KIfan1980

Lovin the PTR! Thanks for sharing as it brings forward great memories of magical experiences and proud moments I've had with my boys at Disney. Although I have to admit, I don't envy you explaining to Zoe that the next time you go to a character breakfast she won't get such a "personalized" experience.

Do you really believe who owns (and is responsible for the operation of CF) will be decided in mid-March? I believe it will still be a very contentious and unresolved situation on opening day. Yet even so, I believe the park will be open, DB will operate, Planet Snoopy rides will have names, a park map will be available, and SoB will either operate or sit there.

ok - so I'm impatient and I'll admit that this is a fault of mine, but I don't understand why Kings Island continues to be so slow about making announcement about goings on at the park - see Planet Snoopy ride names, 2010 map, SoB status as just a few examples. And for those that say ticket sales, I don't believe that this is a big enough deal for SoB at this time, and certainly couldn't explain why announcing that Nick was leaving and Planet Snoopy was coming toward the end of last season took so long. At this point in time, I believe that the park has to know that SoB will be SBNO (my guess) for at least the start of the 2010 season. Did they do the full maintenance on the trains, Are they hiring any ride ops to work SoB, Are they going to have merchandise for it are all things that need to be planned in advance. Unless, they are still deciding (or finalizing) the long term plan (remove, retrofit) and want to make one announcement, I don't see why they don't put out some information.

Somewhat random, but I was looking on bing.com/maps at the birdseye views of Son of Beast to try and get a feel for the terrain (see 2011 coming attractions thread if you don't know why I was dong this) and noticed something I found interesting. Some of the birdseye view pictures seem to have been taken during the construction/repair timeframe following the 2006 accident. Signs include a construction trailer, cranes/high lift, and materials - along with tarps over portions of the track and new looking areas of wood in various places (along with the loop in some pics but not in others). I might be wrong, but thought I'd let others who might be interested know - and I didn't post a link as I can't figure out how to link to the exact location on bing maps.

Since someone thinks I am not commenting, I'll just say it again. It sure does look like familiar terrain.... Just to check my assumption, isn't most amusement park terrain likely familiar to Terpy?

Today's Pulse Journal Mason edition headline: "Ticket tax fails, but issue may not be gone for good" Mr. Bradburn and Mr. Gilb are referenced in the article stating that it "will undoubtedly resurface at some point". I'll try and add the link when I'm on my computer later.

As I understand it, Mr. Bradburn is term limited and will not be eligible to run for re-election at the end of his current term on Mason Council.

It will also be interesting to see what happens to the unit price when Q-Investments (Mr. Raynor) decides that he owns enough units and decides to stop adding to his holdings. Considering the following: FUN was trading below the $11.50 Apollo offer price when Q began investing in Cedar Fair Q has been the buyer of more than 35% of the units traded since he initially announced his intention to oppose the deal (an extremely high amount in my opinion for a publicly traded entity) Even with his ongoing purchases, the price is dropping and closed at the offer price today One could wonder what the unit price would be if Apollo wasn't offering $11.50/unit and Q wasn't buying units. Recall, prior to the announced sale, investors felt FUN was worth $9.08/share My completely uneducated guess as to what will happen: Q continues to prop up the price and buy until they can guarantee the vote against this deal When Q stops buying and there is no other offer on the table (and based upon the results to be reported and a suddenly more realistic potential of bankruptcy), the unit price drops like a rock Q then completes a hostile takeover and implements it's plan for the parks. Note that I'm betting Q's plan probably looks a lot like the Apollo plan (refinance the debt, operate the parks for a year or two while implementing cost cutting procedures before selling the parks to another buyer in better economic times and making lots of money). Why would this work better than the Apollo approach - Q is willing to "share" the benefit with other unit holders (Q won't end up owning the whole company) instead of current management (who is planned to be paid handsomely by Apollo). This will enable the support necessary from 2/3 of the unit holders to allow it to happen. Note: FUN trading and Q ownership research completed at form4oracle.com and etrade.com

As I'm always willing to debate against a conflicting point of view, I have a couple of questions for Mr. Stoneking. What was the real message of your speech yesterday? You finished with the statement that you encouraged MCC to pass the tax to provide for a safer environment for KI guests, however there is absolutely no information that this tax would be used in any way to provide a safer environment. Instead, your speech seemed to indicate you were in favor of the tax as more of a punishment (my assessment) for Cedar Fair/Kings Island due to your concerns with the park and guests as evidenced by your arguments regarding - the agreement to not impose tax being with a prior owner - the use of foreign labor - the purchasing habits of season pass holders - the savings offered to a group v. non-discounted ticket purchases How do these items affect the safety of the park? What is your real goal? In addition, your speech referenced the protesters not understanding how taxation works - that people, not businesses, pay taxes. Please understand that many of us do understand exactly that and that is partly why we were protesting - because we don't want to be taxed further. There is also the fact that this tax would negatively impact the community it was supposed to be helping. For reference, if there are specific safety concerns that should be addressed with the park, I'd like to know about them as I, as well as my family, enjoy riding the rides and want to do it in a safe fashion. I believe you'd find that many on these forums are similarly inclined and want to live in a world with happy and safe amusement parks operating. Unfortunately, the approach you took yesterday did nothing to help you on this front.

