SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — The retiring CEO of the nation’s third
biggest amusement park chain is leaving behind a legacy that will be
hard to reach — at least in terms of heights and thrills.
Under
the watch of president and chief executive Richard Kinzel, Cedar Fair
Entertainment Co. was transformed from a small collection of amusement
parks into an industry giant, and its flagship park along Lake Erie grew
into a major destination by opening several record-breaking roller
coasters.
Kinzel, 70, who is retiring at the end of the year,
started his career managing food stands on the midway in the early 1970s
and has been the company’s chief executive officer since 1986.
He
told the Sandusky Register he found out early in his career how
important roller coasters are to the bottom line when he was director of
operations at Cedar Point, midway between Toledo and Cleveland.
Attendance
topped 3 million for the first time when the park in 1976 opened
Corkscrew, one of the first roller coasters that turned riders upside
down three times. The park again drew a record number of visitors two
years later when it opened Gemini, a 125-foot coaster that was the
tallest in the world at the time.
The park didn’t add any major
coasters for several years and attendance dropped. Kinzel knew the park
needed a jolt and decided to build a 185-foot-tall coaster, just enough
to top the height record. But a last minute decision brought the height
to just over 200 feet.
"If Magnum XL-200 had bombed, my career would have been very different," Kinzel told the
Sandusky Register.
The
$7.5 million coaster opened in 1989 and paid for itself in one year. It
changed the entire amusement park industry by creating a demand for
bigger and faster rides. Cedar Point set out to market itself as "The
Roller Coaster Capital of the World" with several record breakers over
the next decade.
The park later became the first with coasters topping 300- and 400-feet.
Cedar Point’s growth allowed the parent company to add five parks between 1992 and 2004.
Cedar
Fair then made a huge splash in 2006 when it acquired five parks from
Paramount Parks Inc., elevating the Ohio company’s status to third,
behind only Walt Disney Co. and Six Flags Entertainment Corp. Cedar Fair
grew from a $100-million company in 1986 to one with revenues of $978
million by 2010.
Along the way, Kinzel has made it a point to be
the first to test out all of the new coasters. He also makes sure to
take his children and grandchildren for a ride.
"We’d sit right in
front, get a feel for the coaster," said his daughter, Stacy Boals.
"The tradition has carried on to the grandkids. They know when they’re
tall enough, it’s time to call Papa."
Cedar Fair has had troubles in recent years.
It
bought Geauga Lake, an amusement and water park near Cleveland, in 2004
for $145 million only to close all of its roller coasters and thrill
rides three years later. It also took on a large debt with the Paramount
deal, leading to a failed attempt to sell the company to a private
equity firm.
The company’s largest investor accused Kinzel of
mismanaging the company’s 18 amusement and water parks and forced a
management shake-up earlier this year. Kinzel had already announced his
retirement, but the shareholder revolt pushed him out as board chair.
The
company’s parks now include: Kings Island, in Cincinnati; Knott’s Berry
Farm near Los Angeles; Canada’s Wonderland, in Toronto, Canada; Kings
Dominion, in Richmond, Va.; and Carowinds, in Charlotte, N.C.
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Information from: Sandusky Register,
http://www.sanduskyregister.com/cgi-bin/liveique.acgi$sch=frontpage?frontpage
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.