Cedar Fair to acquire Paramount Parks

I'm pretty sure PKD markets to that area, but I'm not sure about Dorney. Either way, it is kind of a stretch if someone's making a decision between those specific parks when SFA, BGW, Hershey, etc. are options as well of course.

Mine cut out for some reason.. Was anything addressed as far as how they'll make capital improvements on a yearly basis or whatever?

Also of interest:

80 acres available land in Canada, several hundred acres available at PKI.

There were a "number of interested parties" in the bidding process.

Pricing at the Paramount Parks won't change this season.

Danny, they did point out that capital expenditures might require some borrowing which Cedar Fair hasn't had to do in the past. They did state that they hope to contine their annual distribution increase (19 years and counting) but the sense was that this might be more of a challenge now.

That good to hear about the available land at PCW, and PKI, because Cedar Fair will need all of it for their oversized midways.

Danny.. are you using FireFox by any chance??? I had issues with FireFox keeping up with the slide show AND audio.. Sadly.. IE works fine...

Someone said, "All Top Guns will now be renamed Talons, or maybe Raptors."

Actually if the Top Guns gets a new name I would think they'll be called Patriot.

Edited I forgot that Coasterbuzz is now using HTML in their posts.
*** This post was edited by Sawblade5 5/22/2006 11:49:52 AM ***

Perhaps CF will keep FOF at PKD, or has deconstruction already begun?

*** This post was edited by SFGAdv lover 5/22/2006 11:49:06 AM ***

Dick pointed out to a naysayer that Cedar Point, the flagship, is in what is at this time an economically depressed area of the country. He is touting the geographic diversity of the company now.

He believes it will take 3-5 years for a financial payoff to be realized...which is in line with what they experienced with Dorney and Knott's.

I think they are on the right track.

Rob, I was using Safari, which seems to have had similar issues as Firefox with me, so I'll try something else if I have any issues on the 1 PM call. Thanks!

Thank you for those notes too wahoo. :)

DP

It makes sense to me that the Nickelodeon license is included. But here is a question for those with more insight in this business: Is this more beneficial for the park or for Nick?

Example: The Beastie is now named "The Fairly Odd Coaster". It seems that the park will be paying for the naming rights, but Nick will presumably gain because of increased "brand awareness". For example, I'd barely given "The Fairly odd Parents" more than 2 seconds thought. But after spending 25 minutes in line last Saturday, I can now at least recognize the characters. Ditto for "Avatar".

I would think that the party with the most to gain from the Nick theming is Nick. But then again I'm not a 4 year old begging my parents to take me to PKI to ride the "Dora rides".

-Buckeye Brad

MiA's website says 50 years. 1956-2006. Don't know what that's about.

Wow! This is really great news! My hat is off to Mr. Kinzel! He saw an opportunity to grab a park that to me has been "in limbo" so to speak and will be making significant changes which go a long way! Next season, the park will be cleaner, better managed, and when repairs need to be made, they will be made quickly. I love the idea of CF buying Paramount Parks.

Redman said:
Knotts is much older (1920) than MiA (1988).

Er... MiA = 1956. (formerly known as Deer Park).

Eh, this isn't such a big deal...;)

This will give them several more parks to farm out GL's coasters and rides to. (jk)
:)

The original animal petting park, Deer Park Funland, that became Michigan's Adventure when it grew up, opened in 1956.

I'm assuming the Paramount name will be dropped from the park names? Hope so -- I always thought the Paramount-ized names were awkward.

I am betting the Paramount name is licensed as well for the next 4 years. I am guessing that Cedar Fair probably will have the rights to be able to use the Paramount name elsewhere if they pay the proper fees.

So will the designated smoking areas disappear at the Paramount parks or will the CF parks add them...or will nothing change?

Excluding Wyandot Lake, the Oklahoma parks, and one of the Waterworld parks (which are all being sold), Six Flags owns or operates 26 parks (assuming my quick count was right). This includes SFNO. Cedar Fair is now going to operate 17 (18 if you include Star Trek: The Experience). Kind of amazing.