jzarley

^ I've actually had pretty good experiences at Famous Daves...unfortunately, I can't say the same about the TGI Fridays @ Hotel Breakers A general F&B question about Cedar Frair...does Cedar Point still buy the in-park national franchises then run them as part of their normal F&B operations? Have they taken this same approach at KI (and the other Par Parks), or do they lease the in-park space to vendors who have bought the franchises? There would be pros & cons to each approach...

^ Yep, $200M is a lot of capital to throw into a park. I didn't bother to check the exact numbers, but I'm willing to bet that's more than the 2011 CapEx budget for CF and SF combined. However, Universal certainly got a good initial bang for their buck, and considering the fan base the HP franchise has, it *should* be a really good long term investment. For all the news lately on the Comcast acquisition of NBC/Universal, it still seems a little odd that nothing is ever mentioned (at least, in the articles I've read) about the parks. Obviously, the recent financial results at the parks are good for Comcast...it should help them fetch a higher sales price when they're ready to unload them. FWIW...when Comcast was attempting to acquire Disney, they had said their intention (if successful in the acquisition--which obviously, they weren't) was to spin the parks & resorts off as their own company. I've been pretty much operating under the assumption that they'd work out a deal to sell the entire park operation to Blackstone, but I wonder now if a spin-off is also possible. The IPO market is expected to rebound this year, so maybe an IPO of Universal Parks & Resorts is possible? Blackstone owns 50% of Orlando, but maybe they could partner with Comcast on this deal...perhaps not only their share of Universal Orlando, but maybe packaging with the portfolio of parks they own independently? (Keep in mind, I'm just thinking out loud here...) I head to Universal Orlando on 02/04 & I can't wait--mostly because I can't wait to get away from this God-awful weather, but I'm also really looking forward to riding "Forbidden Journey." (Although, as hard as it may be to believe, I've never read an HP book or seen an HP movie! )

I'm sure a lot of Disney purists will disagree, but I really think "Snow White's Scary Adventures" time had come and gone. I think replacing it with a new attraction is a good move. (And, if my three great-nieces--ages 6, 4, & 3--are any indication, a princess meet & greet area will be HUGELY popular...those girls spend all day in the park wearing princess dresses & tiaras ) I'm also intrigued by the new coaster, and pleased that it's themed to "Snow White"--it pays homage to Disney's legacy that the first feature length animated film is getting its own 21st century attraction.

Are you surprised there hasn't been more speculation on the parks' future on this (and similar) boards, or within the general business community? (Or, both? ) I seem to recall reading at some point that both Universal & Blackstone had a "right of first refusal" clause as part of their joint ownership agreement at Universal Orlando that if either decided to unload their 50% share, the other party had to be offered it first. (I think I read that during the time GE was buying Universal from Vivendi...) There could be a lot worse scenarios than Blackstone ending up the owners of the parks with some sort of licensing in place with NBC/Universal. From things I've read, it sounds like they've continued to do a pretty good job operating the former BEC parks. (Although, my sister-in-law had quite a few complaints about their day at Sesame Place last Summer & feels it's really gone down since BEC owership. But, as I pointed out to her--sometimes every park just has a bad ops day...)

"Our criticism of Cedar Fair has never been about how you run our parks - it has been about how you run our company." Again, though, Q's extremely vocal complaints aren't about how the parks are operated, but rather the leadership/vision at the corporate level. There's much more to successfully running a publicly traded company the size of Cedar Fair than just operations. (Even if the chairman/president/CEO has confessed to being "an operations guy--not a finance guy.") To be honest, other than the food service issues (price & quality-with the two not evening being close to on par...), my casual observation is that CF parks are operated as good as they ever have been. I'll even go a step further and say that IMHO, the former Paramount Parks are actually operated better now than they were before, at least in terms of cleanliness & ride crew behavior/efficiency.

