Will Cedar Point/Cedar Fair inc buy USO/IOA ? Are they for sale?

[Bob O]

On another web site-coasterbuzz.com their is a rumor that USO/IOA is going to be up for sale and that the company that own cedar Point may purchase the theme parks. For you experts on the parks/employees is their any truth to these rumors or are they BS. Do you think this would be a good or bad thing? Do you think the parks may be sold due to the large debt of the parent company vivendi which isnt a theme park company?

 

[fboy9287]

personaly i think that cedar fair is expanding too fast-and that is bad. but on the other hand they are known around the globe. also any big theme park chain wants something in orlando. ie great weather, lots of people etc. i personaly don't know maybe barry will know if this thing would be true

 

[Earl]

It's B.S.. First, Orlando is only have owned by Vivendi-Universal. Secondly, they would not break-up the parks. Any purchase would include Orlando, Hollywood, and their interest in Japan, Spain, and Bejing. Secondly, it's not up for sale. It's way to close to the merger to speculate anything just yet.

But, wouldn't it be cool if Dreamworks had an eye on the place?

 

[CoasterFEV]

Total B.S.

First, I would honestly be surprised if Cedar Fair could offer enough money to purchase Universal's Orlando resort (not to mention the issues Earl mentioned with Hollywood, Japan, Spain, and Beijing).

Also, the top Vivendi executives just finished up a week-long conference in Orlando about 2 weeks ago. Most had never seen the resort - but by the end of the week I've been told that the Vivendi executives couldn't stop talking about the Orlando property and the potential it has for development, cross promotion, and expansion.

Universal Orlando ain't for sale - stop reading those rumor sites so much.

 

[johare]

Earl...that would be cool! Would also be cool if Universal bought Dreamworks!

 

[Beckles]

Originally posted by johare
Earl...that would be cool! Would also be cool if Universal bought Dreamworks!

I don't think SKG (Speilberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen, that's what the "SKG" in "Dreamworks SKG" stands for) started their own studio to sell out ... they don't need the money, and if they wanted to work for someone else, they wouldn't have bothered starting their own studio in the first place (the only possible caveat being that their plans to build their own lot fell through, but they may be better off in the end not having sunk a lot of money in their own lot since they're doing pretty good now using other studios' lots).

 

[Tony M]

Dreamworks and AOL recently broke off talks that would have had the SKG gobbled up by the ever-expanding internet conglomerate.
In related news, MSN and AOL also broke off talks about the future of the internet and how the two could actually work together in a mutual relationship towards it's healthy growth. It seems their philosophy are still too greatly diverse. MSN wanted to expand via a software emphasis while AOL based it's business plan with entertainment as it's cornerstone. Leading back to the possibility of the Dreamworks acquisition.
You see, everything is for sale.
HAVE FUN

 

[WebmasterBarry]

I would doubt it. Universal already got bought by Vivendi. Besides, Cedar Fair has enough parks for now.

 

[Notatourist]

No offense, but that one's a funny one.

 

[Bob O]

Thanks for the replies! As they say any rumor can be passed around on the internet, just wanted to see what people who are more knowledgeable from the area would say about this.

 

[fboy9287]

As i know most of these rumors are wrong but i just love talking about them!

 

[robvia]

Cedar Fair just bought Michigans Great Adventure for something like 25 million. The big attraction there is a wooden coaster called Shivering Timbers.

Six Flags has been doing the same thing, buying up the independent parks instead of building new ones. Then they add a few average rides. They did this with the park near Cleveland Ohio, it's called Six Flags World of Adventure. Problem is, the rides they installed aren't mega hits, they're just average. People are complaining about rude employees and dirty parks.
They just added a flying coaster, but it's not enough to make me want to fly up there and visit. This is why people don't think Six Flags will come to Orlando, because they'd have to build a park from scratch, and they don't do that.

Let's hope this practice of big companies gobbling up the smaller parks stops, because it's not working. In the long run, the employees become rude, the parks become dirty, and we only get average rides (clones) with no theaming.