 Kennywood Entertainment, itself an operator of a family-owned park, had acquired other family-owned and operated parks after its purchase of Idlewild in 1983. Kennywood's owners rejected offers by larger companies to purchase the group, such as one in 1997 by Premier Parks, the company that acquired the Six Flags franchise a year later. Kennywood refused the Premier offer and others on grounds that the new owners would make too many changes to the existing parks. However, on December 11, 2007, Kennywood Entertainment announced that it would sell its parks to the Madrid-based amusement company, Parques Reunidos. The fourth- and fifth-generation family ownership of Kennywood ensured that with the transaction all of the company's parks would experience few changes and that day-to-day park operations would remain local.
