Pssst! Wanna Buy a Theme Park?

Theme parks are in the business of fun. But they are also in the business of, well, business. Big business. CBS, the parent company of Paramount Parks, one of the major players in the industry, made it official today that it plans to divest itself of the theme park chain, according to CNNMoney. That leaves the fate of the five parks up in the air. The parks include Paramount's King's Dominion in Richmond, VA, Paramount's Great America in Santa Clara, CA, Paramount's Kings Island near Cincinnati, Paramount's Carowinds in Charlotte, NC, and Paramount Canada's Wonderland in Toronto. The chain also operates Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas and manages Bonfante Gardens in Gilroy, CA. CBS says it already has some interested buyers and that it expects to complete a sale by this June. All of the parks will open as scheduled this season. Sumner Redstone, chairman of the Viacom chain, had said that the company would likely drop the parks when CBS split from Viacom a few weeks back. There's no word whether the parks will continue to carry the Paramount name or be allowed to use the movie studio's films and characters when the chain is sold. In other news about the business of the theme park business, Six Flags continues to reinvent itself with the announcement that it intends to sell its two Oklahoma properties, the Frontier City theme park and the water park, White Water Bay, by the end of the upcoming season. Both parks are quite small compared to most of the properties in Six Flags' chain. Other smaller Six Flags-owned parks include American Adventures in Marietta, GA, Enchanted Village near Seattle, and Wyandot Lake near Columbus, OH. With the indoor water park resort, Six Flags Great Escape Lodge, opening soon across the street from The Great Escape, the semi-small theme park in Lake George, NY, park would be appear to be off of Six Flags' let's-get-rid-of-it radar.
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