A class-action lawsuit filed this week cites KMOX's reporting on families who paid for dining plans at the former Six Flags St. Louis in Eureka, saw the new owners drop them, and had been waiting months for their money back.
KMOX first reported the problem in June. Listener Ron Lynch told us his family's season passes worked on their first visit under the park's new operator, Enchanted Parks, but their dining plans didn't.
"They honored the admission pass, but they said they weren't going to honor any of the dining passes," Lynch said.
Those words are quoted in the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cole County. So is his description of calling Six Flags and getting only recordings. "We never heard any more from them, so I called KMOX and explained to them what was going on," he told KMOX at the time.
The suit splits the blame between the park's old and new owners, saying the two companies "each pointed at the other when it came time to deliver the product or return the money." It accuses Six Flags of selling 2026 dining plans while it was planning to sell the park, never telling buyers, and keeping the money after the deal closed in April. After the sale, Six Flags offered a $10 credit and said the plans were still good at its other parks. The nearest is about 300 miles away, in Gurnee, Illinois.
The suit accuses Enchanted Parks, which now runs the park as Mid America Adventure, of promising refunds or gift cards within two to three weeks when it had no access to Six Flags' payment systems. "Enchanted Parks collected the requests but could not pay them," the petition says. "[Six Flags] held the money but did not collect the requests." In August, Enchanted told customers refunds had begun. The suit says they hadn't.
The petition also cites a statement Six Flags gave KMOX in June, saying it was "fully committed" to delivering on Enchanted's refund promise. And it quotes Enchanted CEO James Harhi telling KMOX in April that the dining plan math just doesn't work long term.
The lead plaintiff, Sonya Parrent of Caseyville, paid about $280 for three dining plans and submitted Enchanted's form in April. She says she's been bounced between the two companies ever since. At one point she was told her form couldn't be found; later, she was told to check her spam folder. In late September, a Six Flags guest relations representative wrote to her, "I recognize that a five-month delay is unacceptable." According to the petition, at the time of its filing, Parrentt "has no dining plans, no gift card, and no refund. The 2026 season at the park has effectively ended."
A park spokesperson Thursday told the Post-Dispatch their records show Parrentt's request had been processed and refunded.
The suit seeks refunds and damages for what it says are thousands of customers at six former Six Flags parks, like Worlds of Fun in Kansas City.
"A lot of people are going to be out a lot of money if they don't get something out of it," Lynch told KMOX in June.
Our previous coverage:
