[tarheel1231]

Ouimet is objectively the better CEO, but was Dick Kinzel that bad? Kinzel's regime bought the Paramount Parks, they added a high capacity thrill ride to Wonderland and they boosted attendance here with Intimidator. Was Kinzel just not here long enough to mess up the park like Knott's?

[Chris]

Edwardo was talking yesterday about his biography. Apparently in it, he says that his plans were for Carowinds 325 foot B&M to go to Cedar Point. Screw Kinzel.

[Edwardo]

Cedar Fair overpaying for the Paramount Parks (and buying Geauga Lake) was not a good decision.

He nearly undersold the company to an investment firm, which would have benefited him just before his retirement, but shareholders rejected the lowball offer.

He spoiled after his due date for far too long.

And that's not even mentioning the Intamin problems...

[Rhyano]

from my perspective no, Kinzel was not bad at all, he brought unique things to the table starting with the Corkscrew coasters at Cedar Point and Valleyfair, fast forward to 1989 with Magnum XL-200, then again in 1994 with Raptor, then also again in 2000 and 2003 with Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster, they all broke records and brought in huge attendance boosts, sure he made a few mistakes like buying Geauga Lake and ovepaying for the Paramount Parks, but Cedar Fair is much stronger today with the Paramount Parks than before without them. There WAS a giga on the way but that was scrapped and replaced with Gatekeeper, but not stats were ever released for that giga, i highly doubt that Fury was going to go to Cedar Point based on the layout, i'm not sure how that would even FIT at Cedar Point even if you did take out Mean Streak...

[uscbandfan]

I highly doubt that Fury would have gone to anywhere else in it's current configuration. It is uniquely tailored and designed for Carowind's topography. I feel certain that if Fury was going to go to Cedar Point, it would have been on the drawing board as a different design to suit a location at Cedar Point.

Now, moving coasters from one place to another would be a whole different nightmare finding the topography to work with a completed ride.

[Edwardo]

I highly doubt that Fury in its current form would have been built at CP. But he was budgeting a 300' B&M for CP and it got moved to Carowinds. Just like Knott's got moved to CW.

Enthusiasts look at what they got out of Kinzel. But from a purely business point of view, the last few years he was there were terrible.

He tried to undervalue the entire company and sell it to a low ball bidder which would only have benefitted him and his family. Even if that's the ONLY misstep he had, that's a VERY bad thing. Had he not over paid for paramount, and not purchased Geauga lake, the company would likely have continued their dividend payouts, not had a bad few quarters with declines, and on top of that, we wouldn't have Fury, and Carowinds and Knotts wouldn't have gotten the amount of love they've gotten since he's been gone.

And those attendance boosts (they weren't huge, don't know where that info came from) were offset by maintenance costs from poorly designed rides.

Heck, after all of the intamin issues, he still installed Shoot the Rapids. That's millions down the drain for a flawed ride.

Perspective is one thing, but facts show that Kinzel mismanaged during the latter half of his tenure. If that wasn't true, he and his son would still be running parks.

[RollerBee]

Isn't there a board of directors that also make decisions for the chain?

[Edwardo]

You mean the board of directors that Dick Kinzel was on and was also the board president of? Yeah.

[Axel]

an article on Kinzel from yesterday...

http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/story/news/local/2016/10/12/longtime-cedar-point-ceo-discusses-parks-evolution/91938596/