Oldiesmann

https://amusementtoday.com/2023/05/five-star-parks-attractions-acquires-award‐winning-scene75-entertainment/ This is the same company that owns Malibu Jack's (Ashland, Lexington and Louisville in Kentucky as well as Lafayette, Indiana) among others, so they definitely know their FECs.

Another article about it that popped up as a sponsored post for me on Facebook: https://www.crainscleveland.com/sports-business/ripken-baseball-acquires-sports-force-parks-sandusky

Removing the rides was definitely a bad business decision in my opinion. I know they likely lost out on a lot of money from company picnics because of it. The company my brother-in-law used to work for was reportedly looking for somewhere else to hold their picnic after the rides were removed, though I believe the pandemic got in the way of that anyway. Coney used to be a place the entire family could enjoy regardless of whether you liked the pool. Now if you don't want to swim there's really not much point in going out there - there are numerous mini golf places in the area and several of the county parks have paddle boats. I haven't been back since they removed the rides except when I went to a concert at Riverbend last year (and that was just driving through to get to the parking lot).

Mailbu Jack's is opening a new location at White Oaks Mall in Springfield, IL: https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/local/2023/04/14/bergners-space-at-white-oaks-to-be-filled-by-indoor-theme-park/70116560007/ Malibu Jack's has four other locations - three in Kentucky (Ashland, Lexington and Louisville) and one in Indiana (Lafayette). The company was purchased by Five Star Parks & Attractions last year. See https://www.malibujacks.net for more info.

The incident in Action Zone was weird. Like others here I have heard various stories about what actually happened, but the entire area was evacuated fairly quickly. We were in Chicken Shack when it happened and several people from security and (presumably) park police went running towards Congo Falls, which was quickly evacuated. Shortly thereafter the rest of the area was evacuated and the Coasters gift shop and Chicken Shack closed. We were initially told we could stay in Chicken Shack if we already ordered food, otherwise we had to get out. A short time later a supervisor (not sure what his position was - I'm assuming an area manager of some sort) came in and told us we all had to leave and could come back later to get our food even if we had already ordered it. They quickly dispersed anyone standing around outside of Festhaus as well. 5-10 minutes later an announcement came over the PA saying that Action Zone was now reopened and they apologized for the inconvenience. We returned to Chicken Shack and were able to get our food without any problems.

Looking forward to trying new food options. I've heard good things about Grain & Grill at KD, but haven't experienced it yet. I will miss having a place to enjoy cheese coneys in the AC but that's prime real estate in KI and you definitely want that to be a signature restaurant rather than a duplicate of something you can find elsewhere in the park (and even 10 minutes outside the park since there's one right up the road from KI). I won't miss Subway at all - they have good food (I'm particularly fond of their Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich), but I never ate there (too many other good choices and a limited menu compared to a standalone store).

I was wondering why he would wait this long to announce that he doesn't think Kennywood is safe. He's had the entire off season to work with them on any potential security concerns.

Interesting news. I have yet to visit Kennywood (which is actually a bit surprising given that I've visited numerous other PA parks that are much further away), but apparently the county's district attorney wants security changes to prevent another incident like what happened back in October. https://www.wtae.com/article/zappala-kennywood-safety/43409986

To my knowledge they haven't announced anything new for this season

Definitely keeping my eyes on this but it sounds like a whirlwind 3-park PA trip might be in the works for me next year - I've been wanting to get back to Hershey and Knoebels (haven't been to either since 2018), and Dorney is in that general vicinity as well (about 90 minutes from both Hershey and Knoebels as I recall).

Nice to see how much progress has been made in the almost 3 months since I was there. Looking forward to riding it later this year.

A nice article about Jack Rouse, who worked in various roles in the early days of the park, first with live entertainment for Taft and eventually as CEO of KECO. https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article/jack-rouse-is-cincinnatis-unofficial-minister-of-fun/

Scary moments in London yesterday. https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/winter-wonderland-hyde-park-slingshot-ride-snaps-two-passengers-trapped/

Not an amusement park but still related to the topic... The Cincinnati Zoo has replaced its train with a new electric one. The old one was a standard Chance Rides CP Huntington train. The zoo had two locomotives but only used one (I'm guessing they either rotated them or used one as a spare). I'm assuming this one is from Chance as well. https://cincinnatizoo.org/news-releases/ride-the-new-electric-train/

The Serpent roller coaster which operated at LeSourdsville Lake/Americana is heading to a new home (again). It's now headed to Niagara Amusement Park in Grand Island, New York (near Buffalo). It most recently operated at Kokomo's Family Fun Center in Saginaw, Michigan. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1159784868260094

As far as I can tell they haven't even announced any changes for 2023. Right now their FB posts are either about season passes or the Nights of Lights thing.

I wonder how long this will last. Cedar Point tried that one season and ended up bringing CFA back the next year.

Interesting news, though not being well versed in stocks or finances I'm not entirely sure what this means. https://seekingalpha.com/news/3897667-cedar-fair-cut-to-neutral-at-credit-suisse-due-to-elevated-expenses

Several cars on the train at Silver Dollar City derailed tonight. Fortunately it doesn't sound like anyone was seriously injured, but several people were taken to a local hospital. https://www.ozarksfirst.com/local-news/local-news-local-news/heavy-emergency-responder-presence-at-silver-dollar-city/

It will definitely be interesting to see what eventually goes in where Vortex once stood. However, if they do add something there I'd expect other major improvements to that area as well (at the very least a new food stand since the only one in that part of the park is Jukebox Diner, which doesn't handle crowds all that well)

I think this is a great addition to the park though I am surprised KI waited this long to announce it. Should be fun to see if the lines for Adventure Express get longer next season considering it usually has one of the shortest lines of all the coasters in the park.

Fox19 says Skylab and Flying Dutchman were coasters... https://www.fox19.com/2022/10/19/new-adventure-port-area-coming-kings-island-2023/

Here's the announcement from Carowinds from a local TV station. https://www.foxcarolina.com/2022/10/18/carowinds-expanding-year-round-operations/

That parade was a huge deal. I worked at KI in 2005 and there were always huge crowds along the parade route. It was a lot of fun. Also I think 16+ years might be a record for thread bumping

A short video of the new ride in action, courtesy of The Island's Twitter feed: