Kennywood being sold?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07345/840790-100.stm

Thoughts? I wish it was April 1 cause this sure seems like a cruel joke to me.

Wow!

Looking forward to hearing more on this one.

WTF???

I don't even really know what to say. I wonder if they sold all their parks or just Kennywood & Sandcastle?

Yeah, I thought the same thing.

Seems strange that they'd sell KW and keep the others.

Well this certainly came out of nowhere.

It must have been a pretty compelling offering considering they've obviously had chances to sell out in the past...

VERY shocking, let alone upsetting. :(

Can anyone say "Parque Madera de Kenny"?

*** Edited 12/11/2007 4:06:38 PM UTC by janfrederick***

So help me, if they change the Potato Patch to a Boardwalk Fries I will scream.

The corporation seems like they are buying up lots of parks, which reminds me of what Six Flags did to get them into the mess they are in. I hope this turns out better.

Anyone familiar with any of the parks they operate?

Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!
Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently it's the entire chain.

From the article: "...agreed to sell the West Mifflin amusement park, nearby Sandcastle water park, Idlewild & SoakZone in Ligonier and other holdings...". Later on, "Included in the deal are Lake Compounce Theme Park in Bristol, Conn., and Story Land in Glen, N.H." There's nothing else in the chain, right?

The GOOD news: "...Parques Reunidos is the first one to share our vision and philosophy." So...remaining optimistic, hopefully we'll see little-or-no change in the park or its operations...

Oh, they added to the story. Gonna read it now.

---

"The Kennywood experience -- as visitors have come to love and expect -- will continue. Nothing will seem different, even to the folks working at the parks. Existing management and staff will remain in place," Harry Henninger, chairman of Kennywood Entertainment, said in the news release.

---

I hope that is true

*** Edited 12/11/2007 4:22:13 PM UTC by eightdotthree***

I for one hope that the current roster of managers is retained to run the park(s). They already do an astounding job and know the markets better than anyone else. Here is to honestly hoping this works out for everyone in a positive way.

NOTE: EightDotThree answered what I missed in the article.... But I submitted this before I saw that. *** Edited 12/11/2007 4:23:11 PM UTC by beast7369***

Oh, wow. That's all I can say. Not to sound overly pessimistic but the ownership of the park is changing after more than a century. That's pretty jarring.

Well, maybe now we will get season passes?

All the parks. No names are changing. We won't be Parque Attraciones over Pittsburgh. Hands are sort-of tied to what I'll say right now, but the park is remaining as-is.

I see NO reason for the new owners to even CONSIDER season passes. If attendance were "flagging", then there might be reason to think about admissions policies. But they're doing well, and with GL (and CLP?) going under AND the roads situation at least having some resolution in the near-ish future, AND the new interactive darkride, KW is definitely a park on the upswing...

...which does make me wonder (really WONDER) about the timing of this decision. Hmmmm....

*** Edited 12/11/2007 4:59:34 PM UTC by rollergator***

The first posting of the story was really vague and I was shocked, but hearing more about their plans puts me more at ease. From their website it looks like they run some other family friendly parks in Europe, hopefully they will stick to their word and keep the parks as is.

Two words come to mind - lame...sad.