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I for one would not be excited for this. We already have a Festhaus, which isn't being used to it's full potential. I would much rather see the sky ride return or something akin to Der Spinning Keggers, or some form of flat ride for that part of the park. Currently, it is the ride desert of the park. Only boasting Adventure Express, the park really doesn't have anything to write home about. I for one would be very excited if we saw something like a "reimagined Oktoberfest" renovation like we did with Action Zone a few years ago. German flair in all of the restaurants, an actual biergarten that isn't choked by beer sales inside of the Festhaus, the sky ride, der spinning keggers in the plot behind the Coke Marketplace. We have so much potential under the new management with both CF and KI, who wants to flesh out their areas; so I'm not saying it's too far fetched.

I don't think it would go over well in that location. It's hidden, no one would see it or smell the food cooking. The most logical location, in my opinion, is the current location of KillMart. Visible. Smellable. And the backstage area needs to be cleaned up, so this would be a great reason to do so. Outside dining with a view of Orion, The Racer and the KMAA? Inside dining for hot days and cold WinterFest days? Of course, my idea has been put forth multiple times here and poo-pooed. But I'm seeing several in agreement now. @brenthodge, from an artistic standpoint, your idea is wonderful. But I just don't see it being visible enough to be successful.

According to today's earnings call, all Cedar Fair announcements will be next week.

We were talking about this on the Cedar Fair 2023 Additions topic on the Other Amusement Parks and Industry News forum but I feel like we need to talk about this here since I actually have a photo now.

While this is a beautiful building, it would be redundant as @BB1 said above (and now I'm being redundant). Plus, the sight line of Banshee from right there has so much potential. A new climate controlled eatery/entertainment destination is needed down the midway in the area formerly known as Coney Mall. Climate control is missing in this area of the park.

I went back and listened to the recording of the call again. At 23 minutes and 54 seconds: "Next Thursday we will be unveiling our 2023 capital investment program. Sharing with our guests, communities, and associates a first look at what exciting rides, attractions, and immersive entertainment are coming to our parks and resort properties."

Mike Koontz said at Coasterstock this year is sort of a test to see how successful they are and they are learning about the concert business. He said he plans on doing them next year if they are successful. From what I saw both 3 Doors Down and Skillet brought in pretty good crowds not surprising as those 2 bands had the biggest following. Also, minus the hiccups of the first concert, all the concerts people enjoyed them. I honestly think Timberwolf is here to stay as long as KI is willing to continue putting money into it and use feedback from the bands and fans to see how they can improve Timberwolf. KI still has a lot of land to expand without removing Timberwolf.

On the earnings call today (8/3/22), record revenue continues for the year and are well above pre-covid 2019 numbers despite having 1 million less visitors, proving you can make money with fewer guests... Basically they are setting records for everything but attendance. But that decline is probably mostly contributed to outings that haven't returned in full-force since covid. And of course, after that announcement of attendance down, the unit price is now down... I would take higher revenue with fewer guests than more guests and declining revenue per cap, which was the trend leading up to covid. Per cap numbers were declining leading up to covid, but now they are at a record per cap spending, up 26% over 2019. In-park per capita spending is $60.76. Reinstatement of unit-holder distribution and authorization of program to repurchase up to $250 million units indicates the strong position they are now in.

Imagine something like this: Now just choose what dishes to serve lol Source for pic: https://www.frankenmuth.org/directory/bavarian-inn-restaurant/

While there was some good work put into it back in 2014, I'd say that Action Zone is still the area that needs the most work esthetically and ride-wise. The odds we'll see Congo Falls, Invertigo, The Bat, and Timberwolf all make it to 2030 are slim. I say retheme Action Zone to be a part of Oktoberfest over 2 to 3 years. Oktoberfest is landlocked, and at least that has a true theme unlike Action Zone.

Pretty sure that is the marker for Hole 1 for the new 'haunted' mini golf course that is going to be underneath Banshee!

Theory: If all of the Cedar Fair announcements are coming next week, could they be planning to announce that the Phantom Theater ride is returning on Sunday? The final day of the encore show was recently moved to August 14, rather than the 21st without any reason. I think this could be because they may plan to announce that they’re bringing the ride back at the final performance. A lot of Phantom Theater fans may be attendance to see the final show, and they would have the perfect opportunity to at the end when Larry corrects Maestro on when they’ll be coming back (“Actually sir we’ll be back at… because we’re not really in a Union)

I was listening to the earnings call on Cedar Fair's investor page. https://ir.cedarfair.com/overview/default.aspx#upcoming-and-presentations Fool.com and seekingalpha.com will probably post the transcript of the call this afternoon.

