WILD Adventures Inc. ?

I'm asking is Wild Adventures going to become the next Six Flags Chain Parks or not????

COCA-COLA COOL!!!

It wouldn't surprise me to see either Six Flags or Cedar Fair make a bid for Wild Adventures IF it was for sale. That's the big sticking point. The park is expanding quicker than just about any park right now.

It's probably the largest indie-owned park in the South. Six Flags could buy it to have a presence on the Florida border. Cedar Fair is absent in the South and it would connect well with the parks they do own.

It would make a great addition to either company but do they have enough money to buy another park. SF has a debt out the wazoo and Cedar Point just built TTD this year. Who says WILD Adventures wants to sell out anyway? They could be successful as an independantly owned park.

------------------
Riding on top of the world with Cedar Point

Six Flags would not purchase it; the "new SF park" would compete with their own park nearby, SFOG.

I don't see CF or Paramount or anyone else buying them.

------------------
Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Why is this even being brought up? Is there some news about a possible sale or financial problems with Wild Adventures? I havent heard anything.

------------------
Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

From what I've heard, Wild Adventures is doing quite well on their own. Instead of seeing them get sucked into another chain (Six Flags or Cedar Fair), I'd rather see them build more parks throughout the country (or buy older ones to invest in) and create their own unique chain. I hope that four companies don't run the industry at the end of this decade!

------------------
-Rob

Actually, THE time for this to HAVE come up was during the "Great Visionland Yardsale". WA owner Kent Buescher apparently *did* express an interest in the park (and IMO, should have bought the ailing park). With the excellent management displayed in Valdosta, I'm *pretty sure* that WA could have made a success of Visionland...water under the bridge now...;)

GP...SFoG is about 4 hours' drive time, and appeals to a different demographic entirely, I think of them more as *complementary* than competitive...

Oh, and WA apparently HAS been contacted by *at least* one of the larger chains...I would rather have seen WA eat up some smaller regional Southeast parks than BE eaten by a larger chain...now, however, everyone's affiliated but Miracle Strip, Lake Winnie and Libertyland.....well, there IS still Myrtle Beach....;). C'mon Kent, get hungry!!!
------------------
"Brian, there's a message in my AlphaBits, it says 'ooooooo'"
"Peter, those are Cheerios"....Family Guy is BACK!!!

I think that's the rub. As long as the indie parks like Wild Adventures and Knoebel's are growing they have no reason to sell and the larger chains can't buy at the prices they'd like.

Except for Cedar Fair's purchase of Knott's it's been mostly a case of companies buying into fading trolley parks that could be had on the cheap and can be beefed up with some E-ticket additions like Kennywood did with Lake Compounce and Six Flags has done with any of its rebranded acquisitions.
*** This post was edited by Paris 4/28/2003 5:33:38 PM ***

What E-ticket additions has CF made to Michigan's Adventure?

-Danny

Much of SFOG's patronage comes from metro ATL, but people from Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, and even Mississippi visit the park. Many visitors drive more than 4 hours to get to it. If we had two SF parks in the state, they would compete with each other, and that's unhealthy.

------------------
Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

For what it's worth, six of the SF-owned parks are within four hours of another SF-owned park.

-Nate

Koaster King said:
What E-ticket additions has CF made to Michigan's Adventure?
-Danny

Danny, you're right. Mental lapse on my end. I fixed it in my original post.

GP...I see your point too. There is definitely NO sense in creating competition for yourself...esp. when the investments are SO sizable...

I generally try and get a feel for what cities are connected to the parks, and *I* do it in terms that are meaningful to me....

In my visits to WA, most of the merchandise I saw was Jaguars stuff, so I tend to think of Jax as being their big draw demographic-wise. There also people from Tallahassee (Seminole) and Valdosta, not too sizable, but WA is a smaller park. Now the Vols and Gamecocks won't ever drive past SFoG to get to WA, but it WOULD give the Tide fans another option. The Rebels fans will probably *now* go to SFNawlins, whilst the War Eagles and the MSU Bulldogs would probably ALL go to Visionland IF they were to get one more serious (read: steel) investment....what's this about no hypers in the South?

Put THAT into the Translatatron 3000 and see what comes out...;).....My guess is that the version 4000 will come with a ESPN decoder standard.

No sense having it *optional* when it's SO essential...;)
------------------
"Brian, there's a message in my AlphaBits, it says 'ooooooo'"
"Peter, those are Cheerios"....Family Guy is BACK!!!

LOL, forget it.... I had a point, but you threw out the chaff and my "missile of near logic" went completely off course...

------------------
Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Wild Adventures definetly has my vote to run LESOURDSVILLE LAKE!

Chuck, who says a park that has added about 3-5 rides per year for 5 years is right up LL's alley
------------------
Charles Nungester.
It's official Lesourdsville Lake is closed for 2003

Hey Gator - The War Eagles are only 2 hours from SFoG, and 1.5 hours from Visionland. For the extra 30 minutes I'd imagine most go to SFoG. Also, Tide land is about 3 hours from SFoG, plus the other 4 to get down to WA? Not too great an option.

-Fafolguy (Who understood *exactly* what Gator said)

*** This post was edited by Fafolguy 4/29/2003 11:19:04 AM ***

OMG, Fafolguy not only watches *enough* ESPN to follow my post, he knows SEC geography better than I do....(not that the second part is that hard). Alabama has a couple of "home cities", I don't know of another school that has TWO home stadiums (stadia)....

GP....don't fret, once you're in SEC football territory long enough, school allegiance is really MORE meaningful than city names anyway...;)
------------------
"Brian, there's a message in my AlphaBits, it says 'ooooooo'"
"Peter, those are Cheerios"....Family Guy is BACK!!!

Listen, Mr. Transplant... Ive been here all my life!!

Richard, who thinks Bill secretly wishes he lives in Bulldog territory.

------------------
Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

ONLY because the Bulldogs have a better selection of rides...;)

Besides, if I was *really* a good Southerner, I'd have had grits for breakfast and I'd know a heck of a lot more about Nascar and restrictor plates and the like...

Don't forget that the owner of WA was trying to get in touch with the owner of Cypress Gardens but I've heard that he (CG's owner) hasn't been returning calls.