If Cedar Fair Could Purchase One More Park

[SonofBaconator]

The title is pretty self explanatory. I would like to hear what park some of you chose and why. To make it realistic I'm asking that people don't go off the rails- for example, don't say CF will buy Magic Mountain or Great Adventure (you get the jist). Other than that have fun and please be respectful of people's choices. I'll say mine later on! (Also water parks can be included if you want)

[King Ding Dong]

Is Action Park off the rails? 
 

I think the obvious answer is one or both of the Busch parks, though something like Adventureland would probably be better Platinum sales.  Definitely not an Indiana park. 

[AgentSoB]

If they could purchase one more park. I'd go for Fiesta Texas. Cedar Fair would do well to have some representation in that part of the country.

[King Ding Dong]

3 minutes ago, AgentSoB said:

If they could purchase one more park. I'd go for Fiesta Texas. Cedar Fair would do well to have some representation in that part of the country.

CF has 2 parks in that part of the country.  

[SnakePlissken]

2 hours ago, King Ding Dong said:

Is Action Park off the rails? 
 

I think the obvious answer is one or both of the Busch parks, though something like Adventureland would probably be better Platinum sales.  Definitely not an Indiana park. 

I think they would ruin the beauty of the Busch parks. As far as Indiana goes do not touch Holiday World. However Cedar Fair could improve Indiana Beach.

[BeeastFarmer]

I say southern markets all the way.  Texas is an obvious target because they are now in that market.  I'd also love to see the entire SEAS company brought into the fold.  Florida, Texas and California, but my awesome Kings Dominion would suffer in that scenario.

[CoastersRZ]

Well to be honest, Kings Dominion hasn`t exactly been flourishing under Cedar Fair.  Yes, they have received Twisted Timbers, but look at how many rides have been removed from that park.  Especially in comparison to what has been added at nearby Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

[SonofBaconator]

47 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

Well to be honest, Kings Dominion hasn`t exactly been flourishing under Cedar Fair.  Yes, they have received Twisted Timbers, but look at how many rides have been removed from that park.  Especially in comparison to what has been added at nearby Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Hypothetically, is it possible for both Virginia parks to coexist under the same company? I'd imagine the less successful park would have to be toned down significantly.

[CoastersRZ]

That is a good question.  The immediate thing that comes to mind is the proximity of Geauga Lake to Cedar Point.  We all know how that ended up.

I think that Cedar Fair could benefit from owning the SEAS parks.  They would get several more parks that are open year round.  However, I do not see Cedar Fair looking to take on another chain right now.  They might bite off another park, but I do not see them doing anything in the next year.

[Rivertown Rider]

I've thought for several years that Kennywood would be a good park for the chain. With its relative proximity to KI, CP, and DP it could be a way for the chain to sell more platinum passes.

CF would also do a much better job with operations than Kennywood does.

[SonofBaconator]

I had a few parks that I think CF would benefit from owning if the opportunity ever arose:

• Six Flags New England: CF doesn't have as strong of a hold on the east coast market so acquiring this park would help. They could drop all the Six naming and rename it Riverside Amusement Park like it used to be. New England is a pretty big market and I think CF could give the park a better feel in the quality department.
• Busch Gardens Tampa: In my opinion, this is THE park CF should spend their money on if the opportunity ever arose. In my opinion it's pretty darn close to a Cedar Fair park already so it wouldn't have to be altered much. Also having a huge year round park in the Florida market would be extremely prosperous for the chain. The only road-block I'd see to this is the animal situation as Cedar Fair doesn't have a lot of interest in working with animals. With that being said however, animals are a huge part of BGT so I could see Cedar Fair dipping their toes in the water if it means having control over one of Florida's most popular amusement parks.
• Lagoon or Silverwood: This is just something I'd be interested in seeing how it would play out. Cedar Fair has no parks in the Rocky Mountain Region of the US and I think it would be interesting to see them add either park to their portfolio. I'm not sure what the ROI would be for acquiring either park though. 
• Six Flags America: Call me evil but I would liquidate this park. I hear its awful and I've heard the land is worth more than the park is. I have friends who live in the DC/Baltimore area and they never go to this park often opting to go to Hershey, Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I know no one wants to lose an amusement park but with the East Coast so chock-full of awesome parks, I don't think a lot of people would miss it, but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[BeeastFarmer]

