Herschends to buy Florida parks!

shavethewhales · September 06, 2007, 06:09:12 PM

Screamscape is reporting that the Herschends may be looking at buying two florida theme parks: Cypress Gardens and Wild Adventures. However, sources are scarce and this is a very unlikely situation as both parks are a far cry away from what the other Herschend parks are like, but then again, the Herschends are always trying to branch out more and do different things, so who knows what will happen.

If the Herschends did buy the parks... Well, I dunno, I guess the corporation would feel yet more spread out and the fears of the parks loosing their individualized charms may be realized. Who knows though, maybe CG and WA could turn into great parks that would benefit the chain, but with CG's financial troubles that are pretty much unsolvable without massive downgrades, it might be a waste of money.

We'll see what happens on the 25th. Hopefully some park chain will come to the aid of these two parks, as they are really nice places, just not Herschend quality.

Coaster · September 06, 2007, 06:39:42 PM

Doesn't mean that they can't bring it up to Herschend quality. I've heard of both of these parks but I don't know anything about them.

shavethewhales · September 08, 2007, 11:24:39 AM

The rumors are true! http://www.theledger.com/article/20070908/NEWS/709080402/1004/news

The Herschends have sent in a bid of $35 million for both parks. A low sum, but the Herschends are wise business people, they know how much it will take to get the parks up to where they want them. Besides, they may end up stripping CG of it's rides and just promoting the gardens, as the amusement side can't compete with Orlando and Tampa Bay, at least not at the size it is. I guess they could diversify the place by adding theming, live entertainment, and shopping, but it would still be hard to keep people flowing in when Disney World and Busch Gardens Africa are right next door.

I'll welcome Wild Adventures into the chain though. It needs some work, but from what I've heard, it's a nice place.

Coaster · September 08, 2007, 11:34:33 AM

That is very interesting. Are either of the park's website saying anything about it?

shavethewhales · September 08, 2007, 12:09:33 PM

Not yet, it's not really a thing to advertise.

Coaster · September 08, 2007, 12:19:55 PM

I think it is whenever the previous owners were in debt over 100 million dollars and the parks are going into the hands of a very respectable company.

Just my opinion though.

shavethewhales · September 08, 2007, 12:25:37 PM

Doh! I didn't read the article close enough, the Herschends have only bid on WA. Awesome, that should be a great park.

Coaster · September 08, 2007, 12:28:39 PM

Did they already buy CG or is it just a bid also?

shavethewhales · September 08, 2007, 12:40:15 PM

They've only bid on WA, from what I can tell.

Coaster · September 08, 2007, 10:28:12 PM

I looked at Wild Adventure's website and it looks like a really cool little park. I'm not a fan of the Bugville thing though. Especially at the entrance to the park. Hopefully the Herschend's would do away with that.

Tom · September 19, 2007, 09:59:56 AM

In the editorial that led to this discussion, I thought there was an interesting point: "Why didn't SDC buy Wild West World?" I think that this is too easy. The only reason they should buy that park is if they want the rides. The park was under-developed and currently has the worst public relations problem in the world. Nobody will buy a season passport to that park next year. Furthermore, it probably is considered to be in the same market as SDC and could only cause competition for CC.

Frontier City MIGHT have been a better idea. BUT, again, Frontier City might still be in competition with SDC. I'm sure SDC has a map somewhere that details exactly how far their influence reaches.

shavethewhales · September 19, 2007, 04:04:40 PM

^WWW does have a terrible reputation now, but the fact that it was under-developed would have been more of a blessing than a curse to the Herschends. Just like with Branson USA, they could have stripped the place from top to bottom and started over again with a brand new park. They wouldn't even have to worry so much about relation issues then, seeing as SDC and DW are extremely well respected.

Tom · September 19, 2007, 09:50:58 PM

Okay. But do you think that there is a market to support that park even if it was finished? What is DW?

Coaster · September 19, 2007, 10:20:57 PM

Dollywood.

shavethewhales · September 19, 2007, 10:51:34 PM

Quote from: Tom on September 19, 2007, 09:50:58 PM
Okay. But do you think that there is a market to support that park even if it was finished? What is DW?

Sure, there's Wichita and it's metro, which has about 450,000 - 500,000 people. Then there's plenty of surrounding areas to draw from, albeit none of them being really notable, but they could reach another 100,000 people or more pretty easily.
That's enough for a small to mid-sized park easily, seeing as Bell's and many others have prospered under smaller markets for decades. The thing is, the park probably wouldn't have ever really taken off.