CoastersRZ

Did they sell those at Kings Island? That is a pretty cool magnet. I wonder how much it cost, and if they had any other rides besides The Beast, like say, Diamondback.

Wow! $4 per gallon gas again? Back in the summer of 2008, when gas prices were flirting with the $4 mark, I never ended up paying for gas at $4 or above. I did fill up several times at $3.99. I`m glad I have a much more fuel efficient vehicle now, and a full time job so I can better weather the increases in gas prices. But it still puts a dent in the pocketbook. I mean, my car has an 18 gallon tank, so $1 more per gallon means I`m paying about $18 more per fill up. Thats enough for about $45 to $50 a month. Multiply that out over an entire year, and you come up with the $750 figure quotes in the article. Granted, that isn`t a lot of me, with a full time job. But for someone who is working minimum wage and can`t find full time work yet (I have one friend who has his college degree but can`t find work yet, and is working the graveyard shift at a local big box store), that extra expense can be quite painful to bear. And it undoubtedly will end up impacting people`s travel plans. I typically visit Kings Island about twenty or twenty five times a season. It is about a 50 mile round trip from my house. With my gas mileage, it takes about 1 and two thirds gallons to go to KI. That means if i go to KI, it costs me $6.66 just in gas to go to KI one time! Multiply that by the number of visits I make to the park, and I definitely may cut my number of trips down. As a pass holder, more pass holders may end up spending more time in the park on fewer visits, to conserve the amount of trips they make to the park. Only time will tell what happens with the price of gas. But it is a commodity that most of us can`t live without. We have to get to work, and in cities like Cincinnati, where there is not great public transportation, the car is primarily the only option most of us have for transportation.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Its only a matter of when.

My goal for the year is to finally move out of my parents house. And, hopefully a girl I went out with the other day will turn into my girlfriend at some point in 2011. Other than those things, I am looking forward to another fun year working at an architecture firm, and spending my summer weekends at Coney. Although, if the second thing I mentioned comes to fruition, I may be cutting back on the hours I spend at Coney this year. I have my fingers crossed that it will happen!

Many of the performers who perform in the shows at Kings Island every year are NOT locals. There are a few locals, but if you read the signs out front of the shows that highlights the performers names, it also lists their hometowns.

I recently visited Sea World Orlando for the first time (back in early December). I had an absolute blast at Sea World. Manta is one awesome ride. And the queue is simply amazing. I love the way they integrated the aquarium exhibit right into the queue line! Here is my trip report from Busch Gardens Tampa, Sea World Orlando, and both Universal parks. The only park I had previously visited was Islands of Adventure in 2004. I was rather displeased with the Universal admissions staff, but do not care to divulge specifics right now. I would highly recommend Sea World Orlando to anyone. And this coming from a guy who until this year, had only visited Florida twice, and each of those times with the sole intention to visit Disney.

Does Cedar Fair think that institutional investors are more agreeable to voting down Q`s measures than unit holders who hold a few units? Or are they just targeting where the largest percentage of units are held? Star Spangled Sprockets sounds like a good name for a ride. It certainly beats some of the names that Cedar Fair has created in the last few years.

Yes, it is a black eye to Cedar Fair management. But they have brought this ugly mess upon themselves. They have done little over the last year to appease most of their shareholders.

Nope. The original site of the Flying Eagles at Kings Island (as seen in that pictures) is now the home to the very mundane Dodgems ride. The concession stand on either side of the Dodgems, can be seen in that same image (the Skyline, originally dubbed the Lunch Basket) is visible in the lower left corner of the image. The Coney Refreshments stand is visible right by the `Tiques station building. The original Dodgems building is now the home to storage and also serves as the home for House of Darkness/Massacre Manor during Haunt.

Coney Island will spend $500,000 to renovate Moonlite Gardens and the Picnic Grove for the 2011, season. Additional changes include Pipeline Plunge will become a mat slide as opposed to a tube slide (similar mats to what are used on Coolangatta Racers at Kings Island). There will be a new rides ticket booth, and a new kiddy swing ride will be added in Moonlite Square, near Moonlite Gardens. The park will also be celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2011. There are several events planned to commemorate that event. Currently, commemorative bricks are on sale for $75. A portion of the proceeds from every brick sold will be donated to Cincinnati`s Children`s Hospital Medical Center. For more information on the brick program, click here.

Note, that in that last picture, it appears as if the park is open. (There are some cars on the course of the Antique Cars.) But notice how empty the place is! And the Flying Eagles do not have their tubs on yet.

Very cool video. Thanks for sharing it Monroe!

I believe the airport in question was the Wilmington airport. But that being said an exact height restriction was never mentioned in terms of what the actual height limit was. I do know that there are height restrictions of some kind over Coney, as Lunken Airport is nearby. The airspace over Coney is actually controlled by Lunken as it is on the approach to one of their runways. Which is why one tends to see a lot of planes flying over Coney.

Precisely! I still do not understand why Cedar Fair does not offer a blanket discount for pass holders like 10 or 15% off of food or merchandise. Yes, that may hurt their margins some, but you would be enticing many of those pass holders to buy products, instead of eating out in their car. Coney Island offers regular pass holders a 10% discount, and Platinum Pass holders a 20% discount on food and merchandise. And guess what else? Pass holders get discounts on admissions for friends as well. It creates a perceived value among their pass holders, and they end up spending money in the park. Kings Island doesn`t really offer any incentive like that. Not to mention, most of KI`s "meal deals" are not very friendly if it is just one or two people, ie, but four drinks, four salads and a pizza.

