jzarley

I think the coaster itself will be very similar to Wave Breaker at SWT (just with a snowmobile theme instead of a jet ski one). I do think that being indoors with (hopefully) good theming will do a lot for the experience. Wave Breaker is just ok and really doesn’t do much to visually integrate it or interact with the lake around it.

I saw a great Tweet today that I think really sums up this thought: “Six Flags is the Spirit Airlines of theme parks” I must admit I have some real sympathy for the team at SIX. I was with the SeaWorld organization during a few of the bad years. It was very disheartening for everyone to be working hard to turn things around and have to report bad quarters when the rest of your peers were doing gangbusters. (We frequently blamed the timing of Easter too) Granted, SEAS issues were more related to the activist crowd then business decisions, but still…I know it feels bad.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/six-flags-stock-tumbles-as-big-attendance-miss-leads-to-surprise-revenue-decline-2022-08-11 Not a good quarter for Six Flags—especially since Cedar Fair, SeaWorld, Universal & Disney all reported fantastic quarters and are doing very well. It’s interesting that they’re blaming the timing of Easter and Spring Break as one of the main reasons…I guess Easter hit at a different time for the other park chains :-)

No one seems to be mentioning the 2nd largest location based entertainment company in the world…which already has a foothold in the US

Of course, a lot of little kids in the Sesame Street demographic probably have older brothers & sisters, so it may help even out the offerings for them. In full disclosure, I do work for the company and these are just my thoughts—not representing those of the organization

It is a complete re-theme and expansion of the existing Aquatica park in Chula Vista https://sesameplace.com/san-diego/ The Aquatica park is near SeaWorld San Diego, but not immediately adjacent to it. It’s the water park that was previously Knott’s Soak City before being purchased by SeaWorld

The Enchanted Voyage is the ride that I credit with starting my life-long love of theme parks. As a six year-old riding for the first time, I thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen! While I grew into a coaster aficionado over the years, I still have a soft spot for the classic dark ride (especially one with a boat!)

This is a great article...thanks for sharing. I’ve often felt the same way about any “enthusiast” community. It’s almost like people “love” something so much, they criticize it mercilessly for never being able to live up to the imaginary expectations they’ve set for it. Star Wars, Star Trek and Marvel “super fans” are very similar (when was the last time you heard a Star Wars fan say they actually enjoyed a Star Wars movie?) The Disney super fans are pretty intense too...Disneyland paints a bench a new color and people freak out :-) It’s nothing new...back in the old rec.roller-coaster days I used to read the boards and think “these people actually love coasters?” I used to read and post a lot more on this site, but for multiple reasons don’t do so much anymore. Mostly because I’m in a job now where its not appropriate, but also because after many years on the site (going way back to when it was PKICentral and was the merger of two competing ethusiast sites...I can’t recall the name of the other one), the conversations and debates never really changed. (Still, as far as enthusiast sites go, I still enjoy this one more than a lot of the others...)

I realize it's hard to believe, but I actually preferred the Togo stand-ups to the B&M ones...I always found the B&M stand-ups to be kind of headbangers. It would be interesting to see one with the new "vest" style of B&M OTSRs to see if that would make a difference. I was kind of surprised to see that the B&M catalogs at IAAPA listed the stand-up as one of their available models for installation...granted, it was toward the back of the book

The Wilds are actually in Cumberland, OH, East of Zanesville and is managed (although, not technically "owned") by the Columbus Zoo. The Wilds is on reclaimed strip mined land that was donated by Ohio Power (now, currently part of AEP Ohio) as a non-profit wild animal refuge. The Columbus Zoo took over management several years ago, and the economies of scale (not to mention the Zoo's management acumen) has really helped it thrive and remain viable. In addition to the safari and animal encounters you mention, they also have a really cool zip lining course. https://thewilds.columbuszoo.org/

An interesting article in the NYT...it feels a little biased (toward Staggs), but interesting none the less. (I predict another updated chapter to the book "Disneywar" soon ) http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/business/media/behind-the-scenes-at-disney-as-it-purged-a-favorite-son.html?_r=1&referer=http://lnkd.in

Yes, any concerns with ESPN have to do with the whole "unbundling" phenomenon facing the entire cable channel industry itself...operationally, ESPN is as strong or stronger as it's ever been. What's funny is that I did actually read one article that mentioned Jeffrey Katzenberg as a possible replacement for Iger...considering the ugliness that went down between Eisner and Katzenberg in the 90s that would be sort of like Cedar Fair hiring Jack Falfas to be the next CEO! :-)

According to this Reuters article, the board would not guarantee Staggs the CEO/Chairman role, so he ("mutually") elected to leave the company...the article also quotes one analyst who believes that Disney is looking for someone with a stronger technology background to lead the company into the future (Sheryl Sandberg--who is already on Disney's board--was rumored as one potential candidate...) http://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-expands-search-ceo-coo-000518883.html If they're looking for someone from tech, I also wonder about someone like Jeff Williams (Apple's COO) or B. Kevin Turner (from Microsoft).

For some reason, I got a good chuckle at this line in Al Weber's bio on the Apex Parks corporate site: In 2002, he was appointed CEO of Paramount Parks, operator of five major theme parks in America. Weber led the organization for four years before selling the parks to Cedar Fair Entertainment for a near record valuation. Just a nice little reminder to say "wow, thanks Kinzel—you paid a LOT!"

Absolutely! Well, the room was in good shape, so you took good care of it :-) Also, I agree with your point about the coffee maker. They have all of the other convenience amentities (refrigerator, microwave, full-sized ironing board & iron, hair dryer, safe), so the lack of one of those room-sized Keurigs seems like an odd miss. Maybe it was an agreement with Starbucks as part of getting the franchise...or maybe since we both stayed in the same room, we just happened to get one that missing it for some reason! (Of course, I didn't really see a logical location for it, so that's probably not the case :-))