Cedar Fair Reports Record Attendance At Parks In 2001

Sandusky, OH Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN), a publicly traded partnership which owns and operates six amusement parks and five water parks, today announced that combined attendance for the 2001 season at its eleven properties totaled a record 11.9 million people, 2% above the Partnership's total attendance last year of 11.7 million.

Richard L. Kinzel, president and chief executive officer, noted that the 2001 attendance figure includes results from the Partnership's two newest parks, Michigan's Adventure and Oasis Water Park, both of which were acquired during the year. On a same park basis, attendance declined 3% from 2000, but was still the third highest in the Partnership's history.

"Although we did not meet our expectations at each park, we are pleased with the record attendance we were able to achieve in 2001, particularly given our modest capital program and the overall weakness of the economy," said Kinzel. "For the entire season, combined attendance at our six amusement parks totaled 10.6 million, up slightly from a year ago, and combined attendance at our five water parks increased 13% to 1.3 million guests."

Cedar Fair's six amusement parks are Cedar Point, located on Lake Erie between Cleveland and Toledo; Knott's Berry Farm near Los Angeles in Buena Park, California; Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom near Allentown, Pennsylvania; Valleyfair near Minneapolis/St. Paul; Worlds of Fun, located in Kansas City, Missouri; and Michigan's Adventure near Muskegon, Michigan. The Partnership's water parks are located near San Diego and in Palm Springs, California, and adjacent to Cedar Point, Knott's Berry Farm and Worlds of Fun. Cedar Fair also operates Camp Snoopy at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota under a management contract.

Commenting on results at the individual parks, Kinzel said, "At Dorney Park, the introduction of the Talon roller coaster led to an attendance record of well over 1.5 million guests, up 16% from last year. These results once again demonstrated the drawing power of a great new attraction. We were also pleased with the solid season at our newest park, Michigan's Adventure, which finished the year with post-acquisition attendance of just over 400,000, right in line with our expectations. Meanwhile, results at our other three seasonal parks were negatively impacted by the weak economy and the lack of a major new attraction. For the year, attendance at Cedar Point was down nearly 9% to 3.1 million guests, attendance at Valleyfair decreased 8% to 1.1 million, and attendance at Worlds of Fun was down 3% to slightly more than 900,000. At our only year-round park, Knott's Berry Farm, attendance finished the year down 4% at 3.6 million, due mostly to a drop in tourism in the Southern California market that began well before the September 11 terrorist attacks in the East."

Kinzel concluded by noting that the Partnership plans to release its full year end earnings in early February.