uwgbdork
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Posts posted by uwgbdork
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Although this is obviously skewed and completly the politics of industry peeps patting themselves on the back, The only real surprise I saw was in the best ride catagory with the little ridden Zippin Pippin (except me on my lunch break, twice on a good day!!). I think the fact that it was even listed on there, I have to give them some props. I would give it a number one ranking in the Value for dollar (quite litteraly a dollar).
On the coaster rankings i am baffled by how high ranking Magnum is. I finally made it out there this year for the first time and was completely underwhelmed. I can see that it was great in its day but it still crys out with areas that were just meh and rough. and going into the turnaround was just so.... awkward. Don't get me wrong, i still liked it but it just lacks in comparison to other similar rides ridden.
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My wife and I went there last september before the expansion and just loved it!!! We would definatly go back. A note on the Larger cabana's.. Those are the meeting spots for groups of guests to gather for the dolphin swim. You have printed time on your ID badge and you meet there before going into the dolphin pools. It is also is where you get to sign the dreaded liability waver!!! One of the best days of our honeymoon!!!
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My wife and I went and checked it out on Sunday! KInda sad we didn't make it out for the open but they pushed it back 2 weeks right on our already planned pilgramage to Cedar Point. I definately would echo the comment on the 2nd to last airtime hill. Not going to lie it is the single most unexpected moment of ejector air i can recently remember! So glad I only live 2 miles away and costs a buck a ride! It is like a choice on the dollar menu!!!!
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I for one think this is a step forward. I have been increasingly tired of cookie cutter themeing of brands that are "in". Looking back to when i was a kid I loved going to Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. When i was young it did not make a difference to me if a ride was themed to anything specific. I think it give the company to get back to its roots. Create this generations "Demon" or "Shockwave". Yes it will be weird for awhile when things transition, but over all should be a step forward and also allow them to reinvest money to worthy expenses as opposed to paying money for stickers on cars. Hopefully they won't wrap all these unthemed cars with gum adds as a theme.
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My wife and I took a detour on the way to the grocery store to check out the progress of the contruction first hand. I had been keeping an eye on construction. Had been away for a week or so decided to drive past and luck would have it my wife's camera was in her purse! I present to you our findings!
Welcome to the construction site
a woodie has to start somewhere!
I love wood!!!
making use of the zooooooooom
east side of the construction fence
wood and footer work
zooooooooom
rebar for additional footers
thru the fence
MY awsome wife surfing wisconsin style! We recieved heavy rain friday night and caused some light flooding.
Thanks for checking these out photos! Can't wait till spring till it opens.!!! Finally i coaster i don't have to drive 3+ hours to get to!
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I have been meaning to get over there and check out site! Is only like 2 miles from my door. Drove past a few weeks ago but was way to busy to stop!
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I think this is a perfect fit! That area was in need of some TLC. For those who do not relize, Snoopy is really popular in the twin cities. They pretty much claim ownership of Peanuts since Charles Shultz is from the area. This is much better that the current area which i like to call "generic childrens area"
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The Karate Kid Shrinkwrap makes me sad inside. There are just some things that you should not advertise on.
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When i saw this this am i thought it would have sparked a little more discussion. Here lies the big question. The Trains are here and are sitting inside the Maintenace Shed. Are they going to be rehabbed and placed on wolf as a much needed replacement and new trains be purchased for the ride formally know as Chang or are they going to sit in there until the ride re-ermerges. I think we can officially start to form our hypotheses. We will see on opening day if there are some new trains sitting on wolf! Less than a month to go!!!!
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After watching an interview with some of the competitors on the mall of america spongebob marathon that went on for a couple days, they said the worst part was the first half hour, after that they said it was just sort of monotenous. It was a radio contest like a year ago. Unfortunalty I cannot find any of the press info from the contest anymore.