I'm aware of how KD has done under Cedar Fair, that is why I said if in a very unlikely scenario, KD would probably suffer  more.  I think that would a terrible shame because KD is such a great park.  I hope they decide to invest some capital into the park to maintain the charm it has.  I don't think it has to be a massive thrill ride park, but a nice place to visit and have fun.  Unfortunately the odds are stacked against it.

@coaster sally, I'm sorry my post confused you.  I hope this cleared things up.

[SonofBaconator]

@BeeastFarmer I remember watching a YouTuber talk about how Busch and Dominion kinda swapped roles. Busch Gardens was seen more as a family style Park and Kings Dominion was seen more as a Thrill Park. Now they've seem to have reversed where Kings Dominion is trying to appeal more to families and Busch Gardens is trying to appeal more to thrill seekers. I hate to think that one coaster cemented KD's current status but after 2010, the park seemed to scale back on their thrill rides where Busch seemed to move forward.

[coaster sally]

37 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:

I'm aware of how KD has done under Cedar Fair, that is why I said if in a very unlikely scenario, KD would probably suffer  more.  I think that would a terrible shame because KD is such a great park.  I hope they decide to invest some capital into the park to maintain the charm it has.  I don't think it has to be a massive thrill ride park, but a nice place to visit and have fun.  Unfortunately the odds are stacked against it.

@coaster sally, I'm sorry my post confused you.  I hope this cleared things up.

KD suffers from Dorneyitis anyway, Its to close to a wealth of better parks.

[BoddaH1994]

The one they could most benefit from owning would be Busch Gardens Tampa.

The one they are most likely to screw up from inexperience with running a zoo is also Bush Gardens Tampa.

I bet it would turn out fine for them as they would only buy it for pennies on the dollar in a SEAS bankruptcy, but the park would be a shell of its former self.

[SonofBaconator]

@BoddaH1994 which in theory would make BGW the more favorable park since they have less animals but you obviously have KD not too far away which complicates things. You can't really remove the animals from BGT because that's a big part of who they are.

If I were CF and I had the option to buy BGT, I'd take a chance and keep the animal aspect of the park. They're year round so its not like they have to worry about losing money housing the animals in the winter months since they're still going to pull in people. 

I wouldn't want to aquire any of the Sea World parks in Orlando, San Antonio, or San Diego because of being tied to the marine life controversy. I still think acquiring at least one Six park and one Busch park would be worth it. Does any one think Six or Sea will be forced to sell some parks after the Covid-19 pandemic is over? No chain will come out of this well financially but I think some chains will be worse off than others

[SonofBaconator]

Sorry to double post but I had a hypothetical question:

If Cedar Fair were to acquire Busch Gardens Tampa, would that affect Kings Island's investments? Busch Gardens operates year-round so I think they'd be able to generate enough revenue to sustain themselves. Additionally KI still draws in over 3 million annually so there's still a need to invest. So if not KI would another park be affected like Carowinds?

Also could the same thing be said if the company purchased any other park? Worlds of Fun, Valley Fair, Michigan's Adventure and Dorney were all getting pretty good coasters at a decent rate but then after the Paramount buy they became the chain's bottom tier parks. Would buying another park make sense if the parks I just listed aren't getting as much attention as they used to?

Again all hypothetical

[BeeastFarmer]

CF buys KK and relocates it to Shelbyville with huge tax incentives.  They get a giga, strata, and a relocated Diamondback.  KI's attendance shrinks but the neighbors still complain about noise.  The KI enthusiasts continue to complain about everything KI and CF do.  The plug is pulled when CF relocates the Eifel Tower to Canada's Wonderland, Mystic Timbers and Adventure Express to Kings Dominion, Orion to Cedar Point, Banshee to Gilroy Gardens, The Bat to Conneaut Lake Park and a sign that says come and get it on Invertigo.  The dry park is closed and they focus on Soak City which is then bought by Coney Island and closed.  Mason and Kings Mills bicker over the site and it sits dormant for years.

