CoastersRZ

I would assume though, that there may be some extra logistical issues and possibly additional approvals required for capital investments when the company is undergoing reorganization?

Hmmm. That is interesting reading. Now the question that I have to ask is how will these proceedings impact any potential capital investments at the various Six Flags parks next season. It certainly can`t be promising for any major investments, can it?

Well, keep in mind that The Beast was technically designed in house by Kings Island`s own staff, including Al Collins and Jeff Gramke. Although John Allen did give them some advice on The Beast when it was being designed. And part of the problem with Son of Beast can be solved by the old adage that "bigger isn`t always better." Just look at the GCI wooden coasters, they are not the tallest, fastest or longest wooden coasters around. But anyone that has had the pleasure of riding a GCI will know that they are true works of art that provide a remarkable ride experience. They do not need to have all the superlatives to provide a fun and thrilling ride.

Glad to see you had a fun time today. The weather was near perfect. Yes, the Trabant does go backwards. Like the Flying Bobs, it switches direction every cycle. One cycle will be forward, while the next one will be backwards. Those canoes were added last year. You`d be surprised how many people end up tipping those canoes out in the middle of the lake. I was the closing manager today, so I was there from 1-6, although I didn`t get out until much later as I had to deal with time cards.

Update: While your 2009 season pass will not get you admission into the Fall-O-Ween festival it will get you another perk in addition to the free parking I mentioned above. Show your pass at the time you purchase your adult festival admission ticket, and receive $2 off the $10 admission fee.

While your 2009 Coney Island Season Pass will NOT get you admission into the Fall-O-Ween Festival (the rates I quoted above apply to pass holders), your pass still gets you one benefit. Your pass still will get you free parking for the Fall-O-Ween Festival. And if you pre-order your tickets, it is only $7 per person, not a bad deal, considering festival admission includes all of Coney`s classic rides, and the all new laser show at 8pm.

Topic bump. Just as a reminder that Sunday, September 13 is the last day Sunlite Pool is open for the season. And who can go wrong with the prices of $6.95 to get into Sunlite Pool, $6.95 to ride the rides and $9.95 to do both the pool and rides (that`s more than 50% off the normal price of $21.95 for pool and rides tickets!)? The weather looks to be near perfect.

Well, filling in part of the lake is expensive. Likely they would just have concrete piers or pilings driven into the bedrock below the lake and utilize a steel frame above the lake. Not unlike what Indiana Beach did for their wood coasters. The other option would be to have the actual coaster go back through the picnic area and not actually towards Riverbend. While it may make some areas of the picnic grove noisy at times, the actual width of the track is not that great. Do I see Coney adding any wooden coaster (or wooden coaster with steel supports like Voyage) any time in the near or intermediate future? Not a chance. Yes, Coney did just spend close to $2 million on the Twister. But that was a LARGE capital project. Just like Kings Island likely won`t see another large capital project for a few years, the same likely will hold true for Coney.

Trust me when I say that a B&M coaster is DEFINITELY out of Coney`s price range. Heck, the Twister slide that was installed this year at a price of nearly $2 million was one of the most expensive installations at Coney, ever! And personally I doubt that Coney will add anything new next year, since in the last two years both the rides side and Sunlite Pool have seen pretty significant additions.

Excellent pictures and trip report. I have never been to Six Flags Over Georgia, but would love to get down there at some point. It seems like it is a very fun amusement park with a great collection of rides. Hopefully, I can find time and money to make a trek down there soon, but until I land a full time job, the chances are that it will be a few years off still.

Remember that this Sunday Coney Island`s Classic Rides and Sunlite Pool are open for reduced prices for customer appreciation day. With Kings Island closed until September 25th, what better way to spend the day? See my above post for hours and prices. This is the last day that Sunlite Pool will be open until Memorial day weekend, 2010.

