Since Paramount Parks are up on the ol Block do we have any Ideas yet about who could be looking into Picking them up? Is it possable that they Split up the Chain? And If they Do Split them up I wonder How Many of Us Can cought up the cash to pick up their own favorite Park.

It's being sold as a chain. It will remain Paramount Parks. NO major changes are expected.

"Seamless transition expected."

Don't we already have a thread or two talking about the sale.

We have no clue, It could be a private investor or it could be another chain like Cedar Fair, Busch or Universal. Maybe even ABC.

After the sale it will no longer be Paramount.

^You are wrong. It is being sold as Paramount Parks with full licensing contracts.

The only difference will be the parent company of Paramount Parks.

Damn, If could get em to break em up, Can't Pocket all 5...Won't the Transition be as smooth as the new owner wants? If they want to Drop Paramount and Nick It's there choice, right?

Yeah but that licensing won't last long and i doubt the new owners will continue to pay for the rights.

I would expect Paramount to be gone from all parks by 2008.

For all we know Paramount (CBS) could sign a deal with whoever buys the parks to all the themeing rights for free. Therefore the new buyer will not have to retheme the attractions and Paramount continues marketing to 12 million guest.

The could and most likely will but it wont be free.

Oh the theming rights could be free alright...just dont expect the parks in that case to go for full market value - but something WAY over full market value.

Now, back to the nature of the original post...who's gonna git it? (And yes, I know I spelled "get" wrong...it was intentional). First, a point to make. Let's say that the Parks are sold to Busch Entertainment or Cedar Fair if you prefer. Does Busch Entertainment really need a park so close to another Busch property? Does Cedar Fair really need a park so close to another Cedar Fair property? Even if these parks are initially bought by one chain, that new owner could turn around and sell the parks they are not interested in to someone else right around the corner. In the minds of the general public, whether it hypothetically gets sold as part of a package, but is then in turn sold to a singular group, to the general public that doesnt even register as any different than splitting up the chain - even though it could still be sold as a group.

Now, who is gonna get the chain? Dont know. If I did know, I would gladly sell you the answer for the super low low price of 3 easy payments of $69.95, accepting all major credit cards...just call 888-Park-Buy. Seriously, I dont know. I just will wait and see, and hope that it means continuing improvements at the parks.

My guess- they're not going anywhere. I don't see anyone ponying up the money that is going to be demanded for the parks. Cedar Fair, Universal, Busch, and Disney sure aren't. And I highly doubt that Blackstone or the guys from Dubai are interested. That pretty much eliminates everyone in the park business.

Which leaves only large corporations, and I don't know why any of them would be interested. they may be interested in selling the parks, but I seriously doubt anyone is really interested in buying them- and especially at a price that will be asked for.

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Have you read my number 1 best seller? There will be a test! ~God
Life with God is one thrill ride you'll never want to get off of.
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Agree, not going anywhere.

ABC = Disney
NBC = Universal
CBS = Paramount
FOX = ?

What I don't see is why CBS wants to give up 12 million people who pass thru the parks each year.

Look, they won't sell the chain to someone who will just rip out all the theming and stuff they've invested in for years now.

It'l be sold to a private investor, someone who is or has been in the theme park business before, and they'll contract it so the theming and everything will stay.

See some sense here. When a park is rebranded, you get attendance drops. Major. Look at Geauga Lake. The animals were part of that drop, but the rebranding and loss of the Six Flags name certainly did not help matters.

I'm just following credible sources here.

So which "private investor that is or has been in the theme park business" is there left that I haven't mentioned? There aren't any that I'm aware of that I left off my list up there.

__________________
Have you read my number 1 best seller? There will be a test! ~God
Life with God is one thrill ride you'll never want to get off of.
My park & coaster photos: Sir Willow's Smugmug pictures

I think it would be neat to see someone "unknown" buy the parks and run them....I think we definatly would see more unique and "unbranded" attractions.

But in the near future I don't see anyone buying them with the condition they are in and the price.

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Element of Freedom - December 15th

What? PP are better condition then ever minus a couple things, and we don't know the price.

