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Many Luminosity: Ignite the Night details emerge in this story at The Toledo Blade: http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2012/03/13/Details-come-to-light-on-new-park-attraction.html If the Cedar Point Luminosity introduction is successful, CF plans to roll out the experience to all its parks.

Jack Falfas has been awarded $2 million plus by court for removal from previous job at Cedar Fair. The new court order vacates the ruling of the arbitration panel which ordered Falfas returned to his job. The court cites case law which establishes job return orders are not allowed. Stacy Froley is quoted by the Sandusky Register in response to the breaking news. Froley would not comment as to the economic damage CF must ultimately pay Falfas. However, the court did order payment from the time of Falfas departure til the end of his contract term in November 2012. Falfas or CF can appeal the decision. While reported in the Sandusky Register the news has not, as yet, been posted to their website. However, I have called to verify the story with the Register, and requested they post this story. I had the pleasure of having the story read to me over the phone as a verification of the following report: http://geaugalaketoday.freepowerboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2564 Hat tip, and congratulations to, CoasterDad at Geauga Lake Today for web breaking this story. Great catch! UPDATE: The SanduskyRegister.com site should have the full story posted no later than Sunday afternoon. Perhaps earlier.

Gems from today's Analyst presentation in New York: 2012 Distribution will be $1.60, payable in four equal quarterly installments. 2013 Distribution guidance is still somewhat up in the air, however, it is expected to increase. Loan covenants are no longer an issue as FUN has outgrown the covenants and are free to award distributions as they see fit. FUN's goal is to continue increasing distributions across time. Distribution increases will be a function of increasing earnings following the next couple of years spent restoring the distribution to historic levels. Great America Deal--Brian and general council worked to rationalize a 35 year lease extension featuring a generous cash payment to offset disruption costs. Only park located on leased land. Had a great year, but not quite a record year. Water park expansions are profitable and quick. Coaster costs are not, generally, as productive a capital investment. To protect the base coaster investments are often required. Growth projected at 4% based upon industry trends. Yield management borrowed from the hotel industry will assist in achieving the growth. Refreshment of resorts will be a priority in order to maintain and grow the family market that stay on park longer and spend more money. This is a significant departure from Kinzel management. Lights and Fireworks are the method to keep people on park after dark. This is the only method successful in the Theme Park industry to extend stays. Thus you keep the guests for Dinner and increase on park revenues. Price increases at parks are expected to be in the neighborhood of inflation this coming season. Growth will be achieved by increasing earnings from on park sales, cementing the season pass holder relationship, exploring a subscription based model of passes, pre-selling more on park activities in order to increase day of visit spending (such as pre-pay parking and meals), entering partnerships and/or sponsorships, reducing ticketing costs and leakage by eliminating or restricting third party ticketing sales, and growing attendance. Less reliance on revenue sharing will be a hallmark. Revenue enhancements such as FastPass programs will expand after having been tested last season. Yield increases are expected to drop significant sums to the bottom line. The presentation featured graphs identifying individual park revenues/profitability and thus has increased transparency to a great extent. New measurement and evaluation metrics will be imported from the broader hospitality industry including ADR and yield management practices. Best practices will be implemented from the cruise industry. Best practices will be shared across the system from the individual parks. Incremental tuck-in acquisition opportunities will continue to potentially play a role in growth. However, at this time no specific acquisitions are under active consideration. Mr. Ouimett expressed an interest in the write-up of Carnival Cruise Line by one of the analysts. Ouimett stated "That is a lesson in do the right thing." This suggests Ouimett will invest the proper funds in maintenance and safety training. Capital investments in new attractions are expected to remain at the 9% of revenue peg. Maintenance investments/costs are also expected to remain in the 9% of revenue range. Sorry if this post is a bit disjointed—I have written it on the fly as the conference was taking place.

