Cedar Fair & Six Flags to merge…

Smiley/OCD

Smiley/OCD

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
As per CNBC this morning…Cedar Fair and Six Flags Entertainment have agreed to merge…the combined company, who will trade under the Six Flags moniker, will own and operate 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and 9 resort properties across 17 states. The deal is expected to close in mid 2024.
Hopefully, the quality and cleanliness of the CF parks will take the lead over the SF properties…this will be interesting…
 
el_super

el_super

Well-Known Member
My favorite thing about this so far is the slide where they simply showcase their addition skills:

1698934488539.png
 
The Rocketeer

The Rocketeer

Well-Known Member
Very interesting…. My local park was Six Flags Over Georgia for a long time, now I just moved near Kings Island, which seems to be a better park, I certainly prefer the lineup of coasters they have.

Let’s just hope they don’t pull a Michigan’s Adventure (not add anything for 15 years) on all the parks that are not in the bigger markets. One of the few nice things about Six Flags is the fact that up until recently every park got something new every year, even if it was just a new event or simple flat ride. Cedar Fair has not done the same, though usually their additions are grander and more ambitious like Fury 325, Mystic Timbers, and Orion and are worth the wait.

Still these parks don’t hold a candle to Disney or Universal theming wise… most of the time.
 
Earlie the Pearlie

Earlie the Pearlie

Well-Known Member
Smiley/OCD said:
As per CNBC this morning…Cedar Fair and Six Flags Entertainment have agreed to merge…the combined company, who will trade under the Six Flags moniker, will own and operate 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and 9 resort properties across 17 states. The deal is expected to close in mid 2024.
Hopefully, the quality and cleanliness of the CF parks will take the lead over the SF properties…this will be interesting…
Click to expand...
That's disappointing. IMO, CF has a much better reputation. And without the competition between the two, we would never have gotten stratos.
 
LSLS

LSLS

Well-Known Member
The Rocketeer said:
Very interesting…. My local park was Six Flags Over Georgia for a long time, now I just moved near Kings Island, which seems to be a better park, I certainly prefer the lineup of coasters they have.

Let’s just hope they don’t pull a Michigan’s Adventure (not add anything for 15 years) on all the parks that are not in the bigger markets. One of the few nice things about Six Flags is the fact that up until recently every park got something new every year, even if it was just a new event or simple flat ride. Cedar Fair has not done the same, though usually their additions are grander and more ambitious like Fury 325, Mystic Timbers, and Orion and are worth the wait.

Still these parks don’t hold a candle to Disney or Universal theming wise… most of the time.
Click to expand...
Definitely not theming wise, but the last few years I've found Cedar Point to be cleaner and better trained than Disney.
 
L

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
LSLS said:
Cedar Fairs is the controling company (51%), and their CEO and CFO will be in charge. Should be interesting to see where they go with this.
Click to expand...
Matt Oiumet is exec chairman of Cedar before that he was CEO and back in the day he was President of DL. Matt maybe bringing some pixie dust to the deal.
 
LSLS

LSLS

Well-Known Member
Earlie the Pearlie said:
That's disappointing. IMO, CF has a much better reputation. And without the competition between the two, we would never have gotten stratos.
Click to expand...
Very true. I wonder if this leads to them going more in on theming. I know recently Cedar Point has really been leaning into themed areas, so I wonder if they might be going that direction.
 
Jrb1979

Jrb1979

Well-Known Member
ToTBellHop said:
Well CF runs most of their non-Cedar Point parks into the ground, so…
Click to expand...
That's not true, Kings Island has been better under Cedar Fair, Carowinds has been getting some major investments and so has Canada's Wonderland. Dorney park is finally getting a major investment. The only two that haven't had anything in awhile is Michigan's Adventure and Kings Dominion.
 
Earlie the Pearlie

Earlie the Pearlie

Well-Known Member
LSLS said:
Very true. I wonder if this leads to them going more in on theming. I know recently Cedar Point has really been leaning into themed areas, so I wonder if they might be going that direction.
Click to expand...
I would love Great Adventure to get some real theming and improvements. I would go there more often if it had more of that sort of thing (plus better maintenance). I'm a Hershey man myself, but even they don't have much theming outside of the wild west area and, inexplicably, a water park that feels like a weird hybrid of a classic midway, a Skyzone, and the Jersey Shore.
 
Disstevefan1

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
I don't know much about Cedar Fair but I always thought Cedar fair a notch above Six Flags.
I don't know the facts but in my mind a merger is one company grabbing the other company at a bargain price.
 
el_super

el_super

Well-Known Member
LSLS said:
Very true. I wonder if this leads to them going more in on theming. I know recently Cedar Point has really been leaning into themed areas, so I wonder if they might be going that direction.
Click to expand...

It sounds like that's the plan, with the hope that the elevated Cedar Fair product can be used to uplift the SF parks.

Sounds like the intent is to try to squeeze some efficiencies out of corporate and IT. Save some costs on marketing programs.

I would imagine that they will use their combined companies to start to lean into more IT offerings, very much in kind to the Disney Parks apps and Genie+. They do a lot to talk up increasing guest service in the parks.

Obviously any efficiencies to be found in ride development and product offerings would be years away. It makes sense if you are designing and building a great new coaster that you would want to have it installed in multiple parks.

Sounds like they are intending to keep Snoopy and Looney Toons for now, but I have to wonder if keeping two similar IPs going (perhaps even intending to put them in the same parks?) really makes long term sense.
 
Jrb1979

Jrb1979

Well-Known Member
Earlie the Pearlie said:
That's disappointing. IMO, CF has a much better reputation. And without the competition between the two, we would never have gotten stratos.
Click to expand...
That's my fear out of all this. For some adding theming to the Six Flags parks will make them happy. My fear is now they aren't competing with each other they will stop pushing the boundaries with their coasters and stick with the B&Ms of the world.
 
LSLS

LSLS

Well-Known Member
Jrb1979 said:
That's my fear out of all this. For some adding theming to the Six Flags parks will make them happy. My fear is now they aren't competing with each other they will stop pushing the boundaries with their coasters and stick with the B&Ms of the world.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but I think they have kind of gone all in on being the thrill destination company, so I can't imagine they just decide to stop with the thrills now that they have eliminated their main competition. There's a chance they could go bigger on it (and as was said earlier, I could see them using one design for 2 parks minimum now, which could increase rides at a lot of parks).
 
Andrew25

Andrew25

Well-Known Member
I don't think you need to worry. All of their parks benefit from locals/passholders... so they need a reason to keep bringing them back each year with new attractions/events/etc.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom