From the Cedar Fair conference call...

[newlifeinstpaul]

- Cheaper gate prices didn't bring people running
You'd think the Geauga Lake price drop woulda taught them better..
But Dick Kinzel flat-out admitted that it didn't bring the hoped-for results.

- No new parks for at least four years
Unless something came along they simply couldn't pass up

- ValleyFair is seriously in the crapper this year
They are off 70,000 visits from last year--and last year was the first in a decade they had less than a million visitors.
The official word?  "We are unable to pinpoint a single cause"

Hello?  How 'bout headlines, photos and video of the big coaster busted?  I mean REALLY.  
Again, you'd think they'd have learned from Geauga Lake.
They spurned the kiddies free DARE admissions, spawned bad publicity and PO'ed the school field trip decision-makers for years to come.
Then they did the same with the union crowd.  Genius.  Genius.

- Nobody asked any questions
What the hey?

Thursday might be a good day to buy more units.  
Just my hunch.

Comments

[cplady.livejournal.com]

Obviously I couldn't listen to the conference call from work.

So...thursday to buy the units, which announcement do you think is coming on Friday or next week? Rumor has it the announcement for CP's Project 2007 is to come this month.

[newlifeinstpaul.livejournal.com]

Nope, no announcement.

I just have a hunch the market will go a little soft, but bottom out Thursday.

[lilrongal.livejournal.com]

Geagua Lake is right down the street from my mom, and it's an okay park, but we're all too close to Cedar Point to give Geagua Lake much notice.

[newlifeinstpaul.livejournal.com]

Exactly why Six Flags gave up trying to make it into a Cedar Point competitor.

But now that they own Kings Island too...I wonder how long it will be before they take some of the coasters down and ship them to sister parks. Geauga Lake is their only money-loser. I don't think they'll close it, but they'll have to lower the park's costs one way or another.

[lilrongal.livejournal.com]

NOTHING can compare to Cedar Point!!! They may as well give it up. Does Cedar Fair really own Kings Island now? Not Paramount? At any rate, Cedar Point is the best of the three, hands down. I don't know what they'll do with Geagua Lake, but it's been around for a long time, so I don't know if they'll get rid of it yet.

[newlifeinstpaul.livejournal.com]

Cedar Point better than Kings Island?!?!?!?

Are you kidding?

I bet the lil' screamer would beg to differ.

[lilrongal.livejournal.com]

Cedar Point not only has more coasters, but bigger, faster coasters!!!

I'm never very impressed when I go to KI, although I'd love to try out the Italian Job Stunt Track, but Cedar Point blows my mind every time I go there.

Pix from the Parks. :)

[newlifeinstpaul.livejournal.com]

Oh, trust me. I don't helo comparing the two--tho I haven't been to Cedar Point since 2002 and Kings Island since '04, I grew up on the West Side of Detroit. For all practical purposes, I'm practically bored with it.

The only Cedar Point coaster I haven't done is BreakDown Dragster, but I've done the smaller prototype at Knotts. I have a pretty close rendition to Wicked Twister, a Magnum knockoff and a three-legged Power Tower a half-hour from home.

But on an eighty-degree day? To hell with the coasters. I need to get wet! And Kings Island's got a nice, large complimentary waterpark. When I have short kids? Camp Snoopy reeks! Kings Islands kiddie area just plain STOMPS it into mush. For atmosphere? International Street makes the place feel like you've escaped somewhere else. Cedar Point feels like coasters n' concrete. (And sadly, so does Valleyfair)

Actually, hundreds of thousands of people apparently agree. Kings Island has outdrawn Cedar Point for years. The coasters aren't as good. I'll give you that. But it outmaneuvers and outdoes Cedar Point in just about every other category.

My former favorite Cedar Fair park was Dorney for having a great balance of good coasters and wet stuff. But I have a funny feeling that's gonna change...

[smochies.livejournal.com]

I hate Cedar Point! I wish they would close that monster down. I don't know why I hate that park so much. It isn't because of those few coasters I can't ride either. I never cared for it before then. The only reason I'm going this year is because it is part of the GOCC event.

I just don't want them robbing Geauga Lake anymore. I would hate for them to take rides out. I love that little park. It is such a great little park. Yes, little. It can't compete with the big boys and I don't want it to. I want it to stay small. It has already lost some of it's charm since stupid Cedar Fair took over.

I'm really afraid of what they are going to do to Kings Island. That is another great park. Lots of atmousphere and things to do for everyone. I just don't want it to become another CP. BLAH. I wish Magnum really was sinking and taking the rest of the park with it!

[newlifeinstpaul.livejournal.com]

It's Angry Smewch! Ruuun!!!!11111111oneonewun

But seriously...

We all saw the revenue numbers. ValleyFair hauled in $36 million last year--and that was a year with the lowest attendance in a decade. Worlds of Fun raked in $35 million. Michigan's Adventure did $19 million with less than a half-million coming to visit.

And Geauga Lake? $26 million. That's it. With ten coasters.

Those coasters get expensive to maintain. Most of VF's $1.1 million cap ex budget in 2002 went to upgrade Corkscrew's computer system. Yes, Corkscrew.

It's not as if Geauga Lake hasn't received funds or attention from CF. They spent $20 million over two seasons revamping the water park (and killing the best wave pool to EVER grace a corporate theme park,but anyway) If VF gets a B&M invert, that will mean the profitable sister parks will have finally received the financial attention Geauga's already enjoyed.

Personally, I say they should move the Vekomas--a year at a time--to MiA.
That doesn't comprise a big loss in ride selection.

[smochies.livejournal.com]

Even with advertising, a lot of people don't know it is still there. They think it went out with the animals. I don't know why they aren't drawing in people like they should, but it is WAY too soon to just give up and give away the rides. I think they need mroe family rides thats for sure. There really aren't many flat rides there. That's one thing I wish they had more of. Taking rides out of the park isn't going to help draw people in. It will certainly be the complete death of the park.

[newlifeinstpaul.livejournal.com]

Nah. CF parks lose coasters all the time.

DP lost Hercules. VF lost the Rails. WoF lost a classic Schwarzkopf, one of only two Arrows with interlocking loops ever built and replaced them with CRAP (a Bangerang and a spinning coaster) and it didn't kill 'em.

Frankly ADDING umpty-zillion coasters didn't help much.

You're gonna mourn a hang-and-bang when you still have 7-looping B&M steel?
A cookie-cutter KaBlangerang when you still have a flying coaster?

I mean really. Come ON.

[smochies.livejournal.com]

I personally would because there really isn't much else to do at that park other than coasters besides the waterpark. I say again that they need more flat rides. Really, the only flat rides they have, they moved over to the waterpark side this year and only kiddies ride them. I'm afraid of looking like a perv if I ride them so I stay with the coasters. I rode one flat ride this year while Jess and Bryan rode Steel Super Venom Force because it was close by there. I felt like a perv then because it was all little kids. They need to get a nicer kids section and add more flat rides. The park is far from perfect, but I like it, I just wish it was a little different.

[newlifeinstpaul.livejournal.com]

VF needs to send them the Bayern Kurve guts.
And maybe CP could bring Schwabinchen out of mothballs.

I don't remember the flats there. Frankly,even the coasters were practically a chore on my only visit. Only the late, great Aqua Moshpit mattered. That and cheap Coke from the Season Passholders lounge.