Cedar Fair to buy SFWoA

I just heard that Cedar Fair has agreed to purchase SFWoA.

I do not have time to research the topic further, but it should be on the various news sites soon. I heard the news on WTAM 1100 in Cleveland.

I have to run to work. If someone doesn't beat me to the details, I'll post more later.

I thought this was a joke...But it is NOT A JOKE!

http://www.cedarfair.com/public/news/story.cfm?id=154

Pardon my french, but...

Holy Sh*t!

I came here expecting to close the thread.

Huge news! Can't wait for more details to trickle in :)

Just wondering how the SFWOA passes will work this season. I'd assume they'll still be valid at SFWOA, but will they get you into CF parks now and not SF? What if I want a pass to SF parks, not CF parks? What if I already own a CF pass and only got a SFWOA pass to use at SFWOA - would my CF pass get me into SFWOA now making my SF pass unneeded? Lots of pass questions...

*** Edited 3/10/2004 1:35:22 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

Woah! Ok, I am officially a coaster geek now - this is the first time my heart has skipped a beat when I saw news relating to coasters! Even TTD didn't get me this pumped up ... financially or park-wise! ;)

Ok edit for two more things:
#1 - Will my SFWoA pass for '04 still work at "Geauga Lake: a Cedar Fair park"? Or did I spend that Six Flags money for other parks only now and I should use my Cedar Fair pass there? (I know there's no solid details, but anyone hazard a guess?)

#2 - When is Cedar Fair going to just offer to buy Northern Ohio for $200 million? ;) *** Edited 3/10/2004 1:36:06 PM UTC by Impulse-ive***

Edit #2 - I just noticed in the press release at Cedar Fair that Six Flags is retaining ownership of the animals. Now, does that mean that the animals are going bye-bye a-la Sea World's exodus, or does that mean that Six Flags and Cedar Fair will be sharing assets at a park for some time?? *** Edited 3/10/2004 1:42:24 PM UTC by Impulse-ive***

Not what I expected to find when I turned on the computer this morning.

I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around it.

An obvious advantage to this is the elimination of the exceedly annoying "Worlds of Adventure" name. :)

In addition to the season pass questions, I wonder about the licensing of Looney Tunes and the various superheroes?

Will we see some name changes in the ride/attraction line-up or does that transfer over in some way?

Another interesting question: how many full-time employees from Cedar Point will be sent to Geagua Lake and who will run the park?

HOLY MOTHER OF ___________!

We all the rumors...But....

I'm in shock!

I'm gonna fall over...

As I said on GTTP: Boggle!

Can someone explain this to me from Cedar Fair's perspective? They now compete with themselves in a way that MIA and CP do not---two big parks with serious attraction lineups. I assume they'll lose the WB characters and gain the Snoopy crew, which gives us two snoopy parks within two hours of one another. I would think they'd focus heavily on the wildlife side, except SFI keeps the animals. On the other hand, Cedar Fair now has a stranglehold in the SE-Michigan/Northern Ohio market...

definitely not what I expected.

I am wondering who they will have at the helm running the ship over at SFWoA. And here is to hoping that Cedar Fair can get this ship sailing smoothly. Now for sure it makes sense to buy a Cedar Point season pass for me. WOW!

I think if they're really smart, they make sure that the new logo for Geauga Lake includes some text that follows that flowing line and has that pennant on it - the more they make it look like Cedar Point's logo, the more name and logo recnogition they get and the more people they're gonna have flowing in.

It's kind of like voting because you know the guy's name - I think this is the one scenario where a name change or management change at TPFKASFWoA actually *can* bring in new people and bring back disenchanted ones ...

Actually, now I think I understand. Notice that the hotel and campground are included in the deal. This is a great way for CF to market Northern Ohio as even more of a "vacation destination" to folks from out of the area. As I understand it, the hotel revenue is where the real profit growth has been recently. Perhaps this is a way to further drive that end of the business? Now you've got to come for 3-5 days to "see it all", not just 2-3.

I'm also expecting CP season pass prices to go up. Significantly.

Checking my calendar: Nope, not April 1st.

This doesn't come as a huge shock to me seeing that Kinzel has publicly said on more than one occasion that he regrets not buying Geauga Lake when he had the chance. That combined with the poor results under Premier's leadership makes this seem pretty obvious to me.

I hadn't heard that SFI keeps the animals. If that is the case I might consider closing the wildlife side of the park until they can determine what to do with it. Cedar Fair has been moving away from the animal business for some time now. Closing that side of the park would allow them to scale back considerably in overhead and staffing and concentrate on getting the rides side operating as a Cedar Fair park should.

With my background at the two parks I find this all very fascinating. It will be fun to see this play out.

Just a thought: Maybe CF wanted to enhance their "family friendly" image. Many people have commented that with all the CP coasters, there isn't as much for families to do. As a bonus, maybe we'll see CP become more focused on thrill rides and less on flats.

Then again, it's just a thought, I'm still in shock too.

Laura

With the animals gone, and assuming Cedar Fair doesn't bring in animals of their own ... that opens up one giant amusement park. Lots of potential for resort development (especially with the built-in lake) and expansion of the "rides" side.

I wonder how (if at all) this will affect the ACE Con pricing. Looks like PKI better watch out. lol

Very good point, Walt!

With a little park restructuring and capital investment, the wild life side becomes a resort or two and additional park area. Rearrange some rides, build some rides, add a little and get customer service on the right track and you have a mini-Cedar Point East in a few years.

*** Edited 3/10/2004 2:13:52 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

I don't know which surprises me more. The fact that Cedar Fair bought SFWoA or the fact that SFI is selling a park after so many claimed SFI wouldn't sell any parks.

I for one am waiting to hear more but from what I know right now (which isn't much I will admit) I HATE this! I just renewed my SFWoA Season Pass online Saturday. My card has been charged, still no pass yet though.

My main thing why I hate this is because I liked it being a Six Flags Season Pass because I liked visiting the other Six Flags, like SFGAm in Chicago for CBC. The only Cedar Fair park I have ever been to was Cedar Point, and to be totally honest I'm tired of that park.

I will keep an open mind though about this. Who knows it could work out for the best, I just don't want my $107 that I had charged to my card to go down the drain now...

Will SFWOA still be known as a Six Flags park this year or will rights and everything change over by early May so that it becomes a CF park this year?

Also, there are reasons why no major rides have been built on the wildlife side in the last three years. There are extremely "picky" residentials over there who worry about noise pollution and stuff like that.

Any guesses on what some of the name changes will be? How about the "Not so wicked twister" and "Cedar Fair's first floorless ... finally!"