milst1

Robb, remember that being consumed by fire is considered an extreme method of weight loss and is not recommended, not even within the body-image-conscious and fire-prone confines of Southern California. Neither should it be tried at home, nor in one's shared apartment amenity facilities, as in this case. Stay safe please!

^^^Just bought my plane ticket! Cheryl is flying in from New York, and now my "kid" sister is flying down from San Francisco to join us too! Yay!

Cheryl and I have booked. I'm flying in from Amsterdam for the weekend...

Now I see something called Knott's Berry Farm Resort Hotel. Different from the Radisson? EDIT: Okay, they're the same hotel, thanks larrygator! To summarize thus far (and made alphabetical for easier search): USA Adventureland (Iowa) Cedar Point Disney Resorts (CA & FL) (Six Flags) Great Escape Hersheypark Holiday World (RV Park & Campground)- Indiana Beach Knoebels (campground) Knott's Lake Conneaut (!) Legoland California (Sheraton plus Legoland Hotel coming) Mt. Olympus Universal World's of Fun (campground/cabins) Europe Alton Towers Blackpool PB Chessington Disney Paris Duinrell (bungalows) Efteling Europa Park Flamingo Land Heide Park Gardaland Kålmården Legoland Billund Liseberg Phantasialand PortAventura Skara Sommarland have camping grounds, apartments and cabins (on-site) Asia Chimelong Paradise Disney Resorts Everland Fuji Q Lotte World Parque Espana Power Park Rusutsu Universal/Sentosa (coming)

I did not notice the hotel when I was there, but the hotel website says "within steps" from the park and the little map of the area does imply that the hotel is "on property". I know the Cedar Fair shareholders meeting was at the hotel in 2007 or 2008. Hershey and Great Escape were both on my original list. Not sure about the campgrounds and RV parks. They're not exactly full-service hospitality facilities. But never mind, thanks for everyone's input so far!

I'm making a list of amusement and theme parks that own and operate their own hotels or have another owner/operator "on property". I haven't figured out all of the criteria yet but even a small hotel would fit the bill. I'm not including Great Wolf or Kalahari-type properties, and I am not looking for "preferred hotel partners" unless they "act" like on-site hotels, e.g., the hotels at Universal Orlando. Still wondering what to do with Vegas. Anyway, just brainstorming now for a possible research project on theme park hotels. I'm sure people on here can think of many more than I have. Thanks for your help. Off the top of my head, I have: USA Disney Resorts (CA & FL) Universal Cedar Point Legoland California (Sheraton plus Legoland Hotel coming) Knott's Hersheypark Six Flags Great Escape Lake Conneaut (!) Europe Disney Paris Efteling Phantasialand Europa Park Blackpool PB Gardaland PortAventura Alton Towers Flamingo Land Asia Disney Resorts Lotte World Universal/Sentosa (coming)

City Near Deal for New Coney Island Operator By CHARLES V. BAGLI Updated, 3:06 p.m.| It looks like Coney Island will not go without a whirling, clanging amusement park and a crop of new rides for the first time in more than a century as many had feared. The city’s Economic Development Corporation is negotiating a lease with an amusement park operator, Zamperla USA, for six vacant acres in the heart of what has been the amusement district, between Surf Avenue and the ocean. It is not a done deal, but city officials are hopeful that they can make an announcement as soon as next week that Zamperla has signed a contract to operate in Coney Island for up to 10 years. The negotiations were first reported by NY1 News. Coney Island boosters and some community groups had worried that the waterfront district would become a dead zone this summer. Last November, the city agreed to pay $95.6 million for roughly six acres owned by the developer Joseph J. Sitt, who had spent a fortune buying land in the area and developing a proposal to revive the fabled playground that competed with the city’s vision. But prior to that deal, Mr. Sitt had closed the Astroland amusement park and evicted many of the tenants. The city solicited bids from operators in November and got a handful of responses. It now appears that it will have an operator in place soon. An executive at Zamperla’s office in New Jersey said the company had been instructed to refer all calls to the city’s development agency. David Lombino, a spokesman for the development agency, conceded that the city was “closing in on an agreement with an operator for an expanded outdoor amusement park that will be open to the public starting this summer.” He declined to go into detail. But even some critics of the city’s plans were cautiously optimistic about the pending deal. “They’re an outstanding company,” Dick Zigun, executive director of Coney Island USA, which conducts the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade, said of Zamperla. “They would be my choice. I’m hopeful that come Memorial Day, Coney Island will have more rides than we’ve seen in the past decade.” Zamperla USA is the American wing of an Italian company that is known more as the largest manufacturer of amusement park rides, everything from kiddie rides to sophisticated roller coasters and other thrill rides, than as an amusement park operator. The company usually has the largest single booth at the annual meeting of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. Its products, like the Zodiac, which has seats mounted on a spinning disk at the top of a tower, show up at amusement parks all over the world. Councilman Domenic M. Recchia, whose district includes Coney Island, said that Zamperla had submitted a creative proposal that set it apart from the other bidders. “You’ll love it,” he said, declining to give details. “We’ll have what the bigger amusement parks have, on a smaller scale.” Zamperla operates the Victorian Gardens at Wollman Rink in Central Park, as well as Minitalia Leolandia Amusement Park in Capriate San Vervasio, Italy. Valerio Ferrari, the president of Zamperla USA, was a member of a city-sponsored advisory panel last year that made a series of recommendations concerning the redevelopment of Coney Island’s amusement area. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/coney-island-gets-new-operator/

