PREMiERdrum

I think that the StarFlyer looks awesome, but it's capacity seems low. 600pph?

"This is called the Dragster Thrill Ride" ::facepalm::

I liked this comment posted under the article:

But their pricing strategy of late has depended more and more on per cap spending for revenue to supplement a discounted gate. The same # of guests (at a discounted ticket price) + lower per-caps = falling revenue.

Is this a story from last year's fair? The 2010 Ohio State Fair doesn't start for 2 weeks.

If someone would have told you 5 years ago that we'd be complimenting Six Flags and shaming Kings Island for their very different handling of these similar situations, would you have believed them? Wow. What a Q.

That's how I read it too... For a relatively short piece, though, a good bit of it was dedicated to debate of the value proposition. She found out what most of us believe about the park: It's a charming, beautiful place with unique experiences and attractions that, as the years go on, presents itself as a poorer value to the customer.

And if the quality matched the prices... we wouldn't complain so loudly. Poor quality + Outrageously inflated prices = Unhappy guests.

Talented family. It's not their fault.

We've known for quite a while that the gouging would eventually affect Per Caps. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the year. It's just gotten to be too much... too many nickles tacked on year after year.

Here's the misunderstanding. You don't TALK about STR and the new ride at the same time. They need to stop talking about STR. Now. Locally, there were 3 or 4 stories talking about the delay, what the problems were, and that the Red Cross rides were pushed back. When it opened, there was a tiny brief in the paper about it. I'm not expecting them to come out and say "We know Shoot the Rapids opened late, but look at our new Cyclone! New in 2011! Forget about that silly old boat ride." I do expect, though, that we won't see any new press about STR. Hopefully they'll quietly continue to fix issues (getting the back seat back in service, and stop having to assign rows based on size), but they shouldn't announce any of that. What I'm saying is that the overall tone in the media this spring regarding CP and CF was negative. Announcing the next big thing at the Point, with flashy animations and press kits, would send a flood of positive press and help to reverse a negative tone established earlier.

My apologies.. I've been keeping up with the thread but didn't re-read the entire thread today. This was in reference to this comment: They could wait until opening day, if they wanted to, to announce the name, theme, and specs of a ride if they wanted to. The won't, but they could. It changes the tone. Step out of the enthusiast frame of mind for a second... recent press about Cedar Point and Cedar Fair has been mostly negative. Delay after delay for their new ride (which hit both AP and Reuters more than once, and got moderately big regional coverage), and the quick resignation of the company's second in command (which was covered extensively in the park's home markets, and hit here in Columbus as well). If you're working in PR for the park, you do everything in your power to keep the public's (and media's) conversation about the park positive, or at worst, neutral. The announcement of a new ride will change that tone. New ride announcement will almost always coincide with season pass sales. A flashy presentation with CG videos of the hot, new attraction will get huge play regionally and will help erase the negative connotations that have been implanted by the last few months of negative coverage. Any good PR professional will do their best to soften negative press about the park. It's their job, and if I were in their shoes, I'd have been pushing to move up the announcement as well.

Why does it matter who makes the announcement? And why does there always have to be a conspiracy theory when it comes down to announcements? Anyone who honestly believes the issues with StR or the resignation of an employee has driven the decision to announce a new ride in mid August is really grasping at straws. Why can't it just be the most obvious reason? The ride construction will be staring soon, and the area cannot be boarded up as with Maverick (*officially* announced Sept. 6th 2006), but is in a large area like DB; and like DB, is announced early. No conspiracy theory necessary. Announcements don't *have* to be made when vertical construction begins... they announce a new attraction when they feel the business will best benefit from it. Typically, this is done as specials for next year's passes are announced, and the new ride is a hook for existing passholders to re-up or for would-be passholders to put their cash down. I do not believe for a second that the PR team hasn't at least toyed with the idea of pulling forward the announcement to help get positive messages flowing after all the issues with Shoot the Rapids. We may never know if the date was changed, but as someone with a Communications degree and a minor in Public Relations, I am certain it was discussed.

Where can one find a "Paramount's" Kings Island? And "EPCOT Center"?

Oh, really? See the post above mine... I'm not sure how that relates to a GCI? The only wooden coasters added to CF parks in recent years? GCI Kinzel throws out a "nostalgia" teaser... survey markings all over the Oceana Midway (very close to the home of the original CP Cyclone). The dots are all there...

