Advantage of owning FUN shares

The CP 2003 Annual Report that I received today states some kind of a reward for owning 100 or more shares of Cedar Fair.(FUN). Does any one know what Cedar Fair offers at the parks and resorts.

I believe the program includes discounted stays at Cedar Fair-owned hotels.

The disadvantage to owning the shares is that you can't file your taxes until the K-1 reporting comes out. That usually isn't until March which means I am STILL waiting for my tax refund.

Of course, the dividends are nice!

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"You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world...but it requires people to make the dreams a reality."

Is there a discount offered for membership, parking, or food? Chief or anyone else know what the resort discounts might be?

Coach96

I've never had the need to explore it but I think the annual report said you needed to call investor relations for the information.

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"You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world...but it requires people to make the dreams a reality."

I don't know anything about discounts, but I know dividends, dividends, dividends.

And they're technically "partnership units," not shares.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - My Blog
Blogs, photo albums - CampusFish
What time does the water show start?

I thought you got a couple of buy one get one free vouchers for admission. My brother's wife has limited partners in the family. (Now if only I could marry a girl whose family owns some Cedar Fair...) But seriously, I think last year it was the buy one get one free offers. I wasn't able to get my brother to the park, so I assume his (and his wife's) vouchers are now void. I can ask him though if they got new ones for 2004.

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Avalanche Run - My first Roller Coaster.
Magnum XL-200 - The BEST Roller Coaster!

Correct me if I'm wrong Jeff but I think I remember you saying that they also have a DRIP (dividend reinvestment plan). That equates to a great way for someone young who dosen't need the income to increase their number of units at a fairly decent rate given the regular basis FUN pays dividends. That way when you're older and need the extra income at retirement, the dividend amount will be much larger.

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Camper Village/Sandcastle Front Desk 2004

You get three buy one get one free coupons good at any CF park for that operating year. You also get a few other coupons, one of which I think was a good deal at a CF hotel but I never bothered. It may be different this year, but that's how it's been for at least the last two years.

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CWRU '07

You have to have a minimum of 50 units (or be a CF employee) to participate in the reinvestment plan. If you have those minimum requirements I would highly suggest it.
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"You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world...but it requires people to make the dreams a reality."

Thanks for the replies. My son talks so much about coasters, I bought them as a trend investment. I was at Disney World over Xmas and New Year and it was packed. I bought Disney the day before the buy out talks and qtr profits were announced. What luck. I live within a couple of hours of CP and GL so I will drop a bundle at the two which should help with future profits.

Uh, your broker will reinvest dividends from one unit. Every online trading service I've used does this, most of them at no charge. I happen to use Sharebuilder, and dividends are automatically rolled into more units.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - My Blog
Blogs, photo albums - CampusFish
What time does the water show start?

There may be a tax difference between company-based DRIPs and broker-based DRIPs. In the former, the dividend never touches your hands, and so might not be taxed until the units are sold. On the other hand, you can use only the original purchase for your cost basis at selling time. In the latter, the dividend is technically paid to you, and then immediately reinvested, which makes it taxed as income in that year, but does increase your cost basis for later sale.

The not-taxed-as-income version (if that's even the way it works) can be much better, since long-term capital gains are taxed much more favorably.

Note: I'd have to double check to see if this is how things work, as I am not currently enrolled in any company-based DRIP.

Edit: I went back to do some reading on the Fool, and it appears that I'm totally wrong. There is no mention of separate tax treatment. In fact, here is a Q&A from fool.com on the subject:

Q. I never receive the dividend checks from the company. That means that I don't have to report any dividend income on a yearly basis, right?

A. That is not correct. You ARE receiving taxable dividends. You are simply electing to take those dividends and purchase additional shares of stock instead of taking the dividends in cash. While you may bypass the "middle man" on the purchase transaction, you are really buying more stock. That being the case, the company will issue you an IRS Form 1099DIV to report the taxable dividends paid to you during the year.
*** This post was edited by Brian Noble 4/13/2004 11:44:23 AM ***

So I guess there you have it then. :) I've got a couple hundred units right now, and I buy more every month. The only "bad" thing about the higher price is that you can buy less for your money, but it's a good problem to have. I got in on about half of my little collection when it was around $20. I'd love to see it eventually get to $40 or so and split again. That would certainly be nice.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - My Blog
Blogs, photo albums - CampusFish
What time does the water show start?

I'll second the desire to see it split again. I was thinking we might see that in the next 12-18 months. It is just a hunch.

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"You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world...but it requires people to make the dreams a reality."