Fun Forward Presentation

Regarding Wildwater Kingdom (Geauga Lake), i think we will deffently see an expansion or new ride in the coming years. It's a nice water park, every time I've been it's been crowded.

Something about Disaster Transport, I am almost 100%, Mr Ouimet will make a decision on that in the new few years. I know Cedar Fair is not Disney, but Disney would never let a disasterous of a ride sit on land like that in such poor condition.

I looked at the presentation deck. The sample creative for what I assume are print or online ads are so much better than anything we've seen from them in years (even if they do look a little "Instagram" to me).

Jason Hammond said:
So is the second half of that response about Michigan's Adventure or Geauga Lake. I think it's about GL, but I can't quite say for sure.

I agree that its tough to tell. He was asked a question about GL and starts talking about Michigan Adventure. But I read the last sentence to be about GL.

Does Cedar Fair create its own presentations? A lot of companies do not. They review them for content and have some say in overall presentation style. I suspect they wanted to do something different to coincide with the changing of the guard.

I thought it was a really good presentation based on the slides shown in the PDF file. I didn't hear the actually presentation though.. Didn't have enough time.

I hope Matt does something about the defunct Big Dipper. The owner who owns this ride now obviously doesn't care about it and might as well demolish it because it is just sitting there and rotting away.

Also does anybody know what he meant today by putting in a month by month season pass? That seems sort of silly to me because when you buy it now, it lasts all year! Why make people have to update it every month?

I'm thinking he meant you buy it at the beginning of the year and instead of paying it all at once you would pay it over the three or four monts of the season or even all 12 months of the year to help split up the cost.

I think I would be for a month by month season pass. My understanding is you would buy a season pass for certain months instead of the whole season. That interests me because maybe in June Im busy with sports or on vacations so I can't get to the point. But in July I dont really have anything going on so I'll get more use out of it.

There's time of the year I'm busy and I might not go for weeks. But then there's times where I'm free and I go as much as possible.

The pass is used for the entire season, you just pay on a month by month basis. Busch Gardens does something similar.

...And, it should be noted, a season pass installment payment plan has already been implemented on cedarpoint.com.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Anybody know anything about what he might do with the old ride side of Geauga Lake? Like I said above, hopefully he can buy the Big Dipper back from this guy since he's just letting it sit there and rot.

The sample creative for what I assume are print or online ads are so much better than anything we've seen from them in years (even if they do look a little "Instagram" to me).

Which goes to show just how low the bar has been lowered.

A related area I hope to see a significant improvement in is the television ads. The past two seasons, in my own opinion, are the absolute cheapest, elementary ads I have ever watched; I have students who make better, higher quality presentations made in hours that are better than what Cedar Fair has pumped out.

The whole "Fun and Only" era has been an embarrassment, and the "log off ride on" slogan was way underused. IMO.

The "Fun and Only" slogan actually grew on me (used to not like it). It was very appealing to younger kids. However, the sample advertisements in the presentation were really good and humorous; but I am not a fan of the "thrills connect" slogan. If the crews start saying "thrills connect", it will just sound very odd. To me, they should just go back to "Americas Roller Coast". That was the most meaningful out of any of the newer slogans.

I personally miss the "Cedar Point is the cure for the summertime blues" days...

Not the song, mind you, but the personal, park-based (non-corporate canned) commercials.

I do not know why, but it really annoys me when I see a commercial for Cedar Point that shows footage of a park that is not Cedar Point. Nit-picky? Maybe, I guess.

Where do you guys see the Cedar Point commercials? I live a little south of Cleveland and I can't ever recall seeing a Cedar Point commercial on any network.

I live in Louisville (East of Canton). They play constantly from April - October here.

I see and hear them all over Detroit radio and TV. I've even seen some ads and coupons in the Windsor Star.

This past season, I saw several interesting, different commercials more than I did any of the "Fun and Only" ads. Living in Columbus, I saw a ton of "Fun and Only" ads for Kings Island, and just a few for CP.

The park ran several city-specific commercials that highlighted the park as a resort destination. It panned from an aerial view of the city to a view of CP, urging the viewer to close their eyes and "get away." I saw several for Columbus, as well as Dayton and Cincinnati at points throughout the summer. They even mentioned the beach and lake. I can't be the only one who saw these, yetI haven't seen any mention of them on here. I thought they were brilliant.

I also often saw a commercial highlighting WindSeeker at both KI and CP. I thought it was interesting that they acknowledged the marketing overlap in one ad. This could have just been a Columbus area ad, but I could imagine it aired in other areas.

There were definitely many issues discussed that have been bugging us for ages, and it's a relief to finally see acknowledgement.

When I see mention of "premum dining experiences," I think of Kings Island in particular. There is really nowhere in that park that you can sit down, relax, and be served quality food. It has been a huge missed opportunity, especially considering how strong that park is. I can't wait to see change there, and I hope pricing is reasonable. Just think of all the older folks, parents, and grandparents that would love to eat a nice meal in the AC, grab a drink, and dine while the kids were off riding rides. Maybe they could open the international street restaurant back up?

Extending the stay - YES. I find night to be my favorite time in the park; the light show sounds promising. So many people start flocking out at dusk. If parks can get them to stay, they're going to likely buy an extra meal and possibly stay at a resort. Eventually, maybe we'll see operating hours extend for more night ride time.

The advertising appears to be light years better. CP needs clever print and online ads like these. I'm sorry, but how do you expect customers to connect with corny families dancing to songs and twirling with Snoopy...they know it's just not going to happen. Though I laughed at how embarrassing some of the CP commericals have been, they really just made the chain feel cheap and stuck in the 80s. I hope to see clever commercials that don't make me feel childish for liking the place.

Lastly, I was really happy to see more "dynamic pricing" mentioned. This is something I and others have pushed for and suggested for years. You just have to adjust pricing to balance demand in a business. While Cedar Point was starting to do this more last year with online ticket specials, I hope it is taken to a new level, including not only admission, but food, beverages, resorts, and other entertainment.

I live in Lima, which is 2 hours from both Cedar Point and Kings Island, and I never see CP commercials. The only time I see Kings Island commercials are during Reds games.

I like the thrills connect slogan. Just because they use it in commercials doesn't mean ride ops have to say it on the rides.

Cleveland TV runs Cedar Point commercials.