CoastersRZ

Well, a slight aside to the topic at hand. I find it funny that there are signs in Face Off`s station claiming to "Keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times." There is no real "car" in which to put your legs.

Its really surprising how many parks serve Coke products. All Six Flags parks, Paramount Parks, Disney World, and Universal Florida parks. The only chains that I know which serve Pepsi are Holiday World (obviously), Cedar Fair, and Coney Island. I think that the Busch Parks also serve Pepsi. But I`ve never been there so I don`t know which they serve.

And unfortunately, the more years that it goes SBNO, the less likely it will be to fully reopen as an amusement park. The return on investment is simply not there. That is why Park River Corporation (Coney`s parent company) sold the park off. They had invested lots of money into the park, but saw little return on their investment. Hopefully, someone will come in and get this classic park running again. But I have my doubts.

Well, Coke products will be in the park for the next seven years. They recently signed a contract for that amount of time.

Ahh, the advantages of downloading those sound files before they reworked the website!

Yes, I know for a fact that hands can touch the tunnel in the final helix of The Beast. Back about 8 years ago I had my hands up when I entered that part of the ride. Lets just say that my hand briefly grazed the tunnel. Nothing serious, just my hand stung a little. From that day on, I never raise my hands up above headrest height, and normally hold on to the black hand bar in that part. Although I am surprised more people don`t get their hands scratched up from hitting the tunnel. There are always tons of people who hold up there hands before going into that tunnel.

Yes. Son of Beast opened on April 28th. The park opened to the public that night at 5, and Son of Beast did not open until around 7:15. I was fortunate to be on about the fifth train after it opened. Yes, they shut down the ride due to a severe roough spot. The ride reopened in the middle of May. The ride remained with one train operation until the end of June or early July. The park has been somewhat gun shy about large installations, because of their troubles with Son of Beast.

Well, technically it is illegal to resell any tickets to Paramount`s Kings Island. Associate tickets or otherwise. I believe that all tickets have a disclaimer saying "This ticket may not be resold."

Santa was better than a substitue teacher? What type of comparison is that? I thouroughly enjoyed the Santa`s Toy Factory. (I saw it three times on three seperate nights). Both shows were high quality shows. Hopefully this upward trend continues in PKI`s entertainment department.

Well, it wouldn`t surprise me if there was some sort of sewer line over in that area since the Lion Country Safari was over in that area. And how would you know how it smells back behind Son of Beast? Have you been back there before? It might have been the smell from one of the stagnant ponds that still resides back there and is left over from the days of the Lion Country Safari.

But will it really make the books look that much better? Yes, it might make them look better for this year, but won`t any future owner look at the books beyond just this year`s? I just have a feeling that these cuts, along with not opening the gates until 10, will result in a hit to customer satisfaction. That is just a hunch though, and I hope it turns out to not be true.

Right. I would have thought that they would have been open until 11 on at least the Fourth of July weekend. Oh Well.

Very interesting indeed. Well, I would imagine that that will depend on if the park keeps the Paramount and Viacom licensing. If they remove them (which IMO, would be a mistake, especially for Nickelodeon) than the Nick gift shop would seem out of place.

Yes, it is not part of PKI, but I believe that PKI has a 15% stake in the hotel, for providing the land to Great Wolf for the lodge.

Very good eye at spotting him on The Beast. And no, I do not believe that he providing the voice over for that commercial.

Well, you can see the Showcase Cinemas from Top Gun, and it is as across the street from Kings Island as you can get. Definantely more across the street than the Harley store.

The reason Son of Beast closed early was so that they could get a head start on some extensive track work. I highly doubt that the park will be removing both Flight of Fear AND Vortex in the coming couple of seasons. Those are both major rides. Secondly, Flight of Fear is only ten years old this year. Although it will be interesting to see what exactly PKD is doing with their FoF since they are not opeing it.

Yeah. It opened on April 28th. I was on one of the first train loads once the coaster opened. It was a Friday evening and the park didn`t open until five. Son of Beast didn`t open until around 7. It closed due a "rough spot" of track and remained closed for several weeks. They didn`t get multiple trains running on it until mid summer of 2000.

Yes. They are probably waiting for the deal to close before going public. That begs the question if the operating hour cuts are a result of the potenetial buyers, or just Paramount Parks tightening up the belts a little bit before they are sold. When Paramount bought the parks back in July of 1992, was it immediately released to the public?

Siebert is now working with Schlitterbahn parks as their manager of communications. It was a promotion for him. He left in the middle of December. Although, Maureen Kaiser, Siebert`s partner in crime is still around. Although, Siebert will be missed at PKI. I doubt Siebert`s leaving the park will have much of an effect on the park. The more imporant thing that will affect the park is who becomes the new owners after CBS sells the parks.

Well if it is bought out by a major park chain, there are only a couple of chains that I can imagine will be interested in Paramount Parks. One in particular might be interested in the parks, one that owns a couple of other parks in Ohio.

Well, those numbers from Amusement Business are estimates. Highly accurate estimates, but they do not reflect the actual attendance figures for the parks. Most companies do not disclose their actual attendance figures.

But do investment groups always intend to sell the assets they own for a profit? I do believe Skyline Chili is now owned by an investment group. Just because an investment group might buy the parks, does not mean that they will discontinue WinterFest simply based on the first year of its return. Although since it most likely was not as successful as an event as had been planned, then they might just discontinue it. Only time will tell what happens. Personally, I wouldn`t mind Paramount Park executives finding financial backing to become their own independent company. Similar to what KECO did when they broke away from TAFT.

Oh, and why do you think they would dicontinue it? Yeah, it needs some tweaking to make it more of a success, but I think it could be a good way for the parks to bring in revenue in the winter season. It all depends on who the owneer ends up being.

Well, I can say that we have been developing the idea of a podcast for more than a month now.