jzarley

I was lost driving near Murcia, Spain one time heading down to La Costa del Sol from Barcelona. At that time (late '90s) it didn't seem like that much of a touristy area (more industrial). It was also in Murcia that I discovered the joys of Spanish Pizza Hut

I Completely agree with you. They would not just let a $20M structure sit there and rot. Of course, it cost $20M 11 years ago...what's the capital depreciation schedule on a coaster?

^ and, if you're a golfer that could add another afternoon to your Zoo trip

While still far from a sure thing, it sounds like the planning for a themed hotel at the Columbus Zoo is gaining some traction: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/02/18/hotel-could-be-a-boon-at-the-zoo.html

I had fully intended to write an actual trip report, but somehow the time always seems to get away from me... (Plus, any TR I'd write would pale in comparison to those done by Avatar, CoastersRZ, PREMiERdrum, and others ) First, everyone who told me not to worry about crowds in early February were exactly right. The longest wait I encountered in the entire resort over 2.5 days was about 25 min for Hollywood Rockit on Friday evening. (Which, BTW, I rode in the front seat this time and found it to be a much better ride experience...almost like the difference in the front seat of Maverick versus other seats...) The Harry Potter ride was really amazing...in my opinion, it lived up to the hype. I rode it a total of 5 times on Sat & Sun and enjoyed it more each time I rode (I think because I picked up on additional details each time that I had missed earlier.) The longest wait was about 20 min on Sunday afternoon, which was actually a good thing--all my other rides had been such walk-ons that I felt I was missing a lot of the backstory in the queue. Potterland opened for resort guests at 8:00a (we were staying at Royal Pacific) so that also helped in crowd control. That being said, "Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey" did not replace Spiderman as my favorite attraction. I think Spiderman is still the more immersive story telling experience. (But, HP is now a close second...) Also, I realized on this trip that 4 of my top 5 favorite theme park attractions are at Universal Orlando! (1. Spiderman, 2. HP, 3. The Mummy, 4. MF, & 5. Dragon Challenge)

Of course, what this reporter fails to mention (or more likely--didn't even know) is that Blackstone now has a strong theme park portfolio that goes way beyond Universal Orlando. The combination of the former BEC, Merlin, & Universal parks would make quite the collection of parks. So, I suggested this in another thread, and I still think it makes a lot of sense... Blackstone has mentioned a potential IPO of Merlin, and Comcast had indicated that would have been their plan for the Disney parks if that acquisition would have succeeded. With the market heating up and IPOs expected to make a resurgence this year, why not create a partnership between Comcast & Blackstone to spin off all of their theme park holdings into an independent company? Granted, the park business has suffered over the past few years, but its cyclical...and all indications are the the cycle should start rising again.

I'm feeling pretty good about the crowd potential at IOA for next weekend...talking to some friends who were in the park this morning, and by 10:30a they had done the Harry Potter ride, Dragons, Spiderman, & Hulk. (Although, he said there was still quite a line for wand buying...) BTW...I finally watched the first HP movie last night so I can have some educated understanding of the themeing (I have movies #2 & #3 up next in the Netflix queue, but I'll probably only get to #2 by the time I leave...) I'm hoping for good weather & low crowds at Universal next weekend

^ I've actually had pretty good experiences at Famous Daves...unfortunately, I can't say the same about the TGI Fridays @ Hotel Breakers A general F&B question about Cedar Frair...does Cedar Point still buy the in-park national franchises then run them as part of their normal F&B operations? Have they taken this same approach at KI (and the other Par Parks), or do they lease the in-park space to vendors who have bought the franchises? There would be pros & cons to each approach...

^ Yep, $200M is a lot of capital to throw into a park. I didn't bother to check the exact numbers, but I'm willing to bet that's more than the 2011 CapEx budget for CF and SF combined. However, Universal certainly got a good initial bang for their buck, and considering the fan base the HP franchise has, it *should* be a really good long term investment. For all the news lately on the Comcast acquisition of NBC/Universal, it still seems a little odd that nothing is ever mentioned (at least, in the articles I've read) about the parks. Obviously, the recent financial results at the parks are good for Comcast...it should help them fetch a higher sales price when they're ready to unload them. FWIW...when Comcast was attempting to acquire Disney, they had said their intention (if successful in the acquisition--which obviously, they weren't) was to spin the parks & resorts off as their own company. I've been pretty much operating under the assumption that they'd work out a deal to sell the entire park operation to Blackstone, but I wonder now if a spin-off is also possible. The IPO market is expected to rebound this year, so maybe an IPO of Universal Parks & Resorts is possible? Blackstone owns 50% of Orlando, but maybe they could partner with Comcast on this deal...perhaps not only their share of Universal Orlando, but maybe packaging with the portfolio of parks they own independently? (Keep in mind, I'm just thinking out loud here...) I head to Universal Orlando on 02/04 & I can't wait--mostly because I can't wait to get away from this God-awful weather, but I'm also really looking forward to riding "Forbidden Journey." (Although, as hard as it may be to believe, I've never read an HP book or seen an HP movie! )

I'm sure a lot of Disney purists will disagree, but I really think "Snow White's Scary Adventures" time had come and gone. I think replacing it with a new attraction is a good move. (And, if my three great-nieces--ages 6, 4, & 3--are any indication, a princess meet & greet area will be HUGELY popular...those girls spend all day in the park wearing princess dresses & tiaras ) I'm also intrigued by the new coaster, and pleased that it's themed to "Snow White"--it pays homage to Disney's legacy that the first feature length animated film is getting its own 21st century attraction.