Wow, I'm still deciding, but I just wanted to compliment everyone of the nice design work. These are all really cool.

As long as you're in the Netherlands, it's worth the trip to Efteling. Walibi World is a decent coaster park, but the pre-eminent theme park in the Netherlands is Efteling. It's beautiful and unique with a number of great rides. It's a similar journey: a train to either Breda or Den Bosch, then a bus to the park. Unfortunately, it's in a different direction from Amsterdam that Walibi is, but it's the other major park in the country and is as well served by the transit system. Actually, it's the most-visited park in the country. Plus, Efteling will have a new GCI racing woodie (Joris en De Drak) in 2010. And, it's not too far from Toverland and Troy, though Toverland is a bitch by public transit...not impossible, but not a cinch. Let me know if you want more info. And for the record, the site http://journeyplanner.9292.nl/ is extremely helpful for getting around NL. -Martin

Always itching for the next credit, last weekend we woke up at 06:00 on Sunday morning and rode our bikes in the snow to The Hague Central Station (too early for the trams on a Sunday) and got on a train to Gouda and then to Rotterdam, because work on the track prevented the usual direct link between The Hague and Rotterdam... We had some decent food, took a ride on the swings right afterwards (unwise), shopped a little, and then it was back to the train for home. Thanks for coming with us! We were shocked when they opened one of the outdoor rides! Live shows in French and Dutch... A crazy fast slide with a grippy slow down surface that twisted my ankle! A play tree! ...several well themed kiddie flats related to water...(ducks here, also frogs and mini-bumper boats)... They had a double decker carousel... We loved this frog hopper-type thing. It spun in both directions and did a lot of airtime popping. We'd not seen one like this before. Overall, a nice little coaster. And it ran smooth as silk, no pain. Indoor waterfall on the skull mountain. Most of the ride is in a dark section behind the "rock" wall. You can see the "stars" inside, and there were some nice animatronics in there too, but too dark to get good photos. It's a Zierer Force. Nice theming, on the train, and in the dark section... First, stop, the credit! Statue of Samson and Gert, the original characters that launched the company (Studio 100). They produce a number of children's and teen TV programs and own several theme parks. The shows are broadcast in Belgium and the Netherlands. Klus and the eponymous Plop the Gnome are there to greet us! We walk in the snow from the bus stop. Yay, the park! Now we have to catch a bus, which was free for some reason, as promised by the park website. You can see (L to R) the flags of Flanders, Belgium, and the EU. Fifteen minutes later... Hasselt. That took an hour. Now it's snowing pretty heavily. Original facade of Antwerp Central Station, Anno 1905. Actually, you can see from the clock that this photo was on the way back in the PM. We now catch another train to... High-speed luxury, only 30 minutes from Rotterdam to Antwerp. Yes! Thalys! The fabled high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris. But we're only taking it to Antwerp. Made it to Gouda to catch the train to Rotterdam to catch the... We're really tired on the train to Gouda. Yes, like the cheese.

I can't seem to work the map posting... We have two addresses. One is New York, New York, in lower Manhattan, near Ground Zero and the Fed and Wall Street and South Street Seaport. The other is in The Hague, South Holland, The Netherlands. We're moving on Monday(!) to a new apartment, closer to the ritzy part of town.

