CoastersRZ

I believe that Carowinds introduced the Platinum Pass last season, essentially a renamed gold season pass. I think Kings Dominion had a gold Season Pass last year. PKI introduced their Gold Season passes back in the 2001 season. Yes, the site does look nice. My only problem with the site and all Paramount sites is the link to two free tickets in the lower left hand corner that pops up when you click on it. Since I have a Mac and use Safari, the whole area where that box appears is blank and never loads, even if I don`t click on it.

Very interesting information! It certainly sounds like Winterfest may make its triumphant return in 2005! I personally hope they do bring it back. I think that the success The Beach has had with Holiday Fest over the past couple of seasons could be part of the reason they may bring it back. To try and capitalize on money in the month of Decemeber that would not normally be earmarked for KI but other holiday attractions like Festival of Lights and Holiday Fest. I also hope that they keep FearFest in some manner in October. Only time will tell if they are indeed bringing Winterfest back for sure in 2005.

I don`t know if the park expects to see double digit growth because of IJST opening, but I do think they expect to see some sort of increase in attendance.

Well, they are pretty much like PKI`s. Blacktop with lines painted on it for the cars to park in. Of the Paramount Parks I`ve been to, Carowinds and Kings Dominion, they were all pretty much the same. Carowinds was a little different because the entrance road actually winds you to one side of the lot. And Carowinds has a north entrance into the park and a south entrance to the park.

I realistically don`t see any seasonal theme or amusement park building a parking garage any time soon. Why? Cost. Parking garages cost a lot more per space than simply leveling the land and paving asphalt. The parks would most likely raise their parking fees to cover the cost of the structure, which would result in even more enormous parking fees. While it would solve space problems at certain parks, traffic circulation through garages at peak times can be a little hectic, not to mention that parking structures are ugly unless they spend to make them more aesthetically pleasing. Unless a park is desperate and really wants to shell out the big buck to create more land for attractions, I think the seasonal parks will stick with traditional parking lots.

Well if you want to ride rides and not do any haunts, then the lines are not too terribly bad, unless you go on an exceptionally busy day. Most people are in lines for the various haunts, especially the ones that open at 8!

The link to that article was posted in another thread when that article came out last Friday.

Yes, while it was originally designed to run three trains (in fact the park owns all three trains) there is no benefit in capacity to having three trains on. Also, if they don`t clear the station on time then a triain will be stuck all the way out at the mid course break run, quite a far distance from the station.

Yes. I`m not sure how old the motors were when it was at Kings Island, but the ride dates to 1935 at Coney Island. I would assume that the motors that were on it at KI were most likely installed in 1972 when it was moved to KI. Obviosly, there have been a lot of technological advances between now and back in 1972. Although the motors could have and probably were replaced sometime since 1972.

To the best of my knowledge the suit was settled out of court. I don`t think stain on Son of Beast would be necessary (and as stated before would be an unnecessary cost). I would much rather them spend some money on adding a tunnel or two to Sonny and continue to work on smoothing out the track then to have spent it on stain. I don`t think Son of Beast will receive tunnels anytime in the near future, as the park is more concerned about making the ride smoother and more enjoyable.

Having been to Disney World, the tram is a necessity at some of those parks, where the parking lots are huge like at MGM, and Magiv Kingdom. Kings Island`s parking lot is moderate in size (it has about 11,000 spots) and unless the park is full to capacity, the walk to the front gate is not terribly far (not as bad as at Disney World). True, after tweleve hours of walking in the park, it is nice to catch a tram closer to where you parked your car, or if it is raining a covered tram is certainly nice!

I believe that Cedar Fair may not be able to afford the cost that Viacom wants. I don`t think it would be necessarily a bad thing if Cedar Fair bought the parks, but I would imagine we would see less heavily themed rides. I really don`t see Cedar Fair buying the parks. I think the most likely buyer as I have said before is the former Viacom executive. Yes, I think by the end of the 2005 operating season, I think PKI and Paramount Parks will no longer be directly owned by Viacom.

I would imagine that Viacom would rather sell Paramount Parks as a whole. I could see them being spun off into their own company led by the former Viacom Executive. While they would no longer be owned by Viacom, I think that Viacom would want to keep their advertising in the parks to promote their properties. It is definantly something to watch as the outcome of this situation could have drastic changes for PKI and the other Paramount Parks.

While I appluad the park for banning smoking in the park there is one slight problem. The park could barely enforce the no smoking in queue lines rule, so how are they going to be able to enforce the no smoking in the park rule (with the exception of select areas most likely, like in Boomerang Bay and at Holiday World)?

Nice pictures! So sad to see the Eagles at another park other than PKI, but glad that they are receiving a lot of attention in their new home! New paint, and bolts, this ride will surely please thousands of Carolinians in the coming years! I`m assuming the Happy Days Diner is the next restaraunt to be built at a mojority of the Paramount Parks. Word on the street is that Preston T. Tucker`s Roadside Cafe will become a Happy Days Diner as well in 2005.

Yes, but taking down the building would cost a significant amount of money.

