CoastersRZ

But yet no picture updates from inside the all new Planet Snoopy. It would be nice to get a picture or two before the park opens.

Well, I`d love to get down to Carowinds again. Unfortunately, I don`t really have the luxury of taking a Friday or Monday off of work. At least not right now when I am a contract employee, which will hopefully turn into full time employment here by the end of April. So if we can swing a Saturday and Sunday trip, then I`m game. I could potentially leave work an hour early on a Friday to head down to Carowinds and/or Dollywood.

Who does the fair board report to? I mean, it is the State fair board, so I would imagine that a local ordinance passed by the Metro Louisville council will not do much to persuade the fair board in their stance on the positions (Louisville`s government structure is a little unique in that the city and county combined their governments a few years back into Metro Louisville). I mean, I would love to see Kentucky Kingdom be saved in some form or another. Its sad to see a park close. Especially a park that I have visited before, though that was before the Six Flags days. I`m not optimistic that the park will be able to be opened this year, let alone by the originally scheduled opening day of April 24th.

And yet, Coney has been surviving and thriving in the shadows of Kings Island since 1972...

So I wonder what the $2 million licensing dispute with Paramount Pictures was over. Additionally, I wonder which of the Paramount Parks are not living up to the original expectations they had when they purchased the Paramount Parks. While it states that all the former Paramount Parks are cash flow positive, they are disappointed with the results for some of the properties. I`d have to imagine the California property, and Virginia property are two parks that could be options. All in all, as Cory stated, it looks like a nice earnings release, save for the EBIDTA number. Also, they retired a lot of debt in the past year. And so far the only covenant that they had breached as of the end of 2009 was the one related to the cash distribution. It will be interesting to see how the unit price responds tomorrow. Especially since tomorrow is also the record date to be able to vote on the proposed merger.

Well if I`m reading it correctly, it means that the Parent, which in this case is Apollo, has the right to terminate the transaction because the EBIDTA did not meet their figure. However, it simply states that they have the right to terminate if they so choose to do so. It doesn`t mean that they will withdraw their proposal.

Interesting. I wonder if this has anything to do with recent purchases by a certain investor and his companies.

I wear a strap on my glasses on certain rides. Delirium, The Crypt, Vortex, Flight of Fear, Invertigo, Firehawk I wear the strap. Better be safe than sorry. Some rides at Cedar Point you are REQUIRED to have a strap on your glasses if you wish to ride wearing your glasses. Top Thrill Dragster comes to mind immediately. Ironically, when I went down to Carowinds last spring, they made me remove my glasses and put them in a bin (they would not let me ride with them on), even though I was wearing a strap!

And it will be interesting to see how the unit price responds both tomorrow and on Friday.

I assume that the delay in announcing their earnings is a result of the proposed acquisition. This will also be the first quarter in which unit holders will NOT receive a cash distribution.

Yep. There is even a section that mentions court injunctions and delaying or stopping the merger process in the definitive proxy that Cedar Fair filed with the SEC.

Exactly. The first article you quotes stated 25%. Still, that means that of the remaining unit holders, only 8% would need to vote no to effectively block the merger from occurring. And all unit holders who do not vote will have their votes added to the "against" the merger tally. At this point, it looks as if this merger is not going to happen. But to quote the famous saying, its not over until the fat lady sings.

The question will be, what happens after this vote, assuming it is not in favor of the proposed acquisition? Obviously, Cedar Fair has to pay the money out to Apollo. But what happens to their current debt obligations, which seem to be the reason why they sought out this merger in the first place.

Great news! I assume that this is a final vote (for now), and will not resurface again in a couple months like the last time Mason held a meeting on this subject.

Well, that is a very limited topic for a paper. Not sure of any definitive sources to tell you to look into. I mean, you can use a site like Coasterbuzz to point you toward online articles that may detail the affects of the economy on the entertainment and leisure sector. Another source you could possibly use is trade magazines like Amusement Today, since they follow the industry. Check out the Amusement Today website here. Note however, that to view articles from that website may require you to subscribe to the magazine, as it is a trade magazine, especially if you are interested in back issues.

Yep. As an aside, I wonder if Kings Island or Coney Island will attract some of the group sales that used to frequent Kentucky Kingdom. I know that group sales make up a large portion of amusement park attendance, particularly at places like at Coney.

Remember, that rides that existed at Kentucky Kingdom would likely find their way to other Six Flags parks before finding their way to other parks outside of the Six Flags family. Its still sad to see an amusement park close. No matter how small or poor its reputation had been. Yes, Thunder Run is a nice wooden coaster. I count myself lucky for having ridden it when I was down there before Six Flags controlled the park (and before I was really into coasters). On a side note, I wonder if this will also be the ultimate fate for another park which sits on leased land out west. But that also may depend on the fate of the sun god`s proposal.

So if the class action is approved by the court, does it realistically stand a chance of blocking the sale if the case eventually is decided in favor of the unit holders? I mean, can this one class action lawsuit (if it gets approval for class action status) be able to block the sale? Of course, this is all a mute point if 2/3 of the unit holders don`t approve the deal to begin with.

And in case anyone missed it, he just quoted the slogan that Kings Island used in its inaugural season back in 1972.

I think during off peak times, they could more than afford to offer a select number of day passes. Times like weekdays in September, when lifeguards outnumber the amount of swimmers in the pool area!

At one point in time, Coney Island`s administrative offices were actually located in downtown Cincinnati, and NOT at the park. But keep in mind that in those days, the Island Queen departed from the public landing at the southern edge of the central business district and headed up river to Coney Island. So their offices weren`t completely disconnected from their operation.

True that. Although I did notice on one ride on the carousel last year that I could actually hear the music while on the Carousel! One time I rode it, and you couldn`t even hear the music on the carousel when you were riding it! As an aside, the Carousel at Coney uses a CD player to play its music. But the operator must turn it on in the morning. And considering its only like a twenty minute loop of music (not to mention it can be really, really loud), it often will end up not being turned on, or being turned off at some point during the day. Much to the chagrin of the operations managers, who will yell at the rides managers to get the music going on the carousel. And when maintenance checks the ride in the morning, sometimes they pump WEBN through the sound system.

Great song. Still hard to believe that 1999 was eleven years ago! My how time flies.

And speaking of taking pictures, on my architectural trips to Chicago, many times when my classmates and I were in public places inside buildings, such as a food court we ran into trouble. We were taking pictures of the architecture and would often be told by security that they do no permit the taking of pictures inside the premises. My one professor once said to take as many pictures as you can, before you get yelled at and told to leave. I`ve even heard of someone taking a picture of the outside of a building (and this was in the Cincinnati area), and a manager coming out and telling them that they could not take pictures of the building.

And some parks have taken a firm stance when it comes to abiding by their park policies, particularly in regards to smoking. While other parks that have a smoking ban, don`t even seem to enforce it and send people to the proper designated areas. Unlike a certain other group of parks which numbers its flags, that has been known to kick people out for not following their rules and regulations.