Nice TR! I like the swimming tiger photo. That really is a gorgeous park. Hey, how'd you do the multiple photos for the raft water spray shots? Best, milst1

Was bankruptcy really so close here? They had one of the highest dividend yields on the NYSE and they stopped the dividend to divert the cash to the debt. Here's another fact: Blackstone paid $2.7 billion for Busch Entertainment (cash), and Apollo has offered (essentially) $2.4 billion for for Cedar Fair (but only $650mm in cash). So, let's say they're around the same price. Are 11 (approx.) CF parks worth 5 (approx.) Busch parks? (I'm excluding Gilroy, Sesame Place, the water parks, etc. I know, oversimplification.) Just doesn't add up for me. And the economy was in worse shape when the Blackstone InBev deal happened. BTW, I already lost everything on Six Flags, but won with Anheuser-Busch. Yes, I understand the risks of equity investing. But at the moment, I'm not selling FUN at the offer price if I can avoid it.

1. What are your initial thoughts? Cautious optimism. 2. Can you think of anything else we could be offering? An actual pub, like ACE's Rollercoaster, ECC's First Drop, or DAFE's Barrel O' Fun. Orlando Attractions is another one, but that's not produced by an organization or club. An online mag or 'zine would bring your production costs down. 3. Is this something that interests you? I voted yes. We would probably be able to take advantage of at least some of the benefits, we can afford it, and we want to support TPR. 4. Why would you NOT be interested in this? I think it makes perfect sense for TPR to find new sources of revenue. I can't imagine the costs for storage, servers, etc., not to mention compensation for R&E's time. At the same time, there is danger of people perceiving unfairness in the creation of TPR castes, even though I know you'd bend over backwards to keep that from messing with the vibe. But the bottom line is that it's really about you being able to afford to run the site and the trips. I do feel bad for people with lower incomes -- there are a lot of students and such on here. You could maybe have different membership levels, as someone suggested. It makes sense to create some benefits that only paid members receive, with basic or student members getting a basic package, while people willing to pay more or join at a higher level get more perks. Everyone can listen to public radio for free, but only those who join (read: pay) get the tote bag. Is TPR a club? A website? For profit? Non-profit? I've described TPR to my travel and tourism colleagues as a mom and pop cottage industry website and tour company...with a cult following. Now you have a zillion participants and I think it makes perfect sense that TPR should grow and evolve.

Also, surely Kinzel can profit at a much lower price than a sucker like me who bought near the top, right? He and his inner circle probably have large holdings that were acquired for next-to-nothing compared to Apollo's offer.

Interesting discussion. I can say that we're voting "NO" on our 100 shares. The offer is well below what we paid in 2007. I also registered with The Shareholders Foundation to support whatever investigation they're leading into fiduciary failure. The price is simply too low, even for a down economy. And we're still pissed about the cessation of the dividend so we're not trusting Kinzel and his cronies right now. My secret feelings about the Cedar Fair sale...

I don't know what a restriction bar...like a powered track, e.g. in a dark ride? Must be under the asphalt? Cool tire tracks. Thanks for checking out the report.

^^^Actually, no, because it was Cheryl's first trip to KI ever and she needed all of the credits. We only got on Dback 2 times.

Brilliant!

We met the guys in the photo with you too!!!! I remember the guy with the Expedition GeForce shirt! We were on line for Beast together while they shut down for the fireworks! Does August 3rd sound right?

Yes, we met you at Diamondback, first ride of our day!!!

Unfortunately we were there too early in the season. We saw the construction but it had not yet opened. Actually, I haven't heard too much about that ride since it opened...I guess I'll see in the poll. What do you think of it?

If I recall correctly, I was reading rec.roller-coaster and some guy was calling TPR's member count into question. I think at around the same time I ran across some ballot for best amusement-related website and TPR was a candidate. I think the two things led me to visit. At first I was a bit overwhelmed but dipped my toes in. Then the trip flyer came out with the word "Japan" and that was it for me.

^^^You are too kind!

You're right. Correct photo of Mirabilandia tacked on at the end. Yes, we liked Gardaland and Mirabilandia. We also visited Acropark in Roana, which was great. We flew in and out of Bologna.