Cedar Fair to buy SFWoA

Koaser King to clear this up it is Texas Twister and it was down the first half of the year because they were redoing the computer system on it. It wasn't broke just to be 'broke'. They have it up and running now (or they did as of last season) and it was running great and very consistenly, much like it did when GL installed it back in '93(?). Now that I've given this a day I think it was a good idea for the transaction and I am ready for a great new season at GL.

I'm glad you enjoyed the Wildlife side Koaster King, so did I, but that side was nowhere near the quality that it was when it was Sea World. Did you ever attend Sea World? If not, then you don't know why people were disappointed.

Combining both parks was an idiot's plan, and CF is smart enough not to fall into that trap. Who knows what CF's plan is for the Wildlife side, but if there ever is a major park over there again, you can bet it will be a separate gate.

Dick Kinzel did say that he hopes to operate the flat rides in the Wildlife side that are easily accessible. He also said that entertainment contracts for 2004 will be honored. I think the Batman water show was contracted. If so, I can see the part of the Wildlife side that is by the water ski stadium open. That would include the flat rides, children's play area, water ski stadium and probably a few food stands. Of course, the Batman show would probably have to be redone a little to not include a reference to Batman. This scenario is just speculation, but it makes sense.

Hmm... Snoopy is on ice at Cedar Point...

...why not the Peanuts gang on a Sea-Doo? Snoopy is the hero while evil Lucy & Peppermint Patty try to terrorize Charlie Brown & co. in an attempt to thwart Charlie Brown from getting the little red haired girl from noticing him.

(Hmm, something to draw me back has come about)

Pete, I haven't been to SeaWorld since I was about 10, so I didn't remember much about it at all. When a new owner comes in, I usually think about something as a whole new park, but in a sense it seemed the Wildlife/SeaWorld aspects were completely disappearing with the CF purchase. I mean, if I had the choice of SF running SeaWorld or it closing, I would rather someone be there to keep it alive. I guess the animals will be elsewhere though and I can still have my animals/thrills in one at the Busch parks in Orlando, Tampa, etc. That would be nice if they had all of the rides open on the Wildlife side too this year and that gains some more interest from me if I get a chance to walk back over on that side. That's where I thought a lot of the beauty and interesting things were, so maybe even with the lack of animals, I'll be amused for more than just the Wild Rides side. The wildlife shows were the best part over there and my parents thought the water ski show was nothing special, but maybe they're putting on a better show this year.

I agree that CF is better off without it, but it would be nice if they charged a separate gate over there and got a management contract with someone who knew how to deal with sealife. That would have been a nice park-hopper deal too and SF should have done that instead of the combo. I agree with what you said though. I'm sorry that the Wildlife side was a disappointment to you, but I thought they were trying to add some different things like the tigers, zebras, killer whale, etc. plus to rides to put a little more variety than SeaWorld had over there. Part of my reason for going back to "SFWOA" this year was for what I experienced last year and the other part was the animal attractions and improvements they announced at NCC for this year. If it was SF themselves that removed the animals, I would be saying mostly the same things. It just scares me with what CF might or might not do with it. I have lower expectations for the park now that CP is its sister park an hour away.

-Danny

It's interesting to me that on the same day they announce the sale, they also announce thier new Batman sim. Sure, a sim can be changed, but it's interesting!

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040310/phwfns1_1.html

d8

That's for Six Flags Great Adventure. We're talking Six Flags Worlds of Adventure--> Geauga Lake. Also, the new show is going to be Batman/Catwoman, not the sim.

-Danny *** Edited 3/11/2004 11:30:57 PM UTC by Koaster King***

So pretty much everything up until the Water Ski Stadium should be open? With the exception of the Cove and Shark Experience? Is this right?

I would hope, that would actually be very cool if they indeed kept this half of the Wild Life side open.

Hell, if BoomTown is too hard to turn back into a real kiddy land because of all the Looney Toons crap they'd have to tear down, why not make the area surrounding the Playland and Flats the new Camp Snoopy?

Whoops.

d8 - Feeling pretty stupid right now. Oh Well. Not the first time!

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Koaster King said:
That's for Six Flags Great Adventure. We're talking Six Flags Worlds of Adventure--> Geauga Lake. Also, the new show is going to be Batman/Catwoman, not the sim.

-Danny *** Edited 3/11/2004 11:30:57 PM UTC by Koaster King***

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Koaster King said:
What are people actually expecting CF to do here that SF didn't?

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You mean besides run the park as it should be run?

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Koaster King said:
I won't claim I loved the park in 2001 or 2002, so you can have those arguements with someone else from now on. 2003 is when it really shined. I can't comment on 2001 especially though because I don't remember much affecting me one way or the other. I know I wasn't impressed with them at first though, especially the wildlife part.

-Danny

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That's my answer for you Jeff and I don't think you have experience to answer it. I would continue saying things I've said before in the SFWOA thread from last year if you want me to explain how it was run then and how many people posted TRs to show they enjoyed it and had few to no problems then.

