Cedar Fair Entertainment Company
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This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (August 2010) |
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | NYSE: FUN |
| Industry | Amusement Parks |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Headquarters | Sandusky, Ohio, United States |
| Number of locations | 18 |
| Area served | United States Canada |
| Key people | Matt Ouimet, CEO |
| Revenue | $977.6 million (net) US (2010) |
| Operating income |  $185.5 million USD (2009) |
| Net income | -$31.6 million US (2010) |
| Employees | 2,500+ (2007) (excluding seasonal) |
| Website | www.cedarfair.com |
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, legally known as Cedar Fair, L.P.,(NYSE: FUN) is a publicly traded partnership headquartered at its Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. The company owns and operates eleven amusement parks and seven water parks across North America. Cedar Fair also manages Gilroy Gardens under contract with the city of Gilroy, California.[1]
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[edit] History
Cedar Fair was formed in 1978 from an operating partnership between Cedar Point and Valleyfair. The name Cedar Fair is derived from the names of both parks. The company has expanded the number of parks to seventeen which includes amusement parks as well as indoor and outdoor water parks. The biggest acquisitions came recently starting with Geauga Lake for $145 million in 2004[2] followed by Paramount Parks for $1.24 billion in 2006.[3] On September 21, 2007, Cedar Fair announced that beginning in 2008, Geauga Lake would operate solely as a water park permanently closing its amusement park and transferring several rides to other Cedar Fair parks.[4]
In December 2009 it was announced that Apollo Global Management would offer Cedar Fair $11.50[5] per share, a 28 percent premium over the market price, as part of a takeover plan which would also make Cedar Fair a private company.[6] The deal included a cash payment of $635 million in addition to assuming Cedar Fair's debt of over $1.7 billion putting the total value of the transaction close to $2.4 billion. Cedar Fair planned to hold a shareholder meeting on March 16, 2010 to vote on the transaction but postponed the meeting to April 8, 2010 implying that two-thirds of the shareholder vote needed for approval wasn't yet secured.[7] On April 6, 2010, the deal was terminated, and Cedar Fair paid $6.5 million to reimburse Apollo for expenses incurred from the proposed transaction.[5] Cedar Fair also adopted a unitholder rights plan as a preventative measure to help protect unitholders in the event of any future hostile takeover.[8]
On September 16, 2011, JMA Ventures, LLC entered into an agreement to purchase California's Great America from Cedar Fair and take ownership of the Gilroy Gardens management contract.[9] The agreement required approval of Santa Clara's city council which was scheduled to vote on the matter on December 6, 2011. However, JMA cancelled its plans to purchase Great America and bowed out of the agreement.[10]
[edit] Properties
[edit] Amusement parks
- California's Great America (Santa Clara, California)
- Canada's Wonderland (Vaughan, Ontario, Canada)
- Carowinds (Charlotte, North Carolina & Fort Mill, South Carolina)
- Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio)
- Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
- Gilroy Gardens (Gilroy, California), currently in a management contract with Cedar Fair
- Kings Dominion (Doswell, Virginia)
- Kings Island (Mason, Ohio)
- Knott's Berry Farm (Buena Park, California)
- Michigan's Adventure (Muskegon, Michigan)
- Valleyfair (Shakopee, Minnesota)
- Worlds of Fun (Kansas City, Missouri)
[edit] Water parks
[edit] Included with Admission
- Boomerang Bay (California's Great America)
- Boomerang Bay (Carowinds)
- Soak City (Kings Island)
- Soak City (Valleyfair)
- Splash Works (Canada's Wonderland)
- WaterWorks (Kings Dominion)
- Wild Water Adventure (Michigan's Adventure)
- Wildwater Kingdom (Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom)
[edit] Separate Admission/Property
- Knott's Soak City (Buena Park, California)
- Knott's Soak City (Palm Springs, California)
- Knott's Soak City (San Diego, California)
- Oceans of Fun (Kansas City, Missouri)
- Soak City (Sandusky, Ohio)
- Wildwater Kingdom (Aurora, Ohio)
[edit] Indoor
[edit] Lodging and campgrounds
- Hotel Breakers (Cedar Point)
- Breakers Express (Cedar Point)
- Sandcastle Suites Hotel (Cedar Point)
- Camper Village (Cedar Point)
- Lighthouse Point (Cedar Point)
- Castaway Bay Indoor Waterpark Resort (Cedar Point)
- Camp Wilderness (Kings Dominion)
- Knott’s Berry Farm Resort Hotel (Knott's Berry Farm)
- Worlds of Fun Village (Worlds of Fun)
- Carowinds Camp Wilderness Resort (Carowinds)
[edit] Former
- Camp Snoopy (Mall of America) Until 2005
- Geauga Lake (Aurora, Ohio) Closed ride sections of park in Fall 2007
- Geauga Lake Hotel Until 2007
- Star Trek: The Experience (Las Vegas, Nevada) [11]
[edit] Attendance
Cedar Fair has some of the most visited seasonal parks in the North America.
