Article published June 20, 2006
Kings Island had more visitors, Cedar Point more income in '05
Rare disclosure for amusement parks
Cedar Fair's flagship park, its water park, and nearby hotels pulled in $210 million last year.
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THE BLADE
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By JON CHAVEZ
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER
Rivals for years, Kings Island amusement park near Cincinnati outdrew Cedar Point in Sandusky in attendance by nearly 200,000 visitors last year.
But in generating income, Cedar Point won by a demon drop over Kings Island.
In what is a rare disclosure of amusement park revenue, Cedar Fair LP told potential lenders last week that its flagship site, Cedar Point, and its water park and nearby hotels pulled in $210 million in 2005.
Kings Island, by contrast, collected $108 million in revenue last year.
Knott's Berry Farm is Cedar Fair's second-largest income source.
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The figures show that Cedar Point and Knott's Berry Farm near Los Angeles bring in 70 percent of the company's revenue, but after Cedar Fair completes its purchase this summer of Paramount Parks Inc., that share will drop to about 40 percent.
Those two parks still will be No. 1 and 2 in revenue, but many of the Paramount Parks will nudge out existing Cedar Fair facilities for next biggest money grabbers, according to a filing the firm made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Such finances were revealed as Cedar Fair made its pitch to borrow up to $1.76 billion to finance the Paramount acquisition and repay previous debt. Kings Island is the big park owned by Paramount.
Rick Munarriz, an analyst with Motley Fool, an online investing service, said the numbers were pretty surprising.
"Parks tend to be pretty much 'Mum's the word' when it comes to their financial information," he said.
On the other hand, he said, the numbers show how Cedar Fair's use of Cedar Point as a destination, putting up hotels and other activities nearby, may translate to a similar strategy at its soon-to-be acquired parks.
Kings Island, near Cincinnati, had $108 million in revenue in 2005.
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Stacy Frole, investor relations director at Cedar Fair, said Paramount parks have available land and few nearby hotels and water parks.
"That is where we see a lot of the potential of these parks that we're acquiring," she said.
Knott's Berry Farm had revenue last year of about $186 million; Dorney Park, near Allentown, Pa., had $56 million; Valley Fair, near Minneapolis, $36 million; Worlds of Fun, near Kansas City, $35 million; Geauga Lake, near Cleveland, $26 million; and Michigan's Adventure, near Muskegon, $19 million, the company figures show.
Among the Paramount parks being bought, the figures show, Canada's Wonderland, near Toronto had $93 million; Kings Dominion, near Richmond, Va., $81 million; Great America, near San Francisco, $63 million; and Carowinds, near Charlotte, N.C., $60 million.
Kings Island and Canada's Wonderland both ranked in the Top 20 in attendance in North America last year, according to Amusement Business magazine.
"I thought Canada's Wonderland would have been a better performing park than what the percentage shows," Mr. Munarriz said.
Per-person spending in its parks last year, Cedar Fair has said, averaged $38, higher than the $34 at Paramount parks.
The firm said it will pursue ways to boost the latter figure.
It also plans to cut costs by large-scale purchasing, by reducing the number of concerts held at Paramount parks, getting better rates on insurance, eliminating duplicate business practices, and reducing staffing and changing wage levels in some cases.
Contact Jon Chavez at:
jchavez@theblade.com
or 419-724-6128.
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