erniebald57

Hey I'd be glad to play guitar at Kings Island on a couple conditions... A) I get paid a real entertainer/musicians wage I don't have to wear a totally ridiculous outfit The pay for a musician at Cedar Point isn't bad, and I've thought more than once about an audition, however Cedar Point is a little far for me and to be totally honest, the music in the shows are pure cheese. I've never seen rock and roll classics get more of a hack job than they do at the America Rocks show at CP. Totally cheesed out, totally neutered, and soulless. Did anyone ever catch the horrendous sight of Celine Dion singing You Shook Me All Night Long on TV a few years back??? Yea it reminds me of that. If anyone upstairs reads these boards....please quit crucifying perfectly good music by mixing it with pseudo-broadway crap. If you want to have a rock music showcase, then hire real rock musicians and lose the barbershop quartet (or more) of lead singers.

If you think about it from a business standpoint, it makes sense to move XFlight here. Yeah it's not a new ride, but it's new enough and novel enough to bring some attendance to the park. Everyone's been complaining about "we need a new coaster"...myself included, and this is a way to do it at a very minimal cost. Its a win win situation for the company, Geauga lowers their operating costs (which they need to do), Kings Island gets a much needed new thrill coaster (pretty much for free nonetheless), and XFlight gets a new lease on life. They haven't needed to use the dual loading platform for years because of low ridership, and thats not because it's a bad ride. It's a good ride in a park that has low attendance, and it would be better used in a park that already has a large attendance base. The people that unfortunately lose out are those Xflight fans who live near Geauga.

Maverick is being built in the Frontier Town section of Cedar Point, so naturally they would want to have the ride themed accordingly. That section of the park has needed some attention for some time now.

Cedar Fair can't be bothered by hourly employees? Go to Cedar Point anytime and you will find upper management out and about. Go on Saturday and you will for sure. Don't forget that most of the upper management were "lowly hourly employees" as well (Kinzel was a fryguy when he started). I really wouldn't worry too much about the future of Kings Island. It's in the best hands that it possibly could have been in. Cutbacks are to be expected when a company spends 1.24 billion dollars and doubles the size of its staff, overhead, and property. I would give them a chance to move in. The non Paramount merchandise is surely a sign that Paramount is on it's way out. It's also a sign that Kings Island will be profiting more from selling its merchandise. Whatever percentage they were paying for licensing can now go into the parks pocket. Pepsi's coming too, so get ready to like it.

I suppose cuts are to be expected in any type of merger like this. What Cedar Fair is seeing here is that the ratio of attendance to revenue isn't quite as big as it could be. 3.5 million guests and 108 million in revenue doesn't even come close to what Cedar Point did with about 3.2 million. There's money to be made at Kings Island, and not from raising prices either. Cedar Fair is paying licensing and royalty fees for using Paramount material. That means that they are paying rights for the Paramount theming, which in all honesty isn't justified given the quality of most of it (Not that it's bad, just too expensive for the park to use well). They are also dishing out a cut of all the Paramount labeled merchandise that they sell. Those kinds of things can really eat into profits, especially in the merch department. Cedar Point makes a killing off of merch, because they do their own and they sell a ton of it. Rarely do you see a non Cedar Point licensed piece of merchandise in the park. At Kings Island I bet that maybe 40 to 50 percent of the merch in the gift shops don't even bear the parks name. Also the food prices are becoming increasingly higher. I found myself more and more eating outside of the park this year simply because 9 bucks for 2 slices of LaRosas and a Coke (soon to be Pepsi) is a little too much for me. By cutting back their overhead costs, they will be able to lower some prices like they did up north and pass savings along to guests. They don't need the Paramount licensing, however I do have two words.... Keep Nickelodeon

Who comes up with these crap rumors. Corkscrew isn't going anywhere. It's too old to invest time and money into moving it anywhere, and its loops over the midway are one of CP's postcard images. Demon Drop isn't going anywhere, it's for sale because maintenance costs are going up and there's a bigger drop ride already in place at CP, just like there is at Kings Island. Kings Island isn't in a position to be getting leftovers from anywhere. 3.5 million guests and a wad of cash every year will buy them new rides, not obsolete 30 year old steel coasters. By the way, I heard that Vortex was sinking too.

I'm glad to see the zoo taking back over. Wyandot Lake has barely been touched for the last 10 years. I've really had no reason to go for a while now since there has been nothing new and Kings Island has continuously upgraded it's waterpark. I don't think that the zoo has any huge plans for the park, given the somewhat limited area to work with and the not so large pocketbook at hand. I would look for some improvements, but I wouldn't hold my breath for Busch Gardens Ohio....not that I wouldn't like to see it though.