Customer Appreciation Day is Sunday, September 13th. Hours for both Sunlite Pool and the classic rides are 11-6. Special pricing is available for both the pool and rides. Pool: $6.95 per person, Rides: $6.95 per person, and Pool and Rides: $9.95 per person. This is the last day of the season for Sunlite Pool! This is the last day that 2009 season pass holders can use their passes, and it is the last day that Sunlite Pool is open for the year. Coney`s classic rides will be open for the Fall-O-Ween Festival September 26, 27th and October 3rd and 4th. Season passes are NOT valid for entry into that special event. Also, please note that Coney is closed to the general public on Saturday, September 12th for a private company event.

Well, sound would still be an issue as Moonlite Gardens is often the home to both wedding receptions and actual wedding ceremonies. And yes, the first few hours yesterday the rides weren`t that busy. But right around 2pm, the floodgates opened.

Ok. I speak from experience here. As a veteran ride operator (and now rides manager) at Coney Island I have been working in the rides department since 2002. That first year I was in the department, we had only two methods for letting riders on the rides. The first was a rides wristband to show that they had paid for their rides admission. The second was collecting individual ride tickets. Kiddie rides were two tickets, most flat rides were three tickets, the Python I believe was either four or six tickets. Each ride ticket cost 50 cents. So the kiddie rides were $1, the flat rides were $1.50, and the coaster was either $2 or $3. As pointed out above, this worked great for grandparents that only wanted to ride one ride, say the Ferris Wheel, with their grandchildren. However, from an operational standpoint, it was VERY difficult. You would get a parent would pay the ride tickets for six people. As a ride operator, you had to verify that they were giving you 18 ride tickets (6x3). Not to mention if it rained, the rain turned the tickets to a gooey mess. The last year that Coney offered individual ride tickets was 2003. After that time, everyone must buy either a rides wristband (even if only riding one ride) or have a season pass. At Coney, the season pass holders show their passes to the ride operators before entering the ride area (as it is free for anyone to walk the grounds of Coney Island, outside of the Sunlite Pool area). We do have a frequent problem of counterfeit passes, but on the whole, the current system works a lot better, operationally. That being said, we often get questions if we still offer individual ride tickets. This does sometimes alienate the grandparents from riding with their grandkids. And it also sometimes make parents angry when they learn that Junior needs to ride with an adult on the Ferris Wheel, and the adult chaperone must also have a rides wristband. I hope that offered some valuable first hand experience into a pay per ride system at a park that used to have that very system. And for the record, a ride all day wristband at Coney costs $11.95, or $8.95 after 4pm. Admission to Sunlite Pool only is also $11.95 and $8.95 after 4pm. A pool and rides ticket is $21.95 and $11.95 after 4pm. As an aside, tomorrow is the last regular operating day of the season at Coney. However, both Sunlite Pool and the Coney`s classic rides are open next Sunday, September 13th from 11-6. Special prices are in effect for this customer appreciation day. Rides wristbands are $6.95, admission to Sunlite is $6.95 and a pool and rides ticket is $9.95, or more than 50% off regular admission pricing!

Uh, I think you used the wrong word there. "Reck" means to have care, concern or regard. I think you meant to say "wrecking" which has a different meaning entirely. And there are plenty of existing access roads in and around Son of Beast. The park has not stated what their plans are with the ride. I`m sure that when the time is right, they will disclose what their intentions for the future of Son of Beast will be. Until then, implying that the ride has a date with wrecking balls would be premature to say the least.

First of all, in that video you posted Ty, notice how similar many of those scenes appear to be to Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle. I don`t think it would be hard to just remove the Scooby references and keep the same basic theme to the ride. Secondly, the original design for Phantom Theater was done by R&R Creative (not R&R Animatronics as someone mentioned earlier). While Phantom Theater was no Haunted Mansion at Disney, it was a truly unique dark ride experience at a seasonal amusement park. I know that I`m sad it is no longer around. At least some of the characters/props have been making reappearances at Halloween Haunt. Keep in mind that when the ride was installed for the 1992 season, we were only at the cusp of the computer boom. A lot of the controls for the animatronics were being run with outdated systems. If the same ride were installed today, I`m sure the control systems would be greatly simplified, reducing maintenance.

