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So... what were we supposed to get excited about this season? All I read was better chicken strips and some sprucing up of front gates. Nothing seems to be near term. I'm glad they recognize Six Flags Saint Louis has enough thrills. We've been spoiled ever since Boomerang.

Why would a ride where everyone is a single rider have a single rider line?

Come on an "out of this world" adventure with us aboard the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser at Walt Disney World!

I know it's a preview and there are a few really cool things going on here (live force effects, light speed, food) but it seems like they over-promised and under-delivered in a big way. I'm very curious how they're going to stretch this into a 48-hour experience without tons of downtime. Until the full thing opens I'll withhold most of my criticism. That being said, the actors clearly need more rehearsal time and the interactive experiences honestly seem more fitting for a preshow at an attraction in the park.

Because you have groups of people that want to ride together in the same train and sometimes that leaves empty seats. Pretty sure that WW at SFFT had a single rider line, not sure if they still do.

At most CF and SF parks, the night-time Halloween events haven't been separately ticketed events, and season passes have been good.

looks hella fun!!! I don't know if it will be on the table for the next trip, just too much to do already between wdw and universal, but depending on availability i'll drop the ~$4k. If the "day trip" to hollywood studios includes "special versions" of rise of the resistance / millennium falcon it may tip the scales...

Today, the park starts 2022 season: More footers: La Mar De Parques forum

I went ahead and read the transcript from the conference call today. It was really our first opportunity to get official public statements from the new CEO Selim Bassoul and what he envisions, plus comments from VP and CFO Sandeep Reddy. Six Flags is the chain I frequent the most, but it's not by choice, it's just how it works out geographically for me. Six Flags has always left me wanting more, it's my least favorite major chain. Bassoul had a great statement today: "no more over reliance simply on our brand and our history. We must elevate our game to the next level". Six Flags has caught some backlash with their recent changes, including from me. But realistically, most of us agree Six Flags is inferior to other chains. And that is not going to change without a shakeup. @swfan1988 covered the financials pretty well above with some overarching thoughts. I thought I would list other takeaways from the conference call that sheds some light on the future. Bassoul spent the first 100 days decentralizing the company and "empowering business unit leaders" (park presidents) The culture has been or will be reset. This goes back to "no more over reliance simply on our brand and our history. We must elevate our game to the next level". Their goal is to be the most innovating and customer-obsessed theme park company in the world. Big focus on premiumization They stated they have downsized, but that they have also added talent, particularly to culinary They plan on paying down debt and refinancing it "later this year" They have 6 initiatives to improving guest experience Improving efficiency and convivence by reducing wait times, ride downtime and opening rides "when our guests arrive". They state they will accomplish this by moving staff from lower-value activities to rides and through a use of single rider lines for full cycles. They also mentioned they will experiment with "virtual fueling technology" (virtual queues?). They want to add digital boards through the parks that show wait times for rides and restaurants. Creating fun through employee friendliness (this made me think of KI, Dollywood) Park cleanliness. This includes "better curb appeal at the front gate", and Bassoul stated that several of the bigger parks are in the process of updating the front gate experience right now and hope to finish those by peak summer season Better quality food. This was known, but Bassoul goes as far as saying they have been experimenting with their hot dogs, burgers and chicken tenders in his first 100 days and that based on what he has tasted so far "the quality of these items is better than any theme parks I've ever visited". He states this will be ready this spring. Over time he wants to include healthier options, more grilled items and better refreshments (states coffee and alcohol) Guest amenities. More benches and shade are already on the way for this season Guest facing technology. Basically upgrades to the app, to the point it will become "a remote control that facilitates a seamless guest experience" Bassoul says that surveys have revealed that Six Flags has left a lot of money on the table with guests who hardly spend any money. They are combating this with higher prices. The new pricing program in the past weeks has been a success and they are ready to roll it out chain wide. They have been very pleased with the early results. They will simplify ticket offerings but combine season passes and memberships into a new product lineup with fewer choices and targeted blackout dates For capital allocation strategy, #1 priority is reinvesting into the business and leading the industry in innovation. BUT he states that historically innovation was measured in term of thrill rights. He basically says that Six Flags already has enough thrills at their parks, "and while we continue to selectively add new coasters over time", the innovation he speaks of is in terms of guest facing technology, food, and other infrastructure. #2 priority is paying down debt. Over time they may consider mergers and acquisitions but Bassoul does not see it in the "foreseeable future" For labor, for anything that is not specifically guest facing, they are looking into automation. They specifically mention automating the back of the kitchen and security. They will be changing up marketing to explain the shift of their "rebrand". They plan to do this on social media, through influencers, and investing in search engine optimization Overall I think it is exciting for change. I have not fully supported everything that has happened over the park few months but it was nice to hear specifically what Bassoul has in mind for the future. A little concerned about rides going forward, but there's a decent amount to get excited about this season!

