malem

The Indianapolis Star has a few more details now in its article, http://www.indystar.com/viewart/20130111/BUSINESS/301110332/Judge-gives-control-Holiday-World-executive-s-widow . Don't forget Will's kids, who will presumably inherit Will's half of the business if this ruling stands. Recall Dan's statement when he first took over as president & CEO: Given that statement, it's surprising that (according to the court) he was attempting to not only take 100% ownership of the company, but to discount the children's eventual inheritance. Commenters in the Evansville article seem to think that this was a sly move by the lawyer in the family, legal or not. On the other hand, going Lori's way, the Koch children are no longer in control of their family business. It's a shame that both sides couldn't work out their differences without such an ugly fight. Hopefully wounds can be healed and both sides can share a future with the park, no matter who owns 51%.

Does Cedar Fair still have US theme park rights to the Paramount name?

I'd bring back and expand theming along the train route. Sure, most people use it for waterpark transportation, but why not have entertainment as well? At Shoot the Rapids at Cedar Point, I'd add more effects and some animatronics to make the slow sections more interesting.

^ The new CEO appears to be a good choice. It's in the interest of both sides that the park continues doing well, regardless of the behind-the-scenes feud. The comments this morning in the Evansville Courier & Press article are interesting.

Where did you read this? Cedar Fair has said that Knott`s, Canada`s Wonderland and Cedar Point have been their four top parks. But to say that Knott`s has significant growth potential and Kings Island doesn`t is not a very valid statement. Kings Island has some land to work with, while Knott`s is in a relatively competitive California market. Especially with Disneyland just down the street. Yes, the parks are relatively mature now compared to what they were in the early days and a new coaster install likely won`t see the same spike in attendance now that it did back in the 80`s, but Cedar Fair will continue to invest in all of their parks. Sorry, I didn't word that very well. I was referring to potential for attendance growth. I recall reading that in one of the early interviews with Matt Ouimet after he joined the company, identifying Knott's and Canada's Wonderland. Of course, I can't find it now, so I could be mistaken. (The year-round calendar in California and the huge population of the Toronto metro area providing the opportunities, respectively.) I didn't mean to imply that new attractions would make more sense at Knott's than at KI. All regional parks certainly need to keep themselves fresh to drive repeat business. New attractions also have lower operating costs, and higher capacity attractions keep guests out of queues and spending money. They drive attendance growth as well, particularly so in less-than-saturated markets.

More details on this: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/jan/10/holiday-world-herp/ It seems the judge was not impressed that Will's estate's holdings were to be undervalued in the sale. Instead of deciding on a fair dollar amount, he threw out the entire agreement. (Ironically, throwing out the intent of Will himself, ruling for the estate.) In any case, severing relations with Dan (and perhaps Pat) can't be good for the park or its staff. Hopefully the parties can reach an equitable resolution before the business is harmed.

This is definitely a sad situation all around. A new name for RhinoBlaster has already been announced, so it seems from the outside that the new controlling interest (Will's estate, controlled by his widow) has ideas of its own. Hopefully their policy of aggressive expansion is not affected by this. (The 2013 HoliWood nights flyer, still featuring a large image of Dan, alludes to a "big" project.) It's not clear from the article how Will's estate obtained a controlling interest, when the siblings were supposed to have equal shares. For the curious, records of the case are at http://www.doxpop.com/prod/court/ViewCaseDetails?caseId=1816675180770 . Its next step is the Indiana Court of Appeals.

^^ Planet Snoopy was a considerable investment, but it didn't add any attractions* to the park. It relates to your post because those previous years followed or preceded a particularly spectacular attraction. Not that historical trends are an indicator of future plans, but a year with little added isn't necessarily bad news. *I'm not counting Boo Blasters on Boo Hill as a new attraction, even though the park might.

^ Previous years with "nothing" added: 1978, 1980, 2008, 2010

Considering that the main focus of the ride is shooting targets, its target audience (in Planet Snoopy) might not care how "cheap" the theming looks. The less-realistic elements could even be an asset, as they're potentially less scary than animatronics. That line gets excessively long as is, so I'm not sure they would want to attract a larger, more mature audience there even if the additional investment were cheap. The capacity doesn't exist. I've never been a fan of guns in dark rides, particularly where classic dark rides once existed, but plenty of people like the "interactivity".

I still have the original version open in a tab. Loading the link into a new tab brings up just the excerpt. Perhaps your browser has the original version of the page cached.

It looks like they replaced the full article with an excerpt. It was there when I clicked the link earlier. It's an AP article, so it's easy enough to find another copy. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-01-09/ohio-theme-parks-ceo-staycations-here-to-stay

^ It's a short audio-only excerpt. Try: http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/audiovideo/10813_matt_eckert_holiday_world_ceo.wma Probably a very wise move to avoid more distractions, after Bluegrass Boardwalk.

