News Cedar Fair Merges with Six Flags

[AmyUD06]

I'd anticipate the core Paramount parks that were picked up by Cedar Fair back in the aughts to stay, with CGA being the exception of course.

The issue with selling off parts of the portfolio is that a buyer needs to be found. Some of these properties are not appealing investments to purchase as the economy slows and continues to be volatile.

I feel like mid-sized profitable parks that haven't received massive investment (WOF, VF, SFSTL, SFNE, Frontier City, Darien Lake) as well as the profitable standalone water parks (Schlitterbahn, Hurricane Harbors) may be attractive in a sale.

Generally agreed, but I don't know why everyone keeps saying that SFNE doesn't get investments. They got an Intamin family launch that would have opened this year if the restraint issue hadn't appeared. In 2023, they got the family dinosaur drive through. In 2021, the Endeavor. In 2019, the Chance Freestyle. In 2018, the Giant Discovery. In 2017, the Free Spin. In 2015, an RMC conversion. In 2016, the tallest SkyScreamer.

They get a lot more than St. Louis, Valleyfair, WoF, Great Escape, or Darien Lake could ever dream of.

New England is one of the best parks in the chain and operates in a market without serious competition. It isn't going anywhere.

My strategy: get out of managing/operating contracts Hurricane Harbor in Phoenix AZ, Frontier City, and Hurricane Harbor in Oklahoma City - all three are EPR Parks properties, try to package these to Premier Parks. As long as they don't have to pay a steep penalty, there may be a way to have another operator buy them out of any kind of management contract.* Probably not the business they want to be in and this is easy to explain to investors.

Put Six Flags Great Escape on the market. IB Parks, Herschend, Five Star Parks, Premier, Merlin, Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, or even Ripley's Entertainment could pick it up? I would think this is a desirable park with solid attendance AND it's own indoor waterpark resort hotel. Park is charming and in good condition, but it's never going to be a flagship property for the chain. (also a park that doesn't have to be de-themed much in terms of Looney Tunes, Peanuts, or DC characters)

Close or sell off Six Flags St Louis. Much like SFA there's not much here to move to another property; lots of older rides and coasters nearing the end of their service life, and the park was hurt by a few years of neglect and poor upkeep. Close it and make WOF the focus in the area.

Legacy CF parks were kept in better condition, so parks like Valleyfair, Michigan's Adventure, Dorney, etc can skate by. Compared to parks like SFA, Discovery Kingdom, or St Louis, these are on another level and could get by with small additions for years to come (although MiAdv needs a Corkscrew replacement sooner than later, IMO).

Reorganize the park into California parks, Texas parks, Midwest, South and North/Mid-Atlantic divisions, and change the season passes to reflect this - season passes get into all parks in a "region" while "all parks" goes back to being an upgrade.

* (Darien Lake is iffy, if they have a region with Wonderland, La Ronde, and SFNE in it, I could see that being a plus. Then again, I have no idea if they want to keep operating parks they don't own. My gut says this one is probably the exception to the rule for being more popular than the other EPR parks.)

All of those waterparks you listed are licenses to print money - they require virtually no capital investment and generate income like no tomorrow. The chain would be in worse financial position by selling them. YOU may not be a waterpark person, but the general public eats them up.

Herschend literally just bought Palace's parks, they aren't in a position to go out buying more parks now. IB Parks might be in the market, but they've done virtually nothing with any of their properties except for Indiana Beach itself. Hershey got out of the business of owning other parks for a reason (seriously why is this even in your list?). Ripley's is going through their own financial struggles, closing "Believe it or Not"s left and right. Premier only owns waterparks (and you do not want Burke and Story in charge of any parks you want to succeed and expand). Five Star? The FEC and Go-Karts company? You want them to buy a major amusement park? You might as well suggest Jolly Roger buy Great Escape.

 

[kmccarthy27]

All of those waterparks you listed are licenses to print money - they require virtually no capital investment and generate income like no tomorrow. The chain would be in worse financial position by selling them. YOU may not be a waterpark person, but the general public eats them up.

I always felt SFA could have been more profitable if they would have just second gated the Water Park or just called it a day on the main park. I feel people pay to go the water park and the rest is just a bonus. There was no need to keep adding to that park past all the initial "Six Flags" additions.

