News: Cedar Fair, L.P. announces 2006 second quarter earnings

I wasn't expecting this. :(

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/tm.site/news/BREAKING%20NEWS/325617/

The year isn't over yet though.

It didn't surprise me about Dorney because it rained on and off for 2 weeks at the end of june. Plus it didn't help the waterpark which is one of the main draws for the park. *** Edited 8/1/2006 7:24:19 AM UTC by RICHARD LYMAN***

http://www.pointbuzz.com/news.htm?id=982

On the bright side, they've cut a lot of ticket and food prices at their major parks and guest per capita spending hasn't dropped.

Also, from the looks of it, the last 3 or so weekends at CP have been pretty busy. I know for a fact things were slow at the beginning, so they might actually be picking up now.

Can you say "more cutbacks?" :(

I don't know. It has been a pretty crappy year all around with the economy tanking, weather, and gas prices. I wonder if the gas had more of an effect than we all thought. *** Edited 8/2/2006 2:36:45 AM UTC by Fastball84***

I'm thinking the heat wave as of late may be affecting some numbers for the park in a negative way, but I'm sure SC is doing great. Not that this is a great comparison, but just showing how the heat affects people's spending habits; during the three days that the local festival runs, every single day the food sales were down from last year for all of the stands. I'm not sure about the local restraunts, but I know the food stands didn't do near as good as last year with food. I'm kind of curious to see the food to drink sales right now.

Although I was thinking from what I've seen Geagua Lake was having a great season.

Geauga Lake's numbers will already be down in direct comparison to last year, with them cutting the operating season short.

I don't know, if it has been as hot in Cleveland as it has here, I would expect the water park would be drawing a lot of people. But I now live 4 1/2 hours from the park, so I wouldn't know for sure.

Saturdays are about as busy as they come for Geauga Lake, the rest of the week is near dead. That, and the press release says that it is one of the parks that is down in attendance.

*** Edited 8/2/2006 3:42:44 AM UTC by DBCP***

But that water park always seems packed...

Well, it isn't the largest one ever built...

DBCP said:
Can you say "more cutbacks?" :(

I was at the park tonight for only a couple of hours(8.1.06) and from what I saw there wasn't an entrance host at Mean Streak or Mantis. There was one at Magnum, but I didn't walk past any other rides to see if someone was there or not.

When I rode Mean Streak around 5 o'clock there was someone there. I think sometimes they move them to the station.

*** Edited 8/2/2006 4:24:13 AM UTC by DBCP***

Yea, entrance people and turnstile people seem like a crapshoot now. I don't really like that. It used to be that all the major rides had to have an entrance person and a turnstile person and if it was really dead, they'd just have one of the two. Now it seems like more often than not, they are missing one of the two even when it is busy.

I think they really need them both when is is busy (anything more than about a 15 minute line). No one wants to wait in line to get to the turnstile and hear their kid is too short to ride or that they need to go put something in a locker. And no one wants to deal with an unregulated station. This is just something I feel that CP really did exceptionally well in the past - better than most parks.

Actually I think the report said that Geauga Lake was up slightly this year, but not as much as they had hoped. From what I saw last Mon., I think GL may be building a little momentum during the week as well.

GL may finish the season pretty strong and have a decent year this year. I hope so because they have turned it into a very nice park, and more people need to experience it.

My boss went to Geauga Lake this weekend with her family, and when I asked her how it was, she said "it was okay, but the water park was really crappy!" This really surprised me because it seems everyone on here is pleased with the water park. I think her main reason for disliking the water park is the fact that she went on one of the hottest days of the year and everyone was in the water park. She also complained about no shady spots in the water park. I would assume that most people would complain if there was too much shade.

Regardless, I hope Geauga Lake has a strong finish so they can have higher attendance.

I went (GL) on Sunday July 23rd and the entire park was pretty full, but the water park was literally shoulder to shoulder.

I dont like crowds, so to me it was horrible, but my kids and wife had a really good time.

I had not been to the park since 2003, and I gotta say it is night and day. I remember in 2003 telling my wife that the park was dirty and crowded and we were never coming back.

We are going back the week of August 14th for at least 2 days. The park looks good. I would think the more people that go see it, the more people will return. I think next year will be a big year for GL. I just wish they had done more for the waterpark.

*** Edited 8/2/2006 2:30:27 PM UTC by RTurb0***

I'm going to Geauaga Lake in about a month. Can't wait for my second visit.

What I don't get is that there was an article a couple of days ago saying that gas prices were not affecting tourism, yet the newer article says weather and gas prices are affecting attendance. So, which is it?