^^ KI is a very mature park with a well-tapped market. Capital investment here will likely serve to incrementally increase attendance and revenue, while decreasing expenditures. Knott's and Canada's Wonderland, on the other hand, have been identified as having significant growth potential. New management is all about spending capital in ways that will yield the maximum ongoing return. Whether a specific type of investment (say, a highly themed dark ride at Kings Island) would maximize returns (dollars at the gate, people out of lines spending money, retirement of something more costly to operate) is a question that none of us can answer. Regardless, I would expect more attractions with a broad appeal, as the chain works to incrementally increase attendance in mature markets. As for the Knott's log flume, here's a rather interesting article for those interested in that ride's history: http://entertainmentdesigner.com/news/theme-park-design-news/the-timber-mountain-log-ride-gets-a-facelift/ Notice that it's reported as the most "popular" ride in the park, which Boo Blasters is very far from being. Especially with its halved capacity. I wouldn't expect that a major investment there would have a significant return, and that has nothing to do with management's position toward theming (or lack thereof).

^^ Back to the subject of Knott's, Cedar Fair is currently investing a lot into restoring and upgrading the theming of their log flume, including new animatronics. The sort of project both Paramount Parks and previous management at Cedar Fair would avoid. http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-knotts-berry-farm-log-ride-overhaul-20130103,0,2787923.story You're probably referring to one of Cedar Fair's earnings announcements, perhaps 2012Q3: http://seekingalpha....ipt?part=single The number identified for capital expenditures was 9% of gross revenue, and the parks identified as a primary focus of ongoing capital investment were the 4 most-attended parks: KI, CP, Canada's Wonderland, and Knott's.

^ Google says it updated 4 days ago. I just checked, and the "something big" banner wasn't in a previous version of the cached page from December 29. Other changes at the same time include putting Red Gold in the scrolling sponsors list, adding a link to the new "Sponsors" page that includes Coca-Cola, and (finally!) fixing the Accesso store so that it can run 100% over SSL encryption. My guess is that they merged changes from a master template into individual site templates, and they simply forgot to delete the unneeded countdown from the Kings Island Howl-O-Palooza template. They should fix it before someone uses it to start a rumor.

^ The Latin is placeholder text. It's not supposed to have meaning, other than demonstrating text layout. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum

As a kid, I thought of these as a boring version of the bumper cars. I couldn't understand why anyone would ride this, seeing that it cost extra money and you couldn't even bump them into each other.

KI updated their website again over the weekend, adding a new "Photo of the Day" feature, which the park mentioned in a tweet this morning. (Inspired by this forum, perhaps?) One new error: a placeholder countdown ("Something BIG is gonna happen") was added to the 2012 Howl-O-Palooza pages, such as http://www.visitkingsisland.com/daytime/ . (Presumably, this section of the site shouldn't even be active right now.) Those boxes are typically used to count down to things like announcements or Opening Day.

As someone who's been posting for about a year and reading for much longer, I certainly hope his contributions don't stop. If he says he's leaving the site because of a quip by Terp, his frustrations obviously run much deeper than this particularly heated conversation. Gloss over it, then; long-winded posts by me are rare. Just an attempt to bring some levelheadedness to a heated debate. Perhaps you could read that first sentence again? Apologies for the wit.

Complaining about what others post doesn't get you very far in a public discussion forum. Everyone has the right to post what they want, as long as they're following basic guidelines dealing with respect. As the conventional wisdom goes, if you don't like what's being posted, no one is forcing you to read it. There has been, and there continues to be, a great deal of good discussion and quality content posted here. However, you're not going to like every post. Other contributors here may annoy you, disagree with you, or otherwise not meet your desired level of post quality. And you should still respect their right to participate in this public community. Granted, some of the bantering here could understandably be frustrating, especially for the occasional reader. Most of us are always open to constructive criticism, so please do voice your frustrations in a positive way. After all, we do want new (and existing!) members to feel welcome and enjoy their time here. Popping in to drop criticism into a random thread solves nothing. I'll repeat what Terp wisely said: if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. A cool head and a mild appreciation of dry humor can be helpful here. Wit and a bit of silliness, especially from Terp, is a deeply entrenched tradition. We're discussing an amusement park, after all. There are plenty of other places in life for seriousness and frustration.

^ Villain at Geauga Lake and Hurricane: Category 5 at Myrtle Beach Pavilion both opened in 2000 as well. They were demolished in 2008 and 2007. The latter's trains were, of course, used on Son of Beast. And the former's trains were sent that way for parts.

Easy: A park employee smiling Hard: People getting soaked by any water ride Expert: WWC turntable in action (from jcgoble3)

kblanken means trademark, not copyright. Source: http://www.trademarkia.com/the-roller-coaster-capital-of-the-world-77466066.html As an aside, if Kennywood is using the trademark and Cedar Fair has not disputed this, their exclusive right to the mark may be in question. IANAL.

^ This thread should cause us all to take more pictures this season, so we have more for the 2013-2014 edition of this game!