Cory Butcher

Sure sounds that way doesn't it? The question is can you get it in working condition after you purchase one. Another thought, how would you test one of these to see if it sinks without sinking one? Retention Pond and a good winch haha

This is what I posted in the other thread. It is reprinted here for its relevance to Goodyellowcorn182's question: Rights give owners of stock, or units in this case, the ability to buy more units or shares of stock to increase their position of ownership. This can also be called a "poison pill". Essentially, if Q Investments were to acquire 21% of the company than anyone who owns units of Cedar Fair could purchase more units at an exercisable price to keep their same level of ownership. This is built in to make sure that hostile takeovers do not happen. The smaller unit holders or those who have significant ownership can exercise their rights to purchase more units to be sure that the party trying to launch a takeover can not do so. I will not speak to Cedar Fair's intentions to adopt the rights plan or its relation to Q Investments interest in the company of late. However, I will say this, the board of directors has obviously been made aware of an interest by another party to launch a hostile takeover and take control of the company. Rights plans are usually adopted by companies whose price is attractive to investors (read: low) given the value of the company.

Rights give owners of stock, or units in this case, the ability to buy more units or shares of stock to increase their position of ownership. This can also be called a "poison pill". Essentially, if Q Investments were to acquire 21% of the company than anyone who owns units of Cedar Fair could purchase more units at an exercisable price to keep their same level of ownership. This is built in to make sure that hostile takeovers do not happen. The smaller unit holders or those who have significant ownership can exercise their rights to purchase more units to be sure that the party trying to launch a takeover can not do so. I will not speak to Cedar Fair's intentions to adopt the rights plan or its relation to Q Investments interest in the company of late. However, I will say this, the board of directors has obviously been made aware of an interest by another party to launch a hostile takeover and take control of the company. Rights plans are usually adopted by companies whose price is attractive to investors (read: low) given the value of the company.

Hurler is one of my favorite wooden roller coasters of all time (in the front seat).

I would hope not, and do not believe that to be true. Those both definitely go hand-in-hand.

I will echo CoastersRZ's sentiments about Planet Snoopy at Carowinds. We spent extensive amounts of time in the area (it is impossible to not walk near it), and not once did we see anyone complain about the lack of Nickelodeon characters or even refer to the area as Nickelodeon Universe. We heard one group of teens talk about "Fairly Odd Coaster" and how they like "Woodstock Express" better. All in all, the kids were having fun, and so were their parents. The area was refreshed, and had a lot nicer theming than the old Nickelodeon Universe. The whole area looked so inviting with flags and pictures of the characters!

I agree with stalker, Boo Blasters on Boo Hill at Carowinds is a fun ride. The animatronics and suprises throughout the ride were much scarier than what was in Scooby Doo. There was also a very neat effect in the middle of Boo Blasters at Carowinds. I certainly hope that Kings Island has some similar suprises!

I really loved that answer to Brett Fehr's question. The sincerity and realness of that answer puts me in a good mood. I really don't know why, but it is just refreshing to see such a common man's spin, or really no spin at all. Did anyone else particularly like that answer here? Did you think, "I bet I would feel the same way!"?

I was just thinking, I would like to see a large family-friendly park themed to Aesop's Fables. I think that would be pretty cool.

I, for one, have never had a "painful" ride on Son of Beast, only uncomfortable rides where riding defensively was a must. I can not say the same for Mean Streak, or my back seat ride five years ago on the Georgia Cyclone, ouch. This all being said, in many of my decision sciences classes and other Operations Management classes at UD, one of the things you are told to not factor in when making decisions of whether to upgrade, repair, or even replace technology or processes is sunk costs. Sunk costs are gone, are in the past, and you can't get them back. Past performance is not an indicator of future results. You can use past data to make some predictions of the future, but you should use the predictions for the future and NOT just sunk costs. You are taught to look forward in your decisions (and include some history of the past). This is known as the "sunk cost fallacy". Essentially you do not want to throw the baby out with the bath water. If you have information that says you can upgrade technology or processes at a reasonable price, that will have a positive outcome to your satisfaction, then you act on that information, regardless of past sunk costs.

As Robby said Dollywood is a tremendous park, we have never had a shortage of things to do, between rides and shows. And, the park is just beautiful and themed well. There are exciting things ahead for their future. I would not be surprised at all to see Dollywood pass the 3 million visitor mark next year (2011). I said in another post on here that to be successful you have to "cook good food and promote like mad". Does Dollywood? YES! In fact I am hard pressed to walk through market square and not buy a philly cheese steak or a sausage every time I visit! Just another venue which supports the theory of premium pricing becoming the ultimate premium value.

I was holding off, but I suppose now is a good time to post this (the job has been listed for about a week now): http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/careers/permanent.cfm Anyone here want the PR Manager job at Carowinds?