Wow. That totally went over my head! (My brain must still be back at the office, since I got to leave early today for Christmas). I thought you were referring to Coney Mall, not "Old Coney," aka, Coney Island, the place that "has it." A little known fact. You can actually see some of the old red sealant on a small section of pathway at Coney to this day. It is located by the fountain near Moonlite Pavilion, right by the Racing Rocket and Super Round Up ride. For those curious, the Monster ride that was located at Coney (and later moved to KI), was located where the Round Up is situated today.

You have to be careful. I think that the red pavement in your picture Paul, shows not pavers but asphalt that has been sealed with a colored sealant. I could be wrong, but I am fairly certain that they used color sealant/paint on some of the asphalt in the early years of the park. Coney Mall, however, was originally paved in pavers when the park first opened. With the addition of pavers to Coney Mall this year, the remaining asphalt areas are dwindling. It would be nice if they eventually converted the rest of the asphalt areas to pavers. But that would be expensive and take years. I`m still surprised they are converting most of Coney Mall to pavers for the 2011 season. That is a very big undertaking. And it certainly isn`t cheap either!

Yes it is. I actually voted, using neither the Cedar Fair nor the Q proxy card. (I voted online at proxyvote.com). Its also interesting in the presentation materials that Cedar Fair filed that they intend to use texting, as well as digital media such as blogs and Facebook to continue to market the parks. The world of advertising and marketing is definitely changing. What would the parks be doing with sending texts though? What information could they possibly send out that can`t already be covered in their park newsletter emails?

Exactly. Disney posts the hours for the two halves of the park. So it should have been no surprise when most of the Future World attractions were not open in the evening.

But what was a regular Pepsi going for? At Sea World, a 20 ounce Pepsi was selling for $2.75. Honest truth! And have you ever seen the lines for the $1 hot dog and drink stands at Reds games this past season? They had HUGE lines. Granted the hot dogs were almost mini sized, and the drinks were about 6 ounces. But they were $1 a piece. There is perceived value there. And the $1 stand on the main concourse had a HUGE line. Translation, they were making money. You know that Cedar Fair would NEVER do such a thing as to have a $1 hot dog and drink stand. It would kill their profit margin. But they would make up for some of that lost margin in volume. Remember, profit maximization does not always occur at the highest price.

I think a repaving of the parking lot (in phases if necessary) is something that is needed soon. The parking lot is simply starting to fall apart. I would like to see, the white poles around the gold pass lot taken out and planters with trees installed as landscaped medians (much like they did surrounding the handicapped and VIP lots several years ago) to separate the lots. It would certainly be more aesthetically pleasing. But at least Kings Island`s parking lot has clearly delineated parking stalls. When I went to Cedar Point in September, you could barely make out the parking stalls because the striping was so faded!

Those are some pretty ambitious revenue goals. Raise revenues by 10 to 14% by 2015. How do they plan to do that? Wait, I know. They`ll raise prices on soft drinks and food in the park by another 15% so that $4 soft drink will now cost you $4.60. When will they realize that continually raising prices does not necessarily mean they are maximizing their profits? And I find it interesting that they are still referring to Falfas as retiring. And they certainly are tooting a much different horn this year, compared to last year when they were saying a sale to Apollo was the only option that would save the company. I may be in the minority, but I think many unit holders (not just Q), think that Cedar Fair has taken them for a ride. First with the sale to Apollo, then with the suspension of the cash distributions. Many people owned units in Cedar Fair because it was a good income stock. And while the presentation states that Q has made a 20% premium on its units, I know of some people that bought units when the price was around $25 or even higher. So the $15 it is hovering around now seems incredibly low. Although that is a lot better than the $4 or $5 that it bottomed out at. And even the $15 is considerably higher than the proposal from Apollo at $11.50.

Very well done Interpreter! Concrete never "dries." Concrete cures, which is a chemical process called hydration. (The water chemically reacts with the cement in concrete). When it is cold out, the process of hydration slows down. Which is why they often use concrete blankets to try and keep the concrete warm (concrete curing is an exothermic reaction, so it produces heat once it starts to cure). You can see concrete blankets draped over the form work in that picture. Also, admixtures can be added to the concrete to help speed up the setting process when it is cold out. in the summer months, the opposite problem is true. The concrete cures quicker, and there is less working time before it begins to set. There are also admixtures that can be added to slow down the curing process and lengthen the working time.

But there is a difference between the two. One (the admissions tax), was a municipality trying to fix their budget issues on the coattails of a business that brings them lots of money as it is already. The city of Mason would not be as big as it is today were it not for Kings Island. The increase in minimum wage is not targeted at just one or two businesses as the admissions tax was. Yes, minimum wage increases do get passed onto the paying customer. But not just at Kings Island. Prices nudge up at all places that employ minimum wage workers to offset the increase in labor costs.

Wow. I`m surprised by this latest SEC filing. I kind of suspected that the whole Falfas thing was going to be heard of eventually. It just shocks me the way Cedar Fair blatantly said one thing, and now it seems as if they were lying to their unit holders, the SEC and the public in general. If anything, this latest spat of words paints Cedar Fair, Kinzel and the board as more incompetent and proves Q`s point that they are not making sound decisions for the company. The Apollo buyout anyone? As I mentioned many posts ago, this is going to be a very interesting ride. Hang onto your seats! I agree, it is hard to read what Q`s end game is. Are they in it for short term gain (distribution increases) or long term gain (separating CEO and chairman). I think they have something else planned that they haven`t publicly released yet.

Depending when they cap off the foundation, I wouldn`t expect to see vertical construction for roughly four weeks after the final concrete pour. That is the point in time that the concrete has cured and gained most of its strength. It will continue to cure years after being cast in place though. In any event, I wouldn`t anticipate seeing any vertical construction until at least mid to late January. Not to mention that there may not be much work going on at the site the next week and a half with the holidays.