Cedar Fair buys PARAMOUNT PARKS!

http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/press_releases/index.cfm?current_root=15&mode=story&story_id=69

CEDAR FAIR, L.P. TO ACQUIRE PARAMOUNT PARKS

 

 

SANDUSKY, OHIO, May 22, 2006 -- Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN), a publicly traded partnership which owns and operates seven amusement parks and five water parks, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of the Paramount Parks. Cedar Fair, L.P. will acquire the stock of Paramount Parks, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS) (NYSE: CBSA) for a cash purchase price of $1.24 billion.

 

The five Paramount Parks consist of Canada’s Wonderland near Toronto, Canada; King’s Island near Cincinnati, Ohio; King’s Dominion near Richmond, Virginia; Carowinds near Charlotte, North Carolina; and Great America located in Santa Clara, California.

 

“This transaction offers a unique opportunity for us to acquire a world-class asset portfolio,” said Dick Kinzel, Cedar Fair’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “It is not every day that we have the chance to purchase five great family-oriented parks that fit extremely well with our existing parks. This acquisition will provide exciting new growth opportunities and the potential for meaningful incremental free cash flow as we realize $20-$30 million in annual cash flow synergies over the next 3-5 years. It will also add significant geographic diversity to our portfolio of parks and improve our position as one of the largest regional amusement park operators in the world.”

 

HUGE!

I can't decide if this is good or bad!

or

SO much to think about!

Yyyyup. I called it. Although ever since I claimed that months ago, I started to have doubts. Hello inflated prices at PKI! (Well, further inflated anyway)

Here is that "BANG!" everyone was waiting for.

Well...I did have a talk w/ bob white the gm at carowinds and he told me that we should be quite happy w/ the new owners and this will be nothing like the six flags saga...but time will tell!

Well I can't say that this suprises me at all. I think this is a smart move on Cedar Fairs' part, however I would rather have had a small investment group take over Paramount Parks. It'll be interesting what Cedar Fairs will do with the the theming without the rights to some of the themes.

^A certain webmaster of a site I can't mention said this:

Also, while none of it is final, at least some of the licensing agreements will be in place for the foreseeable future, since they were just established when CBS split off of Viacom. Spongebob will be around for awhile.

Should be an interesting couple of months.

Now CF completely controls Ohio. Between CP, GL and PKI, that's a heap of coasters and real estate.

Never expected Cedar Fair to buy an entire chain!

Well, cant wait for the renames, especially if theres another "Beaver Land Mine Ride".

It can be a good move for the parks. Look what happened to Dorney Park. Canada Wonderland would finally get a hyper!

Just think of all the senseless operational policies, and yards of blank concrete!

Thank God... Finally PKD might get a Hyper (Intamin please )

and Free admission to CP hopefully

but on a negative side I hope the re-riding policy will remain the same at PKD

Now lets see how many names we have to change and I wonder if CF will leave the "Paramounts" on the front of the park name. It would be nice to have plain old "Kings Dominion" back which is what I am betting they will do.

Italian Job-name change

Tomb Raider-name change

Drop Zone-name change

Spongebob- GONE!

Now I wonder what will happen to Flight of fear now that MTV soundwave is out of the question.

man the whole Nickelodeon liscense will be lost probably and replaced with Snoopy

I am gonna take pics of EVERYTHING that might change

In the end I think this is verygood...cause these parks have been in nuetral since 2001 and CBS did not want to invest in a Big coaster due to being up for sale so now hopefully CF will put in some good coasters that have chainlifts and are over 130ft tall.

JEFF

I wonder what the focus of Cedar Fair will be for the parks... I mean the Paramountie Parks seemed to be focusing on families and the like heavily for the last few years. Cedar Fair always has seemed to try to mix the big rides with relatively few family attractions.

People seem to assume that all Cedar Fair parks are run like Cedar Point well I think many of the posts about the current state of Knotts make it clear not all Fair parks are run equally. Hopefully the ParaParaParamount (sorry... I'm a bemani dork) parks will not fall under poor management. I hope that this works out for the best but that is a TON of parks to manage. This puts Cedar Fair on a similar level to Six Flags.

Why does everyone seem to think that automatically (insert paramount park here) will be getting a hyper and all the themeing will be gone? It would much easier and cost effective to retheme one barely themed park but w/paramount parks it will take a whole lot more money to retheme and rebrand then it would be to just pay for the license.