Today Cedar Fair announces the appointment of a new member Mr. Tom Klein to the Board. Klein was identified as a potential candidate by Korn/Ferry in a national search and is identified as an independent board member. Mr. Klein has an extensive background in hospitality related businesses as well as technology. He has quite a bit of experience in distribution channel maximization. Mr. Klein has an impressive career at Sabre Holdings. Here is the link to the Cedar Fair Press Release: http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/press_releases/index.cfm?current_root=15&mode=story&story_id=337 That Cedar Fair has selected as an independent board member a person with such extensive background in technology suggests a complete make-over in the marketing, staffing, distribution, purchasing, and guest relations will continue to blossom. It looks to me to be a great choice and addition to the Cedar Fair board.

My grandma gave me this post card when I was about 10 years old. She was going through some stuff and knew how much i liked amusement parks so let me have it. But I have no clue what the year is and thought maybe someone else would. any ideas? <a href=" title="Cedar Point by lopezjr68, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6631292691_0f31211e9b_z.jpg" width="640" height="474" alt="Cedar Point"></a> <a href=" title="Cedar Point 2 by lopezjr68, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6631295885_340629ec24_z.jpg" width="640" height="496" alt="Cedar Point 2"></a>

Cedar Fair will see it's largest unitholder reduce its position over the next couple of years. Q Investments plans to sell 3 million of its 10 million unit holdings, subject to certain conditions and market realities, according to filings with the SEC. For a fuller story please see: http://www.toledoblade.com/State/2011/12/14/Mutual-fund-to-sharply-cut-holdings-in-Cedar-Fair.html

Now that it is the off season, and there is no more riding coasters and eating elephant ears, I have time for my other hobby: digitally developing all of the images I have taken this summer. This past weekend i finally was able to get to my Opening day pictures. I am going to go ahead and post some of the pictures I took, and later this week I will add the events of the day, which was maybe one of my most memorable days at Cedar Point. Hope everyone enjoys the pictures, and be sure to check back later for the TR. (This ladder has special significance to Mrs. Kingsrattler and I that I will explain in my trip report later.) You have to love Cedar Point's Midway Arcade Coaster's Fries sign was having some issues Everyone decided they wanted to groove along with the Johnny Rockets crew

Hey guys. I got a chance to go to my second coaster enthusiast event, ACE Northern Ohio's Holiday Party, yesterday. I'm not an ACE member, but the experience seemed like a fun birthday present for myself (as I had a birthday on Black Friday). It's the first time I've ever been inside a park when it's closed, and it was a really neat experience. There's something oddly peaceful and equally interesting about an entirely silent, closed park, and I really hope I get a chance to experience it again sometime soon. (On that note, I'm incredibly bummed I can't make it to GOCC's KI event this weekend... I bet KI is just as interesting in its own way.) I don't know how I'd write an actual PTR for this since it was just CP's Bryan Edwards leading us around Millennium Force, Maverick, and the Frontier Trail answering questions, with a meal and presentations later at Kalahari, so I'll just share some photos. Enjoy! Some of my favorites: Man, I miss Blue Streak. Shot of the lift hill base from under the station. They must have removed the catch car, because I couldn't see it anywhere. Artsy shot of the CP&LE RR. Short lines today. The ride's final hill, from the side you don't usually see inside the park. Under the lift hill. Not an angle you usually see if the lift. I thought it was cool, though it would look better with a train, in my opinion. Then we walked along the train tracks to Maverick. As you can see, the sky was perfect for picture taking. Maverick's heartline ro--no, wait... The first drop, which looks, oddly enough, more intense from underneath than from the midway. Probably one of my favorite shots of the day. Again, I feel like it could be improved with a train, but c'est la vie. I don't think I could exactly have asked them to send a train. The world needs more solar flare. Also one of my favorite shots. Bonus round: for ten points, can you name what ride this is? There are several more pictures to be found on my Flickr, so head that way if you'd like to see more. I've got several more shots of Millennium, Maverick, Snake River Falls, Shoot the Rapids, and the Frontier Trail. I had a blast. Hearing representatives from CP, Waldameer, Kennywood, and Kalahari was a whole lot more interesting than I'd bargained. I even scored a flag off the lift hill of Ravine Flyer II! (Guess that means I finally have to get around to visiting Waldameer next year... Man, they just had to go and twist my arm like that, didn't they. ) Hope you enjoyed the photos!