Worlds of Fun announcement is going to be on August 11.

The location is the only drawback. It’s just a shame that that end has been so poorly planned and developed over the years. Really wish WindSeeker had gone there in the turn around and they had opened up that whole end years ago. Even doing the restaurant straight at the end. It’s just a wasted cluster of stuff back there.

Can't see Phantom Theatre for next year. However, considering a recent trip from California by a certain creator it would seem a decent chance that that trip was to make a presentation/sign a deal for Phantom to come in the 2024 season. Unless, of course, as I speculated in an earlier thread, they have already started on it in the Action Theatre.

The Racer turn around would be a great place for new indoor/outdoor dining. Big windows looking out onto the track split. Already has utilities roughed in from Action Theatre days. If they aren’t going to put a fabulous new Phantom Theatre there, then I’d love to see a great new slightly upscale food option there. Even a buffet option. Call it COASTER VIEW or something similar. Maybe take the same idea that they’ve done for the 50th of nostalgia themed dishes.

I will echo sentiments that a new indoor eating option somewhere at the farther end of Coney Mall would be welcome. And also that Action Zone is the one area that needs an overhaul the most. And that the offerings at Festhaus need to be rethought. They have schnitzel this year for the 50th. How about we get some bratwurst?

several parks have already posted at 250. Hope it isn't true. But i upgraded earlier this year from gold to platinum and it cost $150 in addition the $ 109 I paid at Christmas fot gold. Can't see why other parks would charging extra $$. Platinum should be the same price at any park.

https://www.miadventure.com/season-passes

Where did you hear that Platinum passes are going up to $250 for 2023? As far as I know, they haven`t released pricing yet for 2023 season passes. That will likely happen shortly after announcements are made for 2023 additions.

Oooooh. I like this idea a lot. No matter how much nostalgia I have for the Paramount years, Action Zone's theme and design has always been at odds with the rest of the park. Retheming the area to a new and improved Oktoberfest would be a fantastic step back to the park's roots. Removing Congo Falls and Chicken Shack would open up a ton of real estate that would lend itself nicely to reimagining the area and installing some new flat rides. I'm imagining a lot of parallels to BGW's Oktoberfest area when it comes to retheming the remaining rides, though I'd probably leave Banshee as-is. The Banshee/Bat corner would work great as a spooky church/graveyard sub-area. And, dare I say it, they could actually plant some trees throughout Action Zone.

Besides the 50th anniversary and everything, KI could be doing this summer concert series as kind of a last stand for Timberwolf before it could be taken out. Or at least they could do the concerts for another few years or so.

Guessing it got taken down fast as I'm not finding it.

Carowinds already accidentally confirmed the new area. If you go to Carowinds website it’s listed under rides and experiences. New in 2023: Aeronautica Landing

It was discussed somewhere. I was not at the event this year, but I thought it was on his wish list, not a confirmed project?

reviewed the footage; you're right "my goal is to get Diamondback a new paintjob next year" edit: I saw myself in the background a little bit after this scene lol

I always thought they’d do a quiet reopening in the middle of this season. I doubt that now. Perhaps they are making modifications and using its reopening as a marketability factor. If someone modifies it I’d bet you dollars to donuts that Intamin has a big hand in it. Cedar Fair still works with them quite a bit, despite not having purchased any new rides for a while.

That’s what I’d LOVE. A new Phantom Theatre, the long forgotten crown jewel of the Coney midway is rediscovered in all its decaying glory. Use the Midway mania style ride base with a heavily themed queue and transitions between “acts” of the show with physical props and prop/set animation, then use 3d screen (with “opera glasses”) for the headliners interactive games. Throw roses to Hilda to score points, throw dynamite sticks at Garbonzo to score, etc. I don’t LOVE the shooting aspect, but I think it would be an easier sell than a full passive dark ride. Then boo blasters could become peanuts or MarDGra’s international scavenger hunt using the characters and locations from Carnivale the following year.

If Phantom theater does not come back in the form of a full-blown dark ride, I wouldn’t mind seeing the 4d theater house an attraction such as that. I’m not saying put a full dark ride in that building but if the park were to hire a company to create a 4d experience themed around the Phantom theater I think it would go over well. The building is kind of off the beaten path so I think the outside could easily be rethemed to look like an old abandoned theater. It wouldn’t have to be one show either, like most 4d theaters they could have multiple shows focusing on different things.

Re-read 6 posts up.....

I think the current day Cedar Fair management is a lot less concerned with building big massive rides. I think they’re doing great at making sure their “flagship” parks have a couple 300+ foot rides, but I see them focusing more on family friendly rides for the next couple years.

So does that mean the announcements for Cedar Fair parks will be on Thursday August 11th?