I seriously doubt he retires after 2007 now. This acquisition is too big of a thing for him to leave the helm. For those who don't know, Dick Kinzel is about the most hands on, no frills CEO I've ever heard of. This is a man that started out as a fry guy at Cedar Point and rose through the ranks, with no formal college education, to the top of the company. He's the one responsible for the coaster building of the last 20 years by Cedar Point, and also the one responsible for making Cedar Fair the successful, profitable company it is today. Doesn't seem to be much for theming a park, but sure knows how to run one. As a fan of both Cedar Point and Kings Island, I'm glad (and KI fans should be too)that the park and it's siblings were sold to a company whose sole purpose is operating amusement parks, and not one like Universal, who seemingly keeps sending their parks further down the food chain.

There is a bit of a difference between Cedar Point and Kings Island in terms of "destination resort" status. Cedar Point is in the relatively small town of Sandusky...not quite the major metropolis. It does however, have the best location possible. Cedar Fair fashoned the amusement park into a resort destination by building hotels and keeping guests for a couple of days. They gave guests a couple other things to do with Castaway Bay, Challenge Park, and Soak City, not to mention they built a great park. In contrast, Kings Island draws much of it's success from the nearby population of Cincy. While Kings Island is a great park that does take a couple of days to do everything with, owners have never really cashed in on that because they probably figured that your average PKI visitor probably comes from Cincy or the surrounding area. While that thought has some truth to it, I still tend to think that a well built hotel with some real amenities for parkguests (early entry, package discounts...etc) would probably do very well for Kings Island. People do stay in the hotels that surround the park, and would opt for the park's hotel if the price was competitive with more benefits. I wouldn't be surprised to see a new Kings Island hotel pop up in the next few years to service some of the 3.5 million guests

It all depends on what Cedar Fair decides to do with the Paramount rights. I wouldn't be surprised to see some clearance at the end of the season. Paramount might want those last few bucks. If not, than we will see Cedar Fair slowly move in new merch over the next few years. Cedar Fair has a far better variety and quality of merchandise than Paramount. People don't always want a t-shirt...Cedar Fair knows this. You can buy just about anything, from patches and pins to park videos to a Cedar Point monopoly game.

This article draws some reasonable conclusions about the similarities of old Six Flags and new Cedar Fair. The difference between the two is that the Six Flags buying spree consisted of small regional parks with marginal success. Cedar Fair has purchased 5 highly successful operations, two of which had a combined attendance of almost 7 million, one in a large market, one with no competition, and another California park...not to mention they also inherited the Nick franchise...arguably the most popular among the kids. There is quite a difference between the money Cedar Fair spent and the money Six Flags spent. Literally nothing has to be done to make any of the parks successful because they already are. I'm not worried a bit about Cedar Fair stock. This sale is a winner.

Not to sound sacreligious, but am I wrong, or is FOF the same model Vekoma launch as Rock N Roller Coaster. I can't possibly see it going anytime soon. The lines are still too long for it. It is indeed a great ride, but the theme is a little tired. Besides, we all know Vortex will be out within the next couple years and will be replaced by the Wonder Pets giga coaster right????

Cedar Point, Holiday World, Beech Bend...all parks operating in smaller towns and relying heavily on out of town college help and exchange students. PKI has a rather large city about 15 miles down the road to get many employees from.

Cedar Fair is always mentioned when a Six Flags park comes up for sale. Unfortunately, I think that this one is a bit of wishful thinking. Astroworld is in downtown Houston...prime real estate with high property value. That spells money for Six Flags if they were to sell the land to the highest bidder. I too shudder to think that another amusement park would close in order to build a shopping mall or a parking lot, but it doesn't look good, unless the city of Houston decides to find a way to keep it running. I look for the big rides to either be sold or moved to another park I don't expect that Cedar Fair would be interested in a downtown park with limited space, parking problems, and a city code to deal with. Magic Mountain??? That's a different story.

I was at the park last Monday...last monday of the summer. Why was Top Gun closed? Another thing. It looks like hell. Are they going to spruce it up? or is it the "big ride removal" we've all heard about.

I'd be glad to see a coaster museum finally be opened somewhere....however I wonder if a certain park up north wouldn't be a better fit for something like that

could the teaser trailer be any more obvious? This has to be the worst kept secret in amusement park history. It's actually kind of funny in a Napoleon Dynamite way. While I'm on the subject, I think that PKI should creat a giant hedge sculpture of Napoleon's head.

