BeeastFarmer

Or, it could be the elected official listening to the constituents...be it a vocal minority or a non vocal majority. 8 million dollars is not an insignificant amount. If the new riverbend is that important to the organization, they will find a way to get the additional twelve million.

Mike Kootnz has admitted that it was his decision to redo the fountain. I guess it does make sense for WinterFest, but to sacrifice 90 operating days for like 15 half operating days makes little sense to me. I miss the 1972 Royal Fountain iteration. @brenthodgehit the nail on the head. They should have mimicked the pedestals with circular jets like Kings Dominion has. We were told there would be daytime and nighttime shows...I do appreciate the color and height variation to the closing show, but what day show has ever taken place? It's the same pattern, over and over. That being said, it's still enjoyable to sit by the fountain and listen and watch the water.

Check out Snoopy directing the Royal Fountain at Canada's Wonderland on YouTube if you haven't seen it. I think it would be a great thing for KI with a minimal infrastructure investment.

Anyone who thought that coaster of this magnitude would not have challenges in the inaugural season was deluding themselves. Had Intamin, B&M, S&S or RMC done it, there would still be challenges. I hope I'm right, but I don't think this spells the end of TT2 or zamperla by any means. When these issues are resolved it should prove to be much more reliable than dragster ever was. I'm glad zamperla and Cedar Point are taking the hit to do it right. It just sucks that because of the hit that CP may take financially the budget cuts will further be hoisted on Kings Island.

I've never heard of such a thing until now. I guess this means that we are definitely in a post COVID world when some sweaty germ ridden human can be dropped in a pit of crap that other sweaty germ ridden humans have wallowed around in, while people gather to watch. And in this case, the viewing area is already congested unless they open up a plaza behind the claw machine. Without opening up significant space behind this area, this is very, very poor planning.

I doubt it. Maybe they could have a Beagle Scout Acres II over there.

Net profit is up now from 2020 because people are not afraid to go to the grocery stores and therefore traffic has increased. And while the panic buying may have been a good short term boost, the long term disruption from the supply chain certainly had an impact on sales which leads to a lower profit. And the pandemic caused many retailers to rethink the way they do business . Cutting hours, deferring maintenance are all common ways they are increasing their profits. However, I am not sure what Kroger's profit looked like before 2020. You proved my point about a single supplier. In areas where Kroger and Walmart are the only grocery options, a strong Kroger as a whole supports these Kroger stores where it's only them and Walmart. A week Kroger company would mean these Kroger stores would likely close, leaving Walmart as the sole source, to do what they will to the local community. This is a common situation in many rural communities, more urban areas do not have this problem. If my post implied that a single source of goods was a combination of Kroger/Walmart, that was unintentional. If you perceived it as such, it is not possible for two competitors to be a single entity unless they merge. Speaking of merger, Kroger and Albertsons would divest a significant numbers of stores, several banners, many brand names, corporate HQ and manufacturing/distribution plants to the third party. This third party is a wholesaler first and operator second. With 600 additional stores and associated assets, the competition is still there. And they likely will lower prices themselves since they can provide their own wholesale groceries vs Kroger who pays more for their goods from wholesale distributors.

Equating gas prices to the grocery market is laughable. You can do better. Small and large towns alike have the same issue. When I lived in Phoenix, Cirkle K would increase or decrease and the rest would follow. In Scottsdale, prices were higher than Tempe because people had more money there. Where I live, the majority of stations/brands rely on one refinery. This refinery controls the market. The outliers are Sam's and Costco but they don't have the reach into distant towns. The net profit margin for Kroger is 1.44%. Using gross profit can be deceiving. The only way for the company to make those meager margins is via economy of scale. Being bigger drives down redundancies, gives opportunities for suppliers to enter the market and achieve their own economy of scale and gives the union a stronger bargaining position. Other players in the market certainly cause erosion of profit, when you have Walmart as a competitor, and they can sell a bag of oranges for $1 cheaper than Kroger because they are bigger and don't have a union constraint to drive up expenses, Walmart wins. They can inflict the damage on Kroger that they have on many local businesses in our communities. So, a profitable Kroger benefits our communities much more than a weak, impotent Kroger. Many places, those are the only resources for food for miles.

