Cedar Fair appoints former owner's daughter to GM post at Michigan's Adventure

So, no 210' steel coaster in 2002, but instead a ride and attractions package. There we have it.

Well Brad, Cedar Fair would really like to save thier money right now.  They didn't exactly have a record breaking year in attendance, plus they just BOUGHT Michigan's Adventure this year!  That's a lot of money to buy that place!  I wasn't expecting to see any new huge rollercoaster there.  Shivering Timbers is one heck of a ride ( so I've heard) and the way that it is worded, it sure sounds like you'll be getting a new coaster in 2003.

It's good that Cedar Fair didn't appoint a new person as GM, instead they kept it within the family who owned it.  If SF Inc bought MA out, someone from California, who has no idea what the park is, would more than likely have been assigned as GM.

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Gone, a sense of confidence, I'm convinced that there's just too much pressure to take! - Linkin Park, Crawling

KoЯn still Яules!

Ok, she has 30 years of experience and she is 35 years old.  Anyone else see a problem with that?

Not if she's the daughter of the previous owner and has been hanging around learning how the park works since she was a small child.

Well good for her!  Yea she started the family business when she was 5!  I hope she stays there for a long time....
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"Fly like the American Eagle"

Does anyone think Cedar Fair is waisting its time on buying parks instead of building coasters for its sister parks? Yes a 210 foot steel coaster was planned out at Michigans Adventure in 2002 but I think it has been stopped to a holt, I know the new security manager who was the former manager at Valleyfair and he said Cedar Fair will probably not be in any type of capital expantions for next season 2003 looks better despite the attandance has been down in 2001. Other people have been saying Valleyfair had plans to realse a new B&M inverted coaster for 2002 or a giant cci wooden coaster bigger than Mean Streak for Valleyfairs 25th Silver Annevirsary. I'm starting to get impaitient with Cedar Fair on how they do there capital for rollercoasters it seems they are SLOW at times. Would anyone else agree to this?

Just Great, what will we look forward to next year,  Bumper Cars??

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"REDWINGS 2002"

I believe Cedar Fair analyzes its projected capital in a professional manner.
They have a lot to do before any new major ride is built at MIA.

My thoughts on new rides/stuff: They most likely will build a rapids ride, Coasters' Diner, more games, new fencing, many more restrooms, replace Chaos with an inverting ride, bumper cars, new carousel, and build a stage for live entertainment ("some" of these ideas are mentioned in the article)

Again I think some of you don't get that this is a business we're talking about.

Buying parks is far from a waste of time. It's how you grow the business. Let's be realistic... parks like Cedar Point and Knott's are going to top out soon in attendance, if they haven't already. Other than finding ways to increase per-capita spending, that pretty much limits your growth. Flat growth = uninterested investors. New rides will always cause cyclical increases in attendance, but they don't grow the business in the long term.

Keep in mind that the coaster building boom has many of you younger members spoiled. It hasn't always been like this, and it won't be forever.

Then there's the issue of market size. Sure, a park could build a $25 million coaster, but how does that make them money? The company's view on capital improvement is that it must lead to a fairly quick pay-off. That makes sense to me. You don't know what the economy will do, so do you really want to risk getting into long-term debt?

Parks like Michigan's Adventure and Valleyfair simply don't have the markets to support huge capital improvement. There are only so many people you're going to get in the gates with a new ride, and therefore only generate so much money.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

Since we are on the general manager topic: Do you have to start out as a general manager at Cedar Fair's other parks to work your way up to GM at Cedar Point or can you just become the GM at Cedar Point?

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Andrew Hyde
http://www.experiencethepoint.com
Author- Experience The Point:The Unofficial Guidebook to Cedar Point

I think it's excellent that she was appointed GM!  You know the park looks like a great little park, when parks get big, they seem to lose something!  I hope that MIA does get something next year and I think it is a possibility because Cedar Fair wants the nation to know that they have bought this park.  And coaster131 they bought the park for 12 million!  That is not that much money considering they built Millenium Force for 25 mil.  They have enough money for something pretty awesome!

I'm glad to hear she was appointed to GM.  it was a family owned park . Now a member of the same family is back in charge.  ~ sniff ~ makes you all warm and fuzzy inside

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Roller coaster of Love ~ ooi ~ ooi ~ ooi

Actually, it was 28 million. It says right in the story: "...Roger Jourden until he sold the park this spring to Cedar Fair for $28 million."
It is great news, I have ran into Camille a few times, and she is the nicest person. When her father sold the park, my friend and I presented them with a picture of us in the winter infront of Zach's Zoomer (ST was too far away). The very day the park opened she recognized us and came up and chatted for a little while. She was so saddened that the park was sold, so this is a really good thing for her. When they sold it, there was a comment on how the last like 10 years she had been there every single day, except when her and her family went to CP for a day to ride MF. I'm glad she has her rightful spot back!

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Kara
391 Laps
"I bought a Superman cup at Michigan's Adventure"

My bad!

Did anyone else catch this in the article? It's in the section when they are talking about long range plans for the park.

"Besides major rides, Cedar Fair may look at improving catering facilities for next summer to better serve group and corporate business. A night-time laser show, sit-down restaurant, hotel and campground also could be part of the long-range plans, he said."

Night-Time laser show? Does this mean that the park would be open later at night during the summer? It's kind of hard to have a laser show if the park closes at or before dusk! :-)

I would guess for that to happen that the park would have to add some more lighting to the midways and such.

Has anyone heard if this could happen now that Cedar Fair LP ownes the park?

--Brian Plencner
e-mail: saurses@home.com

Glad to hear it.  I am not mad at CF for not building a hypercoaster this year.  Jeff said it best, MA just doesn't have the market to support it.....right now.  It's nice to see that the look of the park will change, but will it look like CP?  I have heard that Dorney looks just like the Point.
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Please disregard anything said by me that is incomprehensible, incoherent, or just dumb. I am and will be drained from the arduous school year, thank you!

All I would like to say on this subject is that, "Talk about keeping it in the family! This gives this statement an uplifting of momentous proportions!"

i dont know how adding a 210 foot steel coaster to the park will raise the attendance incredibly.  the park is always empty and the latest they ever stay open is 9 pm.  i got to go there on my way back to califronia from cedar point with my knotts berry farm season pass and made it there 10 min before closing at about 8 50 to find 3 people riding shivering timbers and all of the other rides closed.  i hear that the parks attendence is only 300,000 people a year and i find that pathetic because they are so close to cedar point.
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It must suck for all the people who dont live in Southern Cal.

SFMM 2001 GONNA ROCK ALL PARKS

On a Saturday afternoon the park can be quite crowded with people clogging the sidewalks and wait of 30-45 minutes for ST and WildMouse.

"Empty" is such a relative term. "Empty" at CP would be packed to the gills at most other parks.