Cedar Fair to acquire Paramount Parks

I personally do not care if CF retains the Paramount, Paramount Film licensing.

I was not any more enticed to attend just because attractions had a movie name or theme, or had Paramount in front of them.

I think that it makes sense to retain the Nick licensing deal because that is such a recognizable and highly marketable entity among kids. The parks, IMO benefit greatly off of family themed attractions based on Nick characters. However rides with an obscure movie title really do little to drive the parks.

One can't help but notice the overwhelming focus that Kinzel is putting on the fact that the Paramount Parks have been very successful family-oriented parks. That tells me that the CF execs recognize that the parks, specifically PKI, have found a niche in concentrating less on huge thrills and more on family themed attractions.

My gut tells me they will change very little initially, and retain the family themed focus for future additions. And no doubt CP will be their anchor thrill park.

Shaggy

CCMR...what is more telling than the quantity of the parks owned is the quality. I think Cedar Fair is really moving in the right direction.

Shaggy,

I was thinking the same thing. Dark rides seem to benefit from theming alot more than coasters do.

I know this is going to take a long time to shake out, but I wonder how long it will be before Cedar Fair invades Orlando.

(Sorry, thinking WAY long term.)

Could someone expand on what Kinzel said about Great Wolf at KI?

Just asked... season passes will not be good at KI this year or vice versa.. next year will be evaluated.

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CCMR...what is more telling than the quantity of the parks owned is the quality. I think Cedar Fair is really moving in the right direction.

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Don't disagree at all, I just thought it was an interesting thing to note. As Six Flags was buying Jazzland, did anyone really think just a couple years down the line they would be so close in the number of parks owned.

Coasterphan, I live in DC. I have seen many comercials for BGE, PKD, SFA and a few for Hershey (started very recently.) Not once have I seen a Dorney ad, nor would I consider driving further then any of those parks to visit Dorney. DC is a new market for CF.

Rob,

No not the season passes, but the PKI agreement with Great Wolf lodges. He said the agreement will stay with CBS. What does that mean? Great Wolf is out?

Probably means that GW will still be there but the land that it is being built on is not included in the sale and CBS will retain it.

Just the way I read it.

Rob, did that sound like it meant all Para/CF season passes, or just the Kings Island/Cedar Point passes? Just curious if my Michigan's Adventure pass might be good at KI this summer.

*** This post was edited by Juggalotus 5/22/2006 1:58:03 PM ***

No, it's not going to happen. The sale won't even be final until many of the parks are closed or in their final weeks of operation.

That's just what I thought Jeff.

I also wouldn't expect much change in the way each individual park is run, not right away anyway.

Well, there goes The Beast. Let's petition to just go ahead and bulldoze it. Cedar Fair will ruin it, if their past and current coaster maintenance is any indication. *** This post was edited by coasterkitty 5/22/2006 2:37:15 PM ***

Would you rather some housing developer bought the place?

There goes The Beast? The Beast went several years ago when Paramount killed it.

Can we please dispense of the silly comments now? The people maintaining The Beast aren't going anywhere.

Would I rather have a housing development buy it? If Knott's Berry Farm is any indication, THEN YES I WOULD!!! What's the difference? Housing developements, projects, and Cedar Fair parks are all concrete and steel. The people maintaining The Beast aren't going anywhere? Gee, that's the same thing they said about Knott's when they bought it. They changed them very quickly. They will most likely replace the maintenance team with one of their own. And please, Dear God, don't get me started on Cedar Fair's maintenance team this week.*** This post was edited by coasterkitty 5/22/2006 3:10:03 PM ***

Um, yeah, because the Beast is so well maintained. Have you ridden a Paramount wooden coaster lately?

-Nate

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

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Thanks for the info Redman.

Well, I'm not sure if I'd say Knott's was a theme park in 1920. I think it took on that status when Walter (wow, just like that other theme park guy) built Ghost town in 1940.

But didn't Cedar fair build Ghostrider? I don't see what your beef with Cedar Fair is coasterkitty. Just be thankful Six Flags didn't buy them (not that they could). Imagine that

And what's wrong with housing developments anyway? They're high-class. Everybody's always dissing housing developments.