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Should Disney Buy Cedar Fair?


The Interpreter
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That guy has some good points concerning what Six Flags is starting to do. That is still very unlikely though. I don't know if I would want to go to the parks still if it became disney. We would have to see all those dumb Disney shows (not all of them, but most) would be themed on most of the rides. Hi welcome to the Alladin Flying Carpet (Firehawk).

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Or, why not have Disney buy CF, but just not rebrand them as "Disney" parks. They could still enjoy a lot of the synergies and the revenue opportunites, but without the huge costs of bringing those properities up to what people expect from a Disney park.

I still believe Cedar Fair would have been a lot better off buying out Great Wolf Lodges than shelling out $1.24B for Paramount Parks. Even using a generous EBITDA multiple, they probably could have bought out all of GWL at the time for $300M or so. That would have been a great year-round revenue producing business to balance out the seasonal nature of the parks. Not to mention that the margins are a heck of a lot better in the hotel business than in the theme park business! :)

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Several weeks back speculators where saying that Disney was looking into purchasing existing established regional parks and hotel/water parks that resided in already established tourist areas.

That said I though it was odd when I was doing some research on the GWL yesterday and saw where they where having Radio Disney coming to the lodge and was advertising several pirate activities for the kids.

As far as do I wish Disney would buy Cedar Fair I really wished they would. Because it would force other surrounding parks to better quality offerings as far as shows and rides go. Disney is not for everybody but they do what they do so well and that forces other parks in the surrounding areas of one of their parks to do it right and something that the public would really enjoy to compete and to offer an alternative to Disney.

Disney has named their top roller coasters unique names; Such as Mt. Everest, Space Mountain, Rock N Rollercoaster which puts FOF to shame, just to name a few.

Disney owning KI would be a dream comes true for me as I know that it would improve the quality of our park experiences around this region.

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Disney owning KI would be a dream comes true for me as I know that it would improve the quality of our park experiences around this region.

Jessie --

Two years ago, anyone on here would have assumed that Cedar Fair purchasing Kings Island would have been a dream come true. Everyone had visions of giga and strata coasters being built the first year. Of course, this is what it is -- a business. Disney will treat it the same. Will they add a lot to the parks? Certainly. But I wouldn't expect to see Disneyworld Ohio soon.

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^ True! I remember reading a long time ago when Disney's America theme park deal was broken that Disney was look to buy the park chain I still dont see disney getting ahold of the park and I didnt want CF to get ahold of the park in the first place but I do love disney and would like to see the park get someone who will care for it.

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Ryan – I 100% agree with you that we probably will not see a Disney run park in Ohio in the foreseeable future, except for some reason if GWL and Disney got together. I do think Cedar Fair will make some necessary changes and will be the owners for some time to come. I think that if other members thought that if/when Cedar Fair bought Paramount parks that Cedar Fair would have a huge cash flow available for such expenditures then they over estimated Cedar Fairs abilities.

Secretly inside I wished a company that has deep pockets available to really enhance KI potential would have bought them. I am not getting any younger and I would have enjoyed seeing the full potential that Kings Islands could offer if the right invisionest got a hold on KI

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^ True! I remember reading a long time ago when Disney's America theme park deal was broken that Disney was look to buy the park chain I still dont see disney getting ahold of the park and I didnt want CF to get ahold of the park in the first place but I do love disney and would like to see the park get someone who will care for it.

Actually, I'd like to see a merger of Dick Kinzel's ambition and Walt Disney's dream. IF it worked, it would be utopia.

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If Disney purchased Cedar Fair, you can count on more themed rides. You can also guarantee that they would actually take care of the theming as well, something that KI needs to learn how to do. Just because Disney buys CF, that doesn't mean that every park will become exactly like Disney's current parks. If anything, Disney could use the CF parks to invest in larger more extreme rides and place them there and continue what they are doing at their currents parks. They could potentially own all aspects of the market.

