Kenban

This is what I have heard over the years. Treat it all as rumors but put it all together and it seems to make some sense, I disagree with the choices that have been made but I can understand why. Coney Island has long relied upon surveys of their existing pass holders to help make decisions. They would not look for information from the general public, potential guests, or guests who were just purchasing a single day ticket. My understanding is that the results were extremely clear that the pass holders at least were mostly only at the park for the pool and other water attractions. I am certain some pass holders did value the rides and likely many did ride them but the surveys at least suggest it was not enough to justify keeping them. The park considered building a gravity group wooden coaster a few years ago, and while I have forgotten the price, I do remember it was very cheap. It would have been similar in size to Kentucky Flyer. I believe they had already decided not to build the coaster by the time I learned of the plans. Part of the reason why it was not built was due to the parking spaces which would have been lost. The park is right next to Riverbend and parking for events is done at the park. Which I was told the park makes more money off of parking then operating the park. Expanding the park would have been risky and there is no way to know it would have made enough to justify the expense and the loss of parking revenue. When park expansion is less important then the parking lot, I am not surprised it was decided that the dry rides were not worth keeping. I feel like building the coaster would have been worth the risk, but that was also likely the beginning of the end for the dry side of the park, because they placed a higher priority on other revenue streams. Without the pandemic I would not actually have been worried about the long term viability of the park, because of Riverbend. Everything I have heard suggests they make a lot of money from events. Now I have no idea what is going to happen.

Competition is complicated, frequently in the amusement park industry competition helps both parks. Not just by pushing them to do better but by drawing in new guests, and causing people to visit parks more frequently. Orlando is the easy one, executives at both Disney and Universal are on record stating new rides at their competition actually increase attendance. They draw more guests to the area and cause them to stay longer. I have seen interviews with executives at Disney stating that they saw attendance go up after the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened. Amusement parks are competing with the entire spectrum of leisure activities, everything from Netflix, to Video Games, to a movie theater, and even parks like Universal and Disney. Anything that you could be instead be doing is competition. To an extent having more parks, giving potential guests additional reasons to think about the industry. Creating new enthusiasts, providing a reason for people to come to an area and stay for several days visiting multiple parks helps everyone. The number of guests visiting parks, and the number of days they are visiting is not static. This is a lot more complicated then if a guest is going to visit one or the other. Kings Island might have lost a few guests, but how many has it gained? I understand why it might feel like for one to gain guests the other has to lose but its just not true. Someone has to lose, because time and money are finite, but for the majority of guests its another activity entirely.

Japan requires all park guests and employees to wear masks including on rides. From what I have heard masks have not been a problem on rides like Steel Dragon 2000, Hakugei and Do-Dodonpa. If none of those are causing issues I have no idea what coaster would.

I have no idea who you have spoken with, but based on multiple conversations I have had with friends who live and work in Orlando, and have been actively visiting Disney Springs, City Walk, Fun Spot, and the Universal parks since reopening, this is only accurate if your talking about Volcano Bay, or inside a restaurant. Universal has a policy of not requiring masks on water rides, and obviously you cannot eat or drink with a mask on. But they are enforcing it more then you seem to think. Even on Jurassic Park River Adventure, the employees require guests to be seated before they can take off their masks. You cannot enter a store, or a ride queue without a mask on. People can get away with taking a mask off while walking the midways but as soon as you want to do most things in the park, you will be required to wear a mask, or will be turned away.

They should be able to hire and train before they are open to the public. The two weeks from today is the earliest day they can open for guests.

I am not convinced that either Cedar Point or Kings Island has a maximum capacity, or if they do that it is even possible to reach those numbers. What I have heard and been told before is basically the park self limits itself by running out of parking. If there is no reasonable way to get to the park they have reached capacity, but if you do have a way to get to the gate you can still get into the park.

