Cedar Fair and Universal Orlando News

Cedar Fair has reported that through the end of the July 4th weekend results at the company's chain of parks is up over the 2010 season.

Revenues were $372 million, up 2% over last year.  Attendance and average in park spending were also increased slightly, while out of park revenues - resorts, etc - were up 3%.  Kinzel also pointed out that the Western parks in the chain were up 8%, more than the Southern or Northern parks.

The chain is also reporting positive reactions to the new rides and attractions added this year.  "Our new 301-foot-tall swing ride, WindSeeker, recently debuted to rave reviews at Cedar Point, Canada's Wonderland and Kings Island, while the introduction of Planet Snoopy at Dorney Park, Worlds of Fun and Valleyfair has proven to be popular with families," said Kinzel.  "Similarly, our continued marketing efforts at Knott's Berry Farm and new programs at California's Great America and Valleyfair have clearly been effective at attracting guests early in the season."

Also from our writer Chris, a note on Universal Orlando:

Comcast's recently acquired NBCUniversal division announced this past Friday that it finalized its purchase of the Blackstone Group's 50% stake in Universal Orlando. The purchase price was a cool $1 billion dollars, which is interesting given that NBCUniversal announced it will doll out $4.38 billion dollars to keep the Olympics on its NBC network of channels soon after initially announcing it would acquire the remaining stake in Universal Orlando. Universal Orlando is doing exceptionally well because of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter expansion at Universal Orlando's Islands of Advanture theme park.

Maybe now might not be the best time for Comcast CEO's Stephen Burke's children to ask Dad for more allowance.