2020 announcement just posted

For those looking to bring back the river cruise, you might be happy: https://www.cedarpoint.com/play/events/150th-anniversary

Sounds cool. I know a lot of folks who will be very happy. A quick look on social medoa however... Lol

It's a bit strange how light on details they're being, especially compared to the announcement of similarly-moderate additions at other parks. I don't imagine a vague mention of a "river expedition" is going to drive many Gold Pass sales.

"🌟🌟 Introducing the ALL NEW Cedar Point Gold Pass! 🌟🌟"

https://twitter.com/cedarpoint/status/1162009880984788992

Talk about an unclear message. They DID announce an actual new attraction (sorta), but not in their announcement. You have to go to the website (and not even in the link that was shared, but hidden in a menu) and read through a few bullet points to find it. An even then, no details on what this "river excursion" is.

Basically, their message was "NEW: new ways to spend money getting into the park..."

I'm a bit confused as to where the $140 million that Cedar Fair as a whole was going to spend this year. No park except King's Island is getting anything major, and their's will likely come in around ~$30 million. You figure ~$5-10 million tops for all of the rest of the parks (mostly water park slides or kids rides), and that should leave around ~$50 million to spend somewhere. I would have assumed that this would be going to CP for their 150th...

JeffH said:

Basically, their message was "NEW: new ways to spend money getting into the park..."

See, I read it as, "If you have a Platinum Pass, but don't visit other Cedar Fair parks, your pass is now 50% off."

As someone who does not visit other Cedar Fair parks, I wholeheartedly support this news. :)

If you thought CP was going to spend $50 million for 2020, you haven't been paying attention to what they've been saying all year.

I'm 100% with you, Walt.

We go to Kings Island occasionally, but really haven't this year, and with everything else in life, haven't made it to CP as much as in the past, either. For 50% of the cost, I'll gladly do that, because with parking and admission, you basically break even in one visit anyway.

That sound you hear is college comedians everywhere scrambling to write some material for the return of the river cruise ride.

Walt said:

See, I read it as, "If you have a Platinum Pass, but don't visit other Cedar Fair parks, your pass is now 50% off."

As someone who does not visit other Cedar Fair parks, I wholeheartedly support this news. :)

I love the price on this pass. The only think I wonder is....would this cover the early entry?? There is no mention of early admit, but, it's a great savings option.

New Gold Pass is only 30 minutes Early Entry for both CP and CPS. Platinum is still 1 hour for CP. Also no FL+ for FL price upgrade for Gold.

Edit. Normally we split our visits 50/50 with KI but this season the boys were not very interested in KI and we have only attended once. This was partially due to the loss of Firehawk which was their favorite due to uniqueness and just weather not cooperating for the waterpark early in the season. The pendulum will likely swing back towards KI a bit with a new coaster for next year so will likely stick with platinum.

The "partial" ERT at that price point make the Gold Pass an extremely attractive value, especially considering you still get the 10% discounts everywhere. Then again, we typically make very good use of that ERT hour in the park. I'm not sure how much use we'd get out of half that time.

Aside from that the only thing preventing this from being an absolute "no brainer" is that the FLP deal is still limited to the Platinum Pass, which we've used a couple times each season. We'd likely never use that discount enough to justify the $100 difference, but between that and the 30 minutes/day of ERT, it's a tough call.

I don't think I've utilized early entry more than 2-3 times in the last 20 years I've been going frequently, so... I couldn't care less about that part. The Fast Lane thing is kind of a downer, but I've really only done that a couple of times, too, so - I think Gold is perfect. I remember KI having a gold pass option, and wishing that CP would because it's definitely geared toward "locals" - that tend to only visit that park and not stray.

Another interesting note is the difference in all season dinning for CP and KI. Gold dinning at CP is $99 and $110 at KI, Platinum is $130 at both. Funpix is of course higher at CP by $4 as always.

The notice also mentions throwback food items. CP asked a while ago....hope you heard us WE WANT THE FRUIT SHAPED JUICE BOTTLES!!

I do remember taking these home as a kid to reuse...they were so cool!

In their recent earnings call they essentially said that due to the recent acquisitions and further study on capital returns, they are re-evaluating all cap-ex spending. It would explain why we're getting a "river adventure" but no other details...

