Nationwide, USA -

CNL Lifestyle Properties has just announced that they have reached agreements with five different managers to take over its eight amusement park properties starting by February 1, 2011. CNL told Amusement Today that the “five managers were chosen based on their track records of providing safe, high-quality guest experiences,” and include such groups as Herschend, Palace Entertainment, and Premier Amusements. While CNL will continue to be the owner of the properties, they will be turning over the management role.

Perhaps the most recognizable of the new managers will be Herschend Family Entertainment Corp. (HFE), who will now be managing Elitch Gardens in Denver, Colorado, and Darien Lake in Buffalo, New York, arguably the two biggest properties in the transition. Both of these properties include a theme/amusement park, a water park, and a performance venue, with a hotel, cabins, and campground on the site of Darien Lake as well. These two parks join the ranks of HFE’s 24 other properties, which includes Dollywood and Silver Dollar City.

Palace Entertainment, the nation’s largest owner and operator of water parks, has been chosen to mage the Waterworld property located in Concord, California. Waterworld joins Palace’s already long list of 11 water parks throughout the US, 8 theme parks including Idlewild, and 21 family entertainment centers (FECs).

CNL will be putting the largest number of properties, three, under the management of Premier Attractions Management, LLC. They will assume control of Frontier City and White Water Bay in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Splashtown in Houston, Texas. Premier currently owns and operates Nashville Shores waterpark, marina, and RV resort in Tennessee and Ocean Breeze Waterpark in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and is run by Kieran Burke and Gary Story, former big-wigs with Six Flags.

NorPoint Entertainment will be running just a single property with Wild Waves in Seattle Washington, and Amusement Management Partners, LLC (AMP), who already manages eight CNL FECs, will be managing Magic Springs and Crystal Falls in Hot Springs, Arkansas. CNL has reported that employment and operating strategies will be mostly unaffected by the transition.