Vffreak07 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Hmm. This is odd. I highly doubt they would do this to either parks considering the upgrades they've had in past years. It really depends on how much Cedar Fair wants to earn. Yeah they would make money off of it, but with growing attendance and parks continuing to thrive from people who live closer to the park than top destination spots, I doubt this would happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CP_RULES Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Kansas City has the largest population of any city in the state and WOF is closer to the city center than SFStL is to StL. With the new coasters that have been added in the past few years attendance has greatly improved. It seems like if CF can ride out the next year or two they will find WOF to be a worthwhile property. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jive Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Don't ever underestimate the willingness of a park owner to sell the park to a land developer if the price was right. Just because you and I love the parks and the coasters doesn't mean that Cedar Fair wouldn't jump at the chance for the park to be paved into a parking garage or a football stadium if it made sense to the bottom line.  --Robb If the price was right it would be a no brainer for a company looking to reduce it's debt. I can only speak for WoF in this instance though and the land that it sits on can't be worth much. The only way that CF gets the kind of cash that it would want out of a deal like this is to sell it as a park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hercules Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Hmm. This is odd. I highly doubt they would do this to either parks considering the upgrades they've had in past years. It really depends on how much Cedar Fair wants to earn. Yeah they would make money off of it, but with growing attendance and parks continuing to thrive from people who live closer to the park than top destination spots, I doubt this would happen. Â The rides also add value to the parks. So the price of the parks have gone up with the upgrades and look more attractive to someone that might have potential interest in purchasing. I kind of think of it like a house - before you put it up on the market, you make upgrades like new carpet and paint to make it look better and potentially easier to sell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holyblakbelt Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Hmm. This is odd. I highly doubt they would do this to either parks considering the upgrades they've had in past years. It really depends on how much Cedar Fair wants to earn. Yeah they would make money off of it, but with growing attendance and parks continuing to thrive from people who live closer to the park than top destination spots, I doubt this would happen. Â I agree. With Valleyfair getting their first major waterpark addition since as long as I can remember and Worlds of Fun geting Prowler, I can't see this happening. Plus people would probably stay home instead and go those local parks instead of planning some major vacation. Valleyfair just needs their B&M! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vffreak07 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 If the price was right it would be a no brainer for a company looking to reduce it's debt. I can only speak for WoF in this instance though and the land that it sits on can't be worth much. The only way that CF gets the kind of cash that it would want out of a deal like this is to sell it as a park.  Agreed. The land that VF sits on isn't worth much. It's near a river that floods often, there's nothing but industrial stuff & crappy little places up and down 101 for a ways, and it's not like they'd wanna build apartments or anything on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycamps Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 ^I was thinking the same thing. Then the thought came into my head of other companies buying the park. If they did sell it as a park, something makes me think that companies won't be jumping all over it. I could be wrong though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowieP Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 ^Plus Valleyfair is the "Fair" in Cedar Fair! If they sold it, the name would probably change to Cedar Point Parks, Inc. or something along those lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Hmm, is it time to buy pavevalleyfair.com and paveworldsoffun.com? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticky Nicky Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 I can't say anything about WoF, but VF has defiantly seen an attendance spike in the past couple of years. Last year seemed to be the busiest yet. There were things like 1 hour waits on Wild Thing, which was running 3 trains on many weekends, something I hadn't seen in the past 6-7 years. ' Â I highly doubt they would sell a park that is becoming even more successful every year. Especially one that was one of the original parks and holds a sentimental value to Kinzel, being that he was general manager there for 8 years. Â Just my $.2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jive Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 That sounds like a great time to sell it. It's not going to worth as much if attendance sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holyblakbelt Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 ^Plus Valleyfair is the "Fair" in Cedar Fair! If they sold it, the name would probably change to Cedar Point Parks, Inc. or something along those lines. Â Count on CedarDeckHawk if it does happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterdude5 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 It'd be interesting to see who would pick the parks up if they were sold. But I think that's getting ahead of things. Hopefully they'll be able to hold on to them through this rough time. Â What's up with Michigan's Adventure? I would think that would be one of the first parks they would consider selling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnage Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Michigan's Adventure is kind of in the middle of no where though. They might not be able to get enough in return for that land compared