Reality15

Robb, Have you at all looked into possibly offering the Coaster Expedition series in a different format? While I absolutely love the DVDs and I have #s 1 through 4 on my iPod, a lot of people are using things like Windows Media Center and AppleTV to play movies. Is there any chance we could ever see something like an MKV file available, where the full DVD quality and resolution is still there, but it's still a "mobile" file and can be played at a higher resolution for those of us that would use it? Just wondering, as I'm sitting here backing up my entire DVD collection onto a hard drive in MKV format and haven't gotten around to transferring TPR DVDs over to my computer yet. I know I would be much more willing to pay the same price as a DVD for a file on my computer instead of the DVD itself. Just my two cents, -Jon "Going to be transferring DVDs for a LONG time still" Roost

The appealed to one group for how many years? In my opinion, that's all they marketed to from 1985 - 2005. Look at the additions then:1985 - Z Force 1986 - Splashwater Falls 1987 - No additions 1988 - Shockwave 1989 - Rolling Thunder 1990 - Iron Wolf 1991 - Condor 1992 - Batman the Ride 1993 - No additions 1994 - Space Shuttle America 1995 - Viper 1996 - Southwest Territory 1997 - Giant Drop, Skycoaster 1998 - Bugs Bunny National Park, Camp Cartoon Network 1999 - Raging Bull 2000 - No additions 2001 - V2, Deja Vu, Go-Karts 2002 - Turbo Bungy 2003 - Superman: Ultimate Flight 2004 - Mardi Gras, Revolution 2005 - Hurricane Harbor Now, of those years, how many of them was the focus on teens vs. families? Of the 21 seasons I pointed out, 13 of them were EASILY pointed towards teens/enthusiasts, and only 5 were for families. Heaven forbid they try and round out their ride collection by giving families something to do. Put it this way, what group is going to spend more money, the teenagers or the family of four? Where would you spend your money?

Buccaneer Battle with a line? In October? Wow, I went ten times last summer and it was ALWAYS a walk-on! Saturdays in October the park is usually extremely packed. Granted, the line only took about 15-20 min, but for a ride with a high capacity like Buccaneer Battle and being around 60 degrees out, I really wasn't expecting a line at all. The ride is a great ride, even if people on here don't think so. Six Flags's target market isn't aimed at coaster enthusiasts and teens anymore, it's aimed at families with kids. And people are telling me a ride the entire family can ride and have fun on is a failure? Where in the universe do Family Ride + Family Target Market = Failure?

I think all Cedar Fair parks require you to at least be 15. Here at Michigan's Adventure we only have, to my knowledge, six employees under the age of 16, with that position being our "Live Entertainment" department (Snoopy costumed character). You're too young to spend your entire summer working at a park anyways.

I went for my yearly trip back in October, and Buccaneer Battle was easily the highlight of the day, and that included a ride on all of the coasters, most of the flats and the skycoaster. Buccaneer Battle is just a generally fun ride, and even on a cold October day there was a line for it. Buccaneer Battle appeals to families, and while it's not something that people "drove hours" for, it's something that will keep them coming back, which is what Six Flags. I've spent three years working in amusement parks (about to start year four), and I can tell you, without a doubt, that water rides are a big draw for any park, even with their often high capacities. Of my three years, I've worked a water ride every year (Snake River Falls at Cedar Point for part of year one, Adventure Falls and Logger's Run at Michigan's Adventure for years two and three), and I've seen more people go through the turnstiles at my rides than some of the big coasters. Sure, I might drive the 9 hours this year to check out Voyage's new trains at Holiday World, but I also plan on going back to Great America this year... because of Buccaneer Battle. My two cents. Jon "the water ride operator" Roost

Figured I'd drag this back up... I don't know why, but I'm going back for year number four with Cedar Fair, again at Michigan's Adventure. Finally, I'm in charge of one of the world's greatest wooden roller coasters, Shivering Timbers, the first ever Dinn & Summers woodie, Wolverine Wildcat, and our miniature train, Timbertown Railway. 2010 - Michigan's Adventure - Shivering Timbers TL 2009 - Michigan's Adventure - Logger's Run TL 2008 - Michigan's Adventure - Adventure Falls TL 2007 - Cedar Point - Maverick Crew

Looks like the same restraints found on Maverick at Cedar Point, so I would guess it's what they call an "overhead lap bar" with "shoulder straps". If it is, be prepared for quick direction changes, it could throw you into the restraint if you don't lean into the curve.

There won't be any new rides this season, that's been confirmed by General Manager Camille Jourden-Mark. I'm interested to see if this person was just wrong, and had no idea what's going on as far as what's "new" or if something really will be changing... guess we'll find out in a few months.

Greezed Lightnin' is on the north side of the park, land leased from the fairgrounds. Here's a complete list of who owns what rides if you go according to the property lines: FAIRGROUNDS: Thunder Run Roller Skater Road Runner Express Greezed Lightnin' Breakdance Bluebeard's Bounty Tin Lizzies Bumper Cars Enterprise Thrill Park Theatre Himalaya Giant Wheel Flying Dutchman International Carousel The Zeppelin All 11 children's attractions Skycoaster SIX FLAGS: T2 Penguin's Blizzard River Mile High Falls Twisted Twins Top Eliminator Dragsters (what's left of them) Going off that list, we don't know if Six Flags or the Fairgrounds owns the rides that were installed prior to the sale to Premier Parks at the end of 1997. If they aren't, then T2 and Mile High Falls move over to the Fairgrounds' list. The only part I find confusing about this is some of the removals already. For example, the rides that went to Worlds of Adventure in 2001, the Vekoma boomerang that's now at Six Flags New England. If Six Flags didn't own the rides, then how did they have the right to move them to a different property? I know absolutely nothing about the lease agreement or any contracts that Six Flags had with the fairgrounds, but I would wager a guess that, from the sounds of it, any rides on the Fairgrounds' land at the end of the lease (or upon termination) is the property of the Fairgrounds, but until that point they have full rights to remove rides as long as some kind of replacement is made. For example, the value of Road Runner Express had to be equal to the value of the boomerang they removed to install it. Again, this is all speculation on what I think the contract might be.

