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No changes to pricing this year...that is the way I ineterpreted it.
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Interesting. When I clicked the link for the story on Pointbuzz, the page had a Best Western ad - featuring the Fairly OddParents. If extending the Nickelodeon licensing to the rest of the chain isn't too expensive, I expect the Peanuts gang to go the way of the Hanna-Barbera characters at the Paramount properties.
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Snoopy has been very successful at Cedar Point. They really have a nice brand awareness there. But, I could see the inclusion of some Nick stuff at Cedar Point down the road. They certainly wouldn't conflict, in my opinion. There is a lot of value with the Nick stuff.
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Speaking of licensing... I wonder what they will do with the Italian Jobs rides, since Cedar Fair doesn't have rights to it. The whole point of the ride is driving around in Mini-Coopers....
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I can see Nick characters showing up at the Point, there's no reason the two can't exist. Thanks to the various licensing agreements, Scooby Doo rides can be found at Paramount and Six Flags parks.
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It was stated that the movie licence agreements are being looked at right now. I'd expect to keep them. It's not like the DC/Looney Tunes licence that Six Flags had for SFWOA. This is something that can be worked out.
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I would think these license agreements would be relatively easy to obtain if they really want to keep them. It is just a matter of what they are willing to pay in royalties. They may opt to retain the licenses for now and then drop them as time goes on. Or maybe they will opt to expand those licenses to other parks in the chain.
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I would think dropping them would be the easier way to go. I do think, however that the Peanuts characters might be on the way out in favor of the extremely marketable Nick Toon characters.
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Dropping the licenses may sound like the way to go, but The Paramount parks all have rides that are heavily themed to movies such as Tomb Raider and Top Gun. Some even have rides themed to movies like Cliffhanger and other movies. These rides are heavily themed, and removing the theming may take lots of money. It may be cheaper to pay for the license.
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None of the rides at PKI had theming that couldnt be redone, rethemed easily. Except maybe IMO Tomb Raider. That ride could stand alone without theming altogether anyway but this is a really interesting thing to be happening.
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Many of the Paramount themed movies are capable of keeping the name and simply losing any reference to the movie. In the other news thread several people noted that they didn't even know Drop Zone was a movie. Volcano was a Paramount movie but Vocano The Blast Coaster certainly doesn't promote that fact. The Hurlers and Flight Of Fears lost their movie tie ins years ago. Top Gun could continue with the military theme. Tomb Raider doesn't neccesarily mean the movie or the game. The only 2 rides that comes to mind that will have problems are Borg Assimilator and Italian Job Stunt Track. Stunt Track by itself isn't a very marketable name for a new coaster and B A never really made you feel imersed in Star Trek . Note to Cedar Fair if you buy the rights to Star Trek and build futre rides around the theme it takes more than a few tv monitors showing clips of one of the movies to immerse your guests. The Borg Sphere is a nice touch though. Any thoughts on what this announcement might mean for the Flight of Fear currently SBNO at PKD Lastly I wouldn't expect Cedar Fair to start plopping hypers and rockets at all these parks just yet but I'd assume Carowinds, PGA, and Canada's Wonderland would be first. Cedar Point has the hyper market cornered in Ohio and with 2 near PKD I think they might wait awhile there too. Same with the rockets.
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One interesting quote: no "major" cap-ex projects are currently planned for any Paramount park for '07. "Major" was defined as something on the scale of Ghostrider's $22M at KBF.
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The conference call said that Star Trek The Experience was included in the deal. So wouldn't they have to keep the Star Trek Liscensing.
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Star Trek Experience has to be one of my absolute favorite all time themed attractions that I have ever been to. I can't compare to Islands of Adventure since I havent been there but this was really well done. Maybe having something that well done under their belts will actually give them some ideas as to what theming can do for them.
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Itailan Stunt Job: It says that movie tie-ins are included.
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This will be indeed very interesting to see it played out. It feels (key word) that Cedar Fair has almost taken a monopoly in general area with all these parks in the mid-west & east including all the large parks in Ohio, Wonderland, Michigan's Adventure, & Great America. One thing that may be upsetting is that for Wonderland, it's been a yearly thing that there has been a good investment made into the park put into either new rides or a major attraction. From the Mondail Psychlone to the Huss Jump2's Sledge Hammer to Tomb Raider & Italian Job to the more recent Mission: Impossible stunt theater... locals have come to expect this park to make a multi-million investment each year (and it's paid off, considering the attendance records being set). ...I just hope that there are no "transition years" like Geauga Lake had, and each Paramount park continues to invest in new attractions like normal to keep the guests flowing through the gates. ...last thing Cedar Fair wants is another Geauga Lake fiasco... but that's a completely different situation anyway (I think).
