TopThrill182

While I'm a huge fan of the "Deja Vu" name, I think the change all comes down to marketability. "Goliath," at least to me, seems much more visceral, more easily translatable into visual terms, and more palatable by the GP. In short, I'd bet "Goliath" sells more t-shirts and mugs than "Deja Vu."

I feel bad for the poor management team at CGA! It seems like it would be a very unsure workplace... For this reason, I do have hope that this recent, "a coaster is 100% coming," rumor is true; I'd bet that, after CF announced their intentions to retain CGA, the park's GM tried to demand some answers/assurance out of corporate... Now, whether or not anything physically materializes in the park, that's another question.

Firstly, as already mentioned, I'm not sure how Luthor counts as a coaster... Secondly, I think its important to put all of these additions into perspective. Road Runner is a relocation (far cheaper than buying a new attraction); Lantern is fairly small and compact as far as coasters go (again, cheaper than a full-scale X2 equivalent); and Terminator carried a fairly modest price tag by today's standards ($10 million). By comparison, Maverick cost a cool $21 million. And while they weren't coasters, StR and Windseeker were a hefty investment, too, costing $10.5 million and $5 million respectively. So, from a dollar stand point, CP's recent capital expenditures aren't that far off from Magic Mountain's. I'm by no means trying to say that one park is better than the other; they just have a different way of doing things. But, just because CP hasn't added a coaster since '07 doesn't mean that CF isn't pouring money into the park.

The longest I ever waited for a coaster was 3 hours for X, but--never having been on it before--my enthusiasm for the ride helped pass the time. My 2.5 hour wait for Deja Vu at SFoG was by far my most painful waiting experience. While there were only maybe 200 people in line tops, the operations were the worst I've seen...

While I understand that money is tight for many companies at the moment--and I certainly respect the effort SF is making to produce new attractions, even despite the tough economic times--I'm not a fan of the recent influx of low capacity rides at SF parks; and, I think this decision might not work to the company's advantage. Obviously, SF has long discussed the need to save money. Shapiro's money saving approach seemed to be inundating parks with new children's areas and attractions; now, Reid-Anderson seems to be focusing on returning to the company's more habitual coaster / thrill ride additions, albeit with a more compact design, lower capacity, and--thus--lower cost. I suppose the company hopes that their ride "transformations" and pint-sized coaster additions (GL, SUF, etc.) will have the same drawing effect as a Tatsu or El Toro without the same cost. While GL delivers a great ride experience, its pathetic capacity does not go unnoticed. The line moves at a painful, glacial pace--and every time I stand in line, I never fail to hear a few guests commenting on how, "the line is moving so slowly." Once, as two guests were walking down the exit stairs, I overheard them commenting on how the ride was great, but that they would never wait in that "terrible" line again. And I have to agree; the line is terrible. Last Sunday, when the park was practically empty, I still waited a full 55 minutes for GL (the line looked short, but you took a step forward every five minutes; it made Deja Vu look like a capacity king). So, while these new attractions may work to get people into the park initially, I really believe that these rides' capacities negatively impact guests' overall enjoyment of them. SUF doesn't look to be an exception... How much good are these attractions really doing when the slow moving lines only seem to aggravate guests?

In regards to this, "Cedar Point hasn't had a new coaster in 5 years," discussion, Cedar Point's actions seem pretty logical to me. Couldn't we just assume that Cedar Point--like virtually every other business entity out there at the moment--is trying to cut costs? Look at some of Six Flags' recent additions: GL, LLToD, SUF--low capacity, relatively low cost coasters/thrill rides. And many of SF"s other additions are relocations, which also cost considerably less than a new Beemer or Intamin creation. So, while there may be exceptions (X-Flight, Leviathon, etc.) many parks' capital expenditures have shrunk in size in recent years. As many have already pointed out, it's not that CP isn't adding year after year, it's just that their additions haven't been as "splashy" (nor costly) as some of their previous ones. And if we're being honest, haven't many businesses been following that trend for a few years now?

I'd also like to know when Deja Vu's final day of operation will be. Hoping it still has a few weekends left!

At first, I couldn't really understand why everyone was so excited by this addition. Then I remembered how tall the Superman tower actually is... Whoa--this will be one awesome drop tower!

I was wondering the same thing! I've been to KBF the past two Saturdays (the most recent of which was hot as heck), and Perilous has been closed both times! The result was uber long waits for BFR and TMLR.