Parks with over 3 million visitors a year: Canada's Wonderland, Cedar Point, Knott's Berry Farm, and Kings Island.[12]
Parks with over 1.5 million visitors a year: Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, and California's Great America.[12]
Parks with a million or fewer visitors a year: Valleyfair, Worlds of Fun, and Michigan's Adventure.[12]
Cedar Fair's most visited park is Canada's Wonderland, boasting the highest attendance of any seasonal park in North America.
[edit] Awards
Cedar Fair parks have earned several major Golden Ticket Awards for roller coasters and amusement park operation from Amusement Today, a trade newspaper which ranks amusement parks and roller coasters.[13] In addition, the readers of Amusement Today have voted Cedar Point as The Best Amusement Park In The World for 14 consecutive years.
The Maverick steel roller coaster at Cedar Point received the Best New Ride of 2007 - Amusement Park title from Amusement Today when it debuted in 2007.
The Prowler wooden roller coaster at Worlds of Fun received the Best New Ride of 2009 - Amusement Park title from Amusement Today when it debuted in 2009.[14]
[edit] See also
- Richard Kinzel, CEO of Cedar Fair from 1986-2012
- Incidents at Cedar Fair parks
[edit] References
- ^ "Properties". Cedar Fair official site. http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/company/properties/. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
- ^ Potter, Derek (2004-03-10). "Cedar Fair Buys Six Flags World of Adventure". Theme Park Insider. http://www.themeparkinsider.com/news/response.cfm?ID=1564. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ "Cedar Fair to Acquire Paramount Parks". The Point Online. 2006-05-22. Archived from the original on 2007-08-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20070814210552/http://www.thepointol.com/news/2006/76.html. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ "Cedar Fair Announces New Direction For Geauga Lake". Wikinvest. 21 September 2007. http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Cedar_Fair,_L.P._(FUN)/Filing/8-K/2007/Ex-99/D2601429. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ a b "Cedar Fair: Takeover not happening". The Seattle Times. 6 April 2010. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2011535721_apusapollocedarfair.html. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ Samavati, Shaheen (16 December 2009). "Cedar Fair to be acquired by New York private-equity firm". Cleveland.com. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/12/cedar_fair_expected_to_be_boug.html. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ "UPDATE: Knott’s grandson weighs in on sale delay". The Orange Register. 16 March 2010. http://ocresort.ocregister.com/2010/03/16/sale-of-knotts-berry-farms-owner-postponed/37805/. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ "Cedar Fair and Affiliates of Apollo Global Management Mutually Terminate Merger Agreement". Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. 6 April 2010. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cedar-fair-and-affiliates-of-apollo-global-management-mutually-terminate-merger-agreement-89989157.html. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ "Gilroy Gardens Management to Transfer to JMA Pending Approval of JMA’s Acquisition of California’s Great America". Gilroy Gardens. 22 September 2011. http://www.gilroygardens.org/news-media/article.cfm/news_alias/Gilroy-Gardens-Management-to-Transfer. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
- ^ "JMA cancels $70M California Great America purchase". Business Journal. 6 December 2011. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2011/12/06/jma-cancels-70m-california-great.html. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
- ^ "2008 Press Release". Cedar Fair. 2008. http://www.startrekexp.com/pdf/STTE-Media-release.pdf.
- ^ a b c "Fun Forward Presentation". Cedar Fair. 2012. http://cf.wddnsweb2.wddonline.net/_upload/pressreleases/final%20funforward%20presentation%20-%20with%20ebitda%20reconciliation.pdf. Retrieved 2012-1-19.
- ^ "Golden Tickets 2007". Amusement Today. 2007. Archived from the original on 2008-05-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20080530013537/http://www.amusementtoday.com/image/GoldenTicket2007.pdf. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ "2009 Golden Ticket Awards - The Best of the Best!". Amusement Today. http://www.amusementtoday.com/corndog/2009gtawinners.html. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
[edit] External links
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