 

[AmyUD06]

I always felt SFA could have been more profitable if they would have just second gated the Water Park or just called it a day on the main park. I feel people pay to go the water park and the rest is just a bonus. There was no need to keep adding to that park past all the initial "Six Flags" additions.

I agree 1000%. The water park was always hugely successful and could have been a star had Six Flags not to try make the rides park compete with Kings Dominion. Keeping it as a stellar water park with a small rides section (including one of the oldest coasters in the world) would have been a much more profitable path.

 

[CarolinaDog]

Generally agreed, but I don't know why everyone keeps saying that SFNE doesn't get investments. They got an Intamin family launch that would have opened this year if the restraint issue hadn't appeared. In 2023, they got the family dinosaur drive through. In 2021, the Endeavor. In 2019, the Chance Freestyle. In 2018, the Giant Discovery. In 2017, the Free Spin. In 2015, an RMC conversion. In 2016, the tallest SkyScreamer.

They get a lot more than St. Louis, Valleyfair, WoF, Great Escape, or Darien Lake could ever dream of.

New England is one of the best parks in the chain and operates in a market without serious competition. It isn't going anywhere.

SFNE is indeed one of the best parks in the chain. You're right that the recent large coaster investment is likely to keep the park in the portfolio. However, if Six Flags had to start cutting into their profitable parks to keep things afloat, I could see SFNE being one of the first to go.

Pipe dream: can Comcast / Universal start buying regional parks? lol.

 

[AmyUD06]

SFNE is indeed one of the best parks in the chain. You're right that the recent large coaster investment is likely to keep the park in the portfolio. However, if Six Flags had to start cutting into their profitable parks to keep things afloat, I could see SFNE being one of the first to go.

Pipe dream: can Comcast / Universal start buying regional parks? lol.

Can I ask why you are so convinced that SFEC is going to start closing parks left and right?

And you do understand that "closing profitable parks" does not "keep things afloat," right?

Finally, no. Without getting political, Universal can go fuck itself.

 

[CarolinaDog]

Can I ask why you are so convinced that SFEC is going to start closing parks left and right?

And you do understand that "closing profitable parks" does not "keep things afloat," right?

Finally, no. Without getting political, Universal can go fuck itself.

I'm afraid to inform you that I did not imply SFEC would be 'closing' parks left and right, but that they may divest parks in their portfolio to bring income in via park sales. Here is what I wrote so you may review it again:

The issue with selling off parts of the portfolio is that a buyer needs to be found. Some of these properties are not appealing investments to purchase as the economy slows and continues to be volatile.

I feel like mid-sized profitable parks that haven't received massive investment (WOF, VF, SFSTL, SFNE, Frontier City, Darien Lake) as well as the profitable standalone water parks (Schlitterbahn, Hurricane Harbors) may be attractive in a sale.

 

[AmyUD06]

I'm afraid to inform you that I did not imply SFEC would be 'closing' parks left and right, but that they may divest parks in their portfolio to bring income in via park sales. Here is what I wrote so you may review it again:

Tomato, toh-mah-toh. Okay, so replace "closing parks left and right" with "divesting parks in their portfolio". What makes you think that is a strategy they are considering employing? Or are you just speculating for the sake of speculating?

I actually don't think we're in total disagreement here. I think them attempting to sell off parks is incredibly short-sighted, and will only further degrade SFEC's reputation amongst the public, which when combined with the fact that basically no one will be in the market to buy, will not accomplish any positive goal.

 

[MaxxForceFan]

Tomato, toh-mah-toh. Okay, so replace "closing parks left and right" with "divesting parks in their portfolio". What makes you think that is a strategy they are considering employing? Or are you just speculating for the sake of speculating?

I actually don't think we're in total disagreement here. I think them attempting to sell off parks is incredibly short-sighted, and will only further degrade SFEC's reputation amongst the public, which when combined with the fact that basically no one will be in the market to buy, will not accomplish any positive goal.

