Cedar Fair Entertainment Company

Infobox_Company
company_name = Cedar Fair L.P.
company_
company_type = Public (NYSE|FUN)
company_slogan =
foundation = 1983
location = Sandusky, Ohio, United States
key_people = Richard L. Kinzel,
Chairman & CEO
Jacob T. Falfas, COO
num_employees = 1,300 (2005) (excluding seasonal)
industry = Entertainment & Theme Parks
combined attendance = 12.7 million(2005)
revenue = $986.973 million (net) USD (2007)
operating_income = profit$154.571 million USD (2007)
homepage = [http://www.cedarfair.com/ www.cedarfair.com]

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, legally known as Cedar Fair, L.P.,(NYSE|FUN) is a publicly-traded company based in Sandusky, Ohio, USA at its Cedar Point theme park that owns and operates amusement parks in North America. Cedar Fair owns and operates 11 major amusement parks: 10 in the United States and 1 in Canada. They also manage a small theme park Gilroy Gardens. Previously, Cedar Fair operated Camp Snoopy at the Mall of America, and , in Las Vegas.

Readers of "Amusement Today", a trade newspaper which ranks amusement parks and roller coasters, continually rank Cedar Fair parks highly. Cedar Fair's flagship park Cedar Point has been voted "The Best Amusement Park In The World" for 10 consecutive years.cite news|title=2007 Golden Ticket Awards|publisher=Amusement Today|date=2007|url= http://www.amusementtoday.com/2007gtaParkAndRide.html|accessdate=2007-12-20] Based on stock value, Cedar Fair is the most successful amusement park chain behind Disney.

Properties

Theme/Amusement parks

*California's Great America (Santa Clara, California)
*Canada's Wonderland (Vaughan, Ontario, Canada)
*Carowinds (Charlotte, North Carolina/Fort Mill, South Carolina)
*Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio)
*Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
*Kings Dominion (Doswell, Virginia)
*Kings Island (Mason, Ohio)
*Knott's Berry Farm (Buena Park, California)
*Michigan's Adventure (Muskegon, Michigan)
*Worlds of Fun (Kansas City, Missouri)
*Valleyfair (Shakopee, Minnesota)

Water parks

The following parks are included in the admission price of the listed amusement park:

*Boomerang Bay (Carowinds)
*Boomerang Bay (Kings Island)
*Boomerang Bay (California's Great America)
*Splash Works (Canada's Wonderland)
*WaterWorks (Kings Dominion)
*White Water Country (Valleyfair)
*Wild Water Adventure (Michigan's Adventure)
*Wildwater Kingdom (Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom)

The following parks are either standalone properties or require separate admission:

*Knott's Soak City (Buena Park, California)
*Knott's Soak City (Palm Springs, California)
*Knott's Soak City (San Diego, California)
*Soak City (Sandusky, Ohio)
*Oceans of Fun (Kansas City, Missouri)
*Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom (Aurora, Ohio)

Lodging and campgrounds

*Hotel Breakers (Cedar Point)
*Breakers Express (Cedar Point)
*Sandcastle Suites Hotel (Cedar Point)
*Camper Village (Cedar Point)
*Lighthouse Point (Cedar Point)
*Castaway Bay Indoor Waterpark Resort (Cedar Point)
*Knott’s Berry Farm Resort Hotel (Knott's Berry Farm)
*Worlds of Fun Village (Worlds of Fun)
*Carowinds Camp Wilderness Resort (Carowinds)

Other

*Gilroy Gardens (Gilroy, California) "By management contract"

Former

*Camp Snoopy (Mall of America) "Until 2005"
*Geauga Lake (Aurora, Ohio) "Until 2007" (amusement park closed)
*Geauga Lake Hotel "Until 2007"
* (Las Vegas, Nevada) Closed in September 2008 cite news|title=2008 Press Release|publisher=Cedar Fair|date=2008|url= http://www.startrekexp.com/pdf/STTE-Media-release.pdf]

History

Cedar Fair was formed in 1975 as an operating partnership between Cedar Point and the then one-year-old Valleyfair. Cedar Fair's name is constructed from the names of its first two parks. In recent years, Cedar Fair has expanded the number of parks it owns. Dorney Park was purchased in 1993. Worlds of Fun was purchased in 1995. Knott's Berry Farm was purchased in 1997. Michigan's Adventure was purchased in 2001. Cedar Fair purchased Geauga Lake for $145 million in 2004.cite news|last=Potter|first=Derek|title=Cedar Fair Buys Six Flags World of Adventure|publisher=Theme Park Insider|date=2004-03-10|url=http://www.themeparkinsider.com/news/response.cfm?ID=1564|accessdate=2007-12-20] Cedar Fair announced the purchase of Paramount Parks for $1.24 billion on May 22, 2006.cite news|title=Cedar Fair to Acquire Paramount Parks|publisher=The Point Online|date=2006-05-22|url=http://www.thepointol.com/news/2006/76.html|accessdate=2007-12-20] On September 21, 2007, Cedar Fair announced the closing of Geauga Lake, due to falling attendance. The property will operate solely as a water park for the 2008 season.cite news|title=Cedar Fair Announces New Direction For Geauga Lake|publisher=The Point Online|date=2007-09-21|url=http://www.thepointol.com/news/2007/97.html| accessdate=2007-12-20]

In 2007, Cedar Fair was the seventh largest amusement park operator in the world by attendance with 22.1 million guests. Cedar Fair operates 4 amusement parks that attract over 3 million visitors a year: Knott's Berry Farm, Kings Island, Canada's Wonderland, and the company's flagship park, Cedar Point.cite news |title=Theme Park Attendance Report 2007|publisher=Park World|date=2007|url=http://www.connectingindustry.com/pdfs/TEA-ERAAttendance06.pdf|accessdate=2007-12-20] Cedar Fair parks have earned 15 major Golden Ticket Awards for roller coasters and amusement park operation.cite news|title=Golden Tickets 2007|publisher=Amusement Today|date=2007|url=http://www.amusementtoday.com/image/GoldenTicket2007.pdf|accessdate=2007-12-20]

ee also

*Incidents at Cedar Fair parks

References

External links

* [http://www.cedarfair.com/ Official website]

Cedar Fair park sites

* [http://www.gilroygardens.org/ Gilroy Gardens]
* [http://www.cedarpoint.com/index.cfm Cedar Point]
* [http://www.dorneypark.com/ Dorney Park]
* [http://knotts.com/ Knott's Berry Farm]
* [http://www.knotts.com/soakcity/oc/ Knott's Soak City (Buena Park, California)]
* [http://www.knotts.com/soakcity/ps/ Knott's Soak City (Palm Springs, California)]
* [http://www.knotts.com/soakcity/sd/ Knott's Soak City (San Diego, California)]
* [http://www.michigansadventure.com/ Michigan's Adventure]
* [http://www.canadaswonderland.com/ Canada's Wonderland]
* [http://www.carowinds.com Carowinds]
* [http://www.cagreatamerica.com California's Great America]
* [http://www.kingsdominion.com Kings Dominion]
* [http://www.visitkingsisland.com Kings Island]
* [http://soakcity.cedarpoint.com/ Soak City Ohio]
* [http://www.startrekexp.com/ Star Trek: The Experience]
* [http://www.valleyfair.com/ Valleyfair]
* [http://www.wildwaterfun.com/ Wildwater Kingdom]
* [http://www.worldsoffun.com/ Worlds of Fun]