Cedar Fair Reports Record Revenues Through the July 4th Weekend

[Imperial79]

“Through the July 4th holiday weekend, we have continued to generate new highs for in-park per capita spending, as well as drive growth in our out-of-park revenue channels, most notably through our resort properties,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Richard A. Zimmerman.  

Looks like things are going very well, and probably will have a record year this year. I can’t to visit the park in July, I will definitely be buying some 50th anniversary items!  

https://www.cedarfair.com/blog/2022/cedar-fair-reports-record-revenues-through-the-july-4th-weekend

 

https://www.cedarfair.com/blog/2022/cedar-fair-to-announce-2022-second-quarter-results-on-august-3rd-earnings-call-starts-at-10-am-edt

[FUN&ONLY!]

It sounds like it will be a record year in terms of revenue but not attendance. That is not necessarily a bad thing, though, because money is what actually matters to Cedar Fair.

The press release mentions attendance is up roughly 2% year-to-date. However, attendance is down about 5% compared to 2019.

[disco2000]

^It is a weird dynamic that would be nice to see this trend change from the past, but perception plays a big part in it.

Past years all shareholders and the Board cared about was attendance, attendance, attendance.  For years we would see record attendance, yet per cap spending was going down.

Attendance going down is a perceived problem with publicly traded companies and shave value usually takes a hit, even if the revenue and profit are great.  For example what happened to their unit price after this announcement...it's value dropped 6%...

If the perception and narrative could be changed to focus on revenue and profit with attendance as a lesser factor, then I think we will continue to see all the "little things" improvements we have been seeing.

When the narrative and perception is attendance is the guiding factor, that is when we see the gate given away and the attention to the "little things" pushed aside.

When you focus on the "little things" then the revenue and profit increase because people are spending more.

And then a funny thing happens...you get increased visits despite not giving away the gate....

The "dip" in attendance is mainly due to the lack of group sales and picnics as many companies have yet to re-engage in those types of events.

[disco2000]

On the earnings call today (8/3/22), record revenue continues for the year and are well above pre-covid 2019 numbers despite having 1 million less visitors, proving you can make money with fewer guests...

Basically they are setting records for everything but attendance.  But that decline is probably mostly contributed to outings that haven't returned in full-force since covid.

And of course, after that announcement of attendance down, the unit price is now down... I would take higher revenue with fewer guests than more guests and declining revenue per cap, which was the trend leading up to covid.  Per cap numbers were declining leading up to covid, but now they are at a record per cap spending, up 26% over 2019.  In-park per capita spending is $60.76.

Reinstatement of unit-holder distribution and authorization of program to repurchase up to $250 million units indicates the strong position they are now in.

 

 

 

[Shaggy]

38 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Basically they are setting records for everything but attendance.  But that decline is probably mostly contributed to outings that haven't returned in full-force since covid.

 

The price of gas... plain and simple.  Less people traveling.

[disco2000]

37 minutes ago, Shaggy said:

The price of gas... plain and simple.  Less people traveling.

One would think that, but per cap spending is up a lot, as are season pass sales. 

More people have opted for stay-cations and thus hit the regional parks more than say a trip to Disney or another far away destination and are spending some of what they planned to spend on these items.  I know plenty of people visiting the park more because of this, and I know many long-time Disney fans that gave up Disney visits this year and upgraded to CF Platinum and visited the reasonable driving distance parks instead.  

They also mentioned that attendance per operating day at the Company’s legacy parks is up 2% year to date, further showing people are staying closer to him and visiting regional parks instead.  @BoddaH1994and Don even talk about that on their podcast that the trend the regional parks experience seem to not be as impacted and actually tend to do a little better when people decide to do stay-cations.

They actually mentioned last month that thru July 4th, the attendance variance resulting from a slower recovery within the group sales channel has impacted total attendance, so it seems logical that the group/company outings are still down a month later, which is evident by visiting the park on a weekend and not seeing as many "Welcome XYZ" companies on the marque sign.  They also mentioned 94 fewer operating days at the Company’s legacy parks due to a natural calendar shift and changes in early-season park operating schedules as part of the attendance decrease.