From the last earnings call:

"Brian Witherow, CFO, Six Flags: Our priority remains reducing leverage back inside of four times as quickly as possible, which we remain confident can be accomplished through the combination of organic growth in the business and the selected divestiture of non core assets. As we shared last quarter, we are actively pursuing two opportunities including the monetization of excess land near Kings Dominion in Richmond, Virginia and the sale of land at Six Flags America in Bowie, Maryland, a park we are sunsetting after the 2025 season. We are aggressively working on the steps necessary to close each transaction as quickly as possible and we will provide further updates as things develop. We are also actively evaluating other opportunities where similar value creation is possible."

"Arpine Kacharya, Analyst, UBS: Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So you mentioned accelerating divestitures. Could you give a broader sense of what you’re looking at and the timing of those divestitures, fully understanding that some of that is more tied to sort of the transaction markets. But sitting here today, how would you size that opportunity beyond what we already know, and what could that mean for deleveraging targets that you have medium term?

Thank you. And I have a quick follow-up.

Richard Zimmerman, CEO, Six Flags: Yeah. I’ll jump in. And, again, Brian could weigh in. As we look at the portfolio, we’re we’re we’re clearly taking a strategic look at it, working closely with our board. And we’ll have more to share as we go through that.

We’re trying to execute very quickly on the two noncore asset sales that we talked about and have a process underway for each of those. We’re also engaged in evaluating the rest of what we think is potential given market conditions and how quickly we can move to potentially divest other things that we would consider noncore. Brian?

Brian Witherow, CFO, Six Flags: Yeah. I guess I would just, Arpine, I would just add, with the lion’s share of our EBITDA, 90 plus percent of the EBITDA coming from, our largest 15 or 16 locations. We’ve said all along our priority when it comes to thinking about optimizing the portfolio lies in several core objectives. One is narrowing management’s focus, reducing risk and simplifying our capital needs to those most key and strategic assets. Deleveraging will be a benefit of that, but those remain the priorities when it comes to our focus on optimizing the portfolio."

https://www.investing.com/news/tran...stock-tumble-after-earnings-miss-93CH-4173979

 

[CarolinaDog]

Tomato, toh-mah-toh. Okay, so replace "closing parks left and right" with "divesting parks in their portfolio". What makes you think that is a strategy they are considering employing? Or are you just speculating for the sake of speculating?

I actually don't think we're in total disagreement here. I think them attempting to sell off parks is incredibly short-sighted, and will only further degrade SFEC's reputation amongst the public, which when combined with the fact that basically no one will be in the market to buy, will not accomplish any positive goal.

Closing a park has completely different implications than a sale.

I'm speculating based on previous comments made in the past quarterly earnings call. As much as I'd love to have an ear in the corporate meetings where these decisions are made, we're all just speculating here.

 

[paintervision]

All of those waterparks you listed are licenses to print money - they require virtually no capital investment and generate income like no tomorrow. The chain would be in worse financial position by selling them. YOU may not be a waterpark person, but the general public eats them up.

These are owned by EPR Properties, Six Flags only has the management contracts. Even if it's financially successful, you have to split that money with EPR at the end of the day. Six Flags needs quick cash to invest in flagship parks - and manage debt. So if there's a way they can sell off contracts and rinse their hands of these properties, that's worth exploring. Premier used to run these properties, and there's no reason they couldn't go back as long as they had the money to put up for it.

Edit: in other words, these parks are "non-core assets" to a T.

For what it's worth, Frontier City and SFOT may have some crossover audience, but cutting ties and de-branding is not going to change much with these parks. The Phoenix waterpark may look nice but I'm not sure how much of a pipeline it has to push people towards a larger Six Flags property. Darien Lake is probably the only one they could hold on to like this, as there is probably more of an audience that it shares with Cedar Point and Canada's Wonderland - but that's just a guess.

Herschend literally just bought Palace's parks, they aren't in a position to go out buying more parks now. IB Parks might be in the market, but they've done virtually nothing with any of their properties except for Indiana Beach itself. Hershey got out of the business of owning other parks for a reason (seriously why is this even in your list?). Ripley's is going through their own financial struggles, closing "Believe it or Not"s left and right. Premier only owns waterparks (and you do not want Burke and Story in charge of any parks you want to succeed and expand). Five Star? The FEC and Go-Karts company? You want them to buy a major amusement park? You might as well suggest Jolly Roger buy Great Escape.

