PREMiERdrum

There's also a jug of "White Lightning" on the Pole Cat Pickers band wagon near the tunnel under MF on the Frontier Trail: http://rollercoasterfreak.com/IMGP6562a.jpg (Photo courtesy Jason Hammond of rollercoasterfreak.com)

Tony more-or-less confirmed a Labor Day announcement over on PointBuzz. I was really surprised by the quality of the kit I got today. This is much more in line with the Diamondback materials from KI than the Maverick kits from CP. IF it's a water ride, I would expect something marketable about it. The wouldn't go to all this trouble for a standard flume. Or would they?

Ok, here's the media kit I recieved from Cedar Point today. I think it's safe to share since it doesn't reveal anything about the ride, nor does it give the specific date of announcement. With that said, it is a very, very well done piece. The box is dressed as a wooden shipping crate with "Cedar Point" in the old (50s/60s?) font on one side, and "There is somethin' brewin' on tha shores of Lake Erie!" on another. Inside the box is a glass one-gallon jug, identical to the one picutred on the On Point blog today. Inside the jug was a rolled up piece of paper, with a vintage looking comic strip on one side. The text is as follows: Top: "Whyte Lightning by C.P. McCoy" Next Box: "People have been talkin' about a lot of commotion on the island lately." next: "Said there's fires burning all night long." / "Even heard there are strangers in town snoopin' around." next: "Plan to check it out. Tell you more very, very soon. Bottom: Cedar <CP 1870> Point edit: ((consider my thunder stolen by the video))

That was whitelightning.carowinds.com http://whitelightning.carowinds.com Although in all fairness, the whytelightning.com site did change as well just a little bit in the last few days. I got the media kit for CP's announcement today, and it's fairly interesting. (In the interest of my relationship with the park I am keeping the rest of the info to myself.) But for those of you who worry that they're faking us out, they're not. There is a bona-fide media event for this announcement.

Kids still ran to the HB characters (and they were well out of date before Nick fully took over), and kids still line up to meet/hug Snoopy and friends up at Cedar Point. If CF had been able to secure a reasonable (in their mind) license agreement with Viacom to continue use of the Nick characters, I'm sure they would have. There have been several reports that Viacom wanted a king's ransom for the rights, and CF didn't see the ROI necessary to continue the relationship. As for the characters being outdated, let's take a look at a little park down in Orlando. Have you ever seen Song of the South? I'd wager that only a handful of people on this site have seen it, but families still line up to meet with Br'er Bear and Br'er Rabbit in Frontierland, and wait for (sometimes) hours to ride their little log flume. Do kids know who the Aristocats are? Because a dedicated meet and greet for them is being set up at the France pavilion at Epcot. Kids will tell you that they like Spongebob and Dora over Snoopy and Charlie Brown. But, when they walk through the gates, they will still run to Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus and Lucy when they see them. I actualy argued over on CoasterBuzz that Snoopy and Company are a better fit for theme park use because their saturation is so low. With Nick, it's everywhere. There's nothing special about seeing Spongebob at Kings Island because you can see him on TV, at your local mall, in your Happy Meal box, and in every aisle of your local toy store. With the Peanuts, save for holiday specials, PEZ dispensers, and a few MetLife commercials, they are nearly exclusive characters to CF parks.

Because I'm sure that having 5 more parks on the bargaining table was a very good thing when negotiating with UFS for the Peanuts rights. We'll get a Planet Snoopy, I'm fairly certain of that. I've been thinking of some of the changes, using rides at Planet Snoopy and Camp Snoopy as the base. I could easily see Plankton's Plunge turn into a Kite Eating Tree (thought that one at CP was especially cute), Nick Jr Drivers to Peanuts 500, Little Bill's Giggle Coaster to Woodstock Express, Adventura de Azul to Snoopy's Express Railroad, Timmy's Air Tours to Snoopy's Deep Sea Divers, Phantom Flyers to Snoopy's Space Race, Lazytown Sportacopters to Woodstock's Whirlybirds, BackYardigans Swing Along to Linus and Lucy's Swingset and Go Diego Go to Peanuts Road Rally. I'm not sure about Runaway Reptar. I think that a Red Barron tie in would be great, but I'm not convinced they'll want to repaint the whole ride. This really only leaves Avatar, the Bumper Cars, and a few others to be rethemed.

