Knott’s Parent Firm Is Expected to Buy Chula Vista Water Park

Look for Cedar Fair LP, the company that owns Knott’s Berry Farm and four other large theme parks, to announce its acquisition of a San Diego-area water park to complement the $25-million water park Cedar Fair plans to open beside Knott’s next summer.

Details of the purchase of White Water Canyon, a park in Chula Vista, are expected to be announced today by Richard L. Kinzel, president of Cedar Fair, and Chula Vista Mayor Shirley Horton.

The deal illustrates how regional amusement parks and water parks are being bought up by chains, which can then cross-promote the attractions and cut management expenses. Another example is the purchase of Raging Waters in San Dimas and Castle Amusement Park in Riverside by Ogden Corp., the New York company that manages the Arrowhead Pond.

Kinzel said recently that attendance at Knott’s will exceed 3.5 million for the second straight year in 1999 and operating profits will be at record levels. The prediction came as Kinzel announced that the annual dividend at the Sandusky, Ohio-based partnership would be increased to $1.45 per unit, up from $1.40. The increase, which follows a 10-cent-per-unit hike in March, leaves the dividend up 12% over the year.

By adding thrill rides and a planned water park, Cedar Fair hopes to increase attendance at Knott’s to 4 million. Attendance at Knott’s, Southern California’s oldest amusement park, peaked in 1990 at about 5 million, according to Amusement Business magazine.

At Cedar Fair’s other four parks in the East and Midwest, attendance fell, and the company failed to meet its 1999 goals for visitors and revenues. But Kinzel said the higher dividend was merited because the company’s profits went up.