Hercules

When the season gets going again, try your local amusement park I'm still trying to get my hands on a piece of Hercules, to tell you the truth.

I do bother too, but I get free golf Ahhh, the power of having the majority of my high school's golf records and being the captain of my college team

Yeah well, I based a lot of that on the great ride that I had on it and the fact that people overlook it because Boulder Dash is in the same park. I've come to realize that it is merely average, but still a solid ride. It's a low 7 at best, but I still liked it. I haven't met a wooden coaster that I really haven't liked yet. Oh yeah that's right there are the Riverside Cyclone and Rolling Thunder

The Hershey Entgertainment & Resorts will close Parkview golf course due to their need for expansion of Hersheypark and their resorts. The extra land will be used to help expansion as well as traffic and parking problems. The site is about 130 acres. That is too bad because I was planning on playing on that next summer Good to see that they are expanding though. Getting into the park from that side can be very hard sometimes.

WillMontu Rockman89 #1 (so wrong but I just have to vote for it) USRoadTripper Good job everyone

The funny thing is that even with the good reviews and praise, I still had my doubts. After seeing that video, I kind of have an understanding of what that is all about. That looks like an awesome coaster and I would love to ride it and really see what it's like. Excellent video.

I love reading this crap. I'm such a nerd A business and marketing nerd.

A little bit of that has to do with my screenname. But a lot has to do with a great ride on Storm Runner on 9/11 last year after an amazing day with my girlfriend at the park. That is all I have to say.

Dorney Park has been my second home for a while. I just sent in an application for a marketing position there, so instead of 25 visits a year I'll be going there like everyday (even if it is for work). I also have an internship pending at Hershey, but I would have to go there a lot to surpass the amount of times I have been to Dorney over the years.

Great pictures. Can't wait for the chance to ride this, maybe sometime soon Waiting for more word on that.

Great points there. I too get the New York and Philly channels both at school and my hometown. The New York City and Philly thing is getting kind of out of control, yes, but I don't mind it. I'm not big on that kind of thing. However, it does just go to show the evolution from where Dorney used to be and where it is after the Cedar Fair takeover. But anyway, it is funny that you brought up a shooting or something. Back in the day (I think I was about 9, which means that it was the year that Cedar Fair had just taken over the park) there was a noticable amount of city guests at the park from the previous years. There was actually a pretty large gang fight in the parking lot after the park closed. I don't think there were any injuries or anything and I don't think it was anything that was newsworthy, but it was a big change from what we were used to at the park (when it was just locals and the now employee parking lot was the entrance) One thing that people need to remember (or at least I think is important, but I'm no expert ) parks, or businesses for that matter, don't have to be the same to be in competition. These are very similar, actually, considering they are pulling from the same areas and happen to big bigger amusement parks. They just go about it in different ways like some have said with one going more for the thrills and the other bringing in more families. They have just taken their targets and have their own niche and focus. They are in the entertainment industry. A bowling alley is in competition with an arcade and the movies just as much as they are with another bowling alley. It doesn't matter how different they are, they still provide entertainment. These places are even more like eachother than you think, which makes them in competition plus the points that have been made about location and other things.

^ Trust me, you don't want them to come in an ruin tradition. I live 5 minutes from Allentown in Center Valley and I see more Great Adventure commercials. Back when Hydra was being heavily promoted in the first half of the season I saw more Dorney, but overall the Dorney commercials faded off and there were more Great Adventure commercials. Even when Kingda Ka was down the generic ads were airing. We also get the BGW here. The are some BGT during late night too. My school actually has VIP 10 dollar off passes to Great Adventure too. I see all of these commercials at my home in NEPA too (over 3 hours from Great Adventure, hour and a half from Dorney)

Right, but they are in competition. Dorney is still just a medium size park anyway. If they got the crowds that Great Adventure got that wouldn't be that great. They are pulling in a profit and that is all that matters. Dorney advertises and pulls people in to a certain extent. They make money and that is all that matters. The place has grown a lot over the course of the Cedar Fair reign. It is a competition between the two, but they are two very different parks in terms of size and what they need to do to make money. However, the fact that they pull from the same markets is what the competition between eachother. By the way, Dorney brought in over 1.5 million guests this year which was a 9% increase from last year. Great Adventure brings in over 5 million a year, but they have a higher capacity (eventhough they don't necessarily handle it that well on the very busy days) This past summer at Dorney the overflow lots were full and they were turning people away from be admitted. That is pretty good for them. It is just during the week that is slow I guess. Now, I know that it is tough sometimes to say that parks are in competition with eachother just because they are pulling from the same markets and demographics (say, something like Lake Compounce and Quassy is a little bit of a stretch in saying something like that considering what each park is and has to offer) but I would say that Dorney and Great Adventure are in competition because they are major parks and very popular in the areas.