I'm torn on this whole situation... First, I don't agree with Q on an across the board increase of the distribution. Distributions are intended to share the profits of a corporation among its shareholders. EBITDA not withstanding, CF is still a highly leveraged company that should be doing everything it can to pay down the corporate debt. That's what's in the best long term interest of the organization, and as such--the unit holders. But, I DO agree with Q's position on the separation of the Chairman/CEO roles and their general criticisms of Kinzel and his cronies. Everything current management does seems to indicate that they haven't made the mental and professional transition from a regional amusement park company to what is now an international entertainment company. The difference between the two requires different skill sets and expertise. I really don't believe that current management has that ability to operate on that level--as evidenced by searching only within the Sandusky business community to recruit a new chief legal counsel (as well as other podunk strategic decisions). You can't very well manage an international entertainment company when your world view & vision does not expand beyond the Sandusky city limits... I thought this line in Q's letter was particularly entertaining: "Our criticism of Cedar Fair has never been about how you run our parks - it has been about how you run our company."

Well, at least Kinzel can say he shares something in common with Michael Eisner I'm just hoping CF can find their own Bob Iger somewhere...

Were you at Universal during what was still considered the holidays, or afterward? I'm wondering because I'm heading there on Feb 4-6, and I've been concerned about the "Potter" crowds at IOA. I agree with the other poster about it being too bad that you missed Spiderman...it's currently my favorite theme park attraction anywhere. (Although, I haven't ridden "Forbidden Journey" yet )

Yeah, same deal for me--prompting me to install Word Press.

It must have been some of that leftover Star Trek "Borg" theming from Paramount

GREAT PTR! I haven't been to Wildlights for a few years, but your trip report made me want to make sure I work it into the schedule this year! I love the picture of your daughter's expression as she's watching the tiger! It's like she's thinking "that glass is really strong--right???"

^ Thanks! I'm glad Potterland should be much more manageable now. I was there last January as well (late in the month) & found it a great time too. (In fact, that's why I decided to go around the same time this year--hopefully Orlando will have a warm spell then ) We're staying at the Royal Pacific on property, so fortunately I won't need to buy a Universal Express pass anyway.

The holidays notwithstanding (which, of course, bring tons of people to the Orlando parks) does anyone know what the crowds at IOA for "Potterland" have been like lately? I know the reports were they were swamped over the Summer with multi-hour waits, but I was wondering how much that has died down since the grand opening? I have a trip scheduled for early February (pre-Valentines/President's Day rushes) and was just wondering what to expect. Also, I assume that the "Forbidden Journey" is still not currently part of Universal Express, correct? Thanks!

The Chance-Morgan "Unicoaster" looks interesting (#9 in the slide show)! I've never seen that ride design/model before.

Speaking of app creation... A colleague of mine posted a link on LinkedIn to a tool called Corona that is designed to an easier method for developing apps for both iOS and Android. (It advertises that you can create an app once, then simply publish it to either platform...although, I imagine the specific APIs have to tweaked somewhat for each environment, depending on the complexity of your app.) I haven't downloaded the free trial yet, but I plan to when I take some time off over the holidays. It uses a scripting language called Lua, which is an open source language *sort of* similar to the structure of javascript. The full version (after the 30-day trial) is a little pricey at $350, but if it works the way it says it does, it's still a lot cheaper (and faster) than learning to code in Objective-C or Java! http://www.anscamobile.com/corona/

Well, in Kinzel's defense (?), he did admit to being "an operations guy" not a "finance guy." Maybe he thought a "margin call" meant something different

I was at California Adventure a few weeks ago. The amount of work they're currently doing on this park is amazing! The "Car's Land" addition is still surrounded by construction fences, but you can get a pretty good view from some of the higher points in the park. It looks like the theming will be outstanding in this area. (Not that that should be a surprise...) In addition to Radiator Springs, I'm looking forward to "Luigi's Tire Spin"--it's a 21st Century version of the old flying saucer ride at Disneyland!

I say Montu for the actual ride, but Dueling Dragons (or whatever they call it now in Potterland) for the best overall experience. (The theming is great, and I love that "collision moment" with the other train...) I haven't ridden Alpengheist, but I've heard good things about it...

