Leaderboard

Sorry that was brutal, but it felt good to get it off my chest because the whole thing has been bothering me for months AND I thought the story was pertinent to much of what is happening at the park right now!

I won't make predictions about operational changes, food, parks closing, future licensing or which skip the line service to use as there are too many intangibles. However, I except future All Park Season Passes to be priced in the neighborhood of the current Cedar Fair Premium Passes, I don't expect them to go up too much as an overall increase in pass sales should occur at the Premium Level and drive revenue. However, I would not be surprised if the new entity develops regional passes at a price point in between the single park pass price and the Premium Level pass. This could be another area to drive revenue without forcing everybody to go to the Premium Pass but providing flexibility. Maybe in the style of a Eurail Pass where you pay one price for one country and incremental costs to add neighboring countries without having to buy coverage of all Europe.

Day 9: Sun, June 11th part 2 (of 2): Farup Sommerland after the funhouse, we headed to the whitewater rafting ride we had seen earlier. yeah. . we were gonna get a bit "moist" another of the larger playground areas (and another of the "never in America" attractions. since were already wet from the rapids, decided to just head to the flume next. . . it's one of those "European" style, where the lift hills and drops criss cross each other. no backwards section that I recall tho. ready to get more wet! "Bags and the like". . LOL guess this coffee counts as "the like" it was a fun flume tho, at least I recall it was fun. another lake area, that's over near the obstacle course. . in this one, you can paddle a rowboat as an option that ship & fort are part of the obstacle course! it was time for the kiddie coaster credit. Wasn't too sure about riding this, but gave in as this cute Zamperla coaster is called Pindsvinet (Hedgehog), and has an adorable hedgehog mascot on the front of the train. we even tried to let little kids go ahead of us, and they were TERRIFIED of passing in front of the grown white men - even with the attendant kneeling down and trying to get them to pass us to ride first. LOL so when we got on, he took a selfie with us look how cute that Hedgehog is! I think these pics might be from Andy? (or could be Big Mike) we were on the side of the park housing the only coaster we hadn't ridden yet: Orkanen, the Vekoma suspended, so we headed over to it. Robb was here filming. . hey Robb! no inversions, but this coaster does have some fun airtime, and a dive under the lake. I wanted to ride Falken again, so we headed right next door for another ride. front row! this is a pic Robb got from over by Orkanen, and shared with the group. great shot! I was *not* thrilled about this. . . as has been noted, I'm a big ol klutz. . but it was time to brave the Obstacle Course. "suattejacten" = "the Treasure Hunt" you start off with a pretty good maze, made up of black painted panels. but when you find the correct way thru, you come across this: don't I look thrilled? a look down at the maze, once up those "stairs" several of the obstacles DO have "chicken" options. . . but I did do some of them. not these tho! this one was ONLY an option to do either Raft, or monkeybars over the waterway. yeah.. . i took the raft. and am very happy, don't care if I'm the only one. and yes, that's part of the course above in the trees! (thanks to Jason for the pic) across the water and into that fort/ship area nice views of some of the coasters peeking out from the course. and a very confused young lady wondering what I'm taking a picture of. oh no. . . the only way down was in the slide?? great. . . ANOTHER one ??? ok. .I've had enough of this. . LOL. . . I had to go to the bathroom anyways. Luckily, I heard a man yelling for his son that they had to leave, NOW (I'm assuming that's what he was yelling, as the kid made a beeline to him), so I followed him thru some bushes, and out past a playground and found one of the main pathways in the park. liked the theming on this, tho wasn't sure if it was closed, or just nobody wanting to ride, as it was tucked away among the trees. I browsed a shop/restaurant, and relaxed while waiting for folks to finish up the obstacle course and meet up. loved these skull stools in the Pirate themed shop. and treated myself to ice cream for at least trying some of the obstacles. tho I think this was the place where I was TRICKED. .and those wonderful candy colored sprinkles were licorice. . ewwwwww after I wiped the nasty fake sprinkles off (that's why I always carry extra napkins. . never know when there will be an emergency need!). . I shared my cone with the Hedgehog. (no, not Ron Jeremy. . THIS one) Speaking of Licorice. . I don't understand the obsession with it over here in Denmark. everywhere sells it, and it appears to be VERY popular. just never has been my thing. just look at all these "flavors" available. meeting up again, we found this log themed Himalaya! wheeeeee!!! I think we split off at this point, to get some things in before we had to meet for ERT. i believe I had bumped into sMisty/Erik and they told me about a slow moving "tractor ride" that I hadn't seen. right up my alley, so Big Mike and I headed over in the direction they pointed to go ride us some tractors. ohhhh.. this ride might be themed to the Bunny mascot. . . front seat definitely made for smaller butts. . .. didn't stop us tho. gonna be fun "driving" they really do such a great job.. it's like you're not in a theme park. heading over towards Fonix for our ERT times, managed to catch Saven going up the spike. . we had some time still and had forgotten that the park had a 4D film. . what you can't see in this pic, is the lady in front of us that brought her little dog in. and the animated feature was about animals falling thru portals and changing into other animals. and that little doggo went NUTS any time an animal that even looked like a dog showed up on the screen. I was far too amused to be annoyed by it. it made the film 5D !! Exit thru the (themed) gift shop! what are these? foam crowns????? Gimme! it was just about time for our ERT session, so we relaxed by a playground near Fonix. . and I thought this was rather amazing. loved it. and one of these "break your neck" king of the mountain things (along with dozens of other trampolines) too. they are cycling thru the remainder of the crowd. . . I'm ready for you, Fonix there's a nice "viewing area" they built next to it.. so took advantage to watch it cycle for a bit. and then it was our time to ride. this coaster is absolutely amazing, and ranks way up there among my favorites of the trip. So re-rideable. . and insanely fun. queue theming. that heartline roll thru the station I mentioned. and now some pics from Robb's Rider-Cam. . you can tell I loved it. . rode at least 10 times during our ERT. and then it was time to head back to the Zleep hotel. after all, this was only day NINE!! tons more to do, and we had to get some rest. but this guy was in the playground as we passed. headed back to the front gate, got a clearer pic of the park signs. and I found this odd. . yes, I know I got a dogfart head icecream at BonBonLand, but it just struck me as odd, that you could eat icecream out of a Fonix head or the other two mascots ' tho I did find it rather cool that they have a map of the coast, and things of interest to do in the area of the Country right at the exits. had a great time here. . .it's easily in my top 5 parks. . probably a very strong 3rd place! hope you've enjoyed the pics.

