The Cedar Fair Entertainment Company is an
amusement park operator, host to over 15 different properties across the United States and Canada. Some of the chain's most popular parks include
Cedar Point, Knott’s Berry Farm, Canada’s Wonderland and Kings Island. Alongside their amusement parks, Cedar Fair
operates multiple hotels, resorts and recreational facilities. In 2019, these attractions combined greeted
close to 28 million guests annually, making the company one of the largest amusement park
operators in the nation. Across their attractions, Cedar Fair has one
primary mission - to make people happy. Their stock symbol spells the word FUN, a
reflection of what their amusement parks aim to provide. However, like many theme park chains, Cedar
Fair didn’t start out with 15 different properties. In fact, it all started with just one - a
location on a small peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio. In the early 1800s, Cedar Point wasn’t an
amusement park, but a piece of land situated along Lake Erie. The peninsula consisted mainly of sandy beaches
and cedar trees. In 1867, a newspaper article was published
in the Sandusky Register proposing the idea for someone to build a bathing house along
the shores of Cedar Point. They stated there was no finer place for bathing
in the world! Local businessman Louis Zistel saw the opportunity,
and between 1867 and 1869, opened roughly a dozen bath houses along shore. The idea was a success! Zistel continued to expand his new property
by constructing a beer garden, dance floor and playground. He also began to operate a steamboat, named
“Young Reindeer”, to shuttle patrons between Cedar Point and Sandusky. However, ten years later, the peninsula took
a major step towards becoming the place we knew today, by installing a swing style ride
on the water of the lake. Cedar Point continued to develop throughout
the 1880s, constructing new bathhouses, dance floors, and walkways. They even introduced a fireworks show. The expansion was complimented in 1888 with
the opening of the Grand Pavilion, a building adorned with a concert hall, theater, bar
and bowling alley. During this development period, Zistel transferred
ownership to a group of four local businessmen. Under their leadership, Cedar Point built
its first roller coaster, the Switchback Railway. The ride was a classic gravity powered wooden
coaster - which took America by storm during this point in time. Although, despite the investment, Cedar Point
found itself in financial trouble. Fortunately, in 1897, an Indiana businessman,
George A. Boeckling (Berkling), purchased Cedar Point and quickly began to heavily invest
in the park. The property’s first hotel, Bay Shore opened
in 1899, while just three years later George opened another roller coaster, Racer. This was only the beginning however. A larger 600 room establishment, Hotel Breakers,
was built in 1905. This was followed by the debut of two new
roller coasters, Dip the Dips and Leap the Dips, in 1908 and 1912 respectively. In 1906, the park built the Coliseum, as well
as the amusement circle, a carousel, several funhouses and other attractions. As a result of the investment, Cedar Point
became host to roughly 10,000 guests per day during the summer months. Multiple celebrities and public figures visited
the park too, including United States President William Taft. Despite the threat of the Great Depression
Boeckling managed to keep Cedar Point afloat by cutting admission costs and hosting big
name bands for concerts. Unfortunately, this came to a sudden halt
in 1931 with George A. Boeckling’s death. During the next 20 years, Cedar Point began
to decline in quality. By the early 1950s, only one of the original
4 roller coasters was in operation. The park needed something new. Two investors, George A. Roose and Emile Legros
(leg-rose), believed the land would be better suited as a lakeside residential development. This however, was quickly rejected. Instead, they proposed to make Cedar Point
a state park, instead of an amusement park. Public backlash caused the investors to rethink
this idea too. Fortunately, in 1955 California saw the debut
of Disneyland, a new state-of-the-art theme park. Disneyland’s success gave Roose and Legros
the confidence to purchase Cedar Point for $313,000 and maintain it as a theme park. However, neither of them had any experience
managing an amusement park. Despite this, they determined the best idea
to rebuild Cedar Point would be to invest in new attractions. As a result, an additional $18 million USD
was invested into the park to improve its facilities and construct new rides. They built Blue Streak, a Philadelphia Toboggan
Coasters wooden coaster in 1964; along with a new area of the park, Frontiertown. The following year, the owners constructed
the Cedar Creek Mine Ride, an Arrow Dynamics Mine Train located in the new area. Ultimately the investment paid off. Cedar Point saw a significant growth in attendance
and profits. The park doubled its visitors numbers from
1 million to 2 between 1960 and 1965! The following decade saw a huge number of
new major amusement parks popping up across the United States. Roose and Legros recognised that for Cedar
Point to remain competitive they needed to make some changes. Under the guidance of new CEO Robert Munger,
the park established a front entrance, making it a single price admission. This was followed by several investments during
the decade to cement Cedar Point’s place as one of the nation's best amusement parks. They installed Corkscrew in 1976, a ride which,
at the time, had the most inversions of any roller coaster in the world. This was followed two years later by the debut
of Gemini, a large scale racing roller coaster. However, the Cedar Point company had bigger
ideas than just rides. In 1978, Cedar Point purchased Valleyfair,
an amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota. Valleyfair had opened just two years prior,
with an initial $7.5 million dollar investment. Their first two years of operation were successful,
but the owners of the park wanted to accelerate its expansion and therefore needed additional
investment. As a result, Cedar Point acquired the park,
sharing their amusements experience. Though, while Cedar Point was purchasing smaller
amusement parks, other amusement park operators were looking to purchase Cedar Point. By 1975, the park was attracting over 3 million
visitors a year, which made them attractive to external buyers, including Taft Broadcasting
Co, MCA inc, and Marriott. However the park turned all offers down and
began developing its own legacy. This was kickstarted in 1982 when Cedar Point
and Valleyfair became a member of the newly formed Cedar Fair Partnership, the parent
company of the two parks, and the name we know today. Five years later, in 1987, Valleyfair’s
General Manager Richard “Dick” Kinzel became the president of Cedar Fair. Dick would go on to lead the company on an
extremely competitive path, one filled with innovative rides and more park acquisitions. 1987 also saw ValleyFair’s attendance surpass
1 million for the first time. A year later, Soak City, a large scale water
park, opened at Cedar Point. In 1989, Kinzel debuted Magnum XL-200 at Cedar
Point, the world’s first first full circuit roller coaster to break the 61 meter 200 ft.
