As long as instead of Looney Tunes, the King's parks get Hanna Barbera properties which are also WB owned.
News Cedar Fair Merges with Six Flags
- Thread starter horsesboy
- Start date
I would imagine that the IP deal probably states exactly what IPs are available and since we have not seen a SF park use anything but Looney Tunes and DC I would tend to bet that it's probably limited to those. On topnof that we have no idea what share of the IP rights Hanna Barbera's estate might retain.
Six Flags Great America had Hanna Barbera rides until a few years ago when they were all de-ip'd
A press release was just put out saying that this deal is expected to close and become final on July 1st.
They also separately announced which executives will be leading the company (mostly people from Cedar Fair)
That pretty much confirms Six Flags management is being pushed out since the only non Cedar Fair mentioned is "Chief Integration Officer" which probably goes away after a year or two...
I dunno how I feel about that. There’s things I like and don’t like about both parks. For example I like that when Six Flags makes ride additions generally they make sure most of not all parks get something, but on the flip that means usually they go for a lower cost product. Cedar Fair (IMO) does not give enough love to their non-flagship parks and don’t really add much to them, but when they do it’s typically something really nice.
I wish I could fast forward on this 5 years or at least share a little of a vision of this. Given what happened with CGA I wonder if the plan would be to look at properties in high land value areas, and do a similar move of sell the land but lease it back for a time period. This would allow for a slow death of the park that at least saves the bust parts of a park by moving rides.
I wish I could fast forward on this 5 years or at least share a little of a vision of this. Given what happened with CGA I wonder if the plan would be to look at properties in high land value areas, and do a similar move of sell the land but lease it back for a time period. This would allow for a slow death of the park that at least saves the bust parts of a park by moving rides.
I bet there won't be a huge initial adjustment. A "boil the frog" situation will likely happen overtime, but frankly, Cedar Fair passes are already notably undervalued in my opinion so rising pass prices won't bother me too much.
I'm far more concerned about the quality of the park experience which, to be clear, I expect to degrade notably in the years ahead at many existing Cedar Fair properties. In my estimation, the expenditures needed to make the current Six Flags parks functional again is just too great for it not to massively detract from the budgets of Cedar Fair's parks.
A more expensive combined Six Flags pass getting you access to parks that are, on average, at the midpoint in quality between current Six Flags and current Cedar Fair is the problem in my mind—because the midpoint between those two things is not great.
I'm far more concerned about the quality of the park experience which, to be clear, I expect to degrade notably in the years ahead at many existing Cedar Fair properties. In my estimation, the expenditures needed to make the current Six Flags parks functional again is just too great for it not to massively detract from the budgets of Cedar Fair's parks.
A more expensive combined Six Flags pass getting you access to parks that are, on average, at the midpoint in quality between current Six Flags and current Cedar Fair is the problem in my mind—because the midpoint between those two things is not great.
They could try to get cute with pricing to raise revenue in certain areas - e.g. make the KD gold pass $150, but include access to SFA. This gets revenue up without really driving more guests and associated expenses. SEAS already does this to a fair degree with their separated water parks being included in the better value memberships.
In terms of current Six Flags management taking on new management roles, that is true, but I think it is also important to remember that the current Six Flags CEO is set to become chairperson of the board of the combined company.
To see the potential power of the chairperson of the board position, we only need to look at PRKS and the alleged relationship between the board and various (former) CEOs.
Additionally, Selim Bassoul was previously the chairperson of the Six Flags board of directors before the board and Six Flags CEO Mike Spanos "struck an agreement" for Spanos to step down, for Selim to step down from the chairperson role, and then for Selim to become the new CEO of Six Flags. Allegedly, Spanos left because the board was not happy with his performance and as chairperson of the board, Selim definitely played a role in the board's decision.
All of this makes me wonder what the dynamics of the new company will look like, and it makes me wonder if Selim will be an active chairperson involved in the strategic direction of the company (vs. letting management/executives make most of those decisions). I'm guessing he is going to use his chairperson role, and his prior experience as CEO of Six Flags, to chime in on the direction of the combined company.
Last edited:
Cedar Fair and Six Flags Announce the Satisfaction of Regulatory Conditions for the Proposed Merger of Equals
"SANDUSKY, Ohio & ARLINGTON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN) (“Cedar Fair”) and Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: SIX) (“Six Flags”) today announced that the regulatory conditions for their previously announced merger of equals (the “Mergers”) have been satisfied, permitting the companies to proceed with the closing of the Mergers (the “Closing”). The parties expect Closing to occur on July 1, 2024, following the satisfaction of remaining customary closing conditions. Immediately following the Closing, the combined company will be renamed “Six Flags Entertainment Corporation” and trading of the combined company’s common stock on the New York Stock Exchange is expected to begin on July 2, 2024, under the ticker symbol “FUN.”