The Great Escape has a park and lodge, honestly this may be an attractive thing for another company to come in and take control of. The Lodge is a year-round offering that makes this far more attractive than other seasonal parks in the region.

Herschend sold some properties but if the right one came along, they may bite - I think this is more doable for them than a flagship Six Flags park. As much as they'd be a good fit for something like Knotts, I think this isn't the most realistic acquisition. BUT they have been doing more resorts lately, so Great Escape Lodge fits into that strategy and could mesh well with the Palace parks inside the chain that aren't too far away (Story Land, Lake Compounce, Splish Splash, etc)

Ripley's just bought three waterparks in Texas. It's not out of the question to see them expand more in the future.

Hershey Entertainment and Resorts have owned outside properties before (see also: Lake Compounce, Dutch Wonderland, hotels in the Poconos, Philadelphia, and Corpus Christi TX). They push a lot of marketing to NY/NJ and I could see a crossover of the market with Lake George region. If they wanted to start a mini chain of their own, The Great Escape would not be a bad start.

Five Star Parks is growing and they don't own much around New York state. This could be a flagship destination for them and a chance to branch into waterpark resorts.

I was just throwing out examples. It really could be anyone to market the park to - but my point is Great Escape is likely to sell over something like SFMM or Great America, etc. It's not as high profile and could be a good opportunity for a smaller player to get their shot at running another property without it being a major park. And it doesn't have to be inside the industry - that could be an entry point for other companies who don't own parks already. Look at Lucky Strike Entertainment or Kroenke Entertainment for recent examples.

 

[AmyUD06]

@MaxxForceFan

I had a whole long response typed out, but realized that anything I say is falling on deaf ears. I read the earnings call too, and I interpret it differently than you do. Do I think that they are possibly going to try to sell some parks? Maybe....even if so, guessing as to which ones will be kept and which ones will go accomplishes nothing and helps no one.

@dogbrain

The difference between "selling" and "closing" isn't too different - if they try to sell a park and no other operator buys it, do you really think they're going to keep it open? We needn't look farther than SFA for our answer.

@paintervision
I give up. Please resume you wild fantasies of groups that operate go-kart tracks and two-slide-tower waterparks buying major parks worth tens-of-millions of dollars, or major chains that are already streched thin (Herschend) / got out of the chain business for a reason (Hershey) coming in to save the day. No amount of rational thought can talk someone out of those dreams.

@all of the above

I get that you all think it's "fun" to speculate as to what parks may be kept or sold, but I like to live in reality where we don't know anything until they announce anything and sepculating over possibilities only sets people up for disappointment when whatever they wanted to happen invariably fails to come true. How anyone can possibly think that SFNE, one of the best (in terms of performance, lineup, and atmosphere) parks in the chain with virtually no competition that consistently gets investments is a park likely to be sold is beyond my comprehension, and I'm sorry for letting that confusion spurn me into participating in this discussion. I'll see myself out.

 

[Zachary]

I get that you all think it's "fun" to speculate as to what parks may be kept or sold

Yep, it is a good, harmless, interesting thought exercise. Totally good if you don't find it worthwhile, but a lot of us definitely do.

 

[AmyUD06]

Yep, it is a good, harmless, interesting thought exercise. Totally good if you don't find it worthwhile, but a lot of us definitely do.

That's likely my own failing, brought upon by years of getting my hopes up for dreams that never come true. I truly do apologize for dragging the spirit of discussion down.

 

[paintervision]

I get that you all think it's "fun" to speculate as to what parks may be kept or sold, but I like to live in reality where we don't know anything until they announce anything and sepculating over possibilities only sets people up for disappointment when whatever they wanted to happen invariably fails to come true.

We're all just speculating. And when some news is released, we can cheer or jeer accordingly. That's kind of what a forum is?

@paintervision
I give up. Please resume you wild fantasies of groups that operate go-kart tracks and two-slide-tower waterparks buying major parks worth tens-of-millions of dollars, or major chains that are already streched thin (Herschend) / got out of the chain business for a reason (Hershey) coming in to save the day. No amount of rational thought can talk someone out of those dreams.

