The Interpreter

Agreed. There is legal structure for tax reasons, and there is what is visible to the public. I doubt that Paramount Parks will be visible to the public 5 years from now.

That's because it was in May, which no longer shows... I don't think there is any gold pass early entry in June. Anyone?

My prediction is at least three levels of passes, if not four: --Single Park Pass. --Ohio Park Pass. --Platinum Park Pass good at all CF parks, but not including perks except at home park...parking is extra... --Super Platinum (or some such thing_ pass good at all CF parks, including preferred parking, early park entry and discounts on food and merchandise at ALL CF parks. That's just my guess....I am sure they don't even know yet. I do wonder if they will process the year before, as Paramount always had. Cedar Fair pass processing, IMHO, leaves a LOT to be desired. This is one area they could learn a LOT from Paramount Parks...at least how Paramount did it UNTIL this year.

If it makes you feel any better, most Six Flags parks aren't very good about policing smoking, either. And I see a lot more smokers down south (especially in Texas) than I ever do in the Midwest.

http://www3.paramountparks.com/kingsisland...ss_calendar.cfm This will show you the special gold pass benefits, and when they apply.

I think it is a fair statement to say that under no circumstances do I see season pass prices going down. At Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Disney or anywhere else. I DO see Cedar Fair cutting gate admission. And I figure season pass prices will go UP. Perhaps drastically so.

The Klockster opined: Which takes us to the biggest question of all, as I see it. After the Paramount Parks acquisition, will it be Cedar Fair's goal to run amusement parks and theme parks...or to convert the theme parks it bought to amusement parks over time?

Not to mention there is no asking price for those things that are not on the market for sale... I don't think Cedar Fair is buying the Paramount Parks to ruin or to resell...they are buying them to run them and to make money for their unitholders.

In the current scheme of things, a Cedar Point pass DOES include all other Cedar Fair parks EXCEPT Geauga Lake. That is the only park you must pay an additional fee to have included in your pass. So, I really don't understand your comment... Especially since now to get both KI and CP passes, you have to buy BOTH passes, or at least buy one pass from each chain--Cedar Fair and Paramount Parks.

Well, Cedar Fair did have a ride reservation system, of sorts, at Cedar Point...called, if memory serves, Free Lane. You could get a handstamp for two selected major coasters, which were given out at different times and strictly limited in number. Then you went to the speedlane at the time that appeared on your hand...say at 11 Millennium Force stamps were given out, the first 100 or so may say 12, the next 1, etc. It worked well, but was discontinued. . .

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Cedar Fair does to those speed lanes.

As well it should be, since Kings Island did not license the rights to Indiana Jones or Raiders of the Lost Ark...just as it did not license the rights to Phantom of the Opera (which another ride that KECO installed strongly resembled...)

Mr. Chef, I think you and I just said the perzact same thing in our own vastly different ways! And CF doesn't have to decide whether or not to renew the Nick license until it expires...four years from now. In kids' cartoons, that's an eternity....

I so agree. I can't imagine not seeing that ride on Coney Mall. It's almost as much of a classic to the park as The Racer, the Carosell or the Tower. Cedar Fair apparently agrees. And they even call the one at Cedar Point....Troika!

But, but, but.... It really doesn't matter if you or I understand kids' tastes. What will matter is what Cedar Fair thinks will best help the parks. And I bet Cedar Fair will stick with the tried and true, what they know, and what they, in their conservative and infinite wisdom, believe that kids either DO or SHOULD want... And that, that I bet is and will be Peanuts...as in Snoopy, Charley Brown and Woodstock....not Dora the Explorer or Spongebob or the Wild Thornthingies...

Why do I have this sudden urge to go eat some of those new White Chocolate M and M's? Themed on Pirates of the Carribean, no less? And THIS is my post 666. An omen, perhaps?

Yah...that "We Like To Party" is the Mr. Six Theme Song, used in ads. Paramount using it is just hilarious!

I always find it amusing when the music that is Mr. Six's theme plays in Coney Mall, which it did last year, and I assume still does! First we have Six Flags hanging over Coney Mall, then we play the theme song! Hilarious!

I can about assure you that will NOT happen. FearFest HAS to be highly profitable for PKI. CF will not be doing away with things that bring in lots of moola. They are, after all, a business. And businesses like happy people who bring money!

There were no storms. It didn't open until 12 or 1. No explanations were requested or volunteered! It just didn't open. And then it did.

I was at PKI Monday. I did not ride Delirium...but it did open around 12 or 1 and I saw it running with happy people on it...

Since its media day?

I don't know. I see CF learning some things from PP. When you pre-process passes, you sell more of them, and have people's money for months and months without additional costs. I can see CF learning from PP in the season pass processing department. Honestly, NO ONE was better at pass processing than PP, at least until this season...

Well, there's what they did to Geauga's. That park now closes for the season on, I believe, September 17. NO Halloween event. No October weekends at all.

IF Cedar Fair decides to make major structural changes to theming or to the parks' infrastructure, WinterFest becomes much less likely. The winter season available for the conversion work is short enough, without shortening it further by basically not being able to start such work until after January 1. Moreover, Cedar Fair is going to be on the hot seat to show they can assimilate this change and still pay dividends to their shareholders. If WinterFest was a big financial bonanza, it might still continue. If, however, it was barely profitable or lost money, I see it more likely that it will not continue. For the record, Cedar Point had a similar winter holiday gathering...ONCE, whereupon it was cancelled and not held since. But getting people to a windy park on Lake Erie in December and early January is a far different proposition than is Kings Island's. Not to mention, where do you find employees in Sandusky, Ohio in the dead of winter?