(Sorry, the link may be paywall for some) The Wall Street Journal is not only reporting that the two park chains are potentially merging but are stating that the deal could go through as early as this week. Not sure how anyone else feels about this but I think this could really hurt the consumer… sure, everyone wants to think about a unified season pass but the cost to the consumer would likely skyrocket and we’d see less competition which would likely mean even less major rides being built.
From the article: “An agreement could be finalized as soon as this week assuming there is no last-minute snag, according to people familiar with the matter. Cedar Fair is scheduled to report quarterly results on Thursday morning.”
The problem is that SEAS isn’t really a mainstream competitor to SF/CF mainly because of their locations. The bulk of America only has CF and/or SF and the travel to a SEAS park isn’t accessible. Palace is closer competition than SEAS but even they have a lack of locations as well.