O.K. now the B.S. starts to show up. GL's closing.

First off, I have no attachment to GL nor do I think that CF purchased the property to close it.

However, after watching this news clip, and the answer that was given of why the public wasn't made aware of the closing beforehand so they could visit a park that has been around for over 100 years, disturbs me.

Click here.

You can't sit here and tell me that a publicly traded company came up with this decision just after the park closed for the season which was not even a week ago. That is complete B.S.

Especially since there have been plenty of rumors regarding the relocation of rides for several weeks.

But, but but...I thought the park always told the public every thing as soon as they knew it? LOL!!

Were they waiting to see if 300,000 showed up the last weekend? They had no intentions of closing the park, then decided to do so in a couple days after the park closed?
*** Edited 9/25/2007 12:43:36 PM UTC by kpjb***

On top of that, in the video, CF says they already hired a consulting firm to decide what will happen with the land on the ride side.

Decisions like this and hiring consulting firms don't happen this sudden. This is something that was made as a decision long enough ago to let the public know that they were shutting the ride side down.

I am not a fanboy of any amusement park company. I just see CF as not doing the right thing on a park that has been around for over 100 years. It is a crappy move. *** Edited 9/25/2007 12:53:48 PM UTC by Chitown***

Well, well, well. Do-no-wrong Cedar Fair is now being accused of not doing the right thing? I've been saying this ever since last Friday. Maybe now that others are starting to realize it, everyone else will sit up and take notice. There is no way in hell that the decision to close the park was made after the last operating day of the season. The writing has been on the walls for practically the past year, even if certain rumors didn't start to circulate.

Call it another conspiracy theory, but now it's all starting to make sense. Cedar Fair has been doing everything it can to deceive people in the midst of Kinzel purchasing a large quantity of stock right before the announcement... an announcement that would likely increase the value of the stock since that is what normally happens with costs are cut. If someone fails to see any of this as just a little suspicious, I'm willing to bet they're on Cedar Fair's payroll in some way.

The Board of Directors voted to close the park on Thursday, September 20. Are you guys saying they really voted before that, using some sort of time traveling DeLorean? Yeah, maybe everyone and their dog knew what was probably going to happen, but nothing was official until they discussed it in that meeting and then voted on it.

It's smoke and mirrors. The official decision was handed down on Thursday but there's no way this wasn't on the planning board for months. This is about what happened and what really happened.

What is with all this faith in corporate America, and why is it so hard to believe that CEOs, CFOs and Boards of Directors aren't always completely honest? You act as though there is no deception, no dishonesty and no backroom deals whatsoever in the business world.

Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm no stock broker.

If Kinzel had knowledge that GL would be axed and he bought a large amount of stock, with that knowledge, if the stock soars, wouldn't that be like insider trading?

Again, I'm no broker. Just pure speculation.

Something like that. I'm not sure if it precisely fits the definition of insider trading but it's definitely more than a little suspicious. A huge amount of stock was purchased and then a decision was announced that would seriously affect the company's financials? Someone please tell me why that's not a little odd.

Do you really think they really just decided this last week. Cedar Fair has already said they had a consultant hired and in that WKYC video, Richard Munch states that some of the rides will be relocated for the 2008 season! Do you really think they could have planned that in mere days? That means in about 6 months, some rides will be dismantled, transported and reassembled elsewhere. It takes time for the other parks to plan for these new attractions, surveys and the like. I think that is total bull****! This has been in the works for some time and people just don't want to admit it!

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Jeff said in another thread:
And enough already about "this was their plan all along." This is a public company. If it was their intention, they would've said so. Investors don't like liars, and they certainly don't like failure. This is one hell of a failure.

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It is starting to look like there are some lies here!

Gemini: You mean rubber-stamped. Let's not nit-pick.

Point is, they knew, they all knew, even many an internet dweeb knew and it was still--on many different levels--executed with as much grace as every other GL maneuver. NONE whatsoever.

-CO

EDIT: Addressed specific poster, added one word otherwise

*** Edited 9/25/2007 1:42:43 PM UTC by CoastaPlaya***

...and it sounds like something that might come back to bite them in numerous ways. Someone involved in Ohio politics brought to my attention that the employees that were laid off may have a beef with Cedar Fair over the way it was done in relation to the way things went down.

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villiageidiot said:
Do you really think they really just decided this last week.

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I said:
Yeah, maybe everyone and their dog knew what was probably going to happen, but nothing was official until they discussed it in that meeting and then voted on it.

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That doesn't make it right. That makes it deceitful because plans were put into motion that clearly suggested what the vote was going to be, long before the vote took place.

This is like deja vu for me. Cedar Fair makes an announcement to the public, says the decision just happened, certain people say they knew before said annoucement, the majority of the people on these boards say Cedar Fair would never keep any kind of information from the public. :)

Yes, the vote was merely a formality! This was decided long ago. The fact is they lied, this was not just decided last week! I guess publicly held companies do lie!

And the thing with the old man buying up stocks before the announcement still nags at me, just doesn't seem right or even legal for that matter!

Have you guys ever been laid-off or worked for a dying company? If they had announced it even on the last day of operation, how many employees do you think would've shown up? And of those that did, do you think that the guest experience would rank real high on their priority list? The practical aspect of running the business is going to supersede the one-last-hurrah for a small number of people.

Was closing the park an option they were considering? I'm sure it was, probably since last year. No one was suggesting it was a hastily made decision. But I'm sure they also waited to make the call until the books were closed and they had the complete picture.

None of these conditions, however, imply that there was always a conspiracy to close the park from the start. Investors don't like failure. When Oracle bought PeopleSoft, they flat out said, "We bought it to close it." Seeing as how Geauga Lake was never, ever a threat to Cedar Point, I think some of you need to let go of that conspiracy theory.

Where did this sense of entitlement come from that Cedar Fair owes you any more information than they're required to give you per the SEC?

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villiageidiot said:
And the thing with the old man buying up stocks before the announcement still nags at me, just doesn't seem right or even legal for that matter!

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And why is that? Look at the charts. The stock hasn't gone anywhere. He didn't make millions over night. I haven't read the SEC filing, but he may have been exercising options he was entitled to for all we know, which executives do on a regular basis.