I am remembering a comment from likely a month or two ago, and I really do not remember if it was from someone in Ohio or not. But basically they were outlining reopening priorities and they flat out stated attractions which draw in guests from out of state were not a priority and should consider themselves last to reopen. Basically they did not want out of state travelers from a hot spot. I have no idea if that is what is going on here but it feels like it. An FEC, playground, or zoo is less likely to get large numbers of travelers then Cedar Point. You are correct if you assume all attendees are the same and have the same chance of being infected, an outdoor amusement park with restrictions is safer then some of the businesses and organizations which have been allowed to operate. It is very difficult to spread the disease outdoors and with some basic restrictions, including masks, and distancing, and limiting indoor areas, there is no reason why an outdoor park should not be able to operate safely. My understanding of how transmission of the virus works is that gift shops, indoor dining, and the restrooms are likely to be the most dangerous areas of the park, and frankly all of those are already open outside of the park.

I have to give Six Flags credit when they deserve it. That video and the policies I have seen are fantastic. I have been an advocate for using thermal imaging for temperature checks, and its great seeing a park implement it. This is exactly how it should be done, it has already been proven due to previous outbreaks and frankly it is likely more reliable then trying to use the handheld laser thermometers that Universal has been using. I hear way too many stories about people who read so low they should be in a coma or dead. Also that will be a giant upgrade for their gate security. Its going to come down to implementation and frankly there is a real chance they Six Flags their policies into a steaming pile of garbage. But so far I am impressed, and I am actually looking forward to trying it out at one of their parks later this year.

Traditionally, yes, employees of the park and employees of the construction company can and often do ride before the state inspections have been completed. I cannot comment on Orion specifically but I have seen it plenty of times. My guess is someone has ridden Orion already, it might have been an employee of B&M, or a park employee but I am betting someone has been on it. Here is video of Iron Gwazi testing with people, not that long after completing track work.

Sea World Orlando is not open to the public. The photos and videos of people riding Mako with face masks only riding at the ends of the rows are of employees. It makes sense they would not be seated next to each other, and I think people assuming the middle seats will not be used are reading way too much into this. I am guessing they will just leave at least one empty seat between groups, and will use every row. You have 3 or 4 you get the row, where if you are a group of two there is an empty seat then a single, two singles just get the ends of the row. So worst case two people per a row, should keep capacity of a train at least 50% of normal. I have yet to see any park which has reopened which left rows empty between guests, I have no idea what good the empty rows would be. From what I have read the virus is only active for several minutes in direct sunlight. I wonder if for outdoor coasters it might be just as effective as a wipe down to just cycle the train empty every other cycle. Run it as full as is reasonable, then lock the restraints quickly and cycle it empty, load an empty train when it returns and repeat. But this feels pointless, and providing hand sanitizer before and or after riding is likely more effective. Spreading the disease outdoors is difficult, add reasonable safety precautions like masks, hand sanitizer, frequent hand washing, and cleaning the trains a couple of times a day feels like it would be enough. Obviously really risky activists should not occur, so no parades, no shows, and limited indoor areas of the park. But it does seem like most outdoor activity which do not need direct contact between people including amusement parks should be able to operate safely.

Ghostrider was more than just a retracking, GCI reprofiled elements and changed the banking of the track throughout the coaster, about 40% of the track is in a slightly different location then before the refurbishment. It is a great example of what is possible, but the ride will be a different experience afterwards. If you want an example of how it can go wrong just look at Gwazi. It had Millennium Flyers put on the track after running PTC trains for years. It ended up being a disaster and the ride went SBNO after a few years. I remember the ride running extremely rough, worse then I ever remember with the PTC trains. Because of how large of a disaster Gwazi was I have heard GCI will now only sell trains for a swap if the ride also experiences a major refurbishment.

