Kenban

If you go back a few pages there is a picture that was taken from the floating walkway back towards the ride area. You should be able to see Steel Venom in that picture but its been airbrushed out. I think its either being removed or going to be SBNO next season.

Just wondering which park did the parade end the season at last year?

I always felt the parade should have been done all summer at each of the parks instead of being shipped around. But I have to wonder if thats whats happening or if its only going to be at Carowinds next year.

Maybe I just missed this.....but I dont remember hearing about any "major setbacks" to the sub project. What happened? This is as I remember it off the top of my head. The water return pipe from the water pumping or filtration (not sure which) was capped off since no one could not figure out its use. A few days after they flooded the lagoon they started all the pumps up and a couple of hours after that parts of the Monorail station and the walkways around the subs were flooded (in the middle of the day at DL). They got the pumps shut off not long after that but the damage had already been done. Last I heard they now have to drain the water again no clue if they figured out another way to fix the problems or not.

I completely forgot something major being done to Disneyland. Its been talked about for a few weeks now on Disney sites. Half of Tom Sawyer island is being changed into a pirate area. Since it requires shutting down Fantasmic to get the work done they only have something around 3 months to do the entire transformation.

From what I can remember about what people know is going to happen but not announced yet the expansions of 2 resorts (AKL, Contemporary) and Midway Mania at MGM (considering its already under construction not sure how it will not be announced today). Although last year a new highway was built onsite and there has been some talk about land clearing. Also if you look all it says is Disney Parks so we might be hearing about the expansions to the California parks as well. CA is getting Midway Mania as well but is rumored to be getting a ride based on the Pixar movie Cars which will use the Test Track ride system and will feature dual tracks so the cars race each other. There is also been talk that a new show might end up in the lake inside CA. Over in Disneyland there is the rebuild of the sub ride which is almost finished (although had a major setback a few weeks ago). Disneyland is replacing their monorail trains with newer larger versions not sure if thats been announced formally or not yet. I believe the original plan though was this was supposed to be the grand opening of the new attraction at the Magic Kingdom at WDW the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club. Which had its opening delayed a few months. I figured it was because Six Flags Kentucky Kingdoms announcements were today. They are expanding the water park.

Great point I was forgetting about that but your comment made me remember about a very interesting chart that I have a copy of which took the attendance in 2005 and divided that by the number of operating days. To give you an idea of the average attendance at the biggest parks. Because of the short season Canada's Wonderland has it has one of the highest daily attendance figures for any park. In 2005 its daily attendance was higher then Epcot's.

The problem is that it takes months or even years to design, order, then build a major coaster. To put in a top 10 ride this winter would have required that Cedar Fair decide to build the coaster and ordered it before they even purchased the park. The only other way a coaster could have been installed this winter was if Cedar Fair had purchased an off the shelf standard design ride. If we continue to see this kinds of rides installed at Kings Island I will be happy to agree with you but its just too early to say that Cedar Fair is trying to screw over the park. Most people who don't have KI as their home park don't realize this but Kings Island actually has a higher attendance then Cedar Point, it is most visited seasonal park (I know in the US not sure about the world). But even with this attendance your going to see bigger rides installed at Cedar Point because it makes the chain more money (a LOT more). While the ride ran poorly at Geauga Lake it does not mean it will at Kings Island. History shows when these types of rides have been moved in the past the electronics are all upgraded and it often runs better then it had ever done in the past. For example Borg Assimilator at Carowinds had so many problems when it was Stealth at PGA I am betting it was down more often then actually working yet it runs very well at Carowinds. Its not because the employees have better training but because Vekoma made major upgrades to the ride when it was moved. The capacity will not be an issue if the third train is returned to service. It might not matter anyways because of the number of attractions the park has.

I started doing some google searches and I ran across the actual section for California. Theres a loop hole for stickers like this... "( This section does not apply to any of the following: .... (3) Signs, stickers, or other materials which are displayed in a 7-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield farthest removed from the driver, signs, stickers, or other materials which are displayed in a 7-inch square in the lower corner of the rear window farthest removed from the driver, or signs, stickers, or other materials which are displayed in a 5-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield nearest the driver." So all they have to do is put them in the lower corners of the windshield and its legal in California. My guess is there are similar laws in Kentucky and just about every state. I am sure they have had legal look at this and sign off on the change. But I hope they realize just how many ****ed off season pass holders they are going to have soon. Just to compare I got a 2 year pass to Universal Studios in Orlando for $180 and it includes parking standard. So all you have to do is flash the pass and the parking people know its free. Even without the special I used it would have been $180 for a year and its still worth it. Plus they only charge $99.99 to renew the pass.

