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Great Wolf Lodge Coming To PKI


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MADISON, Wis./CINCINNATI, Ohio, May 4, 2005  Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: WOLF), the nation’s largest owner, operator and developer of drive-to family resorts featuring indoor waterparks and other family-oriented entertainment activities, and Paramount Parks today announced the formation of a joint venture to develop a 39-acre, $100+ million Great Wolf Lodge resort at Paramount’s Kings Island, in Mason, Ohio (just north of Cincinnati). Great Wolf Resorts will operate the resort under its Great Wolf Lodge brand and will maintain the majority equity position in the project. Paramount’s Kings Island, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIAB), will have a minority equity interest in the development by contributing the land needed for the resort.

Full Press Release:

http://www.pki.com/news/detail.cfm?item_id=160

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That is the one thing that was not mentioned in the article. I am glad to see that Paramount Parks (and Kings Island) will still own the land that the Lodge sits on. Hopefully, this will mean good things for PKI (and the return of winter fun at the park to keep those hotel rooms full!)

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I hope that they'll give discounts to journalists.

Have a great day!

Italian Chef

chef.gif

Funny...the journalism school I graduated from sort of frowned on situations like that wink.gif

But seriously...as someone who writes travel features, I'm sure you could finagle a comp'ed room as "research" in writing a review. (Might be a good way to spend a January weekend...)

Joel

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While the meeting area is smaller (40,000 sq ft vs. 50,000 sq ft) than was initially rumored, the waterpark is going to be pretty darn big by Ohio indoor standards:

Kalahari (Sandusky)-- 80,000 sq ft

Great Wolf (PKI)-- 75,000 sq ft

Fort Rapids (Holiday Inn East--Columbus)-- 58,000 sq ft

Castaway Bay (Sandusky)-- 38,000 sq ft

Great Wolf (Sandusky)-- 33,000 sq ft

As I've said multiple times in the past...I think this is a GREAT project!

Joel

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There hasn't really been enough information made public to know for sure how the deal is structured. However, I'd guess that Paramount Park's 15% stake is their "price" for selling the land to Great Wolf.

Generally, the cost of land is 15-25% of a hotel's total development cost. However, since this hotel's construction costs will be higher (due to the waterpark), 15% is probably a good number to use as the land's value in the overall project.

Great Wolf also has a development deal with Ripley's Entertainment in Niagra Falls. In that case, however, I've read that Ripley is developing the entire project, and just licensing the Great Wolf brand.

Joel

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GWL is a plus, giving the park year round service.. However, doing it at the expense of not having the campground is really intelligent.. It is a given that the old campground was in disrepair, but they could have started construction on a new one earlier this year, opening up the old one until construction (on the GWL) was to begin this summer...

I live within 90 minutes of GWL Traverse City, never been there yet, too expensive.. We have been using the PKI Campground for 18 years (when it was a Yogi and before) every June for 10 days at a time.. This year will be the 1st time that we will not be at PKI for any length of time..We will spend 1 day at PKI and the other 9 at PKD, and the PKD Campground...There are other campgrounds around the area, but none have cabins to accomodate us..Hopefully a new campground will be in the works for next year, if not, we( and the rest of our group) will not be buying season passes for 2006..

Rick

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I imagine weekend rates will be pretty high year-round, and any time they're hosting meetings of any substantial size. Castaway Bay runs some pretty good mid-week deals during the Winter, so perhaps Great Wolf will as well.

They run a year-round ADR of $211, so it's never going to be priced like a Red Roof biggrin.gif

In other openings (Williamsburg, VA for instance), Great Wolf has done a soft opening "open house" for locals. It's likely they'll do the same thing for the PKI property...

Joel

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