milst1

We just moved to Holland from New York and we're off to get some Euro-whore credits! We met up with Leon, whom we met in Tokyo on the TPR 2008 Asia tour. Leon has a car and was nice enough to chauffer us. Yay for Dutch people! Okay, Enjoy the report! There's a little video first. MOV04708.MPG Really cool Phantasialand video! Thank you Phantasialand! Love the dress! Very useful diagram in the queue. I've asked Cheryl to mount my skull in some themed queueing area. This bridge goes to one of the hotels that's basically in the park. Black Mamba is the 2006 B&M inverted. They spent as much on theming as they did on the coaster! Winter Pixie things! And Cheryl! Cheryl and Leon demonstrate that open flame does have a place in your local theme park! Every children's themed area needs a cigarette machine! Cheryl actually fell asleep on Temple of the Night Hawk. I wish my photos could do this place justice. It's a magically themed area. Winjas! Extremely cool pair of spinning coasters. Two different tracks, two different rides, Fear and Force. Amazing track tricks! Drooling skull sky ride. Whee! Michael Jackson opened this mine train coaster in 1996. Very cool ride. China-themed area winter characters! Wow, mini-snowmobiles for the kiddies! Wow. Reminds me of...an indoor S&S power shot. What's this? Mystery Castle? Tubing for the kiddies. Tastes like chickin'! Let's go chicken hunting in the Mexico-themed area. Yay, it's Phantasialand! Welcome to Brühl, Germany. Cheryl, did you Ausfahrt? Deutschland! Look, it's GCI's Troy! But we don't actually stop here. Toverland is open all year and we're taking advantage of special open days. Today we're going to... Toverland! We met Leon on the TPR Japan trip. He picks us up at the Breda train station and we drive to... First we get on a train to Breda really early in the morning.

EJ!!!!!! What a great TR! Amazing pictures! Thank you!!!!! -Martin

We love Ice Bat! And Dave!

Ik hou van de steeplechase! (I love the steeplechase!) En dienen een proces tegen mensen is "to sue". "Sew" is naaien. More Dutch trip reports please! -Martin

Same here, no problems loading or playing either, but slightly better visual quality on larger file. I watched the small file with headphones and heard excellent sound quality, like KidTum hooting like a monkey while the train is coming around to the station! My favorite part of both versions was around 2:44.

Aha! So you were one of the TWO people needed for Kawasemi to qualify? Didn't Dave also not fill out the steel ballot? I'm actually quite dissapointed in some of our Asia travelers who didn't fill out the ballots. There are very few people in the world who have been on some of these coasters, and we had enough people on the TPR trips to help make them qualify. Hopefully next year they will see that their ballots DO count! --Robb Sorry Robb, Cheryl was too busy/distracted to do the poll and I didn't want to do it for her. She had her head banged around on Eagle's Fortress and would've ranked it way lower than me. It totally blew me away. Ride after ride in the dark was freaking incredible!

Thought I'd share the ads for the Cypress Gardens rides. I'm glad we got there in late 2007 when everything was still pretty much up and running (well, the boat wasn't sailing and we didn't see many belles) and we got all of the credits! Unfortunately, these ads didn't show the prices, as the ads for Astroland's rides did. Okay, enjoy. Random Flats. Order today! Triple Hurricane, Starliner, Okeechobee Rampage, Swamp Thing, Galaxy Spin, Fiesta Express, etc. I guess they're not selling the Intamin Flying Island.

Anyone know if there are still spots on the Deep South trip? Thanks!

Hey Colin, 13 years ago, my sister made a film about her cross-country trek in a bio-diesel powered vehicle called "Fat of the Land". There's info at this site: http://carbonfarm.us/fat.html I might be able to send you a DVD of it. Good luck. Martin

Awesome video!

You go, Robb!!!

Awesome update! Thanks for featuring the gem that is Leap the Dips. I remember that, back in the 1990's, it was not operating and a lot of ACE and other people worked very hard to get it restored and going again, and they obviously did an awesome job. It's funny, my wife and I did a much-overscheduled day this summer that started with Idlewild, then Lakemont, then Del Grosso's, then Waldameer: Four parks and five hours of driving. It was "get the credit, move on" all day. If I had seen that sign at Lakemont, I would have cried, at least until I found out it was TPR! Next park trip: TPR Korea and Japan!

