PREMiERdrum

While it certainly won't bother everybody... Poking fun at the murder of a woman and subsequent suicide of the murderer (and Pro Football player) would be considered poor taste by the majority of guests, I'd wager.

Not to get the whole debate started again, but... Skeletons made up like famous people (dead or alive) would probably have been fine (skeleton Sonny and Cher at a mic, skeleton Houdini in chains, etc). Skeletons set up to reenact the way people died is, IMO, in poor taste. The Steve McNair murder / suicide set up was completely inexcusable. For reference: LINK - Image

"Cool. Prehistoric Forest!" /tommyboy

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.

It's sad to see these roadside attractions continue to die off. If they continue to fade away as quickly as they are now, in may only be a few years until "Chester and Hester's" at Disney's Animal Kingdom becomes loved for its "authentic" themeing!

Do you mind me asking what you are referring to? Was this an ad, or a news segment? I'm clueless, but intrigued. Last years (distasteful) dead celebrity displays set up for Halloween Haunt. The "preview" given to a local TV station sparked a pretty big backlash against the park, the video was picked up by CNN / MSNBC / some of the networks and the displays were quickly toned down. LINK - Dayton Daily News

I think aside from AZ Kinda Guy's initial insult, everyone else has been on your side of it? My post, specifically, was poking fun at how he "jumped to conclusions." (Office Space reference)

Stalk much? What we need here...

What's next? The band organ not working???

I've never been to Disney World, but it doesn't seem like a "Disney" thing to do...Surely it isn't visible from anywhere inside Disney World, or anywhere close to it? Why did it close? You can only see it if you go somewhere that you're not supposed to... As far as waterpark's go, it was very primitive. The water for the attractions was pumped straight in from Bay Lake, not the clean, chlorinated water you're used to today. There weren't too many attractions, and the whole place was fairly small. Once Disney opened Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, there really wasn't much use for River Country. It closed after the 2001 "warm" season, and hasn't been open since. Oddly, the place hasn't been touched until recently. Somebody from another site sneaked into the park and found that the bathroom facilities have been remodeled, and another building was demolished. As far as it not being a very "Disney" thing to do... They've got a whole other park that has sat abandoned for more than 10 years... LINK - WESH News

I think that most of the park is being paid for by a Federal grant that was secured by the Franklin County Commissioners. (So yes, it is tax money, but it's not coming from Franklin Co exclusively) And I agree with most of your other points as well. The CBJ thing is an absolute joke.

Did you ever think that maybe they're trying to change that? Between Columbus Commons, Scioto Mile, and the awesome new Audubon MetroPark, in addition to the Santa Maria and COSI, there's easily a full day of family fun downtown. I think we'll see Columbus Commons become the new outdoor event center for Columbus (much like the aforementioned Centrum of the '80s, and Franklin Park of the '90s), and that isn't a bad thing. The worst think developers could do at this point is nothing. As for the cost of the Carousel, as the Dispatch article mentioned, the money is "surplus" from the project after tax savings. The carousel will be a revenue-generating operation and has a chance of recouping it's investment. A sculpture on the other hand... There are no developers, this is all being done with tax dollars, the mall was torn down with tax $, the park is being built with tax $. How is a carousel being built with tax savings? This carousel will not recoup it's cost, it will be a drain on tax $ just like the Santa Maria. What you are saying in your post is the same clap-trap they were saying to get the boat to nowhere/Santa Maria built and placed on the river. If I remember correctly the boat that is supposed to be turned every year has not had the money to do so for the last couple of years and the taxpayers have paid for is since it arrived. What I would like to see change is the total waste of our tax $ in this city, a new increased tax was pushed through saying we were almost broke and would lose police and fire services if the tax was not passed, but yet our mayor has spent nearly 50ml $ or more on nothing but parks in the downtown, not to mention the new bridge that was to cost 19ml and total cost turned out to be 64ml $. Tax savings my A$$ As for the idea, outdoor event center thats great, for over 20ml $ it will have a great 10yr run as in the other parks you named. The reason the mall was torn down was because of the crime, it was not safe in the parking garage, gangs roamed the mall intimidating shoppers, and if you locked up your bike to a post outside, mall cops would cut the lock and have the bike taken away. A carousel at this location will be severely damaged in the first year costing tax $ to repair. First, I misspoke. The article cites "project savings" (quoting an official from the construction company saying they came in under budget) So, since City Center failed because of "high crime" what should be done with the space? You can't just abandon a few city blocks because a shopping mall failed. As far as Mayor Muppet McColeman, he's a joke. I won't dispute that. And, to be upfront, I'm about as conservative as they come. With that having been said, you can't make all government building beige, square, metal sided boxes, and you can't make all parks barren yards. As a species, we do have an appreciation for aesthetics. I would assume that the carousel would be housed in some sort of pavilion (much like the Zoo's), so the threat of damage and vandalism is low. If you neglect an already neglected area, you give no hope of improvement. If you invest in a neglected area, and build a base of support from the surrounding community, the area has a chance.

