Press Release Source: Cedar Fair Entertainment Company

Cedar Fair Entertains More Than 19 Million Guests in 2006

Wednesday January 10, 6:40 pm ET

SANDUSKY, Ohio, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: FUN - News), a publicly traded leader in regional amusement parks, water parks and active entertainment, today announced that combined attendance in 2006 at its eighteen locations totaled 19.3 million guests compared to 12.7 million in 2005. During this same period, preliminary average in-park guest per capita spending increased 3% to $38.58.

Dick Kinzel, chairman, president and chief executive officer, noted that the 2006 figures include results from the Paramount Parks since their acquisition from CBS Corporation on June 30, 2006 while the 2005 results do not. "In 2006, our northern parks entertained approximately 10.7 million guests compared with 7.3 million guests in 2005, while our southern parks entertained 3.3 million guests compared with 1.1 million guests, and our western region hosted 5.3 million guests versus 4.3 million guests in 2005," said Kinzel.

"For a consistent comparison to prior year, excluding the impact of the acquisition, combined attendance was down less than 1% between years, while average in-park guest per capita spending remained relatively unchanged," continued Kinzel. "Attendance at our southern parks increased more than 10% from 2005 results, while attendance at our northern and western parks fell 2% and 1%, respectively."

"Overall, we are pleased with our results as this has been a very busy and challenging year for the company," said Kinzel. "Most of our parks experienced changes in management during the peak of our operating season due to the acquisition of the Paramount Parks, yet on a same-park basis were still able to maintain historical attendance and average in-park guest per capita spending levels. This is a testament to the experience and work ethic of our employees at all levels."

Kinzel concluded by noting that the Partnership's 2006 year-end tax information will be processed and mailed to unitholders at the beginning of March. The same tax information will also be available to unitholders through the Investor Relations section of the Partnership's corporate web site (www.cedarfair.com) beginning Monday, March 5, 2007.

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company is a publicly traded partnership headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio. The Partnership, which owns and operates twelve amusement parks, five outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and six hotels, is one of the largest regional amusement park operators in the world. Amusement parks in the company's northern region include three in Ohio: Cedar Point, Sandusky, consistently voted "Best Amusement Park in the World" in Amusement Today polls; Kings Island, near Cincinnati; and Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom, Aurora; as well as Canada's Wonderland, near Toronto; Dorney Park, Allentown, Pa.; Valleyfair, Shakopee, Minn.; and Michigan's Adventure, near Muskegon, Mich. In the southern region are Kings Dominion, Richmond, Va.; Carowinds, Charlotte, N.C.; and Worlds of Fun, Kansas City, Mo. Western parks in California include: Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park; Great America, Santa Clara; and Star Trek: The Experience, an interactive adventure in Las Vegas.

This press release and prior press releases are available online at http://www.cedarfair.com.

southren parks? where would that be?

From the press release:

...In the southern region are Kings Dominion, Richmond, Va.; Carowinds, Charlotte, N.C.; and Worlds of Fun, Kansas City, Mo. ....

(Only Cedar Fair would consider Kansas to be part of a region called southern!)

You think KI?

From the same press release:

Amusement parks in the company's northern region include three in Ohio: Cedar Point, Sandusky, consistently voted "Best Amusement Park in the World" in Amusement Today polls; Kings Island, near Cincinnati; and Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom, Aurora; as well as Canada's Wonderland, near Toronto; Dorney Park, Allentown, Pa.; Valleyfair, Shakopee, Minn.; and Michigan's Adventure, near Muskegon, Mich.

Note that this region's attendance was DOWN two percent. Only the southern region had increased attendance, and it was up more than ten percent!

From the same press release:

Amusement parks in the company's northern region include three in Ohio: Cedar Point, Sandusky, consistently voted "Best Amusement Park in the World" in Amusement Today polls; Kings Island, near Cincinnati; and Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom, Aurora; as well as Canada's Wonderland, near Toronto; Dorney Park, Allentown, Pa.; Valleyfair, Shakopee, Minn.; and Michigan's Adventure, near Muskegon, Mich.

Note that this region's attendance was DOWN two percent. Only the southern region had increased attendance, and it was up more than ten percent!

Not Only Will the South Rise Again - It Has!

Maybe somebody can help do the math here. If I am reading this right, the northern parks in 2005 (Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom, Dorney Park, Valleyfair, and Michigan's Adventure, Cedar Point) 7.3 million visitors and in 2006 they had an attendance of 10.7 million which included the addition of Kings Island and Canadas Wonderland. (+3.4 million) This makes no since, either KI and CW attendances dropped in half or some of the other CF parks had a huge drop in attendance? This just doesn't make since. Maybe I am not understanding these numbers correctly. Maybe they are only calculating attendance of the parks only for the time they owned them.

Again, from the press release (with emphasis added):

Dick Kinzel, chairman, president and chief executive officer, noted that the 2006 figures include results from the Paramount Parks since their acquisition from CBS Corporation on June 30, 2006 while the 2005 results do NOT.

Must be using "fuzzy math" in this release.... The proof of the pudding will be when the figures are released for the 2007 season....

Mike

Anyone know when KI's official attendance will be released?

Does Cedar Fair even break out the attendance per park? I thought, and I could be wrong, that they just break out the attendance per region, and on a per park basis they only stipulate the percentage increase or decrease of attendance.

The Interpreter

Again, from the press release (with emphasis added):

QUOTE

Dick Kinzel, chairman, president and chief executive officer, noted that the 2006 figures include results from the Paramount Parks since their acquisition from CBS Corporation on June 30, 2006 while the 2005 results do NOT.

Still, they took over at the end of June. Only about a third of the way through the season. So that means the KI and CW only had 1.7 million (if you just cut the attendance in half) in attendance for the other 2/3 of the season. If you work the numbers for the other months that would me both parks had about 2.5 to 2.7 million in attendance for the year. That would be a huge drop from the previous year. Also, that would mean that for the same time period KD and Carowinds only drew about 1 million a piece and Great America only had about 1 million or so during that time period. I am not saying its wrong (it is what it is), but it looks to me like somebody had some major attendance problems.

Well unless Cedar Fair specifically comes out and says what the attendance figures were in 2006 at each park was, we may never know exactly how many people Kings Island pulled in in 2006.

Well judging by the crowds I was in during the 06 season especially the great weather weekends in June and July, and then FearFest, I doubt PKI was the one with the problem.

I agree. We were very busy at admissions during the spring and during Fearfest. There were big crowds during Fearfest and the weather was very nice for all the days except for the last Friday in October.

Mike

Almost all of my visits this past season was done during the week, except in Pre and Post seasons, but I was surprised on some of my visits how dead the park was.