Yes, the $800 million to $1 billion is a steep amount of money. I`m sure companies like Cedar Fair would be more interested in one or two of the parks for about a fourth of the reported cost for all five. I believe that if they are sold, which seems like Viacom wants to in order to focus on its core assets, they will most likely be bought out by the former Viacom Exectutive, McGrath and his investors. The only question would then become do the parks still carry the Paramount moniker and still have the licensing of Paramount and Nickelodeon. Since it would almost be like spinning off Paramount Parks into its own seperate operating company, I could see them keeping/buying the licenses. It definantly sounds like Viacom is for real about selling the park division. I too would like to see Cdar Fair or Universal buy the parks. Both could bring awesome changs to the park, minus the name changes. Only time will tell what the future holds for our beloved park and its owenership. If PKI is bought out and has to get rid of the licensed rides, I do not forsee them tearing down Tomb Raider. But they will have to do some major work to that ride, or specifically buy the license for that ride, as the cost to retheme and reprogram the preshow and all the props would probably be pretty steep.

I would assume that the Nickelodeon license will be part of the sale agreement, seeing as how popular Nick Toons are. It will probabaly be similar to the Hanna Barbera license when KECO and later Paramount bought the parks. The question is would the owner`s buy the license to the Paramount movies and related entities. If not, then PKI`s Action Zone will have to have three major attractions renamed (Face Off, Drop Zone and Top Gun). Also, it would be really hard to retheme Tomb Raider, since that has all the props from the movie in it. It will be interesting to see what develops in the coming months to a year. Who knows, but PKI could once again become just KI.

Ben, if the parks are sold, they would likely loose their Paramount moniker. However, they would remain the same named parks, IE Kings Island, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Great America and Canada`s Wonderland. Personally I do not forsee Cedar Fair buying the parks. Also, I would like it if the Blackstone group bought Paramount Parks, since they own 50% of Universal Florida. But I doubt they want to risk the capital on Paramount Parks, when they might be able to buy the remaining 50% of Universal Florida from NBC/GE in the coming years. I do think that they would breing great things to PKI and the other Paramount Parks, but I think their would not be a big enough ROI due to the seasonal nature of the Paramount Parks. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months. And also how it relates to rides such as Top Gun, Tomb Raider, and Italian Job Stunt Track. I would assume that the Parks would maintain a license contract with Paramount and Nickelodeon like they did with Hanna Barbera when KECO, and then American Financial and then Paramount bought the parks.

Well actually, it would not be a fact that Cedar Point would be the flagship park. In fact based on attendance from last season, PKI would be the flagship park. Any way, I do not believe that Cedar Fair is interested in Paramount Parks, or spending the near $1 billion price tage for them.

Actually, it says they are considering selling their parks because they are not a core asset. This is the second time I have heard mention of Paramount selling their parks. It was brought up as a possibility a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunatly I don`t think there are any interested buyers at this point in time for the Paramount Parks. Additionally, I believe that Paramount is finally starting to turn the parks into something special and unique from other seasonal themers. It would be ashame to loose that vision and get new owners with new ideas now. It will be interesting to see what happens. Perhaps, Paramount Parks will spin off into its own company like KECO did. But then it would lack the financial backing and possibly the Paramount licenses. Only time will tell what the future holds for Paramount Parks and how it relates to Kings Island. EDIT: Tom McGrath, a former Viacom executive, who stepped down from Paramount Enterprises last summer has approached Viacom with investment firms about acquiring Paramount Parks from Viacom. It seems as if Paramount Parks may indeed be spun off into their own company afterall. Read more here at Coasterbuzz. If you read the attached article it says that Paramount Parks will be put to auction in the next coming months and could fetch between $900 million and a billion dollars. The article also mentiones the most likely buyers (besides Tom McGrath) to be Cedar Fair and Universal. So it seems it is only a matter of time before Paramount Parks changes ownership. It will be interesting to see what happens!

Italianchef, I assume that you have visited Coney Island before. It is a great park, with lots of great kiddie rides for the kids. The Python is an ok coaster but not great. This season marks Coney`s 120th anniversary. This season, Sunlite Pool passes are also valid for free rides all season long. And apparantly, the ride will be open this year from 10 am until 9 pm as opposed to an 11am opening as in years past. Coney is a great place to work and visit. Several of the VP and even Vic Nolting the president, take pride in making their park clean and keeping things up to snuff. In fact it is not uncommon for them to be seen walking with a pan and broom around the park. And when we were short staffed back in August, the VP and the President of Operations were operating rides to give us operators a break. Unfortunatly, I will not be returning to Coney this summer, the first time I won`t be working there sine 2001. I will truly miss working there, but I will be making more money on co-op in the spring and fall and will be in school in the summer. That being said, I hope to visit Holiday World on one of my weekends in the spring when I am on co-op at K4 Architecture in downtown. Beyond that, my summer will be limited to sporadic trips to PKI when I can manage to squeeze in some free time from the hectic school schedule. (I spent this past weekend building a bridge for my structures class).

After a year and a half of architecture school, you really have to love doing it. With all the disorganization in this school, you have to want to do it. And besides, architects don`t make that terribly much money. In my class there have been ten people that have dropped out since Autumn of this year, not including the many that dropped after last year. The one good thing about my program is I will get to go on co-op next quarter and work with a firm, (which pays more than twice what Coney did!) Back on topic. I would be interested in seeing those construction pictures of the tower. However, I have only seen them that once when Guidetotheisland was online for a very brief period before Shawn Werley took the site down. It was a very well designed site too with a lot of unique never before seen pictures!

But the ride may soft open for a couple cycles before then so that the park can fine tune things and get some public opinion on the effects in order to fine tune them before the official unveiling in May.

Back when Guidetotheisland.com was online for a brief period, they had a shot of the Eiffel Tower under construction. The image quality wasn`t the best, but the tower was just over the arch area (only about 50 feet off the ground).