height barrier, being dubbed a hypercoaster in the process. The development of Magnum would establish
Cedar Fair’s passion to build record breaking and innovative rides, and would also serve
as the catalyst for the coaster wars - a period in time which saw theme parks battle to build
the world’s tallest roller coasters. The 1990s only saw the growth of Cedar Point,
and Cedar Fair as a whole, accelerate further. In 1991, Cedar Point built Mean Streak, the
world’s tallest wooden roller coaster. The following year, Cedar Fair acquired it’s
third amusement park, Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Pennsylvania at the
cost of $48 million. Then in 1995, Cedar Fair purchased Worlds
of Fun and Oceans of Fun, another amusement park, located near Kansas City Missouri. The introduction of these new properties to
Cedar Fair’s portfolio saw the company’s revenue grow even further. By 1996, Cedar Fair was host to over six million
visitors annually, and generated revenues of roughly $250 million USD. Their success led to further growth. In 1997 Cedar Fair purchased Knott’s Berry
Farm in Buena Park, California. This would become the chain’s first property
to operate year round, providing revenue at all times. Alongside Knott’s Berry Farm, the company
also acquired Knott’s Camp Snoopy located at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. By 1999, attendance across all Cedar Fair
properties had reached a whopping 11.8 million. The strategy of rapid expansion continued
well into the 2000s. In 2001, Cedar Fair purchased Michigan’s
Adventure in Muskegon, Michigan, for $27.6 Million dollars. Though on the smaller side, the park was deemed
to have a large potential to grow. This purchase was also accompanied by Cedar
Fair acquiring two different Knott’s Soak City water parks, both located in California. The chain continued to expand. In 2004 they built their first indoor water
park Castaway Bay in Sandusky, Ohio; and purchased another amusement park, Six Flags Worlds of
Adventure in Aurora, Ohio. Acquired at the cost of $145 million USD,
Cedar Fair quickly changed the name of the park to Geauga Lake. The following year, they expanded the site
through the construction of a $26 million USD water park, Wildwater Kingdom. By 2005, the company entertained roughly 12.7
million guests each year, which brought in $569 million USD in revenue. Though, it wasn’t all success for Cedar
Fair. Prior to it’s purchase, Geauga Lake had
been declining in popularity. Cedar Fair hoped they could turn its fate
around and reestablish the popularity of the park. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. At the end of the 2006 season two roller coasters
were removed from the park and relocated to other Cedar Fair properties. Then, in 2007, they announced that the park
would close permanently. Although, the water park, Wildwater Kingdom,
would continue to operate for a further few years, until its closure in September of 2016. Bad news continued to follow. In 2007, Cedar Fair failed to reach a licensing
agreement for its Campy Snoopy park within the Mall of America. This led to the Mall of America operating
the park alone, eventually rebranding it to Nickelodeon Universe. Despite the challenges encountered in 2007,
Cedar Fair continued to grow by making their largest acquisition yet. They purchased all of the properties owned
by Paramount Parks for $1.24 billion USD. This included 5 amusement parks, Kings Island,
Kings Dominion, Canada’s Wonderland, Carowinds and Paramount’s Great America. The acquisition also included other smaller
properties, such as Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the rights to manage
the Bonfante Gardens Family Theme Park in Gilroy, California. Upon the purchase of the Paramount properties,
Cedar Fair rebranded itself, becoming the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. More recently, the company’s expansion has
slowed down. In 2011, Dick Kinzel retired as CEO of Cedar
Fair, with Matt Ouimet, former president of Disney Cruise Line and Disneyland Resort,
taking his place. Then in 2012 and 2013 respectively, the chain
sold both Knott’s Splash City properties, one to SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, and
the other to CNL Lifestyle Property. In 2017, CEO Matt Ouimet stepped down and
Richard Zimmerman, former COO of Cedar Fair, took his position. Most recently, in 2019, the company purchased
Schlitterbahn New Braunfels Waterpark & Resort and Schlitterbahn Waterpark Galveston, both
located in Texas, for $261 million USD. Today, the Cedar Fair entertainment Company
owns 11 different amusement parks, scattered at various points across North America. These include: California’s Great America,
Canada’s Wonderland, Carowinds, Cedar Point, Dorney Park, Kings Dominion, Kings Island,
Knott’s Berry Farm, Michigan’s Adventure, Valleyfair and Worlds of Fun. Though, the company has only built and owned
one of these parks from its inception. Upon acquiring many of its properties, Cedar
Fair goes through a phase of often rapid development. For example, aftering purchasing Valleyfair