I visited Knott's on Saturday to check out their version of Windseeker. Overall, I was pretty impressed by the addition. While I still think that the Boardwalk area may have been a better fit for the ride, I think it looks good in the Fiesta Village location. The color of the tower looks great, and the ride adds a lot of nice energy to FV without making it feel too cluttered or cramped. I only have two criticisms. One, I don't totally get how the whole movie soundtrack thing fits in with the rest of FV. Two, at least when I went, the lighting package only featured the red white and blue pattern. Is there a reason for this? Again, the American colors don't really jive with their attempt to create a Latino atmosphere. Overall, however, I really enjoyed the ride. It provides some great views of the park!

I feel like every time someone suggests these expansion ideas (i.e. build a parking garage, expand the peninsula, build a monorail over to the main land), there's one critical piece of information that's overlooked: Cedar Point's operating calendar. CP is a seasonal park, open late May through October (which is a shorter operating season than many other seasonal parks). If CP were to go ahead with some sort of major expansion, think about all the extra maintenance and upkeep costs the park would have to deal with during the winter months. The attendance gains would have to be huge in order to outweigh the increased burden of tending to a bigger park during the off-season. It would also really spike the operating costs during the summer, considering all the extra staff, electricity, landscaping, etc. that would be required to continually operate a larger park. Once again, could the park really expect a big enough attendance gain to outweigh this? Cedar Point is plenty big enough as it stands now. Barring a few Saturdays in July and August (as well as the occasional stellar weekend in October), CP has a hard time packing the place as it is; most of the time they can't even come close to the park's capacity. So I'm not sure that the size of the park is really an issue. Instead, I think that tweaking their current offerings, focussing more on the Resort aspect of things, building a bigger line-up of family attractions, etc., is a better, more effective use of the park's time and resources.

As much as I love coasters, Mammoth makes me want to try out the park more than any of their woodies ever have. Love the idea of a round raft that can spin throughout the ride, making each and every ride experience a little different.

I have to say that I find this whole "inside vs. outside seat" thing to be a little odd... Based on the press releases and advertising for the coaster thus far, the park really seems to be touting how exciting the outside seats will be--even though they only represent 50% of the seats on each train. I think we've all seen some arguments take place over who gets to sit on the outside of a B&M invert, and that's without parks actively promoting how one seat is better than another. I'll be anxious to see the difference in ride experience on an outside vs. inside seat, and how this effects the ride's capacity. Seems to me that this should have been more of an "all or nothing" situation.

Cedar Point is my home park as well, and I wouldn't really recommend you make the trip to Dorney. I thought the park was pretty average... I'd probably pick KI or KD from that list.

I'm sort of surprised that the forward and backward swinging is so drastic... Obviously the video may not tell the whole story, but it sure looks like those pods are coming close together! Wasn't the whole point of CF choosing Mondial supposed to be about wind resistance in the first place? I get that Cedar Point has high winds, but this doesn't look as wind resistant as CF had boasted!

I'm not sure if this has already been discussed (I admit that I haven't had time to read through this entire thread), but what's going on with the Sky Cabin? If I'm remembering correctly, it closed for a while leading up to the announcement that Windseeker would replace it, then Kinzel changed the park change the location to Fiesta Village, and now it's remained closed ever since. Is there work being done to re-open it? Or is the speculation that it may make way for another ride?

Wow! I think this is a very exciting announcement, not merely because of the Disney connection, but because Mr. Ouimet brings a fresh, outsider's perspective to Cedar Fair (yet one that remains deeply rooted in the theme park industry). His vast experience at a successful parks outside of Cedar Fair's chain, combined with his general commitment to the entertainment industry, might be exactly what Cedar Fair needs to re-energize the company and breathe some life back into its various parks. I'd also be willing to bet that we may see some significant changes under Mr. Ouimet's leadership, and I'll be interested to see what exactly those changes are. In any event, his tenure at Disneyland suggests that he isn't want to simply maintain the status-quo if he feels like there is room for improvement and growth. Can anyone give some specific examples of what he did for the Disneyland resort? I'm not entirely sure what was involved with the whole 50th Anniversary celebration. I'll be interested to see how Mr. Ouimet reacts to the general Cedar Fair culture (i.e. it's more about the rides than anything else). Will he continue with this trend, or might he begin to focus more on other elements of Cedar Fair properties like the resorts, themeing, etc? In any event, I think these next few months (and years) should be very interesting to watch.

