Oldiesmann

When you start watching parks' Facebook pages and websites for news of next year's enthusiast events that you want to hit so you can start planning for next season.

If they added one it would be the third in the area, behind Big Kahuna at The Beach and Hydro Plunge at Great Wolf Lodge.

The biggest issue I've seen since I started following this mess is incompetence among those running the park. The original group claimed they got "overwhelmed" and that's how they ended up not paying taxes and such for 10 years or so. This group claimed they knew what they were doing, but they seem to be interested in having complete control over everything (insurance money that isn't theirs, running the hotel, etc.) and seem to think that if they throw enough money at the problem, it'll eventually go away. You do have to spend money to make money, but when you're already 10 years behind in payments and millions in debt, throwing more money at the problem likely won't help things.

Looking at the brochure again, I now see that the "discount" rate isn't that great of a deal after all. Sure it's $2 a day cheaper, but the discounted rate is for 2 people instead of 4, so if you have 4 or more people in your party, you only save $1 per day over the normal rate.

Didn't these people learn anything from Ed Hart about "not commenting" on things?

Nothing wrong with a little harmless betting between two parks http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Six-Flags-Great-America-Changes-Name-of-Park-to-Six-Flags-Go-Mets-336359661.html

Universal Orlando is only 8 miles from the airport. It's likely that the height restriction is imposed by the FAA and not local government.

Scott Maxwell, a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel, isn't convinced either... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/taking-names-scott-maxwell/os-universal-vs-skyplex-7-things-to-know-20151019-post.html Hopefully the folks involved with Skyplex will be able to fight off the stupidity from Universal.

Apparently Universal Orlando and Comcast don't like the idea of the skyscraper coaster in Orlando... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-skyplex-orlando-zoning-20151015-story.html

It makes perfect sense to do it at Carowinds given that the weather down there in December is much more tolerable than it is here (according to Wikipedia, the average low for Charlotte in December is 32 and the average high is 53). Hope it works out well for them.

Yes, but registration is typically done to prevent others from using the same name in the same or similar context. CF wouldn't like it if someone else built a ride and called it Banshee. What happens if the registration goes through and Hart finds Adventureland with a ride called Storm Chaser? You have to defend your trademark or you could lose it.

It does not appear that Adventureland registered a trademark on the name "Storm Chaser" (there are several trademarks for that name, but none relate to amusement park rides or merchandise like we've seen with Banshee and other things). I would think that a good trademark lawyer would know to search and make sure nobody else was using the term in a similar manner prior to filing the application (given that doing so would ultimately save the business a lot of time and money in the long run), so it's likely Hart filed the mark himself (or one of his buddies did). Now, whether the USPTO will approve the registration if Adventureland doesn't protest it is anyone's guess. This is after all the same agency that has allowed people to patent ridiculously broad ideas, at which point the patent holder tries to extort money out of innocent companies by claiming the company somehow infringes on the patent (look up "patent troll" if you're not familiar with this concept). Hopefully the folks at the USPTO will have enough sense to search and see if anyone else is using the mark before approving it. Otherwise, things could get ugly.

And here's the POV

From the folks at CoasterForce For those not familiar, ZDT's is located in Seguin, Texas, which is about 40 miles northeast of San Antonio.

California is almost like its own country with the ridiculous number of laws they have regulating things.

So the company wants to expand their tanks, but the state won't let them do something that will help keep the company in business and bringing in tax dollars for the state? Really?

I took the survey as well. I didn't realize I could leave any field blank so I picked a random attraction for the Haunt question.

Consider yourselves lucky in Charlotte. Charleston, SC is getting torrential rains and serious flooding right now. The National Weather Service there reports that they've seen 5-9 inches of rain since 4pm yesterday with more to come...

What exactly makes the park operators so confident that they'll be profitable again in the next 2-5 years, let alone enough to make $35,000 quarterly payments?

The park closes at 6 on Sundays now, so you're right, none of the scareactors or haunt mazes/scare zones are open on Sundays.

Such a shame they couldn't find anyone competent to run the park, but I also doubt many people with that kind of knowledge and expertise would be willing to do so for free.

I've never understood why anyone using a mobile device for professional email would include "Sent from my <device>" in the email to begin with. I have no problem with them using such devices, but "sent from my <device>" looks unprofessional and almost lazy.

Interesting new attraction coming to California's Great America next year... https://www.cagreatamerica.com/what-s-new/coming-in-2016 For those not familiar with the game series, Wikipedia describes it as a "science fiction action role-playing third person shooter"...

That domain seems to still be owned by Cedar Fair, as the IP address is very similar to the one for visitkingsisland.com.

Certainly looks like an interesting concept, but who's going to buy something like that? It also seems quite complex, with all the motors and the turntables. I'd think that could be a major maintenance concern.