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Cedar Fair and Six Flags ARE merging

Cedar Fair, Six Flags agree to merge; new company will be headquartered in North Carolina

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2023/11/cedar-fair-six-flags-agree-to-merge-new-company-will-be-headquartered-in-north-carolina.html

The new company, which will be called Six Flags, will feature a combined 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resorts across 17 states, Canada and Mexico. A press statement called the transaction a “merger of equals.”

Richard Zimmerman becomes CEO and the majority of the company will be half and half. The new company will use FUN but will retain the Six Flags name.

9 comments

HobbitFoot

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So they've basically become a monopoly outside of heavily themed parks in California and Florida?

bobkmertz

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IMHO Close to it. SeaWorld has major parks in Virginia and Texas but outside of that there is really only much smaller chains or independent parks.

IntegrationLabGod

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I like that all access passes will work at more parks now but that's about the only positive I see here. Terrible news for fans of Intimin and especially RMC. Hopefully Great Adventure continues maintaining El Toro and Kingda Ka but I'm not overly hopeful for either ride.

Zectivi

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Woah! I don't follow this kind of stuff too closely, but I never saw this coming. Also, having been to both, I like Cedar Fair parks a lot more than Six Flags, so I see the CEO news as a positive.

bobkmertz

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Yea, thank God it's not Selim taking the CEO position..... CF certainly has the edge over SF but recently I've felt the companies are a lot more similar (management wise) than they've ever been. I do feel like this is an excuse for complacency but time will tell.

stooth64

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I’m wondering if the legacy Six Flags memberships will gain Cedar Fair access or if they’ll be trying to get rid of those in favor of a new pricing structure. I’m still maintaining a $7/month all park membership from a few years ago and it seems too good to be true to get all Cedar Fair parks as well. I already bought a 2024 Cedar Fair pass, so I’m interested to see how this plays out moving forward.

bobkmertz

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I wouldn't be surprised if those legacy plans go away completely. It's almost like their perfect excuse to dump them.

I haven't renewed my Cedar Fair pass but I did get a Siz Flags pass already for 2024..... I think I may hold off on renewing my CF one for a bit haha.

stooth64

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I’m not expecting any changes for the 2024 season since pass sales are well underway and the merger isn’t finalized until sometime next year. Then again, Six Flags has no shame completely redoing pass structure multiple times a year. Maybe Cedar Fair will bring some sanity there lol

I needed to buy a 2024 pass anyways to cover visits to Knott’s Berry Farm and Carowinds this month. Remainder of 2023 and all of 2024 was definitely worth buying at the introductory price. I definitely didn’t predict a Six Flags - Cedar Fair merger during my pass-purchasing process.

bobkmertz

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I have a current 2023 pass for CF so that's the main reason I'm in no hurry.... Since KD killed year round operations that gives me clear until spring until I'd have a need for a CF 2024 pass.