Cedar Fair buys Six Flags park near Cleveland

<br>The owners of Cedar Point amusement park snapped up one of its chief competitors, and now they plan on returning the park near Cleveland to its roots. <br><br>Six Flags Worlds of Adventure will become

Thursday, March 11th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The owners of Cedar Point amusement park snapped up one of its chief competitors, and now they plan on returning the park near Cleveland to its roots.

Six Flags Worlds of Adventure will become Geauga Lake again _ a name it held for over a century before it was bought by Six Flags.

Cedar Fair LP, based in Sandusky, Ohio, will pay $145 million for the combined thrill ride and animal park, along with an adjacent hotel and campground.

Cedar Fair said Wednesday it plans to shut down the animal park and concentrate on the coasters and other rides.

``It will be traditional family amusement park and not a theme park,'' said Cedar Fair chairman Dick Kinzel.

Six Flags will retain ownership of all animals at the park and transfer them to its other parks.

Oklahoma City-based Six Flags Inc. also is selling seven of its eight European parks to a private investment firm. The deals for the Ohio park and those overseas will bring in $345 million.

Six Flags, with 39 theme parks nationwide, has had two straight years of attendance drops while its debt has grown to $2.3 billion.

The deals will allow it to pay down its debt and focus on its North American parks, chairman Kieran Burke said.

``It's definitely a start in the right direction for Six Flags because it allows them to reduce that massive debt,'' said Gary Slade, publisher of the trade magazine, Amusement Today.

``They unloaded two underperforming areas of the chain,'' said Slade, who added that it wouldn't be surprising to see Six Flags sell a couple more of its parks.

Six Flags' stock rose 8 percent, or 58 cents, to $8.20 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange while Cedar Fair's was up 96 cents to $35.71.

Cedar Fair said the Six Flags park in northeast Ohio will be renamed Geauga Lake beginning with the upcoming season. That was the name of the park when Six Flags bought it in 1995. Six years later, it bought the neighboring SeaWorld of Ohio for $110 million and combined the two parks into one.

Six Flags thought it could compete with the more established Cedar Point by creating a large entertainment destination about 20 miles southeast of Cleveland.

The amusement park operator spent $40 million adding four roller coasters and other attractions for the 2000 season.

But the company wasn't happy with attendance or profits at the park, which now has 10 roller coasters, children's areas, a water park and live shows. It has drawn about 1.5 million guests a year.

Cedar Fair has not decided whether it will develop the land that included the animal park. One option is to sell that area, company officials said.

They also must work fast over the next two months to remove signs and alter the themes of attractions that were tied to Six Flags and its Warner Bros. characters.

Pricing for the park also must be determined before its May 1 opening.

Cedar Fair will look to attract families from the area and does not see turning the park into a destination resort like Cedar Point, Kinzel said.

Cedar Point, midway between Toledo and Cleveland on Lake Erie, draws about 3 million people each year.

Tim O'Brien, author of the ``Amusement Park Guide'' and a longtime theme park observer, said Cedar Fair is now in a position to market both parks together.

``The marketing value of those two parks together is worth the price,'' he said. ``The Cedar Fair name on that park is going to help attendance.''

Cedar Fair owns 10 other amusement and water parks nationwide.