PREMiERdrum

Hhmm, I wonder what team that is?? I heard that FD's new paintjob was actually paid for by selling autographed park memorabilia, a clear violation of IIAPA bylaws.

Continued at LINK - Auto News and Commentary A small selection of photos, full gallery at link:

As far as GP goes, CP and KI both pull from distinctively different markets, with some overlap. DA! at CP will be a new experience to a vast majority of guests. They're quite satisfied with the results of KI's DA!, so they're ready to spread them around. 1. The DA! is supposed to go on Millennium Island, taking the path that is now occupied by HalloWeekend's Terror Island. The floating bridge will be installed permanently, in all likelyhood closing Paddlewheel Excursions (unless they construct a raised bridge for the boats to travel under). 2. CP isn't in "desperate need" of a new coaster... they have arguably the best variety of coasters of any park, and are currently tied for the most coasters in one park. I'm sure one will come to CP in the next few years (likely 2013), but I wouldn't at all say that it's "needed".

"WE-met" (Which is odd, because a true French pronounciation would be "WE-may", but I digress...)

I've heard (and seen) that a Dinosaurs Alive(!) park was coming to CP for 2012, with a "bigger" instillation coming for 2013, so this goes along with that. Apparently, KI's DA(!) has been quite the cash cow, so to speak.

I wouldn't look for costs to decrease, but I would expect quality (in experience, in foods, in goods, etc) to increase dramatically. Mr. Ouimet was the one who first started the "righting" of the Disney ship after some serious neglect. He came in and raised the experience level to match the cost, instead of lowering the cost to match the experience level. Unfortunately, Disney still has some crippling politics and beancounters in charge (evidenced by Meg Crofton's recent promotion), and I suspect that Mr. Ouimet saw that his vision and goals would be hindered by these. Cedar Fair could be an ideal situation for him: A solid portfolio of properties, a very talented staff, and a relatively recent (historically, at least) decline.

LINK - Morning Journal

To many irons in the fire, so to speak, to metal that one out right now.

1914 Mangles Illions carousel Animal Encounters Village

Australia The Roadhouse (nocturnal house): Tree Kangaroo Prevost Squirrel Fishing Cat Phesant Aviary Koalas: Kangaroo Walkabout (freerange 'roo habitat): The Shores Flamingos: Penguins: Alligators: Tortises: North America Bald Eagle; American River Otter: Polar Frontier (Polar Bears, Alaskian Brown Bears, Arctic Fox): Grizzly Bear: Black Bear: Puma: African Lion exhibit (currently not within a designated Biome, awaiting completion of the African Savannah biome):

The Islands of Southeast Asia Journey to the Islands Boat Ride: Komodo Dragon: Asian Small Clawed Otters: Orangutan: Gibbons:

OK, I know.. I just did a Columbus Zoo / Zoombezi Bay PTR last weekend, but we barely spent an hour in the zoo itself that day. Since it was a beautiful morning, Avery and I headed up to the Zoo this morning for a half-day trip. So, here's what all we saw today! AsiaQuest Hanna, daughter of Fluffy, who died at the Zoo last year. Fluffy was famous for being the longest snake in captivity. Monitor Lizard: Amur Tiger: Markohr (including 3 recently born babies): Flying Fox: Pallas Cat: Langurs: Sun Bear: Red Panda: Asian Elephants: African Forest Western Lowland Gorillas: Cobolos Monkeys: Leopard: Okapi: Mandrills:

You're not that far off... they've already completed a feasibility study of an on-site hotel (which found it to be a very positive proposition), and the hotel is likely to open along with the African Savannah area in the next few years. Once they have an on-property themed hotel (they've specifically said 'Safari Themed' thus far), potentially an indoor waterpark, an expanded Jungle Jack's Landing, Zoombezi Bay, and the huge zoo itself, they'll have a 3-day sellable destination on their hands.

