News: Cedar Fair and Six Flags announce equal merger

Not to mention there is no competition now......

DJ is completely Based here. I'm struggling to see why CF thought this was a good move.

TomT:

Six Flags, on the other hand, has a strong brand name

I agree, however, I would argue in most places the Six Flags name is not associated with high quality. There are a few examples to the contrary (Magic Mountain), but I feel like those are outliers.

I'm also really interested to see which branding is going to win out. Will Snoopy and company be adopted across the chain, and will DC and Loony Toons be added to CF? Will the parks hold their branding/theming? I'm guessing either way it won't be over night, but a few years as contracts expire or laps.

Personally, Im more partial to Snoopy, but I understand that DC currently holds a stronger cultural relevance right now.

“There is no competition now” You know except for:

-Disney

-Universal

-Legoland

-Seaworld

-Busch Gardens

-Fun Spot chain

-the Herschend Parks

-A whole slew of regional locally owned parks like Kennywood, Holiday World, Knoebels etc

and that is just on the amusement/thrill side. Once you get into water parks there is another huge list of competitors at varying levels of size and seriousness.

Zimmerman being in control leads me to believe that Cedar Fair has more pull in this merger than Six Flags. Usually when two companies merge, it's very telling which way the new company will lean with the appointment of the CEO. The same thing happened when Sprint merged with Nextel, and T Mobile merged with Sprint. I'd have to research more mergers to see how they went, but from what I've seen over the years, it typically runs that way. 🤷‍♂️

So are they going to keep the park names as-is, drop the Six Flags from the Six Flags parks, or add Six Flags to the Cedar Fair parks?

Coming soon to a front gate near you: a

Considering Kings Island is getting ready to open an expansion to their (checks notes) Snoopy area, I’d say the Peanuts IP isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

and before it was a Hannah barbara land/scooby Doo dark ride. The question is long-term: Who is going to win out?

Well, this wasn't the news I wanted or expected. I honestly don't know how to react as a unitholder but I hold my units as an emotional connection to my past...and not really for the investment performance. Emotionally, this feels like a death...or at least a divorce. And, I already don't like the new step sibling.

I guess my immediate concern goes to the employees on the Cedar Fair side. I think employees often get lost in these types of business transactions and I hope they remain whole in whatever is coming. Their "thank you" for the completion of another successful seasons appears to be a gift wrapped package of stress and anxiety about the unknown.

Enjoy watching the work on TT2. It's probably the last time you'll see a ride repainted for the next 20 years.

S M H

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umDr0mPuyQc

Companies take the lead from their CEO. Six Flags is better known nationally -- albeit with a reputation not as strong as Cedar Fair. Branding is important, but what will be more important is whether the Six Flags Parks become more similar to Cedar Fair Parks or Cedar Fair Parks become more like Six Flags Parks. Tons of great parks and great rides. Hopefully, it will be the former as opposed to the latter in terms of cleanliness and ride upkeep.

New Name options:

Six Flags over Cedar Point

Six Pointy Cedar Flags

Cix Plags

Sedar Foint

Cedar Flags

Six Point

Sex Point

Sex Flags

Flag Sex

Sexy Cedar Flags

Six Plauged Wheels

Random note, but is that you in your avatar Plague on Wheels?

Someone mentioned competition... it's shortsighted and frankly negligent to believe that competition is just having another park near by. Far from it, they compete with leisure dollars that go to everything from Taylor Swift to movies to European vacations to video games and sportsball events.

I agree, and I think that’s the bigger picture. I would be surprised if the company doesn’t continue to diversify through more leisure and entertainment ventures.

Good news is Zimmerman is the CEO