Cedar Fair Mull Six Flag Purchase

[venture]

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs...SS06/510110359

Brief overview...Ohio-based Cedar Fair is thinking of buying some or all of Six Flags, Inc. This would be very good news for the parks that get picked up going by Cedar Fair's track record. Having lived in Ohio...their flagship park, Cedar Point - which is about 35-40 miles east of Toledo in the Northwest corner - is one of the best parks outside of FL and CA. The OKC parks would definitely fit their mold of what they would buy, and would definitely get a lot of upgrades if it would happen.

[jbrown84]

I'd much rather see them buy it than anyone else. Dan Snyder doesn't know jack squat about running a theme park company, and neither does this ESPN executive he wants to make CEO.

Preferably the company stays in Oklahoma though.

[venture]

The company won't stay in Oklahoma. Cedar Fair has its roots in Northwest Ohio and that's where they will stay. They will likely run Six Flags as a subsidiary and consolidate offices, maybe keeping operational facilities here in OKC and eliminate the New York operation. The subsidiary option would be to keep the Six Flags name going at the respective parks.

[jbrown84]

Yeah I meant preferably it doesn't have to be sold. Or perhaps they just sell off some of the bigger Six Flags parks and keep the smaller ones and continue as Premier Parks. They could use all the proceeds to update Frontier City and White Water.

[karlanee]

That doesn't seem like good business to me at all. I'm not a business person, but taking all the proceeds of selling a bigger out of state park that draws tourists from other states to update a small park which is frequented mostly only by locals seems to be foolishness.

Yes, I do contend that Frontier City and White Water Bay are in DESPERATE need of repairs and updating. However, spending ALL of the money on it seems a little absurd. What about moving expenses if they move the headquarters to Ohio? What about debts related to the sales, etc.?

If it were me, I'd sell off the small parks first and get rid of them - and keep the large parks which are more likely to draw tourists.

But there is a reason I'm not a business owner. My idea my very well be just as foolish as I think this one is. LOL

[venture]

I think something that would turn Cedar Fair off to some parks, specifically Frontier City, is the fact they are detached from the water park. Frontier City is on one side of town and White Water Bay is on the other. Soak City Ohio is on the grounds of Cedar Point, Knott's Soak City is joined with Knott's Berry Farm, etc. Six Flags typically has these parks detatched or even stand alone water parks. What I would see them picking up if they had a choice and by their current niche...

Six Flags - New England, Darien Lake, America, Kentucky Kingdom, Elitch Gardens.
Also...Seattle Wild Waves & Enchanted Village.

They may pick up Wyandot Lake in Columbus considering their strong Ohio roots. Astroworld and Fiesta Texas would be their first parks in the deep south, but would be good for them to have some additional income with the extended operating season.

Back to the OKC parks. This goes back to a post I made several months ago. If Cedar Fair wanted to invest in the area, and it would require a significant investment, it would be consolidate the parks on a new location. The benefits you get from a combined park outweigh a lot of the negatives and Cedar Fair has found success here. They are also a company that must have room to grow and the ability to flex their muscle when it comes to rollercoaster domination.

So the two options...1) Downtown location across the river, however we have safety concerns that need to be address in those areas. There would also be a need to level a large number of homes and businesses in that area. The other option would be in SE OKC and East Norman between Lakes Draper and Thunderbird. This would provide idea room to grow and the ability to kick start the construction of the long discussed east loop. The location would also be key with the good supply of fresh water to feed the park and surrounding developments.

In the end, I feel Cedar Fair will simply come in and cherry pick the assets of Six Flags and go from there. They took over a struggling Six Flags of Ohio and turned it back into the park it was before Six Flags had the crazy idea of buying Geauga Lake and Sea World of Ohio. The Sea World portion now is completely dead, but at least they are turning the park around.

[jbrown84]

That doesn't seem like good business to me at all. I'm not a business person, but taking all the proceeds of selling a bigger out of state park that draws tourists from other states to update a small park which is frequented mostly only by locals seems to be foolishness.

Yes, I do contend that Frontier City and White Water Bay are in DESPERATE need of repairs and updating. However, spending ALL of the money on it seems a little absurd. What about moving expenses if they move the headquarters to Ohio? What about debts related to the sales, etc.?

If it were me, I'd sell off the small parks first and get rid of them - and keep the large parks which are more likely to draw tourists.

But there is a reason I'm not a business owner. My idea my very well be just as foolish as I think this one is. LOL

You misunderstood me. What I was saying is that the company that currently calls themselves Six Flags and was formerly known as Premier Parks (which grew from just Frontier City to what it is today) should sell off the Six Flags branch of what they own and keep the smaller parks that it had before it bought out Six Flags. Then that company would stay here (not be moving to Ohio) and without the bigger parks it would make perfect sense to update and expand Frontier City and White Water. With Oklahoma City becoming much more of a "major league" city, it only makes sense that our amusement parks keep up with the growth. The main way you increase attendance at an amusement park is by expanding it. There's no reason to think that Frontier City can't be a regional tourist attraction just like Bricktown.


Venture, I definitely see what you are saying about the water parks. I believe when Frontier City and White Water were built, they were not owned by the same company, so that is why they are on opposite sides of town. It would be nice to see them relocated at one location, but the possibilities are far greater than you mention. There's tons of land around Edmond and along I-35 near where Frontier City already is. Anywhere on the outskirts would work but is that really what we want? I'd rather see it downtown.

[okrednk]

Me too, imagine the tourism to the downtown area if the two parks were joined together downtown. Man, that would be awesome.....

[venture]

My only concern with downtown would be the safety of the area. It isn't a secret that south of the river isn't a very well to do neighborhood and not the safest. Of course with I-40 moving, that would open up a lot of possibilities in the area along the river.

[Patrick]

Yeah, does anyone remember Springlake Park? Obviously, the area around it wasn't conducive to an amusement park, as it was burned several times.

[jbrown84]

True, but why not put it north of the river? We've been wondering how we're going to "infill" the "I-40 expansion area." Just tear down a big section and build an amusement park.

And besides, I'm sure people said the same thing about how dangerous the Bricktown area was 20 years ago. We built it anyway and it's as safe as an urban entertainment district can be.

[venture]

I think the issue with North of the river will be space and how much do you really want to dedicate to a theme park?

Just quickly I pulled the images up for downtown, WWB and Frontier City on Google Earth and did a quick overlay. Space is definitely an issue, especially when it comes to expansion. White Water Bay isn't much of an issue, since it is pretty small, but the size of Frontier City would require significant investment in buying land and relocating businesses and people.

It's all going to come down to how much money PKS, or perhaps eventually Cedar Fair (NYSE: FUN), is willing to front for such a project.