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Welcome to Cedar Fair Central

 

Cedar Fair Central was created in early 2006, to be fully operational on May 6th, 2007. CFC is a general Cedar Fair news site focused on making your visit to the many Cedar Fair parks, a great and exciting trip.  We offer a wide variety of informational news articles, roller coaster/ride reviews, and trip guides to help you through your experience at the amusement parks.  Many ride pages contain a helpful rating system, the Thrill Counter, to help you decide what you, and your family, should and should not experience.  The goal of Cedar Fair Central is to make finding Cedar Fair news easy and simple.


Latest Cedar Fair News  
 
 
"Geauga Lake's X-Flight coaster is taking off for parts unknown" (November 22nd, 2006)

 

 

Bainbridge Township - Geauga Lake is losing a twisting steel giant from its skyline, as one of its newest and most popular roller coasters is being dismantled for relocation to another amusement park.

 

Workers recently started taking down X-Flight from its location along Ohio 43 near the park's front gate, said Bryan Edwards, a Geauga Lake spokesman. The ride is destined for another park owned by Cedar Fair LP, the parent company of Geauga Lake. Cedar Fair operates a dozen amusement parks across the country, including Cedar Point in Sandusky; Edwards said he did not know where X-Flight would land.

 

There are no immediate plans to replace the coaster with another ride, Edwards said.

 

The removal of X-Flight follows another lackluster year at Geauga Lake, which straddles the border of Bainbridge Township and Aurora. Attendance remained stagnant this year at around 700,000 visitors, similar to the 2005 and 2004 seasons, Edwards said.

 

Cedar Fair bought the park in 2004 from Six Flags, which sold it after watching attendance plunge for several years.

 

In 2001, estimates placed the park's attendance at more than 2.7 million, making it the 24th busiest park in North America, according to the industry trade magazine Amusement Business. The slide started the next year.

 

The elimination of X-Flight and another ride - the aging monorail - should not be construed as Cedar Fair losing faith in the park, Edwards said. The company remains committed to Geauga Lake, which opened in 1888 and is one of the nation's oldest parks.

 

Cedar Fair has invested nearly $30 million over the past two years at Geauga Lake, adding an expansive waterpark named Wildwater Kingdom.

 

"Look at all we've added," Edwards said.

 

Rumors of X-Flight being erased from the park map began weeks ago on Internet sites and chat rooms devoted to Geauga Lake.

 

The speculation infuriated some posters. One wrote: "If X-Flight is removed, I won't be visiting GL anymore."

 

The $15 million ride made its debut at the park in 2001 as the first "flying coaster" in the Midwest. The coaster inverts riders to give them the sensation of soaring through the air. X-Flight cost $15 million to build; it stands 115 feet tall and reaches a top speed of 51 mph.

 

Source: The Plain Dealer

 

 

"Cedar Point's Dick Kinzel Inducted Into IAAPA Hall of Fame" (November 17th, 2006)

 

 

SANDUSKY, Ohio, November 17, 2006 – Dick Kinzel, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) on Wednesday, Nov. 15 during the IAAPA Attractions Expo 2006, the association’s annual conference and trade show held this week at the Georgia World Trade Center in Atlanta.

 

IAAPA is the largest international trade association for permanently situated amusement facilities and represents more than 4,500 facility, supplier and individual members from more than 85 countries.

 

“This year we are inducting two legends in the amusement park business,” said Charlie Bray, IAAPA President and CEO. “Dick Kinzel manned the helm of a merger that grew Cedar Fair into a 12-park operation with revenues in excess of $1 billion.”

 

Under Kinzel’s leadership, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company has grown from two parks generating $96 million in revenue in 1986 to 17 parks generating approximately $1 billion in revenues annually. The company introduced the first 200-foot-tall, 300-foot-tall and 400-foot-tall roller coasters in the world and has distributed approximately $1.2 billion in cash to its investors since first going public in 1987. “His continued hard work and love for the industry has helped to make Cedar Fair Entertainment Company what it is today, one of the world’s largest and most successful regional amusement park/resort operators,” said Jack Falfas, Cedar Fair’s chief operating officer.

 

Prior to becoming the chief executive officer in 1986, Kinzel served as the vice president and general manager of Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minn., after it was acquired in 1978. Kinzel began his career in the amusement park industry at Cedar Point in 1972, where he worked as a supervisor in the foods division. He went on to become the director of park operations at Cedar Point in 1975 and held this position until his promotion to vice president and general manager of Valleyfair.

 

Kinzel has been very active in IAAPA, serving on the Board of Directors for two terms, as well as the Executive and Finance committees.

 

A native of Toledo, Ohio, Kinzel attended the University of Wisconsin at Lacrosse. He has also received an honorary doctorate of business administration degree from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. Kinzel was voted the 1998 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Northwest Ohio.

 

Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: FUN), a publicly traded partnership headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio, is one of the largest regional amusement park/resort operators in the world. The company owns and operates 12 amusement parks, five outdoor waterparks, one indoor waterpark and six hotels. Its parks are located in Ohio, California, North Carolina, Virginia/District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, and Toronto, Ontario.

 

Source: The Point Online (via FunCoast!)

 

Featured Page: Cedar Point

 

Cedar Point.  The mecca of thrill parks.  Sixteen incredible roller coasters, and fifty-two rides for the non-thrill seeker. In its 137th season, Cedar Point is still going strong.  The latest coaster to be added to the park, Top Thrill Dragster, destroyed many coaster records by flying up a 420 foot tall tower at 120 miles per hour.  Millenium Force, the park's most popular ride, has been voted the best steel roller coaster in the world three times, in the past four years.  In the 2006 season, Cedar Point added Skyhawk, a 103-foot tall Screamin' Swing.  Skyhawk is the tallest of it's type.  Cedar Point, the world's greatest amusement park is second to none when it comes to thrills, and is the cornerstone of the Cedar Fair parks.