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There is no place in this world that I love more than Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It is Heaven on Earth. I've also been to Disney parks in California and Japan - and they are pretty awesome, too.

I VERY VERY VERY much wish that Disney would purchase CF - or at least Kings Island. But I VERY VERY VERY much doubt that they will. Disney likes to have attractions that are of superior quality and open all year around. I think it's more likely that Disney would purchase Great Wolf Lodge than Cedar Fair.

Have a great day!

Italian Chef

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Perhaps since CF wants to keep management, they are only looking for partnership rather than a complete sale. Would Disney or any other corporation actual partner with them??

I think it would be really cool since I believe that Disney would look to diversify each park rather than duplicate attractions, thereby making visits to each park more unique.

If I'm not mistaken, executives from Coney Island assisted Disney in the creation of Disneyland, and when Kings Island was built, Disney assisted in the design, and under Paramount, an imagineering executive was hired to design.

It seems like CF is already set to perhaps partner with Disney. It would be cool to see "Kings Island -Ohio Adventures" or "Kings Dominion - Virginia Adventures" ETC.

The only thing that might be a drawback, is that Disney tends to be precise on their attractions and it might take years for new attractions, but they are usually worth waiting for.

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Maybe Disney could bring back some international to International Street.

And some coney to coney mall, and some river to rivertown, etc you get what Im saying the park areas dont even make sense, why even keep them named?

I guess the names might help with organization.

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Disney would turn Cf into a little adventure lame land with mini coasters just like disneyland or world is!

First, why would a company (not just Disney but any company) spend billions for parks and then tear out the coasters? Second, why would a company spend billions for parks and then tear out the coasters?!?

There is no place in this world that I love more than Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It is Heaven on Earth.

As have I and I agree. There's no place I'd rather be than Disney. The experience is worth the money itself, the rides are just an added bonus. I could see Disney buying (and greatly improving) every Cedar Fair park EXCEPT Cedar Point because there's not much room to do anything with and coasters aren't Disney's forte even thought they could work around it in other parks and not Knotts Berry Farm because of the closeness to Disneyland. As the article suggests, they would most likely sell them.

I could see Disney keeping CP in only on instance. But it brings about a story... About five or six years ago there was a rumor about a ride called "Villain Mountain" where it'd be a coaster themed around the villains in Disney Movies (kinda like how Fantasmic has the villains). The site where my brother saw this also suggested the idea of a villain theme park at WDW where all the rides would be themed to villains and it'd be more of a thrill park to compete with IOA. Now, I think it would be amazing it Disney themed the rides at Cedar Point (since they already have the thrill rides) to villains and go that route but other than that I don't see them doing it.

We would have to see all those dumb Disney shows (not all of them, but most) would be themed on most of the rides. Hi welcome to the Alladin Flying Carpet (Firehawk).

First, most of their shows are amazing and second Firehawk wouldn't be themed to Aladdin. Aladdin can't fly, he rides a carpet. Firehawk would go better with Peter Pan since he can fly whereas Aladdin would go better with Top Gun, which I thought about. So listen to what I would do...

First Top Gun would be put in a building since basically all Disney coasters are inside or spend a good amount of time in a mountain. So the queue would be themed as an Arabian desert. The preshow video would take place right before the station which would brief you on a treasure hunting mission into the Cave of Wonders. So you'd get into the station which would be dark and lit with lights that look like torches and you'd hop into the trains which look like carpets which of course are supped up with Disney's awesome on-ride sound system. The track would be the same. You'd climb the first hill which would look like a huge sand dune. You'd get to the top, take the first turn and then stop right in front of this...

aladdin9.jpg

The Cave of Wonders. It would be a huge structure where the mouth would move like the movie asking "Dare you enter the Cave of Wonders". Then the first drop would proceed take the first drop into the mouth. The first drop and turn around would be pitch black and the on-ride music would start. Once you take the drop after the horseshoe turn, that part of the ride would look like a cavern full of jewels and gold which would sparkle in the half lit cave. Some of the cave might act like it's collapsing like the final part of the scene in the cave. Right around the turn by SOB, there would appear the genie shown on the wall with a projector saying, "Follow me this way." He would then fly ahead and you could finish the ride in the brake section like normal but that would be the exit station for the new ride since that's how Disney does it. You would then proceed to exit the ride into the ride's gift shop where you would be tempted to buy your on-ride photo from when you just enter the cave. Then you think to yourself, this would've never happened with Paramount or CF... I'm so glad Disney bought the park..