For what it's worth...the post headline was changed from "China" to "Japan" after my original post... (Hmmm...'Terpie--don't you usually call out other people for changing the content of a post after the fact and not mentioning it? ) XGatorHead-- I'm with you on that one! Although, a friend of mine just got back from a long term work assignment in Tokyo, and he said he was amazed at how Hello Kitty was everywhere in Japan. Not just with little girls...but adult men carrying Hello Kitty backpacks! (Yeah, I know...hard for me to believe too )

The headline reads like the park is in China, but the article reads like it is in Japan (as reported by the Chinese news agency...) Hopefully, it is located in Japan since a few parks in China have shown little regard for appropriate licensing & the IP of other companies... http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/chinas-unlicensed-knock-off-of-disneyland.html <EDIT> ...yeah, looks like Odaiba is an area in Tokyo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odaiba

Me too! I was a journalism major and the AP Style Guide is the college book I kept--and still used years after college. I recently made the move to the iPhone app version...it's searchable and easier to lug around. (Not to mention, my 1988 edition was getting a little out of date! )

So, I'm a little confused...does the elimination of the GM role mean there will no longer be a single person with overall responsibility for each park? (Or, does SF handle that with a different title...i.e, "VP, Six Flags Over Texas" or something like that?) If the former is correct, I have to question the wisdom of not having a local "the buck stops here" at each park...by and large, decentralized management tends to work best (from my experience, anyway), especially when you're talking about geographically diverse and customer service-centric operations. Al Weber has a Ph.D.? I wonder what subject his doctorate is in?

Agreed...it's all about your frame of reference. That's why in my mind, the Kings Island of the mid 70s-early 80s will always be the "best." (It's also why I still think the old COSI out on Broad St is better than the new COSI--even though the new one is vastly superior in about every way imaginable )

^ and, personally, I consider the days of Lindner's ownership to be darker than the Paramount/Viacom (but not CBS) eras. (Although, ironically--two of my favorite rides came out of that time--AE and PT...) I agree with 'Terp...the early days of Paramount's ownership held great promise, and I think could have been much better than they ended up. In theory, there should have been a lot of great synergies between Viacom's other media properties and the parks, but for some reason they could just never seem to make them happen. (I never will forget the year when they were doing tryouts for "Survivor" @ Geauga Lake instead of at PKI--and PKI and "Survivor" were both Viacom-owned properties!) And, the fact that a Hollywood entertainment company (the OLDEST studio company in Hollywood in fact) couldn't provide better live entertainment at the parks was practically criminal. The parks also got bounced around organizationally with Viacom...going from Paramount Studios control, to Blockbuster "retail & recreation", to MTV Networks, and finally to CBS. It seemed sometimes that the parks were the "booby prize" that some poor corporate division had to take with each re-org. I think ultimately that speaks volumes about Sumner Redstone's true opinion of the parks...they simply weren't a "core" business in the overall enterprise. (Contrast that to Disney, where the parks & resorts division is always a major player--and consideration--within that huge media empire.) And, while it's easy to cast blame at the big, corporate owner, I also think there were some lessons to be learned at the local level as well. For instance, the constant overhyping of each new year's attraction--inevitably comparing each new ride to something Disney-caliber, did nothing for their credibility. (I mean, I understand that a seasonal park can't have the attraction budget of a year-round park that does 4x the attendance, so why didn't the marketing dept. figure this out?) Each year the pre-season hyped promised the "most fantabulous, incredible, Hollywood-ized (<seriously--their word), special-effects laden attraction ever!"--and each year they couldn't even come close. Obviously, budget constraints were the biggest hurdle here (and obviously so), but why knowingly over promise what you know can't be delivered? (BTW...I'm still waiting for all that "lush, tropical vegetation" that was going to make Boomerang Bay look & feel like a "tropical paradise." )

^ yeah, the "no longer with the company" line is the most terse and is usually used when they're *really* PO'd at the recently ousted exec (A certain COO who recently--and suddenly--departed a major theme park company comes to mind...) The funny thing is about the "leaving to spend more time with his/her family" line is usually that same exec lands at a new company a few months later...guess they figure out that *too* much time with the family isn't a good thing either