Covid-19 fallout result in mergers/acquisitions?

[SonofBaconator]

In the past I've talked a blue streak, no pun intended, about chains acquiring smaller parks or chains merging. There are some parks that got hit hard by the pandemic as well as a lot chains. Could we see smaller parks offering themselves to large chains in attempt to save themselves from closure? Could we see chains merge to try and alleviate some of their debt?

[coaster sally]

37 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

In the past I've talked a blue streak, no pun intended, about chains acquiring smaller parks or chains merging. There are some parks that got hit hard by the pandemic as well as a lot chains. Could we see smaller parks offering themselves to large chains in attempt to save themselves from closure? Could we see chains merge to try and alleviate some of their 

no one is in position really to take on smaller parks.

[SonofBaconator]

11 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

no one is in position really to take on smaller parks.

Even from an operational standpoint?  I'm not being argumentative I'm just asking. I know Six Flags operates Darien Lake and Frontier City but I believe EPR Properties owns them.

[coaster sally]

36 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

Even from an operational standpoint?  I'm not being argumentative I'm just asking. I know Six Flags operates Darien Lake and Frontier City but I believe EPR Properties owns them.

I mean from a fiscal standpoint.  Maybe next year.  Most small parks won't turn profits this year with still a decreased capacity.  Someone like CF should buy increase portfolio leading into a economic boom IMO.

[BoddaH1994]

On 2/5/2021 at 3:03 PM, coaster sally said:

I mean from a fiscal standpoint.  Maybe next year.  Most small parks won't turn profits this year with still a decreased capacity.  Someone like CF should buy increase portfolio leading into a economic boom IMO.

Position to? No.  That’s never stopped Six Flags before. 

[DiamondbackFan]

22 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Position to? No.  That’s never stopped Six Flags before. 

Six Flags is considering building a waterpark in Mazatlan, Mexico.

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=https://lineadirectaportal.com/sinaloa/six-flags-podria-inaugurar-un-parque-en-mazatlan-lo-visitarias_20210107-1168953/&prev=search&pto=aue

Quote

Mazatlán is coming very strong, right now there are approximately 50 tourism projects that want to enter Mazatlán, Six Flags is also currently analyzing the position of probably arriving with a water park. They have already come to Mazatlán and are really seeing the potential of the port; and they already found out, but Six Flags brings many amusement parks and tourist attractions.

There are also rumors that Six Flags is taking a look at Fresno, CA.  I wouldn't be surprised it they acquire Island Waterpark.

[SonofBaconator]

Three points:

1. I'm very interested to see where SEAS will stand coming out of this pandemic with the debt they have
2. The number of water parks that might be acquired by larger chains might go up
3. Smaller parks might seek help from large chains to stay alive if they can't recover

[coaster sally]

SEAS as well as SIX will come out of this strong. 

[Leland Wykoff]

Herschend set up an acquisitions and mergers branch before the epidemic arrived.  Heavy hitters involved.  Included was a stated intent to locate investment partners.  

Cedar Fair took simular action several years ago setting up former CEO Matt Ouimet in a position and office to oversee acquisitions.  Then absolutely no transactions occured for years.  

The pandemic may accelerate, or act as a deceleration to acquisitions.  Much will depend upon both healthy access to capital along with depressed asset prices, mixed with available funding for operators to restart operations.

Here is a story about Herschend moves in the Growth Department:

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/money/2020/11/24/dollywood-new-president-looks-to-expansion-smoky-mountain-cabins-dreammore-res/6405205002/

 

[KIghostguy]

1 hour ago, Leland Wykoff said:

Herschend set up an acquisitions and mergers branch before the epidemic arrived.  Heavy hitters involved.  Included was a stated intent to locate investment partners.  

Cedar Fair took simular action several years ago setting up former CEO Matt Ouimet in a position and office to oversee acquisitions.  Then absolutely no transactions occured for years.  

The pandemic may accelerate, or act as a deceleration to acquisitions.  Much will depend upon both healthy access to capital along with depressed asset prices, mixed with available funding for operators to restart operations.

Here is a story about Herschend moves in the Growth Department:

https://www.knoxnews.com/story/money/2020/11/24/dollywood-new-president-looks-to-expansion-smoky-mountain-cabins-dreammore-res/6405205002/

 

Worth noting on this site that Craig Ross, Herschend's new COO of the Growth and Opportunity Group, was Kings Island's general manager from 2002 to 2006.

[BoddaH1994]

53 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

Worth noting on this site that Craig Ross, Herschend's new COO of the Growth and Opportunity Group, was Kings Island's general manager from 2002 to 2006.

I’ve heard he’s been spotted somewhere relatively close in the past few months. I’ve said too much. 
 

#NotAtKI

[BeeastFarmer]

3 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I’ve heard he’s been spotted somewhere relatively close in the past few months. I’ve said too much. 
 

#NotAtKI

Oh my word, is Hershend buying Cedar Point??????

There is a water park VERY CLOSE to Kings Island and a couple of dry/waterparks relatively close to KI, kind of to the west in neighboring states.  One fits the Herschend image to a T.

 

[TombRaiderFTW]

4 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I’ve heard he’s been spotted somewhere relatively close in the past few months. I’ve said too much. 
 

#NotAtKI

$5 says Kentucky Kingdom. Between things that have popped up on Facebook and things that have been said here...

[SonofBaconator]

1 hour ago, TombRaiderFTW said:

$5 says Kentucky Kingdom. Between things that have popped up on Facebook and things that have been said here...

Herschend has a big presence in the southern US so that wouldn't surprise me.

$10

[FUN&ONLY!]

5 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I’ve heard he’s been spotted somewhere relatively close in the past few months. I’ve said too much. 
 

