Leaderboard

I don't really see any immediate problems with this. In the past we've seen one company falter while the other flourishes and then it flips every few years. I am excited though to start guessing which parks close and where all their coasters will be dumped!

There's also going to be parks which are outside the bounds of what the target audiences are of the company or whom have other issues potentially kneecapping them. Coaster enthusiasts are frankly not that smart and not very into the business side of stuff, which is why I've seen literally no one say "Hey, when do those contracts for operation of SFOT and SFOG come up again?" They're gonna be laden with debt and both companies have been hurting hard the last few years in every imaginable way, passing all their issues onto the customers (which is part of why they are doing so badly). They've cut a lot of their leadership, especially in stuff like group sales and advertising, turning into regional teams rather than having employees at the park level. The announcement and discussion basically reinforces to me that they intend to operate with what one half would have used in that skeleton crew sort of system and let go of the "duplicative labor". Parks are going to go away. Lots of parks. CGA is already going away. It will be joined by others which will not be sold to operators because then they'd be selling themselves competition.

I think the pessimism is because Cedar Fair is generally regarded a better operator than Six Flags and the fear is that the Cedar Fair experience will be dragged down instead of the Six Flags experience being elevated. It's far easier to go down than up. If you follow aviation - this merger reminds me of what happened to Boeing when they merged with McDonnell Douglas back in the 90s. Maybe CF/SF cultures are closer in alignment than any of us know, but it sure doesn't feel that way to me. Time will tell.

Maybe they'll send CGA's double decker once that park actually closes.

