Fun Forward Presentation

I listened to this morning's Cedar Fair conference call from New York and it just reinforced my opinion that Ouimet knows what he is doing and Cedar Point's and CF's best days are still ahead. If you have the slightest interest in these things, I would recommend listening to the recording. Some of the hightlights, many of which have been discussed here include:

Balancing thrill and family-friendly attractions to sustain the proper family:teen audience mix.

Quality enhancements in food and resorts, like new fresh, never frozen burgers in the park :)

New CP night show called "Luminosity - Ignite the Night!". From the description, it seems to be a meaningful upgrade to last years show.

New Accesso e-commerce platform.

Premium parking and dining experiences.

Thrills Connect advertising campaign. My favorite one - "At 120 mph kids can't roll their eyes at you".

Even the pre-conference recorded presentation that was played seemed very slick, dare I say, Disney like. I am very excited about the direction the park is going now, and I really think great things are going to happen.

The presentation was a much welcome departure from the way Kinzel conducted such things. Ouimet knows what he is doing, for sure.

A few other highlights:

- In just a half season at Kings Island, Fast Lane generated nearly $1 million. Ouimet did mention that it is meant to be implemented to not disrupt the experience for those who did not purchase it.

- They have set a 5-year capital plan, that includes about 9% of earnings each year. 9% will also go toward maintenance. It was said that there are plans for new attractions at Great America.

- Ouimet mentioned that in the future, he hopes for and would consider a plan for season passes that includes a month to month payment plan.

- Woodstock and Franklin characters are being introduced in 2012.

- As stated above, there will be a renewed focus on better quality food and resorts. Ouimet said he differs from Kinzel in that area and that quality food is part of the overall experience.

- Cedar Point is still the flagship, and the corporate headquarters will remain in Sandusky.

- Ouimet made the comment that he "will not be the manager Dick Kinzel was." He continued by saying Richard Zimmerman (COO) would take on such responsibilities and that he has faith in his management team. Basically, he won't micromanage the way Dick did.

- During the Q&A, it was asked if Ouimet planned to implement "Disney touches" on the parks. He answered by saying he wants to create better quality experiences, inspired by Disney, but made it known that they aren't Disney.

- Included in the presentation was a graph showing the revenue, margins, and attendance of each park. This is something that was never done publicly under Kinzel. Several attendees complimented the detailed and transparent presentation. If only I could get my hands on the report, I'd like to see the breakdown by park.

You can get the PDF report HERE.

Thanks!

I'm really excited to see what all he has in store for the parks over the next couple of years. It's clear as day that he knows what he's doing.

This is from the transcript with respect to attendance per park. Not sure if they provided more detail in what they provided to investors:

When we think about our parks, we really break them into three groups. First, Cedar Point, Knott’s Berry Farm, Canada’s Wonderland and Kings Island are the largest parks which each entertain over 3 million guests annually.

Next, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Dorney Park and California’s Great America each annually entertain over 1.5 million guests.

The third group includes Valleyfair and Worlds of Fun which entertain approximately 1 million guests annually. Michigan’s Adventure does somewhat less than that, but it’s highly profitable and has a high profit margin comparable to our larger parks.

Here's the full transcript.

In particular, we’re going to focus on extending the length of stay in the park which is also highly profitable and while we touched on this opportunity over the past year in Canada and at Carowinds, we’re taking it to a new level with Luminosity - Ignite the Night.

It will provide a highly marketable broad audience appeal event. It will be reprogrammable to drive written visitation both throughout the season and annually and it will support our ongoing park maintenance upgrades by modernizing our light and sound infrastructure systems. I have great hopes with this experiment and I hope we see it at all of our parks overtime.

A reprogramable night show? Sounds a bit like World of Color in the fact that the show can be easily updated. And are they possibly hinting that the show can be updated, for Halloweekends?

I like what I'm hearing from this guy. Love the food, show, and resort changes he wants to make. I don't think he should change the image of Cedar Point too much.

I'm suprised how even the split the attendance is between season pass / front gate + advance sale tickets / group sales. Looks to be pretty close to 1/3 each.

Was that for the parks overall? I suspect it differs a great deal from one to the next.

I like what Ouimet is doing here. It's like he spent the last six months cleaning up after the things Kinzel let go. Make nice with the 49ers and Santa Clara, get Q Investments to get off of their case, demonstrate clarity on development priorities, internally set the precedent that he doesn't need to sign or initial every little thing... He's done more to move the company forward in two weeks than Dick did in the last several years.

How can you not feel good about the future of the company?

Very promising. I had to remind myself a few times that I was hearing from the same company we've been following all these years. What a difference already.