People have been corrupt since the beginning of time, except for one, but he was a hybrid. When smoking was much more prevalent, cigarette butts were tossed around, and still are. People used to toss their garbage out the car window and still do. People used to burn their garbage and still do (my neighbor). People used to have their own dumpyards on their farm. All of what you see today is nothing new, but what is new in my observation is the mentality of "me, me, me.". I probably see this because I didn't see it when I was younger. I will often ask shoppers if they need help corralling the cart, and when someone is young(er) I will throw in some snark. When I used to be a Yellowstone local, I'd loudly say to my friend " can you believe someone would disrespect the world's first national park by littering?". If they didn't pick it up, I would and say " man can you believe people are so lazy?" One thing we had to do at summer camp was have a meal ticket to gain admission to the dining hall. It was a piece of trash we picked up. It never dawned on me as a younger person that people in a camp shouldn't litter in the first place. Regarding the Kroger " monopoly", that is nonsense. Amazon, Walmart, Costco are all direct competitors. However, they probably should have approached the merger in pieces and parts. Kroger has no foothold in the Northeast...they should have bought that part of Albertsons Companies. Then went with surgical precision into competing markets and extract out the stores that would not cause suspicion of a monopoly. The climate in those markets would remain competitive and the chips would eventually fall where they may. It could be a withering Albertsons Companies that dies a slow death and is sold off piecemeal to local and regional chains, and Kroger gains a few stores. Or a leaner, tougher Albertsons Companies could be a tough competitor that is more locally controlled, rather than someone in Boise telling someone in DC what to do and how to sell.

If the vast amount of wealth includes money for fixing things up, I would buy Camden Park and invest into while keeping the West Virginia shabbiness of it. Next, I'd buy the Fun Spots because that would give me a year round revenue opportunity. ( I don't think there constitutes a chain!). Then I'd move toward Beech Bend and get a plan to heavily market to Nashville and make it a more rounded park. Id also work with the draw of Mammoth Cave to try and attract visitors from the world and the rest of the country. Id look into expanding Fun Spot into more markets then, like Texas, New Mexico, Alabama and maybe southern Utah and perhaps the Pacific Northwest, having a business plan that adapts to the region. Finally, I would have my eye on Lost Island in Iowa. There may be some parks that are cast off when SIX and FUN merge, and then even more when the inevitable merger happens with the new FUN and SEAS. (Kings Dominion, I'm coming for you, baby!) But not having the industry and financial acumen to accomplish this, much less the money, I must confess that this story is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

I'm curious too. @BoddaH1994, if I remember correctly, you said in the podcast that you were going to buy your pass at another cedar park. So, if you buy your pass at, say Carowinds (either in person or online) but you go only to ki and CP with this pass, do you get zero pass perks? Are pass perks tied to the park you purchased from? Or would you get pass perks at ki and or CP?

Rivertown enters the chat with larosas bar, the new bar, the Brew House bar and the slushy bar.

Have you talked to Mr. Kootnz about your ideas? They sound fantastic!

That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works.

Unless they are on a cruise.

Maybe they should have given her a hush puppy. Or maybe a nice bag of garbage would be amazing!

Cole slaw and potato salad aren't the healthiest of sides. Both contain fatty dressing like mayonnaise and slaw has sugar added. I doubt the park was looking at healthy ingredients, rather the cheapest options Sysco has. Veggie sticks...if it's sliced carrots and celery id be on board. But truthfully, I'm not the target audience, so my opinion doesn't really matter. I might get the metworst once along with veggie sticks.

That does look good and the side looks small. Do they have any healthier sides? I know it's a kids area, but I'd love to have roasted vegetables as an option.

I loved Fun Fireworks and Fifty, but the length of the show was related to fifty years. Also because of the length, the drone use was limited. I think At The End of the Day was a perfect length because the drones were a part of the entire show. Under the Stars may be slightly longer than At The End, because the song played from The Beast exit to midway up the Royal Fountain and I didn't rush my walk in Saturday night.

For 52 years they have dealt with it. And if you look at the current flowerbed at the front of the fountain, the flowers are close to the seat wall. If they were that concerned about the plants being violated, they could have planted them in the back.

I wonder how much The landscape budget has been cut this year? Where are the flower carts in front of the royal fountain? Why are the flowers so sparse in front of the royal fountain? Why is the mulch so thin and the bare beds throughout the park have lots of weeds? This is not to diminish the work that the landscape team does, but it appears to me that their budget for plants, material, and personnel has been cut to the bone.

If anyone here likes the Blue Ice Cream beer, id suggest Mike's Hard Lemonade Wild Berry. It's pretty tasty.

They were on Friday and Saturday nights last week. (Yesterday and the day before).

Yet, many will ooh and ahhh next week when it opens. Concept art is just that, a concept. It generally is more embellished than the actual execution. Kind of like how McDonald's advertised a perfect Big Mac™ and what you get as not so perfect. It's definitely going to be an upgrade that is surely needed...I'd put forth the entire kids area needs an overhaul as this enhancement is going to highlight just how ghetto Planet Snoopy really is.

If you are an ACE member, check out their discounts. I can't publicly disclose them, but last years discount for BGW was phenomenal! When you make the trip back to Virginia, the membership may well be worth it if it's still offered!