Tubes are free... the tube rental fee was a holdover from the Wyandot Lake business model. Remember, the Zoo brought Manny Gonzalez over from SIX to help them develop and manage the new park, and he brought with him some of SIX's bad habits (don't get me wrong, I did God-knows-how-many stories with Manny that first year, and he was a delight to work with). The big question mark for me, going forward, is how the zoo integrates the 70+ acre African Savannah with the rest of the park. The land they've got slated for this expansion is due north of Polar Frontier, on the other side of Powell Rd (directly east of the Zoo's management offices and water tower). I'm thinking we'll see a new pedestrian pathway (or rather a re-opening of the existing pathway) from the main plaza, beside the old elephant paddock (now housing black rhinos), along the east side (rear) of the Pachyderm building, along the back of the new elephant yard, and under Powell Rd. That will be quite a hike!

Mr. Ouimet, To begin, I can say with great certainty that the news our your hiring at Cedar Fair was a surprising, and welcome, sign of change to those of us is the fan community. While I was very much aware of the wonderful improvements you were able to make during your time in Anaheim, I never would have guessed you would be tapped to come to Sandusky. It was encouraging to see such a bold move by the board; Perhaps an indication that they recognize the current trajectory of the company isn't sustainable, and certainly not in the best long-term interest of the shareholders. You likely already know this, but you've got your work cut out for you. Many of us have watched as a company once known for stellar guest experience and organic, conservative growth became overwhelmed by dramatic over-expansion and a general lack of focus. The parks we loved were stripped of their character in the name of "progress", as new, gigantic, more "marketable" steel scream machines were built ever taller, faster, and more extreme. We've watched as details and effects were allowed to fall by the wayside, ultimately feeling like we were the only ones who noticed their absence. Perhaps most damaging, though, is what we've seen happen to the guest experience. It seems that, year after year, food prices increase as quality decreases, an obvious relic of an antiquated business model. The perception of value wasn't just lost, it was obliterated in a hurricane of overpriced and under-appetizing burgers, pizzas, and cotton candy. I encourage you, once you're settled in Sandusky, to take a walk through the Cedar Point parking lot at mealtime. You won't just see a handful of people picnicking out of their cars, in my recent experience it's been dozens and dozens of families eating cold sandwiches and chips in the parking lot. All this doom-and-gloom isn't to say that there haven't been any highlights recently. The $.25 Cotton Candy promotion of 2006 was a wonderful idea, that appeared to be quite popular with park guests. Did it directly contribute much to the bottom line? Of course not. What it did, however, was exponentially improve the guests perceived value. It gave them a good story to tell, and perhaps made them feel more comfortable coughing up $8.00 for a microwaved hamburger. The post-"Coaster Wars" ride installations have shown a great deal of creativity, although unfortunately we've already lost some of the recently-installed effects (Maverick's launch tunnel comes to mind). More recently, we've seen some very positive news coming from Kings Island, though it appears as though this is a park-level effort instead of a directive from the corporate office. They've returned Backlot Stunt Coaster's effects to working order, restored and even upgraded the theatrical lighting in the queue for Flight of Fear, and added some props and placemaking to the aircraft carrier-themed Flight Deck. The problem, however, comes with consistency. Kings Island's restored Backlot Stunt Coaster is still countered by its 2 more neglected counterparts in Virginia and Canada. Any goodwill bought with the $.25 cotton candy has long ago been tossed aside by several years of atrocious in-park goods values. The smart relocation of Ocean Motion is easily offset by the stupid relocation of Demon Drop. With all this in mind, there's a few things I think we would all love to see happen: 1. Don't take the guest for granted, even once they're through the gate. Cedar Fair still seems to be operating under the antiquated "lose money on the front end, make it up on the back end" business model. If you protect the integrity of your ticket pricing, you won't need to make up gobs of cash at every hotdog stand, midway game, and parking booth. How do you get guest to pay more to get in? That brings us to... 2. Offer the guest something worth paying for. Disney's success isn't built on $50Million mountains or state-of-the-art Audio Animatronics. What they get right more than anybody in the industry is in the details. From the time you pull up to the toll both to the time you leave the lot, you are truly treated like a guest. They know you could spend your hard-earned money anywhere, but you chose to spend it there. In all my trips to parks around the country, I always felt "appreciated" at the Disney parks. And finally... 3. Expect Excellence in Everything. Mediocre isn't going to cut it. "Good enough" isn't truly good enough. I know first hand that there is still incredible talent left within the company, clearly evidenced by some of the recent projects. What needs to change, however, is a corporate culture that is more focused on politics and "attaboys" than delivering a superb, unique experience to each and every guest. There's obviously some systemic issue that is acting as a roadblock to continued excellence. Tear that roadblock down and let people do what they've been hired to do. We've seen the incredible things you've been able to accomplish in your career thus far, even against some stiff odds. Please know that the fans of this once industry leading company are behind you, and anxiously await the wonderful things we're sure are coming down the road.

