Kings Island owner sees growing ticket sales

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Amusement park owner Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. has seen a 5 percent increase in net revenues so far this year, according to preliminary estimates released July 8, following the busy July 4th holiday.

Higher net revenues of $491 million to date are a result of a 2 percent increase in attendance, a 2 percent increase in average in-park guest per capita spending and a 10 percent increase in out-of-park revenues including resort hotels, according to Sandusky-based Cedar Fair, which owns Warren County attraction Kings Island and northern Ohio amusement park Cedar Point.

“We are pleased with the strong start to the first half of 2015,” said Matt Ouimet, president and chief executive officer of Cedar Fair, in a written statement.

“Our strategy heading into this year was to provide experiences which would encourage our guests to visit our parks early and to visit them often. This included a focus on early season pass sales, the introduction of an all-season dining program across all of our parks, new spring-time events and delivering innovative new rides and attractions as early as possible,” Ouimet said.

After a record-setting year last year thanks in large part to the debut of new $24 million roller coaster Banshee, Kings Island's operators were expecting another successful season with the introduction of two new family rides and other major renovations. A makeover for the 2015 season of International Street includes the Tristate's largest Starbucks, upgrades at the funnel cake stand and more.

Altogether, Cedar Fair owns and operates 11 amusement parks, three outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels.

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