Cedar Point’s Parent Company posts Record Revenue!

 Cedar Fair, the parent company of Cedar Point among other theme parks, announced record revenue for the third quarter of 2015. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and trades under the symbol “FUN”. Despite Cedar Point not winning the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Award for “Best Amusement Park” at this year’s ceremonies, the collection of parks within the portfolio has seen upgrades, new record-breaking attractions and revamped seasonal attractions. This gave coaster freaks and theme park visitors plenty of joy and reaffirmed pride in their home parks and the sister locations around the country. For the third quarter that ended September 27th, 2015, Cedar Fair posted record revenue of $645 million, which is an 8% increase from last year’s third quarter results! The net revenues, which went through November 1, 2015, were driven by a 5% increase in attendance and 2% increase with in-park spending and 10% increase with out of park revenue, including at Cedar Fair resorts. Are you fortunate enough to be a shareholder? You’ll see an increase too! The Board of Directors have approved a 10% increase for their next cash distribution to stock holders.

 I am pleased to say that our year-to-date results have propelled us well on our way to making 2015 the best year in Cedar Fair’s history.   -Matt Ouimet, Cedar Fair President and CEO

Cedar Fair certainly had a fantastic year with numerous of their parks being in the spotlight regionally and nationally. Cedar Point heard fans loud and clear and changed the Mantis coaster to Rougarou. The upgrade of the ride, including better seats and restraints on the new train, got better reviews than Mantis’ era. Cedar Point also unveiled plans for Valravn, the record-breaking dive coaster coming in 2016. If the announcement weren’t enough, the park also put a preview center in the park where guests can see a piece of the track, win prizes and experience the ride via virtual reality, including from their own phone! That would be good reason enough to have the numbers from Cedar Point to go up and to bring massive attention to their coaster collection, per usual. You could also add that the addition of the Sweet Spot was a good part of the reason why people came to the park (everything we’ve tried is delicious times 12!).

Another example of Cedar Fair’s success lies with Knott’s Berry Farm’s new attraction, Voyage to the Iron Reef, which opened this past Spring. With the concept and technology used that the ride has, it’s going to be the wave of the future for Cedar Fair. The Reef reception from this season appears to dictate how dark rides will be making a return and become a key focus to the company’s new attractions rolled out over the next decade. Some Cedar Fair fans have been displeased with the lack of family oriented rides at parks like Cedar Point but Cedar Fair could be answering that quip soon. Also, the Calico Mine Ride at Knott’s was overhauled with updates at the park and many fans praised the upgrades that took place to refresh the classic ride.

We have experienced significant attendance increases in both season pass and advance sales categories while maintaining strong front gate and group sales attendance.    -Matt Ouimet, Cedar Fair President and CEO

What made Cedar Fair significantly successful this year was the wide-spread coverage and fanfare of Carowinds’ Fury 325 giga-coaster! When the above video was released by the park in the Spring, it went viral and got everyone talking–including non-coaster fans. During the construction of the coaster, Travel Channel TV host Chris Perry was on hand to document how the big, bad scream machine was built. The special showed the immense interest in the ride from coaster freaks from all over the world. Fury was the best thing to happen to Carowinds in recent memory and solidified Cedar Fair’s plans to significantly invest in the park over these next few years. Major rides like these always spur great interest from fans and experts but Fury also captured the attention of the Golden Ticket Award voters. The coaster won Best New Attraction of 2015 at the ceremonies that were held this year at Luna Park in New York City. The award has honor to it as the experts that vote travel worldwide; they could crown it as “Best Steel Coaster” starting next year, which could de-throne Cedar Point’s Millennium Force from it’s long-time perch.

For the same quarter next year, Cedar Fair is poised to pass their revenue mark that was posted in this year’s third quarter. Cedar Point will be high flying when several world records are broken once Valravn opens in May 2016. Every time Cedar Point unleashes their next record breaking coaster, the world pays close attention. Despite dive coasters not being every coaster crazies’ favorite type of ride, there’s significant excitement with it’s arrival. With Kings Island, they’re delivering a new Soak City waterpark attraction called Tropical Plunge and will have new tolls for guests to drive-through. Many park go’ers still enjoy K.I.’s free admission to their water park and it’s certainly one of the best around the Midwest. Carowinds will follow-up their incredible 2015 season by adding Carolina Harbor, which is set to be a big hit with guests when it opens next Spring. The investments at Carowinds have been paying off and this helps to keep the park as a premier choice for entertainment in the region.

Since Matt Ouimet has taken the reins of the company four years ago, there have been moves in the right direction to have the company most profitable. Attractions that have been unveiled in recent years are still from the Dick Kinzel era but indications are showing that the future will stay very bright.

For more information about Cedar Fair and their parks, visit the official website by clicking here.

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