jazma

I was at CGA for Red, White and Brews over three days and the Star Tower was closed during all three days.

In the next town over from Sandusky, (Huron) there is a diner called Lemmie's....they have a statue of the LEM.

Yes, the Platinum Pass works at Gilroy Gardens, but not for parking and not for special events (like Holiday Lights.)

Although I don't post much, I do follow all the threads for the Cedar Fair parks. What is not noted here is that Cedar Fair received tax credits if they put a certain amount of capital into Carowinds. If I recall correctly, the posturing pitted KD against Carowinds for where to put their cap ex. We see that Carowinds was the winner and KD has had smaller improvements since, like many of the smaller (in terms of attendance) CF properties. CGA is a totally different case. With the stadium, and the current agreement, change is required. California law eliminated redevelopment agencies. Across the street from KBF, the city of Buena Park owns a lot of land that was once older motels and also the old Bud Hurlbut property adjacent to KBF. Buena Park, like Santa Clara, has to now dispose of this land OR the State gets the land back. That's the gist of it anyway. CF also is required to pay certain % of profits over a certain $$$ amount to Santa Clara. Under Kinzel, their wasn't a lot of incentive to invest a lot of cash in CGA. Originally, CF didn't want this property, if I recall correctly, but it was an all or nothing package deal. Yes, they tried to sell it, then Ouimet came in and saw things differently and relations improved between the City and 49'ers. CGA is the only property they do not own the land (apart from GG which is only a management contract.) The land has to be sold now. If CF gets that land, they operate it more like their other parks. The revenue sharing with Santa Clara would be eliminated, giving CF the ability to keep more cash on the table. Increased profits=more capex for the park. I've been to VF once, and it's a great park. I too hope to see continued improvements. But I think the "growth park" statement has resulted in unfair comparisons to what happened in Charlotte and what's now playing out in Santa Clara. Each property is unique.

^ That's a bummer. I live nearby and with the Scary Farm pass I've been several times. The first four or so times the Platinum Pass worked fine for parking. The fifth time I had to pay and go to Guest Relations to get the money back. The sixth time it still didn't scan but they knew about the issue and waived me in without having to pay, once I said it had happened the prior night and I had to get my money back. The next time and any subsequent time, the pass has scanned properly again.

^ It will work, but they were having some issues a few weeks ago with their system. They should have informed you to go to Guest Relations to get your money back, if they made you pay.

You can't use the dining plan at Scary Farm. Not for specially ticketed events they said.

Eddie, I stayed at the new deluxe cabins for a week last October. They were great, the staff were very accommodating, and there is a free shuttle to the park (although I didn't use it, since with the Platinum Pass, I could just park for free.) I'd highly recommend it as opposed to the chain hotels across the street. Also, those hotels and the campgrounds are quite near a freight train route, and at least the cabins, with the tree cover and the setting seemed to drown a lot of that out. The Country Inn and Suites across the street seems to have the train go right behind it, and I am sure it would be noisy.

^^^ It does affect them, even though they are temporary. At my job, it now affects any short term employee, even if just hiring them for one month, apparently. Work over 30 hours a week, and medical benefits have to be offered.

^^ Sounds plausible, but I don't think that has anything to do with being more family friendly, but rather everything to do with ObamaCare implementation that went into effect this month. Employees working over 30 hours a week have to be offered medical benefits. Keep them under 30 hours and the company is exempt. I'd hazard a guess to assume they'd double up on part timers.

But one must consider the fact that KBF is different from any other CF property. They, along with CP, are the only parks in the chain with a separately gated water park (no, I am not including Wildwater Kingdom in Aurora.) If you combined Knott's SCU attendance with the theme park, it'd be higher. Beyond that, only Knott's has the CDR, TGI Fridays, Pinks, shops, Sunday brunch etc. year round. Many many families go there just for Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Thanksgiving brunches. You can order your whole Thanksgiving meal and pick it up to take home and reheat with all the fixings. They do a senior brunch once a week. The Rotary Club also meets there for lunch. No other Cedar Fair park has this year round revenue source, where many of these guests could care less about going inside the park gates. It's all available outside. The closest thing is probably Cedar Point, which has the Marina, TGI Fridays at Castaway Bay, and the Bay Harbor Inn open year round outside the gates, but the Marina is seasonal, and Sandusky in the winter is not the same as the large, populated, and sprawling So Cal area. The other restaurants: Perkins, the hibachi place (forget the name) and Famous Dave's are seasonal. The point I'm trying to make is that it's not just about attendance at KBF. At many of the other CF parks, I can't even give money away once inside the gates. There's simply nothing but fast food and ride related junk merchandise. People seem to go for the rides only.

Yes, you're probably right, and that's been for sale for quite a while.

I am sure that Wildwater Kingdom is next, too. No, when they acquired KBF in 1997, it was only the Buena Park property. They bought (Cedar Fair) Oasis in Palm Springs first (I think in 2000), and then White Water Canyon (or whatever it was called; it was originally gold rush themed) in Chula Vista a year later I think. The Chula Vista property was in bankruptcy at the time.

There was a second press release that hit the news, sounds like that one was from CNL, not Cedar Fair, that discussed things in more detail.

The KBF food line was sold to Conagra in 1995, two years before the park was sold to Cedar Fair. A couple of years ago, Conagra sold the line to Smuckers. They do make a line of jams that use cane sugar instead of corn syrup and the theme park carries them. They are called the "Signature" collection and are in square jars. It's not organic, but it's better than the HFCS. Some of the food lines are park specific and not made by Smuckers. These are not available outside of the theme park and Marketplace (such as the Boysenberry Punch concentrate.)

Are you referring to Spurs, DBJ? That restaurant was renovated about two years ago.

They never owned the land. The city owns that. Basically, the sale price of $70 million is for the rides and structures, which is all CF ever owned. There also is the small detail of the city approving this, and a certain % of revenue/sales goes to the city, so I assume it would need to be operated as a park until the city agrees to something different.