CoastersRZ

Flightoffear1996, I have several counter arguments to your post above. First, (and I posted this in response to your server comment as well) yes, KICentral has more than 3,000 registered members. But of all those members, only a select handful post on the boards. And an even smaller amount of registered users post with any regularity. So your whole concept of asking every member to donate a couple of dollars to rent out Stricker`s Grove is flawed. You will never get 100% cooperation with all the members of this site. In fact, you`d probably lucky to even get close to 33 or 50% response. Secondly, Stricker`s, like other seasonal parks, performs off season maintenance on its rides during the winter months. When I was there for the customer appreciation day in October, two rides were closed and already undergoing refurbishment. The train and the Teddy Bear, The Teddy Bear trains were already off the track, and the were doing some pretty extensive retracking on one of the turnarounds. On to your comments that pertain to Coney Island specifically. Have you ever been to Coney Island and to Sunlite pool? It is billed as the world`s largest recirculating swimming pool. And they have a couple of water slides as added amenities. Sunlite Pool is not a water park perse. It is more like a super sized local swimming pool. The pool is the main draw for passes as well as group sales. The rides are simply an added benefit to lure people to buy passes and to book group sales events at the park. And your comments about making Coney a giant water park as opposed to a medium one are slightly off base. As I stated above, Coney`s Sunlite Pool and accompanying slides (the Zoom Flume and Pipeline Plunge) are not necessarily what most would consider a water park. Yes, they will continue to expand and change the look of the Sunlite pool area and the attractions that adjoin the pool complex. But don`t look for Coney to start removing some of their dry rides for an expanded water park. Simply isn`t going to happen. In part because the Sunlite Pool area is separated from the dry ride side by the main parking lot entrance road. There is a cross walk by the West pool entrance that guests can take to get to the dry side of the park. This road forms a barrier to expanding the water area of Coney Island. Not to say that it couldn`t happen at some point, but just that it is very unlikely that Coney would expand footprint of the water side of things.

With the exception of Flight of Fear, the videos that have played in the queue lines have not been ride specific. Additionally, I do not recall seeing any Paramount related clips on them this past season. Keep in mind that Flight of Fear`s name does not have to change, as it is not tied to any Paramount licensing. It used to be tied to Outer Limits, but that license expired after the 2000 season, and the preshow was slightly altered to remove references to the Outer Limits. Rob Pottorf, the guy who wrote the music for Flight of Fear has a clip of the preshow video on his site, before the Outer Limits portions were cut out. Flight of Fear queue video Rob Pottorf is also responsible for the Tomb Raider: The Ride soundtrack.

As Ryan pointed out, Star Trek: The Experience is open year round. As a result, it is one of the few properties that Cedar Fair owns that is bringing in money in the winter months. And for the most part, there is relatively little capital investment required to sustain Star Trek. Most of Cedar Fair`s other parks, Kings Island included, are closed in the winter which means no money will be flowing into Cedar Fair`s coffers. Additionally, since this is also the time when all the rides are refurbished, it is also the time when the parks are paying all their maintenance employees and for replacement parts for all the rides.

A very valid point that I overlooked! It will be interesting to see what the full 2008 operating calendar looks like when it is released.

Yep. They own and operate Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. While Cedar Fair owns the rides and equipment, they do not own the space in which all the rides operate (that belongs to the Hilton). We may very well see Borg Assimilator`s name changed and the only Paramount branded attractions` names that remain may well be Star Trek: The Experience.

Well, have you visited Coney Island on a hot weekday in the summer? We often are not running full cycles on the rides. Sometimes, we even are sitting around waiting for riders to ride the rides we are running. A wooden coaster would suffer the same issues. To put it simply, people do not go to Coney Island for the rides. (At Stricker`s people go there for the rides.) People go to Coney primarily for Sunlite Pool. A secondary reason they would go is if there company was having a picnic at the park. Even then, the pool is one of the prime draws to lure companies to have their outings at Coney. The rides are a nice side benefit.

Actually, Strickers has typically been open three days to the public the last several years. They are open the Fourth of July, and the second Sunday in Auguest. Also, the last several years they have had a customer appreciation day the second Sunday of October which is open to the public. I`ve been to the Customer Appreciation day the last two years, and the lines have been essentially non-existent!

Not going to happen, as much as I wish it would. The rides side will never be a draw like it used to be pre-1972. They simply don`t have the space or capital to do that. And installing a wooden coaster will not solve those issues. However, Coney is slightly bigger in size then the midway at Stricker`s Grove, so they could fit one in. It is just a matter of financing the ride that is the issue. I believe that a ride like the Tornado at Stricker`s Grove would be an instant hit at Coney Island, if they were ever to install a ride like that.

Yes, there are those guests that try to get on without showing us their season passes, and they have to dig for them in their bag or purse. Then there are those that try and say that so and so over there has there pass. Bottom line is, we have to see the picture on their pass in order to let them ride. Yes, there might be a slight delay at times loading, but overall, most people wear their passes on lanyards, so they are always in plain site.

