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ORGANIZATION
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
ORGANIZATION

1. ORGANIZATION

The terms “Great Wolf Resorts,” “us,” “we,” “our” and “Company” are used in this report to refer to Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

Business Summary

We are a family entertainment resort company that provides our guests with a high quality vacation at an affordable price. We are the largest owner, licensor, operator and developer in North America of drive-to, destination family resorts featuring indoor waterparks and other family-oriented entertainment activities based on the number of resorts in operation. Each of our resorts features approximately 300 to 600 family suites, each of which sleeps from six to ten people and includes a wet bar, microwave oven, refrigerator and dining and sitting area. We provide a full-service entertainment resort experience to our target customer base: families with children ranging in ages from 2 to 14 years old that live within a convenient driving distance of our resorts. Our resorts are open year-round and provide a consistent, comfortable environment where our guests can enjoy our various amenities and activities. We operate and license resorts under our Great Wolf Lodge® brand name. We have entered into licensing and management arrangements with third parties relating to the operation of resorts under the Great Wolf Lodge brand name.

We provide our guests with a self-contained vacation experience and focus on capturing a significant portion of their total vacation spending. We earn revenues through the sale of rooms (which includes admission to our indoor waterpark), and other revenue-generating resort amenities. Each of our resorts features a combination of the following revenue-generating amenities: themed restaurants, ice cream shop and confectionery, full-service adult spa, kid spa, game arcade, gift shop, miniature golf, interactive game attraction, family tech center and meeting space. We also generate revenues from licensing fees, management fees and other fees with respect to our operation or development of properties owned in whole or in part by third parties.

On March 24, 2011, we sold our Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan, WI. We continue to license the Blue Harbor Resort and related trade names to the buyer at no fee. As of March 24, 2011, we no longer operated this resort or managed the condominium units there.

On May 4, 2012, the Company merged with K-9 Acquisition, Inc., a Delaware corporation (Merger Sub), in the Merger (as defined and discussed in Note 4 below). Although the Company continued as the same legal entity after the Merger, the Company’s capital structure changed significantly as a result of the Merger and our financial statement presentations distinguish between a “Predecessor” for periods prior to the Merger and a “Successor” for periods subsequent to the Merger. The Merger was accounted for as a business combination using the acquisition method of accounting and Successor financial statements reflect a new basis of accounting that is based on the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed as of the effective time of the Merger. The determination of these fair values reflects appraisals prepared by independent third parties and is based on actual tangible and identifiable intangible assets and liabilities that existed as of the effective time of the Merger. As a result of the application of the acquisition method of accounting as of the effective time of the Merger, the financial statements for the Predecessor period and for the Successor period are presented on different bases and are, therefore, not comparable.

The following table presents an overview of our portfolio of resorts. As of September 30, 2012, we operated, managed and/or had licensing arrangements relating to the operation of 11 Great Wolf Lodge resorts (our signature Northwoods-themed resorts). We anticipate that most of our future resorts will be licensed and/or developed under our Great Wolf Lodge brand, but we may operate and/or enter into licensing arrangements with other resorts using different brands in appropriate markets.

 

     Ownership
Percentage
    Opened      Number of
Guest
Suites
    Indoor
Entertainment
Area (1)
 
                        (Approx. sq. ft)  

Wisconsin Dells, WI (3)

     —          1997         385 (2)      102,000   

Sandusky, OH (3)

     —          2001         271        41,000   

Traverse City, MI

     100     2003         280        57,000   

Kansas City, KS

     100     2003         281        57,000   

Williamsburg, VA (4)

     100     2005         405        87,000   

Pocono Mountains, PA (4)

     100     2005         401        101,000   

Niagara Falls, ONT (5)

     —          2006         406        104,000   

Mason, OH (4)

     100     2006         401        105,000   

Grapevine, TX (4)

     100     2007         605        110,000   

Grand Mound, WA (6)

     49     2008         398        74,000   

Concord, NC (4)

     100     2009         402        97,000   

 

(1)

Our indoor entertainment areas generally include our indoor waterpark, game arcade, children’s activity room, family tech center, MagiQuest® (an interactive game attraction) and fitness room, as well as our spa in the resorts that have such amenities.

(2) Total number of guest suites includes 77 condominium units that are individually owned and we manage.
(3) These properties are owned by CNL Lifestyle Properties, Inc. (CNL), a real estate investment trust focused on leisure and lifestyle properties. We currently manage both properties and license the Great Wolf Lodge brand to these resorts.
(4) Five of our properties (Great Wolf Lodge resorts in Williamsburg, VA; Pocono Mountains, PA; Mason, OH; Grapevine, TX and Concord, NC) each had a book value of fixed assets equal to ten percent or more of our total assets as of September 30, 2012 and each of those five properties had total revenues equal to ten percent or more of our total revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2012, the period January 1 – May 4, 2012, and the period May 5 – September 30, 2012.
(5) An affiliate of Ripley Entertainment, Inc. (Ripley), our licensee, owns this resort. We have granted Ripley a license to use the Great Wolf Lodge name for this resort through April 2016.
(6) This property is owned by a joint venture. The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation (Chehalis) owns a 51% interest in the joint venture, and we own a 49% interest. We operate the property and license the Great Wolf Lodge brand to the joint venture under long-term agreements through April 2057, subject to earlier termination in certain situations. The joint venture leases the land for the resort from the United States Department of the Interior, which is trustee for Chehalis.