I went on the Jefferson County website to try and find out what plots of land are owned by Six Flags. From the looks of it, "KKI LLC" owns the land on the south side of the park, south and west of the waterpark. This would include: -Chang -T2 -Penguin's Blizzard River -Twisted Twins -Mile High Falls -Go-Karts But does not include the waterpark, Thunder Run, Top Eliminator Dragsters, ferris wheel, or picnic pavilions. The funny thing is that it looks like Twisted Twins was built on land owned by someone else, being Mary and Douglas Gillim and First Kentucky Trust Co. All in all, it adds up to right around 20 acres, the amount of land Six Flags is listed as owning in the area. The entire park sat on 58 acres, 38 of which were leased from the fairgrounds. I would venture a guess to say that this is the land Six Flags owns and that those are the few rides they can remove from the property. If you'd like to play around with it for yourself, check out: http://www.pvalouky.org/en/propertymap.php

Not true. American Adventures was leased by Zuma Holdings in 2008. It's now a part of the Mega Fun Parks, LLC chain, though the land it sits on is still owned by Six Flags (next to White Water: Atlanta). They operate small FECs in Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Colorado, Arizona and Texas in addition to American Adventures. Mega Fun Parks has announced the park won't open for 2010, however, but they are no longer a "part of the Six Flags family."

Rides that are probably owned by the fairgrounds: -International Carousel -Tin Lizzies -A few kids rides Those are the rides left over from the ORIGINAL Kentucky Kingdom (way back from 1987), everything else has been added from 1990-2009. I'd like to know what rides they think they own as well, didn't Six Flags just lease the land from them?

While I know nothing about this project and very little about the piers out there in New Jersey, I read the thread and something came to mind... what if they did a dark ride as a waterpark attraction? Something like a lazy river through the various scenes instead of an omnimover/walking? Just giving my thoughts, but let's be honest here, I could be way out in right field...

Uh-oh big man, you dropped to page two... here's hoping you get a chance to get that next TR up sometime soon!

17/20, though I will admit quite a few of them were lucky guesses.

It's much easier to look at, both on my laptop and HDTV desktop. I would add a bit more padding here and there, for example under "Moderators: dsfasdflkasdjf" and to the left of the category title. You might also want to consider making the font a bit larger for those of us using the HD displays, or at least an option to change it and make it larger (similar to phpBB's default skin, I believe)

Just so you know, the photos of Cedar Point's Scrambler and Michigan's Adventure's Scrambler that I gave you are mixed up. You have ones of CP's Scrambler on the Michigan's Adventure page.

Here's what you're missing from Michigan's Adventure and Cedar Point. If you need any other pictures from Michigan's Adventure, let me know, I have over 6,000 photos from 1983-2009. These are just the ones I thought were good for the index. -Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Flying Trapeze Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Flying Trapeze Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Trabant Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Trabant Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Tilt-a-Whirl Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Falling Star Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Falling Star Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Falling Star Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Falling Star Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Scrambler Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Scrambler Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Logger's Run Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Giant Gondola Wheel Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Giant Gondola Wheel Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Giant Gondola Wheel Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Giant Gondola Wheel Photo by Jon Roost Michigan's Adventure - Thunderbolt Photo by Jon Roost Cedar Point - Scrambler Photo by Jon Roost Cedar Point - Scrambler Photo by Jon Roost

Trust me, I know all about the Southfield Jeepers!. My goal on my first visit last year was, needless to say, the fastest credit run I've ever done. The lady operating Python Pit was actually extremely friendly and noticed my Michigan's Adventure jacket and struck up a conversation with me... then we dashed out of there as quickly as possible. Keep it awesome, big man. -Jon

Alright Mike, I looked for the Mikestry card at Jeepers! in Southfield, but it's not on the table in the window anymore. I checked a bunch of other tables while we were there, but none of them had the magical Big Mike banner underneath. And what's the birthday countdown at now, 10 days? -Jon

I've been using DreamHost.com's dedicated servers for three years now (my fourth starts on the 15th), and I've never once had a problem with them. If you want to read more about them, the link is: http://www.dreamhost.com/hosting-dedicated.html I'd definitely recommend them if you're looking at a place to move the site to, as their tech support is great, and best of all, they speak English!

I spot four duckies, Big Mike.

Seems to me Worlds of Fun and Michigan's Adventure are few of the Cedar Fair parks that have growing numbers and increasing revenues. If I remember correctly, the list was: Dorney, Kings Island, Wonderland, Michigan's Adventure, and Knott's. I don't know this for sure, of course, but I remember a press release by Cedar Fair citing them as the parks with great increases in numbers recently.

...quoted for anyone who wants to know if the parks will be improved at all. This should give you your answer. I don't think anything else needs to be said.

Although I don't have the time to send cards out this year, happy holidays, Big Mike! Here's to Season 3 of the Big Mike Road Show and all the friends and fun it will include. -Jon "Reality15" Roost