I just asked if they were replacing the trains during the Q&A, and they said they were sticking with the current trains. The trains they have now were made by S&S Worldwide according to the Roller Coaster Database.

Every time we get the cliche "kidz jus don wanna wurk anymorr" argument, I'll always link the post I made a while back outlining all of the statistics about WHY kids aren't working anymore. From the article in the post: If anything, in the years since that post was made, it's only become MORE difficult for kids as the cost of college continues to skyrocket. There were lazy kids back then (I worked along side plenty of them), and there are lazy kids now. But you gotta look at the macro level and step away from the personal anecdotes when trying to assess contributing factors to large-scale issues.

Busch Gardens’ Media Town Hall: Loch Ness Monster--The Legend Lives On & More The Loch Ness Monster has been thrilling park guests since 1978. For many Virginia locals, this was the first “big” coaster they ever rode. If any ride can be considered an “icon” for Busch Gardens, it’s the Loch Ness Monster, with its interlocking loops and cave helix. This weekend, BGW’s pass members have a chance to take a last ride on Nessie before she shuts down for a big makeover. Park president Kevin Lembke discussed some of these changes at a “Media Town Hall” on Friday, November 3. Here’s a glimpse at what’s being planned for the ride when it reopens in spring 2024: “All-new theming and innovative effects throughout ride experience.” Innovative Studios will be providing the new thematic elements. “Over 900 feet of steel track replaced (3,240 ft. total).” Premier provided the new track. BGW is working on a way to provide “souvenir pieces” of the old track in 2024. “Enhanced queue experience with added storytelling.” This won’t be the first time the park has “beefed up” the queue. The lower queue section, used on busy days, has been sporting an expedition camp for years now. It’ll be interesting to see how they expand on this concept. The park also put new trains on the Loch Ness Monster in 2018. But there’s more than just the Loch Ness Monster renovation going on at Busch Gardens--Christmas Town begins on Friday, November 10! Here are a few details about how the park plans to ring in the holidays this year: “Gloria” will returning to the Abbeystone Theatre in Killarney. “Wiseman,” a new singing trio, will be performing at the theatre in Italy. The “Polar Pathway” (Escape from Pompeii) will feature synchronized lights and music, and the “O Tanenbaum” show in Germany is getting an upgrade, too. A “Build a Bear” shop will be open in England. The Virginia Beer Company is brewing a Christmas Town Stout. All this, in addition to the millions of lights, classic holiday shows, and special Christmas fare the park offers each season. The Squire’s Grill in England is also being renovated. When this work is finished, the old “buffeteria” will resemble a rustic, old-time English tavern. A new food venue, the Catalina Grill, is also coming to Water Country USA. And lest we forget, 2024 will mark the 15th anniversary of Christmas Town and the 25th anniversary of Howl-o-Scream. We’ll hear more about this later. Busch Gardens Williamsburg in early November, when Howl-o-Scream and Christmas Town collide! HOS closed on Halloween, so there are still a few traces of the "Jack Is Back" show in Killarney. The park's presentation was in the Abbeystone Theatre. Park president Kevin Lembke looks ready for Christmas Town. I took my "last ride" on Friday. Drumroll please. This is the only piece of "concept art" they showed us. The rest is still under wraps, but they are planning something for the big cave helix. Pantheon will be running during Christmas Town, as will four other coasters. The new Christmas Town Shows. Time for a quick photo with the Big Guy . . . . . . before taking a "last ride." Up they go to whatever fate awaits them! The first drop to the "loch." Loop # 1! Emerging from the cave . . . . . . and into loop #2. Back to the station. Don't forget--Christmas Town starts next Friday! You can't ride the Loch Ness Monster during Christmas Town, but you can hang it on your Christmas tree. Thanks for reading.

