BoddaH1994

Be careful. If you make purchasing decisions based on the value of the product that they are offering then @DispatchMaster might call you a complainer or something.

And, as predicted, there are mindless park sycophants who will applaud the park for offering much less for the same or higher prices. The Soviets used to call them, “useful idiots.” I hope the taste of that sphincter is worth your integrity.

Maybe, but for a certain percentage of the population they look at the calendar and say, “I’ll go a day when they’re open later.” Some may never follow through.

Okay, now do cutting Winterfest shows but still charging the same admission price. I’ll go first! ”OmG would U rAthEr THey havE showZ wiT pREformers Wit frOggy thrOTES.”

I don’t think it’s an accident. I found the page just navigating from the main page. This is probably really it

While other chains are adding operating hours…

10:1 says that when KI (finally) announces the event they count things that weren’t shows as shows, so they’ll cut 4 or 5 shows but the show count will go from 18 to 16 or something… This almost certainly accounts for why nothing has been announced. They are, once again, e-begging for your votes in another USA Today poll.

Or flat. They’re adding capital so typically that comes with an expectation of increased pass sales at a park like Kings Island.

I don’t think they’re concerned with WF attendance. I think they are trying to get people in the gate so that they can attempt to leverage them for season pass sales.

Normally I’d agree, but Kings Island was kind of unique in not offering a Groupon deal, especially since Cedar Point has done it for years.

This is interesting. I’ve never seen KI on Groupon. I’ve seen Cedar Point and even some really big players like BGT and Universal. http://www.groupon.com/deals/gl-kings-island-winterfest23?utm_campaign=UserReferral_mih&utm_source=undefined I suppose it’s a good opportunity for friends and family to get tickets.

Appreciate the support from everyone! We try to get a cadence of three episodes a week, all of which a more bite-sized than the main pod. Typically 15 - 25 minutes max. https://linktr.ee/towertopics

We were already sucking up.

Alternative history? Sweet!

You did great! If you prefer to listen, you can reach the podcasting apps here: https://linktr.ee/towertopics

Oh yes.

They said something about how the C Corp would have some sort of tax advantage in the call. I don’t want to talk out of turn because I don’t know tax law, but I wanted to throw that out there. Not trying to school ya! I bet most people think the way you did.

These two chains were already owned by large corporations. So I don’t think that’s gonna change much from that aspect. They were always at the mercy of their share/unit holders. This argument would work if Six Flags bought Dollywood, but the corporate governance of SIX and FUN isn’t changing all that much. Will this be good or bad? Who knows, but this certainly isn’t a case of Walmart coming to town and running everyone out of business. It’s more like if Walmart and Target merged, but they kept being Target and Walmart (if that makes sense). You could have made that argument when FUN bought Paramount, but that was a net positive, I think. I wish you would clarify about “righting the ship.” What do you think is too far gone to be fixed at this point?

For those of you who think this is a monopoly, you need to know what a monopoly is. Remember, Six Flags won’t own every aspect of entertainment. They’ll own the local park. The local park largely competes with other outside avenues to that are fighting for your discretionary income. As @DispatchMaster stated, the parks aren’t competing with each other, with the exception of some small overlapping markets. Kings Island isn’t trying to draw guests away from Kentucky Kingdom. They’re trying to draw fans away from the Reds. One could even argue that Disney World is a much stronger competitor than your neighboring park. With that said, the competition still exists. The buying power is stronger, thus typically leading to higher margins, which is something both chains desperately need. Let’s just hope and pray that they do take the best of both chains and do something special rather than making it kind of dismal like some of the Six Flags parks. How is this a referendum on capitalism? It’s two companies who were already publicly traded. If a private equity firm had stepped in, bought up the shares, and started making cuts then I could see a first semester freshman philosophy major blaming capitalism, but this is nonsense. You earn money, you choose what to do with the extra. The parks compete for that money. The parks absolutely exist because of capitalism.

Depends on the market. CP and KI certainly used to compete for Columbus. But that’s a A/B choice. But you’re right - the crossover, as people are thinking about it, is very small.

Someone on Facebook was asking where the performers were assigned, and I distinctly remember some commenting with those shows, so they’re safe.

That and probably Sounds of the Nativity. So that’s probably two shows down.

Certainly not out of the question. On my pod a few weeks ago, Joel Manby admitted that HFE threw their hat in the ring to purchase Paramount. I’ve actually heard of rumor attempts for them to buy KI as late as 2014. HFE clearly wants KI, they would just need it peeled off in order to afford it.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/cedar-fair-explores-merger-with-six-flags-sources-2023-11-01/

Conveniently announced after the bulk of their passes were sold.