Day 9: Sun, June 11th part 2 (of 2): Farup Sommerland after the funhouse, we headed to the whitewater rafting ride we had seen earlier. yeah. . we were gonna get a bit "moist" another of the larger playground areas (and another of the "never in America" attractions. since were already wet from the rapids, decided to just head to the flume next. . . it's one of those "European" style, where the lift hills and drops criss cross each other. no backwards section that I recall tho. ready to get more wet! "Bags and the like". . LOL guess this coffee counts as "the like" it was a fun flume tho, at least I recall it was fun. another lake area, that's over near the obstacle course. . in this one, you can paddle a rowboat as an option that ship & fort are part of the obstacle course! it was time for the kiddie coaster credit. Wasn't too sure about riding this, but gave in as this cute Zamperla coaster is called Pindsvinet (Hedgehog), and has an adorable hedgehog mascot on the front of the train. we even tried to let little kids go ahead of us, and they were TERRIFIED of passing in front of the grown white men - even with the attendant kneeling down and trying to get them to pass us to ride first. LOL so when we got on, he took a selfie with us look how cute that Hedgehog is! I think these pics might be from Andy? (or could be Big Mike) we were on the side of the park housing the only coaster we hadn't ridden yet: Orkanen, the Vekoma suspended, so we headed over to it. Robb was here filming. . hey Robb! no inversions, but this coaster does have some fun airtime, and a dive under the lake. I wanted to ride Falken again, so we headed right next door for another ride. front row! this is a pic Robb got from over by Orkanen, and shared with the group. great shot! I was *not* thrilled about this. . . as has been noted, I'm a big ol klutz. . but it was time to brave the Obstacle Course. "suattejacten" = "the Treasure Hunt" you start off with a pretty good maze, made up of black painted panels. but when you find the correct way thru, you come across this: don't I look thrilled? a look down at the maze, once up those "stairs" several of the obstacles DO have "chicken" options. . . but I did do some of them. not these tho! this one was ONLY an option to do either Raft, or monkeybars over the waterway. yeah.. . i took the raft. and am very happy, don't care if I'm the only one. and yes, that's part of the course above in the trees! (thanks to Jason for the pic) across the water and into that fort/ship area nice views of some of the coasters peeking out from the course. and a very confused young lady wondering what I'm taking a picture of. oh no. . . the only way down was in the slide?? great. . . ANOTHER one ??? ok. .I've had enough of this. . LOL. . . I had to go to the bathroom anyways. Luckily, I heard a man yelling for his son that they had to leave, NOW (I'm assuming that's what he was yelling, as the kid made a beeline to him), so I followed him thru some bushes, and out past a playground and found one of the main pathways in the park. liked the theming on this, tho wasn't sure if it was closed, or just nobody wanting to ride, as it was tucked away among the trees. I browsed a shop/restaurant, and relaxed while waiting for folks to finish up the obstacle course and meet up. loved these skull stools in the Pirate themed shop. and treated myself to ice cream for at least trying some of the obstacles. tho I think this was the place where I was TRICKED. .and those wonderful candy colored sprinkles were licorice. . ewwwwww after I wiped the nasty fake sprinkles off (that's why I always carry extra napkins. . never know when there will be an emergency need!). . I shared my cone with the Hedgehog. (no, not Ron Jeremy. . THIS one) Speaking of Licorice. . I don't understand the obsession with it over here in Denmark. everywhere sells it, and it appears to be VERY popular. just never has been my thing. just look at all these "flavors" available. meeting up again, we found this log themed Himalaya! wheeeeee!!! I think we split off at this point, to get some things in before we had to meet for ERT. i believe I had bumped into sMisty/Erik and they told me about a slow moving "tractor ride" that I hadn't seen. right up my alley, so Big Mike and I headed over in the direction they pointed to go ride us some tractors. ohhhh.. this ride might be themed to the Bunny mascot. . . front seat definitely made for smaller butts. . .. didn't stop us tho. gonna be fun "driving" they really do such a great job.. it's like you're not in a theme park. heading over towards Fonix for our ERT times, managed to catch Saven going up the spike. . we had some time still and had forgotten that the park had a 4D film. . what you can't see in this pic, is the lady in front of us that brought her little dog in. and the animated feature was about animals falling thru portals and changing into other animals. and that little doggo went NUTS any time an animal that even looked like a dog showed up on the screen. I was far too amused to be annoyed by it. it made the film 5D !! Exit thru the (themed) gift shop! what are these? foam crowns????? Gimme! it was just about time for our ERT session, so we relaxed by a playground near Fonix. . and I thought this was rather amazing. loved it. and one of these "break your neck" king of the mountain things (along with dozens of other trampolines) too. they are cycling thru the remainder of the crowd. . . I'm ready for you, Fonix there's a nice "viewing area" they built next to it.. so took advantage to watch it cycle for a bit. and then it was our time to ride. this coaster is absolutely amazing, and ranks way up there among my favorites of the trip. So re-rideable. . and insanely fun. queue theming. that heartline roll thru the station I mentioned. and now some pics from Robb's Rider-Cam. . you can tell I loved it. . rode at least 10 times during our ERT. and then it was time to head back to the Zleep hotel. after all, this was only day NINE!! tons more to do, and we had to get some rest. but this guy was in the playground as we passed. headed back to the front gate, got a clearer pic of the park signs. and I found this odd. . yes, I know I got a dogfart head icecream at BonBonLand, but it just struck me as odd, that you could eat icecream out of a Fonix head or the other two mascots ' tho I did find it rather cool that they have a map of the coast, and things of interest to do in the area of the Country right at the exits. had a great time here. . .it's easily in my top 5 parks. . probably a very strong 3rd place! hope you've enjoyed the pics.

and will Cedar Fair save our pathetic carousel?

I'm hoping it won't but will be sad to see Cedar Fair parks maybe get the Six Flags treatment.