“We are pleased to have successfully concluded a very fair and constructive review process with the Department of Justice and excited to make our merger official on Monday,” said Six Flags President and CEO Selim Bassoul, who will serve as executive chairman of the combined company’s Board of Directors. “As our collective team pauses to recognize this important milestone, together we are eager to embark on the next chapter of our journey to offer millions of guests across North America unparalleled, family-focused entertainment full of fun, thrills and lifetime memories.”
Cedar Fair President and CEO Richard Zimmerman, who will serve in the same role for the combined company, said the merger brings together the strengths of both companies, combining Cedar Fair’s reputation for exceptional guest experiences with Six Flags’ innovative attraction designs. “With an anticipated pro-forma enterprise value of approximately $8 billion, the combined company is well positioned to drive future growth. Our enhanced financial flexibility will enable us to invest in new rides, attractions, food and beverage options, and state-of-the-art consumer technologies, ensuring continuous improvement and innovation, and that each park visit is more exciting and memorable than the last,” said Zimmerman."
"SANDUSKY, Ohio & ARLINGTON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN) (“Cedar Fair”) and Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: SIX) (“Six Flags”) today announced that the regulatory conditions for their previously announced merger of equals (the “Mergers”) have been satisfied, permitting the companies to proceed with the closing of the Mergers (the “Closing”). The parties expect Closing to occur on July 1, 2024, following the satisfaction of remaining customary closing conditions. Immediately following the Closing, the combined company will be renamed “Six Flags Entertainment Corporation” and trading of the combined company’s common stock on the New York Stock Exchange is expected to begin on July 2, 2024, under the ticker symbol “FUN.”
“We are pleased to have successfully concluded a very fair and constructive review process with the Department of Justice and excited to make our merger official on Monday,” said Six Flags President and CEO Selim Bassoul, who will serve as executive chairman of the combined company’s Board of Directors. “As our collective team pauses to recognize this important milestone, together we are eager to embark on the next chapter of our journey to offer millions of guests across North America unparalleled, family-focused entertainment full of fun, thrills and lifetime memories.”
Cedar Fair President and CEO Richard Zimmerman, who will serve in the same role for the combined company, said the merger brings together the strengths of both companies, combining Cedar Fair’s reputation for exceptional guest experiences with Six Flags’ innovative attraction designs. “With an anticipated pro-forma enterprise value of approximately $8 billion, the combined company is well positioned to drive future growth. Our enhanced financial flexibility will enable us to invest in new rides, attractions, food and beverage options, and state-of-the-art consumer technologies, ensuring continuous improvement and innovation, and that each park visit is more exciting and memorable than the last,” said Zimmerman."
Monday will be a sad day for park-goers and consumers.
I think it was @Zachary who said early on that quick closures would be unlikely. And I agree. It’s not going to move quick.
I think early on there’s going to be some positioning to see what parks have the long term future. We may see a few go the route of CGA and have the land sold with a lease back for a time period, which allows the park to slow additions, add more to other close parks, and generally transition off that park.
Another @Zachary idea I agree with is that they should transition some parks to be only a single thing. I wouldn’t mind seeing them do something like SFGA keeps the dry and water park, SFA goes water park only, and Dorney goes dry park only. I know that kinda sucks for people that like doing both in one day.
For the most part though SF and CF didn’t have too much overlap in geographical territories outside the KD-SFA-SFGA-Dorney area so (luckily) not too many decisions will seem “random” based on that but should be more based in financials.
EDIT -
I think something that SF/CF combined should look at and think about is to do some parks in a Knobles style.
I'm thinking of parks like Michigan's Adventure, SFStl, SFDL, SFGE, SFA. Put the water park in a gated ticketed entrance, then what used to be the remainder of the park, just do no gate and have each ride ticketed/credited. What I like about that idea is they can be smart about targeting which rides are more popular so they can reshape the park around rides like that and streamline all the dry park rides. It also allows those parks to see less investments from corporate in terms of major rides and use the information from that to help them decide what rides they should keep, move, scrap, and really only put in new rides when certain types of rides ticketing explode.
Last edited:
Can I get next weekends lottery numbers?
I'm sorry but I'm always a little mystified in being able to talk with such confidence that closing seriously underperforming locations is not a good move. Like I know as park fans we're always going to lament the loss of a park, but at the end of they day these parks are about making money and if one is basically breaking even or close to it, and there's a bigger more profitable park within it's scope then it makes sense to close the one that's not making as large of a profit and work to grow the geographical footprint of the bigger park.
There's not many places I'm looking at this impact for BTW. SFDL and CW are two parks you need to consider this with. Then SFNE, SFGE, La Ronde - and do you want to move off one of these parks and not cannibalize yourself. Last there's the KD, SFA, Dorney, SFGAdv quad of not all of them should come out of this unharmed.