[IndyGuy4KI]

1 hour ago, Shaggy said:

The price of gas... plain and simple.  Less people traveling.

I am having a hard time with that one. It seems to me the traffic is worse than pre covid, even with more people working from home. I don't think gas prices has detoured people from traveling. I think the complaining about gas prices is just that, complaints. The traffic on the roads themselves say it has not been that big of an impact. Last point I will make is that if people were having trouble paying for gas getting to the park, wouldn't per caps spending also be down? People are still spending money on top of the extra expense of gas. 

[terry wass]

if season pass sales are up I wonder why platinum is going up to $ 250 for 2023.

[CoastersRZ]

Where did you hear that Platinum passes are going up to $250 for 2023?  As far as I know, they haven`t released pricing yet for 2023 season passes.  That will likely happen shortly after announcements are made for 2023 additions.

[DiamondbackFan]

6 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

Where did you hear that Platinum passes are going up to $250 for 2023?  As far as I know, they haven`t released pricing yet for 2023 season passes.  That will likely happen shortly after announcements are made for 2023 additions.

https://www.miadventure.com/season-passes

 

[CoastersRZ]

Surprised they raised the Platinum price but the season pass to MiA still seems fairly cheap.  It looks like if you were to buy the dining plan on your 2023 pass at MiA, that it would be valid the rest of this season and all of 2023.  This is a change, at least to how KI has done it in the past.  The dining plan was always good for the year in which the pass was bought and not the remainder of the year before.  Also, the MiA dining pass is good for two meals a day.  At KI, you can get three meals with the 4 hour window, depending when you get your meals.

[terry wass]

several parks have already posted at 250. Hope it isn't true. But i upgraded earlier this year from gold to platinum and it cost $150 in addition the $ 109 I paid at Christmas fot gold. Can't see why other parks would charging extra $$. Platinum should be the same price at any park.

[DoomPlague]

30 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

Surprised they raised the Platinum price but the season pass to MiA still seems fairly cheap.  It looks like if you were to buy the dining plan on your 2023 pass at MiA, that it would be valid the rest of this season and all of 2023.  This is a change, at least to how KI has done it in the past.  The dining plan was always good for the year in which the pass was bought and not the remainder of the year before.  Also, the MiA dining pass is good for two meals a day.  At KI, you can get three meals with the 4 hour window, depending when you get your meals.

This is the first I've heard you can get 3 meals at KI. The site clearly says 2. Though I certainly don't need 3 meals on any visit.

[CoastersRZ]

Hasn`t KI always said four hours between meals with the Dining Plan on the pass?  I haven`t ever tried to get three meals at the park in a day, but I have grabbed two, including grabbing some slices of pizza on the way out of the park for the ride home at Winterfest a couple of times.

[DoomPlague]

6 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

Hasn`t KI always said four hours between meals with the Dining Plan on the pass?  I haven`t ever tried to get three meals at the park in a day, but I have grabbed two, including grabbing some slices of pizza on the way out of the park for the ride home at Winterfest a couple of times.

From the ordering site: "Enjoy 2 meals every time you visit in 2022! Only a 4-hour interval is required between meals."
The main site says "Enjoy lunch and dinner" which implies 2 meals as well.

[BoddaH1994]

5 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

Surprised they raised the Platinum price but the season pass to MiA still seems fairly cheap.  It looks like if you were to buy the dining plan on your 2023 pass at MiA, that it would be valid the rest of this season and all of 2023.  This is a change, at least to how KI has done it in the past.  The dining plan was always good for the year in which the pass was bought and not the remainder of the year before.  Also, the MiA dining pass is good for two meals a day.  At KI, you can get three meals with the 4 hour window, depending when you get your meals.

You can get 3 meals? That’s news to me. I know there is a loophole where if you use it at more than one park you can get 3, but I don’t think the terms of KI’s allows for 3?