Have you considered that perhaps the problem isn't that "theme park ppl" are paid too much, but rather that entry level "corporate jobs" (along with everyone) aren't paid enough and CEOs and other executives are paid too much?

Looks fun!! I love sweets but cannot stand licorice, blecchh.

While none of know how this is going to turn out and what changes will occur over the next few years, I do think we all make a mistake of looking at it only from an enthusiast perspective. The fact of the matter is very few of the GP are even aware that Cedar Fair exists and that it owns a chain of parks. I talk to people all the time that have no idea CedarPoint (everyone seems to know about CP) and Worlds of Fun are owned by the same company. They are aware of Six Flags of course because it uses the company name on all parks. While many of us might consider that tacky it has turned out to be very smart from a brand awareness viewpoint. I mean I have a friend who is as far away from being a theme park person as can be but she grew up in Cleveland going to CP as a kid and had no idea that the "real" owner was Cedar Fair, just saying. Also, while the enthusiast community sees lots of operational differences between not only SF and CF parks, but differences between parks within each chain; to the GP they offer a similar product. IF they eventually offer one season pass or membership for all the parks a lot of GP will see it as more for the money, even if the price increases a bit. Take my home state of Missouri for an example. If you live in a small town in the middle of the state and are roughly equal distance from SDC, WOF and SFSTL and you can get one pass that lets you go to both WOF and STL you might think it a good idea. Particularly if you are unlikely to travel much farther for theme parks.

^ That t-shirt looks great! I got a "Farup Hits' CD and a fridge magnet from the park, when I was last there. Farup's a great park, and very spread out, so you get plenty of 'exercise,' walking through the place.

I look at it as losing a flavor. You had Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Now, you just poured both drinks into one glass. So what does that do for the people who love Coca-Cola, but didn't really like Pepsi? Now, you can't have Coca-Cola without tasting Pepsi.

Swag from Fårup Sommerland Magnet: and two T-shirts:

