Cedar Fair to buy SFWoA

My first thought was "HOLY S**T!" over and over and over again.

My second thought is that I have a new favorite Cedar Fair park! :)

I think Six Flags did a lot for Geauga Lake and I dare anyone to say it was a better park in rides, looks, etc. before SF took ahold of it. I also don't think this much would have went into the park as far as rides go without SF. Now that constant building has really slowed down and SF has kind of missed the foul shots in 2001 and 2002, I think it was time for new blood. Now, I would never want CF to buy my home park if it was something like VF, WOF, or MA. But I think they can do a lot more with running operations at GL well and I hope they don't ruin the great atmosphere the park has had, which mostly had to do with the rides and location anyways. They haven't done it to Ghostie or Timbers, so I hope not to see brakes on Villain. I wonder what SUE, RRE, and BKF will be renamed?? I think we'll at least see an S&S tower at SFWOA and retheming to Camp Snoopy if nothing else happens lol.

I'm sort of sad SF won't be a park of Ohio anymore in name even though they still own Wyandot Lake. I hope they either do rides all the way around the park or find a way to put animals back in.

I don't think PKI will change their strategy. They've been in the game intensely for several years now and I don't think there's anything better they could be doing now.

-Danny

Well, who knows....you can now purchase a premium pass a Frontier City and use at any of the theme parks....

The real question is:

Will my Six Flags Ohio fleece ever be worth anything?!?

Dave: In addition to being very different in scale, CS is not owned by Cedar Fair, so there is less incentive to cross-promote. In constrast, CP and GL are not incomparable in attractions, and are both owned lock stock and animal-less barrel by Cedar Fair. I'd expect that the CF marketing folks will cross-promote the heck out of it to drive increased combined hotel stays, especially outside of the immediate market.

The new name should be called Knott's Geauga Lake! :)

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jkpark said:
The new name should be called Knott's Geauga Lake!

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I'll settle for Knott Six Flags -- at least that's how folks will be referring to it phonetically this summer.

I wonder if the contract, that I am sure Six Flags had with coke is gonna cause Coke to stay in the park for a year or so.

Not too surprised here. We expected Europe & SFWOA to be among the first to be sold off. I'd still put money on more parks being sold off in the future not matter what Burke has said. Recall a few quarters ago they had no intention of selling off properties.

Cedar is getting a bargin.

Six Flags Highlights of the Ohio Property

SF purchased Geauga Lake for $24,000,000 in 1986

SF invested $40,000,000 in 2000 and branded Geauga: SF Ohio

SF invested $25,000,000 in 2001

SF purchased Sea World Ohio for $110,000,000 in 2001

That’s close to $200,000,000 that SF has put out for the Ohio property and capital improvements, not including the new waterslides in 2003

SF stock will go up initially, but this just isn't enough yet for them to get things back on track. Still a lot of debt out there. CF will do fine as always as long as they don't overextend themselves.

My first thoughts, as it seems with everyone else was just total shock.

Brian Noble, I think you make a comment earlier about how you think the season pass prices will go up. While I don't doubt they will go up some, Cedar Fair has to keep in mind that they have other parks like Knotts that doesn't have two other parks right by each other. They would need to keep the season pass price increase fair to the people who are only close enough to one park.

Also, I think Cedar Fair might want to keep the wild life side there. They already have what they need there. Building resorts could be good too, but I know when I went there, my mom really enjoyed the animal side of the park. (She even said that she liked WoA better than Cedar Point just because of the animal side of the park. Although I think this was before the clenleness of the park went down.)

I guess my ACE Coaster Con Logo Contest entry for the t-shirt is no good. I had SFWoA and not Geauga Lake. This news is just too crazy. :)

I feel bad for my friends at Geauga Lake who won't have a job this summer!

Were your friends on the Wildlife side of the park Zero-G?

If they are on the ride side, I am sure they will retain their jobs.

Well as long as Great Adventure is still owned by Six Flags, er'thing is awwwwright!!! It will be interesting how they are going to replace all the Warner Brothers / DC comics indicia. Batman will probably be renamed Steel Bullet, Superman will probably be shipped to Dorney, Serial Thriller shipped to MIA...the possibilities are endless

Now Cedar Fair has a strong contender to PKI in offering the complete theme park experience (Water park, kids area, thrill rides, and possibly an animal section in the future. Good move!!!

It's sad that Six Flags punked out and sold the park though. I guess they just wanted to cut their losses and pay off some debt. If they played their cards right initially GL would have been one of the big players in the chain.

I just hope they keep the animal side.. I know its up in the air with Six Flags possibly retaining the animals, but I can hope.

Yea, I was the Bermuda Triangle ATL last year. I know from experience how many jobs are at stake here: Two Midway supervisors, Three Team Leads, Three ATL's... all just in rides! Lots of maintainence jobs, park services, food, entertainment. There are alot of jobs on that midway, and I know quite a number of them personally.

The wildlife side as we know it is history. I understand full time staff has already been given the news.

As for the rides side, word coming out is that they will all be asked to basically re-interview for their jobs and Cedar Fair staff will decide who stays and who doesn't.

I should reiterate that this is for full-time staff. Folks at the seasonal level probably won't be affected directly. This late in the game is too late for Cedar Fair to come in and try to restaff the entire park from a seasonal standpoint. Your TL, ATL friends should be fine. *** Edited 3/10/2004 5:51:08 PM UTC by wahoo skipper***

Bring back Geauga Dog!

I think Geauga Dog could probably take Snoopy. Geauga Dog was a scrappy mutt.

Careful, Dennis!;) When I, Peabody, and Nasai reported on our misgivings with BKF from last summer's trip, many were vocal about how "wrong" we were about the ride. Now your telling me I wasn't imagining the rides extreme shiminess?

Here's a thought about the wildlife side of the park...if they don't add their own animals and if there is still a problem with the neighbors denying coasters because of noise concerns, then they could create a huge pimped out kiddie area.

About time someone in the industry gives us something to talk about this off-season. :)