DoomPlague
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Posts posted by DoomPlague
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Ads are messing up the "Posts" section on the main page of the forums. Running Chrome on Windows 10. 1920x1080. When I shrink the window down to a phone size, it shows the posts but with the same Wonka ad repeated in weird spots.
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Looks great.
But I have questions about what that coaster is doing...
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22 hours ago, disco2000 said:
Re-read it - it says they did 50,000 riders for that season, not over 15 years. Even if all of those rides were the cheap $10/person, that is $500,000. Given many of the rides would have been more expensive, it probably pulls $750,000 or so, maybe even closer to $1M with all the busy $25/$30 rides per person days I have seen on the weekends when that queue is full.
If it wasn't profitable they would drop it quick as I am sure none of the revenue coming in from other sources goes towards this attraction and it is probably self sustaining. The moment they would have to divert money to that it is gone.
Ah, you're right. My bad. The age old problem of reading tweets too quickly.
Considering the things capacity, that seems like a lot for a season but I've never seen how packed it can get on weekends. -
What's the math on its profitability? It looks like it had 50k riders in...15 years? Seems like with the cost of staffing it and maintaining it, it can't be bringing in much. And considering that number of riders, it doesn't have much value attracting people to the park.
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On 1/16/2024 at 9:57 AM, 3dgyrat said:
Honestly I'm not exactly sure. I know I've rode The Bat a lot, mainly cause theres never really a line it seems like.
Same here. But not only that, any time I walk back there I decide to get at least 3 or 4 rides, to make the walk seem worth it.
So that's probably my number one. If we go just by the past few years, Orion might be number one. I think there was one day where I hit it 8 times because the line moves so fast and on light days you can repeat it easily.
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Paramount Global is currently in talks to merge with Warner Bros Discovery.
There may be an alternate universe where park fans are currently sweating over Six Flags and Paramount Parks being combined.
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This year I went on one of those 8PM-close/midweek days that they cut from next year and was surprised (disappointed) at the crowds. Lines were noticeably longer than previous years for that week. And they were far from the "why are they even open?" level that I remember back when they had a weekdays operating in late August in the 90s.
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Honestly, the more I think about it the more open I am to a retheme to Gotham City or especially Arkham Asylum.
The Bat: half the villains in Arkham call Batman "The Bat"
Banshee: doesn't completely fit but its close enough
Delirium: fits already with Arkham
Invertigo: Honestly, I always kind of liked Two-Face: the Flip Side as a name and its no longer in use. Is anyone actually attached to the name Invertigo? Its not even the original name. Two-Face certainly beats theming it to a movie no one saw.
Drop Tower: Not sure but pretty much any name is better than "Drop Tower."
Congo Falls: eh...don't really care what happens to that one
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11 hours ago, Shawn Meyer said:
I'm very skeptical about this merger. I don't want to see my favorite Park(Kings Island) have the Six flags name in front of it. I'm also worried that they'll mess up one of the Cedar Fair parks like they did with Geauga Lake. I doubt they'll mess up Kings Island because that's a crown jewel to Cedar Fair. One of their crown jewels anyway.
I'm having trouble seeing any park treated like Geauga Lake. Knott is too profitable as it is. SFMM is too big (probably) and does well enough. CGA is already closing. Dorney is a different kind of park from SFGAdv and does well enough from what I hear. SFA is probably far enough away from KD.
Geauga Lake was a unique case in many ways. First SF stripped away its old identity and dumped too much money into the park, then depending who you ask CF either gave up trying to win back the local market or they never intended to in the first place. Consider who was running Cedar Fair at the time and his attitude regarding Cedar Point's place in the chain.-
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3 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:
To shift discussion a bit:
Which current Six Flags park is the most like Cedar Fair?
Which current Cedar Fair park is the most like Six Flags?
I haven't been there but I've heard people compare Fiesta Texas to CF parks, though maybe just because they're impressed with Siebert's running of the park.
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1 hour ago, jzarley said:
I think it is really difficult now to keep a kids’ area that is relevant and constantly popular today. There are so many sources of content that the current “big thing” is frequently changing. Right now I think Bluey is the in thing for the preschool demo (unless he’s been replaced by something newer now too), a few years ago it was Peppa Pig, before that something else. The earlier IP (HB, Looney Tunes, etc.) was able to stay relevant a lot longer because there weren’t limitless replacements from hundreds of sources constantly in the pipeline.
I’m not sure how the DC IP agreement with Six Flags is structured, but typically these IP agreements are not “blanket” (meaning you can’t use the IP as much as you want, anyway you want)—instead it’s typically by individual use case. If that’s the case here, would it make financial sense to convert The Bat to Batman if there’s an incremental IP cost (plus the capital cost of converting the ride) involved? I’m not sure the cost of a change like that would result in a revenue boost that would justify it (especially once people realized “oh, it’s still just Top Gun” ;-))
You're definitely right about kids IPs. These days you have so many streaming options, many with exclusive IPs. But "back in the day" everyone was exposed to Disney, Looney Tunes, HB, and even Nickelodeon because they dominated the airwaves/cable.
