Highlights from Cedar Fair's 2016 1st Quarter Financial Results
I was able to read Cedar Fair's 1st Quarter Financial Results transcript of their Investor Call held last week. Course, it is filled with a lot of investor/corporate jargon. As they dance around each other; investors trying to pry detailed information from CF, while management gives as little detailed information as possible to the investors.
Financially, Cedar Fair is ahead of where they were at this time in 2015. Course, the only real money maker during this time period is Knott's Berry Farm and a couple of their year round Hotel/Motel properties.
Matt Quimet and the rest of the Cedar Fair leadership feel strongly that they will meet their goal of 500 million dollars in profit almost a year earlier than 2018 (The year they had set to meet this goal).
As far as non financial info given for the Cedar Fair park chain, Matt, always touts the big stuff for the current season: CP's Valravn coaster, Carowind's water park, and the new "Plant vs Zombies" and "Mass Effect" Attractions at CW and California's Great America respectively.
What I find interesting is the continued "Park Branding" endeavor going on across the CF chain. This initiative was started by Matt and the gang 2-3 years ago. It is an intensive research/investigative process that evaluates each individual park in the chain to determine the best way to market and serve the region/demographic where the park is located. The investment of rides, attractions, entertainment, and special events will now be centered toward this "Branding".
So far, Knott's and Carowinds were completed first and we are starting to see the results of that branding effort over the last couple seasons. Knott's focusing on their legacy attractions and the Knott's family roots. Carowinds being about the Carolina's (water park / food festival).
Matt stated they have just completed the research of Cedar Point and Canada's Wonderland and are now starting on California's Great America and Valley Fair. I guess that makes sense, since those parks were identified as having good potential for growth.
I find it somewhat curious that the "Kings" parks, Dominion and Island, are still waiting in the wings as far as the branding effort goes. They, along with Worlds of Fun and Michigan's Adventure are still in the "queue line".
I don't know if that is a negative or positive. Both KD and KI are "highly themed" compared to the legacy Cedar Fair parks. I wonder if CF will build on that when it comes to the branding effort.
As far as virtual reality / augmented reality attractions go, Cedar Fair is still exploring and not quite sold on any one technology. Matt refers to that as "Techtainment". They want to have attractions that serve the broadest audience possible, along with good capacity. I don't think CF has hit the sweet spot concerning this area of attractions. I do give them credit for trying all different types of dark rides and theater experiences (CanWon's Guardian; Knott's Iron Reef; and the theater experiences with CW's "Plants vs Zombies" and CGA's "Mass Effect").
