CoasterJack

See I would agree, but my fear at this point is the park would be scooped up by private equity and I think that might be worse. I don't think Apollo buying CF would've worked out well. I think they'd mainly be in it for the land and extracting as much money with as little investment as possible.

This company also restores and upgrades existing rides. Adding props, adding new blasters, sets, etc. One of their projects looks to literally be restoring a Ghost Blasters ride similar to Boo Blasters, which I wonder if they did the new system on the Carowinds Boo Blasters. Important to note they also could've just done some small repair work over the off season on the ride

Peanuts are definitely more popular currently, especially with new shows on Apple+ and the peanuts are incredibly popular overseas in Asia and within Gen Z, specifically Snoopy

This 100%! I'd rather the park be able to run on all cylinders providing the best with what the park already has in its lineup. Another year of "park improvements" is fine with me if it allows for the park to run its best. Funneling all the money to one ride at the cost of staffing and supplies isn't worth it to me personally.

What new rides? It's not like we promised new additions or anything

Yeah overall, another rough quarterly report. What stuck out to me was that their debt interest payment for just Q2 was more than what they brought in for income (profit) the same quarter, which isn't something great as a business. My hope is someone like Jeffrey Siebert or another Matt Ouimet with Universal or Disney experience can come in and improve the overall sentiment of the community about the company. Ultimately, if it were me at the top, I think this highlights that debt is SF's biggest issue currently. If it were up to me, I think the company needs to limit additions, focus on marketing the ride lineups and experiences already found at the parks. Many of these parks have awesome slides, water rapids rides, carousels, antique cars, log flumes, thrilling coasters, KI's nighttime show, Cedar Point's beach, etc. I think at this point, money spent on staffing and keeping parks presentable is more important than any addition for long term growth and improving the reputation of the company. I think some park improvements, bathrooms, painting, small restaurant upgrades will have a more lasting impact on the guest experience that can prevent some negative experiences, improving word of mouth and returning visitors. If the company said they were going to invest a billion over these two or three years. I think you slim down some of those ride additions, put that 200-300 million towards debt repayments, paying down the principal of the loan, not just making minimum interest payments. Some of the park improvements like seen at SFMM's waterpark have been noticed and reviews have highlighted how much it improved the experience, and I think they should keep some of those. Bathrooms aren't the most exciting, but it is something mentioned negatively in almost any review. I get the chain is spending a lot to get people in the door and excited, but if it's hurting your operations and cleanliness just to be able to afford a new ride, I don't know if it's worth it. I'd love to hear any thoughts anyone else has on this matter, I love hearing other ideas

There's rumors it'll still be included with the gold pass and only a required add on for tickets. We don't really know for sure until it's all released. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions yet...

I would say it's highly likely, same with Winterfest. My prediction is Haunt will be Snickers, Tricks & Treats brought to you by either Kroger, that pretzel sponsor I can't think of the name of from years past, or M&Ms. Winterfest I'm unsure, maybe Kroger, or one I've yet to see make a return from the Paramount days is P&G. It's worth noting Mars also sponsors Disney's Not So Scary Halloween event in Disney World

I gotta know how much KI or SF is making off of all this. I hope it's at least a few million for the entire chain

Yeah, I don't think it was based on a response from the park. I agree with Don that while it's important to bring up the issues, it can become tiring just talking about the negatives. While important to hold the park accountable, it's also important to recognize everyone at the park level is trying to deliver the best park experiences they can with the resources given. Especially teenagers being paid $14/hr. I think being a theme park enthusiast, it can suck the fun out of the hobby focusing on trying to find the negatives. Especially doing it with a podcast, and as Don said, he's grown up with KI his entire life and I'm sure it's hard seeing and continuing to talk about issues people bring up. Not that they won't ever highlight issues, but that I think they want a break from it being the primary focus of most episodes.

TT2 Uptime Calendar | RFDB This great resource for viewing the uptime of the ride. Looks like its hovering around 55% uptime.

That's honestly a better prize than any of those stuffed animals. Might have to take a crack at the ring toss... not that I'll have any luck probably

I think they'd let the park go if given enough cash, especially right now if they're looking for ways to pay down debt. But the number would probably make it hard to justify the purchase price for whoever purchased the park. I assume it would at least have to be in the $500-600m range, and even then, the buyer probably wouldn't be all cash and would have to finance some of their own debt.