Too bad Universal has Nintendo wrapped up because that's pretty universal and enduring.-
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The idea that this somehow means The Beast is getting removed or RMCd is just irrational hysterics. Even if Six Flags were taking over the park (they aren't), that would be super unlikely.
Anyways, I would prefer Hanna Barbara back in the kids area but I would be okay with Looney Tunes. Is anyone particularly attached to Peanuts? I know kids aren't.
I don't want to see DC theming at KI but it might be preferable to Action Zone just staying the generic area it is now (as long as Banshee isn't rethemed).
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I'm sort of hoping they are going with the Six Flags name just to throw a bone to the SF board/investors. Otherwise it seems like CF is taking the lead here.
Then again, there seems to be this idea in the corporate world that brand "recognition" is all that matters regardless of reputation. Reminds me of when SBC decided to take on the name AT&T which people had little love for.
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Good news everyone, Cedar Fair is getting a brand new Intamin next year.
Definitely a lot of concern with this news. A lot of potential downsides and few if any real upsides. But I'll try to stay positive:1. Cedar Fair is the majority holder here. The HQ will be at CF's property in Charlotte and it seems that they are intent with keeping a lot of CF strategies (for better or for worse...but compare that to the the how Six has been ran recently...)
2. Maybe we potentially get Hanna Barbara back?
3. That all parks pass (or whatever might replace it...) may eventually get you into a ton of parks
Plus none of us actually know how this will play out. We aren't prophets.
Also keep in mind that neither chain, from my understanding, dictates everything about each park. Parks get some level of autonomy at both.Other parks, like Dorney, have been discussed but am I the only one that thinks major changes might come to Magic Mountain? That park continually underperforms for its size, location and continual investments.
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If its an option, removing or cutting back on trim brakes on certain rides would be my first choice, particularly The Beast.
Retheming Backlot would be my next choice. After that, any general theming improvements to other rides (and how bout some station/queue music?). Or maybe a tunnel or two on Orion.
19 hours ago, Orion742 said:I would change Banshee but for a different reason. I’ve heard rumors that the vest trains are lighter than B&M anticipated. So they rattle around the track when they shouldn’t. If it was me I would add the old over the shoulder restraints to Banshee. It might just be me.
Based on my most recent rides on Raptor, I would much rather keep the vests. It would be nice to see B&M just put some modern lapbars on some of their inverting rides.
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It's extreme because it spins at all while on a ride with strong forces and inversions.
2 hours ago, BeeastFarmer said:The question is--do they fill Vortex or tackle Action Zone first? Both are glaring issues with the park. Plus they need to address the water park, the Rivertown Box, eventually Boo Blasters as well as infrastructure and cosmetic issues. By the time they touch all these, it will be time to renovate International Street, redesign the Royal Fountain with pedestals, and replace Diamondback as it reaches the end of its service life!
As badly as I want them to improve Action Zone, and least its not just a big empty plot of land in spot of the park that needs a major attraction to even things out. The Vortex plot has to be the priority...unless they are still somehow catching up on projects planned before Vortex's removal (but I doubt that includes an Action Zone overhaul).
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20 minutes ago, cdubbs727 said:
I don't know what really to believe (and, honestly, not sure I care; the personnel issues within a regional amusement park don't necessarily impact my enjoyment of said park).
I find it hard to believe that upper management -- the people who would have made the decision about Don Helbig -- would be petty enough to go search out a tombstone in the park and deface it. They likely pay little attention to that stuff; the decor doesn't get them dollars. Why would they care? And if his ousting from KI was a business decision, why would we jump to them thinking it was a petty personal thing? Many times, these decisions come down to money. It's not personal.
But moreover, for the people who are intent on finding something to complain about with current management, there was no way of handling this that would have avoided any griping. Not put the tombstone out at all? They're erasing Don! Put it out with his name on there? They're mocking him by having a tombstone of the guy they fired! Just let it wear off or take it completely off? They're disrespecting Don's memory!
I don't know Don Helbig. He seemed to be a great guy and he's a very fun and engaging social media presence. I hope he's doing well. But some of you are taking this worse than he seems to be.
I was about to say something similar. Putting the name of a current, well known park employee on a tombstone is a nice gag. But putting the name of an employee that recently left? That can be taken the wrong way by a lot of people.
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I'll mostly echo what others have said:
-Having to wait in a mass of people, all waiting to scan into the park, was quite unpleasant especially since there's a proven way to avoid it.
-Even less fog than last year. Basically none.
-We skipped Alien Abyss because of that crazy line. We at least enjoyed Hotel St. Michelle and Cavern of Terror even though I've done both before.