I feel like if Dragster were to get removed, hypothetically, it would be because of the almost 2 decades of horrible reliability and terrible uptime and, presumably, extremely high maintenance costs rather than as a result of this single incident alone. I say close the ride, send all the trains and parts to Knott's, and replace with a 500-foot poler coaster. (kidding of course, but, I mean, I also wouldn't mind this...)

Lol is the sky really falling? Could Dragster be closed forever? Maybe. Is it ExTrEmElY NaIvE to think it will open again? No. Far from it. Stop overreacting to what was an unforeseen freak accident. It was terrible, but let's not blow it out of proportion. Before someone flips shit about the queue placement, or makes claims of recklessness, how many other roller coasters have high speed passes close enough where a dislodged part of a train can kill someone? What on Earth are we going to do with Gatekeeper? Cork Screw is ffff'd. Tear it down. Steel Vengeance isn't just as likely? How many times have each and every one of us stood as close to a roller coaster as a pathway would allow, to "oooh and ahhh" at it as a train sped by? Has it never crossed anyone's mind that maybe... just maybe... there's a chance something could dislodge from the train and injure someone? Any roller coaster traveling over, or near any path has a similar potential. You're going to have to tear down the whole industry to rid guests of that danger. If CP changes the queue location, it's strictly a smoke-in-mirrors act.

The Farmhouse Kitchen and Grill is the name of the new FrontierTown restaurant. Details and a rendering here: https://cpfoodblog.com/2022-new-cedar-point-dining-resorts-more/

SeaWorld Entertainment Released Q4 Earnings today: https://www.seaworldinvestors.com/news-releases/news-release-details/2022/SeaWorld-Entertainment-Inc.-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Fiscal-2021-Results/default.aspx ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: SEAS), a leading theme park and entertainment company, today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2021.[1] Fourth Quarter 2021 Highlights Attendance was 5.0 million guests, an increase of 2.7 million guests from the fourth quarter of 2020. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, attendance increased by 0.3 million guests or 5.4%. Total revenue was a record $370.8 million, an increase of $216.7 million from the fourth quarter of 2020. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, total revenue increased by $72.8 million or 24.4%. Net income was a record $71.5 million, an increase of $117.1 million from the fourth quarter of 2020. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, net income increased by $95.7 million. Adjusted EBITDA[2] was a record $152.8 million an increase of $130.0 million from the fourth quarter of 2020. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, Adjusted EBITDA increased by $68.8 million or 82.0%. Total revenue per capita increased 7.9% to $74.87 from the fourth quarter of 2020. Admission per capita increased 5.3% to $43.65 while in-park per capita spending increased 11.7% to $31.22 from the fourth quarter of 2020. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, total revenue per capita increased 18.1%, admission per capita increased 15.2%, and in-park per capita spending increased 22.3%. Fiscal 2021 Highlights Attendance was 20.2 million guests, an increase of 13.8 million guests from fiscal 2020. Compared to fiscal 2019, attendance declined by 2.4 million guests or 10.7%. Total revenue was a record $1,503.7 million, an increase of $1,072.0 million from fiscal 2020. Compared to fiscal 2019, total revenue increased by $105.5 million or 7.5%. Net income was a record $256.5 million, an increase of $568.8 million from fiscal 2020. Compared to fiscal 2019, net income increased by $167.0 million or 186.7%. Adjusted EBITDA was a record $662.0 million. Compared to fiscal 2019, Adjusted EBITDA increased by $205.1 million or 44.9%. Total revenue per capita increased 9.9% to $74.43 from fiscal 2020. Admission per capita increased 5.2% to $42.17 while in-park per capita spending increased 16.5% to $32.26 from fiscal 2020. Compared to fiscal 2019, total revenue per capita increased 20.4%, admission per capita increased 18.9%, and in-park per capita spending increased 22.6%. ... [CEO Marc Swanson:] "While we have made good progress on our plans, as we look to the future, we continue to be highly confident that we can deliver even more operational and financial improvements that we expect will lead to meaningful increases in shareholder value. In particular, we believe our forward ride, attraction and park enhancement investment plans are the most robust they have ever been, and currently reflect the cadence, focus areas and strategies we have been working towards. We continue to improve our commercial functionality with investments in talent and capabilities in revenue management and marketing and have opportunities for continued improvement in these areas. We also continue to identify, track and execute on additional cost reduction and efficiency opportunities that we expect to continue to help offset inflationary pressures and lead to structurally improved profitability. With respect to our digital capabilities, including our mobile app and CRM implementations, we are encouraged by the early results and are in the very early innings of realizing the full potential. And, we continue to make progress on our inorganic growth initiatives related to hotels, new parks and international expansion and expect to have more to share later in the year," "We are also pleased to have ended 2021 in a particularly strong financial position, as a result of the proactive and decisive decisions made over the last couple of years as well as our record financial performance in 2021. Our available liquidity, including cash on our balance sheet and capacity on our revolver credit facility, was over $800 million and our total net leverage was less than 2.50x. Our strong financial position provides us significant flexibility to invest in our business, fund high growth ROI initiatives, consider strategic opportunities and / or return capital to our shareholders," concluded Swanson. They also say that the increase in revenue, despite decreasing attendance, is caused by: price increases, changes in "admissions product mix" (lol), and "enhanced or expanded in-park offerings when compared to 2019". Sounds to me like SEAS has found success with their current strategy and that they plan to continue with it! It also sounds like they have a lot of stuff planned, so it might be interesting to watch what they got going. They seem to be trumpeting the fact that they are in a good financial spot, which I guess is good considering that a few years ago it looked like they were really struggling. Oh, and apparently the CEO said on the earnings call that "We have a lot of respect for Cedar Fair - the assets and their management team." Hmmm...maybe I'll just leave it at that...

