"Hey, we know you rejected the Six Flags bid a couple of years ago, but would you be interested in less money?"
Cedar Fair is worth less now. They didn't (cedar) fair very well in the past two years.
No. Just no. They could barely pay RMC for Gwazi (due to a pandemic, I know) but we don't need them to ruin the Cedar Fair parks. They can barely run the few parks they have. Worst theme park news possibility in some time.
They COULD pay for it (they had cash reserves and credit), but didn't until they had to because they didn't know what was in store. They stopped paying all their vendors that weren't crucial to maintaining their facilities at the time. Once they reopened the parks they paid their bills. I think most people did similar things when money stopped coming in, prioritizing their bills.
None of this should be a surprise to anyone. Cedar Fair and Six Flags have both struggled in the past two years while SeaWorld Parks managed to thrive. They figured out a winning pricing strategy and formula to not only sell passes to their local markets, but keep those people coming to the parks and spending money all year. This is what SF/CF have tried (unsuccessfully) to do.
I'm seeing a lot of people fretting that SeaWorld will "ruin" the Cedar Fair parks, or close parks the way Cedar Fair did with Geauga Lake. So far SeaWorld hasn't ruined the parks they have. Yes, they've changed, but the market has changed, and they've adapted. They will NEVER be what they were under AB, but under AB they were almost a hobby. A goodwill arm of the brewing company. If they made a profit, great, but it didn't have to be a big profit since the beer always made big profits. Since they were spun off they stumbled and finally found their footing and figured out how to create a successful business plan.
The one concern I saw several people mention is Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg being a similar situation to Cedar Point and Geauga Lake. There's a big difference. SeaWorld operates four parks in close proximity here in Central Florida quite successfully each doing their own things and sharing business and passholders. When Cedar Fair bought Geauga Lake they killed off the animal programs (which guests loved), and had little interest in really trying to run GL successfully. Dick Kinzel ran the chain like Cedar Point was the only park that mattered to the detriment of several parks in the chain.
I can see great synergy and strategies with the acquisition. As it is there are many Passholders who buy Platinum passes from BGW and Sesame Place so they can enjoy their home parks, then come to Orlando in the winter and use their passes here. Add parks in Ohio, North Carolina, etc, and you only get more guests buying Platinum passes so they can do the same. Take a struggling park like Dorney and have nearby Sesame Place and suddenly people see more value in their pass and they have more leverage against Six Flags and Hershey Park. If anything Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Kings Dominion will both benefit. Many locals buy passes for one or the other. If they could get both for a few dollars more why wouldn't they?
I'll also add-- SeaWorld has added new attractions to ALL their parks in the past few years. In that same time period Cedar Fair added one or two big ticket items each year with many parks getting nothing. Cedar Fair was doing more than enough to ruin their parks on their own with lack of investment (just like Six Flags is doing). The Cedar Fair parks were the better purchase over Six Flags, they need less fixing in facilities and image.