Where did Tom Grossman speak out against the tax?

http://www.wxix.com/....asp?S=11943299 As a Mason resident, I personally believe this makes a BAD idea even WORSE. Why? Because it proves to me that this is nothing but a blatant attempt to extract money from tourists and visitors. If we need road improvements so bad, then we as residents should pay for them.

Glad the interview went well and you got the job working Diamondback - I'm thinking I might ride it once or twice this season so maybe will see you there.

As Terpy's article indicates, Q has consistently added to their position (and even picked up the buying the last few days as the price has come down) and now holds about 17% of the shares (see link:http://www.form4oracle.com/company/cedar-fair-lp-fun/company-transactions?id=2780). Add that to the almost 10% with Neuberger voting NO and about 90% of other unit holders would have to vote in favor of this deal. Not going to happen would be a better title for the article.

With all the concern in Louisville over this you'd get the idea that having an amusement park in your back yard is a good thing for a city - someone should explain that to the Mason City Council.

You also must take into account that in 1988, if you wanted to ride a coaster, I think your options were: Beastie, Racer, Beast, King Cobra, and Vortex. Imagine an additional 5,000 to 10,000 people per day and everyone who is in line for coasters that didn't exist then (Invertigo, Flight Deck, AE, Backlot, Diamondback, Reptar, Firehawk, Flight of Fear, Son of Beast (when operating) - not to mention Boomerang Bay and other flats - in line for those that did exist. Yes - long lines were worse "back in the day" although some lines moved faster as we didn't have those pesky seatbelts and individual ratcheting lapbars to worry about.

Edit - response to Post #45 Just an investing tip - whether the company you invest in gets a lot of publicity or not should have NO effect on whether you sell the stock (or units). The owner of the stock is responsible for doing the research to evaluate whether they want to remain a stockholder or sell their shares. You assertion misses the fact that it was not the selling pressure on the stock that forced the company into bankruptcy, but the march to bankruptcy that led to the sale of the stock. As to why Cedar Fair is going slower? Some (for whatever reason) seem to feel that whether it sells to Apollo or not that it will not go bankrupt.

Wasn't Green Bay also rumored to be a potential location for Big Dipper from GL?

Ahhh, yet another topic that reminds me that I'm getting old! Although I have to say that WWC has remained a great ride at Kings Island for a really long time. I've always enjoyed it, but it had kind of dropped off my rides list until I realized that it was a "new" ride to introduce my son to since he was tall enough last season. My favorite memory of it - his first, second, and third ride on it back to back to back one evening early last summer.

Ryan - I understand your belief regarding Mr. Bradburn's motivation and opinions and think it is great that we can have the debate on a forum like this. We can agree to disagree on this while still agreeing that no matter the motivation it's still the wrong idea.. I also disagree a little with your "what can be said here" comment though as it wouldn't surprise me if members of council have been on/read portions of KIC regarding this topic (it is a front page google hit to a Mason Admissions Tax) search. As such when we are commenting before council, they may have preconceived impressions based upon what is written here. I look forward to seeing you on Monday to hopefully celebrate the end of this idea.

In my opinion, inflammatory comments like this from the site Media Director and a forum Admin do not benefit the argument and actually minimize the impact that you individually and the KIC community as a whole can have on this issue. I'd prefer people to recognize that Mr. Bradburn is likely proposing what he believes is in the best interest of the City of Mason - we as park enthusiasts, along with many others (as referenced on the KI webpage), believe that the approach is misguided and would actually be a detriment to the park, park guests, and the city. I'd encourage those that attend the meeting from KIC on Monday to be respectful and make logical arguments (again, see the KI webpage for examples). Did you get the standard form letter reply saying that your input was forwarded to council that folks received in November? Reason I'm asking is that I emailed a couple of weeks ago and got nothing this time around.

Just to be clear, I'm perfectly happy for everyone to share their opinion (positive or negative toward KI/CF). My criticism comes in that some people just always seem to be negative or find fault in almost everything that KI/CF does. I was 9 out of 10 on your list, although I'd also point out that many of these and slogans in general do not always represent a company, but rather a brand. In some cases the brand is the company, but not always.

I'll give them credit for the list (and trying to identify and use industry insiders to accumulate it). The only thing that left me confused was that in all the picture caption (see two examples below), GCI was credited for their coaters, but noone else was (Shouldn't Gravity Group show up under The Voyage?) ****Captions from top two photos**** 2. El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey (Great Coasters International) 1. The Voyage at Holiday World in Indiana (Holiday World)

Sometimes I wonder if they could have come up with anything that most people on this site would have liked.

I'm guessing that Don was looking for a way to stir the pot with some park enthusiasts and thought that a positive story on The Crypt would do the trick - after all there had been talk that this website/forums were becoming stale. I'm guessing over the next several months, you'll see several blogs and tweets about most rides at Kings Island. After all, there have been the following already: Racer (snow photo), Beast (snow and rebuild), Diamondback (one year ago), Planet Snoopy (Plushes, Swing-along, Reptar pic), along with others I'm not thinking of right now. As a side note, I'm happy about this. It's kind of sad that the KI blog has had more posts in one week than the Intimidator 305 blog has had since closing day.

Actually it is a 2010 page, because as you so clearly point out, THIS is 2010 and the page is being opened and looked at today. Whether it is an up to date and accurate page, well .............. it is the Kings Island website