So my daughter and I were at the park last week and got in line for Mystic Timbers. I could smell something and 50+ people behind us I saw a woman vaping in line. I captured a picture of it and sent to the KI security number and let them know with the picture. We were on the steps almost to the station and I see 2 security people now mingling through the line and they found her in her group. Had a talking with her and guess was reminded of the policy. Very happy to see that they actually do respond and take action. I texted back a thank you to the security number for their help. Always nice to tell someone thank you for a job well done.

Hasn`t KI always said four hours between meals with the Dining Plan on the pass? I haven`t ever tried to get three meals at the park in a day, but I have grabbed two, including grabbing some slices of pizza on the way out of the park for the ride home at Winterfest a couple of times.

One would think that, but per cap spending is up a lot, as are season pass sales. More people have opted for stay-cations and thus hit the regional parks more than say a trip to Disney or another far away destination and are spending some of what they planned to spend on these items. I know plenty of people visiting the park more because of this, and I know many long-time Disney fans that gave up Disney visits this year and upgraded to CF Platinum and visited the reasonable driving distance parks instead. They also mentioned that attendance per operating day at the Company’s legacy parks is up 2% year to date, further showing people are staying closer to him and visiting regional parks instead. @BoddaH1994and Don even talk about that on their podcast that the trend the regional parks experience seem to not be as impacted and actually tend to do a little better when people decide to do stay-cations. They actually mentioned last month that thru July 4th, the attendance variance resulting from a slower recovery within the group sales channel has impacted total attendance, so it seems logical that the group/company outings are still down a month later, which is evident by visiting the park on a weekend and not seeing as many "Welcome XYZ" companies on the marque sign. They also mentioned 94 fewer operating days at the Company’s legacy parks due to a natural calendar shift and changes in early-season park operating schedules as part of the attendance decrease.

The price of gas... plain and simple. Less people traveling.

In keeping up with The Beast and adding footage to it's world record length, the same will happen to Banshee

He didn't officially confirm it. He said it is his goal. Whether or not it actually happens remains to be seen.

CP Food Blog is reporting slight price increases for 2023 based upon the 2023 season pass sales occurring already at other CF parks https://cpfoodblog.com/2023-cedar-fair-season-pass-news/

It is honestly to be expected, however I still go to the parks for dollars and cents per visit at this point. While yeah I will admit it will be a pain to pay a few extra dollars a month for my pass, I'm still getting my money's worth with a few trips to CP, plenty to KI, and one to Knott's.

I believe Intamin can hit 120 on LSMs now as a possible option, but the reputation of Intamin still lingers.

Knowing CF has distanced themselves from Intamin coasters for 10+ years who made modifications? Intamin? Someone else? Were there even modifications to the launch/ brake run made? Thinking back to SoB getting modified- If it was someone else other than Intamin what assurances are there that the modifications are safe? Definitely more questions than answers. I still believe TTD will be removed, but if CF can find a way to safely & consistently operate TTD, than we all benefit.

The small bit of hope in me is saying that the water line markings are for fans the spray water in a rerouted queue line. But I know how easy it is to perceive things in a way that is in accordance with what we hope the outcome will be. I'm racking my brain trying to think of what another use would be for water markings at locations so close to Dragster's station- especially if demolition plans are in the works for the near future. I will say though, that it does seem odd that they would be lighting up the tower and drawing attention to the ride only to turn around and announce its removal. I'd say that the JLG lift could very well just be there for a convenient parking place, so I'm not reading too far into that one. CP really knows how to drive its fanbase insane.

Now a McDonald's is getting in on the action.... https://www.timesnownews.com/viral/this-mcdonalds-outlet-has-banned-all-under-18s-from-entering-after-5-pm-knowwhy-article-93247331

13, 14, 15 & 16 are now available…I’m glad the balloon got one.

New on the KIGear site.

Keep looking...there are some survey markers within the park that showed up in the past week...

I would also like to see our Planet Snoopy be converted into a Camp Snoopy. I think the Camp Snoopy aspect would fit in with the park better, plus it’s right next door to Rivertown. I think it would help blend those areas into a more natural and organic experience.

The only reason they are typically closed those weekends in September are due to private parties. Usually when a company backs out, the day would be added to the operating calendar. So if GE, P&G, Toyota, etc. decide not to host events for their employees at the park, then yes we could see that happen. But I suspect the park would prefer the guarantee income from the private party and would push for those to continue and not try to force those companies out simply to add public operating days to the schedule. The bigger question will be do we see them extend operating days and offerings in some form or fashion in the historical true "off-season" of January thru April, along with the weekends in November before Winterfest starts....