I'm wondering if the retheming of the NCs and NU into Planet Snoopys will come out of CapEx budget? That will eat up a chunk of it.

I'm excited to see what they do. CP's Planet Snoopy, despite being thrown together from leftover GL rides, turned out very cute. I also hope FoC goes back to Beastie. Last night I had am idea for a retheme of SDatHC into a Peanuts dark ride, going through all the holidays (1 scene Valentines, Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas)... just an idea.

Cedar Fair will have to secure a license to use the characters in each park, regardless of which country they're in. That said, I would anticipate that having 5 parks you're looking to obtain a license agreement for would be a good bargaining tool on the side of Cedar Fair.

iChase, I couldn't agree more. When I first read your post I thought "it's not that bad, maybe removing it is kind of harsh?" However, after coming across this website and seeing what the ride used to be, I'm inclined to agree. Experiencing a ride like The Crypt really makes me question the methods of Cedar Fair and shows just how "cheap" the company can be. I believe in the saying "If you're not going to do it right, don't do it at all." Why waste your guest's time with a ride like "The Crypt" when they could be out in the park elsewhere spending "nickels?" The website I'm referring to: http://www.technifex.com/pages/projects/projects_tomb.html Cedar Fair has done a lot of nice things for Kings Island, especially with the emphasis on landscaping and cleanliness. But seeing things like The Crypt, their fireworks policy at "The Beast," and boarded up food stands in Coney Mall remind me that for every step forward they seem to take two steps back towards the Six Flags of the 1990's. Weren't those boarded up food stands shuttered under Paramount? I think the park is definitely heading in the right direction. I would look for them to continue to make their way around the park, sprucing up what needs done (like with Rivertown this year). The removal of the old Cinema360 and work in the old Flight Commander queue made me think Coney was next, but they might have a massive kids area to retheme, and a Son of a Beast to tear down, so we'll see. About TR:TR / Crypt, I would like to know what would have happened to the ride under Paramount. They were awful at not keeping up effects, so when stuff on TR started to fail, I wonder what would have happened. Same thing with the mechanical problems. I know we rag on The Crypt for its rubber spiders and crappy program, but who knows what would have happened had Paramount sold the park to someone else, or worse, not sold it at all.

No it CF i think because if i remember correctly i read somewhere on Intamins website or somehwere that the park had the option of OSTR or lapbars. I'm thinking that the park's insurer might have had a say there... even though Intamin redesigned the lapbar restraints after the S:ROS incident (which was after TTD was built, but before KK IIRC), I'm guessing that the insurer would prefer the OTSR. Would you be willing to pay more to get into the park, had they gone with the presumably more expensive to insure lapbars on the ride? But if the lapbars are so "unsafe" then why are they still being installed on Mega-Lites? How many MegaLites have been built in the United States, fall under the US's strict insurance guidelines, and have been insured by a US manufacturer?

No it CF i think because if i remember correctly i read somewhere on Intamins website or somehwere that the park had the option of OSTR or lapbars. I'm thinking that the park's insurer might have had a say there... even though Intamin redesigned the lapbar restraints after the S:ROS incident (which was after TTD was built, but before KK IIRC), I'm guessing that the insurer would prefer the OTSR. Would you be willing to pay more to get into the park, had they gone with the presumably more expensive to insure lapbars on the ride?

Interesting... exactly opposite of what I've seen.

Have you witnessed this? I read this time and time again on these very forums, and believed it to be true. That is until I spent a few days in the park over the last few weeks. I experienced zero negative feedback after 4 seperate rides, and spent some time hanging out in the exit. I also heard people talking about how much they liked the ride both in the queue for Diamondback as well as Monster. I'm sure that it happens, but unless those complaints are rolling in to guest relations, I don't see them going very far.

