VIACOM to build Paramount Park--IN CHINA

[WooferBearATL]

Paramount Communications bought the KECO parks, and it was a stretch for them at the time to buy the parks they did.  We sometimes forget Paramount Communications should get the credit for putting the KECO parks back together.  Kings Island was no longer related to the other KECO parks...there was only a management contract with Lindner, and it was in its last year.  There was widespread, probably accurate, sentiment that it was not going to be renewed.  And, of course, had KI not been included and KECO had sold the other parks, there wouldn't have been much of a KECO to manage KI left for long anyway.

...that brings up some interesting thoughts. Imagine just how vulnerable an independent KI would have been in the 90s with all the consolidation that occurred in the industry. A single, unaffiliated park wouldn't have had the competitive buying power or marketing clout of all the chain parks...it would have been a perfect target for Six Flags during its huge spending spree.

Imagine if that would have happened...Six Flags Kings Island. Kind of gives all the "Paramount haters" pause for thought, huh?

Yeah, I'd never thought that I would actually have prefered that the KECO contract expired prior to a sale to Paramount.

We could have avoided any kind of affiliation with the great Satan of the Amusement Park World! (Paramount)

[jzarley]

So...a sale to SF would have been preferable in your mind?

Also, just because the management contract was still in effect with KECO isn't the reason KI was included in the sale to Paramount...Linder was the owner, and would have had to made the decision to sell the park. KECO didn't make that decision for him...

So, the likelihood of KI lasting through the 90s as an independent park would have been pretty remote...sooner or later, Lindner most likely would have bailed. I remember reading at the time of the Paramount sale that "Black Sunday" had fundamentally changed the way he felt about the park, and it really caused him to rethink the business...

[The Interpreter]

There are those who will tell you that Six Flags STILL came very close to buying Kings Island in the late 1990's...

Meanwhile, Lindner's company still owns the golf course across from Kings Island and undeveloped land surrounding it (I guess that wasn't included in the sale to Paramount Communications). http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar.../505200350/1001

While researching how the sale to Paramount Communications was structured, I found this:

http://www.ketupa.net/taft.htm

A quick reading will show you why many of us were thrilled when Lindner sold and was gone. The Lindner days were not, in my opinion, Kings Island's grandest.

[WooferBearATL]

So...a sale to SF would have been preferable in your mind?

Also, just because the management contract was still in effect with KECO isn't the reason KI was included in the sale to Paramount...Linder was the owner, and would have had to made the decision to sell the park. KECO didn't make that decision for him...

So, the likelihood of KI lasting through the 90s as an independent park would have been pretty remote...sooner or later, Lindner most likely would have bailed. I remember reading at the time of the Paramount sale that "Black Sunday" had fundamentally changed the way he felt about the park, and it really caused him to rethink the business...

Yeah, I actually would have prefered a sale to a system of parks that understood running amusement parks/theme parks.

I think it was very detrimental selling the chain to an organization that had absolutely, and I do mean absolutely, no experience running parks.

[The Interpreter]

Now you have gone way too far. . .

You do realize that Six Flags, then run by Time Warner, was sold to Tierco, a real estate investment company. "An organization that had absolutely, and I do mean absolutely, no experience running parks." Yep, that's Tierco. Called themselves Premier Parks at first, then changed their name to Six Flags.

And now it is run by an NFL team owner and an ESPN exec from a company that owns theme parks. Does Mr. Shapiro have theme park experience? The short answer is . . . no.

[WooferBearATL]

Now you have gone way too far. . .

You do realize that Six Flags, then run by Time Warner, was sold to Tierco, a real estate investment company. "An organization that had absolutely, and I do mean absolutely, no experience running parks." Yep, that's Tierco. Called themselves Premier Parks at first, then changed their name to Six Flags.

And now it is run by an NFL team owner and an ESPN exec from a company that owns theme parks. Does Mr. Shapiro have theme park experience? The short answer is . . . no.

Interp, I remember when Paramount took over.

I can imagine no fate worse that this park chain could have faced.

Honestly, there is none.

Thank Gawd that we have new owners and I'll be very please when I no longer have to look at the Paramount name on the parks.

Adam and I agree on this matter.

[The Interpreter]

I'll ask you again in a few years. I hope I am wrong, but I have some concerns that we may well look back upon this era just ending as the good old days, not just for Kings Island, but for the entire industry.

The times, they are a changin.

[WooferBearATL]

I'll ask you again in a few years. I hope I am wrong, but I have some concerns that we may well look back upon this era just ending as the good old days, not just for Kings Island, but for the entire industry.

The times, they are a changin.

I can guarantee that you will NEVER hear me talk about the "Good Old Days of Paramount" as I can't think of any good days of Paramount.

I still think of it as the Dark Days.

This is kind of like a period of coming out of darkness about back into the light.

[The Interpreter]

Well, at least we know where you stand.

I, for one, think Paramount Communications and even Viacom was good for the park. CBS? That's a whole nother story. Don't even get me started.

In any event, it's Cedar Fair's turn. I am hoping and praying they do so well it astonishes the investors, guests and creditors! Heck, even US!

[jzarley]

Interp, I remember when Paramount took over.

I can imagine no fate worse that this park chain could have faced.

Honestly, there is none.

Thank Gawd that we have new owners and I'll be very please when I no longer have to look at the Paramount name on the parks.

Adam and I agree on this matter.

Yeah, obviously you have a very definite opinion on this matter that goes pretty deep

I'll only make one other comment, then I'll shut up...

If you asked fans of Astroworld, Magic Mountain, Darien Lake, or any of the other parks which are likely to be condo developments over the next few years if they can "imagine no worse fate" than Paramount ownership, do you think they would agree?

I guess it's all a matter of degrees and perspective...

But, again, 'nuff said

[PKIVortex]

Just in my opinion. Paramount at first wasn't up to par. The park was dirty alot during the first few years being owned by Paramount. I think Paramount finally did get it right though. CBS didn't know what they were doing? I'm sure CBS changed alot of stuff that we don't even know about.

I'm just happy at least the parks were sold to another chain of amusement parks, so at least someone knows what they are doing.

[The Interpreter]

and the confusion continues. From: http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybri...omktNews&rpc=44

Not to be outdone, the northern city of Tianjin said in May it would build a $625 million Paramount theme park, a chain owned by U.S. theme park giant Cedar Fair LP (FUN.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

Sigh. Confidential to Reuters: Cedar Fair is not Viacom. Paramount Parks outside North America is a Viacom property....