to VF/WoA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDCOASTERFAN Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 At least Cedar Fair tried to help California's Great America, they tried to add a coaster but the neighbors of the park objected. I actually think Cedar Fair is doing a pretty good job, they evenly distribute their capital into each park every couple of years. Like every major Cedar Fair park except a failed California's Great America received a new coaster since 2007. Unlike Six Flags who can just let a property sit their unattended like Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom and America. Â Exactly & CF didn't go on a massive international park buying spree unlike SFI so their debt load isn't as high.CGA is somewhat of a loss simply because the neighbors put up such a fight over the smallest little additions to the park,which costs CF time & money to litigate & this is why paramount probably didn't invest all that much cap ex into the place when they were in charge as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reality15 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 What's up with Michigan's Adventure? I would think that would be one of the first parks they would consider selling.Michigan's Adventure has the highest growing attendance in the entire chain. Not too many years ago they were doing around 400,000 people per year, and now they're reported to be around 750,000. Considering the small amount of capital that has been put into the park compared to other Cedar Fair parks in that time frame, I think that's a pretty good reason to keep it around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jojo19799 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 ^Great point Reality. I worked a summer at Michigan's Adventure (back in 2001) and the crowds were non-exsistant. I worked at Great America previous years, so going from a high volume park to something that wasn't was a huge shock for me personally. Also, MA is located in the Whitehall/Muskegon area, which is used by a lot of people for summer homes or weekend getaways. After Labor Day weekend, everything pretty much closes up shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_rock401 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Rumors of a sale have been floating around, in various derivatives, for at least 15 years. However, today was the first time CF has put any substance behind said rumors. Â park fan> Â I also can't see the land VF sits on to be much good for anything other than the existing amusement park. The property is bordered by Hwy 101 to the south, the Minnesota River National Wildlife Refuge to the north, Murphys Landing to the west, and the Blue Lake wastewater treatment plant to the east. It's also on the wrong side of Highway 101 to be of much use as industry. The original park is the only area that is walled off from Minnesota River floodwaters, and Renegade required a lot of wetland mitigation. Given that real estate prices have taken a bath in the Twin Cities metro, I don't see any industrial developer wanting to pick up their 70 or so acres. There's a reason why, other than grain tanks, they're the only thing on that side of 101/13 between downtown Shakopee and well into Savage. Â Â Plus VF's Haunt was as packed as I've ever seen that park. The only night that didn't have hour waits for everything was November 1, the last night. I don't know how their summer went this year, but their fall was BIG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebl Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 "Hmm, is it time to buy pavevalleyfair.com and paveworldsoffun.com?" (Wes) Â What about pavecaliforniasgreatamerica.com? Â Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Realistically, I doubt Cedar Fair will sell any parks besides CGA (and that is still a question mark---but at least that park has an identified potential buyer) in the immediate future. Further down the line, if they can't figure out how to do anything else to lower their debt besides cutting dividends, they may have no other choice but to sell some parks for whatever they can get for them. Â This seems much more like a ploy to assess the market and put creditors/investors/analysts at ease. "See, we have assets to unload if we need to! Some Random company will pay this much for the park and we can use that money to pay you guys back!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeelTheFORCE Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Could this be Geauga Lake all over again for one/both? I highly doubt it because of Prowler, and Valleyfair just got Renegade 2 years ago, but you never know. Â If any Cedar Fair park, Great America would be the one to be the next Geauga Lake. The new 49ers stadium isn't helping their situation either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mataceman Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 I feel like if Cedar Fair wanted to sell either park they couldn't look at what happened with Hard Rock Park, it sold for 10% of it's contruction cost just 1 year later. plus Cedar Fair would probably want to unload them in a package deal and I don't think anyone has $70+million just laying around right now. Â As far as Michagan's Adventures goes I feel Cedar Fair might see it as a starter park for the larger vacations to Cedar Point. If they have guests with CF sason pass at Michagan's Adventures they would be more likly to take a longer vacation to Cedar Point because the already get in for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHILLERLC1 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Six Flags was lucky to get involved first. Lucky is a bad word to use because it's a bad situation for both companies. Six Flags is fortunate it had Cedar Fair to help load a parachute with the purchase of GL. It was at least one available conduit. Cedar Fair is trying to put off a Six Flags a few years ago like Rob simply equated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Clinksalot Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 So is this what CF does: Â Go in, ruin a park and then sell it??? (at least in the case of WoF) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vffreak07 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Yeah wasn't the same thing supposed to happen to SFMM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now