Six Flags and Cedar Fair to Merge

[Skyscraper]

Cedar Flags would be a good name for the merged company. Shame if they just stick with Six Flags.

 

[Sazzle]

Cedar Flags would be a good name for the merged company. Shame if they just stick with Six Flags.

I disagree. Both companies have strong histories and to bastardise them into one would be disrespectful to both.

The Six Flags name comes from their first park and is rooted in the local history:
“Throngs flocked to Six Flags Over Texas when the park opened in 1961. Six themed sections, modeled after the culture of the six countries whose flags flew over Texas during the state's colorful history, created a spectacular and magical setting for guests — and provided the park's name.”

Source: Six Flags’ corporate website (sorry I’m on mobile!)

The Cedar Fair name comes from acquisition of ValleyFair by Cedar Point:
“Then in 1978, Cedar Point acquired Valleyfair amusement park. Parent company Cedar Fair Limited Partnership, commonly known as Cedar Fair, was formed in 1983.”

Source: the lesser reliable Wikipedia.

Heritage is valuable, even if one loses out over another.

 

[Skyscraper]

I disagree. Both companies have strong histories and to bastardise them into one would be disrespectful to both.

The Six Flags name comes from their first park and is rooted in the local history:
“Throngs flocked to Six Flags Over Texas when the park opened in 1961. Six themed sections, modeled after the culture of the six countries whose flags flew over Texas during the state's colorful history, created a spectacular and magical setting for guests — and provided the park's name.”

Source: Six Flags’ corporate website (sorry I’m on mobile!)

The Cedar Fair name comes from acquisition of ValleyFair by Cedar Point:
“Then in 1978, Cedar Point acquired Valleyfair amusement park. Parent company Cedar Fair Limited Partnership, commonly known as Cedar Fair, was formed in 1983.”

Source: the lesser reliable Wikipedia.

Heritage is valuable, even if one loses out over another.

Yes that's a fair point. Thanks for the info!

 

[jon81uk]

Six flags parks always incorporate the six flags brand into park names. It makes a park lose identity in my option! How awful would it be if uk parks were called Merlin Alton Towers or Merlin Thorpe Park. Overly corporate and soulless in my eyes, so I really hope they don’t slap in on the front of all cedar fair parks too.

In the 2000s the parks did have Tussaud's in front of the park name on the logos. I think it was a part of the early push to drive sales of annual passes valid at all Tussaud's group attractions.
Like this

It was the Merlin merger that actually removed the brand name, they pushed annual passes harder but didn't acknowledge they owned all the attractions outside of the pass scheme.

 

[Plastic Person]

I disagree. Both companies have strong histories and to bastardise them into one would be disrespectful to both.

The Six Flags name comes from their first park and is rooted in the local history:
“Throngs flocked to Six Flags Over Texas when the park opened in 1961. Six themed sections, modeled after the culture of the six countries whose flags flew over Texas during the state's colorful history, created a spectacular and magical setting for guests — and provided the park's name.”

One of those six flags in question was the Confederate Battle flag, which the Texas parks finally stopped flying in 2017 when it was seen in a resurgence within its origin of white supremacist violence. "Colourful history", indeed!

 

[Benjsh]

There's hope for PB yet then.....Merlin will come and save the day.

 

[Maelstrom]

California is possibly where both chains have parks closest together, however with great america already set to close in the future that will just leave discovery kingdom in Northern California.

With Magic Mountain and Knotts, the good thing is the competition is strong in that market with Disney and Universal, which should keep investment levels up. Especially as Universal are investing large amounts to expand the California park between now and 2028 and Disney likely to be expanding the California parks over the next 10 years. Having been to both while the coasters at Magic Mountain are great (mostly) I actually much prefer spending time at Knotts a much nicer park, hopefully cedar fair management can sort out some of the problems you get at six flags parks.

Plus I can see a similar move to how chessington and Thorpe work- with Magic mountain focused on high thrills and Knotts more on the family and family thrill market. Which is kind of how they currently operate anyway.

Outside California there isn’t to much overlap but I think it’s some more of the smaller parks that already see smaller investments from their parent company that could be at risk and maybe sold if they choose to focus on the bigger more profitable parks.

 

[Funcone]

I recently attended a theme park convention where a former operations president for Six Flags did a talk. He was asked what his biggest mistake was. He said that when he was helping to negotiate contracts for new rides they used the company’s size to negotiate really tough deals with suppliers. Within a few years they bankrupted quite a few of them, including three of the world’s biggest roller coaster manufacturers: Arrow, Vekoma and Giovonola. In the short term it was good for the Six Flags shareholders, but it was bad for the industry, it was unsustainable and it simply wasn’t right.

I understand that in each bankruptcy case, there were probably other factors, and clearly X had technical problems. I also realise that Six Flags won't necessarily use their bigger scale to negotiate better deals with suppliers.

Nonetheless, the new Six Flags is probably bigger than the company has ever been at any other point in history, with more buying power than ever before. For anyone who loves the industry, that must be a worry.

 

[John_P]

Hard to say though, be interesting going forward to see if Cedar Fairs reluctance to work with the likes of RMC and Intamin transfers over to them running the Six Flags parks.

I'm just looking forward to all the cross overs, Tony Clark suddenly appearing at Six Flags St Louis.

The Looney Tunes gang beating up Charlie Brown and Snoopy in King's Island.

Top Thrill 2 suddenly renamed to Mr Freeze Forward and Reverse Blast

 

[Danny]

Was having a chat with a colleague yesterday and got a quick rundown on the merger at its latest. They jointly filed a notice that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked for more information on the proposed merger, pushing back the timeline a bit as the government gets to review a few more details.

This update itself doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but it does come with risks, however small, the DOJ might pose to the deal.

Antitrust laws in the U.S. are like the rules of a fair game in business. They make sure no single company takes over and controls an entire market, kind of like how it wouldn't be fair if one player in a game had all the advantages.

These laws stop companies from making secret deals to fix prices or block other companies from having a chance to succeed. There are three big rules which work together to keep the market fair and competitive. This means more choices and better prices for everyone. It's like making sure everyone gets a turn to play and succeed in the business world.

With their power, the DOJ could put the brakes on the merger and force the companies to make some changes (i.e. sell off some parks) or shut it down altogether. They just did this by shutting down the merger of Spirit and Jet Blue airlines.

Yes, there is little risk of the merger falling apart based on DOJ interference. Though the new company will have a majority of regional parks, when you look at true competition for theme parks, it spreads beyond just coasters. Consumers have a lot of "entertainment options" in the cities where these parks operate, and anything from a pro-sports team to a science centre still provides many alternatives for consumers.

Also, theme parks aren’t deemed a necessity. Airline travel is more of a ‘need’ in our lives, a theme park is more of a ‘want’ and it would be hard to make an argument that keeping these companies separate protects the consumer from not having more…fun?

TLDR: Both parks have communicated with the DOJ, who have the ability to interfere and put the brakes on.

 

[Benjsh]

Similar to our anti competition laws over here in UK. Having competition is better for the consumer afterall.

This merger is more through necessity though I was reading. Both companies struggling financially and losing money hand over fist over last few years and it's taken its toll.

Not ideal in the slightest but surely better than losing whole parks to the history books.

 

[Martin]

Two loss making companies becoming one loss making company and taking down even more parks, much more ideal.

 

[John_P]

Six Flags shareholders voted for the merger this week.

And it seems they are bringing out the legend that is Mr Six back to oversee the final details of the merger.


From: https://twitter.com/SixFlags/status/1770917112317395101?t=qc9vBdlQ0DXTXzrX4yOKdg&s=19