MADISON, Wis./CINCINNATI, Ohio, May 4, 2005  Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: WOLF), the nation’s largest owner, operator and developer of drive-to family resorts featuring indoor waterparks and other family-oriented entertainment activities, and Paramount Parks today announced the formation of a joint venture to develop a 39-acre, $100+ million Great Wolf Lodge resort at Paramount’s Kings Island, in Mason, Ohio (just north of Cincinnati). Great Wolf Resorts will operate the resort under its Great Wolf Lodge brand and will maintain the majority equity position in the project. Paramount’s Kings Island, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIAB), will have a minority equity interest in the development by contributing the land needed for the resort.

Full Press Release:

http://www.pki.com/news/detail.cfm?item_id=160

I hope that they'll give discounts to journalists.

Have a great day!

Italian Chef

Until a new campground is built Iam gonna have to check this place out.

By the time the lodge is built, a new campground will be open, I'd bet...though it will still be worth checking out.

That is the one thing that was not mentioned in the article. I am glad to see that Paramount Parks (and Kings Island) will still own the land that the Lodge sits on. Hopefully, this will mean good things for PKI (and the return of winter fun at the park to keep those hotel rooms full!)

I hope that they'll give discounts to journalists.

Have a great day!

Italian Chef

Funny...the journalism school I graduated from sort of frowned on situations like that

But seriously...as someone who writes travel features, I'm sure you could finagle a comp'ed room as "research" in writing a review. (Might be a good way to spend a January weekend...)

Joel

This is a great plus for PKI, dispite the campgound leaving...but we'll get a new one next year!

It says it will have a large arcade...

I like it now!

While the meeting area is smaller (40,000 sq ft vs. 50,000 sq ft) than was initially rumored, the waterpark is going to be pretty darn big by Ohio indoor standards:

Kalahari (Sandusky)-- 80,000 sq ft

Great Wolf (PKI)-- 75,000 sq ft

Fort Rapids (Holiday Inn East--Columbus)-- 58,000 sq ft

Castaway Bay (Sandusky)-- 38,000 sq ft

Great Wolf (Sandusky)-- 33,000 sq ft

As I've said multiple times in the past...I think this is a GREAT project!

Joel

It says it will have a large arcade...

I like it now!

HEH HEH LOSER LOSER jk Brad u Rock!!! Arcades are awesome I love skee ball!

Yes i want to stay there whenever it gets up and runnin.

The only reason i would want to go there is because of the arcade

We should increase our indoor water park by 10,000 feet jsut to out do Cedar Point..........again!

haha I agree... we should open up some more of that land behind Flight of Fear and build a huge steel coaster and beat all the steel records lol ..

haha I agree... we should open up some more of that land behind Flight of Fear and build a huge steel coaster and beat all the steel records lol .. 

AMEN! Finaly, somebody shares my wishes...LOL.

I would go but I live 20 minutes away from the park so it would be kind of dumb. I wonder how much it would cost to go and see the indoor water park. I would like to get a look at that though.

Over at Motley Fool it states that Viacom will receive a 15% interest in the new lodge in exchange for the land that Great Wolfs will build the lodge on. So, will Viacom still own the land, or is the 15% the exchange (instead of cash) that Great Wolf is paying Viacom for the land?

There hasn't really been enough information made public to know for sure how the deal is structured. However, I'd guess that Paramount Park's 15% stake is their "price" for selling the land to Great Wolf.

Generally, the cost of land is 15-25% of a hotel's total development cost. However, since this hotel's construction costs will be higher (due to the waterpark), 15% is probably a good number to use as the land's value in the overall project.

Great Wolf also has a development deal with Ripley's Entertainment in Niagra Falls. In that case, however, I've read that Ripley is developing the entire project, and just licensing the Great Wolf brand.

Joel

Well with the Kings Island Hotel and Great Wolf Lodge I can see this as a big plus. I only live 30 mins. from the park so I don't think I will be staying their.

GWL is a plus, giving the park year round service.. However, doing it at the expense of not having the campground is really intelligent.. It is a given that the old campground was in disrepair, but they could have started construction on a new one earlier this year, opening up the old one until construction (on the GWL) was to begin this summer...

I live within 90 minutes of GWL Traverse City, never been there yet, too expensive.. We have been using the PKI Campground for 18 years (when it was a Yogi and before) every June for 10 days at a time.. This year will be the 1st time that we will not be at PKI for any length of time..We will spend 1 day at PKI and the other 9 at PKD, and the PKD Campground...There are other campgrounds around the area, but none have cabins to accomodate us..Hopefully a new campground will be in the works for next year, if not, we( and the rest of our group) will not be buying season passes for 2006..

Rick

That should give Caribbean Cove in Indianapolis some great competition...

It is my understanding that there will be another campground ready for next season. But, that can change depending on what PKI wants to do, and what they see as a wise investment.

That should give Caribbean Cove in Indianapolis some great competition...

Hate to get off-topic, but I didn't know that waterpark had its own site. I live about 15 minutes north of that place and have yet to visit it! It looks nice...I watched it being built this past year.

I hope that the rates are cheaper in the winter. That's the only time I'd rent a room since I live 45 minutes away.

Italian Chef

I imagine weekend rates will be pretty high year-round, and any time they're hosting meetings of any substantial size. Castaway Bay runs some pretty good mid-week deals during the Winter, so perhaps Great Wolf will as well.

They run a year-round ADR of $211, so it's never going to be priced like a Red Roof

In other openings (Williamsburg, VA for instance), Great Wolf has done a soft opening "open house" for locals. It's likely they'll do the same thing for the PKI property...

Joel

I live about 30 minutes away (10 minutes north of Downtown in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Northside), so I wouldn't stay there either.

There's a lot of unused land between The Beast and Tomb Riader that has great potential for park expansion or a gigacoaster.

When does the land prep. start for the Great Wolf Lodge?

Do you think that the new hotel will be our new item for 2006 or will we get a ride or something else. ????

The hotel is being built by Great Wolf...not PKI. So, it shouldn't affect any upcoming PKI capital projects.