The Interpreter

If Elvis were still alive, knowing our luck Colonel Parker would be as well. Parker could outmoney Perot any day, dealwise. Sigh.

Lovely. More serene, quiet areas of the park removed to put in even more Paramount themed stuff. I hope you don't buy the park!

A person with mystery and intrigue and worth billions? Mr. Gates is already involved in the park business. He is a major investor.....in Six Flags Theme Parks.

I can't believe NO ONE has mentioned the Bavarian Beetle. Sniff. Sniff.

Amen. There are those in the industry that believe those estimates are in part leaked, and some are understated while others are overstated...for various reasons. No one, other than a few people at AB, knows for sure...and they aren't about to tell how they come up with all the estimates.

^^^ $21 and the cheapest amusement park trip in his life? Suddenly I feel VERY old! --The Interpreter, who remembers when many parks had free admission, and the one closest to him at the time charged a DIME!

The question is NOT whether when someone walks out they had a good time or not. The question, rather, is whether they had a good time for the money they spent, such that they will come back again and again. Season passholders and people who post to this site, I don't worry about. Most of them would come back again and again if the new attraction for three years in a row was a new trash can. It's things like the hour wait (or more) to get in the park at the front gate that awaits the unsuspecting day ticket buyer from Elyria, who has no idea the park no longer opens the gates at 9 that worry me. The fact that same couple from Elyria expected shows in April, and there were none. None of the April 2006 shows are memorable because guess what? There isn't any. The people who go once or twice a year to KI don't really care about what happens in the weeksn and months they aren't there. It doesn't affect them. The day they paid for DOES. Then we have the fact they spent nearly $30 for lunch...at Skyline? That they paid ten dollars to park and for that didn't even get tram service. That they saw a huge parking lot right next to the gate reserved for people who did what? Paid more to park there? Have passes? Know somebody? They don't know, but I have heard many guests complain about this. Who should be treated better? People who pay $10 to park for a day or people who paid NOTHING extra to park all season? As prices rise, gas gets more dear and money gets tighter, people have other choices. They can go to Cedar Point, which CUT admission prices. They can use a coupon for free parking at Geauga Lake, which ran last Sunday in their local papers. They can go to the local swimming pool. They can stay home and watch DVD's. What CBS/Paramount does NOW may affect Kings Island for years. I have no great problems with what Paramount Parks has done the last 14 years...my problems, which I have posted, are with what they doing to cut costs NOW....cuts the occasional guest IS affected by, and big time. And I have said it before and I will say it again. I am not an employee of Paramount, Kings Island, CBS, Viacom, or Six Flags Theme Parks, nor have I ever been.

The hour closer part at HW also brings up the cost of fuel, which may be a major factor, the way things are going!

Speakers in the cars, shuffling down the stairs, things like that...

The contrarian in me so wants to say: Geauga Lake, Geauga Lake! Big Dipper...Steel Venom, Dominator...cheaper admission than either... No free drinks like Holiday World, though.... As for Holiday World, you have the world class Voyage waiting to be conquered!

What if the bells and whistles actually worked?

That's easy! The park owners, whoever they may be, want popular rides. The public then brings in MONEY to pay for admissions and/or passes. Next?

Contrary to many coaster enthusiasts' beliefs, major parks do NOT plan expansions or coasters around whether or not they are hosting an ACE convention. That fact alone does not indicate ANYTHING at all about what may or may not be in store for 2oo7.

Disagree all you want! In any event, Lindner had already made clear the KECO contract was NOT going to be renewed. Heaven only knows what he would have done to KI without KECO. I, for one, am very glad we never found out. That all being said, he DID contract for TCTWTBKATG (The Coaster That Was To Become Known As Top Gun).

In your dreams. Messrs Snyder and Shapiro are not about to buy a thrill ride type roller coaster right now from Paramount or anybody else. Parts? Who knows. . .

I doubt they would. But, my point is you never know what an owner (or even another person) is going to do. People (including park owners) sometimes do the darndest things for the darndest reasons...or no reason at all. I mean, after all, look at just a couple of more examples: * The Flying Eagles being moved to Charlotte. * Cedar Fair puts in Top Thrill Dragster and has tons and tons of problems with it. Another park chain is about to go under at the time, has nearly three dozen parks, and a relatively small capital budget. What do they do? Put nearly 25 percent of that budget into putting a larger, faster version of that trouble prone beast into one of their largest parks. Odd, eh? You just never know.

I never said anything of the kind. What'd you think? That they were going to buy the park and rename Reptar as Top Thrill Dragster (hey, if they did, at least ONE Top Thrill Dragster would be operating most of the summer)? Son of Beast as Millennium Force?

It's working fine here. Sites go up and down. Nothing is perfect! Try again!

The one thing I have learned about this business, and how, is to NEVER say never. No reasonable person right after Six Flags bought Sea World of Ohio ever thought that Cedar Point would, in effect, own Geauga Lake AND the former Sea World property. And not continue the animal park. And build a waterpark with non-union labor right in the middle of union country. And watch admissions fail miserably. No reasonable person thought a small real estate company in Oklahoma would ever own Six Flags. No reasonable person ever thought that Walt Disney would take on the entire amusement park industry. No reasonable person ever thought that Disney would build a pseudo-Six Flags park in its parking lot at Disneyland. No reasonable person ever thought that the shows at Kings Island would NOT improve under Paramount. Never but ever say never.

Amen. People seem to forget that the year Lindner sold was the last year that KECO was to manage the park, even absent the park. And it was Paramount who put the parks back together under one umbrella... If Paramount had not bought PKD, PCWi, PGA and KECO's interest in PCWo, then KI would have continued under Lindner. I have always said the Lindner years were not kind years for Kings Island. I still say that. That all being said, this transition year is also not a good thing. But things could be far, far worse...Story, Burke and Co. were not exactly the best thing that ever happened to the Six Flags parks. . .

Polls where respondents self-select themselves are notoriously unreliable...

At this point, no one knows if the Paramount themes will stay or go after any change of ownership. Like everything else in a sale, that's negotiable between the parties. What the buyer will want, what the seller wants for it, etc. It's far too early to say the Paramount theming will stay. Or go.

I remember Humble Pie!

Speaking of which, I miss Phantom Theater. Sigh.

The Wings at Carowinds does a land office business...the food is quite good, the prices reasonable (and the sodas self service!). Carowinds also has a nice sit down place that serves fried chicken, too. And the burgers at Outer Hanks are far, far better than those at Stuntman's....