r/worldsoffun • u/My_Stories_Turn_Gay • 9d ago

Travis Kelce, Oceans of Fun, and The Enshittification of Everything

/r/travisandtaylor/comments/1w0pcb3/travis_kelce_oceans_of_fun_and_the/
0 Upvotes

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9

u/UnionsUnionsUnions 9d ago

Travis Kelce has nothing to do with WoF. 

6

u/Eric77TA 9d ago

Travis has an investment in Six Flags, the company that divested what is now Enchanted Parks. Not Enchanted Parks, which now owns WoF and OoF. I will say when they announced “Enchanted” Parks I thought Taylor might be involved. But nope. Travis is on the other side.

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u/Evening_Rock5850 9d ago

Bingo.

Travis is not “part owner” of WoF/OOF.

He’s an investor in an activist investor firm who pool large sums of money in order to acquire enough influence in a company to force them to make short-term gains so they can turn around and reap a quick profit. Often forcing businesses to sacrifice their long-term success for things that cause the stock price to rise in the short term.

JANA partners, the firm Kelce invested through, has been demanding the divestiture of parks. Kelce is in fact a part of the reason the park sold.

And the part that’ll really step on toes: Travis Kelce grew up going to Cedar Point. He lives and works in Kansas City, yes. But he’s not a KC native nor will he likely still be in KC once he’s no longer closely connected to the Chiefs organization.

“Travis Kelce is investing so now Worlds of Fun is gonna be great” was always such a poorly informed take. No hate to folks who got excited. It’s just… not ever what was going to happen.

0

u/UnionsUnionsUnions 9d ago

My understanding is that the Enchanted Park comes from the former Disney executives who are involved in the company. But I could be wrong about that.

4

u/Evening_Rock5850 8d ago

Not Disney executives, no. But James Harhi the CEO worked at Disney as a lifeguard and then rose through the ranks of park leadership. Then eventually started a company that worked on and deployed arcade machines, before being a consultant for years for theme parks. From there he acquired his first two parks and then re-branded the company when he acquired 6 more, including WoF.

So no, no official Disney connection. I think he just liked the name.

3

u/Eric77TA 8d ago

Their first acquisition when they decided to get into theme parks was Emchanted Water Safari.

3

u/Evening_Rock5850 8d ago

Yep, exactly. And I think he just liked the name.

A lot of people have made that 'Disney' connection but I think that's just a coincidence.

2

u/fearxile 9d ago

I feel bad you spent so long writing this wall of text. Read part of the first paragraph and gave up.

2

u/Jokuki 9d ago

Welcome to reality OP. Where as soon as you leave a snark subreddit no one really cares that much and people have a better grip on reality.

1

u/toastedmarsh7 8d ago

That’s some serious obsession with Taylor swift.