Swapping a train on a wood coaster is not the same as changing a train on a steel coaster. The steel track is largely unchanging and the rails and trains are held to much tighter tolerances. While on a wood coaster there is a lot more room for movement and overtime the wood will conform to how the train travels through the course. Since each train design has a different wheel base or if it even has the ability to turn at all and just shuffles through the turns, each train design ends up taking its own line through the elements. The problem is after running a set of trains for a few years the track essentially is damaged in a specific way based on those trains, the potholes, and bumps are not an issue for those trains because that is just how the train rides. But if the trains are swapped out for a different set of trains that suddenly are trying to roll over those issues riders will find the new trains extremely rough, often worse then if the original trains had been kept. Any move to a different train should also be part of a major refurbishment which needs to include a complete re-tracking. Which is why its unlikely this will occur anytime soon. The trains are something like a million dollars each, plus a few million for the re-tracking and upgrading something like The Racer or The Beast becomes a $10 million dollar job and with such large coasters likely something which would need the ride to be shut down for part of a season to complete the work since I suspect it could be hard to complete in a single off season. Also justifying that kind of expense is difficult. Millennium Flyers to Infinity Flyers, is likely easier, but I have no idea why the park would even consider it.

Ethanol should be available in massive quantities right now. That is the type of alcohol which is typically blended with gasoline. Since so little fuel is being used very large quantities of industrial alcohol should be available very cheaply. I have read where several of the plants have shut down due to so little demand for ethanol. The country produces more than 14 billion gallons of ethanol a year.

Yea that proposal was purely a bid to increase the parks height limit. It was never intended to be viewed as an actual blueprint for exactly what the next 20+ years will bring to the park. They were stuck with a height restriction of somewhere around 40 feet for most of the life of the park and every attraction was a hard fight. The very first attraction which was added after that document was created and the height restriction changed was RailBlazer, which was not one of the coasters listed anywhere and was built where the Impluse coaster was shown to be located in the park. Its a bad idea to put much faith in the document.

Is it? I suspect Cedar Fair will attempt to sell it, or depending on how badly they need parts they might just immediately scrap it for Steel Venom and Wicked Twister. Possessed is 20 years old and this would be the second time it would be moved, about the same age as Volcano when it was scrapped. This is also the oldest impulse coaster which is still operating, the original model was scrapped several years ago. I have not seen any recent developments on the hyper. I think it would be a great business decision and I have an idea on how to make it truly unique in the chain and the US in general. I would build it with dual loading stations, have one station runs forwards, and one run backwards trains. Get 2 of each so run 4 trains total, this is similar to how Universal Studios Japan runs Hollywood Dream (they only have one backwards train, so they run 3 forwards trains, one station swaps back and forth between backwards and forwards trains). But I cannot see Cedar Fair spending that kind of money on CGA, because the extra train, engineering work, and other modifications needed would likely cost several extra million dollars even though it would really be the standout attraction at the park, and basically give them two coasters for a few extra million over the price of one. That's the kind of ride which would get people to travel to the park to experience and being in California they have a large audience to pull from, and a lot of parks to compete against.

The problem is this is not about just you or your health. This effects society as a whole, and all members of the general public. You cannot just risk yourself, as soon as you go to a general point of contact like a grocery store, or an office, the doctor, a gas station, etc you are suddenly risking everyone else. The only way is to totally remove one group from the other, they have to completely cut themselves off from the other. This is the same thing with masks, your not risking just yourself by not wearing one, you are risking everyone else around you. This is no different then laws against smoking in public, and requirements that you have car insurance. I know its hard to do but you need to stop thinking about just yourself and think about everyone else.

This year was basically Eastern Pennsylvania, Hersheypark, Dorney, Knoebels. Next year was supposed to be Cedar Point, and it sounds like they are pushing this year to next year so I guess Cedar Point is now 2022.

If anyone wants another example here is one about a call center in South Korea. 43% of the people on a single floor ended up being infected. This is part of the reason having everyone wearing a face mask when possible is so important. A mask does not prevent you from getting sick, although it might assist in keeping you safe. What a mask is good at is helping slow the spread from infected individuals, especially the people who do not know they are sick. Even a simple cloth covering will prevent the majority of droplets from traveling away from a person. In Asian countries its normal to wear a mask when an individual feels sick in an effort to protect others, often cheap and disposable. The idea here is the same but now that we appear to have confirmation that the majority of infected individuals never have symptoms it is more important that everyone wear a mask. The faster we can slow the spread of the disease, and the better we are at keeping the spread down, the faster we can get back to work, and back to the parks.

