Archive: January, 2010

Jeff, Carrie, Mike and Pat review this week's news in the amusement industry.

• Dick K. says he looks forward to running parks again, which in his mind doesn't apparently have anything to do with finance.
• Units trade up over Apollo offer, lawsuits in play, execs will get buy-in to new company, unit holders are annoyed.
• Will the company get the two-thirds vote necessary to approve the sale?
• Around 4 million people signed up for free Disney World tickets on their birthday, and about one-third used them. Great promotion in terms of the cost versus benefit for the company.
• Freestyle gets sued in deal we don't understand with the former owners. Add them to the list of people not getting paid while waiting for "new investors." Meanwhile BMW is suing them for using the Mini trademark, ironically while closed for the season.
• By the way, Mini is a pretty cool brand with more personality than most auto brands.
• Six Flags may emerge from bankruptcy in March.
• Orlando hoping for ripple effect around the new Harry Potter stuff at Islands of Adventure. Folks who have seen the construction are pretty excited about it.
• Great Wolf ready to growl into the Pittsburgh market. All things considered, it's funny that they've been as slow to expand as they have.
• Merlin buys Cypress Gardens, and speculation begins over whether or not it will be a Legoland property. Jeff thinks that'd be a bad idea to go that far with it.
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Jeff, Carrie, Mike and Pat review this week's news in the amusement industry.

• It costs $200 to form an LLC in Washington. What's up with that?
• Lawsuits filed to block the Cedar Fair sale.
• Is the offering price from Apollo fair?
• Investors are asking if the debt situation is impossible. Jeff thinks with looser credit markets in 2012 and different leadership, a turn-around without a sale is possible, even if it is risky.
• Mike asks if this whole fiasco makes Dick Kinzel a failure. Clearly he's ruined his legacy. And it has never been an issue of Cedar Fair sucking as much as they're "C+ students," as Gonch puts it.
• There's some amount of anxiety over what Apollo will do with the company if the sale does succeed.
• The Knott family was apparently not given a heads up, despite being significant unit holders.
• Happy new year! The group is saddened by the state of Dick Clark. And someone should punch Carson Daly in the face.
• Newsflash: Congress still isn't interested in regulating amusement rides. Sorry, Ed Markey. That he doesn't suggest anything proactive makes his crusade even more pointless.
• Legoland California is rocking it with their aquarium. Kids love them, then they're too cool for them, then they like them again.
• Gonch shares his experience in yanking kids out of school to go to Walt Disney World.
• Marvel's acquisition by Disney approved by shareholders.
• Charmland rears its ugly head again, as usual in reference to Cedar Point.
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