Day 9: Sun, June 11th part 1 (of 2): Farup Sommerland after such a great day prior at Djurs Sommerland, I was really looking forwards to today. This was also noted as one of Elissa's favorite parks, and after experiencing it? I absolutely agree! the Countryside in Denmark on the way to the park is just as beautiful as one would expect: but soon enough, we see the flags, and are turning into the main lot for Farup Sommerland - which seems to be in the middle of the wilderness this is the parking lot? it must be a HUGE park - it IS. . very, very big park. with lots of nature, and some really fun rides & a world class coaster. similar to driving into the peninsula at CP, you pass right by the wooden coaster Falcen (the blue track is the suspended coaster Orkanen (Hurricane) bus parked, and the front gates Group pic, courtesy of Robb: and an excellent welcome: here's the toilet! (I'm being serious. . really needed to pee) as noted, this is a large outdoors park, with a waterpark section, some large coasters, big playgrounds, a big obstacle course, multiple lakes (where one can paddleboat or row a boat), and even a mini-golf course. They have a hotel on site, and if you're coming for the first time, you could do with an overnight stay/2 days to ensure you can do everything! signage! the park reps walked us back over to the park's wooden coaster, Falken along the way, we passed the mini-golf - on an island in one of the lakes! (didn't have time to check it out this visit, but it seemed to be pretty popular every time I passed the entrance) here's a better look at Orkanen - and the onsite resort back there behind it - as we're headed into Falken's queue. Pic courtesy of Elissa, I believe. this was a fun, mostly smooth family coaster. we did have a little bit of a mishap where the train stopped on the lift hill for a few minutes, while the folks from the hotel watched us and wondered what was going on. benefit is that we got to see the park mascots riding out on golf carts towards the front gate, as they were getting ready to open the gates this is the maintenance guy who came to our rescue, in a golf cart (LOL) to get the lift chain going and start our ride. he zoomed by us as we were walking across the park, since the reps asked us if we'd like to get the first rides of the day on the park's newest coaster - a Vekoma wildcat called Fonix. of course, the group response was "yes please!" passing by the Spinning Mouse, called Flagermusen (Bat) made note of this, as we walked by. . as this unassuming building, with that sign "rævens hule" (the Fox's Den) was a funhouse. I don't even recall what this was supposed to be! LOL. . one of the park's mascots? passing under the family boomerang - themed to a sawmill, "Saven" two coasters in this pic as we are still headed thru the woods to Fonix. neon green diving into the tunnel is the boomerang, "Saven" the elevated green track is the park's Vekoma junior coaster, "Mine Expressen" scary spider in one of the playground areas sprinkled about the park. as it got to evening, the eyes light up. coming into the new area of the park: Fonix plaza who am I to pass up a photo op? wow. .this thing looks impressive. and it truly is. This is an amazing Vekoma. . a true world class coaster. Multiple inversions, including a heartline roll thru the station house! (overhead while the 2nd train is loading) after finding out we had ERT on Fonix to close out the day, we were turned loose into the park. . many of us headed to the two coasters over near this area of the park. I went with much of the group to Mine Expressen not sure who this pic is courtesy of. . possibly Brad, as I don't see him on the train. or maybe Didier, as he was taking some pics too. that was a fun ride, not super exciting, but fun. so we headed over to Saven, the Vekoma family Boomerang. love the Sawmill theming here. . and the ride operator was very happy to take a pic for us (and be in it too). as the park had just opened, there wasn't much of a line, and they were running the ride with two cycles. Well. . sort of! they made you stand up between cycles and do either a song (we got this one. . and he MADE us all do it, to the delight of the kiddos on the train with us): or those that did NOT want to do the "dance" had to do Calisthenics (LOL) .. . we saw the folks behind us doing Jumping Jacks. these onride pics are courtesy of Didier, as we saw him on a picnic table taking pics of the group as we cycled thru Saven having knocked out the coasters over here (at least one ride on each), we decided to hop on the train to get a better look at this large, and beautiful park. absolutely NO idea what we're all staring so intently at. . . LOL. . maybe a child stuck in a rowboat in the middle of the lake? one of the larger playground areas in the park (there were at least 3 this size) it really is a very large park. felt like we were on a train out in the woods. passing underneath Saven's exit from underground ' and into the "spike" the train ride/tracks are so long, they run two trains at the same time, and at one point you pass each other and can wave. one of the lakes where you can paddleboat. off in the distance is the waterpark section, and the minigolf island. after a loop around the park, I noticed on the map they had a Carousel. So without too much complaining from those I was hanging out with today, we headed over to that area, which had several younger kids attractions. this area looked fairly new too, and the ride operator confirmed for me that although the carousel looked older, it was a relatively new one. I still loved the choices for riding. . . the guys crammed into a "spinner" seat.. and I was in my happy place on a galloping horse. upper level had some really tiny options for babies. Jon decided to watch us on the Carousel, rather than ride with even Didier rode! (tho he rode a "tractor" - that was basically a glorified bench. . .LOL). thanks to Jon for this pic.l ooo. . . we'd come back to this later, but this is an interesting layout for a rapids ride. (you can see it comes from up above, passing under the skull before coming back by) we were headed to the wild mouse tho. . not realizing it was a spinner yet. yeah. . now we realize it spins. . . it spun a lot. . and was fun. Thanks to Big Mike for this pic. the butt of the bat! yargh!!! this place has the foam swords too. . that most of the ride ops were poking riders with (or high-5ing with) as they went by. looking at a park map, we realized we had missed the small section where they have another "extreme" coaster (and that crazy flipping ride on the left). this is a Gerstlauer launch coaster called "Lynet" (Lightning) also a little playground area. . with some fun spinning/springing seats David enjoyed it more than I how was it? well. . .. ow, ow, ow.. . . holy crap. . ow. . . .ow . . . ow! yeah, LOL. . one and done. since over here, we jumped on this one too - not Big Mike tho (he doesn't do spinning rides). so got this pic out of it. this wasn't near as intense as I was expecting it to be, but had some really fun moments. heading back into the main part of the park, we passed one of those "never in America" train crossings. . such a lovely park! and headed to the fun house (tho we weren't sure it WAS a funhouse. it seemed to be an attraction, so we gave it a shot). this was the clincher - the warning that there may be passages where it is "important" to hold on to smaller children. . LOL it's a wacky shack on acid. . with some really steep funhouse gags included fight your way thru the giant sausages! and the spinning tunnel room a really disorienting hall of mirrors and watch your step! (tho I appreciated the "coward" / klutz path offered too) I'm flying, Jack !!!!! they are not kidding around. . . very steep. to be continued. . .

