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| Great Escape Sale? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 5 2011, 12:27 PM (362 Views) | |
| six flags man | Jul 5 2011, 12:27 PM Post #1 |
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Comet
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Now this is just a rumor, but I figure its going to be discussed, so I made a new topic for this. It was previously started in the Great Escape 2011 Rumors section. So what has everyone heard? |
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| greatescapelover | Jul 5 2011, 05:49 PM Post #2 |
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well me, personally, think it could go both ways. if it was sold the park could flourish, but if not sold to the right people, the park could just be getting worse like it is now. i personally am not getting my hopes up about anything going on in the sale, but if they do have any affiliation with Darien Lake, like said in the 2011 section, that could be a very good "starting" point for the park. |
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| mrceagle | Jul 5 2011, 10:05 PM Post #3 |
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CNL or Hershend would have to buy the park for that to happen. Personally I don;t see either of them buying the park. the other big buyer right now is Palace but again they already own a lot in the north east. not sure if they would want a NY park. I do see SFI selling off the property. trimming off TGE to focus efforts elsewhere. Then team up the sale with their stake in the Hotel/water park. Edited by mrceagle, Jul 5 2011, 10:07 PM.
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| Irish42 | Jul 5 2011, 10:38 PM Post #4 |
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Newbie
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Does anyone know what this park was bought for, and how much would it sell for in todays market? |
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| dragon1616 | Jul 6 2011, 12:37 AM Post #5 |
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Steamin Demon
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What about the Lodge? From what I know, isn't TGE one of few parks that has a lodge attached with it? How does the lodge fall into the equation? How is the lodge doing in terms of profits and such, is it doing well enough to keep the park open? Do you think the park could sell the lodge too? or would they likely only sell one? I'd be anxious to hear your thoughts. |
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| six flags man | Jul 6 2011, 04:00 PM Post #6 |
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I could see Palace buying TGE. It would open up the market from this area that they dont have and potentially encourage people to travel to their other nearby parks like Kennywood and Lake Compounce. If anything I would think that would be a good idea business wise. |
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| Paul | Jul 7 2011, 02:50 AM Post #7 |
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Steamin Demon
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I have mixed feelings about this. Slightly positive in the event that Six Flags were to sell the park. The Mark Shapiro days of 2005-2009 saw great things for the park, and we saw the small park we all knew and loved taking baby steps into becoming a big, corporate park. But, Shapiro is out and Reid-Andersen is in, and the park is back to the days of dragging along as the forgotten small park among the giants. My thoughts on other companies...CNL has their hands too full with dealing with all of the PARC Management mishaps, and it would be terrible if they bought this park. Darien Lake has gotten a lame trailer-mounted coaster that was installed with the quality and location of a family fun fair, while Elitch Gardens and other parks in the PARC "chain" saw terrible reported operations and cuts in maintenance. I'd be pretty upset if The Great Escape fell into the same ownership. Parques Reunidos aka Palace Entertainment here in the US, hasn't made a major park investment in quite a while as far as new parks go, and the additions to the parks they own in the past few years have been slow as well, sans maybe Sky Rocket. I don't have much knowledge of their day-to-day operations, debt, etc, but they don't give the outward appearance of being a chain ready to make an investment in buying an additional park. Herschend just bought Wild Adventures and made a few other investments recently, and probably won't be looking to keep spending any time soon. Personally, I'm hoping that we see the emergence of a third major regional theme park chain in the US that will compete with Cedar Fair and Six Flags, that will hopefully bring about fierce competition once again and benefit the industry as a whole. I bite my tongue while saying this, but I'm really hoping that the Kieran Burke/Gary Story "Premier Parks Take 2" gains some ground and expands once again, and I'd love for The Great Escape to be under the Premier clowns once again. Now, you might add that Burke and Story run a company completely into the ground by doing outrageously lucrative things...but look at how equitable they made all of the Six Flags parks under their management, despite creating a mountain of debt? Any of the Six Flags parks could have fallen or been sold had it not been for them smashing the piggy bank in the late 90s-early 2000s. We could easily be sitting here discussing the possible sale or closure of Riverside Park, but instead, they exploded into the Six Flags New England we now all know. ...and then Burke and Story can fail once again and we'll be talking about this all over again =) |
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| mrceagle | Jul 8 2011, 03:49 PM Post #8 |
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TGE is the only SFNE park wit ha lodge. there are no other properties with a hotel that is partially owned by the company on property. The lodge is not fully owned by SFI. they supplied the property and the manage the property. the hotel was built and co funded by an outside company. The lodge is making money in fact it has helped the companies bottom line quite a bit. The hotel id likely helping the park more the the parks ability to draw a steady attendance despite a lack of additions. Yes they could sell of their stake in the lodge but only their stake not the entire lodge. The partially owned lodge dose make the property much more valuable then it would stand alone. Park value the value of the park was put to question. it's hard to say without having all the details. but hers the thing land value for I believe it's 180 acres (mostly wet lands remaining), rides aren't worth much do to their used state and age. Buildings, equipment, naming rights, intellectual properties owned by the park , etc If I were to look to buy it I would be looking to pay around 35 million. this figuring I would need another 10 million at lest to operate, rehab and add to the park. |
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| mrceagle | Jul 8 2011, 04:16 PM Post #9 |
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Comet
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I never wanted to see TGE become a corporate park. It had it's own charm but needed a few top attraction that a corporate owner would be able to easily add. Though they never did. CNL is in good shape. all the PARC properties have been put under the control of other operators/managers. DL and Elitch gardens are even being managed by Hershend ent. So hopefully you will see all their parks grow form here. Keep in mind CNL is an investment firm. Makes things a bit more complex. Palace own a lot of park in this area. In fact they own 4; 2 Parks - Lake Compounce in CT and Story Land in NH 2 water parks - Water Country in NH and Splish Splash in NY as for rides/additions; Splash splash added abody surfing pool(Kahuna pay), Compounce added a Mega Disco, and Story Land added a splash battle(pharaoh's Reign). But additions do come a bit slower then the big parks in SFI. palace/Parques Reunidos has been steadily expanding over the last few years. The HI Sea Life park was bought this year and I believe 3 new purchases have been made in the last 3 years abrade. Problem s the US park are the small TGE sized parks compared to the mega parks owned and operated outside the US. Herschend just got management control of both Derien Lake and Elitch Gardens. not sure if that would affect the companies goal to expand further. Kieran Burke/Gary Story "Premier Parks Take 2" - I don't really trust them. they did make some great moves but also a lot of very dumb ones. it was there call that got TGE Looney Toons National Park not Shapiro.
Not likely, Riverside had already been sold to a cooperate park Alfa Smart Parks which also owned and operated DL (hence the same Ferris wheels). Premeir bought Out Alfa. So those parks were safe. Not sure bu I believe alfa also had the GE purchased before Premier. |
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