However, my conclusion is the same as the Fool's...

Will Disney bite? It's awfully tempting, yet unlikely to happen.
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Great thoughts, but:

First Top Gun would be put in a building since basically all Disney coasters are inside or spend a good amount of time in a mountain.

http://www.rcdb.com/ig731.htm?picture=1

California's Adventure also shows what Disney can and might do with a park more in the thrill than theming mode.

Most Disneyland aficionados say they enjoyed Disney's California Adventure more when it was Disneyland's parking lot.

Disney doesn't invest enough in the parks they currently own. It would be a terrible, terrible, terrible decision for them to buy Cedar Fair. It would have made much more sense for CBS-Viacom-Paramount-whatever to have bought Cedar Fair.

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It could be the best marriage in years. Disney owning Kings Island and they would really have a great deal of the amusement industry: It makes sense if they did it:

Disney's parks are 1-6 and 8 in attendance in the US already. Worldwide Disney parks are 1-8, 13, and 18. CF's most attended park (Knott's Berry Farm) came in at #13 in the US in 2006.

http://www.coastergrotto.com/theme-park-attendance.jsp

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Great thoughts, but:

First Top Gun would be put in a building since basically all Disney coasters are inside or spend a good amount of time in a mountain.

http://www.rcdb.com/ig731.htm?picture=1

Hence the reason I put 'basically all" instead of "all". Also...

http://www.rcdb.com/ig732.htm?picture=1

http://www.rcdb.com/ig295.htm?picture=1

http://www.rcdb.com/ig1566.htm?picture=9

http://www.rcdb.com/ig274.htm?picture=2

just in the US, but who's counting? I wasn't saying they can't or won't, I was just saying that because it makes it easier to hold the theme when it's in a building so you're not looking at Great Wolf Lodge coming up the hill.

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To be honest welchce and everyone else i love the idea and i love Disney it is one of the best places to go and experience and all of Disney's shows arent lame as you told Vortexallday i may be 13 and not as many kids this age watch Disney related shows but i still do and i would love to see them take the park over, but my only question now is if Disney were to buy at least KI would the prices for admission go up or would they stay pretty much the same?

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but my only question now is if Disney were to buy at least KI would the prices for admission go up or would they stay pretty much the same?

My guess, up.

The prices for WDW look something like this. But then again that is a world wide resort destination and a large sized jewel in the Disney crown whereas KI is possibly getting a second owner change in as many years. It would most likely depend on how much money Disney would (or any company for that matter) puts into KI and how much they expect back per year.

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Why would Disney even be intrested in CF? Sure, having more parks to sell what Disney has to offer sounds great, but I would also have to think that it has the potential to take guests away from Florida.

Why travel to Florida when you can stay in Cincinnati and still experiance Disney?

The whole idea is a bit of a stretch.

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Why would Disney even be intrested in CF? Sure, having more parks to sell what Disney has to offer sounds great, but I would also have to think that it has the potential to take guests away from Florida.

Why travel to Florida when you can stay in Cincinnati and still experiance Disney?

The whole idea is a bit of a stretch.

People go down to Florida to see what all they have down there and not up here like im sure they wouldnt build an animal kingdom type adventure at KI and if they see people staying in Cincinnati they would think of a way to either get people back down to Florida or have us pay a little extra although we wouldnt be happy i can see them doing something like this after all no matter what prices jump every year at the park

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