Kings Island helps Cedar Fair

[MarketingExpress]

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...BIZ01/309090076

[CoasterKrazy]

It's interesting that Canada's Wonderland is continuing to perform so well. I wonder why it has suddenly become a major player in the last few years.

[DeLorean Rider]

Just out of curiosity, it says that Cedar Fair is the 3rd largest amusement park chain in North America; if Six Flags is the largest, who is the second largest?

[The Interpreter]

Since it does not make the usual claim of being the second largest "seasonal" US operator, I'd assume they are basing this on number of North American parks...at which point Disney becomes the second largest operator....if it's revenue, Disney is the largest, Cedar Fair may still be third...but I really wouldn't know for sure, with the sales of parks, I am not at all certain about revenue lately....

[BoddaH1994]

I wonder how the closure of the dry side of Geauga Lake affected revenue as a whole.

[The Interpreter]

Probably not by much....if the dry side had been attracting much revenue, it'd probably still be a park!

[BoddaH1994]

...or it could have helped. Maybe the dry side showed a loss. They were never clear about it. They attributed their $7m net loss during the last fiscal year to the razing of Geauga. I'm curious as to what the net income will be at the end of this year.

[The Interpreter]

Well, you did say you wondered how it affected revenue, not net income!

I doubt Geauga's dry side was generating a profit, paper or otherwise. Again, if it were, I bet it would still be there...

[BoddaH1994]

I realize that. However what we don't know is the vary essence of the loss... Was Geauga basically flat line with little to no hope of being profitable, or was it loosing $100 million per year? That would have a heavy bearing on the fiscal report.

[The Interpreter]

In any event, I bet they thought they could sell the land for a small fortune...they closed the park, then real estate tanked. Some things just cannot be predicted.

[A_Titanic_Mess]

It's interesting that Canada's Wonderland is continuing to perform so well. I wonder why it has suddenly become a major player in the last few years.

Wonderland has been doing well for close to a decade now. KI has always been the leader in revenue, but Wonderland was always a close second, and in some instances surpased the Resale division revenue at KI. Kings Dominion always liked to think of themselves as second to KI, but it was really Wonderland that was in that second spot. KD was third, with Carowinds and PGA rounding out the bottom. The company I work for now has retail in both the US and Canada, and our Canadian business is on fire. The economy issues of the US do not appear to be impacting Canada as heavily at this point. Good job to the folks at Wonderland. It is a beautiful park, and I am glad to hear they are doing well.

[CoastersRZ]

And I`m sure the addition of Behemoth this year has bolstered their attendance and revenue numbers this season. A similar situation will likely occur next year at Kings Island with the introduction of Diamondback.

[BoddaH1994]

It probably doesn't hurt that the Canadian dollar is worth a little more than the US dollar now as well.

[touchdown62]

It probably doesn't hurt that the Canadian dollar is worth a little more than the US dollar now as well.

The US dollar is once again worth a little more than the Canadian dollar, but not nearly like it was even a couple years ago. $1 US now equals $1.07 Canadian. I remember when $1US=$1.40 Canadian. That was sweet when I went to Toronto back then.

[BoddaH1994]

Yeah, I went to Toronto in '01 and had a similar deal.