News: Cedar Fair and Six Flags announce equal merger

SpeedDemon:

“There is no competition now” You know except for:

I do not consider them competition since they are more theme parks and not amusement parks. But Universal and Sea Word I would consider competition since they go for those extreme rides.

I will have to retract my statement, valid point.

I guess I look at the old coaster wars between Six Flags and Cedar Fair.

Ok so what is going to happen with Top Thrill 2 and the park's name? This was always a fear of mine since 2019 when CF almost merged with Six flags, ride name changes into super hero themes and characters in the parks. The park already marketed TT2 as new for 2024 and showed the news release for it. I hope millennium force won't become a "superman the ride" or "ride of steel."

I know Busch gardens is owned by Seaworld but still retains the European and African themes at both parks.

On a funny note, I can't imagine a dolphin show next to something like the German Oktoberfest area at Williamsburg.

I also feel for the employees on both sides who will either be dealing with new bosses or the same bosses, but now with inflated egos. My fear is there will be a bleed of good people. Hopefully I'm wrong there as there will need to be some good people to manage the huge footprint of parks effectively.

I also hope there isn't a rush to re-brand everything in either direction. I think if there is a push to slap Six Flags on every park, that will be a bad sign of the way things will go. It's also a waste of money since most of these parks are well established in their markets and doing so will have little benefit and possibly be a negative in the case of a place like Cedar Point.

How did we miss the obvious hints?

In the same manner that Valravn spells Ohio:

So Corkscrew sports a backwards 6:

On Point Tony had it there all along.

Never mind.

I highly doubt there will be any adjustments (at least in the near future) to park names and / or ride names. Makes relatively no sense to do so as each park is already established and known in their markets.

Visually I see everything remaining as is, with only "under the hood" changes (for better or for worse). Going the SeaWorld P&E route and having the two distinct brands (like Busch Gardens and SeaWorld parks) makes the most logical sense, at least right now.

Although, I could see a move to Six Flags Michigans Adventure. The park fits better under that banner.

Maybe sarcastic, maybe not.

I have not been to a Six Flags park since I was very young and went to Six Flags over Georgia. I don't really have a recollection of a good or bad experience, which isn't really relevant considering it was 40+ years ago. I only know of their reputation based off what I have heard from the coaster community. Now, I do know that Six Flags has a more recognizable brand name nationwide, whereas CF seems to have had better management. If CF has a bigger influence of how the merged chain is managed, then the new Six Flags chain has potential to be great and not just good.

spoiler alert : By next summer, many enthusiasts will complain how in 6-9 months, CF management hasn't improved every single park in the chain and brought it up to CF standards, therefore, the President must go.

Raptor gonna be renamed Batman the Ride 2

Millennium force gonna be renamed Superman - Lap Bar Edition

Top thrill 2 is going to be Kingda Ka 1

Rougarou is going to stay Rougarou because they hit a home run with that name just the way it is.

Maverick will be The Joker 2

Magnum will be renamed Goliath 2

Steel Vengeance will be El Toro 2

Gatekeeper will be Tatsu 2

Gemini will be Twisted Collosus 2

Valravn will be That's So Raven.

Does this mean RollerCoaster Tycoon 5 will have the Cedar Fair parks??

Chris Sawyer are you reading this??

How long until people start a campaign for Dominator to become Batman again. Would be funny to just cross out Dominator and slap a small sign on it saying "Batman Again".

CPkid77:

Random note, but is that you in your avatar Plague on Wheels?

I think that's Rob Decker, former VP of Planning and Design.

That's a Bingo! 😉

Bottom line CP will go down hill over the years. I just hope I am wrong and that the keep it the crown jewel it is.

And leave the ride names alone!

Who knows how this plays out, but I have no doubt CF parks will have the Six Flags branding attached, either as a prefix or suffix - most likely as a prefix.

I am most interested to see how this affects cap ex at parks throughout both chains. Six Flags has a strong reputation with cookie cutter attractions, while CF has traditionally shyed away from that (except for their WindSeeker/Dinosaurs Alive! streak). Meanwhile, Six has not taken the leap into Giga coasters, while CF has leaned into those heavily in recent years.

Side note: I find the "Cedar Point will surely go down hill" comments comical when there is an adjacent thread to this already talking about the park being "less nice".

Initial concerns…please don’t ruin unique qualities in the cedar fair parks by putting in 5 of the same rides, don’t rename or retheme or retouch any of the major coasters we have today. The Beast, Magnum, Millenium etc… should not be touched. and consider moving some of the duplicate six flags rides already in existence to the lesser cedar fair parks to help them and make space to start to diversify the six flags parks. And this accelerates the death of CGA in my book also. I am also concerned for corporate workers. Synergies mean job cuts. What’s done is done unless Six Flags shareholders kill the deal.

Time will tell and I'm not in any position of expertise to make predictions. But I will say: the state of Magic Mountain has me skeptical about Six Flags corporate having any influence on Cedar Fair parks.

Like many of you, I grew up in the Midwest and with Kings Island / Cedar Point as "home parks." They were my (perhaps unfair) standards, but so much programming from my childhood suggested Magic Mountain was, if not in the same tier, in a different tier.

Finally visited at age 30. I was shocked at its absolute desolation!

Maverick00:

Who knows how this plays out, but I have no doubt CF parks will have the Six Flags branding attached, either as a prefix or suffix - most likely as a prefix.

I honestly hope they drop it as a prefix from some of the higher-tier parks, and change it to a suffix. I do think adding sixflags as a prefix to some of the lower tier cedarfair parks could actually help them.

Someone on CB pointed out that the CMO commissioned studies on local brand heritage while Ouimet was there, she's still in that position. The anecdote was that they wanted to drop the "Berry Farm" from Knott's, but it would have not played well, so they left it. I don't think you'll see name changes, maybe beyond an asterisk "A Six Flags Park"' in small letters.

Wow, never thought I'd see this, but that's just the view of a boy who grew up a CP homer during the coaster wars. I agree with the wait and see outlook, but with the new company having Zimmerman as CEO, and leadership being in Charlotte with Sandusky retaining a strong corporate presence, per an article I saw earlier today, I'm cautiously optimistic that Cedar Fair's culture/leadership is positioned nicely to influence the new company out of the gate.

All in all, if this goes through, the next few years will be fun to watch how this unfolds. I don't think we'll see any renaming of major attractions in Cedar Fair's parks, but it would be one tough pill to swallow if CP ever opens a major coaster with DC theming. Without having any knowledge of the agreements/costs associated with all the DC theming at Six Flags parks, I wouldn't be surprised if they let those agreements sunset? Seems the Snoopy theming for family areas is a lower cost, and it just doesn't seem like the DC theming adds much value in attracting customers, IMHO.

The overall culture and approach of the new company will take years to unfold.

What a time to be alive!

krzperfo:

Good news is Zimmerman is the CEO

Am I the only one who's not a fan of him? Something about removing WT, TTD, the beach party/CP nights, Johnny Rockets and other restaurants, Forbidden Frontier, Volcano at KD, etc. (in just a few short years) for the sake of prioritizing profit over quality and guest experience has really been rubbing me the wrong way... And now selling out 150 years of CP's legacy to "the discount chain" to presumably make more money for the shareholders (I know, you're shocked!). I wish Matt Ouimet never stepped down.