Cedar Fair to buy SFWoA

I have one question that I haven't seen yet. First a statement, then the question. I have my SFWOA pass, and I beileve it will be honored at GL & CF parks. The question is, will SFWOA certificates be honored by SF and processed at say, SFGAm? We already have CP passes and the SF passes were for when we traveled. So our we S.O.L.?

A couple of other angles to play out:

1. Does this affect PKI at all?

2. With SF selling SFWOA and their European division, does this mean better things for the remaining parks in the future? (less ride swapping, more new rides, better service in general)

WOW - I'm in shock... I'm wondering if my SFWoA pass will be good at the point.

I fully expect that SFI will honor all SF passes and vouchers from SFWoA...anything else would be tantamount to corporate theft from your *best customers*. Wouldn't be too long before the stock price went back to $3/share....this move suggests shrewdness on the part of SFI for certain.....they can buy down some of the enormous debt AND gather enough funds to make some serious improvements to those parks that can generate a good return (sorry, Frontier City, prob. not much would go your way)...;)

Hopefully we won't be S.O.L.

When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought it was a joke and be closed quickly. All I can say is one word and one word only WOW!!!

Just have to wait till after the conference call at 2 P.M. and see what will be done for this year and into next year. Biggest question will be the deal with the people that have already bought (like myself) or re-new their SFWoA season passes. If CF wants to do the right thing, they should honor the SF passes for this year. Question will be, would you be able to use them at any of the other SF parks? Probably not, but we can only hope. Next big question qould be, what do with the rides? What to re-name and re-theme some of theme.

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Impulse-ive said:
I've got $15 on trims on Villain's first drop after 3 weeks ... any takers?

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I won't take that bet, hopefully they won't touch the ride cause it's perfect. But chances are, they'll probably put PTC trains on it now. Any takers for that bet?

See, I almost totally disagree with that ^

I think if you have a SFWOA pass, you're golden. You'll get into GL in 2004 and all SF parks. The question is whether CF will open up their doors to SFWOA passholders - which is understandable if they didn't, however, would be a huge step foward in next year's sales if they did.

If the park does close down the Life side as suggested earlier, what will become of the "major" flat rides over there? The Scrambler, Bounty (Chance Sea Dragon), Pirate's Flight, Spider, YoYo, Starfish (Chance Wipeout) and Thriller Bees are all on the Life side and are all relatively popular. With the removal of the Silver Bullet (Huss Enterprise), there's room for one... but what will happen to the others? Or will GL keep the Happy Harbor area open and close off the rest?

So many questions....

ray p. (who has not processed his SFWoA voucher yet and wonders what will happen with it)

They probably won't, but it would be a big step. I believe in what you're saying Lord Gonchar, I just hope it comes true.

Here`s the complete story.....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=580&ncid=580&e=7&u=/nm/20040310/bs_nm/leisure_sixflags_dc

Hmmmmm...

Well, it's obvious where this came from. Cedar Fair has been regretting not buying Geauga Lake when it had the chance for years now. Six Flags hasn't made any money in years, and is hard up for cash. Cedar Fair, on the other hand, has enough pocket change to buy Six Flags outright...but only wants one park.

Six Flags gets cash.

Cedar Fair gets Geauga Lake.

Northern Ohio will ultimately end up with two outstanding amusement park operations, and most people probably won't even notice that they are affiliated. Notice that they're gonna call it "Geauga Lake." Period. Probably with NO REFERENCE AT ALL to Cedar Fair. It will be obvious that the place is under new management. Locals will probably even know who the new management is. But I'd look for Cedar Point and Geauga Lake to operate as what appear to be two entirely independent parks, much like the Valleyfair!/Camp Snoopy situation in Minneapolis. Anybody more familiar with that market care to comment on how Cedar Fair competes with itself?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

A Fool's opinion:

http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2004/mft04031004.htm

I am completely flabergasted ! This is the wildest and coolest news I heard all winter.
my mind reels of the thought of what CF will do to this park. and they are buying it for $ 145 million. What a steal ! 6flags bought seaworld for $ 100 millions a couple of years ago.. Smart and shrewd.. wait till park devaluates then buy it up. Dick Kinzel is full of surprises. Cant wait for them to fix square wheels on BKF ! *** Edited 3/10/2004 4:39:53 PM UTC by Dennis***

Anyone know how I could convince SFI to sell WW/EV to Cedar Fair?

I don't think the comparison is similar Dave. In Minn. you have a seasonal park in ValleyFair and a year round park in Camp Snoopy.

Even with a few thrill rides Camp Snoopy is for a largely younger crowd and is really aimed at the folks coming into the mall, an international attraction in and of itself.

I do think that differs quite a bit with what will happen in northern Ohio but I see more synergies coming out of this than obstacles.

We here in Oklahoma have been tring to get them to repair Frontier City....and we all see how far thats gotten....We get a petting zoo for 04` season with park improvements....

With all respect, the big news is the sell of WoA to CF. However, I'm wondering about the European deal. They said they sold the parks to a private investor. I wonder if the Private Investor will still operate the parks undert the Six Flags brand? If I'm not mistaken, that is the way SFoG and SFoT operates, they are privately owned parks, but managed by SFI.

Very interesting. SF gets cash to help pay their debt, and CF now owns the entire Northern half of Ohio's major theme parks.

I wonder what Jeff has to say about all of this? *** Edited 3/10/2004 4:29:40 PM UTC by Jeff Rowe***

Apparently, the market regards this as excellent news for Six Flags -- PKS is up 14.3% today as I type this.

Now I wish I'd bought some PKS a few weeks ago...

The real question to me is how this deal will impact the WEATHER in Aurora...;)

Everyone complains about the weather, but CF actually DOES something about it...:)

It doesn't really surprise me that Richard Kinzel picked up Geauga Lake... not one bit..... but I really enjoyed the Wildlife side, I really hope they decide to keep it, or at least open it as an animal park separatly.

Heres my delema:
I bought my Cedar Point pass

I bought my Six Flags WOA "VOUCHER" (to process in a month)

Whats going to happen with season pass processing?