PREMiERdrum

I'm excited to see what Coney Mall, Knott's Roaring 20s Airfield, and the Oceana Midway look like next season. I'm not as familiar with CW's layout, but the respective areas at Knotts, CP, and KI are among the oldest and most in need of a "freshening." Much in the way that Diamondback was the "peg" to freshen up Rivertown, and Maverick was the peg to freshen up Frontier Town, I would almost guarantee that we'll see much nicer looking areas surrounding each park's WindSeeker come 2011.

I would assume that "StraToSoar" was meant for the Funtime 400' SkyFlyer that, according to Funtime, was in the works before CF decided to go with Mondial.

Am I reading that wrong? Or does it not make any grammatical sense?

And sometimes, all it takes is the "right" leader at the top, no matter how troubled the company, to make a huge difference. Just a few years ago, Ford Motor was drowning in debt, suffering the effects of decades of lackluster products, and collapsing along with the larger US auto industry. A new CEO (Alan Mulally) was brought in, mapped out a plan, and is now reaping the success of their planning. Their stock price is currently around $11-$14 a share, up from less than $2 a share less than two years ago. Dick Kinzel was the right guy to lead CF through the '90s. His time has long passed, and I hope that the board sees that sooner rather than later.

The Clydesdales were at Licking County's Hartford Fair last week... they certainly put on a great show.

Well color me surprised! I came to work and had this in my email: I couldn't be happier with such a classic looking and feeling ride in the long-neglected back corner of Coney Mall. The fact that these rides (CP - CW - KI) are all being announced at the same time is enough evidence for me.

It's always great to see somebody with a dream set out to realize it. Launching a new park, especially in the current economic environment, won't be easy. If he can successfully build a base with the locals, while organically growing into more of a destination, he has a chance. If he tries to overbuild beyond what the market can support, or he misjudges the locals interest, the project is doomed.

I sincerely hope no visitors have a bone to pick with this year's decor...

And the big brag for the new pizza was fresh-made dough, no? I don't understand why a department with such limited success (CF's food service) decided to take the most demanding and complicated ingredient and place it in the hands (literally!) of a group of overworked and underpaid teenagers. Keep the frozen dough, incorporate a better spice mix into the sauce (there are dozens of different packets available from every majof food supplier) and buy a better cheese blend and it would be great. Overall, good pizza isn't hard to do. Dough, though, is very tricky, and even moreso if you want consistency.

Isn't the GL BBQ joint a remnant from SeaWorld? They were great under Sea World, mediocre under Six Flags, and Above Average under Cedar Fair. Both of the Busch parks impressed me with the value of their food... the quality wasn't astounding, but I felt that it was priced accordingly. Disney's food is hit or miss, it is overpriced (especially in any sort of sit-down environment), but the quality across the board is much better than most CF's parks offerings. To KI's credit, my wife and I quite enjoyed the $6.49 (or whatever) Johnsonville Brat, chips, and fountain drink combo. Tasted good, and great value. ::looks at thread title:: CP is getting something new next year???

I'll agree with you on liking BGE over BGA, and by a wide margin... But isn't the new ride rumored to be called Cheetaka?

I thought they had gone pink?

And Kinzel, aka "an operations guy, not an accounting guy", said it costs "about $0.50 on the dollar" to relocate vs. purchasing new. Of course, shipping StealthBorgHawk from CA to Cw alone would represent a huge cost difference compared to shipping Dominator from GL to KD, Firehawk from GL to KI, and Carolina Cobra from GL to Cw.

Even creepier than the "real" Mr Six used in commercials was the in-park versions, with their oddly fit facial prosthetics and makeup. Let's go back to the drawing board on this one.

That type of work likely wouldn't be figured in their CapEx plans, which is what I was discussing.

And Knott's will have increased competition from the soon-to-be-a-real-"Disney"-park California Adventure, as well as whatever SFMM may be working on. The markers scattered over most of the Knott's property is a good hint, to me at least, that something big could be happening there. I bet we'll see... -Major expenditures: Canada's Wonderland and Knott's -Moderate expenditures: CP (likely large flat), VF/WoF/DP (Planet Snoopy) -Minor expenditures: Carowinds (Starlight Show) [and potentially the same at KD]

Tax revenue Where I am, you pay a surcharge on your insurance premium if you're a tobacco user. It's nothing huge, less than $100 a month, but I know it was helped some coworkers kick it. The company will also pay for 100% of several different cessation programs. I've never touched the stuff. I'm too darn cheap.

LINK - Star Tribune

Smoking in their offices would be illegal under Ohio's indoor smoking ban...

i guess this is the new name, at first i thought that was the brand name of the ride, like giga-coaster, diving machine, ect... I'm wondering if the "Strata" portion of the name would refer to the height? (a la Strata Coaster = 400') A 400' Star Flyer? It seems to fit with most of Dick's clues... Interesting.

The displays were not taken down each day and put back up once the "kids" stuff was over.

I was lucky enough to do lights-on walkthrus of both new haunts last year before the lights went out and the characters came in as part of a media preview event, so I did have a better chance to soak up all the details. That having been said, I loved the design and layout (and length!) of Eerie Estate, and the creativity of Happy Jacks was awesome.

I'm trying to say that the quality of Eerie Estate and Happy Jack's eclipses anything else at CP or KI, and equals, in my opinion, the work done at Knott's.

Ah yes. Honestly, I much prefer the Halloween festivities at Cedar Point to Kings Island... KI's stuff always seemed to go a bit to far, and seems a bit too forced. With last year's addition of GA Boeckling's Eerie Estate and Happy Jack's, they really raised the bar (or at least moved their bar up to Knott's level). I appreciate the attention to detail and a good scare, which is especially rich in CP's new haunts. Knott's level... Not even close buddy. The quality of those two particular Haunts? I would disagree with you. John Taylor did an outstanding job with the design, and the actors did a very impressive job carrying it through. They are in a completely different class than the other, sophomoric efforts efforts at CP (and KI, for that matter). I'm excited to see what he does with their new Asylum which is set to replace the ancient Undertaker U this season.

And I would hope to think that Mr. Scheid did not sign off on that plan. Mr Helbig, either, for that matter. This is what I mean by the Halloween event being "forced." HHN at Universal, Knott's Scary Farm, and even HalloWeekends at CP all enjoy great reputations for their events, and none have had to resort to this type of trash.