Can Cedar Fair Buy Six Flags?

Rumors and speculation is now brewing about the possibility of Cedar Fair bidding for the Six Flags aquisition. My question is, do you think Cedar Fair has the ability to do it. And if they did, how might it affect their existing parks?

*** Edited 8/26/2005 3:02:54 PM UTC by Jason Hammond***

I could see their interest in the aquisation, but I don't believe that they can compete ,on a financial basis, with some of the other competitors. I supose if they drew together everything they had, they might be able to do it, but as for their current parks I think we would see many cuts. It would be a good buy in the long run though. I would love for CF to own SF. *** Edited 8/26/2005 3:15:41 PM UTC by Top Thrill 182***

They say those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.

Gary Story started buying parks here and there then bought SF to merge with his company (thus gaining parks and also the SF name brand) and look at the situation the company is in now.

I'd stay away from the company as a whole, but there are a few parks that are already rumored to be on the chopping block that woul dmake a nice addition to the CF chain.

Given all of the recent "budget cuts" around at least CP, and the underperforming of a majority of the parks in the CF lineup, my guess is that while CF may really, really want to be involved in the SF sale, I can't see them spreading themselves that thin. Most of the SF parks probably need the same capital investment to get them up to CF standards that GL did. And that was a huge chunk of money that CF still hasn't seen sufficent return on investment on as of yet.

I am not sure that I want to see CF make any more investments in new parks right now. I think that they need to make some serious improvements in the parks that they have now, first. But then again, they haven't asked me for my opinion yet. ;)

Laura
*** Edited 8/26/2005 3:47:45 PM UTC by raptorgrl***

Myself, I'd feel more confident if they would be going out to buy the Paramount Parks other then the Six Flags parks.

What is the partnership or agreement held between Paramount and King's Island?

It would be cool if CP could get something similar in order to boost the amount of overall entertainment in the park.

I think its just a licensing agreement. They get the rights to Paramount material for use in naming/theming of attractions, not to mention all the Nickelodeon characters.

Which reminds me, I really miss "You can't do that on television" and all the slime that was used in that show.

I really hope they do NOT buy the Six Flags chain. If you own them, then you have no need to compete with them. Therefore, the parks Cedar Fair owns right now wouldn't need to make any major additions or improvements.

Competition is a good thing. It keeps the world going and gives companies reasons to evolve and invest their time into coming up with new ideas/improvements. Without competition, parks like Cedar Point would have no reason to build a major attraction every other year.

They'd have to sink a whole lot of $$$ into each of the Six Flags parks to bring them up to CF's standards. Which would mean leveling each one. :)

I think the Cedar Fair management is going to at least consider the possibility of buying Six Flags, but I don't think it will go any further than discussion. But then again I never thought that they would buy Worlds of Adventure either.
*** Edited 8/26/2005 5:49:04 PM UTC by 0g***

CP4eva said:
I really hope they do NOT buy the Six Flags chain. If you own them, then you have no need to compete with them. Therefore, the parks Cedar Fair owns right now wouldn't need to make any major additions or improvements.

You mean besides trying to keep customers happy and to continue making money. It doesn't matter if every park were owned by the same person, if they don't offer a quality product, they will fail as a company.

CP4eva: no reason to continue building major attractions? It's not just to be better than the competition, but it brings in more people to the park to spend more money.

I think CF should only buy a couple of the SF parks. If they bought all of them then we wouldnt see any improvements in the parks that it owns right now! All their money would be spent in bringing the other parks up to scratch.

No no no, you misinterpreted me. I don't mean they would stop building major attractions. I just mean in general they wouldn't have as much pressure on them to keep up with competition to be the best. Of course they would still build grand attractions, just not as often. We wouldn't be seeing two major attractions in a row at Cedar Point anymore (WT then TTD), or maybe even every other year. Kinda get what i'm sayin? We wouldn't be as spoiled. At least that's my opinion :)

Even if CF bought SF, they'd still have to run business as usual when it comes to new attractions. CP doesn't just compete with other parks, they compete with themselves to obtain and keep the interest of their guests.

For instance, I go to CP every year at least once. I rarely go anywhere else at this point, due to lack of time. Whenever CP puts in a new coaster or other big attraction (MaxAir doesn't count in my book), I'll go more than once.

I consider myself to be pseudo-normal, so there are probably others that share my habits when it comes to visiting the park.

BlueStreakwmfr - Its not individual parks that are up for sale. It is the company. Which means all the stock and all the assets. Its an all or nothing bid.
The whole reason was to keep Snyder from screwing the other stockholders. He was trying to become owner by majority stock. Basically this way, none of the shareholders get screwed and if Snyder wants to become owner, he has to buy it all.

Maybe thats why CF is selling Demon Drop and a few of there other rides maybe to purchase a few of the SF parks since the attendance was down 4%.

How about Cedar Fair fixes their own problems before buying more new ones.

Although it is the entire company that is for sale, "lock stock and barrell", once there is a new owner, there is nothing to stop them from getting rid of a few parks if they don't feel they can manage all 30 or so that there are.

You guys are kidding yourselves, of course competition has to do with new rides. Competition is a part of every type of business, with no competition, things can very easily slow down. Of course they will build what they have to to keep people coming, but they would no longer have a need to try to pull people from different parks.