I'd agree that the future is looking pretty grim for CGA. And although a lot of people on here are seeing this new Inverti-Garden as a good sign, I'd like to point out that GL similarly used landscaping to cover up removed attractions ("Central Park" to cover up the remains of Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall, Khoi ponds to make the old lazy river look better, etc). So, there's evidence to suggest that a new garden isn't necessarily a good thing. And Kinzel visits all of CF's parks, regardless of how prominent they are in the chain; as long as CGA is part of the Cedar Fair family, it still falls under his responsibility. So I'm not sure this is a good sign either. I still think that Invertigo's removal spells out CGA's doom. CF executives have repeatedly gone on record saying that you have to spend money to make money. Right or wrong, CF really seems to believe that they have to invest in their parks on a regular basis if they want to maintain a consistent level of attendance. CF doesn't downsize their parks; their overall business plan is to invest, invest, invest. If they do remove an attraction from a park, they replace it. GL stands out as the only time they've ever truly downsized, and everyone saw how that turned out. Given CGA's incredible ambiguity on the "attraction" they're developing to replace Invertigo, I have very little faith anything is actually in the works. Typically, I feel like CF would've given a little more detail regarding the new attraction to ease the aggravation of a loss. Of course, only time will tell, but so far, I don't see any real signs of hope for this place.

