The Interpreter

As Delirium_Guy pointed out this morning, this is a year that the Paramount Parks are officially for sale. Any reasonable thing that can be done to make the parks' books more profitable before the sale may very well be. Attendance figures aren't the major goal of theme parks. Making money is.... If people weren't spending much that last hour or two, and no one new was coming in, they may well find that closing earlier reduces costs without overly reducing revenue, or perhaps without having any measurable effect on revenue...

As to Uncle Henry's earlier comments about Gemini, there are those of us here who happen to LIKE Gemini. What coasters one does or does not like is hardly an indication of moronhood. Besides, Gemini is a ton of fun, almost never has a significant line due to its VERY high capacity, and is a great coaster(s) to start the young'uns out on. Some of us wish PKI offered a similar ride... Appleda, you might want to ride the High Speed Thrill Coaster at Knoebels....and ride the back seat of Beast when you are about 30 years older than you are now...

If you think PKI got its hours cut back, look at how many weeknights that Carowinds now closes at 8! http://www.carowinds.com/visit/visit_calendar.cfm

And that coaster, if I'm not mistaken, is Rudy's Rapid Transit at Santa's Village, Jefferson, New Hampshire... It's a Zierer.

It's been done. It's called Kingda Ka. Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, New Jersey. Great ride, and about as reliable as Dragster, even less so at first. I think you've seen the last of those types of big coasters....

Thank you! I am glad it wasn't a snake!

I see hourly capacity, but no riders since opened. What you see, anyway?

Not to be the skunk at the Sunday School picnic, but I also would not assume the new owner (if there is one) will continue with Winter Fest, especially if it wasn't profitable last year...

I wouldn't be doubting that NC was scaled back. Remember, the parks are FOR SALE. Would you increase investment, keep it the same or reduce it where you could if you were selling something YOU owned? Think about it...

Actually, I understand the major reason they switched to Gerstlauer had to do with the fact that for some reason or other they could no longer get PTC trains. It was easier for Denise and company and less damaging to business to tell people and parks that they CHOSE to use Gerstlauer trains. Yeah, sure. About like someone chooses to heat their house with wood after the natural gas is cut off for some reason.... Where CCI's did later appear with PTC trains, the parks most often had purchased them directly from PTC. As for CCI building low cost coasters, the parks got what they bargained for. They were willingly buying low cost up front. CCI COULD build long lasting rides, or they could build economical first cost rides. They bid the latter, thinking that if the parks wanted more they could always add to the cost later. Meanwhile, their major competitor built far fewer rides that cost quite a bit more but have lasted far better as well. And SOME CCI's held up well...like Boulder Dash and Ghost Rider...coasters where the parks or local codes required them to build them to a higher, and more costly standard. Needless to say, they cost more than the 'standard' CCI construction methods.

If run like they are other parks (Cypress Gardens, for instance), they are a lot of fun. But they are no more of a roller coaster than, say, a Tilt-A-Whirl could be called a roller coaster. Interestingly, a lot of people who love coasters don't particularly like these things. If you don't like spin-n-pukes, the chances are more than even you won't care for this either...If you do, it is a good ride...

The changes to the preshow film were more extensive than that.... Sigh.

With all due respect, Toomer was brilliant. He took coasters where they had not been before. Without him, we probably wouldn't be where we are now. Besides, one word: Magnum. Ahhhhh.

Uh, Mr. Stupendous, the preshow HAD to be changed and was. The editing is VERY obvious.

Uh, I meant technical difficulties with the website OR intentionally having fun with the website.... Then again, who knows?

That settles it for me (I think). I vote for either technical difficulties or "Website Follies."

I have no clue what is going on, but throw this out for your consideration. If it IS just a retheming, wouldn't the same thing be going on at PKI? And wouldn't FOF be missing from PKI's website, too? Or is PKD public relations just having a lot of fun by making just a few tweaks to a webpage for a week or two. Put another way: Is Magnum sinking again? Or is SFWofA really being bought by Cedar Point? It's just a few weeks til we know. If not before...

a. Not everyone is saying they know everything that is going to happen. I've been through these things before, both as an observer and personally in my own work. NO ONE, and that includes the good people at Paramount Parks knows what is going to happen. b. Remember that Cedar Fair HAD to untheme the Time Warner stuff at Six Flags Ohio. They had no choice. The seller was staying in business at other locations, and did not have the right to sell the licensing agreements to the buyer of the Ohio property. Paramount Parks has license agreements, some of which no doubt are transferable, and some of which may not be. At this point, it is not even a given that there WILL be a sale. Remember, Six Flags put itself up for sale to keep Snyder from taking over and was not successful in doing so. Yes, Six Flags had and has a mountain of debt, but there is not a plethora of buyers for theme park chains. My guess is a buyer has already been rounded up. The deal is struck. But, it can still fall through. CBS Corporation could end up keeping the parks because Sumner Redstone couldn't find someone with enough money to make him happy enough to let go of the parks.

I doubt it seriously. Jeff saw other challenges and opportunities awaiting him at Schlitterbahn.....

It's just too early to tell. In some ways Paramount has been very good for the parks, but I doubt anyone would argue that the entertainment, food, landscaping and overall cleanliness of the parks didn't go downhill after KECO was no longer running the park.... I have seen FAR better entertainment in at least a couple of Six Flags parks in the last two years than at Paramount's Kings Island. Don't think that all Six Flags parks had entertainment like that put on by Kentucky Kingdom or even Six Flags Ohio... Fiesta Texas, Great Adventure and Six Flags Over Texas, in particular had great shows....The Temple of the Tiger at Great Adventure was a Broadway quality show. Under KECO, Kings Island had superb dining, entertainment (from Broadway quality productions to ice shows) and the park was beautifully maintained. What happens next is anyone's guess at this point.

To those who think this sale will make no difference, OWNERS make decisions about whether or not and what rides, food, shows, etc., go in, who is to be marketed to, what the prices will be, what the hours will be, how much employees will be paid, what parks will be kept and which ones will be sold, whether or not there will be special events such as Winter Fest, Fear Fest, ACE events, Beast Buzz, etc, and right down to what merchandise will or will not be sold... OWNERS also decide who will manage the parks, who will market them, what advertising and marketing will be done, how much money will be spent or not spent on landscaping, litter cleanup, lighting, concrete, ride maintenance and on and on and on... How can ANYONE think it makes no difference who owns the parks?

Excellent answers...the only other divestiture I can foresee CBS Corporation making in the short term future is Simon & Schuster, the book publisher. Books don't fit with television/radio any better than theme parks did/do....

None of the ride manufacturers is in a position to buy Paramount Parks. They have enough to worry about with Six Flags in their current financial position and not buying coasters for at least a while....

So that's who is buying the place! When's this going to be announced? Some Wednesday, I take it?

At this point, it is just too early to know what, if and when changes may take place. Much depends on who buys the parks, why they bought them, and what they expect to do with them. Patience is a virtue... There is even still the possibility that any sale may fall through...