Just wondering what state would that be? I hope Cedar Fair gives up on this insane policy of window stickers. I just don't see how it could work out.

I know its a cable lift. I think this is how it works but I might have something wrong. If you look at the pictures on RCDB you will see what looks like drums on the back of the tower track. Thats where the lift motors are. Then a cable runs up the tower to a large pulley at the top then down the track to catch on a train. Has Vekoma fixed the problems in these rides yet? I know all 3 were down almost the entire first 3 or 4 years they were open but you would think they would work by now.

I think companies sponsoring rides really is nothing new its just getting beyond the Disney parks. If you go back to the 1964 worlds fair in New York Disney was able to get several companies to pay for the development of attractions that ended up in Disney Land. Pepsi paid for Its a small World. GE was The Carousel of Progress. Then the state of Illinois had Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Over the years just about everything has had someone sponsor it at some point. Even the sinks in the bathrooms have signs above them about how to wash your hands paid for by Georgia-Pacific. Who also pays for Lights, Motors, Action, camp fires at Ford Wilderness, brochures you get at the hotels, and napkins. Some companies just seem to love to write checks to Disney. For example Siemens "As part of the deal, Siemens will sponsor several rides and attractions at Walt Disney World Resort including the Epcot icon, “SpaceShip Earth,†the nighttime Epcot fireworks show, “Illuminations: Reflections of Earth,†as well as new attractions that will be incorporated into Innoventions both at Epcot and at Disneyland Resort. The Sylvania lighting division of Siemens will sponsor Disney-MGM Studio’s holiday light show – “Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights,†as well as “Disney’s Electrical Parade†and “Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams†at Disneyland Resort in California." As long as companies leave it to the level Disney and Universal does I have no problem with it. While the rides are being paid for in part by a company its not like they run ads for the company or anything. The most interesting I have seen so far is after IllumiNations they use a powerful laser to write Sponsored by Siemens on Spaceship Earth. But it only stays up for a short time and it changes to Good Night in several languages and for the holidays they showed snow flakes falling etc I thought it worked really well.

I just noticed that you can now purchase 2007 tickets at pki.com. The Adult tickets are $29.95 and childrens tickets are available for $19.95 Maybe its just me but I am surprised that just how low the prices are for next season. As far as I can tell only Geauga Lake and Michigans Adventure have cheaper admission (out of the Cedar Fair parks). Also Kings Island is the only one of the old Paramount parks which have 2007 tickets for sale. I was expecting lower ticket prices but I figured it would be $34.95 leaving Cedar Point only a little higher at $41.95. Makes me wonder how much of an effect this will have.

Just want to point out that Kings Island announced on the 13th of December that the loop was being removed. There are already pictures without the loop on this site.

I don't know of any day of the year where an express pass is not available although the design of the webpage is very bad. A 1 park express pass for one day 11-16 is $20 the 2 park is $25 the price goes up the last day your there the 17th making the 1 park $30 and the 2 park $40. My guess is that when you went to the express pass page you did not scroll down to the other price levels. I doubt you will need the express passes that week. I would get there when the parks open at 9 AM and you will be amazed how quickly you will get through them.

In the past the rule has always been if you are trying to get back into a park that has reached capacity that you will be allowed to go to a differant park even if you do not have the park hopper option on the ticket. Also the gates are normally only closed for an hour or two at a time at least until enough people leave (but then like I said this sounds worse then normal). Your right I would hate to get to Disney, rent a room, car etc and not be allowed in but they have to draw the line somewhere and its a pretty high bar to hit. Not sure how you can say Disney oversold anything though. Normally there is someone standing at the exit warning people that they may not be able to get back in on days like this. I also read that it was not a total shutdown of the gates just that they only would let resort guests in.

This is just going to continue to happen until New Years. It happens every year since the parks can only handle around 100,000 people at a time. Plus there is limited readmission if you leave there is a good chance you will not be able to get back in until a large number of people leave the park. The week starting Christmas day until New Years day is the busiest time of the year for the Orlando Parks. Its also the most expensive time of the year to go for just about every hotel in the area charges holiday rates. I really have no idea why anyone would go now its just not worth it if there is a way to go any other time of year. Although it sounds worse then normal considering Disney is turning people away at 3 parks.

