Hoeter Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cedar-fair-to-buy-paramount-parks-for-124-billion http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/news/stories/20060701_01.shtml Today marks 10 years since the sale of Paramount Parks to Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (formerly Cedar Fair L.P.) finalized. In the $1.24 billion deal, Kings Island and its sister parks Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Canada's Wonderland, and California's Great America. Seems like it was only yesterday! What are your thoughts on the last 10 years and what are your hopes for the next 10 years? 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freaks76 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Been pretty good. Very few complaints from me. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joncars05 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Seems like an absolute steal now! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrill_Biscuit Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I don't feel like I'm being herded through an extension of corporate Hollywood anymore. I actually can relax in my hometown, Midwest amusement park at a pace that feels just like it did long before Paramount showed up. I can enjoy wonderful rides and shows that aren't constant commercials for TV shows and movies. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joncars05 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I guess I shouldn't downplay CF and their effort to turn around the parks they acquired 10 years ago. (my first post seemed to say they bought the parks then did nothing) I wasnt an enthusiast before the park was sold but the way the parks are run and the investments they have made are really impressive! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeastFarmer Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I just became an enthusiast a couple of years ago, but I missed most of the Paramount era. I lived out west for most of it. I do remember coming home on vacation and going to KI, and it did feel like a giant commercial most of the time. However, I think it would have been fun to have been an enthusiast back then. Jeff Siefert and Maureen Kiser seemed pretty fun-loving, at least by the videos I have seen on Youtube. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Gal Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 If only paramount would have installed an invert & a hyper before 2006 like all the other parks in the states. Just wonder what we would have now. Paramount gave us what I could do without. Top gun Son of Beast(bust) Face off Tomb raider(bust) Italian job Flight of Fear (jokers jinx clone) Good additons: Drop zone Delerium 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver2005 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), that means another more depressing 10 year anniversary is coming up concerning the park in a few days. The result of which (ultimately) being Banshee. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honorarius Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 If only paramount would have installed an invert & a hyper before 2006 like all the other parks in the states. Just wonder what we would have now. Paramount gave us what I could do without. Top gun Son of Beast(bust) Face off Tomb raider(bust) Italian job Flight of Fear (jokers jinx clone) Good additons: Drop zone Delerium Nice to know that Paramount wasn't just picking on us up here 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malem Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 And the deletions... Phantom Theater Antique Cars KCKC King Cobra Lots and lots of foliage 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoF96" Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Hmm I wonder how FoF is a Jokers Jinx clone when FoF was the worlds first LIM coaster. Your facts are mixed up on that one as JJ is a FoF clone. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gforce1994 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 And the deletions...Phantom TheaterAntique CarsKCKCKing CobraLots and lots of foliage And the FLYING EAGLES. Those were so awesome. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Gal Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 So the only things paramount did right was Delerium and dropzone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Goddard Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 So the only things paramount did right was Delerium and dropzone? No they gave the world the first LIM launch in FoF. SOB could have been an all time legend if they actually payed for good materials. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malem Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 ^^^ Yes, of course. But at least those weren't destroyed. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Gal Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Then six flags turned around the following year with a 100mph lsm coaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sikkinixx99 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I really don't care for Drop Zone. I like the Power Tower up at Cedar Point way better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcwizard13 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Really!? You're the first person I've seen that opinion from. I think Power Tower is fairly boring in comparison to Drop (Zone) Tower. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrill_Biscuit Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 The only thing I miss from the Paramount era are 1. Spongebob Squarepants 3D, and 2. The movie themes played on International Street. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freaks76 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Paramount's worst decision. Removing King Cobra. Yea, I know. It was workin on fallin apart. But who cares? . Sigh, I just miss it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sikkinixx99 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I agree with that!! I hope when we do get a Giga they go old school with King Cobra loved that ride!! As far as Power Tower over Drop Zone,I really like being able to be shot up or the free fall. Drop Zone is good just prefer the other. