BeeastFarmer

Kings Island should check into tapping into the retirement community. If it works for Dollywood to have a 70 year old lady on Thunderhead ops booth, it would work for Kings Island. No, retired folks can't do a lot of restraint checks on the Woodies, and long hours in the food places, but I seem to remember lots of them in 2021 being litter gitters and loving it. Could free up those positions to have others in various roles. Maybe having them as Cedar Fair SUPERVISORs would bring a level of maturity to supervisor role.

Meanwhile, the news about the death roller coaster at six flags has reached even into local news ( via national generic parent company) and I get comments and questions about how I should never ride a roller coaster again. Most, I would guess, don't know that Kings Island is a six flags park. If their name goes on, eventually it will hurt the park. It's like the wackos who do these things actively want the company to fail.

It wouldn't be the first time " redundant" rides are installed. West Coast racers, although not an RMC, has similar style to an RMC. Dont come after me lol

I think the "cool sup" is still a thing today. It's like they get a shirt that says Cedar Fair SUPERVISOR and they are immune from responsibility. I've seen them standing around during WinterFest laughing with each other or try to be Michael Scott with the front line workers, while people are waiting in line for food or drinks. There are hard working folks at the park including some of the Cedar Fair SUPERVISORs, but most I have seen have been more inward focused than customer focused. It's like they don't have leadership guidance and want to be bffs with the front line.

Meanwhile, Enchanted Parks is still cleaning up the mess from SFEC's dining plans. SFEC sold dining plans on their passes until the moment the transaction closed. This is a conjecture, but I would venture a bet they knew EP was not continuing them . I would extrapolate that they used the money to either: 1. Place in an interest earning reserve account and delayed reimbursement or 2. They spent the money on business expenses and did not have a thought out plan for reimbursement. I see now that EP pass holders who had a six flags dining plan are going to get a 50% discount on '27 pass rates. They are making good decisions because that would speak volumes to me.

They are targeting Marilyn Spiegel.

I'm not sure how this extrapolation came about. I said it didn't matter if it was copy/paste because I was able to make ( and see) old friends. Unfortunately coasterstock has died. Maybe at some point it will return, but I think it would be in name only. Or if the right people did it, it be as good or better then before.

Which is why I said it didn't matter and that it allowed me to make new friends every year.

Coaster Club events are by nature, niche. Besides a fun time for the attendees, I would assume the hope from the business would be that loyal guests ( which club members usually are) would begat future guests. I grew up going to ki. It was fun. But when went on a dead rainy cool May in 2014 and could ride The Beast over and over and over I was hooked. I went 15 times that year, each time bringing someone else. At some point,we saw people wearing lanyards, and asked. They were there for a coaster event. I got hooked. The next year, I went to the first coasterstock. I met my first coaster friends and saw my first coaster annoying people. The next year I branched out to other parks, so much so that I went to all Cedar Fair parks except cga, wide and vf. Coasterstock did become very copy/paste, but it didn't matter. Met new people each time that I still keep up with. The ACE spring conference was better than any coaster stock, but it had a different purpose and I suppose was easier to let the club handle logistics vs the park logistics being pared down some. For the last coaster stock, I didn't go, it was not a priority like all the other years. I was actually glad there was not one this year so the decision was made for me lol. All this to say that these events are good and bad. If the positivity the parks expect form the most loyal customers dwindles, they likely won't continue them. Or, maybe coaster stock was not done because Tony had too much on his plate with being a pr person for most of the company. Speaking of him, I've seen online that he and six flags have parted company. Is that true?

PKI??? You really are old! (Said in jest, referencing Maestro chiding NoLegs Larry for having Myspace)

I agree, but want to point out: the Paramount Parks were the objects of massive investments for the most part. The legacy parks saw their investments slow down. So, at this time, they are heavily investing in MM, NJ, Chicago, OT, OG. Maybe in a way, ki is similar to Knott's. Huge attendance ( but ki was pass holders) and does really well without frequent large investment. So in a sense, ki could go down a similar trajectory and still be a cash cow, but they'd have to spend money on infrastructure and making the park cohesive and very well themed.

I'm not an analyst, but to push him out prematurely would probably make the stock tumble even more. Shareholders want to see stability and most investors are either in it for the long haul, or they get in and out quickly. Buy low and hold or buy low and sell when it climbs back up.