KI being able to reinvest all of its own profit back into the park would be such an interesting scenario that I'd be all for. No debt, no obligation to shareholders, just being able to do what benefits the guests and the park long-term. While being a part of a larger chain does have its resources and benefits, a chain burdened with debt and private equity looking over the shoulder seems to do us as a park more harm than good.

Yes, I've been in one of those private parties a Saturday night and it did offer fireworks views. It really is a great premium feeling space. I understand they do have quite a few private events, but I think they could stand to utilize the space more often, it's dark a little too often for a space they already have paid for.

I honestly think they could offer the fireworks viewing experience every Saturday. Pump the music into the International Restaurant. Heck, if they don't have the people I'd even organize this for free for them for a year just to show them it would turn a profit and they'd finally use the IR for more events

I've had lovely times at Castaway Bay, Breakers and Express hotel. While I agree with what was mentioned above, it can be quite pricy and can definitely double the price of the trip. You'll have a great time at the Express, and if you really enjoy it, could always come back again someday to experience the Breakers. As for the park itself, obviously the two new (one mostly new) attractions get quite the wait, but also people entering the park tend to flock to the rides near the main entry of the park. So obviously get your early ride times in, but my recommendation is afterwards, head to the back of the park. Steel Vengeance, Maverick, and Millenium Force tend to garner longer lines. Hit things like Valravn, Raptor, Bluestreak, and Wild Mouse later in the day, as their wait will normally decrease over time as people will spread out to the back of the park. Early Entry includes: -GateKeeper -Iron Dragon -Millenium Force -Top Thrill 2* (TT2 was added and then removed from the early entry lineup list, as they had issues getting it consistently open at 9. HOWEVER, it's recently been opening between 9-9:15, giving some good opportunities to ride in the morning). Also note that CP early entry starts at 9, not 9:30 like KI. So don't miss out on those extra 30 minutes

Yeah looks like the fountain is back to full strength. The middle show sprayers are back on and they're doing the little dance up and down the fountain

There's been two or three people working on the fountain nozzles this morning. I captured this one shot with a technician taking apart the front sprayer on the left side

As a precaution, Flight of Fear has been running reliably, but they haven't been filling the last 2-4 rows. It was explained to me that because of everyone running their AC within the park and within Mason, the stators don't have the power to launch a full train without repeated rollbacks. So, the capacity has been even more abysmal. Had a great ride Friday night while everything else was closed for rain

Money persuaded them into Fast Lane at Winterfest

Has anyone been to Soak City recently. I assume it's packed with the heat, but are they staffing most of slides and have most things been open (or both wave pools running)? I've yet to visit the waterpark yet this year, but I went to Cedar Point Shores last week and it was such a joke. A good portion of slides and attractions at their waterpark were closed, and just wondering if I'll encounter the same issue... P.S. Our waterpark is so much better, sure there's the lake setting, but there's not an ounce of share by 99% of the loungers and chairs. Their wave pool or lazy river doesn't have a single shaded seat. I asked if there were any shaded areas they'd recommend and was told "that's what the cabanas are for. Or there's also the VIP lounge" I'll include this screenshot of their wave pool loungers, look at this abomination:

Drove by again yesterday, I agree it might be some sort of maintenance, but I think it's something more. They've torn out all the foliage around and behind moonlight gardens, and there's some tarps thrown over the back pavilion part of moonlight gardens, it's all a lot of moving dirt. For reference, basically everything is flattened up to the dock where the pedal boats used to be. I feel like if they were just dredging, they would've chosen a different entry point with less foliage and tree carnage

Drove by on the way home from work yesterday, it seems they have fully drained lake Como and had two excavators working near the road in the lake, it'll be interesting to see where this goes. Wasn't able to snap any photos as I was actively driving during rush hour

Between two days you should be able to survive. But I agree with the points made above. My personal strategy is that most of the crowd flocks to the front rides, and those rides tend to have less waits later in the day. So, I would hit the back first, ride Steel Vengeance, TT2, Maverick, and Millenium Force. Now, Maverick is trick because sometimes, if not often it doesn't seem to open right at 10, they almost always seem to have issues and it opens like 10:15. So maybe start with something that looks open, such as SV or MF, or even TT2, and then hit Maverick soon after with a 45-minute wait vs a 90-minute wait later in the day.