- Attendance was not significantly affected by Steel Vengeance

- Not sure what the numbers have been like this year with Forbidden Frontier

I honestly think we're going to see a lot of this in the foreseeable future. Execs have been quoted as saying that many of their properties are "mature" as far as attractions are concerned and they're looking to grow the business in a more nontraditional way (i.e. Grand Carnivale, Winterfests, Frontier Festival, Monster Jams).

Richard Zimmerman:
"From a capital allocation perspective, we're committed to reassessing the appropriate level of marketable and infrastructure capital necessary to produce the attendance and revenue growth we're targeting. Our team is currently evaluating the required level of capital investment in the core going forward. As evidenced by the level of capital we've invested in our property over the past several years, our parks have gone through major expansions and transformation, and I want to make sure that we extract full value from these investments. This critical review of capital expenditure combined with our move toward more capex slide initiatives such as events and experiential attraction should provide meaningful capital investment efficiencies going forward."

https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2019/08/08/cedar-fair-lp-fun-q2-2019-earnings-call-transcript.aspx

I think many projects may have been scaled back or cut completely and they want to see strong investments like Steel Vengeance be marketed for 5-6 years as opposed to 1-2 seasons like the Kinzel regime did.

To be perfectly honest, I expected something like the return of Fascination (not kidding), along with some of the little nods to history along with a parade or something. But the notion that Paddlewheel Excursions could become a thing again makes the kid inside of me really happy, and I'm old enough to remember the boats that actually had paddlewheels.

The adult in me is most excited about that Gold Pass. We were contemplating being Platinum-free next year because of some bigger trips we are making elsewhere, but we're already sold.

Now, maybe I'm wrong, but it says the following for renewing passholders:

Renewing Passholders get 1 FREE Bring-A-Friend (excludes Saturdays & Sunday, 9/1) & 1 FREE Fast Lane Plus (excludes Saturdays & Sunday, 9/1) to be used between 8/15-10/27/19. Your Bring-a-Friend & Fast Lane benefits will be added to your pass & can be redeemed at park by presenting a valid 2020 Gold Season Pass. To receive your Bring-a-Friend benefit, visit any park entry gate with your guest. Your Fast Lane Plus can be redeemed at any location that sells Fast Lane. Bring-a-Friend & Fast Lane benefits are valid only on day redeemed. Not valid Saturdays or 9/1 & additional restrictions may apply. Please see website for details.

That would seem to suggest the Fast Lane deal is there for renewals. Or am I not looking in the right place (this is when you go to purchase the Gold Pass online).

EDIT: Nevermind, it would appear that you were talking about the "upgrade perk" from FL to FLP. Gothca ;)

I think the Gold Pass is going to go over great. I'm still at a point were I try to travel to a few different parks a year so Platinum for me for the time being. But now that Gold is an option I may evaluate year to year.

Also, we know they just purchased a new resort in Sandusky. So a large chunk of 2020 cap ex may be going to getting Sawmill Creek up to their standards.

However, they said up front more announcements to come. I don't expect any new rides other than what they're hinting at with a river boat attraction (keeping fingers cross it could be a log flume lol). But it'll be fun to see what else is announced throughout the off season.

I will definitely be getting the Gold Pass over the Platinum for next year.

They also mentioned some type of Family River Adventure attraction.... Perhaps PW is coming back? Or bringing back the Mill Race in a new form over by where Cedars was?

Why is Cedar Point selling a season pass that is good for the rest of this year (First time) and all of next year that includes parking, both the water and dry park and a FL pass for $25 less than I paid for their season pass in 2000 that only got me into both parks with no parking and was only good for that one year? Also, Dorney is selling their Gold Pass for $18 more and Michigan's Adventure's is only $8 less.

Something is definitely not right here. Sounds like CP might not be getting the number of customers they were hoping for. My Holiday World and Hersheypark passes cost more than this.

Looks like Sundays are totally ruined for the rest of the year based on the number of FL passes they will be giving away and selling for those days. Unless they are going to limit how many they sell....ROTFLMAO! As if...lol

SSL488 said:

...Perhaps PW is coming back? Or bringing back the Mill Race in a new form...

I don't see how PWE comes back with Forbidden Frontier blocking the path on both sides of the island.