Kings Island had more visitors, Cedar Point more income in '05

Looks like CP has attained what Shapiro is looking for at Six Flags.

Those are really fascinating numbers. We don't get to see that very often. The numbers are only so telling since we don't have a profit number to match. Still, I'm impressed that Carowinds does as well as it does.

Anyone know what the deal is with concerts at Paramount? Do they lose money, or is CF saying they don't make enough money? Why end them?

I assume the revenue number for CP is total revenue for the resort? If so, then it's not really an apples-to-apples comparison to KI's revenue (or any of the other parks) due to the "out-of-park" (lodging) component. 10% of Cedar Fair's total revenue for 2005 came from the lodging side of their business, and of those, the vast majority of hotels are located at CP.

I also wonder what kind of revenue Soak City brings in as a separate gate?

On an unrelated note...I think the drop on Perilous Plunge at KBF looks amazing!*** This post was edited by JZarley 6/20/2006 4:18:54 PM ****** This post was edited by JZarley 6/20/2006 4:20:06 PM ***

It's not a comparison, just a statement of numbers. The surprising figure was Canada's Wonderland bringing in less than Kings Island despite having higher attendance. I always figured Canadian businesses made up for the discrepancy in the exchange rate by charging more.

Canada's Wonderland has a reduced price "grounds admission" ticket, unlike Kings Island.

I think the deal with the concerts is you're talking about $5 - $10 grand for booking a headliner, figure another $2.5k for a opening band, and you probably don't bring in enough additional business, as these generally happen on busy weekends anyway, to justify that much expense, just for the band. Then you add in the production costs, extra people to help run the shows, extra cleanup staff. Probably a break-even situation at best ...

Not tu disagree with you, but why the heck would Paramount do concerts if they weren't making money?

Also aren't hotels considered in park spending when they calculate that number?

Six Flags built coaster after coaster and they weren't making money ... sometimes decision makers have a hard time admitting their pet ideas are sinking ships ...

...and don't forget the space that the concert venues occupy if they are in-park. That space might have better ROI with attractions. You only have a dozen concerts each year, maybe, and so the "turnstile count" of a concert venue just can't be that hight.

However, I suspect this decision is less about what makes money, and more about what CF does and does not consider their core business. They are amusement park operators, not concert promoters. This same justification was used in the decision to dump the wildlife side of SFWoA when it was purchased.

It is a lot more than $5-$10K to book a headliner, of that you can be sure. Try 4 to 5 times that amount for mid-level headliners and then it goes up considerably for bigger names.

I think that Cedar Fair is doing quite well on hotel/resort side of the business and sees the potential at many of the Paramount Parks. Also, Cedar Fair has always maintained increases in per-cap spending even when attendance levels don't hit their expectations. That is where they will muscle up at the Paramount parks.

That is why you have radio stations and others sponsor them when they come. They help cover the cost of the headliner bands.

Radio stations don't sponsor the concerts, they promote them!