Honestly, while we definitely need more rides and coasters to just fill the park out more, what I believe is more important right now is also just general maintenance. Paint, gardening, general cleaning and renovations. Coasters and flat rides are cool, but a dirty and run down looking park isn't going to attract people to spend money. I'm also going to throw out a suggestion, they could take a page from Holiday World and expand the water park using that basically abandoned parking lot. Create one big spread out water park line they do. Add a second wave pool which could be smaller and maybe isn't as intense. Could of thriller water rides, maybe even a water coaster.

1. It is not a hand me down, it is a brand new coaster that was supposed to go to a park in China, not Dubai. 2. An RMC of the Boss is actually more expensive than the Boss was to build outright or a new ground up RMC would be.

In fairness the Six Flags CEO did reverse course last year and decided to increase capital investment. It's the reason all of the 2023 rides are late - all of the contracts were signed later than usual because it wasn't the plan all along. As for employment you see some cases where they're investing in systems to reduce the need for employees. Automating the toll plaza can add a handful more people to the to the workforce inside the park. Implementing the soda dispensers they're using in Six Flags Over Georgia can decouple the need for that service to be done at a manned food location. They should consider employee housing the way some Cedar Fair parks do it as well - it's easier to bring in migrant workers when you make the process easier for them. SFStL in particular is actually at a pretty big disadvantage just based on its location for employees overall though - the commute to the park is longer than many other parks in their respective cities and there's no way that isn't having some impact (this is the hardest thing to fix).

