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Cedar Fair to close California’s Great America


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4 minutes ago, Imperial79 said:

I wonder what will happen to the coasters there, will they be relocated though out the chain?

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1 hour ago, Imperial79 said:

Re-read the report. They have the opportunity to lease for "up to" another 11 years. I give it 3 years and its closed. I would start looking at other park s getting rides from CGA. 

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Not going to lie, I just lost a lot of respect for Cedar Fair. I know, I know, it is a business first and foremost, but this news is in stark contrast to one of their 2018 earnings reports when they mentioned that Cedar Point, Canada’s Wonderland, Carowinds, and California’s Great America were their parks of focus.

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7 minutes ago, Oldschool75 said:

Re-read the report. They have the opportunity to lease for "up to" another 11 years. I give it 3 years and its closed. I would start looking at other park s getting rides from CGA. 

3 calendar years. This year, then next will be its last l, followed by removals. That’s my guess. 

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2 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

3 calendar years. This year, then next will be its last l, followed by removals. That’s my guess. 

And I see KI acquiring some of CGAs flats. Possibly Tiki Twirl, Centrifuge, Delirium, Orbit, and fingers crossed Delta Flyer/Eagle's Flight Sky Ride

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I see two big things with the park that could have played a part in this decision - they have no room for expansion and the parking lots in the area are shared with Levi's Stadium (home of the San Francisco 49ers), so they have to close when the 49ers have a home game (and possibly whenever there's another event at the stadium). There may not be much that CF can do with the park, and that's prime real estate there.

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17 minutes ago, Oldiesmann said:

I see two big things with the park that could have played a part in this decision - they have no room for expansion and the parking lots in the area are shared with Levi's Stadium (home of the San Francisco 49ers), so they have to close when the 49ers have a home game (and possibly whenever there's another event at the stadium). There may not be much that CF can do with the park, and that's prime real estate there.

Money was what drove this decision.  They paid 150 million for it 3 years ago.  Now selling it for 310 million.  Even if you deduct the inflation out of the sales price, it's a very healthy return.

Your reasons have plauged them for years and they knew these going into the purchase of the land., kind of like a nagging headache.   I would imagine they had a pro and con list (also California being generally notoriously over regulated) and when a deal was offered at the price it was, they jumped to take the money and run.

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17 minutes ago, DoomPlague said:

Railblazer is probably a better fit at one of the smaller parks.

Guess I need to get on Gold Striker before its gone.

 

Your probably right I was just wishing.

But at the same time, Kings Island instead of getting a new coaster, Cedar Fair could save money and just move railblazer give it a new name and that would cover their coaster line up for a couple years.

Edited by Orion742
Wrong letter
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14 minutes ago, Orion742 said:

Your probably right I was just wishing.

But at the same time, Kings Island instead of getting a new coaster, Cedar Fair could save money and just move railblazer give it a new name and that would cover their coaster line up for a couple years.

There are 4 Cedar Fair parks that haven’t received a coaster since the late 2000’s that would be more suitable candidates than us for a potentially relocated single rail. 

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There is more detail in the SEC filing.

https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0000811532/78a5bf4c-e155-489d-b56b-5161d8809409.pdf
 

Quote

On June 27, 2022, and as a condition to the sale of the Park, the Company entered into a lease with Prologis pursuant to which Cedar Fair, L.P., through its subsidiaries will continue to operate the Park. The lease has a six-year term, and the Company has the option to extend the term for an additional five years. The lease is subject to a right in favor of Prologis to terminate the lease early by providing at least two years’ prior notice. The annual base rent under the lease is $12,247,500 and will increase by 2.5% each year.

 

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The last year Cedar Fair published revenue and profit graphs which showed the individual parks in relation to each other was back in 2015 or 2016.  But at the time CGA was middle of the chain for revenue, but either last or next to last in profitability.  It was basically making around the same amount of money as Michigan's Adventure.  Which is actually a huge improvement, a few years before that the park was dead last for profitability and it was not even close.

The park is incredibly expensive to operate.  I suspect Cedar Fair decided that the cost of continuing to invest is just not worth the returns they are getting.  Especially when they are offered enough money to justify closing the park.  

