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Project Accelerate is just the successful Cedar Fair Seasons of Fun plan, just adding the cost efficiency and synergy of the merger. Look up the presentations the last 6 or so years on Seasons of Fun since it was implemented.

There is no change in focus. This is the simple explanation of what's happening. The merged company is being run by Cedar Fair people, 10 of the 11 executive team(the people that run day to day operations). The only SF person on the executive team has a made up title of chief integration officer, which means it's going away in a few year. Cedar Fair's highly successful Seasons of Fun plan is being implemented, It produced record financials for Cedar Fair, while SF has floundered for a decade. Zimmerman is going to try to make the larger SF legacy parks more like larger CF legacy parks, improved food, theming, aesthetics of the park, maintenance, special events/festivals, big rides and not the cloned stuff SF resorted to post bankruptcy. The only gamble is will SF legacy core patron base used to cheap prices for decades, pay up for better quality. Paying up is the key to CF success. Just look at the prices of Knotts vs SFMM,,,$160 gold passes at Knotts that don't include parking or Knotts Scary Farm vs SFMM $85 gold pass(includes parking and Frightfest). The LA market has spoken for years, people are willing to pay much more for Knotts b/c it's viewed as a better experience. If this is going to be successful the SF legacy parks that are and have severely underpeformed their markets will have to have patrons eventually be willing to pay CF legacy like prices to make all the Capex in Sf legacy parks have a good ROI. CF legacy parks was already pre merger scheduled to be 240 to 250 M/yr in 2026 and 2026 from pre merger presentations. They are bringing SF legacy up to the same Capex level. Will they see the proper ROI is the gamble.

Jesus Christ another thoosie talking about coaster war nonsense. Also, for the 1000000000000th time ....They never really competed as chains except in a few markets ...Los Angeles, SF Bay Area, and 1 other. indirectly, To the GP that matters, 95% of the regional park attendance you were either a Cedar Fair person or Six Flags b/c the parks were rarely near each other....90% of regional theme park attendance comes from within 100 miles, There are few places you can find CF and SF legacy parks within 100 miles, besides the ones listed above and even if you go out to 200, 250 miles.

United Parks not able to spend capital like SF/CF combined is wrong. United Parks has been spending around 220M/yr lately and have very few parks(5 major ones), hence their roller coaster buying spree. The fact is they are actually rolling in money. While they are spending 200M/yr in Capex, they are also buying back stock at ridiculous pace of 350 up to 500M/yr b/c they have so much extra cash and they don't have a dividend. United Parks actually wanted to acquire parks, as they have the money, but were rebuffed by Cedar Fair. They were actually sniffing around SF before the merger, as SF was in declining financial shape, but United wouldn't want all the parks, they would just wanted some or all of the major ones, which was never going to happen

Cedar Fair legacy parks were already investing 220M in 2024 and 240 to 250M in the 2 years following. So, they were already planning just under 500M in 2 years for their parks. SF legacy parks are another story, they always lagged in Capex behind CF, despite SF legacy having way more parks, hence why SF parks haven't built a 20M coaster since bankruptcy, the parks were kept up poorly, food was subpar, they bought a bunch of inexpensive cloned rides, etc... It's also why SF was in poor financially shape and needed to merge with Cedar Fair, which was producing record financials post pandemic in 2022. 2023 and Q2 2024, last quarter before the merger. The increased Capex is actually Cedar Fair legacy doing what they were doing, numbers already shown. The big difference is SF legacy parks are going to get 250M/yr while they were getting 130 to 140M/yr.

Regional theme parks aren't competing with Disney and Universal, which are destination parks. Regional theme parks competition is mainly other local entertainment options that aren't parks. Regional theme parks get 90% of their attendance within 100 miles of the park. Disney and Universal are just the opposite. Also, financially there is no comparison and thus another reason there is no competition. Disney's profit from their parks division is 10Billionyr. Even combining Legacy Cedar Fair & Legacy Six Flags, as they are now, their Gross Revenue is 3,5Billion.. Disney has almost 3X profit as the largest regional park operator has gross revenue.

They had one and took it out😢

When my family and I went we alk suffered from the heat. I think it was in the low 90s but there's not much shade. My sister and father had to go to first aid and my mother wouldn't leave the ac. I was in line for Millennium and I had to leave the line when I was almost on because I was feeling faint due to the weather. Only got to ride it once. Very sad. But yes they do need something to provide more shade especially over the queue lines

We might get a SPINNING LAUNCH COASTER!!! 🦅🦅🦅🔥 We could also get a smooth ride that glides around the water like skyrush

You have to understamd what is fixng to take shape in less than 3.5 years from now. The LA28 Olympics and yes, 2 of those major events will take place right here in OKC (the nations 20th largest city) the LA28 committee stated that, this will be just like hosting 17 days of Super Bowl events both in the LA metro and in OKC. FC has that 60 acres of undeveloped land and was recently cleared out. OKANA Indoor Water Park and Resort ($400 million on 140 acres) built by the Chickasaw Nation, is opening this March, that will take away from the attendance, that Resort is the 4th largest in the nation. American Heartland Theme Park and Resort took care of their issues that had and all they are waiting for now, is the Oklahoma State legislature to pass that $35 million water and waste grant to the city of Vinita. But that has to wait till Feb 2025 when they return back to session. The last time they tries to pass it was last year (2024), 1st phase it passed, but just barely failed in the 2nd phase of the voting process.

