Cory Butcher Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 Attendance was up, greatly, as was per capita spending. http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/press_releases...mp;story_id=145 Cedar Fair ENTERTAINS MORE THAN 22 MILLION GUESTS IN 2007 · Reports Solid Increases in In-Park Per Capita Spending Across All Parks SANDUSKY, OHIO, January 9, 2008 -- Cedar Fair (NYSE: FUN), publicly traded leader in regional amusement parks, water parks and active entertainment, today announced that combined attendance in 2007 at its eighteen locations totaled 22.1 million guests compared with 19.3 million in 2006. During this same period, preliminary average in-park guest per capita spending increased 5% to $40.45 compared with $38.71 in 2006. Dick Kinzel, chairman, president and chief executive officer, noted that the 2006 figures include results from the Paramount Parks since their acquisition from CBS Corporation on June 30, 2006, while results for 2007 include a full-year of operations. “We experienced solid increases in average in-park guest per capita spending at each of our parks,” said Kinzel. “On a regional basis, our northern region parks entertained approximately 12.4 million guests compared with 10.7 million guests in 2006, while our southern region parks entertained 4.1 million guests compared with 3.3 million guests a year ago, and our western region parks hosted 5.6 million guests versus 5.3 million guests in 2006.” “Overall, we are pleased with our 2007 results as we end a transformational year for the company,” said Kinzel. “This was our first full year of owning and operating the newly acquired parks and we have learned a great deal about our new customers during this time. With our record-high $88 million in planned capital expenditures for 2008 along with the introduction of exciting new marketing promotions to capture our guests’ attention, we are confident 2008 will be another successful year for the company.” Kinzel concluded by noting that the Company plans to issue a news release and host a conference call with analysts on Thursday, February 7, 2008 to discuss 2007 fourth quarter and full year earnings results for Cedar Fair. The Company’s 2007 year-end tax information will also be processed and mailed to unitholders at the beginning of March. The same tax information will be available to unitholders through the Investor Relations section of the Partnership’s corporate web site (www.cedarfair.com) beginning Monday, March 3, 2007. Cedar Fair is a publicly traded partnership headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio, and one of the largest regional amusement-resort operators in the world. The partnership owns and operates 11 amusement parks, six outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels. Amusement parks in the company’s northern region include two in Ohio: Cedar Point, consistently voted “Best Amusement Park in the World” in Amusement Today polls, and Kings Island; as well as Canada’s Wonderland, near Toronto; Dorney Park, PA; Valleyfair, MN; and Michigan’s Adventure, MI. In the southern region are Kings Dominion, VA; Carowinds, NC; and Worlds of Fun, MO. Western parks in California include: Knott’s Berry Farm; Great America; and Gilroy Gardens, which is managed under contract. Also included in that region is Star Trek: The Experience, a Las Vegas-based interactive adventure. ### Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 "....Dick Kinzel, chairman, president and chief executive officer, noted that the 2006 figures include results from the Paramount Parks since their acquisition from CBS Corporation on June 30, 2006, while results for 2007 include a full-year of operations....." details, details... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragerunner Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 The devil is in the details. I been doing some math and I would say they saw overall attendance decline if you would take the full year of 2006 and compare it to 2007. It will be interesting to see if anyone questions them on this during their conference call that coming up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastersRZ Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Why do they insist on only including attendance figures from the Paramount Parks since they took over? It is misleading that they don`t divulge what the true attendance was for all the parks in 2006, regardless of who owned the parks at what point in the season. Also, I understand they want to report attendance by regions. But why do they no longer want to break out attendance on a per park basis (ie the attendance figures for Cedar Point, or Knott`s or Dorney)? They used to do this before they bought Paramount Parks, correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Why do they insist on only including attendance figures from the Paramount Parks since they took over? It is misleading that they don`t divulge what the true attendance was for all the parks in 2006, regardless of who owned the parks at what point in the season. Also, I understand they want to report attendance by regions. But why do they no longer want to break out attendance on a per park basis (ie the attendance figures for Cedar Point, or Knott`s or Dorney)? They used to do this before they bought Paramount Parks, correct? Why would they care about park attendance or revenue prior to their acquisition? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragerunner Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 I checked the data for attendence for both chains in 2005 (they released the info when they bought the Paramount Parks). 2005: Paramount properties - 12.2 million Cedar Fair properties - 12.7 million TOTAL: 2005 - 24.9 million TOTAL: 2007 - 22.1 million That means there has been a decline in total park attendance for these properties of about 2.8 million. While this may not be a complete apples to apples it does show there has been a significant decline in overall park attendance since the Cedar Fair buyout. On a side note. It just seems to me that Cedar Fair leadership has been making several noticable mistakes over the last few years that are starting to really cost the company. Example: They failed with Geauga Lake, they admitted they underestimated the appeal of the animals at the Geuaga Lake property, they underestimated the value of season pass holders at the Paramount parks, and their indoor water park venture in Sandusky is having noticable problems. Now you have a company with a huge debt, an economy in/going in a recession in 2008 and a declining stock (which has been declining overall since 2005 when it was about 33 dollars to today's 20 dollars). I just have to wonder when or if the board is going to start getting 'concerned' about these 'mistakes' by management. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Why do they insist on only including attendance figures from the Paramount Parks since they took over? It is misleading that they don`t divulge what the true attendance was for all the parks in 2006, regardless of who owned the parks at what point in the season. Also, I understand they want to report attendance by regions. But why do they no longer want to break out attendance on a per park basis (ie the attendance figures for Cedar Point, or Knott`s or Dorney)? They used to do this before they bought Paramount Parks, correct? Why would they care about park attendance or revenue prior to their acquisition? It the comp stats for the Paramount Parks would have improved under CF, you can bet they'd be heralding that number. "Same store" year-to-year sales is one of the most common methods for determining business trends. If CF is not inviting the comparison, you can bet that they don't want to make the comparison. On the up side, it appears that the late season was good for CF. Great weather during the Halloween events was a real blessing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Just remember...when CF bought PP, they said "Combined annual park attendance to approach 25 million visitors." http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7415 More than ten percent below that in the first full year Cedar Fair owned and operated both the Cedar Fair legacy parks and the former Paramount Parks. No wonder they used the comparison method they did (comparing a full year of CF + PP parks <2007> to attendance for a full year of the legacy parks and the PP parks only since the date of acquisition in 2006). Sneaky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragerunner Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I will be shocked if someone doesn't question them on this during the conference call in Feb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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