Anyone else buy any FUN back in March?

^ I'll agree with you on the history. Additionally they know their business quite well but, for the "totally believe" part I'll have to disagree a bit at times. There have been some blunders that were painfully obvious if some more research had been done before some knee-jerk decisions.
(But I've been in it for the long haul for a very long time now.) :)

The big thing with FUN used to be the dividend but that's nowhere near as good now compared to the good old days in years past.

I do believe once the debt is paid down there will be dividend again at the same rate or slightly higher.

Kinzel is in completely over his head. His "mom and pop" approach doesn't scale to a company this size, and the micro-management hurts the company. His one-size-fits-all approach created serious setbacks in some of the Paramount Parks, and his disregard for the value of human resources will eventually catch up with him.

I'm 70% confident the company will move forward, but I wouldn't buy more of it. I'm counting the days until Kinzel's contract is up.

Jeff, when is his latest contract up? I think I remember hearing 2010, but not sure. Would this also be at fiscal year end, season end (for majority of the parks) or some other negotiated date? I am not sure if you know this and it is even public. I am not a share holder and figured you may have some of that information with the quarterly letters to stockholders.

The year 2012 sticks out in my mind, although it may be 2010. I would assume the end of his tenure would be at the end of their fiscal year of 2012/2010 whichever the year is. I believe it was stated in one of the press releases about the Paramount purchase, but I don't really feel like digging those out at the moment.

Yeah, it's 2012, but I'm not sure which part. Three more years is too long.

So would you rather have Kinzel running Cedar Fair or Mark Shapiro? I personally would vote for Bobby from Adventureland.:)J/K

Who is the guy next in line? I know I'v heard his name before, but can't remember who it is. I think its a weird last name, but not sure. Who will take over after?

EDIT: Jack Falfas just popped in my head. Is that right?

Falfas is the "next person in line" as far as chain of command goes, as the COO, but that doesn't mean that's how the position will be filled. However, there is probably a 99.9999999....% chance that he will be the person to step up as the CEO, as he is pretty much exactly the same in overall philosophy as Kinzel from what I have seen and heard. Of course, if he retires before 2012 or in 2012...(I'm crossing my fingers)

Personally I would really like to see (and think it would be great for the company) someone farther down the chain with a different philosophy and outlook become CEO. Either that or someone completely outside of the chain coming in as CEO. There needs to be some major change that just will not happen as long as Kinzel, Falfas, and others with the same micromanagement bent are in charge. It is already dragging the company (and mainly Cedar Point) down, although I have been delighted to finally see some rays of hope this season with some changes that have happened around the park and even in employee housing that seem very un-Kinzel like to me (they invested in some pretty decent technology in employee housing). In fact, some of my friends and I wonder if they didn't need to disguise the investments as non-technology to get them approved.