A small sample size for sure, and it's anecdotal - not published. Family, friends, coworkers etc constantly question me about Kentucky Kingdom and my patronage it. They still call it Six Flags and it's close to 20 years since they operated the park.

Vortex plot? I don't think that would work because: The lift hill is loud. Those pesky neighbors on that side of the park would throw a hissy fit, whine and complain. This is more preference but I want whatever goes there to be placed so as to keep The Beast mystique or enhance it. No flashy lights. I do have a potential proposal for the company that could solve some problems. Kings Island develops its own farm to table farm over in the River Town area, back behind the Midway quite a bit. A real farm to supply food to the park, for protein, specific to chicken, pork and beefy. The patrons benefit by having a new land to explore and learn from authentic seasonal KI farmers, the park has very fresh food and it is quieter than a loud coaster. Odor wouldn't be a problem because industrial fans could channel air south and east. Surely I jest ..or unsurely? ( If you've never had experience with a hog farm, a feedlot or large brooder houses, you may struggle with the attempt at humour).

Remember, however, that Taft lost interest in the parks and they started to stagnate until they were sold to keco. I think KI, as the flagship, was sold to a local business man with keco as the operator. Then Paramount happened and we lost Australia's Wonderland. I digress. The future Six Flags will probably look a lot different than the present six flags. 2028 is supposed to be the year of "the great reset.". So maybe that means they will be pared down to just the major profit centers. Hopefully Kings Dominion survives Six Flags or the entity it is spun into.

Those trees would be goners.

And remember, perception is reality. X2 has nothing to do with KI, but now that it's problems are being aired out, everything is "six flags is unsafe, did you hear about the people who died on that roller coaster?". We all know the safety record criteria, but the "gp" doesn't. So the company has to carry THAT stain around. When the accident at TTD happened, not many would associate that with knotts or over Georgia. I know it has a huge brand recognition, but if I were in a decision making position, i'd want to walk away from the name quickly.

They must have got one heck of a deal on it, or RMC is trying to take a loss in order for potential future gain. I'm not certain how roller coasters are "paid off" in the real world. And each manufacturer is different. Like with Orion, B&M certainly didn't charge KI $30 million. They likely got design, engineering, consult fees, etc. Then the park paid out the trades...footers, erectors, plumbing, electrical and so on. But did the park take out a loan for the projected depreciation of the coaster? Did they have $30m sitting around for the project in an interest bearing account? So with AF1, what if RMC took the balance owed from Fun spot to their assumed creditors, worked it out with Six Flags and Fun spot to make that the purchase price ( just for numbers sake, say 8m) and gave six flags a substantial discount for fees to move it and reassemble with modifications? Steele Vengeance has been an expensive coaster to maintain from what I hear. The carpenters are constantly replacing wood due to the stresses. I've heard Railblazer was problematic ( and Fiesta Texas had to close theirs for quite a while for modifications). So Cedar Fair wasn't happy with the company. AF1 is a completely steel coaster, so even with relocation, it's likely to be less problematic than those two. Hence, a good chance for RMC to attempt to work on the relationship.

I haven't seen the release as it's been a busy work day. Whichever park gets this, I hope they don't ask the manufacturer to completely redo the ride, only as much as is necessary. SV has been such a maintenance load, and I'd conjecture that many of the issues were with Cedar Fair wanting so much stuff AND a completely new train design. From a non engineer perspective: change what needs to be changed with the elevation and hopefully allow it to run three trains if feasible.

Or that they have paid their direct tv bill.

I think that is what he said.

I wonder if the genius(s) that thought the brand recognition of the Six Flags name was worth keeping are regretting that or laughing as they float in their golden parachutes? Several people in my sphere asked me about the X2 situation and have told me never to ride a roller coaster again. The media reports Ive seen here, rarely say MAGIC MOUNTAIN but always say Six Flags. Oh, and I listened to a podcast yesterday on the way home from work, apparently KI's PR person is based out of California but is responsible for KI, KD, Cwinds and Canada. Make it make sense.

https://youtube.com/shorts/PUY2pYWZHvM?is=nNxFOVS_XckOxwiX

WinterFest lights are either going up in the trees, or getting tested if they were never taken down. Anyone here know why the Snoopy webcam is off?

How would the discussion go if they moved to Toronto? :)