Did you ever think that maybe they're trying to change that? Between Columbus Commons, Scioto Mile, and the awesome new Audubon MetroPark, in addition to the Santa Maria and COSI, there's easily a full day of family fun downtown. I think we'll see Columbus Commons become the new outdoor event center for Columbus (much like the aforementioned Centrum of the '80s, and Franklin Park of the '90s), and that isn't a bad thing. The worst think developers could do at this point is nothing. As for the cost of the Carousel, as the Dispatch article mentioned, the money is "surplus" from the project after tax savings. The carousel will be a revenue-generating operation and has a chance of recouping it's investment. A sculpture on the other hand...

I was hoping so, but he seemed so convinced! A would have helped.

While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, a Carousel (especially one of the intricate, hand-carved CarouselWorks machines) can be a thing of beauty. The models at Kings Island, Cedar Point, and the Columbus Zoo all show how a classically-styled carousel in a detailed and classy pavilion can be quite breathtaking. Also, the carousel would generate revenue from riders, while a sculpture instillation would just gather pigeon poo.

I was being facetious... but I doubt that, if it happened today, Ki would be "proud" of the destruction of such a classic attraction (which by all accounts, SDGC wasn't!). Ahh, RRC. Those were the days.

But did the park gladly display SDGC's carnage on their social media sites? We should ask them on 5@... oh, nevermind.

a. I think you mean Winterfest's last resurgence... b. Among many other rumored bidders was Busch...though it would really have surprised me if that were truly the case...given what has happened to the Busch theme parks since... Well that's odd... I didn't even notice I did that, and it's been days since I discussed Diamondback. Interesting. The human brain is a very strange thing.

"Not so fast" says Franklin County Commissioners: Their objections come from this tidbit, from the aforementioned Dispatch article:

The Centrum was great (or so I've been told)... but the "Skate on State" effort from 2006/7 was a pretty big fail. It is odd to see City Center gone, and sad, too. I remember being there the day of the grand opening and thinking how awesome it was. In reality, though, a downtown mall with no curb appeal and no downtown views from inside was a recipe for failure. Once the anchors pulled out and the gangs took over the writing was on the wall. I'm excited to see how Columbus Commons turns out. I'm also secretly hoping that the park provides grounds for a tented circus to return to downtown!

LINK - Columbus Dispatch It's nice to see CarouselWorks get some new business, and the small resurgence of Carousel appreciation brings a smile to my face. Now, the next question: Working organ? Or CDs?

Winterfest's last resurgence was little more than a window dressing to woo potential buyers of the park. The unpredictable weather of Ohio in December, coupled with a heavily extended Halloween season, spelled the end for WinterFest. (Wasn't Busch Entertainment looking at the parks around this time?) Edit: Replaced "Diamondback's" with "WinterFest's"

Every few years the "ZOMG Cedar Point is landlocked therez no room! Taer it down!" conversations strike up, and yet CP keeps on expanding. The resort is far, FAR from being out of room. They've a great bit of creativity in adding new rides, and commitment to revamping the older (and slightly run-down) parts of the park (see: Frontier Town from 2005-7, Frontier Trail this year, likely Oceana midway next) parts of the park. I'm a little surprised that they built their new Ivory Tower right on the Peninsula, as it would make sense to move non-essential park operations services off Point, but they still have plenty of room.

Interesting... overseas parks seem to be interested in older steel like this. And since the prices on scrap have fallen, I would think they would be able to get more out of the ride selling it than scrapping it. But, if your intel says otherwise, I know which side I'll believe...

The picture is awfully sad, but it answered my question. They're bolted together. This ride could have been saved and sold...