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Hands down, new or used, i am just happy i don't have to drive 3 hours for the nearest coaster anymore!!! This will be less than 2 miles from my apartment and will only cost a dollar to ride. It is all good if you ask me! I have been excited about this for years now since my college newspaper first did an article on the original masterplan when it was simply a proposal. Now only have to wait a year!! I can handle that.
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The state has eminent domain. They love to use it under the guise that it is for the good of the state and the people. They use it alot to get things they want.
You are right though that the government is in a pickle. Who would want to operate the park given the SF precedence? KI and Holiday World will eat their lunch this summer.
To chime in on the idea of the state using emminent domain, i don't think that would be a tool that the fair board would have access to. Yes the Fair Board is a publically controlled Org but would opperate much like a public run buisness instead of a governement planning agency. They are pretty much set up to oversee the operation of the land and would not have any bearing in the realm of land aquisition. I think only their big brothers in the state would have that ability and would have to be for some kind of public works project such as a highway or water main. Not only if they did use eminent domain on the property it would actually be to the benefit of Six Flags who would be entitled to the fair market value of the property including the fixtures that are located on the land. The state gets the land but six flags gets the money. The situation right now is the Fair Board knows they are screwed with six flags owning land adjacent to their own holdings now that they flew the coop. They are just going to try to get a last couple of bucks from six flags. Remember Government entities runs opposite of the buisness world. Government funding is based on "need" and they spend all of their allocated budgets each year. If they "need" the funding they can raise property taxes and other forms of revenue to cover the costs If they don't their funding is jeapardy to get cut. Where as Corporations are all about spending money in a way that will bring them greater profits. Just some ramblings that may not make any sense but who knows. Tey ARE a little slow in KY!!!!
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I guess the way I see it magicquest would be much more suited on the other side of I94 over at gurnee mills or downtown Wisconsin Dells. Just a real touristy area with loose wallets. Put it in a place that you don't charge people to get into in the first place. I think that this will be around maybe 2-3 years and will peter off. I think this is just a way for six flags to rent out some land to a gameing area that needed an excuse to be ripped up. Lets face it how many carney game areas do you really need. It probaly does not bring in much more revenue than the cost to pay the 16 year olds anyway. Plus pay another company to design and operate their brand. If it goes belly up you aren't going to lose much and you just reclaimed some land in the park for future expansion with little to no risk. It is either a smart business move for six flags or a poor one for Magicquest. Only time will tell.
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as interesting as this is.... i can't help but feel underwhelmed. My dorkiness runs pretty thick but this is just a whole new level of dorkiness. Personally I can't justify paying $50 to get into the park, $15 bucks to park the car and then spend another 20 bucks to do something like this that is going to take an hour+ of my time that i could be riding another ride that I have already paid for season pass or not. That is just my thoughts.
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Chang is not going to come back! It is gone whether the fair board likes it or not. The only thing that is going to come from it will be to get the damages, aka the worth of the coaster in cash. It is all about the money. The Fair board probaly could care less if the ride is rebuilt.
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Even if premier made up the contracts to purchase chang, Six Flags would have most likely inheareted in the debt and therefore the ownership of the attraction when they took over the lease. When parks purchase a ride they do not exactly pay up front in cash for the ride. It is kinda like a car or house. They have a few years in loans to opperate and make back the money they invested and or loaned out to purchase the ride. I think whether it was Premier Parks or Six Flags that purchased the ride is irrelevant as the debt would have transfered.
Of course this is all speculation as no one here in these forums has access to the actual contracts as well as the wording they contain. In all likelyhood Chang will not miraculously show up and get rebuilt. If anything six flags would have to pay them the market value of the ride as it stands in 2010. Will be interesting to see how it plays out. I wish i was a lawyer making the money from both sides here!!!! hahaha
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Here is my Official Entry Have never Done a GIF immage so going old school!
"OFFICIAL ENTRY" Pasta Lt Dan!!!!!