But the problem is that the damage has been done. The Crypt is down more often than it is running. I didn't realize the downtime lately has been that bad. I've spent a few days in the park the last few weeks, and never saw the Crypt closed. I would hope that Huss would make good on the ride, but with their financial issues I don't see them pouring too much into it. Like I said, if they can get downtime and maintenance costs to level then it's a nice addition to the park. If it stays closed more than it's open, then it's time to pull the plug.

Hello, Mr Turnip? I'm here to collect some blood...

I don't get all the hate for the new program... it is nowhere near as exciting as the Crypt v1, and lacking the theming detail of TR:TR, but the ride itself isn't all that awful. It's no longer a headline attraction, that's for sure, but it's still a solid flat. My only major gripe with it is the visible maitenance area at the front corner of the show building. As dark as that part of the chamber is, it would only take some theatrical drape to create a pull curtain around the bench to clean things up. The soundtrack works well, the lighting is well timed to the ride, and the queue has a reasonable amount of created atmosphere. There is no backstory, and the location still makes *no* sense within the park, but people still ride it. It has been accpeted by most that the ride was tearing itself apart with the Crypt v1 program. So long as downtime levels off, maitenance costs stay low, and people still line up, the ride will probably stick around. I know most of the hardcore enthusiasts don't like this answer, but if you take off your enthusiast hat for a minute and look at the ride for what it is (a flat ride, and most definately not a headline attraction), it is a decent addition to the park, and surely keeps the lines for other rides a bit shorter. I have a degree in design (stagecraft and themed environments), and don't see too much problem with the queue (although it is dangerously dark once you make the first bend). I would like to see the demon bat actually do something other than sit there, but from what I understand The Bat's screaming was too scary for some guests. I would also like to see the Durga relief repainted, but as it is now it is lit and completly visible on the ride.

Maybe they know something we only suspect?

I would put my money behind "Intimidator" at this point.

http://www.cedarpoint.com/ Keep in mind, also, that SDatHC is licensed seperately from everything else, the license goes through Sally Rides. FWIW, the initial contract when the ride was installed was a 10 year license that must be renewed to continue the ride's operation. We'll see how that plays out.

Big Bad Wolf is getting torn down and it doesn't have anything wrong with it... If there were truly nothing wrong with it, I doubt they'd remove it. I think that the maintenance costs on that ride are probably higher than the park is willing to pay, especially considering the intensity of BBW compared to ID or FD.

Create a loop behind the skycoaster that connects back up to the main path by Drop Tower, elininating the dead end that is Action Zone. Save the space for future development.

Like I said earlier, I would be shocked if they didn't already know what they were doing with it. Keep in mind, "no decision had been made" regarding Geauga Lake until the end of the season, when it was closed forever, rides sold, and buildings demolished. It just makes more sense to wait until the park is closed to make such an announcement. I'm sure if they announced today that SoB wouldn't reopen and would be torn down in the off season, Guest Relations would be overrun with people complaining about the decision. Look at the petition and demonstration campaign being waged against Busch Gardens over BBW. I would be shocked to see SoB reopen, and I doubt they'll leave it standing as a reminded of its failures come next season.

For what it's worth, I found a picture of the Crystal Rock Castle at CP on an old postcard... In the 20s, the location was turned into a sandwich shop since alcohol couldn't be served under prohibition. The building was turned into a maitenance shop in the early 50s and demolished in 1960.

And most of you were set on the name "Mustang" for Diamondback.... just saying Let me clarify... there are plenty of hints and clues that point towards the Carowinds ride being named White Lightning. The web address (whitelightning.carowinds.com) seems to lend credibility, or at the very least the park wants us to think it is. If I were to guess, I would say that Carowinds hyper coaster and a new flume at CP will both be called White Lightning, both themed to moonshine operations / stock cars. I think that Intimidator is a good choice for Kings Dominion, with a more modern Nascar theme. We'll see soon enough. The fact that the Cw and KD announcements are within days of Nascar appearances at the park, and Jeff Gordon's Thursday appearance at CP is quite telling to me.