Day 9: Sun, June 11th part 1 (of 2): Farup Sommerland after such a great day prior at Djurs Sommerland, I was really looking forwards to today. This was also noted as one of Elissa's favorite parks, and after experiencing it? I absolutely agree! the Countryside in Denmark on the way to the park is just as beautiful as one would expect: but soon enough, we see the flags, and are turning into the main lot for Farup Sommerland - which seems to be in the middle of the wilderness this is the parking lot? it must be a HUGE park - it IS. . very, very big park. with lots of nature, and some really fun rides & a world class coaster. similar to driving into the peninsula at CP, you pass right by the wooden coaster Falcen (the blue track is the suspended coaster Orkanen (Hurricane) bus parked, and the front gates Group pic, courtesy of Robb: and an excellent welcome: here's the toilet! (I'm being serious. . really needed to pee) as noted, this is a large outdoors park, with a waterpark section, some large coasters, big playgrounds, a big obstacle course, multiple lakes (where one can paddleboat or row a boat), and even a mini-golf course. They have a hotel on site, and if you're coming for the first time, you could do with an overnight stay/2 days to ensure you can do everything! signage! the park reps walked us back over to the park's wooden coaster, Falken along the way, we passed the mini-golf - on an island in one of the lakes! (didn't have time to check it out this visit, but it seemed to be pretty popular every time I passed the entrance) here's a better look at Orkanen - and the onsite resort back there behind it - as we're headed into Falken's queue. Pic courtesy of Elissa, I believe. this was a fun, mostly smooth family coaster. we did have a little bit of a mishap where the train stopped on the lift hill for a few minutes, while the folks from the hotel watched us and wondered what was going on. benefit is that we got to see the park mascots riding out on golf carts towards the front gate, as they were getting ready to open the gates this is the maintenance guy who came to our rescue, in a golf cart (LOL) to get the lift chain going and start our ride. he zoomed by us as we were walking across the park, since the reps asked us if we'd like to get the first rides of the day on the park's newest coaster - a Vekoma wildcat called Fonix. of course, the group response was "yes please!" passing by the Spinning Mouse, called Flagermusen (Bat) made note of this, as we walked by. . as this unassuming building, with that sign "rævens hule" (the Fox's Den) was a funhouse. I don't even recall what this was supposed to be! LOL. . one of the park's mascots? passing under the family boomerang - themed to a sawmill, "Saven" two coasters in this pic as we are still headed thru the woods to Fonix. neon green diving into the tunnel is the boomerang, "Saven" the elevated green track is the park's Vekoma junior coaster, "Mine Expressen" scary spider in one of the playground areas sprinkled about the park. as it got to evening, the eyes light up. coming into the new area of the park: Fonix plaza who am I to pass up a photo op? wow. .this thing looks impressive. and it truly is. This is an amazing Vekoma. . a true world class coaster. Multiple inversions, including a heartline roll thru the station house! (overhead while the 2nd train is loading) after finding out we had ERT on Fonix to close out the day, we were turned loose into the park. . many of us headed to the two coasters over near this area of the park. I went with much of the group to Mine Expressen not sure who this pic is courtesy of. . possibly Brad, as I don't see him on the train. or maybe Didier, as he was taking some pics too. that was a fun ride, not super exciting, but fun. so we headed over to Saven, the Vekoma family Boomerang. love the Sawmill theming here. . and the ride operator was very happy to take a pic for us (and be in it too). as the park had just opened, there wasn't much of a line, and they were running the ride with two cycles. Well. . sort of! they made you stand up between cycles and do either a song (we got this one. . and he MADE us all do it, to the delight of the kiddos on the train with us): or those that did NOT want to do the "dance" had to do Calisthenics (LOL) .. . we saw the folks behind us doing Jumping Jacks. these onride pics are courtesy of Didier, as we saw him on a picnic table taking pics of the group as we cycled thru Saven having knocked out the coasters over here (at least one ride on each), we decided to hop on the train to get a better look at this large, and beautiful park. absolutely NO idea what we're all staring so intently at. . . LOL. . maybe a child stuck in a rowboat in the middle of the lake? one of the larger playground areas in the park (there were at least 3 this size) it really is a very large park. felt like we were on a train out in the woods. passing underneath Saven's exit from underground ' and into the "spike" the train ride/tracks are so long, they run two trains at the same time, and at one point you pass each other and can wave. one of the lakes where you can paddleboat. off in the distance is the waterpark section, and the minigolf island. after a loop around the park, I noticed on the map they had a Carousel. So without too much complaining from those I was hanging out with today, we headed over to that area, which had several younger kids attractions. this area looked fairly new too, and the ride operator confirmed for me that although the carousel looked older, it was a relatively new one. I still loved the choices for riding. . . the guys crammed into a "spinner" seat.. and I was in my happy place on a galloping horse. upper level had some really tiny options for babies. Jon decided to watch us on the Carousel, rather than ride with even Didier rode! (tho he rode a "tractor" - that was basically a glorified bench. . .LOL). thanks to Jon for this pic.l ooo. . . we'd come back to this later, but this is an interesting layout for a rapids ride. (you can see it comes from up above, passing under the skull before coming back by) we were headed to the wild mouse tho. . not realizing it was a spinner yet. yeah. . now we realize it spins. . . it spun a lot. . and was fun. Thanks to Big Mike for this pic. the butt of the bat! yargh!!! this place has the foam swords too. . that most of the ride ops were poking riders with (or high-5ing with) as they went by. looking at a park map, we realized we had missed the small section where they have another "extreme" coaster (and that crazy flipping ride on the left). this is a Gerstlauer launch coaster called "Lynet" (Lightning) also a little playground area. . with some fun spinning/springing seats David enjoyed it more than I how was it? well. . .. ow, ow, ow.. . . holy crap. . ow. . . .ow . . . ow! yeah, LOL. . one and done. since over here, we jumped on this one too - not Big Mike tho (he doesn't do spinning rides). so got this pic out of it. this wasn't near as intense as I was expecting it to be, but had some really fun moments. heading back into the main part of the park, we passed one of those "never in America" train crossings. . such a lovely park! and headed to the fun house (tho we weren't sure it WAS a funhouse. it seemed to be an attraction, so we gave it a shot). this was the clincher - the warning that there may be passages where it is "important" to hold on to smaller children. . LOL it's a wacky shack on acid. . with some really steep funhouse gags included fight your way thru the giant sausages! and the spinning tunnel room a really disorienting hall of mirrors and watch your step! (tho I appreciated the "coward" / klutz path offered too) I'm flying, Jack !!!!! they are not kidding around. . . very steep. to be continued. . .