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^ Wouldn't it just be easier (and probably cheaper) to have a new wooden roller coaster built and create your own legacy around that ride instead of buying someone else's?
Well when you take a step back and take a look at the costs It does kinda make sense to take the plans from an existing rollercoaster and rebuild it in this way. I would believe that buying the blueprints and technical layout plans that are exististing already would be far cheaper that paying a company to design and engineer a new plan from square one. Plus if they can salvage some of the hardwear such as lifthill motor/chain, cars, and possibly some of the safety mechanisms this would shave off a big part of the price. Living not much more then 2 miles from this tiny park I would have to agree that an old school coaster would be way cooler here then a custom created coaster with plan designs ala 2010. I like the feel of this place. It is old school. It is seriosly like a regular park that happens to have some amusment rides and always has. One of my fiance's favorite things to do is get a pizza from Little Ceasers and take it out there just to eat and walk around. ( we throw the last piece in its full form to a group of seagulls and watch them fight over it. It is extremly funny to watch one try to fly away with a whole piece that is too heavy for them to get off the ground!)
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More news today from the Green Bay Press Gazette today! Very interesting article. According to the article some members of The Gravity Group traveled with the Mayor down to Memphis. http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20100211/GPG0101/2110558/1978/Photos-Mayor-wants-roller-coaster-operating-at-Bay-Beach-by-2011
Bay Beach Amusement Park not only pays its own way but pours hundreds of thousands of dollars into the city coffers each year, making it one of the city's biggest money makers, city officials say. The park keeps no attendance figures, because the public can enter from any direction at all hours. However, the park sold nearly 4.1 million tickets last summer and 3.9 million the year before, indicating the park can thrive even during a recession, said Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt. The park brings in about $1.7 million a year. Last year, ride tickets accounted for $1,017,982. Concession sales earned another $648,430, and rental of the park earned $42,501.47. All of that for a $743,550 operating budget.If Schmitt gets his way, a vintage roller coaster could be operating at Bay Beach by the start of the 2011 season. That roller coaster, Schmitt said, should be a wooden one called the Zippin Pippin. Schmitt and parks director Bill Landvatter went to Memphis, Tenn., this week to check out the Pippin. Also attending was an engineer from the Gravity Group, a Cincinnati company that specializes in wooden roller coaster design and construction. The trip cost city taxpayers $1,318. But Schmitt said seeing the ride firsthand would help him in eventual fundraising efforts.
The Pippin stands in the former Libertyland amusement park in Memphis. It has been out of service since 2005, when Libertyland closed for financial reasons. The roller coaster, originally built in 1915 and moved and reconstructed eight years later, is being dismantled and is reportedly in rough shape. However, it can be moved, re-engineered and rebuilt for about $3 million, which would be less expensive than the projected cost of $5 million to build a new one, Schmitt said. Anywhere from about 50 percent to 90 percent of the roller coaster likely would have to be new material, Landvatter said. The city would acquire the design, salvageable parts and the historical value of a ride that's been around nearly 100 years, Schmitt said. Elvis Presley reportedly rode on the coaster eight days before he died in 1977.
The City Council has given at least preliminary approval to the concept of acquiring a vintage wooden roller coaster that would fit in with other vintage rides at Bay Beach park. Schmitt said he's confident the Parks Committee will approve the purchase in coming weeks and that the City Council will endorse the deal March 6. If the cost of purchase, moving and rebuilding to current state code comes in around $3 million as predicted, Schmitt said he would advocate borrowing $2.4 million and raising the rest through local donations. With the interest rate on the loan, the city's annual payout would be about $265,000 over 10 years, Schmitt said. The park's own budget would pay for that, maintenance and operational costs of the roller coaster, and then, when the coaster is clear of the debt, it would add to money that the park already makes for the city, Landvatter said.
