Commitments and Contingencies (Details)		1 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Apr. 01, 1998 USD ($)	May 31, 2016 USD ($) shares	May 31, 2015 USD ($) shares	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($) multiplier	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Details of commitments and contingencies
Acquisition of capital stock of the former Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, paid in cash	$ 976,000,000
Temporary Equity, Redemption Value				$ 420,700,000			$ 420,900,000
Payments to Acquire Property, Plant, and Equipment				101,234,000	$ 91,392,000
Total loans receivable from the partnerships that own partnership parks				239,300,000			239,300,000
Amended and Restated Term Loan B [Member]
Details of commitments and contingencies
Line of Credit Facility, Additional Contingent Borrowing Capacity				$ 350,000,000.0
Six Flags over Texas and Georgia [Member]
Details of commitments and contingencies
Rolling period for making minimum capital expenditure at each of the Partnership Parks				5 years
Percentage of capital expenditures to Partnership Parks' revenues				6.00%
Weighted average period of the park's EBITDA for calculation of value of purchase price				4 years
Payments to Acquire Property, Plant, and Equipment							14,800,000
Cash generated from operating activities by partnerships, after deduction of capital expenditures and excluding the impact of short-term intercompany advances							$ 79,800,000
Six Flags over Texas and Georgia [Member] | Scenario, Forecast [Member]
Details of commitments and contingencies
Annual distributions by general partners to limited partners in partnership parks						$ 68,300,000
Share of Partnership Parks' annual distributions paid to Six Flags Entertainment Corporation						29,800,000
Payments to Acquire Property, Plant, and Equipment						$ 26,000,000
Six Flags over Georgia [Member]
Details of commitments and contingencies
Specified multiple for purchase price valuation (in multipliers) | multiplier				8.0
Specified price for purchase of partnership parks				$ 343,000,000
Limited partner interests owned (as a percent)				31.00%
Units purchased in partnership parks (in shares) | shares		0.0650	0.5
Units purchased pursuant to annual offer		$ 223,000	$ 1,552,000
Remaining redeemable units (as a percent)				69.00%
Six Flags over Texas [Member]
Details of commitments and contingencies
Specified multiple for purchase price valuation (in multipliers) | multiplier				8.5
Specified price for purchase of partnership parks				$ 392,500,000
Limited partner interests owned (as a percent)				53.10%
Remaining redeemable units (as a percent)				46.90%