Kings Dominion's Flight of Fear Reopens

[CoastersNSich]

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode...d&TopicID=45601 :

t's back! Re-opened by popular demand, come out to Paramount's Kings Dominion and ride the world's first LIM roller coaster - again and again!

Cedar Fair to the rescue.

[CoasterXtreme]

GREAT TO HERE! That is awesome news now maybe our version is safe.

[Scooby_Doo]

Thats great news I was starting to think we would see it rethemed to MTV.

[The Interpreter]

Thank you, Cedar Fair.

One of the best rides at Kings Dominion is now open again!

Huzzah!

[Snake Attack!]

will we ever find out why they ended up closing it?

[screamingnight]

I have been wondering that myself!

[King Maple The Tree King]

There is a guy on the fof topic over at www.pkdplace.com named "Last Picture Show Productions" who explains it all. Click Here. Just read backa few pages and posts and read what he says.

[PKIVortex]

That's great news for PKD! Glad to hear it.

[Lion Sleeps Tonight]

Yay, Thats so awsome to hear its back!!

[The Interpreter]

There is a guy on the fof topic over at www.pkdplace.com named "Last Picture Show Productions" who explains it all. Click Here. Just read backa few pages and posts and read what he says.

What guy?

And is it different than what Shaggy explained here (and correctly)?

Shaggy explained that Paramount was beginning ride rotation and planned to move PKD's FOF to PCWi. And that Cedar Fair is not going to do that.

PKI's was supposedly also going to move. . .and that probably also is no longer going to happen.

Cedar Fair has improved some things in the parks already...

Re-opening FOF at PKD has to be the biggest one so far.

Also note that the reopened FOF at PKD includes one train with orange seats. Like PKI, it never had a train with orange seats before this season.

What to make of that?

[BoddaH1994]

I don't see where that's a good idea at all. It's a very popular ride, both at PKI and PKD still. I think removing them from those parks would upset a lot of guests.

[The Interpreter]

And cost a lot of money.

I think Cedar Fair put the kabosh on that ride rotation.

If so, it's one of the best things they have done so far.

[WooferBearATL]

I don't see where that's a good idea at all. It's a very popular ride, both at PKI and PKD still. I think removing them from those parks would upset a lot of guests.

Not like the Paramount/Viacom/CBS folk ever did things that made good sense.

This is something that at least CF will correct.

[Shaggy]

You are are putting an awful lot of faith in CF.

Fact is, CF *knows* how to operate parks... they've been doing it for quite a while... however from an install standpoint, they often make choices that are not at all true to the parks original esthetic.

If you are looking at the CF buyout from a ride standpoint, I think we'll see good things to come. The reopening of FOF and the likely reopening of SOB (like it or not) are good indications of their intent to operate rides at the parks well. I also can't help but note that Dick Kinzel likely obtained extra capitol when buying the Paramount parks for initial new attraction investments.

From a general park standpoint, I think we'll see some dissapointing changes as well as the good ones. I think the loss of Winterfest is a prime example of this. Irregardless of last year's turnout, it's obvious that CF just doesn't want to deal with it... so they dropped it. One has to wonder how many other things they will not want to deal with, and will drop as well.

But more importantly, CF's business practices are really ancient, and steeped in tradition. They harken back to the 1970's and 1980s. From a marketing and promotional standpoint, CF cannot even begin to hold a candle to the former Paramount folks. They excelled at it, and they had the name and money to back it up. Out of that came years of steady and increased attendance at Paramount Parks, at which time CF parks saw decreases.

CF traditionally pays less in employee wages and salaries than other major park chains. They get away with this by implementing on-property housing initiatives as well as pursuing foreign exchange students who were willing to work for lesser wages than locals. They also rely on a very small staff housed in Sandusky to operate all the parks that they own across the country, rather than a direct hands on approach to local markets.

At the tail end of the Linder reign, the Kings Parks were in near financial devistation. "Paramount" who has always been involved with KI since it's incarnation, stepped in and bought out the lion's share in order to salvage their investment. Costly installs year after year at the Kings parks prior to "Paramount" had hindered their ability to turn a good profit.

