Oldiesmann

I may have to wander down that way to check this out, though given my typical 6-day work week that time of year it'll probably be January before I make it down there. This will give Louisville at least 2 major holiday events (the other being Lights Under Louisville). It'll be interesting to see what kind of a draw this ends up having.

Pro tip... When pasting stuff from other sites, paste it as plain text (CTRL+Shift+V or right-click -> paste as plain text). It's hard to read that text in the quote above in dark mode.

I haven't seen the Dollywood show so I'll have to go look it up on YouTube. I miss the Cirque shows though and wish they'd bring those back

I've been to Dollywood three times (two days in 2022 and one day last year) and haven't really stopped for any of the shows. I need to change that next time I get down there (don't know if I'll make it down there this year since I'm doing a big trip during the summer).

From what I understand, COVID got in the way of the project.

Here you go @IndyGuy4KI. https://theparkwholesale.com/products/richardson-112-classic-premium-trucker-hat-snapback-all-colors-1

I've been laughing at all the people complaining about this policy. I definitely think it's a good idea for crowd/line management, though I am wondering how they will enforce it. Also, 10 days at CP would drive me nuts. I usually do two or three days and I'm good. Even when visiting new parks I typically only do one or two days (two days for the first time at bigger parks, one day for smaller/less-busy parks like Knoebels and Dorney)

If they actually reopen the rides next year I might have to make a special trip up there to snag the two coaster credits while I can. It's not too far of a drive from here (about 6 hours as I recall) and being within 2 hours of Pittsburgh I could hit Idlewild and Kennywood while I'm in the area.

Never got anything except the email saying they had additional tickets available for purchase (which I didn't see until it was too late).

If you're local and have young children (ages 2-4), you can get a free Pre-K Membership to the Newport Aquarium, which includes unlimited visits for an entire year. The only catch is you have to register by March 3rd. See https://www.newportaquarium.com/aquarium-admission/annual-passes/pre-k/ for more info.

I haven't heard anything either so I'm assuming that means I also didn't get selected the first round.

And again silence from anyone who was in charge at Coney. They got their money and are all too happy to let MEMI take the blame for this.

I'm wondering if that's just for this year, given that it would have been difficult for them to book a different venue on such short notice.

I've never been so I might sign up and see if I get picked. I just hope they give us enough notice so I can get time off work if I do get picked.

I stand by what I said. Whether you want to believe it or not is up to you.

I'm sure the park has their reasons for doing the ACE conference and not Coasterstock. I sincerely doubt Chad is the only person involved in that decision (or the one who has the final say on which events happen). Keep in mind that a large three-day enthusiast event like this takes a lot of planning and coordination between the various departments. It's entirely possible the park just decided it wasn't feasible to hold two large enthusiast events so close together. Take the time to find other events to attend with the various clubs (GOCC hasn't announced any 2024 events yet and Coaster Crew only has one listed on their website), visit a new park that weekend or even join ACE and hit the spring conference.

I wouldn't mind seeing Brothers in the park. I frequented their location at Newport on the Levee when I worked in the garage there. Great food and a nice variety.

And the now former owners of Coney are laughing all the way to the bank while likely thinking about what they'll do with all their new-found free time. MEMI executives are meanwhile dreaming of all the revenue they'll eventually get from the tickets once the new venue is complete. They also no longer have to pay Coney a portion of the ticket revenue from Riverbend and PNC Pavilion for parking, since they own the lot now as well. It's really a shame that Coney is now closed, but the previous management didn't really seem to know what to do with the park either.

A few quick comments from me about this. First, the whole "boycott the symphony" plan isn't going to help. While MEMI is owned by the symphony, the symphony itself is an entirely separate organization and those involved with the symphony likely had nothing to do with this decision. I'm not sure that MEMI even makes any money from the symphony anyway since they don't have any control over Music Hall (the symphony itself owns that - not MEMI). On top of that, MEMI owns multiple venues - Taft Theatre, Riverbend/PNC Pavilion, Andrew J. Brady Music Center and Rose Music Center at the Heights (in Huber Heights, a northern suburb of Dayton). Second, the people to blame for this are the (now former?) executives at Coney Island. Nobody ever mentioned (publicly) that the park was for sale. They continued selling 2024 passes up until this announcement was made, at which point they basically said "Sorry. We'll give you back your money" and left it at that. My guess is the owners decided they wanted to sell and alerted MEMI (for obvious reasons), at which point executives there saw a golden opportunity and pounced on it before anyone else could have an opportunity to buy the park. The best way to complain is to send complaints directly to MEMI via social media, email, snail mail, in person (possibly?) or phone. All of their contact info is available on their website at https://memi.biz.

I kind of get the feeling that current management didn't really know what to do with the park. The pool was indeed the bigger attraction, but there were still plenty of shows at Moonlite Pavilion (albeit ones aimed at an older audience) and the rides were still somewhat popular, especially during special events such as Balloon Glow and the fireworks festival. They did mention that they wanted to expand the pool/water stuff some, but never did much with it in that regard, instead adding things that would mainly appeal to younger kids (foam party, etc.) and not really doing enough to attract people who might not otherwise visit the park. I can't really say I'm surprised at this announcement though - the owners get a nice windfall and can retire comfortably while MEMI/LiveNation/Ticketmaster get yet another source of revenue. They already attract a large number of high profile concerts out there during the summer, so it shouldn't be hard for them to book acts during the rest of the year either.

Coney Island and Sunlite Pool will be no more after the end of the year. The land is being sold to the company that owns Riverbend apparently. https://www.fox19.com/app/2023/12/14/coney-island-permanently-closing-end-year/

According to this article from financial site Seeking Alpha says they owned "a stake of just over 1%" as of June. I don't follow this stuff though so maybe they owned more at one time. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/six-flags-holder-land-andamp-building-plans-to-vote-again-cedar-fair-deal/ar-AA1jihTm

As I said in the speculation topic about this last night, this will make the equivalent of a Platinum Pass much more valuable, not just because it gives you access to far more parks, but also because of the proximity to some FUN and SIX parks: Dorney is within 5 hours of four different Six Flags parks (Great Adventure, America, Darien Lake and New England) Worlds of Fun and Six Flags St Louis are 4 hours apart Carowinds and SIx Flags Over Georgia are also 4 hours apart Darien Lake is 2½ hours from Canada's Wonderland (though of course that time depends largely on how long it takes to get across the border) Knott's and Magic Mountain are an hour apart It will be quite interesting to see which parts of each chain are kept when all is said and done. Hopefully this ends up being a win for everyone involved, especially with Zimmerman remaining in charge.

If this actually goes through, it could make whatever the equivalent of a Platinum Pass ends up being quite valuable in some parts of the country: Knotts is an hour from Magic Mountain Dorney is within 5 hours of four different Six Flags parks (counting Darien Lake) Darien Lake is three and a half hours from Cleveland and two and a half hours from Canada's Wonderland (though I don't know how willing someone would be to drive across the border on a regular basis) Carowinds is 4 hours from Six Flags Over Georgia Worlds of Fun is 4 hours from Six Flags St Louis

Tournament is officially staying in Mason. https://www.fox19.com/app/2023/10/10/western-southern-open-staying-mason/