California’s Great America Will Close After Labor Day 2027, Making Next Season Its Last

California’s Great America, the Six Flags theme park in Santa Clara, will run one more season and close for good on Labor Day, Monday, September 6, 2027. The park announced the 2027 “Farewell Season” on Friday, November 6, 2026, in a post on its blog and social accounts, as CBS News Bay Area and Theme Park Tribune reported.

The 2027 season is scheduled to start in March. The park has not announced an opening date yet, according to CBS.

Why the park is closing

The closing date follows a land deal made four years ago. In 2022, the park’s then-owner Cedar Fair sold the land under Great America to a real estate developer for $310 million and leased it back. That lease runs through June 2028, and the park confirmed it will not be extended, Theme Park Tribune reported. The lease had options to run as late as 2033, according to Laughing Place.

Cedar Fair merged with Six Flags in 2024, and the combined Six Flags Entertainment Corporation now runs the park. Theme Park Tribune reports the company has closed Six Flags America and sold off seven other parks since the merger. Whether any Great America rides will be moved to other parks after September 2027 has not been announced.

“The Farewell Season is an opportunity for generations of Bay Area guests to return, spend time with family and friends, and revisit the attractions and traditions that have made the park in Santa Clara, California such a meaningful part of the community,” park manager Dave Vosejpka said in the announcement.

What the park has been

Great America opened in March 1976 as Marriott’s Great America, one of two parks the Marriott Corporation built for the national Bicentennial. It later ran as Paramount’s Great America before Cedar Fair bought it in 2006 and renamed it California’s Great America, according to Laughing Place’s history of the park. CBS reports the park has welcomed tens of millions of guests.

The park’s coasters include RailBlazer, a single-rail coaster; Gold Striker, a wooden coaster; and Flight Deck, originally named Top Gun. The park also has the South Bay Shores water park. Great America shares its parking lot with Levi’s Stadium, and on 49ers game days it hosts the Red Zone Rally pregame party with Flight Deck as the only ride running, per Laughing Place.

What this means if you want to go

For San Francisco families and visitors, the park is a day trip down the Peninsula, and the March to September 2027 season is now the last chance to ride. The park’s official site lists season passes, daily tickets and the park calendar.

Closer to home, our monthly things to do in San Francisco in November 2026 guide covers ZooLights, the city’s two ice rinks and other family plans for this season.

Photo: Runner1928, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.