Cedar Point Acreage

2 days ago, I had sent for the Cedar Fair annual report package and when I was reading through some of the reports, there was a section called "Propeties". Here's what it said:

Cedar Point and Soak City are located on aprox. 365 acres and 100 acres are owned by the entrance of the causeway.

Knott's Berry Farm and Knott's Soak City are located on 160 acres and 13 are left for development.

Dorney Park is situated on 200 which 170 have been developed and 30 are left.

Valleyfair, 115 acres have been developed and 75 are left for development.

World of Fun is located on 350 acres of which 253 is developed and 97 are left for development.

Geauga Lake is situated on 670 acres, 375 have been developed, 200 are restricted by enviromental conditions (the lake) and 75 remain for development.

Michigan's Adventure is situated on 235 of which 80 are developed and 155 remain for development.

The Partneship, through it's subsidiary Cedar Point of Michigan, inc., also owns 450 acres in southern Michigan.

That is all of the properties that the 10-K shows. Apparently, CF owns a huge chunk of land in souther Michigan for something. Could someone locate where the land is located?

Rumor has it that back in the late 70's, there was to be a Cedar Point Michigan. I don't know exactly where the land is located, but I can tell you that [the one and only] Gemini was slated to be the park's star attraction.

This is just what I've heard from a very knowledgeable and well respected guy, but I can't confirm other than that. Anyone else know anything about that?

-Josh

Sounds like the PA Disneyland rumor to me. :)

To see a park develop closer south in michigan would be awsome. We could use a few more parks.:)

This is a legit story though I have a vague memory that the land was sold. It wouldn't make a lot of sense for Cedar Fair to build a park in Michigan. That would only draw folks away from Cedar Point and Michigan's Adventure.

I'm not sure I see CF building any parks from the ground up. Now, they might build a waterpark from the ground up but I doubt a full-fledged park from scratch is in their future.

I work for Lenawee County Equalization and the land is owned by Cedar Point of Michigan Inc. It is approximately 416 acres in Cambridge Township, near Michigan International Speedway.

That would have been the Irish Hills project, which was in the development stage in the early to mid 1970's. With the oil embargos during that time the thinking was to bring a park closer to the Michigan market. I remember sitting through the orientations the PR dept put to together so all employees could answer the questions the public would ineviatably ask (and they did). There was a artist's conception , and I think even a model. At the same time Marriott was about to break ground on two of the three proposed Great America parks. There was an attempt to merge the two companies, but that fell through in 1974. CP lost a lot of middle management people to Marriott though. With the death of Emil LeGross in the winter of 1974-75 the Irish Hills park was shelved.

See, Tim. I wasn't making it up.

I'm glad it didn't happen, though. It would just give you another reason to complain about parks being the same. ;)

God knows they would have a Lighthouse Point there by now, too.

A while back I had heard that one of the big owners in NASCAR has a little hobby of buying/building theme parks. He was trying to get permission to buy land and build one somewhere in Michigan. Unfortunatly I don't remember who it was (Roush or Hendricks maybe?). I wonder if this was the land he was trying to get. Anyone know anything about this?

I distinctly remember a sign by the enterance to the park (between the double ferris wheel and the cable car building) that announced the Irish Hills project as well. My belief is that there was some sort of incentive having parks in Ohio. I am not sure if it has to do with safety/liability laws or just how that state regulated the industry in general. It does seem strange however that we have so many parks in Ohio and so few in Michigan, Illinois, or Indiana given the population of each - and the similar weather conditions. One would think having a park closer to a major city like Detroit or Chicago would have a big impact on the attendance figures and provide more in the way of less seasonal (or international for that matter) employees.

You have to keep in mind that during that time frame the price of gas DOUBLED overnight, if you could find it at all. There was some serious concern if people would spend the money to go CP especially from the Detroit market. It made more sense to bring the park to them. Things calmed down(as it ususally does) and the crowds showed up at the gates, per usual.

exit, would the lighthouse point in Irish hills have a breathtaking view of the dragstrip or the cornfields?

Well, the cabins would be set in the confields, and they would offer plenty of sleeping room. The cottages would be smaller but have a dragstrip-side view.

That land is about 10 minutes from my house!! It is by Michigan International Speedway at the corner of Onsted Hwy and M50

Wow, I never knew :)

In my decade of being a CP enthusiast, I've never heard of this. Sounds cool.

i live about 15-20min away in horton