Sorry, no pictures. I figure plenty of other people have that covered. First off, I was thrilled to be able to make an opening day trip. This was my first visit on opening day, and despite the grim weather outlook I was pretty excited to be going. The day certainly had its "ups," but there were also quite a few "downs." Overall, though, I was so happy to be back at the park I was still able to have a great time. I tried to make this TR detail filled (for those who weren't fortunate enough to get to opening day), but tried to organize it by sections so you can skip to whatever interests you. Weather: Most weather forecasts I checked the day before indicated that the rain / thunderstorms would stop by noon. We arrived at the park around 1pm only to find it raining somewhat heavily. The heavy rain continued until about 4pm, at which point it stopped for the rest of the day. The rain did close quite a few attractions (Iron Dragon, WildCat, Raptor, etc), but others (Millennium Force, maXair) remained open. So there were still a few thrills to be had during the rain. There was a great deal of wind throughout the day, but I'm not sure it was really all that much windier than it is any other day by the lake. After about 5:30pm the sun came out until dusk, which was nice. Temperatures were in the 60's. First Observations: Upon entering the parking lot I noticed that it wasn't all that crowded (We were able to park on the side in 23). We then proceeded to get our season passes. The season pass line was incredibly long (as to be expected), but they kept it moving efficiently, and it was extremely well organized, so it wasn't really a problem. Again, all of the employees here were very friendly. The New Stuff: There were definitely improvements / changes throughout the park. Some highlights included: - Entrance Area Remodeling: Overall the entrance area had some nice touch-ups. The brick pavers between the ticket booths and the entrance really added a lot (I hope they continue to expand their use of brick pavers through other areas of the park). It really breaks up the concrete and gives the entrance a more decorative feel. More colorful banners were added, which was also nice. When you come to the entrance there is one large LCD screen in the middle of the structure, and four smaller LCD screens hanging over the turnstiles. One of the LCD's wasn't working, but the others had advertisements from sponsors, as well as pictures from the park, advertisements for Magnum's birthday, etc. Overall some nice touches. - Interactive Fountain: I can't really make up my mind on this one. The new fountain is definitely more colorful, and even with the cooler temperatures kids and adults were having fun running through it. In the center there are maybe 16 water jets. Surrounding the jets are quite a few bright yellow benches, along with large poles having colorful lighting similar to that found in the revamped maXair area. So the fountain does spice up the area, but overall seems much smaller in scale than the previous fountain. There really isn't too much "fountain" to look at (I think they should have made this bigger), but the surrounding area looks much nicer. - Raptor fans: They seemed to have added misting fans (maybe 5 of them) in Raptor's queue. - Wicked Twister queue changes: They have removed and blocked off the section of queue directly behind the old Aquatic Stadium. They currently have some of the Antique / Cadillac cars parked back there for storage. Don't worry, this was done tastefully and in an un-Six Flags manner (they did actually remove the railings back there and put up a new wall matching the current wooden wall surrounding Wicked Twister's queue). This change really makes sense to me, as I've never seen all of Wicked Twister's queue being utilized. - Top Thrill Dragster railing: They seem to have added a silver railing along the catwalk running along the launch track. The railing is only in the middle section (starts after the track is raised significantly off the ground and ends at the concrete barrier at the entrance). Maybe I'm picky, but I really hated this change. It looks hideous and sort of stands out in my opinion. Obviously minor, but this bugged me. - Frontier Town sign: A sign has been added (saying "Frontier Town") on the side by Snake River Falls. - Haystack Dryer: Called "Family Dryer." This was surprisingly popular. I saw a rather lengthy line to use it. Can't really comment on how effective it is, but looks handy. - Starlight Experience: There are TONS of lights wrapped around almost every single tree on the Frontier Town Trail. There also seem to be other floodlights in certain areas and perhaps other effects. While I am disappointed this secluded area won't be so peaceful at night, it does look like this will be a really cool addition. They turned on a few lights at night (which again looked great), but the whole system won't be on until next weekend it looks like. I have high hopes for this based on seeing how much is back there. And the nice thing is this was all done discreetly. In the day, it still looks just as woodsy and you can't really tell they have messed with things. - Disaster Transport: Disaster Transport's queue has been permanently moved to its Halloweekends location. I didn't actually go in it, so I'm not sure if things have changed inside, but the outside of the queue looks a bit nicer (they have a large sign pointing you to the entrance that looks sort of cool). The old entrance was nicely blocked off, and again, this looks to be permanent. Perhaps this will allow them to put up more permanent props in the first few rooms for an even better Halloweekends haunted house? - Magnum's sign: Wow! Looks great! And it's about time too... You really have to see it in person though, it looks cool and is a nice, large size. Rides: First let me make a comment on ride uptime. First, just with the weather during the first part of the day, the majority of the rides were closed. There were a few open, but the novice crews seemed somewhat slow in reopening the rides, and by the time they did, the rain would start again. There were also a lot of maintenance issues. I haven't been on previous opening days, but in comparison to a mid-summer day this one was pretty bad. Millennium Force was up and down probably 5 times