Great American Family Parks Signs Agreement to Close Its First Major Theme Park
December 01 2004 - 8:01AM
PR Newswire (US)
Great American Family Parks Signs Agreement to Close Its First
Major Theme Park - Will Add $2 Million to Annual Revenues With
Strong Profits - BOISE, Idaho, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Great American Family Parks, Inc. (OTC:GFAM) is pleased to announce
the signing of the final contract for the acquisition of Wild
Animal Safari in Pine Mountain, GA, the Company's first theme park.
Pending completion of the terms, the scheduled closing is February
1, 2005. Dr. Larry Eastland, President of Great American Family
Parks, stated, "We are tremendously excited about the contract for
our first park acquisition. GFAM will be acquiring this park
because it meets our strict criteria of selecting small to
medium-sized parks that bring experienced management, solid
revenues and strong profits to our Company. With revenues and
EBITDA of approximately $2 million and $900,000 respectively, Wild
Animal Safari is a profitable park that has displayed an excellent
growth pattern over its 13 1/2 year operating history. We project
the park will have an ROI of between 18-22% beginning in 2005."
Dale Van Voorhis, CPA, President and CEO of GFAM Management
Corporation, GFAM's park management company, will integrate and
guide Wild Animal Safari's operational and future growth
strategies. For more than a decade, Mr. Van Voorhis had served as
president and CEO of Funtime Parks, a $60 million amusement
company. During his tenure at Funtime, Mr. Van Voorhis directed the
company's initial and secondary public offerings, orchestrated a
number of successful park acquisitions, and eventually led the
management buyout of the Company in 1987. Dr. Eastland continued,
"GFAM is envisioned as a family-centric company with positive
values and unique entertainment offerings. The acquisition of Wild
Animal Safari will represent a significant step in fulfilling that
vision. Our management team has a high level experience and
enthusiasm to create a park environment that will continue to
attract an increasing number of visitors, while expanding
profitability." Ron Snider, stated, "Wild Animal Safari is one of
the few animal parks in the U.S. that offers families unique,
interactive experiences with exotic animals in their natural
environment. We are proud to be joining Great American Family
Parks. We are open for business throughout the year and have
continued to see profits increase over the years. Wild Animal
Safari will give GFAM access to a very large market area, where it
can now leverage significant opportunities for expansion to
strengthen thriving operations." Driven by their vision and love of
animals, Ron Snider and his wife, Vivian, founded Wild Animal
Safari over 13 1/2 years ago. The 500-acre park contains hundreds
of animals, providing one of world's most unique educational and
entertaining experiences for its visitors. The park's jungle of
spellbinding animals comes from around the globe, including Africa,
India, Australia, Europe, South America as well as from North
America. Unlike a zoo, where animals are confined in small,
man-made quarters, most of the animals at the park roam freely
throughout its countryside, socializing, grazing and watering as
they would in their original environments. Wild Animal Safari is
located within an easily accessible one-hour drive time from
Atlanta. Macon, Albany and Columbus, Georgia, as well as
Montgomery, Birmingham and Auburn, Alabama, are all within a "day
trip" to the Park. For more information, visit
http://www.animalsafari.com/. About Great American Family Parks
Great American Family Parks is focused on buying and managing
profitable regional theme parks and themed amusement attractions in
the United States. By building a family of parks each with between
300,000 to 1 million annual attendees, GFAM is in the process of
developing a series of compatible, yet distinct entertainment and
amusement products, including themed amusement parks, associated
products, food and beverage, and multimedia offerings. Regional
theme parks are a relatively recession-proof growth market. The
market for U.S. theme and amusement parks is expected to grow at a
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.4% to $11.7 billion by
2007. Nationwide, regional park attendance is projected to increase
at a CAGR of 1.8%, to bring collective attendance to 263.8 million
by 2007. Overall revenues for America's regional theme parks is
expected to total $8.31 billion within five years. For more
information, visit http://www.weloveparks.com/. Investors should
visit http://www.otcfn.com/gfam. For more information, please
contact Rick McCaffrey, Investor Relations, OTC Financial Network,
781-444-6100, ext. 625, . Also visit http://www.otcfn.com/gfam.
Safe Harbor Statement Under The Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995: The statements in the press release that relate
to the company's expectations with regard to the future impact on
the company's results from new products in development are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The results anticipated
by any or all of these forward-looking statements may not occur.
DATASOURCE: Great American Family Parks, Inc. CONTACT: investors,
Rick McCaffrey of OTC Financial Network, +1-781-444-6100, ext. 625,
Web site: http://www.animalsafari.com/ Web site:
http://www.otcfn.com/gfam Web site: http://www.weloveparks.com/
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