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Cedar Fair L.P.

Cedar Fair's corporate headquarters at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio
Trade name	Cedar Fair Entertainment Company
Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: FUN
Industry	Amusement Parks
Founded	1983; 42 years ago (1983)
Headquarters	Sandusky, Ohio
Number of locations	16
Area served	United States Canada
Key people	Richard Zimmerman (president and CEO)
Revenue	US$1.82 billion (2022)
Operating income	US$520 million (2022)
Net income	US$308 million (2022)
Total assets	US$3.38 billion (2022)
Number of employees	4,400 full time, 48,800 seasonal (2022)

Cedar Fair, L.P. is a big company that owns and runs many fun places like amusement parks, water parks, and hotels. Its main office is at its famous Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio.

Cedar Fair owns and operates eleven amusement parks, thirteen outdoor water parks, one indoor water park, and fourteen resort properties. These are located across the United States and Canada. In November 2023, Cedar Fair announced exciting plans to join with another big park company, Six Flags. The new combined company will be called Six Flags.

History of Fun
- Growing Bigger with Dick Kinzel
- New Leaders and More Changes
Fun Places to Visit
Fast Lane for Quicker Rides
See also

History of Fun

The story of Cedar Fair began with Cedar Point Amusement Park. It started as a beach resort in the 1870s. As more people visited, the Cedar Point Pleasure Resort Company was formed in 1887. This company wanted to make the resort even bigger and better.

In 1897, a new company led by George Arthur Boeckling bought Cedar Point. Under Boeckling's leadership, the resort grew a lot. Later, in 1978, Cedar Point bought another amusement park called Valleyfair.

The parent company, Cedar Fair Limited Partnership, was officially created in 1983. Its name comes from both parks: "Cedar" from Cedar Point and "Fair" from Valleyfair. The company became public on April 29, 1987. This meant people could buy shares in the company. Over the years, Cedar Fair bought many other amusement parks across the United States.

Growing Bigger with Dick Kinzel

The first park Cedar Fair bought was Dorney Park in 1992. Then came Worlds of Fun in 1995. A very important purchase happened in 1997 when Cedar Fair bought Knott's Berry Farm. This was special because it was the first park Cedar Fair owned that stayed open all year.

Cedar Fair also opened its first indoor water park, Castaway Bay, in November 2004. This resort is open all year long.

In 2006, Cedar Fair made a huge purchase. They bought five parks from the Paramount Parks chain for a lot of money. This included popular parks like Kings Island and Canada's Wonderland. After this big deal, Cedar Fair LP started doing business as Cedar Fair Entertainment Company.

WindSeeker opened at Cedar Point in 2011, and the ride was also added to other Cedar Fair parks.

After buying the Paramount Parks, Cedar Fair changed the names of the parks back to their original names. They also removed any characters or themes from Paramount Pictures or Nickelodeon. This was because Cedar Fair decided not to pay for the licenses to use those characters anymore.

In 2010, a company tried to buy Cedar Fair, but the deal didn't happen.

New Leaders and More Changes

In 2012, Matt Ouimet became the new CEO of Cedar Fair. He had worked at The Walt Disney Company before. Under his leadership, Cedar Fair launched new websites and a marketing campaign called Thrills Connect.

Cedar Fair also sold some of its water parks during this time. In 2012, they sold Knott's Soak City: San Diego. Then, in 2013, they sold Knott's Soak City: Palm Springs. In 2016, Wildwater Kingdom, which was the last part of the former Geauga Lake park, closed down.

In 2018, Richard Zimmerman became the new CEO. Matt Ouimet stayed on the board of directors.

In 2019, Cedar Fair bought the land that California's Great America sits on. They had been leasing it before. They also partnered with Feld Entertainment to bring a Monster Jam Thunder Alley Area to some parks.

Later in 2019, Cedar Fair bought two Schlitterbahn water parks in Texas. They also bought the Sawmill Creek Resort in Ohio.

In October 2019, Six Flags offered to buy Cedar Fair, but the offer was turned down. In 2021, Cedar Fair's contract to manage Gilroy Gardens ended.

In 2022, another company, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, tried to buy Cedar Fair, but Cedar Fair said no. Later that year, Cedar Fair announced it was selling the land for California's Great America. They will lease the park back for 11 years and then plan to close it.

On November 2, 2023, Cedar Fair and Six Flags Entertainment Corporation announced they would merge. This big new company will be the largest regional amusement park company in the world. It will have 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks, and 9 resort properties. The new company will be called Six Flags, and Richard Zimmerman will be its CEO.