Full article at LINK (Columbus Dispatch)

I was just discussing this with Micah earlier this evening... there seems to have been quite the culture shift happening recently within the park's management. You've got to remember: The directive coming from the brass in Sandusky has been putting a much greater emphasis on safety/liability issues and per caps than on actual guest experience. I'll go out on a limb and say that several park-level managers caught wind of the "type" of CEO the board was looking for, and started to adjust their MO accordingly. It's obviously far too early to think that Mr. Ouimet had anything to do with this, but if the powers-that-be at KI got word that someone of his caliber was being entertained as a CEO candidate, I'm sure their focus away from guest experience and thematic maintenance could easily be reframed. As I said in the other Ouimet/Cedar Fair thread... I fully expect him to come in and create a corporate directive that moves overall quality of guest experience back to the forefront. It shouldn't be his job to go park-by-park and point out all the stuff that's broken. It is is job to make sure each park's managers (and, by extension, the P&D and Maintenance folks) know that it's expected for things like this to work. Kudos, KI. Excellent work recently.

And for those of you who have never been (or it's been a while), take a look at the park's map. This place is monsterous! Full-sized PDF available HERE

As most of you know by now, my wife and I are big fans (and members) of the outstanding Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. When we renewed our membership last month, we upgraded from the standard Family Zoo Membership into Individual Gold Memberships. This membership is a full-year pass to the Zoo, along with a full season pass to Zoombezi bay, and includes free rides on all the rides in the Zoo and Jungle Jacks Landing. Since our daughter, Avery, is only 15 months old, she doesn't require a pass (yet!). The cost for 2 Gold Memberships, including free parking, was a modest $200. This past Saturday, we packed up my sister, niece, nephew, and my mom to head up to the parks for the day. The zoo opens daily at 9:00am, Jungle Jacks Landing at 10:00am, and Zoombezi Bay at 10:30am. We decided to get to the zoo as close to opening as possible, to enjoy some peaceful time with the animals before the onslaught of crowds began. We arrived early, flashed our membership to park for free (parking is usually a meager $5), hopped on the parking lot trolleys (it amazes me that Columbus Zoo can do this, but KI and CP parked theirs years ago), and were dropped off right at the impressive new gate structure (pictured above, photo courtesy Columbus Zoo and Aquarium). We used our passes to buy discounted tickets to Zoombezi Bay to the rest of the family. Zoombezi Bay tickets are gate priced at $32.99 for adults ($24.99 for kids under 10), which also gets you admission into the Zoo and Jungle Jacks Landing (which operates on a ride wristband system). We headed into the Zoo and enjoyed some time in the North America Region, which is where you'll find the brand-spankin'-new Polar Frontier, a jawdropping Polar Bear, Kodiak Bear, and Arctic Fox habitat which opened new for 2011. Polar Frontier: Avery, looking up at the polar bears swimming above her with the awesome underwater viewing: Habitat Hollow Petting Zoo: Other North American region photos: After completing the loop around the Zoo's North America region, we stopped by a few of the kids favorite animals before we headed out of the Zoo and over too Zoombezi Bay. Penguins and Flamingos in the zoo's "Shores" region Amur Tigers in their beautiful "AsiaQuest" habitat Koalas and the Kangaroo Walkabout (along with a fantastic lorikeet aviary) can be found in the Australia region At this point, we left the Zoo and headed over towards Zoombezi Bay, which is a short walk thru Jungle Jack's Landing from the zoo. On this path, the first thing you'll come across is the Animal Encounters Village. This is where the zoo's promotions staff keeps their menagerie of animals (typically, animals aren't taken off exhibit to appear in shows or on television), including a troupe of Chilean Penguins, several reptiles, a handful of baby flamingos (they have 2 flamingo enclosures on property), and the famous zoo "frenemies': A young cheetah and dog which have been raised together since birth. Columbus Zoo photo While we were at Animal Encounters Village, there were several presenters with different animals around the camp, including one at the flamingo yard encouraging visitors to meet and pet the birds, a few people out in the grass with a snake at least 8' or 10' long, one handling a large lizard of some sort for kids to pet, and 2 people on stage with the penguins, trying to teach them to hop up steps and thru a window for the Zoo's upcoming bird show. This is one of my favorite parts of the whole property, and I'd recommend it to anyone. To get to the Zoombezi Bay gate, you pass thru Jungle Jacks Landing, a decent little rides park the Zoo built over the last few years. Here you'll find the classic Sea Dragon wooden roller coaster, a Scrambler, Tilt-a-Whirl, Safari (Himilaya), Flying Scooters, Bumper Cars, Wave Swinger, as well as 'Jungle Jacks Junior Land', a collection of kid-friendly rides. Zoombezi Bay has added 2 new slides this year: Big Boa Falls and Python Plunge. Both slides share a tower (and I'm not even sure which is which), but one is a short MasterBlaster water coaster, and the other is a halfpipe type slide. The new slides are fun, and a great addition to the already solid lineup. The park is also home to a ProSlide Tornado, a family raft ride, mat racers, several body slides, several tube slides, a ProSlide Bowl, Action River (great for transportation around the park, with 4 entrances), huge water fortress / play area, a small lagoon play area for the younger children, and a unique adults only lazy river which encircles a bar. With a 15 month old, we naturally spent most of the day in Katoomba Lagoon, the smallest kids area. We did take a few pics of Avery adventuring around the park, which can give you a taste of the architecture and look of the park. Here's Avery (along with myself and her Gigi) walking into the park for the first time (we were here 2 weeks ago, but she's started walking since then!) Katoomba Lagoon: This is where we parked for the day "Dad, what's behind these rocks?" Thanks for reading!

