Outdoor Man

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couple of half thoughts. If CF hadn't bought the Paramount Parks- Geagua Lake may still be in operation. That one would be too close to call. GL was losing money but had they not incurred massive debt buying Paramount Parks at the precipice of a recession they may have had a bit more tolerance to keep it afloat until the economy improved. Was Diamondback a Cedar Fair or Paramount Park order/commitment? When they bought paramount parks, CF said that all of the previous owner's commitments would remain in place. Go with me on this: construction started prior to the 2008 season (clearing and marking land)- which would seem to think that drawings and concepts started in early 2007. It would seem likely that shortly after taking on $1.2 Billion in debt to obtain 5 parks in July 2006- that they would turn around and make a decision to fork out another $20 million right away in product development unless it was already in motion.

next time the lottery makes it up to the $1 billion plus range, we can all buys some tickets, win, and right some wrongs.

WinterFest Evergreen Storage pond

Ok- I have a sarcastic and a serious repsonse. yours to tell which is which. I can only hope that they do as good with the retheme of SDatHC as the did with Tomb Raider / the Crypt. Just imagine the prospect of riding throgh former "Mystery Machine's" in empty dark rooms. And they could rename it- "the Building." As far as dumb names... let's be honest- how good was "Scooby Zoom" or "Top Cats Taxi Jam" as ride names... really? I agree with the ascertian that Hanna Barbera could come back--- but when was the last time you saw ANY of those characters on TV? I love them- but they're lost. I don't like the idea of the Peanuts gang coming to the park (i think they're kind of lame)- but they do have TV specials at regular intervals: Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving (not necessarily in that order). And, yes to the comment earlier of "Paramounts Cedar Point renaming Maverick- The Beast... always being Maverick"... yes- but in time, names become what they are. I love the name "Beastie" and hope it comes back- but before that it was called "the Scooby Doo." "Taxi Jam" is now Little Bills Coaster to my daughter. In the large scheme of things, the names don't really matter. If we get right down to it- Top Gun, er... Flight Deck seriously needs a new coat of paint- I would have preferred that over the off-season a few years ago they paint the supports black with red rails and rename it.... "The Bat." It went through the woods and mysteriously brushed up against something called "Son of Beast." It's all about brand consistency. I wouldn't be shocked if sometime in the near future Boomerang Bay became Wild Water Kingdom. printing 10000 brochures with the same information on it costs much less than 10 different parks printing different collateral.

when I'm about to rename something I think, "would an idiot name it that?" And if they would I do not rename it that.

like in a month where they used to decorate for christmas/winter?

i went. my trip report would be something like this. rode Diamondback. Froze. went somewhere warm took kids to kids area. froze. went somewhere warm. rode something else. froze. felt like i was at WinterFest (oh, wait- they discontinued that)

i think that in April 2010- we're going to be visiting a MUCH different park. Not only will NU be gone, but also any traces of Scooby Doo, George Jetson, Flintstones (the latter used to grace the children's areas during special events). The Haunted Castle will be... something similar but very non-specific to any character anyone knows). Though the "Beastie" may return. Lets face it- they need to put the Crypt out of its misery, and SOB may bite the dust. Its going to be interesting. I can only say that the Ride Ops are glad it's over. My wife and I took the kids yesterday (Brrrrrrrrr!)- and the SDatHC ops could not have been more "indifferent" and giving the "who knows what they'll have in here next year"- and the "I heard their taking a bunch of things out." Which I understand may be anywhere on the truth scale because they are ride ops... but the managers need to try and get their staff to be a little more optimistic.

Cedar Fair doesn't do a great job on theming usually (though they did pretty decent on an area for Diamondback). I have low expecations on the retheme of Nick U. Paramount did a good job near the end on the theming (early on they stunk too). As far as what one thing to change: i have to agree with all of the sight/visual and sound themes. The park is cleaner by and large but the intricate landscaping has gone bye-bye.

i guess i didn't realize that SDATHC was going away with the Nick Universe transformation- thought that was on a different license.

for those of you who don't like to type, www.pki.com still works. also- for what its worth, www.kingsisland.com (which is still registered to a Toronto company) appears to be a dead link right now.

my wife (then girlfriend/fiance) have two pictures we bought from riding The Beast. One playing cards in the front seat (1999) and the other reading magazines in the front seat (2000).... i'll have to dig those up and post them.

unless she had been on another planet with her head in the ground facing the opposite direction anyone would have to have heard about the roughness of SOB. Granted, no one could have seen that accident coming- but in order to reopen those issues would have to have been fixed. If someone is looking for compensation for injuries or just for lifestyle interruption- call it what it is. I don't think this instances would have any bearing on SOB's future. This has been ongoing and likely has already been taken into consideration. The injury from May 2009- different story.

props to Ryan, Dane, et al. they run a pretty tight/respectible ship here- and most are respective of that. For the most part with the diverse age on this site an overwhelming majority tend to conduct themselves as mature individuals. there are exceptions, but they're rare.