One other elephant... or whale... in the room to mention: Discovery Kingdom. Its expansion has always been limited by the size of its marine animal exhibits. For this reason, they're 4th from LAST in the chain in total coaster track length at 15,666.1'. For reference, that's about 570 ft less than La Ronde's track length (taking the average of Le Monstre's two sides) and only about 755' more than Michigan's Adventure's coaster length. Since they're the only park in the combined chain with dolphins, sharks, sea lions, and so on, the legacy Cedar Fair management will want to offload those assets. They did it before when buying Six Flags Worlds of Adventure - Six Flags kept the animals and sent them to other parks. They could try selling the entire park to United Parks, but with CGA closing, they'll likely want to stay in the Bay Area market by keeping this property. Could see Kong close along with Flash so the park could receive Vampire from La Ronde. Then, space in the former marine section and Kong plot could be used for a major multi-launch coaster over the entrance.

Very well said, I couldn't agree with you more. I also liked the comment at the end from the bible. People need more Christ in their lives.

Good overview of the strategies at play. In the next few years, we should also expect to see some branded hotels at the bigger parks. Increased coaster investment depends on these parks becoming two-day destinations.

Umm they already compete with Disney and Universal.

Hear me out, cedar flags starts making dark rides to compete with Disney and universal

3:41 its a tiny waterslide 😭

It's ineffective when they're closing Kingda Ka and possibly the sky way at SFGAdv, as the company will start to lose money facing majority boycott.

If they really want to compete with Disney and universal they have a lot to do. For most of their parks there isn’t anything to do beyond thrill rides. Much, much better food, entertainment. (Parades, night shows, live music, etc), dark rides, much better ride theming, and even hotels are gonna be needed. Nome of the regional parks are anywhere near s good overall as Disney world, or universal. They have a steep uphill battle ahead of them

I think the only way to out do the early days and then the 90’s guest numbers for great adventure would be to go absolutely nuts with theming. The GP needs more than just great coasters to be drawn back. If they did Universal level theming for the entire KA Lantern area people will flock back in droves. I hope they visit Phantasia land for inspiration… 🤔🤘

If cedar point becomes Ohio’s Disney land, I’m gonna cry😭

Family's are the key. They are the ones that spend the money. Call them GP or whatever you want but they are the ones that hit the same parks numerous times a year. Yes you have the "Enthusiast" that will try to hit all the parks and all the coasters and might eat some food and grab some swag for a certain ride. LOL I never would have thought that I would have spent the amount of money for my kids to be happy at a park. Back in the day I just wanted to hit every thrill ride as fast and as cheap as I could. Now its about slowing down and making sure the next generation is there to do the same as me.

SF Magic Mountain needs some heavy investing. Not only do they need to keep up with Disney, Universal, Sea World, and Knott's, but they have the 2028 Olympics coming to town. They need to make a great lasting impression of the brand on first-time visitors.

I like your channel name a lot 😂 Made me laugh

they probably need to grow the resort side of things at the other parks. there's not that many hotels around Carowinds for example. if they're gonna take from the Orlando pie, these parks gotta get hoteled up

The number of parks is a big problem. It’s going to spread that money pretty thin, whereas Disney and Universal have just a handful of parks they are plowing that money into.

You didn't mention the rapid pace they're closing rides with no notice. A little advance notice would be good...

Great video as always!

I agree 100%.