you only get 4 seats because "Management hates your park"

In the news today there was an artikel about that Balder will be closed the first half of the summer season due to track rework It's due to the same construction issues that made Colossos to be closed between 2016-2019 for track rework. Liseberg say that 33% of the track has been reworked last autumn and the work will continue this year until it can be opened.. The artikel is behind a pay wall, but I will link to the statement a soon it´s released. /// Marcus

I think it’s extremely naive to imagine that this ride will ever reopen. The lawsuits. The time down not running. What insurance company would EVER insure this again? Ka is probably in trouble too. Let’s be realistic guys.

Top Thrill Dragster will remain closed for 2022. Link to Sandusky Register

Glad to see an event for April 28th, a Thursday, because as of right now SFStL has lost all weekdays until May 27th...

^ I think this is why I love wooden coasters. Still a design-and-build, right? And mainly based on gravity, yes? No? I do know tech and computer stuff are now more involved with woodies, as much as steels. Still - all this stuff about prepulsion, braking, etc. etc... Gives me a headache, lol.

So, Liseberg gave us an early christmas present! (and for the 100-year anniversary) Luna Park a new themed land, has been announced for 2023! https://www.liseberg.se/luna-park/ In 2023 Liseberg celebrates its 100-year anniversary. This centennial will be marked by the opening of the LisebergGrand Curiosa Hotel in 2023 and Oceana Water World in 2024. But already next year, the celebration begins with a completely new themed area named Luna Park, as well as two new family rides, Turbo & Tempus. A year later, the Luna family boomerang roller coaster, will be added to the area. Tempus – a Zamperla Nebulaz ride – plays with time and space, and the four axes rotate in perfect harmony, taking you up and down and around with extraordinary precision. Turbo – an interactive Technical Park Sidecar XL carousel – is letting you decide for yourself how fast and high you want the motorcycle and sidecar to go. In time for the centennial in 2023, the last and biggest ride – Luna – will be added. Luna is a Vekoma Family Boomerang coaster, where the train follows a 242 meters long track until a drop at a dead-end spike, and then back again. With its 33.5 meters tall spike Luna becomes the tallest and fastest (68km/h) of its kind in the world.

Looks like the rumors were true, CGA is scrapping haunt for this year for a more family friendly "tricks and treats" event. Was announced via their instagram. https://www.cagreatamerica.com/events/tricks-and-treats As a local this is a bummer especially since parts of Shadowlands were spotted at the park not too long ago. Hopefully they'll bring back Haunt down the road but who knows. Will be interesting to see if other parks in the chain follow suit.