Sorry. To tell you the truth, the only thing that I knew about this place was that they had this ride. I knew nothing about the place. Now I do. Thank you for explaining it to me.

Well, usually when they get rides with such a low capacity they just make it a pay attraction so that it isn't as big of a waste of money. (I'm not talking about this bell thing at this park since it has been repeated that the park doesn't get a lot of guests) But I'm just saying that there is a method to the low capacity thing.

^^ Actually I was saying that because they are in very direct competition with Dorney. (You beat me to it Joe! That twin thing is coming back, and making me edit my post ) ^^^ I thought you were going to go down the road that if Cedar Fair bought all of the Six Flags parks that they would not be able to operate them very well due to overexpansion. I don't know. I just think the rules are there for a reason so I don't mind them. I do mind the brainwashed ride ops though.

Capacity doesn't matter at the Prater Park... That wasn't really my point. It is just funny that there is so much that goes into the ride and the magnitude of it and the capacity is so small. I didn't really mean the park, just the ride itself

Oh yeah? What do you call Great Adventure?

I laugh anytime I see that ride. I just think it is really funny that something that elaborate could be built for such a low low low capacity ride.

But why would they buy parks that are in direct competition with other parks that they have? gee I don't know...TO MAKE MONEY!!!! those four parks are I believe the highest grossing parks in the chain so that would leave SF with smaller parks that they could focus on and try to turn around profit and attendance wise. also if they own all the parks in the area and there is no competition they can set prices as high as they like and anyone who wants to enjoy an amusement park close to home would have no choice but to pay, look at the season passes for CP/GL hey charge over 100 for them but if you get a CF pass at anyother CF park it is good at both but it it I think 30 dollars less...just a thought I really hope your aren't thinking of a career in business. I think that others have explained why that wouldn't happen well enough. But the main thing that I don't get is that you said that they would set prices as high as they want! If they set prices too high then people won't go And the season pass thing (if I understand you correctly) doesn't really matter because like Six Flags parks a pass to a Cedar Fair park is good at all Cedar Fair parks anyway. The reason that a Cedar Point pass is so much already is because it is a very large park. A Dorney pass is at 90 right now.

Main difference here, Knott's was run independent before, and run quite well. Expecting a corporate giant to come in and do as well (keep all the charm) is unlikely. It sounds like people that are close to Knott's have the same feeling as the people that are close to Dorney (someone like me)

Yes. From what I know the design was a B&M design but B&M bailed on the project because they were busy, so BGW was left with prints of the design and nobody to build the ride, so in came Arrow. Since Arrow did such a good job finishing Big Bad Wolf and with what they did with Loch Ness Monster, they were the (at the time) obvious choice to build Drachen Fire. Too bad they didn't realize that Arrow track didn't mix with B&M design.

You're welcome, but you have to think of places that have some sort of potential too. A park or two that you mentioned really don't have that much potential or room for growth. However, they are in fairly good areas.

But why would they buy parks that are in direct competition with other parks that they have? Oh wait, they took over Geauga Lake But seriously, why would they do that? I would say that they would take over the struggling parks so that they could get a good price for them and then try to mold them into better parks.

Great poll and this is my first year doing it. I have a big 15 (well 14 because I only count LR as one). 1. Boulder Dash 2. Phoenix 3. J2 (formally known as Tsunami) 4. Lightning Racer - Thunder (only because I have more wins on it) 5. Lightning Racer - Lightning 6. Twister at Knoebels 7. Wild One at SFA 8. Roar at SFA 9. Comet at Hershey 10. Thunderhawk at Dorney 11. Wildcat at Hershey 12. Wildcat at Lake Compounce 13. Thunderbolt at SFNE 14. Rolling Thunder 15. Riverside Cyclone at SFNE