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 If only paramount would have installed an invert & a hyper before 2006 like all the other parks in the states. Just wonder what we would have now. Paramount gave us what I could do without. Top gun Son of Beast(bust) Face off Tomb raider(bust) Italian job Flight of Fear (jokers jinx clone) Good additons: Drop zone Delerium In the old days here, people new to the community would blindly insult Cedar Fair. "BRING BACK TH MOVIEZ." "ILL ALWAYS CALL IT DROP ZONE" "STUPID CDEAR POINT RUINED PKI." It's interesting to see that a new generation vilifies just as blindly, but in just the opposite way. Pure and simple, it's naive to reduce these attractions in this way. Each and every one set new precedents. Some redefined the capabilities of a seasonal amusement park. Some informed industry standards that remain today. Others shifted the growth of competitors who, were it not for Kings Island's intervention, might be more dominant players today, changing the entire course of the park's story. If Son of Beast hadn't existed, we might not have Diamondback or Banshee. If Italian Job didn't exist, there may be no Verbolten. If Flight of Fear didn't exist, neither would Joker's Jinx. (And, by the way, given your analysis, why have Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom? It's a clone of Disneyland's Matterhorn, never-mind that most visitors to Magic Kingdom don't even know what the Matterhorn is, and the two rides have practically nothing in common whatsoever in terms of rider experience. Never-mind again that your two "pros" for Paramount are off-the-shelf carnival rides that are literally and sincerely located in one form or another at almost every major amusement park on Earth... yet Flight of Fear is reduced to a "clone"? Yikes!) There are those here who could tell you that, but for Paramount purchasing Kings Island, the park would likely not exist today. There are those who would go on and on about how Paramount's vision for Kings Island – distinctly DIFFERENT from Cedar Fair's – is what gives the park an atmosphere, style, and aura that's different from, say, Cedar Point's. Paramount, Viacom, and CBS didn't add hypers and gigas and Wing Riders. They added Tomb Raider and Son of Beast and Italian Job and Flight of Fear. I'm incredibly thankful for that, and even now, Cedar Fair has shown a deliberate willingness to adhere to the precedents set by Paramount and its predecessors... the things that make the park different from the kind of midway-amusement-zone that builds big tall bright roller coasters simply for big bright tall roller coasters' sake. In turn, Cedar Fair has taken what it acquired in the Paramount Parks and changed their OWN methods at legacy parks. I think most of us here started with these big sweeping biased and under-informed generalizations like Beast Gal made... I know I did! But stick around and listen to the stories that are told and the experience shared here, explore the rest of the industry, and think outside the box and you'll be surprised what you learn... I know I have been! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDMC01 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 In turn, Cedar Fair has taken what it acquired in the Paramount Parks and changed their OWN methods at legacy parks. See legacy Cedar Fair parks adding rides similar to Surf Dog (which was put in under Paramount as Avatar). Also, random question/possibility: If Paramount would not have added Backlot to three of their parks, would coasters like Maverick and Taron exist today (I know Backlot was made by Premier and the other 2 mentioned are Intamin creations, but still)? Also, would RMC hybrids be a "thing" if Son of Beast hadn't existed? Think about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Goddard Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I know Maverick would exist because it was being planned before TTD was announced. Now for RMC, it is a possibility that they wouldn't be a thing but eventually everyone is gonna go outside of the box. I know they have said they will never do a vertical loop because of the issues of SOB. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI96 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Well they also gave us the car from Wayne's World to look at in the Paramount's walk of fame. That was pretty sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDMC01 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I know Maverick would exist because it was being planned before TTD was announced. Now for RMC, it is a possibility that they wouldn't be a thing but eventually everyone is gonna go outside of the box. I know they have said they will never do a vertical loop because of the issues of SOB. Did not know that; that's cool that Maverick was planned that far back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creed Bratton Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Really!? You're the first person I've seen that opinion from. I think Power Tower is fairly boring in comparison to Drop (Zone) Tower. I prefer Power Tower to Drop Tower...it's the ability to be thrusted up for me. Sent from the cellphone Zach Morris used in Saved By The Bell using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastien6221 Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I know Maverick would exist because it was being planned before TTD was announced. Now for RMC, it is a possibility that they wouldn't be a thing but eventually everyone is gonna go outside of the box. I know they have said they will never do a vertical loop because of the issues of SOB.Doesn't RMC think inside the box? Look at the track lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonODiamondback Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 The thing I didn't like about the Paramount days was the way they destroyers the theme in around the park . The rides they put in are great but it seems they threw them in without and real planning. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 As opposed to, say, Diamondback, Banshee, Boo Blasters On Boo Hill, etc. I see. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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