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What would a Six Flags-Cedar Fair behemoth look like? 27 amusement parks, 285 coasters, 58 million visitors
The amusement park rivals, owners of Knott's Berry Farm and Magic Mountain, have been battling for decades to outdo each other with the longest, tallest and fastest thrill rides.
Riders on Six Flags Magic Mountain's Twisted Colossus. (Photo by Craig T. Mathew/Mathew Imaging)
By Brady MacDonald | bmacdonald@scng.com |
PUBLISHED: October 4, 2019 at 1:42 pm | UPDATED: October 4, 2019 at 2:30 pm
Combining Six Flags and Cedar Fair would create a thrill ride behemoth with 27 amusement parks, 285 roller coasters and 58 million annual visitors that would change the landscape of the theme park industry in the United States.
Reuters reported Friday that Cedar Fair rebuffed a $4 billion cash-and-stock offer to merge with Six Flags and that a counter offer wasn't anticipated. In Southern California, Six Flags owns Magic Mountain in Valencia and Cedar Fair owns Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park.
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While dwarfed by Disney and Universal, Six Flags and Cedar Fair are the biggest players in the North American regional amusement park business with locations in 16 states as well as Canada and Mexico.
What would a Six Flags-Cedar Fair behemoth look like? Let's take a closer look at the amusement park rivals that have been battling for decades to outdo each other with the longest, tallest and fastest thrill rides.
The Six Flags-Cedar Fair rivalry is best encapsulated in the showdown between Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka, two of the most impressive roller coasters in the world.
Top Thrill Dragster was the tallest and fastest coaster in the world when it debuted in 2003 at Ohio's Cedar Point, the flagship park in the Cedar Fair chain. The hydraulically launched coaster raced to an astonishing 120 mph before climbing a 420-foot-tall top hat element.
Two years later, Six Flags snatched the tallest and fastest coaster titles from Cedar Fair with Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. The similar top hat-style coaster also by ride maker Intamin reached a top speed of 128 mph and a height of 456 feet.
Kingda Ka still holds the tallest coaster crown, but the 149 mph Formula Rossa at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi is now the world's fastest coaster.
Combining Six Flags and Cedar Fair would create an industry giant with 27 amusement parks and 33 water parks across North America. The crown jewels in Cedar Fair's lineup: Cedar Point and Knott's Berry Farm.
A merger between the two industry giants would considerably expand their combined geographic footprint.
Cedar Fair has parks in California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri and Minnesota. Six Flags has parks in California, Texas, New York, Illinois, Georgia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Missouri, Maryland, Oklahoma, Mexico City and Montreal. Six Flags also plans to open international parks in China and Saudi Arabia.
Both chains operate water parks at most of their amusement park locations. Cedar Fair recently purchased two Texas water parks in the Schlitterbahn chain. Six Flags also operates standalone water parks in Arizona, Texas and Illinois.
The primary overlap occurs in California, where Six Flags and Cedar Fair have parks in the Bay Area and Southern California markets. Knott's and Six Flags Magic Mountain compete for thrill seekers looking for bigger coasters than Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood have to offer. California's Great America in Santa Clara and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo go head to head on opposite sides of the San Francisco-Oakland region.
Missouri is home to Six Flags St. Louis and Cedar Fair's Worlds of Fun in Kansas City — both among the smaller parks in their respective chains.
Six Flags traces its roots to Texas, making the Schlitterbahn water parks a desirable asset in Cedar Fair's portfolio to pair with Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags Fiesta Texas.
Six Flags has a combined annual attendance of 32 million visitors, according to the Themed Entertainment Association. Cedar Fair's annual visitorship stands at 26 million. By comparison, Disney's worldwide theme park attendance tops 150 million and Universal's reaches 50 million.
Together, the merged companies would offer nearly 1,300 attractions, with Six Flags park home to a few dozen more rides than Cedar Fair. The combined arsenals would feature a total of 285 coasters with 414 looping inversions and 130 miles of track, according to Roller Coaster Database.
Among Cedar Fair's 125 coasters are some of the most amazing rides in the amusement industry.
Three of the longest roller coasters in the world are at Cedar Fair parks: The Beast at Ohio's Kings Island (7,359 feet), Fury 325 at North Carolina's Carowinds (6,602 feet) and Millennium Force at Cedar Point (6,595 feet).
Five of the 10 tallest coasters in the world are at Cedar Fair parks: Top Thrill Dragster (420 feet), Fury 325 (325 feet), Millennium Force (310 feet), Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland (306 feet) and Intimidator 305 at Virginia's Kings Dominion (305 feet).
As you might expect, those same five rides are among the fastest coasters in the world, all topping 90 mph. The new Orion coaster debuting at Cedar Fair's Kings Island in 2020 will soon join the elite club with a top speed of 91 mph.
A merger between Six Flags and Cedar Fair would also put an end to the long-simmering rivalry between Six Flags Magic Mountain and Cedar Point for roller coaster supremacy. The title of roller coaster capital of the world currently belongs to Magic Mountain with 18 coasters and West Coast Racers soon to add another to the tally. Cedar Point and Canada's Wonderland remain tied for second place with 17 coasters each.
Since 2000, Cedar Fair has spent lavishly on a string of stunning coasters topping $20 million apiece, including Gatekeeper and Maverick at Cedar Point, Banshee and Diamondback at Kings Island, Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland and Intimidator at Carowinds.
The Cedar Fair portfolio also features two of the oldest amusement parks in the United States — Cedar Point (1870) and Dorney Park (1884) — and one of the oldest operating roller coasters in the world with the 1924 Thunderhawk at Dorney in Pennsylvania.
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Brady MacDonald
Brady MacDonald is a theme park reporter for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group. He's covered the theme park industry for more than 25 years. He writes about Disney, Universal, Six Flags, SeaWorld, Cedar Fair and Legoland parks in Southern California, across the United States and around the world. As a member of the SCNG Features team, he also writes about entertainment, travel, pop culture, music, restaurants and craft beer.
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