Cedar Fair Entertainment Company was one of the largest seasonal amusement park operators in North America, running iconic properties like Cedar Point and Dorney Park for four decades before merging into Six Flags Entertainment Corporation in 2024.
The name still shows up constantly in park listings, corporate filings, and travel forums, which raises an obvious question: does Cedar Fair still exist, and what happened to the parks it owned? Here’s the full history, the complete park list, and where things stand today.
Quick Answer
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company was the trade name of Cedar Fair, L.P., a publicly traded amusement park operator headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio. It owned 11 amusement parks and 4 water parks — including Cedar Point, Knott’s Berry Farm, Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Canada’s Wonderland, and Dorney Park — before completing a merger of equals with Six Flags on July 1, 2024. The combined business now operates as Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: FUN), and Cedar Fair’s former parks continue running under that new corporate umbrella.
What Was Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Exactly?
“Cedar Fair Entertainment Company” was the public-facing trade name Cedar Fair, L.P. began using after its 2006 acquisition of the Paramount Parks chain roughly doubled the size of the business. The underlying legal entity remained Cedar Fair, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership managed by a general partner, Cedar Fair Management, Inc. That structure — a publicly traded partnership rather than a conventional corporation — let the company pass distributions directly to unitholders while still funding new rides and acquisitions.
That unusual legal form is also why the company is sometimes referred to by three overlapping names in filings and news coverage: Cedar Fair, L.P. (the legal name), Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (the trade name used from 2006 onward), and simply “Cedar Fair” in everyday use. All three refer to the same company. The partnership structure ended in mid-2024, when the Six Flags merger converted each Cedar Fair unit into a share of common stock in the new corporation.
From a Two-Park Partnership to an Industry Leader
Cedar Fair’s roots trace to 1978, when Cedar Point, already a lakefront amusement park more than a century old, acquired the young Valleyfair park near Minneapolis, which had opened just two years earlier in 1976. In 1983, the two properties were brought under a single parent company, Cedar Fair Limited Partnership, blending “Cedar” from Cedar Point and “Fair” from Valleyfair into its name. The company went public in 1987 on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FUN.
The defining expansion came in 2006, when Cedar Fair acquired five Paramount-branded parks from CBS Corporation for $1.24 billion, instantly doubling its footprint to include Kings Island in Ohio, Kings Dominion in Virginia, Canada’s Wonderland near Toronto, and Carowinds on the North Carolina–South Carolina border. Later additions, including the Schlitterbahn water parks in Texas in 2019, rounded out a portfolio that stretched from coast to coast.
Dorney Park: Cedar Fair’s Pennsylvania Property
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is one of the oldest amusement parks in the Cedar Fair family tree and one of the oldest in the country. Its site began in 1860 as Solomon Dorney’s fish hatchery and grew into “Dorney’s Trout Ponds and Summer Resort” by 1884, with early attractions like a scenic railway, a Ferris wheel, and a swimming pool. Cedar Fair acquired Dorney Park in 1992, folding it into the same regional-park model used at Valleyfair and Worlds of Fun.
Under Cedar Fair, Dorney Park grew into a two-in-one destination: a dry-ride park with roller coasters such as Steel Force, Hydra the Revenge, and Talon, paired with the adjacent Wildwater Kingdom water park, which opened in 1985 and now includes dozens of water slides, two wave pools, and multiple tubing rivers. Like the rest of the Cedar Fair portfolio, Dorney Park carried over into the 2024 Six Flags merger and is now operated as a Six Flags property, though it keeps its own name and Wildwater Kingdom branding. For current hours, tickets, and season pass pricing, the official Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom website is the authoritative source, since operating calendars and price tiers change every season.
Every Park Cedar Fair Owned
At the time of its merger into Six Flags, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company operated 11 amusement parks and 4 separately-gated water parks across the United States and Canada. The amusement parks were Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio), Knott’s Berry Farm (Buena Park, California), Kings Island (Mason, Ohio), Kings Dominion (Doswell, Virginia), Carowinds (Charlotte, North Carolina), Canada’s Wonderland (Vaughan, Ontario), Dorney Park (Allentown, Pennsylvania), Michigan’s Adventure (Muskegon, Michigan), Valleyfair (Shakopee, Minnesota), Worlds of Fun (Kansas City, Missouri), and California’s Great America (Santa Clara, California).
Cedar Fair also ran standalone water parks, including Knott’s Soak City locations and the Schlitterbahn parks in New Braunfels and Galveston, Texas, acquired in 2019. Every one of these properties carried over into the combined Six Flags company after the 2024 merger.
The Six Flags Merger and the End of an Era
In November 2023, Cedar Fair announced it would merge with rival Six Flags Entertainment Corporation in an all-stock deal structured as a merger of equals. The transaction closed on July 1, 2024, and both original companies were legally dissolved, with the combined business taking the Six Flags name while adopting Cedar Fair’s FUN ticker symbol on the NYSE starting July 2, 2024. Cedar Fair unitholders ended up holding roughly 51% of the new company, with legacy Six Flags shareholders holding the rest.
The merged entity became the largest regional amusement park operator in North America, with dozens of parks and water parks and several resort properties across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, while keeping major finance and administrative operations in Sandusky, Ohio. While the Cedar Fair corporate name disappeared, its flagship parks, including Cedar Point, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Dorney Park, continue operating under the Six Flags umbrella, preserving the legacy of the brands Cedar Fair built over four decades.
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company FAQs
Does Cedar Fair Entertainment Company still exist?
No. Cedar Fair, L.P. (doing business as Cedar Fair Entertainment Company) merged with Six Flags Entertainment Corporation on July 1, 2024, and both original corporate entities were dissolved into the newly combined Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, which trades on the NYSE under Cedar Fair’s old ticker symbol, FUN.
What parks did Cedar Fair own?
At the time of the merger, Cedar Fair operated 11 amusement parks and 4 water parks, including Cedar Point, Knott’s Berry Farm, Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Canada’s Wonderland, Dorney Park, Michigan’s Adventure, Valleyfair, Worlds of Fun, and California’s Great America, plus Schlitterbahn water parks in Texas.
Is Dorney Park still owned by Cedar Fair?
Dorney Park is no longer owned by Cedar Fair as a standalone company, since Cedar Fair no longer exists as a separate corporate entity. Dorney Park now operates under Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, the company formed by the 2024 Cedar Fair/Six Flags merger, and continues under its own Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom branding.
Why was it called “Cedar Fair Entertainment Company” instead of just Cedar Fair?
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company was the trade name the company began using after its 2006 Paramount Parks acquisition significantly expanded its size and brand portfolio. The actual legal entity was Cedar Fair, L.P., a publicly traded limited partnership; both names referred to the same company until it converted to a corporate structure as part of the 2024 Six Flags merger.
When was Cedar Fair founded and when did it go public?
Cedar Point acquired Valleyfair in 1978, and in 1983 Cedar Fair Limited Partnership was formed as the parent company for both parks. Cedar Fair began trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange in 1987 under the ticker symbol FUN.
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