Why doesn't Cedar Fair Build in Wisconsin Dells

I see Wisconsin Dells as the perfect spot for a amusement park/resort. People come from as far south as St. Louis to go to the Dells for the many-many waterparks and of course the ducks. The place is packed during the summer, and thus would be an amazing place to have a large-scale theme park.

Cedar Fair should really look into that area

-----------------
-Nick Catalano

Only one problem. Is CF willing to build a park from scratch? You dont see to much of that anymore. Maybe if they aquired Big Chiefs and expanded it, as I see that as the only possibility.
-----------------
=========================
"The Peoples Elbow" or "The Spinaroonie?. Cant decide which is the most electrifying move in sports entertainment!!! LOL

The problem with that would be that they've got that area's market pretty saturated.  If you look at the area that Valleyfair and Michigan's Adventure get their Customer Base from Wisconsin play a prominent role.
-----------------
"Ooo. They have the Internet on computers now."
-Homer Simpson

Actually SFGAm and Valleyfair make up the market place for Wisconsin. Michigans Adventure would not hold as much of a force for the cheese state.
-----------------
=========================
"The Peoples Elbow" or "The Spinaroonie?. Cant decide which is the most electrifying move in sports entertainment!!! LOL

SFGAm takes almost ALL of Wisconsin's population.  Milwaukee Madison and Green Bay are all a LOT closer to SFGAm than Valleyfair!.  The rest of Wisconsin's population is VERY minor compared to those three areas...so I'd say a very insignificant amout of WI pop. goes to Valleyfair! while almost all of it goes to SFGAm.

*** This post was edited by SFGRAMBoy20 on 10/21/2001. ***

I live in Wisconsin and I can attest to the southern part of this state visiting SFGAm. Michigan's Adventure is at least a six to seven hour drive from Milwaukee on a good day through Chicago. Building a park in the Dells would be a good thing. SFGAm is always too crowded as it is really the only major park servicing Chicago and Milwaukee. The Dells is already a humongously popular tourist destination with a penchant currently towards waterparks. Family Land is one of those parks and is right down the road from Big Chiefs. An interesting acquisition would be Family Land and Big Chiefs. You combine the two to form a park. Big Chiefs has a ton of unused land. Move the go kart tracks to a differnt locale(they are really good tracks, but dont fit in with an amusement park). You got a base of three wooden coasters and a kiddie coaster plus another promised CCI woodie. You add the other elements of a theme park, shows, flat rides, eating facilities, more restrooms and maybe a steel coaster to start with and, boom, you got yourself a themepark. You would also have a supporting waterpark and a hotel as Familyland also has it's own large hotel with the largest indoor waterpark I have ever seen. This park would fit in real good under the Cedar Fair chain philosophy with the hotel and the waterpark. While they are at it, they could buy the land that Fort Dells used to be on too and have the park extend all the way down to the stoplights on Hwys 12 and 13. This park would be strategically located between the Minnesota and Wisconsin markets (I know Valleyfair is in Minnesota but lets be honest, it could easly be outdistanced by a Dells park) It would also give Cedar Fair a commanding presence in the Midwest and they could use their name to support other area parks boosting attendance at other parks.

Just my opinion,

-------------
Bob Hansen

"Excuse me while I kick the sky!"
kickthesky@hotmail.com

I thought I would bump this article back into circulation.

Interesting thoughts. But now that Mount Olympus is on it's way to becoming a full theme park, maybe another option may present itself. I just don't see the Olympus folks selling out. But a huge Cedar Fair park would do very well. That area just keeps getting bigger and bigger and will continue to expand. If there are more attractions more people will continue to come. All they have to do is attach an indoor waterpark to the hotel and they are a yearound operation. Nuff said. In my opinion this would be a slam dunk. Just how much oposition would they get from Mt. Olympus.

Interesting.

Ever since Fort Dells closed, I have thought that Wisconsin Dells was a prime location for a real theme/amusement park.

Big Chief's is taking charge of that with Mt Olympus. Would there be room to support another park? Probably considering how many waterparks that little town can support.

I don't see a Cedar Fair park doing well in the Dells, that area is already saturated with tons of different parks, and I just don't see any major theme parks being built in that area, or able to fidn the room to build. If you want to go to an amusement park, and live in Wisconsin, it isn't very far to Valleyfair!, SFGam, or Adventureland, as nice as it would be to have a 4th major park, it certaintly isn't needed.

True - it isn't needed, but do we truely need 20 Waterparks in one city? I bet they have more waterslides than any one city in the world. Why not make it a Theme Park heaven with a major park with major rides.

CF isn't going to make any major expenditures in the near future. Maybe after Geuaga Lake starts to make a return they'll look at something, if the terms and conditions were right, but I doubt it.

With the absolute THEFT of SF:GL, I wouldn't be too surprised if CF started looking around a little sooner (than on previous occasions) for expansion possibilities.

The Dells, or another location, to me that's the REAL question....CF *will* continue to grow and expand, but they'll stick with the "tried and true" method of buying previously-existing parks...(remember Visionland?)...;)

I know next-to-nothing about the owners of Mount Olympus as to whether they'd be interested....but I *do* love the names/theme of the park/coasters! :)

OOOO! That Richard Kinzel, he just stole SFWOA right out from under all those Six Flags execs! *roll eyes*

But, I cannot see such a high-class chain as Cedar Fair moving into the Dells, one of the most trashy destinations in the midwest. The Dells isin't really set up for a new, large, gated park. The Dells seems to accomodate smaller, half-day attractions a lot better than a whole new destination.

BTW, this thread is almost 3 years old, nice work. :)

I wasn't going to say it, but,CoasterCameron pretty much sums what my opinion of the Dells is. While it's been several years since I've been there, the only attraction that appealed to me was the Riverside & Great Northern. I haven't been back there in at least eight years. Yes I know that a lot has been added to the area, but I'll wager that it hasn't changed the atmosphere there one bit. I mean how many go cart tracks and Putt-Putt courses can you squeeze in an area?

Wow, Cameron, what happened to you when you fell outta bed this morning?

Gator was talking about 'steal' as in Bargain, which is definitly what CF got when they bought Geauga. I've never been to the Dells, but isn't that kind of the whole argument? It dosen't have a full days attraction there, and maybe they should put one there.

And on the resurrecting of a 3 year old topic, there isn't anything wrong with that, per-se, if it is a relevant resurrection. But to just ressurect something by posting "Me Too", thats when people get peeved.

That's exactly the point, guys. Imagine a park of CP/CF standards there! It would wipe out the smaller places. Would you rather drop $30 and ride go carts all day at a semi(?) run-down facility or would you rather go to a clean, well run park with multiple well run coasters?

I'll let you guess where I'd rather go...

To a lot of people that is what the Dells is. That ,water parks, the Ducks and Tommy Barletts'. There are people who either own or rent cabins in the general area and spend their summer vacation there every year! The building of the all season indoor water park may be a sign that the clientel is ready for something better.

yeah...better go call those guys from the Only In America Amusement Center....it would be a perfect match! ;) A year round indoor waterpark right next door to a year round amusement park!

Makes the people from Beertown happy.

I woulld love to see another major theme park within 2 hours of Milwaukee. More coasters more fun. I would then have another reason to go to the Dells. Plus the Dells trips are not very frequent but would increase if another theme park was in existance.

Later.....