The Cedar Fair and Six Flags Merger Is Coming Very Soon
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- Опубліковано 22 жов 2024
- The date has been set and the terms have been laid out.
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I love this show because you guys are real kings island fans .. not shills... And folks know it's authentic because we have all seen don in the park before and after he ever worked there
An "all parks" pass would be targeting a very small pool of customers. Grouping certain parks together forces customers to fit into the passes created. Give options cafeteria style with a two park pass for X dollars and each customer getting that pass chooses which two parks they want. Offer a three park pass for Y dollars and so on and so on. A person in Oklahoma might want a four park pass and choose SF Fiesta Texas, SF over Texas. Worlds of Fun, and SF St. Louis. Some people in Indiana might choose a two park pass with SF Great America and Cedar Point while other people in Indiana might choose SF Great America and Kings Island. Several different price points but each customer decides which parks are in their own plan. It would create several different price points so customers aren't locked into only having "unreasonable" season pass prices for passes which includes parks they don't want.
I like your thought process. I just wonder if there are “pick two” or “pick three” passes if it would lead to confusion. They’d probably simplify it saying, “just visit the two/three parks and you’re automatically enrolled into those parks” which I feel like would be something that would create confusion with an audience that is used to either one park or all parks.
Hard to stay optimistic about this when I've been watching Six Flags be the butt of every joke in the industry for just about my entire life. I fully expect the parks I love to become total trash. Thats the first thing we will notice. A decline in cleanliness, landscaping, paint jobs etc.
If I ever see a DC character at Kings Island I won't ever go again.
KI is my favorite place but I went a couple decades without visiting because how Paramount turned the place into a giant commercial in the 90s.
Cedar Fair has finally fixed most of Paramount's mistakes and now Six Flags is going to destroy it all over again.
I'll be happier with my memories of the place at that point.
First change I noticed at Kings Island was an operator on Sol Spin say, "Have a Six Flags Day" (6/21/24). Glad the Cedar Fair officers are remaining in charge. Hopefully the corporate overhead cost reductions from the merger + sale of redundant/under-performing parks frees up capital to build new rides and improve guest experience.
The first thing they will notice is the marquee sign outside where it will have Kings Island and underneath it says: A Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. And the same thing at the sign at the fountains. 😢
I'm actually feeling hopeful 😁
If they dont invest in a Major ride at KI by 2027 or later would be very bad. Its a flagship park. 7 plus years is bad. Most people are starting to get bored as it is.
They have Kings island 4 coasters sense 2009 it’s freaking Cincinnati Ohio be happy with what you got
I won't go to Halloween haunt if the houses are an up charge .. the parks are ALREADY too expensive. This merger has been a worry for me since it's announcement. Six flags is the scourge of the park industry... How many times have they already been in or near bankruptcy???
Would you not do the houses or not go to the parks at all?
@@TowerTopics I wouldn't go to the park at all during haunt... and probably wouldn't even buy a season pass anymore. See, I'm a little different than you guys. I live four hours away, kinda right between Kings Island and Dollywood. So, It's a choice I make every year to buy a Kings Island pass...(platinum at the time) because where as a dollywood pass only got me into dollywood, the Kings Island pass would get me into Kings Island, Cedar Point, AND Halloween Haun. Now, if you take that... and then I have to pay extra to go into the haunts.. I just wouldn't bother. Given my location, i only get to visit the parks maybe 4 or 5 times a year.. because I still have to get there, and then get a hotel room, etc. It kinda just makes it not worth it for me. I feel like its already too expensive given the limited park visits I can manage to get. I had planned on going ahead and having to take the increase in having to pay for the all park passport add on and get a pass this year, but then Top Thrill 2 got shut down, making a trip to Cedar Point pointless (no pun intended) this year... that's a lot longer drive than even Kings Island's four hour drive for me. So, for the first time in 5 or 6 years, I've not bought a pass yet this year... And as late in the season as it is, if Top thrill 2 doesn't open back up soon... I probably won't. I'll probably make one trip to Kings Island... MAYBE... for Halloween Haunt. But, if by some random coincidence they DO start charging for the houses this year... I probably won't even go to the park this year. Snoopy's soap box racers just isn't enough of a draw for me.
Ive hated Six Flags as a company for many years. Ever since they did what they did to Kentucky Kingdom. That was kinda my home park as sad as it was, but when I first heard they were taking over I was excited. I thought cool... maybe we'll start getting some better coaster additions, etc. Sadly.. When they took over, they started tearing down our best rides and sending them to other Six flags parks... then the next thing I knew, they just shut it down and walked away. I've had a bad taste in my mouth with them ever since and haven't went to a six flags park since. So.. You can imagine how I feel right now about my two favorite parks in the country falling under the leadership of the company I hate most. Let's just say I'm not very optimistic for the future of the Cedar Fair parks. And why they would agree to let the company go under the six flags name I'll never understand. I've heard people (including Don) say it was about "Name Recognition"... Six flags may be a recognizable name, but in my opinion, it's not a good one. As far as Guest experience, operations, safety, and just about every metric, Cedar Fair is a much more "TRUSTED" name.
Six Flags has been passed around from investment company to entertainment company to resort company for decades leading to horribly random decisions which failed to be profitable. Now as a stand alone company merged with Cedar Fair, that can all change for the better.
