Oldiesmann

How is this Kalahari's fault? It's a water park. There's bound to be water on the ground. And suing the insurance company for coverage of all medical bills? It's common knowledge that insurance usually doesn't cover everything.

It could be worse. Minneapolis is shut down due to blizzard conditions... At the other end of the weather spectrum, LA and other parts of the southwestern US are seeing near record-high temperatures: http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/42878/los-angeles-phoenix-warmth-to.asp

For those who didn't watch the entire episode: Sure, it's likely not enough to reopen the park, but every little bit helps, and getting exposure on a popular TV show like that could help them as well.

When the park has decided what they want to do with it, they will say something. Until then, all we can do is remain hopeful that it will reopen. I personally loved that ride in its original form. Sure, it was rough, but that was part of the fun in my opinion. It's unfortunate that they were not able to leave it that way. I did ride it once in its second form (in 2009, a month or two before it was closed), and didn't like it nearly as much. It wasn't that the loop was gone - it just wasn't the same ride with those trains. If they can get lightweight trains that actually fit the track well, it would probably work out quite nicely. A lot depends on how many nickels it will take to get the ride to a state that the park management likes well enough to reopen it (and, possibly, whether or not Kinzel's successor likes hoarding nickels as much as he does...)

I'm watching the latest episode of American Pickers on History Channel right now, and this particular episode features the guys doing their thing at Bushkill Park in Easton, PA. The park has a long history but was hit by a severe flood from Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and saw more trouble after it briefly reopened in 2006 (see the Wikipedia article on Historic Bushkill Park for more info). Apparently one of the owners wants to reopen the park, but needs to clear some things out to make room for new rides and to clean things up. You can watch the episode online at http://www.history.com/shows/american-pickers/videos/american-pickers-a-banner-pick Really interesting look at history. I'm surprised I've never heard of this place before.

It wouldn't be that difficult to make a more up to date KI-"opoly" game... Most of the "opoly" games, at least in this area, are produced by a local company known as Late For The Sky Productions. For $30, you can buy Photo-Opoly and plaster your own photos around the board for whatever you want...

Back to the songs... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQAfkYJdbrM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpJMOb4TZGc Second one might be a bit of a stretch since it's mostly instrumental, but it's an awesome tune nonetheless

If it's not broken then CF needs to find the $ to maintain it so they can put it back...

I have no idea how much of this (if any) is true, but I did some research on it earlier in the year. According to YouTube user Wurlitzer157, an organ expert who has posted a few short videos of the band organ from 2005, at one time there was a dedicated park employee whose sole job was to maintain/repair the organ as needed. At some point, it was decided to contract this out to Stinson, and the organ was repaired yearly (or possibly even monthly). In 2006, with the park up for sale, Paramount decided not to spend the money to have the organ repaired. Supposedly the "guts" of the organ are stored in Flight of Fear's bowl and it would cost around $3,000 just to repair it (but even more to fully restore it). I did ask about this back in May when the park was doing the 5@5 thing on Facebook, but the people handling that didn't get a chance to research it before the feature was abruptly ended. Regardless of what the actual status of the organ is, it is indeed cheaper to just play a CD than to restore the organ and keep it maintained. However, I don't think the cause is hopeless. During my research on the issue (yes, I had a bit too much time on my hands...), I found out about the National Carousel Association, which actually offers grants to help cover the cost of preserving and restoring carousels. So, basically we need to do two things: 1. Convince the park and/or CF to apply for a grant (I'm sure the project would qualify, especially given the carousel's historical significance) 2. Convince CF to spend the money necessary to continue maintaining the carousel. The second part would be the most difficult. We all know that Kinzel is a cheapskate, and of course CF does have quite a bit of debt to pay off, but it's at least something to think about.

I'm glad to hear it will be making a return as well. It was a lot of fun!

Same, I'd love to see The Racer go back to it's original Red, White and Blue paint scheme. It would does wonders with a Coney mall revamp. I asked them about that when they were doing the 5@5 thing, and they basically said it would be too expensive to do that. Too bad we can't convince Kinzel to donate a few thousand nickels towards the cause

While the Planet Snoopy rides may not be the hardest to actually operate, I'm guessing that having to deal with the kids (and parents) may make them one of the hardest places to be a ride op. You're right in that area, though the parents could be worse than the kids at times.

Since we're having fun with songs related to circles, flying, etc... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFC8sDTXlng

From the article that Terpy linked to: What exactly CF will do is anyone's guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if they want a portion of the profits.

Red tape? How does that prevent employees from releasing people too soon? They really need something like what you have on roller coasters - a co-dispatch system (both employees must push a button to release a rider) and a sensor (prevent release if net isn't in place). If I ever visit Wisconsin, I'll remember to stay as far away from this place as possible. It amazes me how anyone could be this stupid and negligent. It's a shame we don't have some federal agency that oversees amusement park safety (at least I don't think we do).

For wait times and show times, there's Ride Hopper for Android (free if you just want to see the info, $1.99 for the pro version if you want to submit info).

That should be a great course. I haven't been to Camp Kern in over 10 years (went up there a few times in high school for youth group retreats with church), but it's a beautiful camp, and the terrain up there is beautiful. It's a shame it's so expensive - $75 for the regular tour (up to 3 hours) or $100 or the extended tour (up to 4.5 hours). Even though KI passholders get a $10 discount, I'm not sure I want to spend that kind of money for something like that.

Should be interesting to see what they claim the capacity of that ZacSpin is. Intamin claims an hourly capacity of 700 or 720pph depending on model. There are three listed on RCDB, but one doesn't have capacity listed. For the other two: Kirnu at Linnanmäki in Helsinki, Finlanad - 640 Insane (formerly Tele2 Insane) at Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden - 800 For reference, RCDB lists the capacity of Flying ACE at 650...

I agree that they should remove Kinzel as Chairman of the Board and replace him with someone who doesn't have such a big conflict of interest. I don't know much about finances, etc., so I can't really comment on the dividends thing. I think Kinzel should take this as a warning sign that he could be removed as CEO too if he's not careful (and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the next step after removing him as chairman...).

There is one way you could theoretically consider the "guess your age, weight or birth month" game a game of skill - you can do things to make it look like you weigh more than you really do (such as stuffing a pillow up your shirt). It would be difficult to do so convincingly, and would likely be considered cheating, but technically it's a skill...

Also, as I recall, the Witch's Cauldrons were where the kiddy swing ride is now, right next to the kiddy bumper cars.

I would change Woodstock back to Beastie (complete with tunnel). Who cares if it isn't Snoopy themed? It was hugely popular as Beastie, and Beast continues to be one of the most popular coasters at the park, so we need Beastie back. Other than that, I can't really think of anything I'd change. The existing rides seem to be quite popular, and I'll take Snoopy over Nick any day, especially since Peanuts have been around longer than Nick itself (Peanuts debuted on October 2nd, 1950; Nickelodeon debuted (as Pinwheel) on December 1st, 1977).

Thanks for the info guys. I would think that they'd be computerized by now, even though it wouldn't be as easy to run computer cords and such all the way back in the woods like that.

Most likely it is. Almost all professional fireworks shows are computer-controlled these days both because of the syncing with the music and because it's a lot safer. Adam, how did you get access to record this?

Try riding Adventure Express at night if/when you go back. It's quite a different experience in the dark as well.