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2005-2006 Season: Carowinds Rides - Hurler/Drop Zone
2007 Season: Emerald Pointe Grounds - Sweep/Breaker

^ But we can certainly make a basic educated guess and figure that it's going to be a very high price since they are in such good shape, are profitable, and are not coming stacked up with debt. And since there aren't many that can afford a very high price...

__________________
Have you read my number 1 best seller? There will be a test! ~God
Life with God is one thrill ride you'll never want to get off of.
My park & coaster photos: Sir Willow's Smugmug pictures

...(continued from above) they probably won't be bought out...any...time...soon.

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The only reason why I would want them to be bought out by an individual is so that the parks could become there own...as in no like rides. Either the same ride itself or same theming type of style.

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Element of Freedom - December 15th

Simple Solution then.... Can anyone find out how much P will be asking.

Not likely, since none of us have any chance of buying them. Based on what they've said, they aren't asking a price, they're sayign that they'll look at what people will offer and then consider if it's reasonable or not. And no one has given any indication that there were any real offers, let alone what offer they were making. And even if there are some, they're not going to announce who or how much because of the bidding practices.

__________________
Have you read my number 1 best seller? There will be a test! ~God
Life with God is one thrill ride you'll never want to get off of.
My park & coaster photos: Sir Willow's Smugmug pictures

I thought i read somewhere about 6 months ago they were asking 9 billion for all parks.

Wow, that is a lot of money. That is over a billion for one park.

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2005-2006 Season: Carowinds Rides - Hurler/Drop Zone
2007 Season: Emerald Pointe Grounds - Sweep/Breaker

wow, id be Very surprised if anybody will bye them for that much, but ya never know

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Sorry guys, I ment 900 Million. Still alot of mney.

Hahah...that's more like it. Still a lot though, and I'm still thinking nobody is going to be able to buy them. Unless its a company that wants to get into the theme park industry that hasn't already. I don't know though. I definatly could see them being bought if they were being sold seperatly.

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Element of Freedom - December 15th

I'm sure the parks will be sold at some time. The letter did say they had several intrested parties. Just depends if they want to spend what Paramount/CBS is offering.

^ And remember, Six Flags also had "several interested parties". That doesn't mean that any of them are really legitimately interested in buying for that amount of money and the other circumstances around the parks. And we know how Six Flags "sale" turned out.

__________________
Have you read my number 1 best seller? There will be a test! ~God
Life with God is one thrill ride you'll never want to get off of.
My park & coaster photos: Sir Willow's Smugmug pictures

As of about 6 months ago, There were several Viacom Execs. Interested in puchasing the park and operating them under licensing contract.

I don't know if Cedar Fair has the guts or the capitol to purchase it as a chain. But if they did, You could kiss all the licensing goodbye.

Tunsends group in Europe is a legitimate party for purchase if they want to make inroads in the US.

Really, I don't think theres anything to worry about for any of the Paramount Parks except Bellfontaine Gardens. Thats basically been saved only through it's conjunction with Paramount Parks.

Chuck

Persoanlly, I would like to see Pepsi step up and buy the parks...It sounds strange, but they already have the food and beverage covered for the park and could keep that costs down and people would probably tend to stay and eat in the park...Also, they could bring in some Nascar type affiliation...They could then sell off the land at PGA and move the rides to the other 4 parks..Because as we all know, land in Cali. could bring in some big numbers to offset the cost to purchase the parks.

Paramount Parks doesn't own the land PGA sits on, more than likely only the rides installed by Paramount/KECO could be relocated unless the lease agreement gvies PP ownership of the rides that were there. Also, NASCAR will not affilite with PP because they already have their on the Speedparks. As for Pepsi, that would put us in the same spot as we are in now. Our best bet is an investment company sadly. Even Carowinds Public Relations will tell you that. I imagine and hope they know more about how the business works more than I do. Of course, I know more about computers than the University of NC at Pembroke IT dept. I am still trying to figure how that happened.

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2005-2006 Season: Carowinds Rides - Hurler/Drop Zone
2007 Season: Emerald Pointe Grounds - Sweep/Breaker

Why does everybody say pepsi is sponsor of Paramount Parks i distinctly remember Coca Cola is the Prime Sponsor

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