Are you surprised there hasn't been more speculation on the parks' future on this (and similar) boards, or within the general business community? (Or, both? ) I seem to recall reading at some point that both Universal & Blackstone had a "right of first refusal" clause as part of their joint ownership agreement at Universal Orlando that if either decided to unload their 50% share, the other party had to be offered it first. (I think I read that during the time GE was buying Universal from Vivendi...) There could be a lot worse scenarios than Blackstone ending up the owners of the parks with some sort of licensing in place with NBC/Universal. From things I've read, it sounds like they've continued to do a pretty good job operating the former BEC parks. (Although, my sister-in-law had quite a few complaints about their day at Sesame Place last Summer & feels it's really gone down since BEC owership. But, as I pointed out to her--sometimes every park just has a bad ops day...)

"Our criticism of Cedar Fair has never been about how you run our parks - it has been about how you run our company." Again, though, Q's extremely vocal complaints aren't about how the parks are operated, but rather the leadership/vision at the corporate level. There's much more to successfully running a publicly traded company the size of Cedar Fair than just operations. (Even if the chairman/president/CEO has confessed to being "an operations guy--not a finance guy.") To be honest, other than the food service issues (price & quality-with the two not evening being close to on par...), my casual observation is that CF parks are operated as good as they ever have been. I'll even go a step further and say that IMHO, the former Paramount Parks are actually operated better now than they were before, at least in terms of cleanliness & ride crew behavior/efficiency.

I'm torn on this whole situation... First, I don't agree with Q on an across the board increase of the distribution. Distributions are intended to share the profits of a corporation among its shareholders. EBITDA not withstanding, CF is still a highly leveraged company that should be doing everything it can to pay down the corporate debt. That's what's in the best long term interest of the organization, and as such--the unit holders. But, I DO agree with Q's position on the separation of the Chairman/CEO roles and their general criticisms of Kinzel and his cronies. Everything current management does seems to indicate that they haven't made the mental and professional transition from a regional amusement park company to what is now an international entertainment company. The difference between the two requires different skill sets and expertise. I really don't believe that current management has that ability to operate on that level--as evidenced by searching only within the Sandusky business community to recruit a new chief legal counsel (as well as other podunk strategic decisions). You can't very well manage an international entertainment company when your world view & vision does not expand beyond the Sandusky city limits... I thought this line in Q's letter was particularly entertaining: "Our criticism of Cedar Fair has never been about how you run our parks - it has been about how you run our company."

Well, at least Kinzel can say he shares something in common with Michael Eisner I'm just hoping CF can find their own Bob Iger somewhere...

Were you at Universal during what was still considered the holidays, or afterward? I'm wondering because I'm heading there on Feb 4-6, and I've been concerned about the "Potter" crowds at IOA. I agree with the other poster about it being too bad that you missed Spiderman...it's currently my favorite theme park attraction anywhere. (Although, I haven't ridden "Forbidden Journey" yet )

Yeah, same deal for me--prompting me to install Word Press.

It must have been some of that leftover Star Trek "Borg" theming from Paramount

GREAT PTR! I haven't been to Wildlights for a few years, but your trip report made me want to make sure I work it into the schedule this year! I love the picture of your daughter's expression as she's watching the tiger! It's like she's thinking "that glass is really strong--right???"

^ Thanks! I'm glad Potterland should be much more manageable now. I was there last January as well (late in the month) & found it a great time too. (In fact, that's why I decided to go around the same time this year--hopefully Orlando will have a warm spell then ) We're staying at the Royal Pacific on property, so fortunately I won't need to buy a Universal Express pass anyway.

The holidays notwithstanding (which, of course, bring tons of people to the Orlando parks) does anyone know what the crowds at IOA for "Potterland" have been like lately? I know the reports were they were swamped over the Summer with multi-hour waits, but I was wondering how much that has died down since the grand opening? I have a trip scheduled for early February (pre-Valentines/President's Day rushes) and was just wondering what to expect. Also, I assume that the "Forbidden Journey" is still not currently part of Universal Express, correct? Thanks!

The Chance-Morgan "Unicoaster" looks interesting (#9 in the slide show)! I've never seen that ride design/model before.

Speaking of app creation... A colleague of mine posted a link on LinkedIn to a tool called Corona that is designed to an easier method for developing apps for both iOS and Android. (It advertises that you can create an app once, then simply publish it to either platform...although, I imagine the specific APIs have to tweaked somewhat for each environment, depending on the complexity of your app.) I haven't downloaded the free trial yet, but I plan to when I take some time off over the holidays. It uses a scripting language called Lua, which is an open source language *sort of* similar to the structure of javascript. The full version (after the 30-day trial) is a little pricey at $350, but if it works the way it says it does, it's still a lot cheaper (and faster) than learning to code in Objective-C or Java! http://www.anscamobile.com/corona/

Well, in Kinzel's defense (?), he did admit to being "an operations guy" not a "finance guy." Maybe he thought a "margin call" meant something different

I was at California Adventure a few weeks ago. The amount of work they're currently doing on this park is amazing! The "Car's Land" addition is still surrounded by construction fences, but you can get a pretty good view from some of the higher points in the park. It looks like the theming will be outstanding in this area. (Not that that should be a surprise...) In addition to Radiator Springs, I'm looking forward to "Luigi's Tire Spin"--it's a 21st Century version of the old flying saucer ride at Disneyland!

I say Montu for the actual ride, but Dueling Dragons (or whatever they call it now in Potterland) for the best overall experience. (The theming is great, and I love that "collision moment" with the other train...) I haven't ridden Alpengheist, but I've heard good things about it...