The answer to your question about which rides have long lines is this....None. Geauga Lake's current less than spectacular attendance numbers, combined with a new waterpark and Cedar Fair's ride management, makes for some pretty quick lines. That's not to say that Geauga Lake is a bad park, because it's a great place with some awesome rides. I think that under Six Flags, the park lost quite a few patrons and are just now starting to get them back. There aren't many super good flats up there, however don't miss what I would consider to be a possibly overlooked gem, and that is the Big Dipper. Of course the big coasters aren't to be missed. The white water rapids ride is pretty bad though. As far as food goes, there aren't any spectacular places to eat. It's all pretty much your run of the mill park food, so anywhere will work.

Obviously Oxygen bars don't get people that high. That's why they exist pretty much nowhere else except the west coast. Maybe it's that the LA folks are so used to breathing smog that a huff of clean oxygen sends them to the moon. It's a novel experience, but that's about it.

I too hate to see The Racers deteriorate. One would think that they would keep one of the most popular rides in the park in tip top shape. I hope that it gets some rehab work done in the near future....and no, it should never be themed. It's a classic style wooden coaster with some significance, and that is how it should stay. No offense whatsoever to whoever had the idea, but I think that theming it to a horrible movie like Dukes of Hazzard would be blasphemous.

They have let FOF go a little bit. I totally agree that PKI needs to take care of it's older themed attractions. FOF is one thing, but Top Gun just looks plain ratty. The ride is pretty good (except for track length), yet they have let the aircraft carrier station, the track, and pretty much everything else there to rot. Same goes for the Paramount Story. I haven't seen a new prop or movie block for years. The place could be really cool if they would just put some effort into it. Adventure Express is still somewhat taken care of, but could be better, especially seeing as it's one of their most ridden rides. PKI has done a lot to better itself over the past few years, and is gaining a reputation as a bonafide theme park, but if they want a bigger share of the market, they will have to hold every food stand, every attraction, every inch of landscape, and everything else in the park to the highest standard possible, and I have trouble believing that a park that led the industry in seasonal attendance last year is doing that to it's full potential. Don't get me wrong, I love PKI. It's one of the best parks out there, but it could be better, and for a menial amount of money spent on some paint, some plants, movie props, and other assorted odds and ends.

Disney movies used to be timeless until about 10 years ago. The new ones that they are putting out are far from that, which is why they are building thrill rides like Mission Space and the Everest Coaster. They have failed to create good new characters to theme around What separates PKI from Disney is one thing....money. Disney spends big, PKI doesn't. Paramount has put out plenty of timeless movies over the years, but many of them don't lend themselves well to a theme park attraction, and the ones that do are licensed to other parks. An Indiana Jones themed ride would be great, so would a War of the Worlds attraction. Heck put a Godfather themed attraction in with the old antique cars. If Paramount wants its parks to stay sharp, than they have to quit licensing out all the movies and characters to the competition and use it themselves. You don't see Disney licensing out Mickey Mouse, nor do you see Universal licensing rights to their best "theme park attracton" movies. I'll be sad to see Hanna Barbera go, but Viacom owns Nickelodeon, and Nickelodeon is perfect for theming a kiddie area. Now Paramount Parks needs to tap into the full potential that Viacom has for them.

I have a question. Since when does it matter who holds the "record"? SOB holds a record, but it's a mediocre ride at best. What does it matter if The Beast's longest wooden coaster record is broken? Why are amusement parks (and fanboys) so hung up on having record breaking rides in the first place? Thunderhead at Dollywood isn't a record breaker, but I dare say that it contends for the best wooden coaster title in the country. It doesn't matter if a coaster is the highest or fastest or whatever, what matters is if it is a good ride. Having a good coaster comes first. If that coaster happens to be a record breaker, than great. If not, who cares....just market the crap out of it and it will sell as long as your park is a good product. If Six Flags wants the record, they can have it. I would much rather go to PKI and have some scenery and theming and decent food and customer service....than go to a McSixFlags park, wait in line for hours for their one train operations, wade through trash, choke on their food, and ride coasters that are rougher than they should be because of poor maintenance. PKI may or may not have the "record", but at least PKI has personality. Another thing. The Intamin woodie may be coming, but who said that it would be 245 feet tall.....it's a rumor...just like the new Holiday World coaster will be the longest woodie is a rumor. We've barely started the 2005 season and rumors for next year are flying already.

It's Top Thrill Dragster with a few extra feet and a couple extra MPH with a bunny hill and OTSR restraints. I've ridden TTD plenty of times....awesome experience....no reason to go ride what is basically a clone. I think the reason why it has OTSR's is because of the Superman accident not too long ago. The Intamin T-Bar has come under a lot of fire in recent years. Why I don't really know, because they do a fine job at Cedar Point. Six Flags probably requested the restraints, which by the way, are a bit uncomfortable.

Are you guys seriously discussing this? Removing either The Racer or The Beast would be the biggest bonehead move ever made. There is way too much history and popularity there for that to ever happen. I find it comical that there are 3 pages worth of replies to this topic.