For those that like to blast the "Paramount Folks," I challenge them to name the exact people they think were so awful, and did such terrible things. Although I certainly do not agree with some of the choices that were made at the parks over the years, I do credit them with stepping in and maintaining the parks in a positive way for 15 years.

People like Al Weber, Tim Fisher, David Mandt, Bob White, Linda Jensen etc were extremely dedicated and devoted to the overall experience and focus on families. They recognized that not only are kids a key to financial success, but they are also the future of the park. CF, IMO, spends little to no time focusing specifically on children, or the family experience.. hence their decline.

I am anxious to see what CF does, and I hope there will be good things to come.

But I am sad to see the loss of so many of my friends that worked very hard at the parks for many years. I know everyone of them worked as hard as they could to make Paramount Parks a success, and a great place to go. So to hear uninformed statements against "Paramount" is really ridiculous to me. It says that those pointing their fingers do not realize many of the people that oversaw the parks during the Paramount days were actually long time employees.

For example, Al Weber started at KI when it opened... I think he operated the Bavarian Beetle. David Mandt started 25 years ago at Carowinds parking cars.

Obviously, I feel insulted for them by the constant barrage of complaints about "Paramount" people that were sooo terrible. Especially when I know that is a generalization that has nothing to do with the good job the leaders in Paramount's parks division did.

The loss of some of the key players is, IMO, a huge mistake that CF is making.

Shaggy

[RingMaster]

Not to mention we lost Bill Belfour, a key player in the Entertainment Dept. and the guy behind FearFest at PKI. Now management is having a fit over where to put The Asylum at (originally Maze of Madness), either under the Eiffel Tower or in the old red barn by FOF.

Also, CF is good at having a TON of shows at Cedar Point, but it doesn't mean that any of them are.....well, good. I've got a hunch that next year we'll be seeing a ton more shows at the park, but not up to the quality we've seen from Magic of the Movies, School of Rock, Nick Celebration Parade, and Tuned In! I can only hope they really expand on our FearFest and make it better than its ever been.

[CoastersNSich]

I think, Shaggy, you made a long and well though-out post, as usual. The main ingredient to the success of the Paramount Parks, and its predecessor, Kings Entertainment, was definitely the people. However, the frustration doesn't really come with the people who ran the parks day-to-day, but rather, the parent company. It's sad to see hard-working experienced people lose their jobs, but Cedar Fair deciding to axe a lot of full-timers was inevitable.

These people, like Weber, Fisher, Mandt, and the like, had to do more with less, IMO. Seems like past few years or so, it seemed Viacom, and obviously CBS, didn't put the necessary amount of investment into the parks that they could have. We've seen the trip reports, the low-capacity rides, and so on.

Honestly, I was excitied that Kings Island was getting the Paramount name and movie-themed rides, and for most of the 1990s, truly put a lot of money and detail into things, from rides, to shows. As much as I liked the days prior to 1993, I felt initially that Paramount was taking Kings Island to the next level.

Through this acquisition, I surely hope Cedar Fair learns two kinds of things:

- Some of the good stuff from the Paramount Parks that would enhance Cedar Fair as a whole.

- Learning from the mistakes that Premier Parks made after their acquisition of Six Flags in 1998.

This I've probably said before: the focus and investments on children's characters, themes, and rides have been very successful for PKI and PP - but I have fears that they were getting too cocky eventually. Eventually, these children will become teenagers and will graduate to bigger thrill rides and coasters. Preferably new ones. And I mean "big" by B&M and Intamin. Therefore, of Point #1: have a great children's area, but don't forget what the kids want when they become teens.

And Point #2: don't invest too much, too fast. Cedar Fair has taken a more conservative approach to its smaller parks - compared to Six Flags. Paramount made decent investments related to their parks, and I think Cedar Fair will invest appropriately. I.E. K.I. will likely get some more, rather than less. However, they can't throw their employees and their guests by the wayside like Six Flags did. The parks need to be clean and operated right, which I have seen at existing Cedar Fair parks.