SeaWorld and Herschend trying to compete with Cedar Flags:

As long as SOMEONE f*&%$@g RMCs the Boss, I really don't care LOL

Ask yourself this question: are either Six Flags or Cedar Fair better today in 2023 than they were in 2018 from a perspective of operations and guest satisfaction? I know, I know the world is different and changed versus 5 years ago. But I'm also talking about 5 years ago. Not ancient history. 5 years ago. How do they perform against a standard they themselves set? I have my opinions. I'm sure you all collectively have yours. I don't see how this merger does anything to change my expectations of the joined brand.

Will the combined company keep/maintain two competing parks in the same market? If not, which will be sold off/closed down...Knotts or Magic Mountain?

Get ready for short operating seasons. RIP HITP when the Cedar Fair influence gets its way. Hope this upcoming New Year's Day at Great Adventure isn't the last one. When do they start painting Millennium Force red with blue supports?

RIP six flags legacy memberships.

On the bright side, while you probably will have to take out a mortgage for it, there will likely emerge a one price pass for all of Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks after a while. That will be great for us enthusiasts.

Zimmerman staying at the top is good....but yeah I'm not feeling good about this. Just please keep CF's dedication to seasonal decorations and theatrics and skip-the-line program, please?

The separate thread that was created yesterday with the Reuters piece has been merged with this one. Please use this thread to talk about the news and do not create additional threads. Thanks everyone!

I was at Knotts today and noticed (from Supreme Scream) 5 or 6 new large wooden crates in the Xcelerator work area. One train is in the station, and the second one is disassembled. Let's hope these are parts to fix the ride so it can finally open, and not just "new stuff" for the train. Possibly encouraging news I hope. So sad to be there without Monte and Xcelerator.

I'm fine with it if it means SFGAdv can go back to being called just "Great Adventure" like every true-blooded New Jerseyite does.

This time cedar fair made the offer. In 2019 Six Flags made the offer. I’d assume Cedar Fair leadership would stay in place.

Or even worse, become Six Flags parks.

Even though it wasn't the worst SLC I've ever ridden when I rode it last year, good riddance.