And for those of you who think this is a big issue for KI... think about the ride's cousin up north, parked right along the Lake Erie beach!

For those of you unfamiliar with The Wilds, a video from last year from our friends at ONN's Discover Ohio... LINK - ONN TV

Don't forget, a relatively large (and visually impressive) amount of equipment is sent on even the most mundane runs. Here in Columbus, something as simple as a fire alarm (pulled alarm, or automated alarm) automatically gets 3 engines, 2 ladders, 2 medics, 1 heavy rescue, and 1 Battalion Chief. An auto accident, no matter how minor, automatically gets 2 medics, 1 rescue, and 1 EMS coordinator. An accident on the freeway, again, no matter how minor, gets 3 medics, 2 engines, 1 rescue, 1 EMS coordinator, and 1 battalion chief. Had something newsworthy (or even remotely noteworthy) happened, you can bet we'd have heard about it by now. I can guarantee that the Cincinnati newsrooms have KI's addressed tattooed on the back of their brain and send crews out there with a hair trigger.

For those of you who haven't ventured out to The Wilds, DO IT. It's an absolutely incredible experience... 10,000 acres of property, all the animal enclosures are over an acre in size. Its absolutely breathtaking.

As I said earlier, I'm thrilled with this choice. However, I wouldn't look for him to come in and say "fix the lights on the Crypt", "fix Disaster Transport", or "Fix Maverick's tunnel lights." Instead, I completely expect him to very quickly cultivate an open culture of excellence, with a firm directive to protect the integrity of the product. You've got to remember his background: He's a hospitality industry finance guy. When he arrived in Anaheim, he saw the meager plans for the parks 50th and the overall rundown state of the property. He asked the maintenance guys how much it would cost to get the place back in shape, and asked the entertainment folks how much they would need to put something special together. He saw the value in those efforts and made the funds available. He is one who depends on his managers to do what they're good at. This management style will be a welcome change from Kinzel's micromanagement. As evidenced by several recent projects (Dinosaurs Alive!, Maverick, the Starlight Spectaculars), there is great talent already in the company. A corporate attitude and structure that can foster these types of ideas could yield incredible results.

LINK - Press Release LINK - The Wilds