Judge Roy Hofheinz (Houston mayor from 1952 to 1955 and former owner
of the Houston Astros) opened AstroWorld in 1968. It had eight themed areas: Alpine Valley, American, Children's World,
European Village, Modville, Plaza de Fiesta, Oriental Corner, and Western Junction. The park was purchased by Six Flags in 1975, and the
park's name changed from AstroWorld to Six Flags AstroWorld. At
the end of the 2005 season, AstroWorld was sold in order to reduce the massive debt load with which Six Flags was burdened. The amusement
park chain believed that rising real estate
values in the area would make the property worth more without a park on it than with the amusement park. Six Flags had hoped to get $150 million
for the land but ended up settling for only about $75 million, not a great sum considering it cost over $20 million just to remove the rides and
demolish the park's buildings. The park's rides were either moved to other Six Flags parks, sold, or scrapped. (Please click on the pictures below to read
about the coasters' fates after the park closed in 2005.) Despite closing AstroWorld
and selling over a dozen other properties, Six Flags filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2009 due to its
capital expansion and park acquisition spree of the 1990s. Even in 2023, the
Six Flags chain is still highly leveraged with nearly $4 billion in debt.
Two coasters not shown below also left the relatively small 80-acre park:
