News: Cedar Fair and Six Flags announce equal merger

Jeff:

I don't think you'll see name changes, maybe beyond an asterisk "A Six Flags Park"' in small letters.

I hope that is the case for sure....

Making money for shareholders is like the number one thing his job entails though as much as the enthusiast crowd doesn't want to admit it.

I don’t think anyone doesn’t want to admit that.

long term running the parks into the six flags mess of repeated bankruptcies and poor customer experience isn’t good for investors.

^^^^^Volcano and original TTD were nothing but maintenance nightmares for their parks. I never rode volcano, but heard it was down more than it was running. It's better in the long run to remove high maintenance rides that are down more than they are running than to keep them, replace parts constantly, only to be down all day anyway for a new issue and no one gets to ride it.

WT had super low ridership, but I guess that's debatable.

The biggest question remains. When will a confederate flag fly up in Sandusky? It's one of the Six Flags! Did they put one up yet? It's the new Gatekeeper!

Only you have that question, PoW. Go to any current Six Flags park and you'll find six American flags flying out front.

ValleyPoint:

I'm cautiously optimistic that Cedar Fair's culture/leadership is positioned nicely to influence the new company out of the gate.

You don't have to be optimistic, it's pretty clear that is what will happen. Six Flags corporate, what's left of it, will disappear. They can call it a merger from the transactional sense, but this is Cedar Fair acquiring Six Flags without having to outright pay for it.

Jeff:

I don't think you'll see name changes, maybe beyond an asterisk "A Six Flags Park"' in small letters.

I don't actually have a problem with this. Cedar Point a Six Flags park is fine. But I do wonder how it would work with some of the Six Flags parks that are really pushed as Six Flags over their individual names, like Six Flags Over Texas

The only "true" Six Flags parks are Over Texas and Over Georgia. The rest are just slapped on, and all of them had identities prior.

Jeff:

corporate, what's left of it, will disappear. They can call it a merger from the transactional sense, but this is Cedar Fair acquiring Six Flags without having to outright pay for it.

You sure about that? Zimmerman will be CEO of the new company, but SF's CEO will be executive chairman of the board, and the CEO reports to the board and its chairman.

So Zimmerman will.be reporting to SF's CEO, at least on paper.

And the board members will be equally split between the former SF and former CF board.

While I hope you are correct, I see no reason to assume this based upon what has been made public at this time.

Executive chair gets to weigh in on things, among a larger board (half of which is the previous CF board). He's not going to win any real battles that he wants to wage against the CF people, and certainly isn't going to impact any real day-to-day operation. I give him a two years tops in that gig where the board changes the arrangement.

Jeff:

The only "true" Six Flags parks are Over Texas and Over Georgia. The rest are just slapped on, and all of them had identities prior.

Which makes me hope some of the parks have the Six Flags stamp removed from their names within the next couple years. Maybe phase out the heavy Six Flags branding and focus on the local history and market of the park, similar to what CF has been doing.

It’s obvious Cedar Fair only wanted this merger to put a stop to Six Flags Qiddiya and the installation of Falcon’s Flight. Wake up!

Petition · Change Six Flags name to Five flags · Change.org

Ok I was not super excited for the potential cross over of DC into Cedar Fair parks when I heard this news. But someone posted this pic of Peanuts characters in DC heroes costumes and I would be weirdly ok with this melding of brands:

I don't know, let me ask my shadow.

I just hope they do not change too much....if they change anything I just pray it's for the good. CP will always hold a special place in my heart, grew up going there once maybe twice a year when I was young and could not wait to go, then once I was older season passes every year....so many memories and just hope they don't ruin it with this merger.

Many times years ago when I would visit other parks such as Paramount Kings Island, you realized CP was the gem of all parks and a very special place. I realized how good we had it with CP in my backyard.

When SF owned Geauga Lake it was like night and day to me the differences in the parks. That is the only SF park I can compare CP to in my past, I am sure SF Magic Mountain was awesome since that seemed to be their gem back in the day. Wish I could've have made it to that park.

Time will tell for sure. Been a part of mergers between two giant companies in my past and the first year or two nothing much changed then everything changed, for the worse.

Love CP and always will. Ride on at America's Rollercoast!

^I have to assume that all parties hope that any changes are for the good. I don't think anyone is looking to make bad changes.

There are mergers all the time with bad faith actors that say one thing and do another.

Also the 'changes for the good' may have vastly different meanings to different parties. If this is just a financial cost cutting/maximize short term profitability then I don't see the Cedar Fairing of SF parks, but the opposite.

I just wish that Zimmerman was Ouimet, then I'd have a lot more confidence in this merger/takeover.