I wouldn't hold your breath for an announcement before Veterans Day. They said they'd make a decision in the offseason, and no - that doesn't mean November 2nd (for those of you looking for instant gratification). There will be some sort of announcement about Son of Beast, but if I were a betting man, I'd say that annoucement will be coming later than sooner. you may be right on the timing, but if were a betting man i would say that SOB's fate/direction has already been determined and the only thing that will change between now and the announcement is time. my guess is that they'll make the announcement soon after the season. To announce it before the end of the season would attract too much unwanted attention to the structure and leave the possibility of SOB "fans" doing innapropriate things.

i would say the marching orders for SOB will be announced before Veterans Day. As far as theming rides go... Take the cars off of Flight Deck and replace them with some feet danglers. That would add some much needed tlc to that coaster and offer a much refreshed and new experience. Could add 20 minutes to the line.

if they do decide to close it for good- you can write off any thoughts of a "last ride." For the lawsuit crowd, that would be one last chance to fabricate an injury. sounds preposterous I know- like suing McDonalds for millions because they served hot coffee.

No one has accepted anything, it's all speculation. Although one particular individual's thoughts have swayed the general outlook imho. Why can't you do much with used heavily treated wood? There's a heck of a lot of wood sitting there, and even though it has a bunch of holes in it, I would think there is some value left in it. Seems awful wasteful for it to not be reused somewhere, especially in this day and age of "going green". awful wasteful? see the whole Geauga Lake story. Many things have been recycled... but many, many things torn down. I don't think that a person's thoughts have swayed any opinion. Whatever it cost to build has been augmented in millions spent in maintaining and refurbishing; it has 6 injury investigations in nine years and has actually sent a train-full to the hospital. Its all going to boil down to the liability insurance carrier for the park; not necessarily the park ownership, management, or "fans." It was a flawed design from Day #1. I'm sure "The Bat" had tons of fans in its short window of operation (i being one of them). the parks ROI operated at a deficit for it, they cut their losses and moved on. At this stage in the game, too many "lawsuit-happy" folks already know that it is prone to offer injury. There will come a day when Cedar Fair management, in conjunction with or at the bequest of their insurance carrier say, "its over."

if I had some sheckels to wager, i'd place the bet on demolition. Now, if anyone is "real" curious... attend a Mason or Deerfield Twp trustees meeting- if there is demolition to occur, I'm pretty certain that council would be discussing demolition permits.

i agree with the person that made mention earlier that the lack of the Intl Street Music has sort of taken aware the mystique of the fountains. If I'm not mistaken they used to "go to" the music. Wasn't too long ago Intl Street had instrumental music... and now we can listen to David Lee Roth on Intl Street. Isn't that progress? I seriously doubt that the fountains will come out. like someone said, maybe a cover for a temporary show- but not out.

Please use spell check. Your grammer is a slaughter on the English language and should be put in a scene at HH. Now THAT would be funny. I find that too many younger and newer members don't seem to care about using correct spelling or grammar... Quite a hassle to read their posts. thank you; that's where I was going with the enormous "?" - somting - to (should have been "too" - added an extra syllable to the word turned - publisty - and EVERYONE knows that busness- should be spelled "bid'ness"

I sorta agree with you. It was somting people got offended to easily over, but I can understand that people were up their A**es about it. It turened into bad publisty. They have a back bone, and they are just doing busness ?

Wow. umm- don't know where to begin on this. Firstly, I'm not saying that people should be treated like saints. In McNair's case, he was murdered. marital infidelity is wrong- i'm not defending that, but he was murdered. And it wasn't even like 10 years ago... ikt was maybe 10 weeks. And the attractions weren't removed because they received complaints from 1 person or family. If I were to guess and you spoke with someone in the park- they likely got inundated with phone calls, emails, letters, etc... Yes, absolutely yes- I can laugh at people's mistakes all day. These people are dead- and not all by their doing. They will never receive a second chance at anything again. Game over; next stop- heaven or he##. is that something to find humor in? Your thoughts on your post resonate "college-age."

you're missing the point.