Category Archives: Cedar Fair

Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories

Cedar Fair Retains Korn/Ferry International To Assist With Ongoing Succession Planning Process

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Cedar Fair Press Release

SANDUSKY, OHIO, December 6, 2010 – The Board of Directors of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: FUN), a leader in regional amusement parks, water parks and active entertainment, today announced that it has retained Korn/Ferry International, one of the world’s leading executive recruiting firms, to assist the Company with the final phase of its previously announced and ongoing succession planning process.

Among other things, Korn/Ferry will work with the special committee of independent directors of the Cedar Fair Board, which includes C. Thomas Harvie, David L. Paradeau and John M. Scott III, to identify and evaluate qualified candidates to succeed current Chief Executive Officer Dick Kinzel, whose employment agreement expires on January 2, 2012.  This confidential process will include both internal and external candidates and is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2011.

“Today’s action is an important step toward the completion of our thorough process for a seamless leadership transition,” said Tom Harvie, Cedar Fair’s lead director of the special committee.  “We look forward to working with Korn/Ferry to identify and evaluate candidates who can help lead the Company in its plan to deliver long-term growth and value creation.”

Harvie said that, out of fairness to all involved and to maintain the confidentiality of the process, the Company would not comment further on the process or any candidates under consideration until a successor is named.

Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories

Kinzel points out he’s nearing retirement

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From the Sandusky Register…

Dick Kinzel, Cedar Fair’s president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board, says the latest corporate drama at his company could be much ado about not very much.

As the Sandusky Register and other newspapers have reported, Cedar Fair’s biggest investor, Q Funding, has filed SEC documents calling for a shareholder vote on whether Cedar Fair should find a new board chairman while keeping Kinzel aboard as CEO.

Kinzel, 70, points out that he’s scheduled to leave around the end of 2011, anyway, and the company is actively is looking for a successor.

“I’m only going to be here one more year,” he said. “I think the process will kind of take care of itself.”

When we spoke to Kinzel, we asked how the political changes in Washington, D.C., including the Republican takeover of the U.S. House, would affect his company. I’m afraid his answer won’t generate a big page one story for me.

“I don’t think that’s going to affect us at all, to be honest with you,” he said. “We go with who’s in control. We just operate in accordance with the rules.”

— Tom Jackson

Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories

Cedar Fair seeks Kinzel successor

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From the Sandusky Register…

SANDUSKY

Cedar Fair says it has launched the hunt for a new CEO to replace Dick Kinzel, 70, who has run the company since 1986.

Tuesday, Kinzel said his employment agreement ends on Jan. 2, 2012, and Cedar Fair’s board is working to find a successor.

“As is the case with any public company, this is a confidential process that is expected to include both internal and external candidates,” Kinzel said. “Out of fairness to all involved, we will have no further comment until we are ready to announce a new CEO.”

Cedar Fair spokeswoman Stacy Frole said she can’t offer a timetable on when a new CEO will be announced.

Also Tuesday, Cedar Fair announced its 2010 third-quarter and nine-month results, with attendance and revenues both up through October. Promotions were also awarded to four company executives.

Net revenues for the first nine months of 2010 are up $37.4 million from the same months in 2009. Last year’s revenue in that period was $810.5 million; this year, it’s $847.9 million.

Through Sept. 25, Cedar Fair’s amusement parks had 19.8 million visitors, up 6 percent — about 1 million people — from the same period last year, Kinzel said.

Results through October appear even better. Based on preliminary results, attendance is up 8 percent — about 1.6 million people — through the first 10 months, with revenues going from $914 million to $974 million.

Cedar Fair officials also said they plan to resume quarterly cash distributions in 2011, beginning with 8 cents per limited partner unit in March 2011. A total of about 35 cents will likely be paid next year, they said.

The company had previously announced it would pay 25 cents per unit in December.

Cedar Fair also announced three new executive vice presidents Tuesday.

Those include Peter Crage, formerly corporate vice president and chief financial officer; H. Philip Bender, formerly regional vice president since June 2006 and, prior to that, vice president and general manager of Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Mo.; and Richard A. Zimmerman, who had been regional vice president since June 2007.

Those employees will handle more of Kinzel’s day-to-day duties, which Kinzel said will provide him more time to focus on growing the business and developing the company’s executives.

David R. Hoffman, formerly vice president of corporate tax, is now vice president of corporate finance and tax.

Cedar Fair’s biggest investor, Dallas area investment banker Geoffrey Raynor, has filed a request with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, asking for a special meeting of investors to consider two proposals: Bring in a new chairman of the board and have Kinzel relinquish that post to concentrate on his CEO duties; and, secondly, make an increase in cash distributions a bigger priority than paying off the company’s debt.