I would love if they had all SF parks included at the same price or just a little extra where all of the Cedar Fair add-ons work. We're grandfathered into Diamond SF passes, but honestly probably don't get our value from since we only average one SF visit per year, but sometimes 2 days. Just easier to leave it on with the free drinks, upgraded parking, and 1x skip. I think they're like $15-16 bucks per month each (3 of them). Since CF has prestige perks transferable to all parks with it, we decided to go with that this year with passport, all park FL, food, drinks, and photos. We visit KI ~30x and CP ~25x each year plus usually do a 2 day trip to both KD and Carowinds each season, so we definitely get our moneys worth. Having the same perks at all SF parks would be amazing and actually save us a bit being able to drop the Diamond memberships (~$500/year).
I'd honestly be happy with a mix of CF and SF park updates. CF tends to go grandiose, very expensive, whereas SF seems to be okay with more "cheaper" additions. They do not need the latest and greatest new 25 million dollar B&M at KI, I just want an RMC that's half the price. Something likt like Arie Force One would be perfect. We really need something a bit more aggressive with the stronger airtime. Capacity definitely needs to skew CF though. Hopefully with the merger they allow for a greater diversity of ride manufacturers too.
HISTORY! KI and Cedar Point have a rich history that both parks celebrate. I do not want Six Flags branding, and I believe they stated that it won't happen. I see nothing wrong with adding something on to the name, but I hope the parks can continue to maintain their own independent identities. Something like Kings Island (A Six Flags Park). Nothing more!
No opinion on haunt mazes. We go through a couple each year and I would have no issue giving $5-$10 to continue doing so with less wait. It would be nice if some of the Haunt Saturday crowds were a bit lower. It gets way too busy and I don't know that their ARPU is close to that of families in the summer. We're not impacted much, as Fast Lanes are still essentially nothing at KI but the rowdiness of the crowd is a bit of a put off.
The good news of it happening or not is i dont think the park(s) will continue to be as cheap when it comes to staffing/stocking. They wont have the need to juice the numbers any longer
I HOPE that the first thing people notice is a change in the ADA policy of the CF parks to the SF policy. The blatant abuse of the ada passes at CF parks is ridiculous, and SF makes you go through a 3rd party, and have your doctor state that you need alternate access. KI, CP, and even CF people know that there is a ton of people getting them that do not need them. Mainly large groups of 14 year old kids, that end up with 3 passes between 12 people, and they all want to ride the same train too. Before 2020 this was never a problem. After the crap show that CP pulled with their big 4 rides in 2020 with the access passes, and they found out that ada passes didn't need access passes to ride, the ada lines immediately went from MAYBE 1-3 people in front of your group, to now the line to get on millie is going from the exit gate, all the way to the photo booth, it should have been obvious that something needed to be done. 4 1/2 ears later and nothing has been done, despite multiple complaints to park, and corporate offices, with responses, so we know they have been recieved. It is not fair for the people who actually need the passes. I'm willing to put money on it that if they did adopt the SF policy, like Universal, and Dollywood (from what I hear) along with other parks have adopted, it would cut down the ADA line by over 90%.
Disney is doing it but even more because it’s only for special needs people so other than that you have to wait cant imagine six flags with CF ADA
If they significantly raise season pass prices, we will just go less or go to holiday world instead.
And I don't want state tiers or any convoluted crap. Id like to see it simplified from how it is now even.
If they make the Haunt mazes or Haunt an up charge, I’m not going.
I think one of the first things guests will notice is landscaping improvements and general cleanliness of legacy Six Flags parks, especially more trash cans. I am cautiously optimistic about this merger, but I have to be honest, I would have voted no on this merger if it was not for Cedar Fair owning 51% of the combined company thus bypassing the requirement for unit holder approval. Even though I love Kings Island, my family even voted no for the Paramount purchase back in 2006 lol.
Landscaping improvements? Judging from my visits to Six Flags parks I would expect the landscaping to go waaaay downhill from the current standard. Those parks are trash.
thery going to close the small parks
You mean sell some of the smaller parks.???
@@gus24seven yes my guess mostly sixflags parks
Another good show. It’s too much speculation of the merger. Que Sera Sera. I’m hoping KI doesn’t be kept from its operations moment. I’ve been accustomed to the yearly “What’s New ? “ feel the park has had for the past 52 years !
The SOB and Vortex plots are just waiting for a new attraction !
I did think Ryan’s comment of season pass add-on to include all the Ohio parks or all the other acquired parks. Pricing would have to figured by purchaser’s demographics.
I don’t want to see Kings Island to lose it’s current customer appeal 🤗
Let’s talk hush puppies over the next future attraction !
I want all parks to be equally clean, first. As far as haunts go, I think certain parks can do up charge, especially if they have the people to hire living in the area. They need to use Knotts expertise. As far as technology goes, use 6 Flags, including the governable Flash Pass system. Food needs to be handled by CF. New ride purchases need to be handled by 6 Flags. CF handles ride operations.
Entertainment needs to be handled by SeaWorld (wishful thinking.)
I hope that CF in 2025 reverses coarse on the cashless policy. Sick and tired of buying Visa Gift cards for both CF Ohio parks to keep the credit card bill down.
Dont mess with the Haunt. I am a Prestige passholder and I dont want to have to pay another upcharge.
More penny pinching to come...on top of the penny pinching we are already seeing.
Nice show guys. I think you guys are underestimating Cedar Fair. I’m in Virginia. And, what CF is doing is incredible. They are constructing a new coaster in front of everyone. And, giving access to all the vloggers! They are decorating the temporary fences! They are re-theming the world’s most intense roller coaster. Not how they changed the Intimidator at Carowinds. It’s a REAL re-theming. You can feel the energy in the park! I have been accustomed to getting a new ride every year at Kings Dominion. But, there was not one this year. The strategy CF is taking is great. I bought the Prestige Pass this year. And, I can’t see myself doing anything different ever. I can’t wait for 2025, Kings Dominion’s 50th anniversary!!!