throughout the day, with some sort of problem resulting in an evacuation with a train near the top of the lift hill (yellow train) at about 8pm. The ride, to my knowledge, did not reopen for the rest of the evening. While waiting in line for Magnum, it broke down for about half an hour. Maverick was apparently up and down throughout the day as well. Top Thrill Dragster was closed for most of the day due to mechanical issues and weather, but towards mid-afternoon they tried to open it up. They only loaded the front two, sometimes three rows, and I would estimate that only one out of every five trains would make it over the hill (no this is not an exaggeration). The ride did appear to be open, but very few people were waiting for it, because considering that they were only loading the front two rows (combined with the fact that only one in five trains actually made it over) it apparently took hours to get on, if at all. While it was chilly, it was still in the 60's when the ride was having most of its problems, and the wind at that point wasn't too bad, so it would seem that the ride was having some mechanical problems which were probably compounded by the poor weather. I'd love to hear from anyone who has more details on just what exactly was going on. Some rides were not open at all. Cadillac Cars is an example, and I believe that Mean Streak was also closed for the day (or so I was told by an employee blocking the path to the ride mid-afternoon). To Cedar Point's credit, Thunder Canyon and Snake River Falls were open. The rides I went on: - Magnum XL 200: Great ride. It was incredibly smooth, had tons of airtime, and even in the cold air it felt like it was running pretty fast. No complaints here. Oh and happy birthday by the way! I missed the cake but apparently birthday celebrations were in the morning. - Gemini: Once again, no complaints about this coaster. It was running really well. It was smooth, had lots of airtime, and they always seemed to be racing it. - Wicked Twister: Love this ride! Felt incredibly fast, and I'm glad to see that some of the vibrations I felt in parts of last season were not there today. Really a great ride. - Skyhawk: Disappointing the ride cycle remains so short, but it is still a great little ride. They still don't let you pull down your own lap bars. - maXair: Fun! Such a long ride cycle, and the spinning felt especially intense today. - Iron Dragon: Nice ride at night. They had the mist in the pond going at full force. Crew was quite good. - Raptor: Wow. This ride continues to surprise me. I really enjoy it more and more each time. Especially at night, it is just such a great ride! I was also surprised how smooth it was, as my head didn't hit the restraint once. Note about Raptor: Here is where some Cedar Point "firsts" come into play. I never thought this would happen, but I got a re-ride at Cedar Point! We got on one of the last trains of the night, had a great ride, and came back into the station. They announced that this would be the last train of the night, but since there were only 8 people in the station (front row and back row), they announced that anyone who was sitting in an unoccupied row could ride again! I originally thought they were just being nice, but they quickly revealed that they couldn't send out an empty train at night (and I'm sure the cold was a factor here). After another great ride, we come the the brake run, where we sit for about ten minutes, before being greeted by employees telling us that again, due to their fear about sending out an empty train from the station, we would have to exit the train on the brake run. They brought around the cool step-stool cart thing, manually released the restraints, and we were escorted down the brake run to the exit. This was pretty exciting for me, simply because A) I have never succeeded in getting a re-ride at Cedar Point, and B) I got to take place in an "evacuation" (no matter how minor it was). Due to maintenance issues I was unable to get on any one of the big three, but I still got to get on some nice rides. Employees: Employees were GREAT. Now, I realize it was their first real day on the job, and things may change as the season wears them down, but everyone was very enthusiastic on the first day! From the parking attendant to our waitress at Famous Daves, everyone was being extraordinarily friendly, courteous, and professional. All the employees really seemed to have a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm (we'll see how long this lasts- hopefully a while). Some ride crews still seem to be learning the ropes, but that's to be expected. Keep up the great work guys! Overall Impressions: Landscaping was certainly lacking, but it's Ohio and the leaves are barely on the trees... So we'll have to see how the summer landscaping turns out later. And did anyone see the trees at Magnum's exit? I thought at first it was an advertisement for Halloweekends (If you haven't seen it the pine trees have been cut so that there are no leaves on it and it is just the bare trunks and branches). I found this sort of amusing... Glad to see the travel place booted out of their booth by Gemini. The new energy concession stand seems like a much more fitting idea. Lighting was one disappointment. Millennium Force's lights still looked to be as weak as they were last year. Power Tower seemed to have one or two of its lights at the top fixed, but overall it still looks pretty bad. The Ferris Wheel still looks horrible at night. Top Thrill Dragster's lighting looked good. Again, I know this is picky, but their lighting look so great when its working, I hate to see it in a state of disrepair. Hopefully after the recession passes they will have more to spend on these things. Merchandise selection in the stores seemed to be the same as it was last year. The new LCD screens, while not all functioning, were a nice addition, and the new brick pavers and fountain area was quite nice as well. ________________________________ So that was my opening day experience. Thanks for reading. Overall I'd give my visit a B-, but considering the weather, and the fact that it was opening day, that's to be expected to a certain degree I guess. Still, I'm thrilled that the season has begun, and I'm really excited to visit Cedar Point in the coming months!