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Geauga Lake could benefit from this with the addition of the Nicktoons in the old Looney Tunes Boom Toon area. It already has a cartoon 'theme'. All it needs now is the characters. Also, the old Sea World/Happy Harbor area could easily get a 'Spongebob' makeover. Of course, this is all contigent upon the licensing agreements that they hash out with CBS/Viacom.
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I wonder what they will do with sob?
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Hmmm... ...so is it that the Nick Toons characters will be accessable through the ENTIRE Cedar Fair chain, including Cedar Point, Geauga Lake, Knotts, & others?? I thought it was just in the current Paramount parks. If that's true (the former, not the latter)... then I see Cedar Point the same, but Geauga Lake investing heavily on a new 'nick toons themed area as well as a couple other parks where the Peanuts didn't float as well... and maybe down the road, CP may slowly convert over, but Peanuts have been working very well with them.
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Well, it's not definite, DawgByte II. It's only if Cedar Fair negotiates to continue using the characters and if they decide to use them at their other parks. But, if they do, then I could see them added to ALL of their parks, including Geauga Lake. Adding the Nicktoons to GL might help them with their 'family park' atmosphere that they've been trying to promote. They would also fill a HUGE gap in their kids area. I also possibly see the Peanuts gang going to the former Paramount parks, as well. Snoopy is still a very popular character and is a very lucrative merchandising tool!
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The Nick license is good for 4 years at the current parks, with an option to extend it to other parks for an additional price. The movie license is good for 10 years but with a buyout clause which can be invoked at anytime. Currently Cedar Fair is going to keep the Nick license at least for the next 4 years, and the movie license are still being thought about. This information comes from the press conference call, someone asked a close question, and that is what Kinzel said (at least I think that was who was talking )
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Regarding a CF regional monopoly on big parks in the Midweat and Northeast, this is not quite true. The Great America that they acquired is PGA in California, not SFGAm in Illinois. Regarding competition, there are also HP and several Six Flags parks in the Northeast. Also, KW and HW are on the way to becoming major parks in the future. KW is taking care of its land problems and is just waiting for a new highway to go in. Meanwhile, HW continues to expand and broaden its appeal. And what about LC? There could be big things in store for this park 5 or 10 years down the road. It's location and setting give it tremendous potential to grow.
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Lake Compounce is kinda up above New York. Hersheypark would be a better example.
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I wonder what they will do with sob?
"Paging Mr. Kernacs, paging Mr. Kernacs. Retracking request now available in aisle three..." Maybe not immediately, but depending on how well El Toro is received, I could almost see Cedar Fair asking Intamin (for instance) to take a look at Sonny and see what's salvagable.
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I believe Arthur is correct. And with SFKK, SFSL, SFGA, all in general vicinity with HW and IB in the mix, plus the number of parks in Penn, I don't think its a monopoly. There is still plenty of choice, especially if you're a fan of woodies. Besides, there will be no monopoly as long as Six Flags sees itself as the major coaster competitor with CF. And Nick vs. Snoopy is a no-brainer. Sure Snoopy has done well, but could something more modern and contemporary (whose author isn't dead) be more profitable? There are no Snoopy movies coming to theater, all Sunday paper Snoopy are redo's from years ago, and many kids don't know that much about him or the peanuts gang. Snoopy is a fun little character that we get to see skating around a Xmas tree on tv every winter, but he is no SpongeBob for preteens, and definitely no Dora for the pre-k. My bet would be CF takes Nick company wide.
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Regarding the Northeast, CF has two parks in that region, DP and CW, three if you count PKD. Six Flags is the dominant chain there with SFNE, La Ronde, TGE, SFDL, SFGA, and SFA. Six Flags has the largest parks in New England, Quebec, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. Certainly lots of competition for CF in the Northeast. The only place where CF has really gained an entire "color group" is Ohio. Now that state is a lot like the way Texas used to be before SFAW closed.
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GregLeg said: "Maybe not immediately, but depending on how well El Toro is received, I could almost see Cedar Fair asking Intamin (for instance) to take a look at Sonny and see what's salvagable.
*Grabs construction checklist*
"Let's see here....lift, check, loop, check, brake run, check. The rest, well, let's just call the NEW ride Sonny's Revenge".... 
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