The United States is currently running a fatality rate of 5.6%, 837k cases, 47k dead, and 76k confirmed recovered. The fatality rate is likely high but all three numbers are low, for instance more and more evidence is showing that just about every country is under counting the deaths. 28,000 missing deaths, plus we have the issue with the fact that not every confirmed case has recovered. People who are not sick enough to get tested or have seemingly no symptoms is throwing off the number of confirmed cases, and the number of people who recovered at home is also not included in those figures. Getting accurate numbers in the middle of an outbreak like this is difficult. But we already know this is a multitude more deadly than the flu. Even cutting the fatality rate in half to 2.8% we are left with a figure that is 28x higher then the flu which only kills around 0.1% of the people who become infected.

So I heard from a friend that Universal had started sending out surveys asking guests about how they would feel about different measures. It sounds like they want to see how comfortable guests would be with different mitigation measures. I did a quick search trying to find a copy of the survey, while I was given screenshots of some of the questions, I would prefer to see it myself. But it turns out Theme Park Insider has already written an article about the survey. So questions include Require face masks of guests/team members, temperature checks, eliminate self service food/drink, wipe down ride vehicles between rides, limit park capacity to 75/50/25%, virtual line for all rides, no indoor attractions, no shows, no parades, no nighttime shows. The one that bothers me is they asked about requiring a rapid covid test to enter the park. The issue is it would be effectively impossible to implement. The cost of performing the test is too high to be able to implement, assuming enough equipment could be purchased. Virtual lines for everything sounds great, except where are the guests going to go between rides? It works on a handful of attractions but trying to convert everything just seems unworkable. No indoor attractions, and no shows leaves me thinking there would not be much open in a Universal park.

Scratch that, I was totally wrong. I do know the month, and they are already all labeled. The issue is its in the filename I uploaded them with. You can click through to the original photo, or at least on my browser it displays the filename in the lower left corner of the screen when I mouse over it. If you do this on the photo with The Racer turn around, and a portion of The Vortex station, and The Vortex lift, you should see somewhere in the address KingIsland216_87.jpg, the picture before it of the Eiffel Tower contains KingsIsland206_87.jpg and afterwards is KingsIsland2210_90.jpg. Basically it is XXMM_YY.jpg, the X is the picture number just an automated item from the scanning, the MM is the month and might be only a single digit like the 216_87 and the 206_87 examples above, in those cases they should be from June of 1987, while the 2210_90 is from October of 1990, looking at the photos from October I can see trees changing color so good chance the month is accurate.

Looks like the sale went through. Indiana Beach has updated their Facebook page with this photo. Best news I have heard in a little while.

No need to violate policy to get more than a thousand people in a Walmart, the average size for one of their super stores is 180k square feet, they even come larger the biggest is in New York and is 250-260k square feet. Which means 1250 customers, even the average store is 900 people.

In short, no, I posted these photos 3 years ago. The thread got bumped, and I am happy that this is giving people a second chance to see the photos, but doubt I have the original slides any longer. I do not believe they were ever marked with more information then the location and the year. At this point even if they were sadly I would have no access to that information any longer.

While it is not being built on top of where Possessed is located, and the two rides could coexist, it seems pretty likely its being removed. Planning Commission Notice Here is the important piece, "The plan proposes to remove an existing attraction, construct a new attraction, associated walkways and access drives, and relocate a portion of the existing Zephyr train ride." It flat out states there will be an existing attraction being removed. Site Layout Looking at the site layout it becomes pretty obvious the plan is to remove Possessed. The ride is completely missing, and it is small enough to fit the entire ride into that layout. The circle at the lower right corner of this PDF is the seating for a food stand which is just beyond the spike. Making it more obvious they mark the location where the sign is currently located as being saw cut and then filled with concrete. The station for Possessed should be directly to the right of the Mechanical building and I believe the new landing and stairs for access to the building would be inside of the station for Possessed. I am not 100% certain on the distances but I think that Infiltration Pond on the layout would also be inside the queue for Possessed, just having trouble figuring out if its where the queue is currently located or if its the grass in between the fence and the queue.