Jarvis "no more red coasters please" Morant

I think this is great news. I visited Kings Island this year and it was one of the worst days out I've ever had in a theme park. I've never had a bad day in a Cedar Fair park so hopefully things at PKI will improve.

As for prices I felt PKI was far worse than CP. One place was charging $6 for a tiny portion of fresh cooked chips.

Well, All I can hope for is a super pass for every park in ohio now... That would be well worth more money than the current season passes at cedar point and kings island. Also I heard that the licensing was part of the deal with the sale. Think about it, why would they spend so much money retheming Nick Universe if they knew after selling it would all have to be redone, doesn't make sense from a sellers standpoint.

-James "Good bye Paramount, and good riddence!" Dillaman

^ I am curious if they will merge the passes. Seems that the Paramount Parks were doing Ok by themselves. CBS/Viacom just didn't have any interest in running them anymore.

Am I the only that thinks they may stay a seperate chain?

Why does everyone seem to think that automatically (insert paramount park here) will be getting a hyper and all the themeing will be gone? It would much easier and cost effective to retheme one barely themed park but w/paramount parks it will take a whole lot more money to retheme and rebrand then it would be to just pay for the license.

 

Jarvis "no more red coasters please" Morant

I am just more optimistic about a hyper now than I was 24 hours ago

And it is not cheaper to pay for the license, Outer Limits is a perfect example of that and Geuaga lake.

The biggest thing in this deal in my eyes is the Nickelodeon thing which is a HUGE family draw and IMO a much more profitable draw than Peanuts.

I do not think the theming will be gone just the "name brand" stuff, much like the Outer limits deal, Nobody really noticed that.

I do not believe the theming of Tomb Raider will be taken out or changed just the name.

JEFF

I think this could be a good thing, but also could have some negative consequences. I'll be interested to see what exactly happens with season passes. If they are accepted everywhere, they'll probably try charging like $170 per pass if you live in Ohio. At least the Paramount parks were saved and all stay together. Hopefully operations will improve, though on the downside, no more rerides.

I am personally very happy that Cedar Fairs bought Paramount. I’ve seen what they have done at there parks and PGA needs it.

I really don't know if I think this is a good thing or a bad thing. I really never had any issues with Paramount Parks. Sure they might not have gotten the best rides from a "Coaster Enthusiast" point of view, but for the most part I have to say that I've usually enjoyed my days at Paramount Parks and found them to be mostly "hassle free", which I honestly can't say the same for my last visits to Knott's, Dorney, Worlds Of Fun, or Valleyfair.

Also, just look at what has become of Knott's since they purchased that park.

--Robb

Wow, now we will be able to hear squealing on the Beast like we do on the Mean Streak. and you think the Beast has to many breaks now????

Right now concrete and trash can manufacturers everywhere are salivating at the thought of 5 more sterile looking parks, with acres of concrete walkways and more garbage cans than trees.

Don't get me wrong, CF runs their parks well and keeps introducing great rides, but the park environments are half carnival and half strip mall. Every time I walk into Dorney, I expect to see a Home Depot and a Pier One along the midway. They're just too generic and lack character.

Not letting you wait for a front seat ride on italian job when there is a 1 train wait and plenty of people to fill the other seats seems like a hassle to me, also I foresee CF maybe offering two levels of passes, now. One pass that would only get you into one park, say CP, GL, or KI, that would cost around $100, and maybe one that costs a bit more, sort of a park hopper deal. At least here in the midwest it would make sense, with so many CF parks close together (MA, CP, GL, and KI). Not sure if this would work chain wide, though..

One thing's for sure, as a Cedar Point pass holder for 3 years running, and not a Paramount pass holder for 3 years running, I might actually be able to go to king's island again like I used to, as I'd be willing to pay for a pass if it included Cedar Point.

-James "Can't wait for details to be released" Dillaman

Right now concrete and trash can manufacturers everywhere are salivating at the thought of 5 more sterile looking parks, with acres of concrete walkways and more garbage cans than trees.

 

Don't get me wrong, CF runs their parks well and keeps introducing great rides, but the park environments are half carnival and half strip mall. Every time I walk into Dorney, I expect to see a Home Depot and a Pier One along the midway. They're just too generic and lack character.

um.... need I remind you just how many trees and not to mention a lake were removed to make way for PKI's newest coaster, IJ, which is themed to a CONCRETE parking garage. yeah.... It isn't only Cedar Fair. Also, didn't paramount remove trees from around grizzly at PKD for a stupid little oval-shaped go-cart track? Jjust wondering what PGA and PCar look like, but yeah...

-James