained and the park added three flat rides,
two rides, and a carousel. The park was named Wild

(07:14):
World and it opened in June twenty sixth, nineteen eighty two.

Speaker 5 (07:18):
But the drive through Safari was still a part of.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
It, still a part of it, right, So it was
like the Ghetto Safari in New Jersey.

Speaker 5 (07:23):
Stop calling it then.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Sorry, the Ghetto Safari in New Jersey.

Speaker 5 (07:28):
I meant, just don't say in New Jersey.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
So yeah, so that's so it became amusement park and
drive through animal Safari. That didn't that didn't go great. Yeah,
that didn't go great. So after Wild World knew it
was yes, but so it lasted his Wild World for
a while.

Speaker 5 (07:48):
Yeah, so isn't that a good Yeah?

Speaker 1 (07:51):
But then something something happened at the end, and it's
then it changed to Adventure World. And it was Adventure
World for a very short amount of time. I think
it was only a hand like two three years, and
then then six Flags got it late nineties. Right before
I got here, I had no.

Speaker 5 (08:08):
Idea Wild World. We're being told was indorse. The celebrity
spokesperson was Big John Stunn.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Was it really?

Speaker 5 (08:20):
According to eight six four seven?

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Now? Only because we had talked about wave pools earlier
when it was Wild World, they had as it grew
as Wild World, it was an amusement park. They had
ended up doing away with the Animal Safari. But that's
when the water park came in, and that's when they
had their first wave pool death.

Speaker 5 (08:42):
Oh okay, I.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
Only bring that up because we talked about it earlier.

Speaker 5 (08:49):
I understand, But this was a fun history.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
I thought, Oh yeah, no, I'm still having fun.

Speaker 5 (08:56):
A couple of people are saying they're sad to see
the Wooden Coaster go.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
Really, you're you're sad about it. When was the last
time you were there?

Speaker 5 (09:05):
You haven't been in twenty five years.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah, listen, I get that mentality wherever. So you're like, oh,
because you get nostalgia, sure, but you never you never
did anything to support it.

Speaker 5 (09:15):
But is wild one? Like is it an oldie?

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Well? Oh the roller coaster? Yeah, I have no idea,
I have no idea.

Speaker 5 (09:23):
Oh yeah, it's from nineteen seventeen.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Nineteen.

Speaker 5 (09:28):
Never didn't move. They moved from a park that was
in Massachusetts, but it was built in nineteen seventeen and
it is still the same one that is operating at
six Flags America. I was Ross Perro's favorite, good luck
riding at this year.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
You think they didn't put effort in before. Now that
they know they're going out of business, let it crash.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
Oldest coaster in any six Flags park. See, that's that's true.
People into the park this summer. You were wondering if
this will push some tickets. It definitely will.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yeah, you drive past there every year up ninety five
to go to New Jersey to go to six Flags.
Great advantagres. The better part, will you be stopping to
ride the nineteen seventeen roller coaster? You haven't yet.

Speaker 5 (10:17):
I could see I'm old. I will say this. I've
said before. My dad was a massive relian. What love
woulden't I did not know the history of the Wild
One as a tribute to him. This summer I could
see riding this.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
You won't take that bet, I'll take that bet.

Speaker 5 (10:40):
Maybe Where does it stand in terms of the oldest
wooden coasters in the US? We know it's the oldest
in the six flag system? What's the cyclone?

Speaker 4 (10:47):
Wait?

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Hold on, I'm being told in my ear they've taken
all the other ones down because they're unsafe? Is it?

Speaker 5 (10:53):
What's the one at Coney Island? That isn't that the
oldest one? Ten years later Diane nineteen twenty seven, Oh damn.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
You couldn't. There's not enough money. It brings truck could
land in my front yard. I ain't getting on that one.

Speaker 5 (11:06):
Hell no, is this going to be in the top
five oldest?

Speaker 1 (11:10):
Which one? The one at six Flats?