While this is exciting, and Medusa definitely needed it at this park, I'm not going to set my hopes too high. I felt like X2 was a big letdown when you compare the final result with the initial hype.

Not really too excited about this... Looking back at the X2 transformation I have to say i was disappointed. I'll admit that no I have not seen the ride in person, but from the pics, what what was really gained in this transformation? Certainly X had a whole slue of mechanical issues, but I don't think that's an issue with Superman so I'll skip over that. But as for themeing, what did X2 really gain? The tunnels and lighting seemed to have been jettisoned, one cool paint scheme was exchanged for another one that wasn't really any better, on-board audio was added (which I don't think adds anything at all and is never really noticeable on rides so I'm discounting it), some edgy signs were put up, and a fire effect was assembled. And the fire is awesome, but even that effect looks somewhat cheap and not disguised at all. So in essence, as someone said earlier, they put up a more edgy atmosphere around X and called it a day. While I think that worked for X because of its lack of theme, Superman, having a theme, will require a bit more to be noticeable / impressive. Don't get me wrong. I love it that SF is investing money in older rides, especially coasters, and am not complaining. I'm just not getting hopped up about it, because frankly, I don't think it will end up being all that good.

Very interesting ride. It reminds me both of Nitro and of Goliath. I regret that it reminds me of Nitro, as I really thought the ride was boring, but I love the fact that it also reminds me of Goliath as its one of my favorites. First the things I don't like. A lot of the hills seem quite tall, and as others have said, don't look too promising on the air time front. Nitro was the same for me: lots of tall hills but little air-time on them. I found this to get boring pretty quick. Another negative for me is the high turnaround. Again, as on Nitro and others, I find them pretty boring and forceless. Finally, I've found, again as with Nitro, that having some of the ride being by itself in the woods or in a field makes you lose your perspective of height, and sometimes makes the ride feel smaller than it is. There are a lot of things about the ride I really like though. First off I really like the fact that the first hill seems to go down over a midway. Plummeting down head first towards a midway really makes you realize how high up you are, and is one of my favorite sensations on a coaster. And although much of the ride is in the woods, there still seems to be a lot of low to the ground elements which are exciting. Also the second half of the ride really seems to interact with the midways which I think adds to the overall excitement of the ride. The ride also has a great height and speed, and the trains certainly seem good (haven't been on Behemoth). Overall it looks like a promising ride. Yes it is the same old (and getting somewhat tired) B&M design, but this is really just what the doctor ordered for Kings Island. That park is so full of "gimmick" coasters you really just want one normal B&M hyper that you can ride over and over. This is what I said after visiting the park for the first time two years ago, and still believe it. I think this ride will be perfect for the park, and should be a lot of fun.

The facility itself is clean (as well as the rooms), and the furnishings are decent. While there is nothing wrong with the place, certainly go there knowing that the room quality won't match what you pay for it. If you go there knowing you are overpaying, you'll be fine.

Very interesting article overall. I have to sort of disagree with his whole plan though. Granted I'm not very up to date on the world of business, but as an average park goer there are some things that don't really make me want to jump up and go to Six Flags. The first thing I really don't like is the whole advertising tie-ins. I understand that this is a good money maker for the company, and even CF is looking at this now, but I think that there is a limit to how far they can take this before customers begin to notice & care. Advertising is a hot topic at the moment. We are bombarded with advertisements day in and day out. Granted this bothers some people more than others, but the point is there are quite a few people that are bothered by this and will care when "Heinz Ketchup: The Ride" begins to appear at parks. I think people liked the fact that they could go into these parks and enjoy them for their unique experience. Once it turns into just one big advertisement, yes the company will be making some extra cash, but I think it could be somewhat of a turn off to many guests. Sort of like the park stores. I loved when I could go in there and buy SF merchandise, related to the park, but now the stores are filled to the brim with a lot of things I could simply buy at home. What's the point of that? Another thing I disagree with is the whole family approach. Obviously the parks needed to be more family friendly; I don't think anyone is denying that. I completely agree with the decision to add the Wiggles Worlds, and the Thomas Towns, etc. But here's the deal. There is a large demographic of amusement park go-ers out there that go for one reason; the rides. This isn't just teen boys, as Shapiro seems to think. Look at Cedar Point - there's no doubt that CP certainly caters to the thrill seekers, but when you go there you can see that it isn't just teens that line up for the big ticket thrill rides, its families, older adults, young adults, etc. And you have even some younger kids standing outside the ride dreaming of the day they will be tall enough. There is really only one amusement park company out there that seems to think it can do without adding big ticket thrill rides to its parks; Disney. Universal, Busch Gardens, the Cedar Fair chain (and former Paramount chain), etc, all seem to think there is some value in adding large, expensive thrill rides. Now Disney's strategy works for them, and they really don't need the huge thrill rides other parks add. Why? Because the attractions they do add are QUALITY. I wouldn't have a problem if Six Flags was assuming the same strategy, but they aren't. Their goal seems more along the lines of "let's find the cheapest attractions we can to put in the park, and by utilizing clever marketing tie-ins we can make these attractions no different to the public than that of Goliath, and save a lot of money in the meantime". Well considering all the bad things I've heard about The Dark Knight, I don't think that this strategy is as smart as Shapiro thinks. The fact of life is I think the public can really tell, or at least a good percentage of it, that SF spent 7.5 million on the ride as opposed to 20 million. Overall I think Shapiro's strategy makes sense, but I think he's taking it to the extreme which will only hurt SF in the end. I completely agree that they should cut back on big ticket rides, focus more on service, kiddie areas, family rides, etc, but I think they still need to come back every 5 or so years and add another "wow" attraction. The fact of life is there is a big demographic of people out there that come to these parks for rides, and I don't think SF has a big enough hold on the people that don't care about rides to allow them to be so cavalier about losing the people that do. You have to spend money to make money. You can't expect to cut cut cut and have attendance and revenue grow grow grow. You have to have a bit of balance.

Unfortunately I really don't see a bright future for this park. CF doesn't seem completely committed to the place, and there is certainly a lot of people in the area that wouldn't mind this place being closed if it meant an exciting new 49'ers project. I think that this park could very well end up like Geauga Lake (aka CF decides that selling it would be more valuable than continuing its operation). A shame since its a nice park, but I just don't have a good feeling about all this.