Cedar Point buys land for $1.5M

Editor's note: Justin Dietz is a Register correspondent representing CPFoodBlog.com and @CPFoodBlog on Twitter. SANDUSKY — Cedar Point — or, officially, the entity known as Cedar Point Park — recently acquired the former Firelands Auto Group dealership, at 2206 Cleveland Road (U.S. 6), in Sandusky. The purchase price totaled $1.5 million, and this site encompasses a bit more than 3 acres. At this time, Cedar Point did not comment about possible plans for property usage. Firelands Auto Group is consolidating locations, hence the sale. The Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership on Cleveland Road relocated to Firelands' campus on Strub Road off Milan Road (U.S. 250), which also contains a Toyota dealership. A look ahead Cedar Point opens for the 2024 season on May 4. Guests will once again be able to ride Top Thrill when the park reopens. The reimagined attraction will feature a new 420-foot tower with new launch sequences. Guests will experience a forward launch at 74 mph, not quite getting them up the top hat. They will then roll back towards the station. However, instead of experiencing a brake run, the linear synchronous motors units will accelerate the launch in reverse to 101 mph, this time climbing a 90-degree angle and up the 420-foot spike. More on the merger A Cedar Fair and Six Flags merger was announced last week with Cedar Fair being the primary controlling party and retaining the Six Flags branding in corporate name only. While park-specific details have yet to be sorted out, we would not expect to see many changes for the 2024 season. The merger is not anticipated to be completed until the first half of 2024, meaning, at the earliest, we would be mid-season when the companies combine. It is expected the first change we might see is with 2025 season passes, which typically go on sale in August. This will be our first glimpse into how the two company's parks will be combined under the new leadership. Paramount-era Merger To look at what the new Cedar Fair-Six Flags merged season pass program may look like in 2025, it might be worth considering the past when Cedar Fair acquired Paramount Parks in June 2006: • Cedar Point acquired Valleyfair amusement park in 1978. • The parent company Cedar Fair was not formed until 1983. • In 1992, the Cedar Fair company purchased Dorney Park. • In 1995, Cedar Fair bought Worlds of Fun. • In 1997, Cedar Fair acquired Knott's Berry Farm. • Michigan's Adventure was purchased in 2001. Despite the Cedar Fair company owning several properties across North America, there was not a program in place as a season passholder to visit all the parks under the same admission program. Starting in 2006, Cedar Point season passes were $100 with an additional $65 for parking. The standard pass — parking not included at other parks — was valid at Cedar Point, Valleyfair, Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom, Worlds of Fun, Michigan's Adventure and Knott's Berry Farm. The Cedar Point season pass was not valid at Soak City, Geauga Lake and Wild Water Kingdom, Oceans of Fun or any of the then-three Knott's Soak City parks unless guests upgraded to the Soak City combo pass for an additional $55. Fast forward to June 2006, and Cedar Fair had acquired the Paramount Parks of Canada's Wonderland, California's Great America, Carowinds, Kings Dominion and Kings Island. Starting in September 2006, Cedar Fair rolled out the Maxx Pass and Maxx Pass Plus 2007 season passes. The Maxx Pass got guests into all of Cedar Fair's ride parks for $125, while the Maxx Pass Plus pass for $150 included all the ride parks and water parks. While of course past results do not guarantee future actions, Cedar Fair season passholders saw similar pass price points after the Paramount acquisition. Assuming the merger is completed before 2025 season passes go on sale in August, we would anticipate similar price points that include all of the Six Flags parks. The biggest price adjustments may come from former Six Flags passholders who see increases to bring them in line with other Cedar Fair properties.