Speaker 5 (11:12):
Yeah? The one I'm going to the summer. You are not,
I'm telling you. Oh, it's beat out by Leap the
Dips in Altoona. It's the oldest still operating roller coaster
in the world. From what year opened in nineteen oh two.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
You know what's awesome about those really old ones? You
leave with such a concussion my.

Speaker 5 (11:39):
Neck leap the dips? What park is this? Lakemont Park? Wow?
It is basic? I mean, so is the wild One.
Based on the photos.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
Who was the spokesperson for the park?

Speaker 5 (11:55):
We were told Diane may remember it, but we were
told it was Big John Studd, Big Sean stud.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
Hey, you have my favorite morning radio.

Speaker 4 (12:12):
As dude.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
As I heard talking about Wild World, I went on
YouTube found the commercial that my dad filmed for the
roller coaster Wild One. It's uh you guys should check
it out that he also filmed another commercial for them
on their water slide with my older brother.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
So, yeah, that.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
Wild World is a big part of my childhood.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
Was it?

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Was it a good park?

Speaker 4 (12:38):
Yeah? You know, I I haven't been since I was
so young. From what I remember, it was kind of.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
Like an old like King's Dominion back in the day.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
You know a lot of just older roller coasters and stuff.
But again, I haven't been there since I was you know,
twenty twenty five years ago.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
Right wait, I'm being again. My IFB is very busy
there saying you're the reason we're going out of business.
Everybody remembers it, but hasn't been in twenty five yearscal.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Looks like they shot themselves in the foot with that one.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
So wait a minute. In homage to your dad and
the tyler's dad, do we need to do an elliot
in the morning, night at six Flags?

Speaker 5 (13:27):
Because he said the commercial was specifically for that coast.

Speaker 4 (13:30):
Yes, exactly, Yes, let's do it.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Let's help hey, let's try to keep six Flags in business.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
No, no, no, no, no, no, no that far. I
am not burdening that, not at all. Just one night.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah, I will say six Flags. There's a couple of
areas in that park where oh he.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
Walked around there.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
You're like, am I still in the park over here?

Speaker 4 (13:57):
Yeah? That was a tough one, the six Flags.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
All right, Well listen, all right, by the way, we
are so busy, I gotta put together at dinner theater.
I've got it's homage to your father, Nights at six Flags?
All right, Big Sean Studd, good to talk to you.
Thank you, sir, Thank you guys. You got it. We'll
talk to you later.

Speaker 5 (14:17):
Shall we watch the commercial?

Speaker 1 (14:18):
All right?

Speaker 5 (14:19):
Here?

Speaker 4 (14:19):
I go.

Speaker 5 (14:20):
I have no idea what the quality is gonna be
not great. The audio may sound distortive. That's okay, Okay,
here we.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Go one study. I can beat this Coasters the stood

(14:53):
you right? All right, We're doing it. Hey would six
Flags do that with us? They got nothing the lose.
They're going out of business. Who care?

Speaker 5 (15:01):
They are ready lest at all?

Speaker 4 (15:06):
All right?

Speaker 1 (15:06):
I have so much to do this weekend. I have
so many promotions to put together. Hi, elliot in the morning.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
Hi is this me?

Speaker 4 (15:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Hi? Who's this?

Speaker 2 (15:16):
This was Kathy?

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Yes, Kathy, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
I remember as a kid in the eighties, my dad
took us to that drive through Safari and it was
really wild. The giraffes would come up into your car.
We would beat them French fries in the car. Yes,
their heads would come in. And at the very end
my dad drove a Bronco too, and at the very
end the monkeys would jump on his car and ripped

(15:41):
apart his winchow wiper, all the rubber around his car.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
Wait a minute, night, ma'am, ma'am, I have to jump in.
Were you at the one in in Largo or were
you at the one in New Jersey?

Speaker 2 (15:57):
No, well, I'm pretty sure it was Largo.