Oh, really? I'd put my money down that it IS a GCI... Renegade, Prowler, and the cancelled GCI at CGA offer some support to that theory.

Oh, I'm excited about it. Especially if it's a classically-styled woody running along the beach, and double especially if it transforms the area into a proper Victorian boardwalk.

Because Kinzel has never been able to separate Cedar Point from Cedar Fair. The Point has become his personal sandbox, and the fact that he still speaks on the park's behalf is ludicrous.

Wow... editorialize much?

"But look at our shiny, new ride! New in 2011!"

LINK - Sandusky Register Mid-August is fairly early compared to the last few announcements, but I can imagine that it may have been pushed up to offset negative press in regards to Shoot the Rapids. A return of the Cyclone perhaps? With the markers stretching the length of the Oceana Midway, including on the beach, perhaps the Cyclone and boardwalk project has been brought back to life. LINK - CedarPoint.com History LINK - RCDB

I used to see lions, giraffes, and all sorts of exotic animals roaming the park. It's been a few years, though.

While I agree that FD needs new paint, lets not forget that the ride isn't visible from the midway at all, so it is likely lower on the list than other, more visible projects.

It is a very nice park, I'd say it has the solid attraction list that Boomerang Bay has, combined with the themeing of Wildwater Kingdom. I think it will get even better as the young landscaping grows in, the newer area of the park is lacking in the natural shade department. The park has addressed this, though, by having huge sail structures, pavillions, gazebos, and cabanas spread throughout the park. What I would really like to see would be some animal encounters moved into Zoombezi Bay. I know that there are expansion plans which include some Aquatica-esque slides through animal habitats, but no firm dates for expansion have been set. The park seems to have capacity pegged pretty well right now, with lines on the slide towers usually reaching to ground level but rarely extending beyond that. For some reason, the mat racer isn't nearly as popular here as it is at other parks I've seen. There is rarely a line, and if there is I've never waited beyond :10 minutes or so.

Zoombezi Bay Zoombezi Bay was created when the Zoo bought Six Flag’s Wyandot Lake Amusement Park after the 2006 season. The park was kept closed thru the 2007 season and reopened as Zoombezi Bay for 2008. Wyandot Lake itself was built from the old Zoo Amusements, a small ride park built next to the Zoo in the 1950’s. Wyandot Lake wasn’t a bad park, but it was a very odd mix of old flat rides, a roller coaster, and water slides. By the time the park closed, it hadn’t seen any major expansion since the mid-90’s, meaning that the park was allowed to stagnate for more than a decade. The transformation to Zoombezi Bay required that most of the old water park be razed, only saving the water fortress, the lazy river, and the Sea Dragon roller coaster. The flat rides were taken apart, restored / rethemed, and repositioned to the new Jungle Jack’s Landing area. The zoo then built a new wavepool, new support buildings, a 2nd “action” river, and three new slide towers. From the Zoombezi Bay website: One thing that I really like, is that the Croctail Creek is actually only for people 18 and up, there is a tiki bar built into the middle. The river circles the Sea Dragon rollercoaster, just as it did at Wyandot Lake. The architecture in the park shows quite a bit of variation, with some buildings remaining in the Key West style that were carried over from Wyandot Lake, and the new buildings having a south seas tropical theme. The themeing is very well done. We ate lunch at Zoombezi Bay, and found the quality and value to be much better than any Six Flags or Cedar Fair park, but not quite up to Kennywood or Holiday World standards. And here’s where I think the park is getting thru to people: Profits made at Zoombezi Bay thru gate sales, souveniers, supplies, and foods, go straight to the zoo for their conservation efforts. So long as the zoo keeps communicating this to guests, people will continue to pay. Though the zoo is a non-profit, they set up a separate “for profit” entity to handle funds from Zoombezi Bay, this way money can be used for expansion of that park when needed. Any such move would have to be approved by the Zoo’s Board of Directors. If you’ve never been, it could easily take you 3 days to see all that the Zoo’s different parks have to offer. In the next few years, the zoo will open a large hotel for multi-day guests, including an indoor waterpark, as well as a 70-acre African savannah region and a Madagascar region. A few years further down the road, they expect to complete a South America region, as well as expansions to the Shores and Australia areas. If you haven’t been, you simply need to. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Zoombezi Bay, Jungle Jack’s Landing, and Animal Encounters Village are all world class facilities that we are lucky to have here in the Buckeye state.