The park's Yo-Yo ride, purchased and installed for $325,000 in 1996, has generated $1 million in revenue since then, Landvatter said. "The break-even point was about four years," he said. "After that, it produced more revenue than expenses, and that's what would happen with the roller coaster." The roller coaster would be one of the park's major attractions, he predicted. While some of the park's 17 rides cost 25 cents per person and others are 50 cents, the park likely would charge $1 a ride for the coaster, but it still likely would attract at least 200,000 riders a season, he said. In the first few years of operation, ridership could be up around 250,000, he said. It likely would attract new visitors to the park, thereby increasing revenue from the other rides, as well as from concession sales, he said.
The park has been successful without a roller coaster since 1936, when it last had one, but new attractions are good for "keeping things fresh," Landvatter said. Many of the park's rides are geared toward younger children, so the roller coaster would add an attraction for teens and adults, he said.
ADMIN EDIT: I went ahead and quoted the story so people don't have to visit the link externally.
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It is looking pretty good for us here in cheese land to move the coaster up here! Pretty much every local news source has done a report on it. Today's paper here mentiond that between 75 and 90 percent of the wood would have to be replaced and will cost about 3 million bucks to move and rebuild. I would link the article but the website is being annoying and won't let me find the article. It also mentioned that members from the Gravity Group traveled with the Green Bay Mayor down to Memphis to view the coaster. It also mentiond that most the salvaged portions and cost would pretty much buy the mechanical aspects and original blueprints. All pretty interesting stuff. I will be definatly be one of the first riders to ride the new ride If it opens early 2011!
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On the note of ride relocation, I would not be surprised in the least if they are NOT able to move any of the rides. Part of me thinks they got Chang the heck off property before the negotiations went down in this event cause then they would at least have a chance to save their Mulit-million dollar headliner. They were able to sneak it out under the guise of a waterpark expansion knowing that most patrons of the park went for the water park not the rides. The only people who really know are the fair board and six flags executives as to the true terms of the lease aggrment. I think getting chang out before the end of the year was a way of cutting their losses.
Hate to qoute myself but i believe a "I told you so" is in order
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Yeah it really does kinda make me wonder if management in their restructurning had a backup plan knowing that they could close the park. To all those concerned about the job loss. I really don't have too much sympathy. Nearly all of the employees are "seasonal" help. In the original release it mentioned that it affected 50 yes 50 full time jobs. I hate to break it to you but a McDonald's normally runs with about 30-40 employees both full and part time jobs. There will still be plenty of part time jobs for people to go out and get. It sounds cruel but true. Anyone that depends on a job that is only avail for 5 months a year consistently really needs to consider their long term career path.
On the note of ride relocation, I would not be surprised in the least if they are NOT able to move any of the rides. Part of me thinks they got Chang the heck off property before the negotiations went down in this event cause then they would at least have a chance to save their Mulit-million dollar headliner. They were able to sneak it out under the guise of a waterpark expansion knowing that most patrons of the park went for the water park not the rides. The only people who really know are the fair board and six flags executives as to the true terms of the lease aggrment. I think getting chang out before the end of the year was a way of cutting their losses.
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Looks like there is a good chance it is NOT the starliner. Local news mentions that the Mayor of Green Bay called for a "stay" in demolition of the Zippin Pippin from the defunct Libertyvile in Memphis TN. Is not a for sure but it looks like "the king's favorite roller coaster" could be moved up to Packerland
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So I was just watching American Idol with my finace,(brutally annoying by the way) when there was a promo for our local news that says that our local tiny amusment park in green bay maybe purchasing this very coaster! Looks like you will have to travel to the land of crazy football fans in order to ride it in the future! Here is the article!
Chadster's Vacation Adventures: Final Edition!
in Photo Trip Report Archive
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I live and work in green bay. My favorite pastime is what I refer to as an "epic lunch" in which while in business clothes, drive on my lunch to the park across town, get one, sometimes two rides in, hit a drive-thru and still make it back to back to my desk within an hour! I love it! Where else can you do that?