A couple things I`d like to comment on here. First, that new wooden fence by the former greeter stand location is likely to block the gravel maintenance road from view of guests when they are standing right where you took that picture Paul. If they have a maintenance truck parked on that road, odds are the new fence will at least block a portion of the truck. That gravel road didn`t always used to be there either. When they needed to bring in a crane to fix Delirium several years back, they added that access road. Second, a lot of the old fencing (including most of the chain link fence that was prevalent in Action Zone) has either been removed or replaced. Look at all the new fencing that was added this year with the introduction of Diamondback. Additionally, some of the old post and chain "fencing" that can be found around the rear side of the Eiffel Tower (fencing that has been there since the park opened) has even been removed this year. Additionally, where there used to be chain link fence by The Racer and Vortex (to keep people away from the trains), has been replaced with the same black safety fencing that can be found by Firehawk, and around the splashdown for Diamondback. It is admittedly a lot more aesthetically pleasing than just plain chain link fence. The end result of all these "minor" changes, is a park that has a better overall atmosphere, and doesn`t have "cheap" chain link fencing everywhere.

Well, they really didn`t get rid of it perse. They relocated several of the buildings to the shores of Lake Como (between the Pedal Boat entrance and the Scrambler) and are now calling it a mining town. It is still a popular hit with young kids.

Advanced ticket for the Fall-O-Ween festival are available online now! If tickets are purchased by September 25th, you can save $3 off of admission. Instead of paying the gate price of $10, you can buy tickets online now for just $7! Check out Coney`s website here for more details and the information on how to buy now: http://www.coneyislandpark.com/special_calendar.php

Well, I`ll be at Coney. Likely working all day, although I don`t know my hours yet. I`ll find out my hours tomorrow.

Nothing wrong with bumping a thread. And I wouldn`t necessarily look for Coney to add anything new next year. Keep in mind Coney just invested in a multi-million water slide for this season.

Remember, to keep political oriented comments off of these boards. Any posts that stray into that subject area will be deleted as they violate the terms of service. President Obama will be speaking around 1:15. You MUST have a ticket to attend. If you do not have a ticket, you must get one from a local union that is part of the AFL-CIO. Chances are they may have already distributed all the tickets already. If you are planning on coming down to Coney that day, keep in mind that the AFL-CIO picnic is going on, so expect some lines at the rides and a very busy Sunlite Pool. This is not the first time that a political star has appeared at Coney. President Clinton visited Coney on Labor Day, 1992 on the campaign trail before he was elected president later that year. This is, however, the first time that a sitting president will visit Coney Island. Regardless of your political orientation, it is still cool that he is visiting Coney Island. "Coney has it!" And yes, I will be working that day!

You would be guessing wrong. Direct from Coney`s Special Events page in the Season Pass section it clearly states the following: Everyone that attends the Fall-O-Ween Festival must pay the festival admission price. Unlike normal operation at Coney where it is free to walk around the grounds, that is NOT the case for special events like Fall-O-Ween Festival. Everyone that enters has to pay the admission price upon entering. The rides are included with the price of admission.

I wouldn`t look for an overhaul to the ride vehicles, save for a fresh coat of paint to jetison the Mystery machine paint job. Believe it or not, but the Morgan Manufacturing people mover system that resides in Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle is actually a higher capacity system than the Sally ride vehicles. If Scooby does vacate the premises, I`d imagine that the core ride system will remain intact.

Where was the news about Carowinds` Scooby being rethemed? I`m a little suspicious of the Sally dark rides being rethemed, simply because of the cost involved. Not to mention that Scooby has only been in residence in the building for six years now. It seems a little early to completely change the theme now. Although, I think its not out of the range of possibility, I just think that it seems highly unlikely. At any rate, I doubt that they completely remove the ride. At worst, they will retheme it to the Peanuts gang.