Fears of the Six Flags name being slapped on Knott’s Berry Farm and every other Cedar Fair park after the merger of the two largest regional amusement park chains in the United States have been put to rest — it’s not going to happen.
While Six Flags will be the corporate name of the combined company, there are no plans to change the names or branding of any Cedar Fair parks, according to Cedar Fair officials.
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The Knott’s Berry Farm name will remain unchanged and will not include the Six Flags name, according to Cedar Fair officials.
That means there will be no Six Flags Knott’s Berry Farm or any other convoluted naming convention for the Buena Park theme park. The same goes for Cedar Fair’s sister park, California’s Great America in Santa Clara.
Knott’s Berry Farm owner Cedar Fair and Magic Mountain owner Six Flags agreed last week to an $8 billion merger of equals that will combine the two companies into a North American amusement park juggernaut.
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Theme parks fans quivering at the thought of a Six Flags Cedar Point, Six Flags Kings Island or Six Flags Canada’s Wonderland need not worry. The Cedar Fair parks won’t be adding Six Flags to their names.
That doesn’t mean the Six Flags name won’t appear anywhere in the Cedar Fair parks or the markets they operate. Six Flags could still show up on everything from drinking cups and shopping bags to season passes and TV commercials.
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The Six Flags name will be brought into play over time because of its national brand recognition, according to Dennis Speigel, an industry expert with International Theme Park Services.
“The Six Flags name as a brand in the theme park industry is better known than the Cedar Fair name,” Speigel said on an ITPS video commentary posted to YouTube. “We will see some branding of the Six Flags names come into play as it relates to marketing with the parks and the markets.”
Likewise, Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia won’t be shedding the Six Flags name. The same goes for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo and other existing Six Flags parks.
The names and branding for the Cedar Fair and Six Flags parks will not change because of the merger, according to Cedar Fair officials.
The Six Flags brand is not expected to be removed from any current parks, according to Cedar Fair officials.