OK, my 2 cents and a story about the boy that used to work at the park as a cautionary tale about lack of management, sorry this is long so read at your own discretion: First I have said before and say again that staffing is one of the biggest improvements needed; across the board, to improve a lot of what you all are complaining about. Now I 100% know that this is easier said than done and agree with whomever stated up thread that the park's location is a great hindrance to this. In addition our park is VERY seasonal and has very few full time jobs so they rely almost entirely on students, retirees, and teachers looking for brief summer work. However, they also shoot themselves in the foot. For example when they reopened after the initial Pandemic shutdown ride op pay was increased, which was nice since after all they were all being required to wear masks outside in the summer heat AND were taking a lot of extra crap from guests over all the policies. Fast forward to the 2023 season and all the ride op pay was reduced back to pre-Pandemic levels. Seriously. Essentially demote those that stuck with you through a couple years of crap? I mean I could maybe see new hires starting out at the old pay. But reduce employees that had been faithful to the park? Second they have to get a proper park President. This whole "sharing" one with the Chicago park is bull. I also think the slashing of middle management that happened a couple years ago is taking a toll. I'll give you a real world example of the effects of this. My son started working at the park as a ride op just before his 16th birthday. He was thrilled. Stayed working there through the Pandemic and all it entailed. Stuck out the summer he was mostly on kid's rides which he did not like. Kept it up through a couple years of Community College (his choice, he just wasn't into a big 4 year school), planned on staying this season even after the pay cut. Even stuck it out when he was inexplicably moved from AT/Log Flume which he really liked to Batman which he was not happy about because he knew the ride crew was not great. No one asked for this move and the leads and supers had no idea why it happened. He was a good ride op. Knew more about how the rides operated than a lot of the supervisors. Worked a majority of the rides in the park. Cleaned up his share of barf without complaining. Never called in and worked every shift he was scheduled, did day off requests way ahead of time and as prescribed by policy. Had more than one incident where he noticed restraints had not been checked by someone else or there was a problem and kept an unsafe train from going out. Etc, etc, you get the picture. Well the policy had always been 3 safeties and then a ride op lost their ride badge, essentially a 3 strikes and you are out rule. Safeties are issued anytime a ride op basically does something unsafe, like cross in front of a train without permission for example. He had never received a safety after 4 full seasons. Early this summer he gets a safety for not looking long enough at the boats on the log flume at the bottom of the first lift hill before launching a new boat. For those that are unaware if they are allowed to stack at the first hill they fill up with water and sink. Yeah. He wasn't written up for not checking, the super just didn't think he looked long enough. Ok. You do get to write out your side of the story, which he did but basically laughed it off as the super having a bad day instead of fighting it. Fine. Then after he is moved to Batman they are loading a train, he is at the panel, ALL ride ops give their thumbs up that restraints are checked and they are in the safe zone and the way is clear. He launches the train, then one of the ops moves out of the safety box and he has to e-stop the train for the ops safety. Safety issued to each member of the crew. Reports written out. Super tells him standard procedure, don't worry it won't stand, only the op that moved where they shouldn't have will get the safety. Nope. Entire crew gets safety and oh yeah we reduced it from 3 to 2 so they pull his ride badge. Now it is what it is. Shit happens and we all get screwed sometimes and have to pay our dues. Hard lesson learned, he probably could have and should have gotten the first safety reversed. And to be totally fair he knew it was his last season. At this point there are 3 weeks of daily operations left. He cannot go on rides again until next season, which he knows he won't be coming back because he will need to move on and get a real full time adult job since he is finishing up school. But they tell him they need people to do fastpass and he can do that. He says fine, he had planned on the income for those weeks and will just stick it out. Ok, fast pass will call you. Several days go by and no call. After 3 weeks, several phone calls on his part and a physical visit to human resources...............they apologize with a so sorry Person A thought Person B had called and Person B thought Person A had called and no one seemed to notice you weren't being scheduled............! Why the long tale? This caused him to lose 3 weeks of expected pay, the park to be short in two departments while an employee was available and wanting to work, an unnecessary blow to a young man's self esteem, and an abrupt end to what had been a proud employee. IF there had been better management in place all of this could have been avoided. Without a dedicated park president and a team that is beholden to him or her on a daily basis things and people are falling through the cracks. I believe better management could have provided training to get him his ride badge back (I am NOT advocating that they skimp on safety issues but clearly there should be some nuance here by a higher up that can evaluate the situation, the whole ride crew did not deserve a safety) or at least get him moved over within a day to the other department, not just "oh didn't you get called, we had no idea" Clearly no one was checking their voicemail or email or getting messages from HR. Meanwhile, he was still getting emails asking him to take shifts on Batman despite his badge being pulled and they were advertising for employees needed at fastpass. And why is fastpass a whole separate crew? Ride ops can do it instead of paying someone to just stand at the fastpass entrance and do nothing else but scan people in. He wasn't fired, he wasn't scheduled, he was in a void for 3 weeks. I could go on but you get the idea. Management seems to be a total mess right now and that has got to get fixed in order to improve all the things that make a park a great park. I have no idea if they couldn't find a qualified park pres or if they just decided to do it on the cheap; but it is not working to share. We can go back and forth with whether or not the landscaping is up to par. Something I tend to notice. If the ride lineup is good. If the special events are done well. Yada, yada, yada.......but until they properly manage the park and employees none of that will show huge improvement. I agree that RR and the new flat for next year are positive improvements but they have to get the management situation fixed. I am VERY curious to see how this plays out with the new CF merger! As well as what it means for season passes. We have kept our DE VIP memberships not so much just for our park but because we travel to multiple parks every year. Currently this is one of the more active threads, not sure if it's because we are a bitchy bunch, passionate about our park, a little of both? In the end good or bad this park holds a lot of memories for me and I really really do want to see it succeed. So moving forward and fingers crossed. And just in case anyone is wondering. Joel is fine. He did work about a month's worth of weekends dong fastpass, after they realized oh yeah we should schedule you, just because it was convenient money while job hunting during the week. He finished some school, got some IT certifications and is now working, at age 20, his first full time adult job as a field technician for a big and well established tech company.

I blame the old burial ground under Knotts! Seriously, Xcelerator is a bummer, but like others have said whatever the hell they did to destroy Monte is a crime!!!