At this point I am left wondering, when will the park close?  I cannot see it being operated for another 11 years, it might be possible due to the lease but its up to 11 years, not that it will be 11 years, frankly I give it 2 or 3 years unless it sees a huge uptick in attendance due to the pending closure.

What will move?  I would love to see the Sky Ride move, shoot that would be an amazing addition to Kings Island, but its so old I wonder if Cedar Fair will move it.  Old coasters like Demon, Woodstock Express, and Grizzly just seem like they will be scrapped.

B&M coasters will likely be moved, so Flight Deck and Patriot.  The only other coaster that I am pretty sure that will be moved is RailBlazer.  Psycho Mouse might be moved, might be sold, but I do not think it will be scrapped.  Gold Striker is a huge question mark, but I could see it being moved, its a lot of work to move a wood coaster but its pretty new and a very good layout.

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12 minutes ago, Kenban said:

The last year Cedar Fair published revenue and profit graphs which showed the individual parks in relation to each other was back in 2015 or 2016.  But at the time CGA was middle of the chain for revenue, but either last or next to last in profitability.  It was basically making around the same amount of money as Michigan's Adventure.  Which is actually a huge improvement, a few years before that the park was dead last for profitability and it was not even close.

The reason the park had such low profitability was mostly due to the lease which cost 10 million a year. 

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23 minutes ago, Kenban said:

B&M coasters will likely be moved, so Flight Deck and Patriot.  The only other coaster that I am pretty sure that will be moved is RailBlazer.  Psycho Mouse might be moved, might be sold, but I do not think it will be scrapped.  Gold Striker is a huge question mark, but I could see it being moved, its a lot of work to move a wood coaster but its pretty new and a very good layout.

The way I see it

  1. Flight Deck to Valley Fair
  2. Railblazer to Worlds of Fun or Michigan’s Adventure (both parks could use a sit down looper but which gets which is a toss up)
  3. Patriot to Worlds of Fun or Michigan’s Adventure (same argument as stated above)
  4. Psycho Mouse to KI? We don’t have a wild mouse
  5. Gold Striker to Dorney? (If they can relocate it of course)
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3 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

The way I see it

  1. Flight Deck to Valley Fair
  2. Railblazer to Worlds of Fun or Michigan’s Adventure (both parks could use a sit down looper but which gets which is a toss up)
  3. Patriot to Worlds of Fun or Michigan’s Adventure (same argument as stated above)
  4. Psycho Mouse to KI? We don’t have a wild mouse
  5. Gold Striker to Dorney? (If they can relocate it of course)

I agree with this list.

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Patriot is so old, I can't imagine it being worth moving. Maybe they send the trains to Carowinds to convert Vortex.

Flight Deck is also old, but also a better ride. Can it get much more life? Keep in mind that relocating a ride isn't cheap.

Would love to see Railblazer go to MI or maybe DP/WOF/VF.

Gold Striker is probably doomed, though at least it gives something for guests to ride as the other rides get removed?

Seems like all the parks but CP and KI have either a wild mouse or a single-car spinning coaster. So maybe we get Psycho Mouse?


...Think the bayern kurve would fit in the slingshot spot?

 

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24 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

The way I see it

  1. Flight Deck to Valley Fair
  2. Railblazer to Worlds of Fun or Michigan’s Adventure (both parks could use a sit down looper but which gets which is a toss up)
  3. Patriot to Worlds of Fun or Michigan’s Adventure (same argument as stated above)
  4. Psycho Mouse to KI? We don’t have a wild mouse
  5. Gold Striker to Dorney? (If they can relocate it of course)

I would send Railblazer to WOF and Patriot to MI for 2 and 3.  I love the idea of us getting the Wild Mouse.  I would love to see them put it into the Crypt building and then it could run all season long.

Gold Striker would also be great at Carowinds.  

It is also good to see you back.  :)

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46 minutes ago, Rivertown Rider said:

I would send Railblazer to WOF and Patriot to MI for 2 and 3.  I love the idea of us getting the Wild Mouse.  I would love to see them put it into the Crypt building and then it could run all season long.

Gold Striker would also be great at Carowinds.  

It is also good to see you back.  :)

I appreciate it! My main concern is that Psycho Mouse is an Arrow

Edited by SonofBaconator
Corrected an error
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