Cedar Fair considers purchasing Paramount's Kings Island

Funny, I thought WoF just opened a new B&M inverted coaster this year and a spinning coaster two years ago while MiA just opened a new Intamin rapids ride. It must have been a dream I had.

-Nate

GIGAFORCE01: Worlds of Fun opened the Patriot coaster this year and michigans adventure opend an intiman river rapids ride and installed another train station this year.

I seriously doubt that CF is looking to buy the whole paramount chain,as nice as that may potentially be if they were to get hold of PKD I don't think they're looking to make the same mistake that Premier did when running SF.

Premier bought too many parks,spent too much cash on them & then ended up in the nice $2 billion debt that's now staring Shapiro & co. square in the face so ask yourselves this,would CF really want to make such a mistake ?

I don't know that they are going buying crazy really, someone can correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Michigan's Adventure the last park CF purchased before Geauga Lake back in 2001? I know that it may seem like a lot of purchasing, 3 parks in the same decade, but I don't think it is as bad as what Six Flags did.

I think it would be an interesting move if they got the entire chain, since that would not only cover Ohio, and also add to their market in California, but it would also put them into Canada, as well as in the south with Carowinds and Kings Dominion.

I however think that just getting Kings Island alone may be a better move, for it could be too quick of growth, and Cedar Fair could suffer a bit from what Six Flags did, where they got too big too quick. I would think that gaining Kings Island alone would be fine, it sounds like the markets are different enough to not interfere with each other. A combo pass to all three parks could also be a good thing.

If they were not able to keep the Nick theming because of copyrights, how many people see the biggest Camp Snoopy in the chain? Maybe they would rename the fairly odd coaster back to Beastie. Although another ride that would have a re-name issue would be Top Gun.

The quantity of parks that Six Flags acquired wasn't bad, I don't think. It was the ridiculous annual capital expenditures and poor management that was a problem.

while PKI draws from Cincy, Dayton and presumably Louisville.

...and Lexington, which is closer. PKI markets Lexington a lot harder than SFKK does. Hell, PKI markets Louisville a lot harder than SFKK does. :)

But Im not buying it though, they were "looking into buying SFAW" and they didnt.

^They would be stupid NOT TO look into buying these parks when they come on the market.

Perhaps they didn't find SFAW to be a good purchase, but at least they didn't let Busch or Paramount beat them to a great deal.

EVERYTHING is at least worth inquiring about, and I suspect that is what they are doing at this stage. The idea of controlling the Big 3 parks of Ohio has to be at least somewhat lucrative.

I'm still trying to figure out the guy who bought several hundred units of CF stock at 28-30 dollars a share for the sole purpose of getting a free park pass worth $39.95.

"Tomb Raider - This one isn't so easy to alter the theming on."

I don't see why this would be a hard task. I remember asking Jeff Seibert about why they never went with the "Indiana Jones" theme for Adventure Express, (not thinking that the rights were sold off years before). But PKI has done a great job with AA over the years, I believe, if needed they could do the same with TR too.

The only problem I could see would be in the temple with the monkey warrior statues, but how big a deal would that sort've thing be to remove?

Also, Who the heck was in the movie "Dropzone". I never even knew it was a movie. Face/Off was Travolta & Cage...right?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109676/

Well, I have a question about this news story.
Is the Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation (Silver Dollar City) interested in buying this park or not? If they are I hope they get it as the park wouldn't change much as HFEC does like having Viacom related attractions at SDC and Viacom has used SDC in the past to film a few Beverly Hillbillies episodes. This is why I would think if HFEC bought PKI that many of the ride will remain the same including the new Nick Kids Area.

Now if Cedar Fair LP bought PKI expect a total change of the themeing or loss of themeing of this park. I am sure as previously mentioned CF would not be interested in keeping stuff like Nickelodeon around.
*** This post was edited by Sawblade5 5/20/2006 12:03:02 AM ***

Cedar Point has been jealus over King's Island for many years. If CF was to buy them out, what do you think will happen? Look for 34 years of thrills end up looking like Six Flags last 5 years of thrills down the hill.

That's the stupidest thing anyone has said in this thread. I'm "jealus" I didn't think of it.

CP and PKI are wildly perfect compliments to each other in overall experience. Arguably the only thing missing between the two parks is a GCI/GG coaster. ;)

+Danny

I agree with you Sawblade, Herschend would be the best new owner for Kings Island, at least in my opinion. They know how to keep catering to the families, but also know how to keep the thrill-seekers busy. And to add on to that, they add new attractions every year to their parks, just like Paramount has been doing.

I'm guessing they'd keep the Nick stuff around as well as the Scooby-Doo ride. But things like Tomb Raider and IJ would probably go, (the theming not the rides) but that's understandable; I don't think Herschend would keep around that many licenses.

Considering the audience Nickelodeon reaches, any deal that could land that branding for Cedar Fair would have to be attractive. CF didn't get any rights to Looney Tunes or DC after the SFWoA sale, and there's no reason to believe they would have after the SFAW sale. Since CBS is looking to unload all their parks, it seems much more likely the Nickelodeon licensing would go with them.

While CBS has stated they are looking to sell off all their parks together, they never ruled out selling one of their parks separately. Speculation was PCW, but it could just as well be PKI.

Herschend would be a good fit for a lot of parks, in my opinion (SF Fiesta Texas, Carowinds, maybe even Waldameer from what I've seen of it). Hey, they seem to run Dollywood, SDC, and Celebration City right, and like GCI, to boot!
*** This post was edited by Arson 5/20/2006 11:09:38 AM ***

Nate said:No thanks, we'd like to keep our trees and wooden coaster maintenance. At least that's one thing Cedar Fair can't make any worse at PKI.

Heh, I'd gladly trade the trees and superb wooden coaster maintenance at Paramount's Great America for Cedar Fair ownership.
*** This post was edited by Antuan 5/21/2006 12:24:41 AM ***

I was just thinking why would Kinzel suddenly say hey we might purchase PKI ,when he's had no comment about purchasing any or all of the parks since Paramount announced they were putting them up for sale,i think it is almost a done deal unless there is a problem or he couldn't say right away we purchased PKI then have the deal fall through at the last minute.

As for some more thoughts if CedarFair did buy PKI

If Nikolodeon had to go to finalise the deal Cedarfair could rename it Camp Snoopy

Someone else on the board mentioned A 3 park Season Pass with Cedarpoint, Geauga and possibly PKI if bought.or just have Kings and Geauga added on to all parks season pass.

It is going to be an interesting summer months