-Park was more crowded than I expected for the first Friday Haunt.
-Abandoned seems like a solid concept. It's almost like a mini-maze that you can walk through on your way between Diamondback and the rest of Rivertown.
-Lines were mostly moving well, including on the rides and mazes.
-Unrelated to Haunt but I tried the Korean meatballs and fried rice at G&G. It was definitely the best meal I've had there.
-Seemed to me like there were plenty of roaming scare actors. But as others have discussed, I think its best to put more scare actors in the mazes and have more mazes. If last night was as busy as it was, I imagine other days could really use more mazes to spread out the crowds.
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1 hour ago, SonofBaconator said:
A single rider line would help that but I know that’s been unpopular with people in years past during Winterfest.
In this case, it would not have. The guy assigning seats got distracted and failed to fill the rows.
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3 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:
This might get me tarred and feathered but I think Monster should be dismantled and stored in favor of something that offers better capacity. I know it would never happen but I wonder how long people spend on that ride from the que, to loading, to riding, to waiting to be unloaded.
If there were a way to modify the original ride to load the entire ride at once, I would support that. But its one of the original rides relocated from Coney and its still fun. And while the capacity sucks, that's not as much of a problem on lower crowd days and it would be less of an issue if simply more flats were added.
Anyways, one operational change I would like to see is going back to keeping water rides open until close.
Also, continue to encourage fast dispatches by coaster crews...but find a way to discourage them from allowing a bunch of empty seats. On my last visit you could hear the Diamondback op talking about their dispatch count for the hour...right as a train left the station 1/3 empty (despite there being plenty of people in line).
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I didn't even know Magnum was up early in the day. I'm not a big fan of it, so I didn't check often. Maverick did open, just very late. So I guess the Millie and Magnum downtime weren't just weird planning but actual, long lasting breakdowns?
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Sounds like the park could benefit from its own energy storage and solar panels.
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Went with some family to Cedar Point on what, in past years, has been a very light day. By CP standards it was still light but definitely not like I got in 2021 in the final full week of operations.
-Wild Mouse was better than I expected. Some decent but not crazy spinning. The restraints were comfy and the ride makes for a good family, step-up type ride.
-The Grand Pavilion is a nice building. Large, spacious...almost "bougie." I had steak, which was decent but a little dry and tropical fried rice which was good. Nothing special but still better than my experiences at KI's new restaurant.
-Most of the ride operations during the day were pretty good. And for once they were pretty open to letting us wait for front row (nephew kept wanting to ride front).
-Got around 15 total rides (including 3 flats rides) which is okay but lower than what I would expect on an 8 PM close day at the very end of August.
Some bad things:
-Magnum, Millennium Force and Maverick were closed most of the day with a "delayed" sign at the entrance. All three opened around, I think, 5:30 to 6 or so. Keep in mind the park closes at 8. I find it strange to do this with these 3 rides.
-MF was 2 trains. I think Maverick was 4 instead of 6. I will say that those crews were rolling trains pretty well at least.
-CCMR was running 1 train. Maybe a maintenance issue but that line moved so slow and my niece wanted to ride.
-Snake River Expedition: The group had not ridden it before, so I recommended it but now that I think about, I think others have mentioned the ride being watered down. To make things worse it was running with 1 boat (and each trip is like 15 minutes). So it took almost an hour to get on. No actors, just the animatronics and a boat pilot knowingly making bad jokes. Some of the effects didn't even trigger. The whole thing was a bummer. Are these permanent changes or just a late season thing?
-The free lockers in the Steel Vengeance crew were completely down. The attendant at the entrance was saying you can't even get in line with any loose articles (that would normally go in the free lockers) and that you would need to use the blue pay lockers near the entrance. We weren't about to do that so we just took a couple turns holding on to the group's things. How hard is it to at least come up with a temporary solution? It's not acceptable to make people buy lockers to ride what some consider the park's premiere attraction (especially considering the three M's were down most of the day).
-I can't help but be reminded how uptight the staff is compared to KI. Nothing against the staff. It's clearly a top-down thing.
It was still a fun day but some of those operations made the recent cuts at KI seem harmless by comparison.
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27 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:
Operations wise, it is a Rivertown ride....the location/entrance is in a weird spot. Too bad they can't just pick the entire ride up and rotate it to have a better Rivertown entrance or even a Coney entrance.
A retheme is needed for sure.It's like the ride has its own plaza...but there's nothing in the plaza. I never understood that. I don't think they would have to turn it around to have a better Rivertown entrance though. You could easily divert the entrance to enter on the side where the big queue area is left of the restrooms. Maybe even divert it to be across from the Killmart building if you're okay with making people walk a little bit.
Top Thrill 2 and Fastlane
in Other Amusement Parks & Industry News
Posted
How would they make the rides more loose article friendly outside of making the rides tamer?