A Lehigh Valley staple and popular attraction for locals, tourists and Lafayette College students has industry analysts and amusement park enthusiasts concerned over its future, though park officials remain more optimistic.

Dorney Park, located just west of Allentown, could be sold by parent company Six Flags, according to Dennis Speigel, the president and founder of International Theme Park Services Inc., a leisure and attractions industry analyst company. 

Speigel said Six Flags currently sits on $5.2 billion worth of debt after the merger between Six Flags and Cedar Fair — the former parent company of Dorney Park — combined the debts of the two companies. He added that this pre-existing debt, paired with a poor 2025 tourist season largely due to weather and increasing ticket prices, is the biggest contributing factor to the company’s financial crisis.

“They either have to deleverage from underneath the debt, or they’re going to be forced to restructure in some way,” he explained.

Speigel said he couldn’t speculate on what the amusement park industry might look like in the next few years or the upcoming decade, but said he expects nothing major to happen in the next two or three years.

After a Lehigh Valley News article speculated on the possibility of Dorney Park’s sale, park officials clarified their “commitment to reinvestment” and argued that their attendance has remained “in line with expectations.”

Media contacts representing Dorney Park and Six Flags did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Despite Dorney Park’s assertion of stability, Speigel said the park is not quite out of the clear.

“Dorney could be hitting all of their numbers and hitting their budgets, but it’s not about Dorney,” he said. “This is about 40 parks homogenized and a five and a half billion dollar debt hanging over the company.”

Which amusement parks are at the highest risk of being sold “depends on how the banana is peeled,” according to Speigel, who added that Six Flags is currently in the process of selling another of its amusement parks, King’s Dominion in Virginia.

The company will also close two of its Maryland-located parks, Six Flags America and Hurricane Howie, on Nov. 2. California’s Great America Park is expected to close at the end of 2027.

Despite worries about the park, Alex Michaels, the president and CEO of Discover Lehigh Valley, said he is hopeful of the park’s future and spoke of its importance to Lehigh Valley’s tourism industry.

“The park is a lot more than just rides and entertainment,” Michaels said. “It’s been here for generations.”

Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk said the city is “keeping an eye on the situation.”

“I don’t think that there’s any real concern, and Dorney Park isn’t going anywhere,” he continued, adding that even if Six Flags sells the park, it will likely continue to exist under a different parent company.

Speigel said he is anxious to see how the fall tourist season affects the amusement park business, with Halloween attractions bringing in up to 10% of the annual revenue in a good season.

At Lafayette College, trips to Dorney Park have become an event for student organizations and programs on campus.

In the past several years, Lafayette College and Lafayette Activities Forum hosted an annual “Pards in the Park” trip for students to visit the park for a day during the Halloween season.

“While Pards in the Park has been done several times, we are excited to see what else we can do in the Lehigh Valley,” forum member Tommy Quilty ’27 wrote in an email. “There’s so much to do and we wouldn’t want to limit ourselves.”

Texas native Mauricio Hernandez ‘27 attended Dorney as part of the Summer Program to Advance Leadership program, and despite his fond memories of Dorney Park, he said he hasn’t returned due to the high cost of visiting.

“I think back then, it was like $60, $70, which isn’t bad,” said Hernandez of the ticket price. “Still, as a college student, it’s pretty hard to be able to purchase that.”

Morgan Hazelton-Tarango ‘26, who attended the park as a student leader for the program, said she was sad to learn of Dorney’s future uncertainties.

“There’s a lot of history attached to it that I didn’t know,” she said. “There’s some roller coasters that are really old, and have been there forever, so I thought that was really cool.”

This story was originally published on The Lafayette on September 12, 2025.