SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment may be on the verge of becoming the biggest amusement park company in the country. The company owns both Busch Gardens and Sesame Place amusement parks. It has made substantial strides in recent times to become a more prominent player in the park industry. The aquatic animal park is not the only place to be. Now, it appears the company will spend $3.4B to acquire Ohio’s Cedar Fair, a bigger theme park company.
According to Bloomberg, SeaWorld has offered $60 per unit in cash to buy the company that currently owns Knott’s Berry Farm, Cedar Point, and 15 Other park locations. SeaWorld, already a major player, would be instantly the largest in the game in terms of the number and physical locations in North America.
The source for this info is anonymous and nothing is official yet, and there’s still the possibility the deal could fall through, However, based on the information that’s being presented, the offer is, at the very least, being entertained by Cedar Fair. Cedar Fair has at the very minimum confirmed that the unsolicited offer is genuine.
Needless to say this is something of a bombshell announcement, SeaWorld currently has six locations, three SeaWorld parks, in San Diego, Texas, and Florida, two Busch Gardens locations, in Tampa and Williamsburg, and Pennsylvania’s Sesame Place. Except for two SeaWorld locations, the company is an exclusive east coast player. Cedar Fair would make them a national player immediately by their acquisition.
This would also significantly reduce the number amusement park players. SeaWorld and Six Flags would be the only two major national organizations. There are still many regional parks that have been very successful.
The best known of the Cedar Fair parks is probably Knott’s Berry Farm, which is just a few minutes away from the Disneyland Resort, and likely one of the key reasons an acquisition like this is so attractive. It is important to have a park that can compete directly with Disney and does well in all aspects.
Cedar Fair’s home park, Cedar PointThe park is very popular, especially with thrill-seeking roller coaster fans. While California’s Magic Mountain is technically the current roller coaster capital of the world, it’s a title Cedar Point has held in the past. Cedar Fair also owns Canada’s Wonderland, which actually has the second highest number of roller coasters in North America behind Magic Mountain. SeaWorld was founded in 1995. Coaster park that has made a name for themselvesThese are the most recent years.
Even if Cedar Point accepts SeaWorld’s offer, it is likely that the long process of merging both companies will be difficult. Even if this deal doesn’t go through it all, it’s evidence of SeaWorld’s desire to become a much bigger player as an amusement park company.