Allan Muir – Admin/EiC/Theme Park Fanatic

Closed for Storm

If there is one thing that I am a huge fan of it is theme parks and theme park history. I started this journey in the early point of 2019 also known as “the before times.” Of all the various YouTube channels dedicated to these topics such as Yesterworld, Defunctland, TPMVids, and countless more, it was the channel Bright Sun Films I fell in love with. The channel focuses on abandoned areas and one of the biggest is Jazzland which would later become Six Flags New Orleans. It has a fascinating story. But that story is a tragedy against the backdrop of the hardest hitting hurricane in the history of Louisiana: Hurricane Katrina.

For those of you who were not paying attention to Hurricane Katrina for whatever reason it eviscerated Louisiana. Killing over 1,400 people and flooding 4/5’s of New Orleans the state of Louisiana was forever changed. With Six Flags New Orleans being near Lake Pontchartrain the drainage system which was installed with the intent of preventing flooding was overwhelmed. Eventually the theme park was submerged under six feet of water.

Jake Williams aka the creator of Bright Sun Films teased a big announcement in 2020 and said announcement was the documentary “Closed for Storm” which would be focusing on Six Flags New Orleans. The film is wonderful in a sense of finding closure for those interviewed who were staff members at SFNO. The film showcased the origins of the park as Jazzland, the acquisition by Six Flags, and then what the park is sadly best known for nowadays. With all that said, there are multiple plot points in the film. The largest one being what will happen to the land that is currently occupied by Six Flags New Orleans.