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.