All hypothetical.

[dbackdreams]

This better not happen!!!!

[purdude86]

On 7/27/2020 at 7:07 PM, SonofBaconator said:

Sorry to double post but I had a hypothetical question:

If Cedar Fair were to acquire Busch Gardens Tampa, would that affect Kings Island's investments? Busch Gardens operates year-round so I think they'd be able to generate enough revenue to sustain themselves. Additionally KI still draws in over 3 million annually so there's still a need to invest. So if not KI would another park be affected like Carowinds?

Also could the same thing be said if the company purchased any other park? Worlds of Fun, Valley Fair, Michigan's Adventure and Dorney were all getting pretty good coasters at a decent rate but then after the Paramount buy they became the chain's bottom tier parks. Would buying another park make sense if the parks I just listed aren't getting as much attention as they used to?

Again all hypothetical

I don't see KI getting cut back too much. It's still one of their top parks, being the fourth most visited in the chain. I honestly see some of their smaller parks hurting more with this acquisition. Valleyfair, Dorney Park, etc. would like see even fewer additions and changes, or even potentially get sold. The one that would likely be hurt the most would be Kings Dominion as despite being large it is a lower tier attendance wise compared to the other parks. Despite being over twice the size of Valleyfair it actually has a lower attendance than it even. I could see them decide not to invest as highly in this park for that reason and put more funds to maintaining BG Tampa.

[SonofBaconator]

4 hours ago, purdude86 said:

I honestly see some of their smaller parks hurting more with this acquisition. Valleyfair, Dorney Park, etc.

I wonder how many lower tier Cedar Fair parks would benefit from being owned by a different company or having independent ownership. Michigan's Adventure got a ton of coasters in the late 80s through the 90s before Cedar Fair purchased them. Also I know its out there somewhere but I want to know how much revenue their smaller parks bring in and if its worth it to keep them or sell some of them to focus more on their larger parks.

[purdude86]

I was wondering that too. I imagine they bring in a decent bit of profit still otherwise I’d imagine they’d have been sold off or closed already. 

[SonofBaconator]

On 8/2/2020 at 1:02 PM, purdude86 said:

I was wondering that too. I imagine they bring in a decent bit of profit still otherwise I’d imagine they’d have been sold off or closed already. 

@Benjamin22 supplied this the other day. Yes the data was 5 years ago but it still holds up I think. Its crazy to see Dorney surpass Kings Dominion when they have to contend with far more superior parks like Hershey and Great Adventure where Kings Dominion only has to content with Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I assume its just population at that point. I'd love to see how that proposed GG shuttle coaster would help that park out. I've been saying for years that Dorney should be getting more love than it does. @VekomaRulz can attest to that.

[purdude86]

I'd be curious what those numbers are like now. More so to see if there's been any change between Dorney and KD, but even more so to see if Carowinds moved past them. Carowinds is their #5 park now and seems to be getting the most attention outside the big 4 of CP, KI, CW, & KBF. 

[FeloniusX]

I would like to see Cedar Fair buy land and build a new park from scratch.  As far as location, Effingham, Illinois.

[412MedB]

Kings Dominion...Already closed for 2020. Easy to begin transition for 2021

[silver2005]

^Cedar Fair already owns Kings Dominion. 

[Bob Redman]

I say either Elitch Gardens in Colorado or Lagoon in Utah

[Terry]

They should consider Elitch gardens in Denver , Colorado and relocate the park so they could eventually expand.  The current park is landlocked and in dire need of some TLC from a company that knows how to do Theme Parks.  

[coaster sally]

50 minutes ago, Terry said:

They should consider Elitch gardens in Denver , Colorado and relocate the park so they could eventually expand.  The current park is landlocked and in dire need of some TLC from a company that knows how to do Theme Parks.  

That would be a huge investment.  Buy a park then move it.