Look at how small Herschend was 20 years ago to today - things can change quick. Six Flags and Herschend being so big may leave an opening or two for smaller players to come in and take some less-desirable properties.

There's always room in this industry for the little guy. Five Star Parks was founded in 2013 and already has 27 properties - who knows where they will be in another decade from now? IB Parks is also one that came out of nowhere in 2020, and now they have four properties.

 

[mugnezz]

As a non-American, I think you're too biased. You think the former Cedar Fair parks are beautiful.
From what I see and read, it's anything but.
If they want to survive, they need to weed out the bad apples.
And these bad apples
are the former Cedar Fair parks.

P.S.: I'm sorry, but you consider Kings Dominion an excellent park (perhaps it was under Paramount management), but already with Cedar Fair and the investments made, it was clear that it was a regional park and nothing more.
I'd get rid of it immediately and focus everything on Six Flags Great Adventure.

 

[GASM]

The Cedar Fair parks are the bad apples? Kings Island is easily the most well kept park I’ve ever been to, with a nearly perfect lineup on top of that. Cedar Point is the most visited seasonal park in the country, and Knott’s Berry Farm has even higher attendance due to being open year round.

I grew up going to Great Adventure and was a passholder for 13 years (didn’t even live in NJ for 2 of those years), but the park was a shitshow visually and operationally well before the merger and unfortunately has been for most of my life. As much as I want Great Adventure to succeed and hold the position a park that serves the Philadelphia and NYC areas should, it’s going to take a long time to rectify its issues and ditching the parks that already do very well for themselves is not going to expedite that.

 

[SweetBabyJames]

The Cedar Fair parks are the bad apples? Kings Island is easily the most well kept park I’ve ever been to, with a nearly perfect lineup on top of that. Cedar Point is the most visited seasonal park in the country, and Knott’s Berry Farm has even higher attendance due to being open year round.

Thank you @GASM for setting that record straight. I was actually just going to post something very similar to what you said and include this article here : https://www.cleveland.com/travel/2025/09/six-flags-merger-fallout-park-sell-off-looms-as-debt-pressures-mount.html

This is actually a pretty good article that shows the current state of most parks and includes yearly attendance numbers. Knott's, Cedar point and Kings Island are at the top of the list (Top 3) along with many other CF parks beating out SF parks. The numbers speak for themselves.

 

[mugnezz]

I understand that you're patriots, I understand it's hard to accept, but that's how it is.
In Europe, Cedar Point is known, but the others don't even know what they are.
Six Flags is a different story.

 

[ControlsEE]

I understand that you're patriots, I understand it's hard to accept, but that's how it is.
In Europe, Cedar Point is known, but the others don't even know what they are.
Six Flags is a different story.

I dont think you understand how us "patriotic" Americans perceive Six Flags then. It is known to us for two main reasons. First, it has been a very unified brand for the last 30 or so years. They put out consistent ads and have consistent themes (DC and Loony Toons IP's) across all of their parks. The GP is well aware of the Six Flags brand because of this and often individual parks are not known, but rather the brand as a whole. I bet if you asked 100 people in Chicago if they have heard of "Darien Lake," they would have no idea what you are talking about. If you said "Six Flags," it would be a different story. Secondly, Six Flags has a sort of reputation, especially among park enthusiasts, and it's not a good one. Cheap admission, not well kept rides, accidents, rude guests, and an overall atmosphere of "give us your money" create a negative reputation. Even the GP sees this and people do avoid these parks, especially when they think about how many fatal ride accidents have happened at SF parks. Certain SF parks may be known worldwide due to their coasters, GA and MM in particular, but dissing all legacy CF parks as trash and saying that all SF parks are superior is a very ill informed opinion. I believe that neither SF nor CF really has "destination" parks, unless you consider SFGA, SFMM, and CP destination parks for coaster enthusiasts. Side note, I am surprised that you have been a member on this forum for 12 years and do not seem to grasp the cadence of this forum, as you come in with this condescending tone. That gets you nowhere here, unless you want to be ignored by other members (which you already earned from me).

 

[Jonesta6]

I understand that you're patriots, I understand it's hard to accept, but that's how it is.
In Europe, Cedar Point is known, but the others don't even know what they are.
Six Flags is a different story.