X-Flight was on a very flat piece of land. I am pretty sure back when the park was owned by Six Flags it was a parking lot coaster. Its hard to see from the photos just how flat the ground is now but it looks more even now then the last set of photos.

The wishes are available to anyone on property which means you can win if your in Downtown Disney as well. For being the year of a million dreams its going to run for 18 months (you know a Disney year) and its well over a million prizes total. How its being done is that every park (world wide) has a certain number of prizes to hand out each day. For example the Magic Kingdom will have one family selected each day to win a nights stay in the Castle. All of the parks are giving out golden fastpasses (which are actually blue plastic) but this is being done by a cast member gathering the next 30+ people getting off of a ride starting at a certain time in the morning (normally right after opening). The times and locations of the giveaways are being selected by a computer so that it is random. How someone in Downtown Disney can win is that there are other prizes then just the in park ones including pin lanyards, round the world vacations, etc. I was at Disney World about 2 weeks ago for 4 days. Still planning on writing a trip report at some point but have not gotten around to it yet. I saw people getting prizes, saw the magic fastpasses around people necks but never won anything myself. Although all of the lines were short enough that using fastpasses the longest line I waited in was around 20 minutes.

I would think since its on the ground and to my knowledge has never been painted before it might get a new paint job. X-Flight was designed for 3 trains which it was unable to run well with 3 trains at GL so the third train was used for parts. Its possible at KI the third train will return or be replaced by a new train (no clue how much was removed at some point its cheaper to replace the entire train). I have heard that when Stealth was moved a lot of systems on the ride were replaced and upgraded. Which is from what I have read why the ride worked at Carowinds. I am not sure if these upgrades have already been done to X-Flight or not but if they have not been done I expect it will happen now. I am not sure just how much its going to cost to move X-Flight but it would not surprise me if its going to be VERY expensive.

Why does it says they will announce what Knotts is getting later? They already announced it about a month ago its a coaster called Sierra Sidewinder. Which does leave Kings Island as the only park that has not announced its ride yet.

There is one interesting thing I noticed on the 12th page. "The original design of the supporting structure for the track was inadequate." Then it goes on to say "The modifications up to now undertaken by Kings Island appear to address a portion of these problems and have greatly improved the performance of the structure." I also think this is a very good sign for the future. "The SOB is not a structure that is running on the "ragged edge," but rather is an amusement ride that is most of the way to overcoming some original design shortcomings." The report leaves me wondering just how bad was the original design and what would have happened if Paramount had not done the large number of modifications.

I still find this article to be interesting. It talks a little about how the state feels it should be fixed. Although in my view one line jumps out at me. Now mind you I think this assumes the ride stays mostly the same keeping the loop and trains. I wonder if we will be seeing some steel supports or if the new trains will be enough.

Just want to point out that only 5 years ago in 2001 Geauga Lake had an annual attendance of 2.7 million. Considering the park now draws 700k and neither Cedar Point or Kings Island picked up those extra 2 million visits I don't think removing rides from GL will impact CP or KI unless the rides end up at one of them.

I don't believe that X-Flight is the most marketable attraction. I am pretty sure that the water park Wildwater Kingdom is what most guests visit the park for and it is what part of the park that is advertised the most. Really I don't think the removal of this one attraction would have that much of an impact on the attendance. The park drew in more guests 20 years ago when it was a family park with maybe one or two coasters then it is right now. While the attendance is up at Geauga Lake its not up that much. Last time I saw numbers for the park it was only drawing a little over 700,000. I know the attendance is up so lets assume its 800,000 now. Average per guest spending for Cedar Fair is around $40. Considering that GL has the lowest admission price of the chain I doubt that it is that high but thats what I am going to use anyways. So the park total might bring in around 32 million a year. Considering the size of the park I would be surprised if it could run on that little let alone all of the money that has been spent in the last few years. In 2005 the water park was built which cost 24 million. Then this year Tidal Wave Bay was added which cost 5 million. Even if nothing is added for 2007 Steel Venom still ripped itself apart and is going to be very expensive to fix. I wish I knew how much it cost to run Geauga Lake I am pretty sure the park is losing money but I have to wonder just how much.