One correction to your proposed timeline: If the dorm project was pushed to 2022 after COVID, we would have seen teasers for it in late July 2021. The Dragster accident happened too late in the season (Aug 15) to prevent an official announcement for a new 2022 coaster. Here's how I'd amend this: COVID forced Cedar Point to delay "Siren's Curse" to 2024, prioritizing the dining revenue that the Boardwalk's Grand Pavilion would generate. 2022 may have been considered for the dorm coaster, but the park knew they'd get a higher near-term ROI from closing the Antique Cars for The Farmhouse. The 2024 opening year would also have given them time to discuss options with multiple manufacturers: Mack, B&M, Zamperla - even Gerstlauer, Intamin, and Vekoma. Then the Dragster incident hits. Cedar Point pivots from discussing a new family launched coaster to prioritizing a major overhaul of their tallest and fastest ride. During the 2022 season, when Dragster's launch and brake track is removed, they probably still foresee adding a family coaster in 2025, the year after "Dragster" reopens. But something changes. After Zamperla is picked (to save Iron Dragon, apparently), Cedar Point realizes they're assuming a lot of risk proving out the Lightning trains at the limits of their design speed. They recognize that TT2 will likely experience significant downtime in 2024, and decide that the nearby dorm plot will need to be filled with another thrill coaster to compensate. So, in early-mid 2023, they move the family launched coaster to the SNF / STR site (also recognizing the potential of a larger ride like Big Bear Mountain). And then, they look for a fairly compact, unique thrill coaster to fill the former dorm site. No need for 4 years of secrecy if Dragster's accident only delayed the dorm coaster from '24 to '25. And the announcement is only made in September of 2024 to take the edge off guest frustration that TT2 was closed for almost the entire season.

Look at all the parks and resorts that made investments like this. What do they have in common? They're open year-round. (Or very close to it) Sandusky just doesn't pull demand for much more than a few indoor water parks during the winter. I'd love it if Sawmill Creek replaced a couple holes on its golf course with an indoor theme park. But it would need to be planned exceptionally carefully. You have to include rides small enough to fit indoors, but not so ordinary they feel like another FEC. They also can't substantially compete with rides CP offers - they must be unique to Camp / Planet Snoopy and the Boardwalk. And they can't feel like a tacky knock-off of thrill rides like Power Tower, Maxair, or Skyhawk. One Midwest park tried offering an indoor park: Mount Olympus in Wisconsin Dells. That indoor park only lasted a few seasons, mainly because it was a tacky, glorified FEC. The only way I can see CP would do this is if they want to add small coasters to the area that don't have the capacity to work at CP itself.

As big as the picnic pavilion site is, it makes more sense for them to choose a site near the back of the park. That's just where more guests will be during the hottest, rainiest, humid-est parts of the day.

The bridge position you suggest is really efficient "as infrastructure" - in the sense that it crosses the train AND the water with a single span. But it's not efficient at moving guests unless another path is built. You need a shortcut that starts at the former FF entrance place. From there, it's a straight shot to connect the land occupied by SNF's pre-drop turnaround with the CCMR / Skyhawk Plaza. Also, if SRF is replaced with a Mack Splash Battle, the new path would connect to its queue and the bridge entrance. Make those tweaks and this expansion works very well.

It would be amazing if CP could use some of the space inside SteVe for a dark ride that expands on the ride's characters. Guests can take the train there on very hot days. If not in that site, a family interactive dark ride inside Millie's helix (as part of a Camp Snoopy expansion) could be an interesting option, too

you sort of predicted sirens curse lol

Maverick is on Disney level. Yeah, I said it. Maverick is that high quality of an attraction. Its popularity has never dwindled, it’s timeless and the experience is always unforgettable! They should add more theming elements and sound effects!

I miss that indoor coaster they had Disaster transport. Always an escape from the park and reality. Nice a/c to get out of the heat. A great family experience, reminded me of old Disney world. I also miss the swan tunnel ride, the old cars, and every family ride. They were such a great escape and brought you into a different world

Omg! Who the F are you!? Go find another buffet....

Is this actually recent or a couple of months ago

A flight of feat style ride would be nice to have at my home park, cedar point.

New to this channel… good video, you need to new shirt tho lol

the arcade is the location of the old Earthquake ride. it was a dark ride.

I hope now that its all one company they see how other parks in the chain do things. Fiesta Texas for example, they have sangerfest hall which is indoor dining with a scheduled stage show inside during the heat of summer. That hall is literally packed with people beating the heat and your able to enjoy some great entertainment as you eat.

They could do some of these dark rides utilizing the new DC IP they have now with the Six Flags merge.

The park was in perfect balance until about 1983 and it's struggling to get back to what it was. All the coaster are fantastic but EVERYTHING else got neglected. CP should have a minimum of 3 water water ride, two dark rides and some kind of boat ride and observation tower to compliment it's current collection of attractions. The new restaurants are great, but they came at a cost of losing or not being able to operate all the staples -- even on the busiest days there are a handful or more closed locations. The new boardwalk should have been centered around the Coliseum with the new eating areas on both levels. The new pavilion is fine but could have been really grand and not end up blocking the beach again lol.

I think their best option in this case might be either a Triotech Darkcoaster or an SFX Coaster, probably the SFX coaster for Cedar Point, then you get the uptick in sales from a new coaster in culmination with throughput of a dark ride

I remember when magnum used to look more dominant

Look at how small magnum looks from the front of the park

Can't wait to see sirens curse on the skyline

Great shot of America's roller coast

I pray top thrill 2 reopens longer than kingda ka lasted hate to see a behemoth disappear 😢😢