Raynor’s company, Q Funding III, is still awaiting SEC approval of a proxy statement that would allow Raynor to begin his campaign for the changes, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories, Rides, RollerCoasters

Cedar Fair Wins Top Honors

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Cedar Fair Press Release

SANDUSKY, Ohio – Families looking for world-class fun and thrills will want to find their closest Cedar Fair Entertainment Company amusement or water park as the company earned several top honors at Amusement Today’s 2010 Golden Ticket Awards celebration, including the coveted “Best Amusement Park in the World” honor for its flagship Cedar Point amusement park/resort in Ohio. This marks the 13th consecutive year that Cedar Point has earned that title.

Cedar Fair also took home top honors for having the “Best Kids’ Area” for the 10th year in a row at Kings Island amusement park, in Mason, Ohio, and the “Best Steel Roller Coaster in the World” for its record-shattering Millennium Force roller coaster at Cedar Point.

“We are honored to receive these prestigious awards,” stated Dick Kinzel, Cedar Fair’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We strive to provide our guests with the absolute best in thrills, chills and family fun and these awards are a testament to that.”

Two new roller coasters made their highly-anticipated debuts this summer – Intimidator at Carowinds in Charlotte, N.C., and Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion in Virginia and both were a huge hit with coaster lovers. Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion earned the No. 2 spot in the “Best New Ride for 2010” category, while Intimidator at Carowinds came in at No. 4. Both scream machines also earned a spot in the “Top 50 Steel Roller Coasters in the World” list, along with numerous other Cedar Fair roller coasters. In fact, Cedar Fair placed nine coasters in the Top 25 alone, including four of the Top 10! Three Cedar Fair wooden coasters earned spots in the “Top 50 Wooden Roller Coasters in the World” category, with the legendary Beast at Kings Island finishing in the Top 10.

Guests looking for even more thrills and chills will enjoy special Halloween-themed events at a majority of Cedar Fair’s parks this fall. Two of these events, Knott’s Scary Farm and Kings Island’s Halloween Haunt, earned Top 5 billing in the “Best Halloween Event” category.

Other awards included Gilroy Gardens placing No. 3 for “Best Landscaping” and Knott’s Berry Farm placing fourth in the “Best Kids’ Area” category.

The Golden Ticket Awards are some of the most prestigious awards in the amusement industry. They are presented annually to the “best of the best” in the industry and are calculated from an international poll conducted by Amusement Today, an Arlington, Texas-based publication that covers amusement and water park news and trends.

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: “FUN”) is a publicly traded partnership headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio. The Company, which owns and operates 11 amusement parks, six outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels, is one of the largest regional amusement park operators in the world. Its parks are located in Ohio, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, and Toronto, Ontario. Cedar Fair also operates the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park in California under a management contract. Cedar Fair’s flagship park, Cedar Point, has been consistently voted the “Best Amusement Park in the World” in a prestigious annual poll conducted by Amusement Today newspaper.

Admission, Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories

Weather + new rides + better economy = strong summer for Cedar Fair parks

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From the Sandusky Register…

SANDUSKY

Cedar Point isn’t the only Cedar Fair property that had a strong summer.

Cedar Fair has seen a $32 million increase in revenues so far in 2010, according to company officials.

Most of the extra revenue comes from a major increase in attendance at its 11 amusement parks and six water parks. About 18.7 million people visited the Cedar Fair parks this year, up 5 percent from last year.

Officials attributed the strong performance to investments in new rides, a better economy and great weather.

Although the economy hasn’t seen significant improvement, most of the mass layoffs that dominated the headlines last year have ended, which has helped the parks, said Lee Alexakos, Cedar Fair’s vice president of marketing and advertising.

“I think, last year, people were really nervous with all the layoffs,” Alexakos said. “The economy hasn’t seen a marked improvement, but it has stabilized. All those layoffs — that has leveled off.”

Cedar Fair’s new rides have also drawn big crowds.

In Sandusky, the arrival of Shoot the Rapids, a water ride, perfectly coincided with a summer sizzling with record heat.

And two new roller coasters at Cedar Fair parks in North Carolina and Virginia drew major interest.

The southern region, which contains those two parks, has done especially well, with a 13 percent increase in attendance.

“Both coasters are unlike anything the South had before,” Alexakos said. “Those were a big hit down there.”

Online promotions, season-pass changes at California’s Knott’s Berry Farm and targeted marketing strategies to groups like the military and Facebook fans have all helped too, officials said.

“We are pleased with our overall performance this summer,” Dick Kinzel, the company’s chairman, said in a press release. “We are hopeful this will continue as we enter our award-winning Halloween season.”