Wow, and this is only the first season he'll be there for! I can't wait to check out "luminosity"

Favorite thing: "Leverages off existing, strong emotional attachment and multi-generation memories". Perhaps a bit ambiguous, but I welcome a greater focus on returning guests.

Unfavorite thing: "Advance purchase commitments provide protection against visitation disruption events and drives in-park spending elasticity" Translation? "We are are still going to steal fifty dollars from you if you cancel your reservation at Breakers".

I'm also surprised at the nearly 1/3 breakdown on gate admissions, season passes & group sales; I'd love to see the per park breakdown on that.

I definitely like the projected unit disbursement, but I would be happier with an increased focus on paying down that quarter billion debt load. With many of the parks built out to a large degree, future growth can only come from acquisition; Six Flags is going to drive a hard bargain on any of their properties, what with Uncle Dick setting a precedent for CF bending over and taking whatever the seller is asking for.

Obviously, I need to investigate this presentation further...I'm liking a lot of the nightingale I am reading in this thread. There are a few things that bother me a little, like comments about premium parking experiences. Really? Come on, it's time to admit that there is NO 'value add' to parking. But a new nighttime show and upgrades to the lighting and sound infrastructure? A focus on increasing length of stay? Making the food offerings worth paying for? Now you're talking.

You know, one of the most obvious qualifications that Ouimet has for running Cedar Fair is hat he took over Disneyland right when that place needed serious help. At the same time, that is probably also going to be one of his biggest obstacles in the near term. Oh, it's not a problem for him. Clearly he has a good grasp on what Cedar Fair is all about, and that phrase keeps coming up: "Cedar Fair is not Disney." Ouimet knows that, he understands that Cedar Fair is a very different kind of company operating a very different kind of park for a different kind of audience. But those silly round ears seem to follow him around, they pop up in inopportune moments as people ask silly questions that indicate that they are not listening.

My impression is that he "gets it." Ouimet is a Cedar Fair man now, and he's going to run the company accordingly. Here's hoping that the shareholders, the press, and the adoring public understand it as well.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I have not had time to listen to it yet but did anyone ask what his plan is for Geauaga lake or Wild water Kingdom?

He was asked about GL:

Tim Conder - Wells Fargo

Okay. And then Geauga Lake, I mean any update there on plans, thoughts, specifically with that property?

Matt Ouimet

The short answer is no; I have been to all of our parks except one; I haven’t been to Michigan’s Adventure, so my apologies to our GM who is listing at Michigan’s Adventure today. But I think that there is one of those assets that we’ll continue to invest modestly overtime; it’s a nice little market, but I don’t see us returning to that market in a big way.

So is the second half of that response about Michigan's Adventure or Geauga Lake. I think it's about GL, but I can't quite say for sure.

We-o-we-oooo said:
Unfavorite thing: "Advance purchase commitments provide protection against visitation disruption events and drives in-park spending elasticity" Translation? "We are are still going to steal fifty dollars from you if you cancel your reservation at Breakers".

Sure the hotel accommodations are part of the equation. But, I think that's more in regards to advanced ticket sales for specific dates. So, if it rains, people have more incentive to still show up. But, if people decide not to come, they still make some money. Usually those types of tickets are discounted. So, the buyer is taking a risk with the reward being a nice discount. They can usually be transfered to be used on another date. But, you have to pay the difference between the discount and a full price ticket. I wonder how many people who buy those tickets are aware of that. And then amongst those aware, how many do the upcharge to transfer.

Jason Hammond said:
So is the second half of that response about Michigan's Adventure or Geauga Lake. I think it's about GL, but I can't quite say for sure.

We-o-we-oooo said:
Unfavorite thing: "Advance purchase commitments provide protection against visitation disruption events and drives in-park spending elasticity" Translation? "We are are still going to steal fifty dollars from you if you cancel your reservation at Breakers".

Sure the hotel accommodations are part of the equation. But, I think that's more in regards to advanced ticket sales for specific dates. So, if it rains, people have more incentive to still show up. But, if people decide not to come, they still make some money. Usually those types of tickets are discounted. So, the buyer is taking a risk with the reward being a nice discount. They can usually be transfered to be used on another date. But, you have to pay the difference between the discount and a full price ticket. I wonder how many people who buy those tickets are aware of that. And then amongst those aware, how many do the upcharge to transfer.

To be honest I would guess a fair amount of guests would do the upcharge to transfer. You have no idea how many times employees are asked if a guest could get a discount or a refund for it raining for part or most of the day.

But, those are people who are already at the park and have already used their ticket. I'm talking about a situation where people haven't come to the park because it was raining.