Fun Places to Visit

Cedar Fair owns many exciting amusement parks and water parks.

Amusement Parks

Kings Island's original fountains with the Eiffel Tower

Corkscrew coaster at Cedar Point

Entrance to Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom

Aerial view of Carowinds

Entrance to Pup's Pier at South Bay Shores waterpark

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Roller Coasters	Notes
California's Great America	Santa Clara, California	1976	2006	9	Open year-round. Acquired in the Paramount Parks deal.
Canada's Wonderland	Vaughan, Ontario, Canada	1981	2006	18	Cedar Fair's most visited park that is not open year-round. Acquired in the Paramount Parks deal.
Carowinds	Charlotte, North Carolina	1973	2006	14	Open year-round. Acquired in the Paramount Parks deal. Part of the park is in South Carolina.
Cedar Point	Sandusky, Ohio	1870	Founding Park	16	Cedar Fair's main park and the oldest in the group. Cedar Fair's main office is here.
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom	Allentown, Pennsylvania	1884	1992	7	The first park bought by Cedar Fair.
Kings Dominion	Doswell, Virginia	1975	2006	13	Open year-round. Acquired in the Paramount Parks deal.
Kings Island	Mason, Ohio	1972	2006	14	Acquired in the Paramount Parks deal.
Knott's Berry Farm	Buena Park, California	1920	1997	9	Open year-round and is the most visited Cedar Fair park.
Michigan's Adventure	Muskegon, Michigan	1956	2001	7
Valleyfair	Shakopee, Minnesota	1976	1978	8	Bought by Cedar Point before Cedar Fair was formed.
Worlds of Fun	Kansas City, Missouri	1973	1995	8

Water Parks

Outdoor Water Parks

Included with Park Admission

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Carolina Harbor	Carowinds	1982	2006	Inside Carowinds park.
Oceans of Fun	Worlds of Fun	1982	1995	Next to Worlds of Fun. Since 2013, it's included with Worlds of Fun admission.
Soak City	Kings Dominion	1992	2006	Inside Kings Dominion park.
Soak City	Kings Island	1989	2006	Inside Kings Island park.
Soak City	Valleyfair	1983	Built by Cedar Fair	Inside Valleyfair park.
South Bay Shores	California's Great America	2004	2006	Inside California's Great America park.
Splash Works	Canada's Wonderland	1992	2006	Inside Canada's Wonderland park.
WildWater Adventure	Michigan's Adventure	1991	2001	Inside Michigan's Adventure park.
Wildwater Kingdom	Dorney Park	1985	1992	Inside Dorney Park.

Separate Admission/Property

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Cedar Point Shores	Sandusky, Ohio	1988	Built by Cedar Fair	Next to Cedar Point.
Knott's Soak City	Buena Park, California	2000	Built by Cedar Fair	Next to Knott's Berry Farm.
Schlitterbahn Galveston	Galveston, Texas	2006	2019
Schlitterbahn New Braunfels	New Braunfels, Texas	1979	2019

Indoor Water Parks

Name	Location	Year Opened	Notes
Castaway Bay	Sandusky, Ohio	2004	Cedar Fair's only indoor water park, near Cedar Point.

Former Parks and Attractions

Name	Location	Year Opened/Acquired	Year Closed/Sold	Notes
Geauga Lake	Aurora, Ohio	2004	2007	Bought from Six Flags. The ride part closed in 2007.
Gilroy Gardens	Gilroy, California	2006	2021	Cedar Fair managed this park until December 2021.
Knott's Camp Snoopy	Mall of America	1992	2005	Closed for changes. Now called Nickelodeon Universe.
Knott's Soak City: Palm Springs	Palm Springs, California	2001	2013	Sold to another company.
Knott's Soak City: San Diego	Chula Vista, California	2000	2012	Sold to SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.
Star Trek: The Experience	Las Vegas, Nevada	2006	2008	Acquired in the Paramount Parks deal.
Wildwater Kingdom	Aurora, Ohio	2005	2016	Located where SeaWorld Ohio used to be.

Fast Lane for Quicker Rides

Fast Lane is a special system at Cedar Fair parks. It lets visitors wait in a shorter line for most rides. You pay an extra cost to get a wristband for this.

Fast Lane was first tested at Kings Island in 2011. It was so popular that in 2012, it was added to all Cedar Fair parks. You can use it all day. There's also "Fright Lane" for haunted attractions during Halloween events. Some parks even offer an "all season" Fast Lane pass.