https://ir.cedarfair.com/news/news-details/2019/Cedar-Fair-Reports-Full-Year-and-Fourth-Quarter-2018-Results/default.aspx

Record full year net revenues and record attendance in 2018.

Operating income was down 2% when compared to 2017 due to higher operating costs related to increased wages due to minimum wages increases.

8 minutes ago, CoastersRZ said:

https://ir.cedarfair.com/news/news-details/2019/Cedar-Fair-Reports-Full-Year-and-Fourth-Quarter-2018-Results/default.aspx

Record full year net revenues and record attendance in 2018.

Operating income was down 2% when compared to 2017 due to higher operating costs related to increased wages due to minimum wages increases.

Glad to see attendance went up considering they were having trouble at the start of the year. But if you installed 4 rollercoasters across the chain you’d probably expect more then 1% attendance growth. 

Awesome report! 

I would hardly expect more than 1% attendance growth with 2 of the rides plagued with issues, one being at a park where the locals hardly come out for a new ride anyway. 

42 minutes ago, chugh43 said:

Awesome report! 

I would hardly expect more than 1% attendance growth with 2 of the rides plagued with issues, one being at a park where the locals hardly come out for a new ride anyway. 

Out of curiosity which two rides are you referring two? I’d assume one of them would be rail blazer considering it’s a new model.

1 minute ago, Ben43065 said:

Out of curiosity which two rides are you referring two? I’d assume one of them would be rail blazer considering it’s a new model.

Steel Vengeance --- didn't operate as designed for most of the season as the accident, which led to one train op for a while, then 2 train and eventually 3 train (toward the end of the season) which led to long waits which also led to folks not going until all 3 trains were on the tracks. I had several folks share with me and publicly that they wouldn't visit until the ride was in full operation. 

Twisted Timbers --- also plagued by train issues which also led to long lines and not many folks coming until it was a consistent operation....this is also the park that their general area of folks don't show up with a massive new ride anyway.

2 minutes ago, chugh43 said:

Steel Vengeance --- didn't operate as designed for most of the season as the accident, which led to one train op for a while, then 2 train and eventually 3 train (toward the end of the season) which led to long waits which also led to folks not going until all 3 trains were on the tracks. I had several folks share with me and publicly that they wouldn't visit until the ride was in full operation. 

Twisted Timbers --- also plagued by train issues which also led to long lines and not many folks coming until it was a consistent operation....this is also the park that their general area of folks don't show up with a massive new ride anyway.

Do other RMC’s typically have a similar amount of problems? 

Just now, Ben43065 said:

Do other RMC’s typically have a similar amount of problems? 

I think each have had their own little issues...but nothing as major as these two and Lightning Rod at Dollywood.

On the earnings conference call, they noted that season pass represented more than 50% of their attendance.

They also touched on the loyalty rewards program.  It will be tested at select parks in 2019, before a broader roll out in 2020.  This program is encouraged to increase visits by season pass holders.

$140-150 million capital investment anticipated moving forward.

$140 million allocated for the 2019 capital budget.

44 minutes ago, chugh43 said:

I think each have had their own little issues...but nothing as major as these two and Lightning Rod at Dollywood.

It should also be noted that the trains used on both Steel Vengeance and Twisted Timbers were a completely new train design (from a technical standpoint) from RMC and they were the first coasters to use this design. Theoretically, this is what led to most of the issues. Unlike Twisted Cyclone at Six Flags Over Georgia, which had no major difficulties other than normal "wearing-in" new coaster hiccups. It was using the "normal" original RMC trains. 

Railblazer was also specifically mentioned in previous quarterly reports.  If I remember correctly, it opened later than expected.  

They say that season pass revenue and season pass numbers are up across all properties. I wonder how much of this is Q4FY18 simply cannibalizing the unit sales of Q1FY19 and early Q2 since there was so much incentive to purchase early.

But don`t they spread out the realization of their season pass sales (advanced purchases as they call them).  And didnt`t they say that advanced purchases were up 25% compared to this time last year?  Although you could be right.  With the access at the end of 2018 with a pass purchased, it could have pushed people into purchasing their passes earlier than they had in the past.  So the 25% increase could just be because of people that opted to buy earlier, instead of waiting until February, March or April.

In regards to the expansion of royalty programs what do you guys think it could be? In addition to that what parks do you think will test it out? I’d assume Kings Island would have a good chance of being one of the test parks.

I would assume it'll be similar to the FunPerks program we once had. More than likely with more App usage though (checking in to rides, into the park, buying items, etc.) 

Dorney and Kings Island tend to be the test parks...so we shall see.

7 hours ago, Ben43065 said:

In regards to the expansion of royalty programs what do you guys think it could be? In addition to that what parks do you think will test it out? I’d assume Kings Island would have a good chance of being one of the test parks.

Points for visits as well as points for purchases. It’s intended to drive repeat visits, but they’ll pepper in some per capita spending too.

Repeat visits among pass holders ultimately means that they hope to entice the pass holders to drop extra money in the park, and increase per capita spending.  If they are just getting a pass holder to visit an extra two visits without spending any additional money, that would push per capita spending down.

I'm one of those people helping to drive down per capita spending. I visited at least a dozen times last season and rarely spent any money at the park other than purchasing a poncho once or twice.