-Danny

What difference does it make? Was it not a business failure. We keep coming back to that, and you keep coming back with, "Yeah, but..."

But what?

"Yea, but..."

Since I found that it's not enough to comment on my own experiences at the park in 2003, I asked people and almost everyone I talked to and almost every TR I read from SFWOA in 2003 said they either enjoyed the park or thought they had made improvements, sometimes small, sometimes big, since 2001 and 2002. One of my friends said she visited 5 times in 2003 and only one was "bad" as opposed to several bad times in the years before.

SFWOA said things at NCC about improving to guest service and employee training for 2004, so I was looking forward to that.

They slowed down in 2002-2004 and didn't plan anything major, but tried to do things to gain a bigger profit like finally get the killer whale and make a record-breaking waterpark addition that didn't cost too much, but still should have made a decent impact.

They were down in attendance in 2003, but so were every other SF park including some we love like SFOG, SFOT, SFFT, SFGAdv, and SFGAm. Even some CF parks like Dorney were down (10%?) in 2003.

The most current business decisions from SFWOA seemed to be on the right track and good business to me. Overall it is/was a business failure, but they should have just separated the gates of the Wild Rides and Wildlife side and tried something different. That was one of the biggest mistakes. I *think* they finally figured out how to run a good business at the park at the end of 2002 when I visited the second time that year. Only two rides were down, much less than the six from earlier that year. In 2003, only one ride was down the first two times and three were down the third time, but I was told why they were down with mechanical issues. I wouldn't want them or any park to operate unsafe rides. At least they were thinking about safety.

In other words, I didn't foresee CF doing anything better with GL in 2004 (besides maybe better or different marketing) that I wasn't expecting from SF this year with the turnaround they seemed to be doing at SFWOA and SFGAdv. And now, we have a Flagless CFWoA, or Cedar Fair Without Animals. While I saw a major coaster such as a hyper down the road at WOA, I don't see one or anything major really for GL. The worst possible scenario would be CF eventually closing GL and selling off rides or moving them to other parks in the chain. I'm just not sure about it, but I was giving some thoughts I had anyways. That's ok, right?

-Danny

Why don't we just re-name this topic "The Jeff and Danny Show" :)

I side with Danny with the fact that SFWoA had alot of potential and from my 1 and only visit, I enjoyed myself and especially enjoyed the wildlife side.

I also see Jeff's point of view in that what SF is trying to do with customer satisfaction is pretty much to little-to late.

I agree Scott. It always turns into that when SFWOA comes up and this time CF/CP are *really* involved for once as more than competition, LOL.

Hopefully Jeff is equally amused as I am. A nice debate is all good fun and games. Like I told someone earlier, this would be really boring if we all agreed on everything.

-Danny

I agree with you ;)

My first reaction to the buyout news was that Larry (the old Gopher at work) had been drinking too much....

I only arrived in the USA 3 years ago, and had virtually no experience of amusement parks. A buddy dragged me to CP 2 years ago, where I was instantly mesmerised - last year I went 25 times.

The same buddy warned me to avoid SFWoA, but last year I went there anyway. Twice. And both times it sucked so bad that this year I did not bother to renew my SF season pass - actually, on the 2nd trip I was so pissed off I left after 3 hours.

Having travelled to a few other parks last year (SFDL, SFNE, Canobie Lake + others), I have to say that the SF mojo does not impress me at all. But the wonderful "Family" vibe at Canobie Lake left me totally in awe of the park - small, no huge rides, but just a fun, happy place.

I don't think that CF need to try to convert GL into another CP - that would be a bad thing. But if they can get that "Family" thing going that I saw at Canobie Lake, they are going to have a winner.

Steve

Are the enthusiasts really happy that CF seriously has no really close competition now? That's mostly where WT and TTD came from or at least the timing of their arrivals methinks. I don't think we'll see these types of attractions as often and we definitely won't be seeing anything big at GL as far as I can see. I would have expected some decently big things for both down the road, but not now. Not often. And again, definitely not for GL.

-Danny

When I hear family traditional park, I think of a park that goes out of its way to treat you like a member of the family. A park that welcomes guests into its playground and lets them know that they can enjoy themselves with their satisfaction as the most important thing on the employees mind.

I see parks that have succeeded without needing the biggest, tallest, fastest etc. If you cannot compete on that end of things, woo them with a satisfactory experience of what you do have. That appears to be the biggest obstacle that Cedar Fair faces. If they are not going to give patrons animal shows, at least make sure they are satisfied with what is remaining.

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du8die said:
It's interesting to me that on the same day they announce the sale, they also announce thier new Batman sim. Sure, a sim can be changed, but it's interesting!

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040310/phwfns1_1.html

d8

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Ironically, I believe SFWoA was scheduled to recieve the same simulator movie as well. Oh Well...

I'm almost positive GL will have excellent customer service compared to CP mainly because they have to. If they're letting people know they're owned by the same company, especially from that area, they'll expect nothing less. Of course, they also need to make sure people won't go in expecting Cedar Point: The "Ce"quel.

-Danny