Chase Harrison

Company Overview Brief History Paramount Parks purchase Economic and Political factors in Home and

Host Countries Expansion into Canada Recommendations

Topics

Master Limited Partnership operating a chain of Amusement Parks

Current CEO is former Disney “imagineer” Matt Ouimet

Owns and operates eleven amusement parks, three outdoor water parks, one indoor water park, and five hotels.

Founded in 1983 Headquartered in Sandusky

Ohio. Owns parks in the U.S. and

Canada.

Overview

Roots date all the way back to 1860s but did not officially become a limited partnership until 1983 when Cedar Point in Ohio and Valleyfair in Minnesota decided to merge into a partnership.

The name comes from the “Cedar” in Cedar Point and “Fair” in Valleyfair.

In 1992 the firm acquired Dorney Park in Pennsylvania

Brief History

In 1995 Cedar Fair acquired “Worlds of Fun” in Missouri

1997: Cedar Fair acquired “Knott’s Berry Farm” in Southern California

2001: They acquired “Michigan’s Adventure” which is…..in Michigan

In 2006 Cedar Fair made a bold move in purchasing the entire Paramount Parks chain from Viacom.

More “brief” History

The Paramount Park purchase was worth $1.24 billion which gave Cedar Fair a massive debt.

This purchase helped Cedar Fair expand into an international territory with the purchase of Canada’s Wonderland, the most visited amusement park in Canada, located outside of Toronto, Ontario

Paramount Parks

The purchase also net Cedar Fair:

Kings Dominion in Doswell, VA

Carowinds in Charlotte, NC Kings Island in Cincinnati,

OH California’s Great America. All of the Paramount Parks

include free water parks creating tremendous value.

Paramount Parks

Location Map (minus Canada’s Wonderland)

Amusement parks in the U.S. generate $12 Billion in revenue.

Contributes $57 million to the U.S. economy. Regulations are set by the American Society

for Testing and Materials International (ASTM) F-24 Committee on Amusement Rides and Devices.

Most regulations are set by states. Congressman Ed Markey has a panel of

doctors, biodynamic consultants, medical experts, and ride safety specialists to study the industry’s safety record which concluded federal regulation would not be more efficient than the current method of regulation for amusement parks.

Most rides are designed to be safer than driving to work, and statistically have been proven to be safer than driving to work.

Most accidents that occur are due to “rider error” however the recent New Texas Giant accident in which an oversized woman was allowed on a ride was due to negligence of the operators in letting her on the roller coaster.

Economic and Political Factors in the Home Country

Canadian Amusement parks are regulated by the governor of the province they are located in.

In 2012 the Canadian amusement industry generated $472.9 million dollars.

Very little difference from U.S. for amusement parks.

Economic and Political factors of the Host Country

Canada’s Wonderland was already a large established park when Cedar Fair acquired the Paramount Parks

Canada’s Wonderland is the most popular amusement park in Canada.

Due to the fact Cedar Fair does not own Paramount licenses all the Paramount movie themed rides had to be made into a generic theme.

In 2008 Cedar Fair installed a large 230 foot tall roller coaster.

In 2012 Cedar Fair installed a 306 foot tall roller coaster.

The latter of the previous two resulted in a 5% attendance boost for Canada’s Wonderland that season.

Canada’s Wonderland is currently the 13th most visited park in North America.

How expansion to Canada was handled.

It appears the expansion into Canada was a very simple process for Cedar Fair.

The park already had all required Canadian licenses that comply with all Canadian rules and regulations.

To make more profit off the expansion into Canada I would recommend installing more large roller coasters at Canada’s Wonderland as that seems to correlate with large attendance boosts.

Also putting more large ones at Kings Dominion wouldn’t hurt…..

Recommendations

www.iaapa.org http://

www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/arts60a-eng.htm

http://www.gettravel.com/themeparks/cedar.shtml

Resources