in 1978, the chain built Corkscrew, an Arrow Dynamic custom looping roller coaster. The ride was similar to the Corkscrew built
at Cedar Point just 4 years earlier. Cedar Fair acquired Dorney Park in 1992, and
Worlds of Fun in 1995. Both saw the addition of a large scale hyper
coaster, Steel Force and Mamba respectively. Each ride is somewhat similar to Magnum XL-200
at Cedar Point, but is instead built by D.H. Morgan Manufacturing. Knott’s Berry Farm was acquired by Cedar
Fair in 1997 and 5 years later, Xcelerator, the world’s first hydraulic launch coaster,
opened at the park. Finally, Cedar Fair purchased Canada’s Wonderland,
Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds and California’s Great America in 2006. All four of the larger sized parks saw sizable
investments shortly after. Three B&M hyper coasters were built in 2008,
2009 and 2010; Behemoth at Canada’s Wonderland, Diamondback at Kings Island and Intimidator
at Carowinds respectively. Whilst Kings Dominion saw the construction
of Intimidator 305, an Intamin Giga coaster, also in 2010. Many of the chain’s larger theme parks have
continued to see large scale roller coaster investments periodically over time. Orion, a B&M giga coaster opened at Kings
Island in 2020, whilst 2019 saw the construction of Copperhead Strike at Carowinds, a MACK
Rides multi-launch coaster; and Yukon Striker at Canada’s Wonderland, the world’s largest
B&M dive coaster. Through the Cedar Fair chain, multiple park
events take place throughout the year. During the Halloween season, all of their
amusement parks feature some form of Halloween Haunt, which sees multiple scare mazes and
scare zones set up throughout the parks to give guests an additional thrilling experience. After this, some Cedar Fair attractions hold
Winterfest, a holiday themed event giving guests the opportunity to engage in winter
activities with a limited selection of attractions open. The chain has also begun to roll out other
events throughout the season too, including Grand Carnivale, an event themed to regions
of the world and offering food and beverages of various cultures; and Monster Jam: Thunder
Alley, a Monster Truck experience giving guests the chance to learn about the sport and take
a ride in a Monster Truck. Since the debut of Magnum XL-200 at Cedar
Point, Cedar Fair has consistently taken risks in new roller coaster technology. The amusement chain has constructed some of
the world’s tallest and fastest roller coasters over its existence, across its diverse portfolio
of parks. The company quickly began building the world's
biggest versions of a specific ride type. Raptor and Mantis at Cedar Point became the
world’s largest invested coaster and stand-up coaster respectively. Cedar Point’s Millennium Force also debuted
as the world’s tallest roller coaster in 2000, becoming the first ride to break the
300ft 91m height barrier. Xcelerator at Knott’s Berry Farm became
the first roller coaster to utilise a hydraulic launch, which is capable of propelling riders
to speeds of up to 132kmh 82mph in just 2.3 seconds. This technology was then used to construct
Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point in 2003, a ride which became the world’s tallest
and fastest roller coaster. In 2010, Cedar Fair would go on to construct
the 2nd giga coaster in North America, Intimidator 305. This was followed by North America’s 3rd,
4th and 5th giga coaster in 2012, 2015 and 2020 respectively; Leviathan at Canada’s
Wonderland, Fury 325 at Carowinds, and Orion at Kings Island. Cedar Fair haven’t been afraid to construct
the world’s largest versions of any ride, leading to many of the chain’s roller coasters
featuring impressive statistics. On the global stage, Cedar Fair ranks as the
5th biggest amusement park chain that operates in North America, in order of total attendance,
based on 2019 figures. When considering operators of regional American
theme parks, excluding the likes of Disney and Universal, Cedar Fair ranks 3rd, behind
the likes of Merlin Entertainments and Six Flags. Though, it could be argued that Six Flags
is their main rival. In 2019, Six Flags properties attracted close
to 33 million visitors in 2019, compared to the 28 million of the Cedar Fair company. Both are host to a range of amusement parks
across North America, and each offer their own lucrative season pass which enables guests
to visit any Cedar Fair or Six Flags park across the continent. Looking back, it’s impressive that one of
the world’s largest amusement park chains was created from just a single attraction,
Cedar Point. The company’s parks are known for their
large collections of thrill rides, often being home to some of the biggest roller coasters
within their state. For many, this allows Cedar Fair to achieve
their primary mission of making people happy. Have you been to a Cedar Fair park? If so, we’d love to hear about your experiences
with the amusement chain in the comments down below. Thank you for watching, and, we’ll see you
all next time.
