Land banking is a great business if one can earn a solid cash return while waiting for the land to appreciate. This thread will show my estimate for the value of $FUN ‘s freehold land.

2/ $FUN owns 115 acres freehold and has easement rights to another 60 acres at California’s Great America. It sits across the road from $AMD and $INTC head offices and is 4.2 miles from $AAPL new HQ. Comps show per acre value of $5.2 mln

3/ $FUN owns 175 acres under Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA. It’s only 4.4 miles from Disneyland. Comps show per acre value of $2.6 mln.

4/ Canada’s Wonderland sits on 295 acres of land only 35 mins drive from downtown Toronto. Still trying to get land comps for this parcel but one developer I spoke with said it would be worth $3 mln CAD per acre. Another source said $2 - $5 mln per acre.

5/ The three parks total 585 acres with an estimated land value of $1.7 billion, equal to 44% of $FUN ‘s EV.

6/ $FUN owns a total of 13 parks with an aggregate freehold ownership of 5,000 acres. The remaining parks in places like Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia aren’t worth anywhere near these per acre values. The three I’ve highlighted are the Crown Jewels.

7/ Using Costar comps for the remaining parcels gets me a combined value of $2.5 billion or 65% of $FUN ‘s EV. Keep in mind the Wonderland value could be higher than what I’m using.

8/ $FUN also owns 8 hotels / resorts, 3 marinas and 4 RV resorts ( $ELS $SUI). 2019 accommodation revs were $206 mln. I have included nothing for these assets.

9/ I own $FUN because it’s a good business able to grow attendance and rev per cap over time. It has huge barriers to entry and many of its assets have no competition (i.e. Toronto - only game in town for about 8 mln people). The land value is a nice backstop though.