#NotAtKI

Come on! You can tell us!

[BoddaH1994]

On 2/8/2021 at 7:07 PM, BeeastFarmer said:

Oh my word, is Hershend buying Cedar Point??????

There is a water park VERY CLOSE to Kings Island and a couple of dry/waterparks relatively close to KI, kind of to the west in neighboring states.  One fits the Herschend image to a T.

 

Ugh. I was just at The Beach last week to stop by and say hi. If someone were going to reopen it they might just have to bulldoze/rebuild. Then again, it might be a valuable investment since you can literally see the new cabins from there. 
 

Fun fact: Hershend did tour the property when they closed the first time but nothing came of it. 

[SonofBaconator]

41 minutes ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Fun fact: Hershend did tour the property when they closed the first time but nothing came of it. 

What would be advantageous of a chain operating a park operating in a competitor's territory? KI pretty much has dominion over the area.

I'm just curious

[BoddaH1994]

22 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

What would be advantageous of a chain operating a park operating in a competitor's territory? KI pretty much has dominion over the area.

I'm just curious

Hence why nothing ever happened. If it were in an outlier market I bet thought would have bitten. 

[SonofBaconator]

2 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

Hence why nothing ever happened. If it were in an outlier market I bet thought would have bitten. 

I think something different would work: go kart tracks, high ropes/zipline courses, mini golf, etc

[BoddaH1994]

10 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

I think something different would work: go kart tracks, high ropes/zipline courses, mini golf, etc

I don’t disagree. I could see an argument that go karts, zip lines, etc would work better even if it wasn’t simply added to the water park so it wouldn’t be seen as direct competition. 

[SonofBaconator]

On 2/12/2021 at 9:46 AM, BoddaH1994 said:

I don’t disagree. I could see an argument that go karts, zip lines, etc would work better even if it wasn’t simply added to the water park so it wouldn’t be seen as direct competition. 

If I had a ton of money I would build a park of that nature on the Beach's property. I find high ropes, go karts, mini golf courses, etc too underwhelming to be placed inside a park like KI. That being said, however, I think all of what I said would work well as its own thing and make Warren County a multi day destination. 

Part of me was disappointed Cedar Fair never made a separate Dinosaurs Alive park. Imagine KI having a 3rd park off property where guests payed separate admission but there would be more put into it- sorta like what you would get at a resort.

[BoddaH1994]

On 4/15/2021 at 7:38 AM, SonofBaconator said:

If I had a ton of money I would build a park of that nature on the Beach's property. I find high ropes, go karts, mini golf courses, etc too underwhelming to be placed inside a park like KI. That being said, however, I think all of what I said would work well as its own thing and make Warren County a multi day destination. 

Part of me was disappointed Cedar Fair never made a separate Dinosaurs Alive park. Imagine KI having a 3rd park off property where guests payed separate admission but there would be more put into it- sorta like what you would get at a resort.

I don’t know... DA went from an up charge to free to gone in just over 5 years. I don’t think it could have sustained itself as its own gate. 
 

I do understand that DA was where Orion is now, but if they saw any sort of benefit to keeping it they would have found a way. 

[CoastersRZ]

And there was not a lot of repeatability with DA.  Yeah, they added a new dinosaur in, but there just wasn`t a lot to keep people coming back. 

Now, my son loves dinosaurs, and would have loved to experience DA.

[SonofBaconator]

6 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

I don’t know... DA went from an up charge to free to gone in just over 5 years. I don’t think it could have sustained itself as its own gate. 
 

I do understand that DA was where Orion is now, but if they saw any sort of benefit to keeping it they would have found a way. 

 

6 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

And there was not a lot of repeatability with DA.  Yeah, they added a new dinosaur in, but there just wasn`t a lot to keep people coming back. 

Now, my son loves dinosaurs, and would have loved to experience DA.

I argue the bare minimum was done to DA, but I don't believe it was ever meant to be necessarily permanent unless is was a huge success

If it was its own park with its own gate, parking lot, etc I'd argue more would have been done- exhibits updating, a sitdown eatery, maybe a few small Dino themed rides.

[BoddaH1994]

2 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

 

I argue the bare minimum was done to DA, but I don't believe it was ever meant to be necessarily permanent unless is was a huge success

If it was its own park with its own gate, parking lot, etc I'd argue more would have been done- exhibits updating, a sitdown eatery, maybe a few small Dino themed rides.

I don’t disagree, but if you look anywhere on YouTube you’ll find no shortage of abandoned dinosaur parks. Not sure if DA would see a different date.

i do agree that the park saw DA as a multi year investment, but nothing long term.

[CoastersRZ]

Now had they themed a whole area of the park to dinosaurs with eateries, rides and such, then it could have been viable.  But without the major IP that Universal has, I am not sure that it would have been a viable move.  Keep in mind that I believe Cedar Fair partnered with an outside company for the dinosaurs.  I believe that Cedar Fair provided the staffing, walkways, and electrical hookups, while the outside company provided the dinosaurs and the maintenance of them.

[Gabe]

Having been to Animal Kingdom more than I'd like (2 weeks ago being the most recent), I can say their dino area is neglected at best.  Dinosaur is a good ride, but there's nothing else there.  The crazy mouse coaster is SBNO (has been for a couple of years) and the dino-themed smaller version of Dumbo isn't very good.  Granted, the eateries in that area haven't reopened, but the park really only has 2 E ticket rides, 1 D (Dinosaur) a C ( Avatar boat ride the other) and a kiddie ride.  That leaves the safari ride.  Eventually, after they're done w Epcot, Disney should revamp Dino land.  Uni with Jurassic is about the only park that can pull off dinos and make it consistently work