Well, the company was larger than Cedar Fair at one point in time in the very recent past, and they would be dealing with about $500 million less debt. That would seem to say, with effective management and better park level efficiency, yes! Now, is that obtainable given the fact that past performance, which is never a good indicator of future results, has been rather poor? I wonder... While management has tried to realign the parks as family friendly entertainment rather than a thrill seekers paradise, they have seen some positive outcomes, but a lot of operational inefficiencies remain. I also do not like the fact that all summer last year, and the other summer before for that matter I did not see but maybe one corporate six flags commercial except for what was posted here. As you ask any chef what the key to running a good restaurant is, he should tell you something along the lines of, "Cook good food and promote like mad." Six Flags in a great number of their markets have not done that. Cooking good food does not mean leaving what you think are bad dishes (rides and themed areas) off the menu (closing whole sections of parks for long periods). Busch Gardens doesn't do that, and Disney certainly doesn't. Freestyle Music Park has fallen into the same trap. There is a point when cutting costs infringes on satisfaction and service. As there is a point when providing service (good or bad) at too high of a price point will lead to lower per caps... Luckily some of these smaller parks are keeping this balance in check, and the industry can learn a lot from them, and will have to, in order to not survive but thrive. Oh, and don't even get me started on the price of a pass to six flags valid at ALL of their dry amusement parks. Who ever thought that Six Flags consumers should enjoy all of their parks for the same price of entering Busch Gardens Africa (which thrives) for one day, and implemented that marketing strategy should rethink their career. Only furniture stores should have a loss leader.

And yet the same video can be used to show that the amount of trimming on Beast has increased over the years. If you check the skid trim on the first drop (1:48 on first video, 1:29 on the second video) you'll see that the length of the trim is significantly longer in the later. For the umpteenth time, even though the brake run is longer, it was a skid break and needed a long run of friction resistance to slow the train, the new magnetic brakes rob the train of the SAME amount of momentum, only quicker.

The smell of warm chain grease and suntan lotion. The smell of baked blacktop. "Ladies and Gentleman, Kings Island is now open!" "All Clear!" The warm muggy atmosphere and the smell of old wood while in The Beast Tunnels.

^^That was cool! I agree with Dave!

Get your popcorn ready!

I can't believe we are back to this argument again. This is like the who likes/doesn't like SOB threads, and the who likes/doesn't like Vortex thread. Some people absolutely love the elephant and enjoy riding because of it, others detest the elephant and won't ride because of it. End of story. On hot summer days, and even on moderately warm days the ride has a full line. Not to mention the elephant gets people nowhere near as wet as say Congo Falls or WWC. I would doubt that people are saying they won't go to Kings Island because of the elephant. They may say they won't get on the ride, and after paying the admission that is their choice. The ride has a fair number of fans that keep the line stocked full. Seems to me it serves its purpose. The smile on young kids faces when the elephant sprays is priceless. Someone on here mentioned they enjoy the feeling of rocking in the boat as you move through the ride, I do to, but even more so I enjoy the speed, the quick turns, and the drops. I would imagine the last reasons I gave, and the prospect of getting wet on a hot day is what leads most people to the ride in the first place. Not that they enjoy the "gentle rocking motion" of the logs. As we don't have a clear survey with a large representative sample, it would be interesting to know definitively what percentage of park-goers liked the elephant and what percentage didn't.

On March 15th the volume closed at over 2 million units. And the price went up 10%, no doubt partly due to the rumor that the price Apollo is willing to pay would go up. Today looks like a case of sell the news before you see the news, and lots of people taking profits. Unit holders probably realized the chances of Apollo increasing their bid, or that the increased bid would be accepted was low and took what they could get. Edit: Actually after looking closer, it looks like an institutional investor dropped quite a few units near 3:00, and then some large investor probably came right back in at the bargain. Or, there were lots of option plays. Take your pick! Cedar Fair has been an off-season roller coaster for some of us watching this whole ordeal!

Buy the rumor and sell the news, the market paints a picture with colorful hues.... I thought it was time for an original market rhyme! Tomorrow shall be interesting.

Some very interesting price action is evident today on Cedar Fair units. Currently, as of 11:43am Cedar Fair is trading at $12.33 per unit up 10.77% on the day, with a vote set to be held tomorrow for $11.50 per unit. I will allow others to do the math! Today's volume before noon, is well over 1,030,000 and consistently climbing. The three month average volume you ask? Why its 691,338 of course! One final comment: If you were certain that you would be selling your units for $11.50 per unit, why would you bid the units up? Maybe you are 100% certain the units will not be sold for $11.50 a unit perhaps? 03/16/2010 (tomorrow) Q Some things to ponder...

^No, not that easy, they need a lot of work. The skyride would more than likely need complete refurbishment. In fact all would, to even meet Ohio Department of Agriculture guidelines. These rides have sat in the elements since 2002. The would take A LOT of work.

^While anything is possible, there is no chance. I could see the whip being a good fit at Coney, but alas while it operated it was one of those older more "cranky" rides. The Belle of LeSourdsville judging by Ronny's photos is in rather poor condition. Of everything you listed the two rides that had some kind of importance were Raging Thunder and Screechin' Eagle, both of which now are rotting away. Newer rides could be had for a cheaper cost, and less maintenance.

I believe you are not considering the possibility that Thunder Ally may be as successful as Three Point Challenge... This is an industry that counts its nickels afterall!