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News: More information on the Cedar Fair purchase

Posted at 2:15 PM EDT (1815 GMT)

May. 22nd, 2006 -- The acquisiton of Paramount Parks has certainly opened a lot of "What if?" scenarios regarding the synergy of Cedar Fair and Paramount Parks. Luckily, Cedar Fair addressed some of those issues today during their 1pm media conference call.

The process of acquiring Paramount Parks began over six months ago when CBS-Viacom announced through Citibank that they were ready to divest their parks. A series of bids were entered by numerous corporations interested in purchasing the parks. Cedar Fair reached a "handshake deal" last night to acquire Paramount Parks for $1.24 billion. Cedar Fair CEO Dick Kinzel said the other companies and partnerships who entered bids have not been revealed yet.

Through this purchase, Cedar Fair will now operate 13 amusement parks. Bonfante Gardens is included in the deal, along with Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas. They estimate they will generate $1 billion in revenue and reach 25 million visitors annually.

As far as the current Paramount properties, there is a 10-year lease for the Paramount name. However, there is a buyout clause that Cedar Fair will investigate to see if it is a viable option. Kinzel said that parks such as Kings Island and Kings Dominion will keep their names. Cedar Fair will honor the remainder of their 4-year lease with Nickelodeon at the Paramount properties. After that, they will evaluate the possibility of renewing the contract.

Cedar Fair plans on running the parks autonomously through General Managers. There are no plans to create "regions" and regional managers similar to what Six Flags does. Cedar Fair will evaluate whether the Winterfest celebrations will continue. He said they are "on the fence" with that issue. No name changes are expected this season.

Kinzel feels the acquisition is good for Cedar Fair since Paramount operations are generally inline with what Cedar Fair currently has in place. Many who think that Cedar Point and Kings Island will compete need not to worry, Kinzel said. Cedar Fair's top three markets are Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo. He admits they slightly overlap in markets such as Columbus, Dayton and Indianapolis.

There are no plans to merge season pass deals this season. Cedar Fair will see if merging admission through season passes to all parks is feasible for the 2007 season.

Finally, Kinzel said an announcement for Cedar Point's new ride will likely come in August.

Stay tuned to ThrillNetwork for more information regarding today's big news.

Related Links: Cedar Fair, LP Paramount Parks

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Comments
Sir Willow Joined: May 2001 Posts: 3550 View Park/Ride Count	That certainly helps answer some of the questions. It's going to be interesting to see how all of this turns out, and what changes Cedar Fair is going to make in the parks. I still see a lot of the theming in a lot of them being removed. I wonder what the long term future for things like Bonfante and Star Trek the Experience is going to be like since they're out of their normal view.
5/22/2006 3:05 PM
Tanks4me05 Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 845 View Park/Ride Count	Sigh, only 3 more months of waiting... but I wonder if doubling CF's size in one move will be a good thing. They do apparently manage better than old SFI, but you never know.
5/22/2006 3:09 PM
Gemini78 Joined: Feb 2005 Posts: 514 View Park/Ride Count	This is a great opportunity for CF to extend its reach and prowess in the amusement industry. Considering the similarities in the way the parks are run should make the switch over that much easier.
5/22/2006 4:35 PM
Jerry S Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 5222 View Park/Ride Count	So where will Nickelodeon and Hannah Barbera go? Those things are already shared with Universal and Six Flags, will CF be able to keep them for more than four years? I mean, it just doesn't make sense, it's all the themes. They'll just get all messy. I disagree, because Paramount made movie and TV theme parks, Cedar Fair made midway amusement parks. They're too different.
5/22/2006 5:17 PM
BryanWood Joined: May 2001 Posts: 4008 View Park/Ride Count	If you would've read the article, they have the opportunity to renew Nickelodeon. Paramount removed all Hanna Barbara sans the Scooby Doo dark rides. So what if they have different themes? They operate practically the same, and it will probably be an easy transition for the Paramount parks.
5/22/2006 5:25 PM
Pcw Joined: Apr 2003 Posts: 1801 View Park/Ride Count	Haha, now they have a Canadian park...which they will probably neglect. Hopefully, they'll merge the season pass deals through out Cedar Fair. I can possibly go to Cedar Point then!
5/22/2006 6:17 PM
James Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 10999 View Park/Ride Count	I cant wait to see all the new trashcan CF is going to buy this winter.
5/22/2006 11:22 PM
raser Joined: Jul 2001 Posts: 2079 View Park/Ride Count	I hope next year cedar Fair season passes will be good at Paramount parks as I will have 10 in driving distance to my home... :-)
5/23/2006 12:21 AM
coasterlove Joined: May 2001 Posts: 6481 View Park/Ride Count	This is a huge and shocking move. I do wonder if they'll keep the theming and try to keep it long term once any deal is up. Will these parks completely lose the Paramount name? There are still a lot of things to be seen. I do worry that this could be too big a move at one time. Although most or all of the Paramount parks are very successful so it should work out for Cedar Fair. Funny thinking they now "own" Ohio.
5/23/2006 1:30 AM
Jerry Huster Joined: May 2001 Posts: 345 View Park/Ride Count	Actually Paramount has NOT removed anything regarding Hanna-Barbera stuff...look at PKI's "Hanna-Barbera Land" for an example and the names of all the rides in PKD's KidzVille section...
5/23/2006 9:51 AM
BryanWood Joined: May 2001 Posts: 4008 View Park/Ride Count	PKI and Carowinds at the least has converted all of their kiddie rides to Nickelodeon. They only thing Hanna-Barbera left at their parks are the Scooby Dark rides.
5/23/2006 10:32 AM
bk2004 Joined: Oct 2003 Posts: 7743 View Park/Ride Count	I so forgot about season passes! That means I can get my usual season pass to Carowinds and go to the other 12 parks for free...including CP! YES!
5/23/2006 12:52 PM
Komatz70 Joined: Oct 2005 Posts: 481 View Park/Ride Count	One thing that bothers me is they will evaluate if the Winterfest celebration will continue....if they dont, CF better cut me a check as I already purchased mine for this years to Carowinds...
5/23/2006 6:27 PM
raser Joined: Jul 2001 Posts: 2079 View Park/Ride Count	^ I think Cedar Fair will keep it atleast this year as tickets were sold and one of the parks just recently purchased more lights and things for this event...
5/23/2006 9:55 PM
raser Joined: Jul 2001 Posts: 2079 View Park/Ride Count	I have a quesstion, Does anybody else think that 1.24 Billion for all the parks is cheap? This works out to less than 250 Million per park and there is no way you could build a world class amusement park for that. I have never been to any paramount park but I would think individually they would be worth more than that...
5/24/2006 11:43 PM
Bratman Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 490 View Park/Ride Count	Keep in mind 3 of the parks (PCW, PKI, and PKD) are much larger than the other two (PGA and PC). I'd say $300M each for the first 3 and the other two making up the other $340M. thats my guestimate on value. And, no you cannot build them that cheap, but keep in mind the rides and attractions do not appreciate in value. As an example, the SLC at PCW, which I have heard is worth $9M brand new, is, at the age of 11 years old, likely now worth half of that. The only thing that would appreciate in value would be the land.
5/25/2006 11:28 PM

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