Speaker 1 (15:59):
Yes, Oh my god, so they did the same thing there. Yeah,
that's so. Is every drive through the Safari the same?
You feed it French fries. It attacks the car and
the monkeys rip your car to hell.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
That's what happened.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Wow, how about you? When is the last When is
the last time you went to six Flags?

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Probably in high school for like a school like Banfield trip.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
Tell her to go to hell? All right, very good,
very good, Thank you, ma'am, thank you. What is what?
What's the problem is it?

Speaker 5 (16:35):
No? They they have sense up in New Jersey netted
Baboon Village because that was the problem. Yes, it was no.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
No, but if you if you look at six Flags, right,
so I feel like we are if you go between
you have six Flags King's Dominion and and bush gardens
are in Hershey Park? Are we just oversaturated? And six
Flags was like they were like, which is the trashiest?

Speaker 4 (17:01):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (17:02):
I hope they're not listening. I'm trying to put together
a promotion.

Speaker 5 (17:05):
That's not going to rode well for your pitch. Oh,
they should have heard the slights you had against Dinner
Theater and they would have known it was coming.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
No, it is, it just is it just you can't
support enough or did they let the park go?

Speaker 5 (17:22):
I think that we are definitely use the word oversaturated,
but we're just we're lucky to have so many options
and some of the options are better.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
Okay, that's fine, that's fine, joined bing sean Stud. It's
right in itself in my.

Speaker 5 (17:37):
Head like stud definitely, isn't that in the promo?

Speaker 1 (17:41):
Hi Elliott in the morning?

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Hey Elliott, this is Kathy.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yes, another one, that's okay? What can I do for you?
I used to.

Speaker 6 (17:50):
Work as a water attendant at the top of the
water slide in high school and I can't remember if
it was six Flags or a Venture World at the time.
It would have been nine, ten, ninety six or seven.
But I would stand at the top of the water
slide all day for six, seven, eight hours and then
just be the one to say go to people as

(18:10):
they stood at the top of the water slide.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
How many Loogis would you see? Just ride down that ride?
Ninety six would have been an Adventure World, I believe.

Speaker 6 (18:23):
Yeah, yeah, and the you know, I couldn't do any
other like life saving or CPR or like lifeguard duties,
but I was I was very delegated to like the
top of the slide, and yeah, there was a lot
of trouble at the top sometimes kids pushing and fighting
and like tripping and busting their noses on the on
the slide.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
Right there in the line, this.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
Guy go go.

Speaker 6 (18:47):
I did have the best can of my life, though,
I bet you didn't.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
I bet you could swing a whistle around your fingers
like a champion. Absolutely all right, very good, Thank you, ma'am.
Thank you. Where am I going? Lane seven? Hi? Yellie
in the morning.

Speaker 4 (19:04):
Hey, it's a big jake from conference. How you doing? Man?

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Hey?

Speaker 4 (19:06):
Good?

Speaker 1 (19:07):
What's going on?

Speaker 4 (19:07):
Brother?

Speaker 1 (19:07):
What's your last name? What's going on?

Speaker 4 (19:11):
Dude? Nothing much, man. I got a little insight to that.
My dad was a he's retired now, but he's a
pool builder. He we built those three first pools in
Wild World back in eighty two, the wave pool, the
speed slide, and the kiddie pool. But the wild one,
so I got to go in there when I was
a kid was being built. It was kind of fun
and saw the animals there and stuff. But the Wild one,

(19:34):
remember it was like eighty six, I think it was built,
and I was riding behind my dad and uh, we're
going up. I was scared that the roller coasters. We're
going to the track, and I was yelling at him,
but I hate you, and he turned around and stared
at me the whole ride. I knew I was getting
my ass beats as soon as I off the ride,
and he beat me like I stole something. He beat

(19:54):
me like he beat the hell out of me. There.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
All right, very good, thank you, h pre Obama.

Speaker 5 (20:06):
It was the eighties. Quick, bring up the New York Pigeons.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yes,
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