That does not necessarily mean the downfall of Kennywood. At Coney Island, it is free to walk around the grounds of the park. (You must, however, pay to enter the pool area). Season pass holders where lanyards when on the dry side of the park. We, as ride ops, then had to check the picture on the passes before the guests entered the ride area to make sure they were not swapping passes. We were also given the authority to confiscate passes if the person using the pass was not the person pictured on the pass. The pass could then be collected the following day at guest relations. If a pass was misused three times, the pass in question would be forfeited without refund to the guest. All in all, the system seems to work fairly well at Coney. They might try a similar system at Kennywood.

For years and years, the park would always close at 11 on Saturdays in the summer. Then starting in 2006, they did away with the 11pm closing times. I even remember back for a couple of the Nights of Fire nights, that the park stayed open until midnight. It sure wouold be nice if they stayed open until 11pm on Saturdays again. But the question, from the business aspect, is do they bring in enough additional revenue that additional hour to justify staying open an hour later? I remember that Cedar Point used to be open until 11pm everyday of the week in July I believe, several years back. If I recall correctly, they were also open to midnight every Saturday in July as well. Hopefully, after the operating calendar was somewhat contracted last year, they are beginning to expand the operating calendar a little bit this year.

And of course since Kennywood is being sold, who knows whether or not the new owners will begin to offer season passes or not.

Regardless of the value of the dollar, it is a sad day when a park that has been family owned for the last one hundred and one years is bought out by a corporation. Hopefully, as that article mentions, the transition to the new owners will be seamless to park visitors. We all know that not all new ownership changes go un-noticed by park guests. We had first hand experience as Cedar Fair integrated some of their new policies at Kings Island when they took over.

Well, several years ago, the park used to open about the first weekend in April. But the last several years, they have pushed back the opening date a couple of weeks. I`m surprised they are going to be open all day on Fridays in May. I`m not complaining, but think that the early part of the day the park will be empty until schools let out. Back in 1999 the park opened on Fridays in April, I believe, from 5-10. It really makes sense that they would open on Friday nights, as I`m sure they will get some people through the gates.

Well, considering that Kennywood is a much smaller operation then what Kings Island is, and their dark ride will be more elaborate than Kings Island`s says something. That is part of the reason everyone bemoans the fact that we lost Phantom Theater to cardboard cutouts that comprise the majority of the scenes in Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle. I`ve never made it to Kennywood. It seems like a fantastic park. Hopefully I will get there soon. Although not sure if it will happen in 2008.

But how are you going to convince ALL 3,000+ members to pony up $2 or $3? Keep in mind that of the registered members, only a small percentage actually post, and an even smaller percentage post with any regularity.

In your opinion it might be. But I can tell you that a LOT of families buy passes to Coney. It is not uncommon for some families to spend three to four days a week at Coney, every week, in the summer. Having worked the rides for six years, you will get to know the "regulars" that really take advantage of their season pass, much like most of us do with our Kings Island season passes.

Yes, Coney worked before with Ohio River floods (and still does). But the main difference is the fact that Coney isn`t as big as it was in the 1950`s and 60s. Back then it had a budget more in line with what other major amusement parks were. Coney simply doesn`t draw in enough people to make that large of an investment in rides economically feasible. Coney does NOT make money off of its rides department. The real bread winner is parking revenue (as well as concession revenue) from Riverbend concerts. The other large money makers are Sunlite Pool and the Group Sales business. The rides are an added benefit for selling group sales events as well as an added benefit for members that buy a pass to the pool. (A pool pass now includes free rides admission all season long. When I started at Coney, that was not the case, but has been for the last three to four years). Granted, there are some days when the rides department does bring in quite a lot of money, like on July 3rd for the LaRosa`s balloon glow. Good grief! The park was empty at 5:30 when I got there, but by 6:30, people were coming in by the bus load practically.

Yep. Flooding still is a fact of life at Coney. In fact, I believe that the last flood in the spring of this past year flooded out the first few feet of the park buildings. I know for a fact that a spring flood in 2005 had Kellogg Avenue closed and Lake Como was part of the Ohio River.

Very true. I just don`t see Coney shelling out the sort of money that would be required to move the Big Dipper to Cincinnati. Although, if they were to do such a thing, they would gain some pretty respectable notoriety. I just don`t foresee that happening anytime soon.

Well, which northern park are you referring to? If you are referring to LeSourdsville Lake, then Coney has already been the beneficiary of several of their attractions over the years (including the Tempest and last year`s addition of the Rock O Plane). If you are referring to Geauga Lake, then I doubt that Coney will get any rides from them, but it is certainly a possibility. I really doubt that Coney would purchase any of GL`s wooden coasters, especially since Coney would have to purchase new rolling stock as well.

Opps. Looks like you left out the games department there Ryan! Never fear though, I fixed the poll to include that very visible department.

Yeah. If Coney were to get a wooden coaster in the next five years (a very unlikely prospect unfortunately), it would likely be a brand new creation and not a relocated ride, due to the complexity of moving a wooden coaster.

No need for the double posting JacksonPKI. The boards have an edit feature if you forgot something in your previous post. Double posts is less convenient for all of us, and especially those with slower internet connections.

Raptor, on the subject of no charge to walk around, Coney Island does not charge guests to simply walk around the park. They do charge if you wish to enter the Sunlite Pool area, or to ride the rides, but there is no fee if you are simply there to watch your grandkids ride the rides. I have never been to Indiana Beach before. Its not that I haven`t wanted to go. Its just that I simply haven`t had the available time to get out that way.