The amusement park company Six Flags has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Deleware court Saturday.

Six Flags, which operates amusement and theme parks across the U.S., Mexico and Canada has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in an attempt to reorganize and shed over $1.8 billion in debt. The company says that the bankruptcy will not affect the day to day operation of the business and it’s amusement parks will stay open as usual.

Six Flags had a good year in 2008 and it’s parks saw about 25 million patrons but says it had to do something about it’s crushing debt load. The company has been trying to work out private deals with creditors but did not cut debt enough to make enough of a difference.