No Fun for Six Flags As Parks Face Slump By JEFFREY MCCRACKEN August 5, 2008; Page A1 AUSTELL, Ga. -- Six Flags Inc. Chief Executive Mark Shapiro looked up at Goliath, a 200-foot-tall roller coaster just outside of Atlanta, as riders roared downhill at 70 miles per hour. "Nice ride," he noted. "But we'll never get our return on investment with it." Six Flags, one of the nation's largest amusement-park companies, is under serious financial strain. It hasn't posted an annual profit in years. It's weighed down by $2.4 billion of debt, and faces a $288 million payment to preferred stockholders next August. Luring more customers to its 20 amusement parks during the peak summer months is essential to the New York-based company's turnaround effort. "This is the year we've got to put a number on the board that impresses," Jeffrey Speed, the company's chief financial officer, said last month. "It's a show-me story, and we've yet to perform. We know that." Mr. Shapiro, the former head of programming at ESPN, has been trying to cut costs wherever he can. While competitors such as Ohio-based Cedar Fair try to lure more customers with ever bigger, more outrageous and expensive roller coasters, Six Flags is moving in an opposite, family-friendly direction. It has barred bikini tops and banned smoking everywhere but in small areas on the outskirts of the parks. On Monday, Six Flags gave investors the first indication that its overhaul may be gaining traction. It posted a second-quarter profit of $94.6 million, in part due to a recent debt-restructuring deal. But it's a terrible time for any company to try to pry more disposable income out of the wallets of beleaguered consumers. Consumer confidence is shaky, and sky-high gasoline prices are causing Americans to think twice about unnecessary driving. Already, several retailers and restaurant chains that cater to middle-market consumers have sought bankruptcy protection. "Some theme parks held up in the last recession, but this is a different downturn, so you can't necessarily say they will hold up during this one," says John Puchella, a theme-park analyst for Moody's Investors Service. "This is a consumer-led downturn." Moody's estimates that attendance at amusement parks will drop about 5% this year. At Six Flags, attendance declined 3% in the quarter, in part because Easter didn't fall during the second quarter this year. But revenue inched up 1%, thanks to management's efforts to squeeze more money from sponsorships and licensing fees. Six Flags shares were down nine cents at $1.03 a share in 4 p.m. composite trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. They remain far below the $3.67 they were trading at one year ago. That's bad news for two big Six Flags investors -- Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, who won a proxy fight for control of the company in 2005, and Microsoft's Bill Gates, whose investment fund backed Mr. Snyder. As of March 31, Mr. Snyder, now the company's chairman, owned about 5.4% of Six Flags, and Mr. Gate's investment fund, Cascade Investments, owned 11%, the most recent securities filings indicate. "We aren't where we want to be, but I think we are heading in the right direction," said Mr. Snyder in an interview in late June. Cascade declined to comment on its Six Flags investment. Mr. Shapiro, who is 38 years old, says he wants to attract a family crowd with more modest roller coasters and kiddie rides. The new Dark Knight coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J., tied to the latest Batman movie, cost about $7.5 million to build, compared with $20 million or so for giant coasters like the Goliath in Georgia. Its top speed is just 30 mph, less than half of Goliath's top speed. It's housed in a dark building, which makes it harder to notice how much smaller it is than its high-octane competitors. "My strategy makes perfect sense," says Mr. Shapiro. "It's just whether we have enough money. So I need to make recognizable progress this year." Six Flags was founded in Texas in 1961. Time Warner Inc. bought the company in 1991, then sold it in 1998 to Premier Parks, an Oklahoma-based park operator. Premier combined the two operations and took the company public later that year as Six Flags. The new company spent heavily on new rides, acquisitions and expansion into Canada, Mexico and Belgium. Its debt load ballooned. Mr. Snyder, whose investment company was a large stockholder, began pushing in 2004 for Six Flags to bring in new management, sell off some parks, and begin going after families rather than thrill-seeking teenagers. "Stockholders would have been better off hiding their money under a mattress" than investing in the company under the existing management, Mr. Snyder wrote in a letter to Six Flag shareholders in October 2005, during the proxy battle. At the time, Six Flags shares were trading at about $7.25. Raising the Price After he took over as chairman, he recruited film producer Harvey Weinstein to fill a seat on the company's board, for his marketing prowess. Mr. Snyder had met Mr. Shapiro when ESPN was trying to lure the National Football League's Monday night games to the network. Impressed by Mr. Shapiro's marketing background, Mr. Snyder persuaded him to run Six Flags, and to bring a team of ESPN veterans with him. In 2006, after cleaning up its parks and adding some new rides, management raised admission prices by $5 to $10, driving the ticket price to as high as $40 in some markets. But attendance dropped below 25 million in 2006, from 28.7 million in 2005. "Our lack of pricing power was really a big surprise to me," says Mr. Shapiro. In 2006 and 2007, Six Flags sold 10 parks and a 100-acre lot in Houston for about $400 million, hundreds of millions less than anticipated, according to Mr. Speed, the company's CFO. Mr. Snyder had set a goal of trimming debt to less than $2 billion. But with the real-estate proceeds going to fund operations, the debt remained at $2.4 billion. Rivals such as Cedar Fair and Universal City Development Partners, whose theme parks include Universal Studios Florida, carry much smaller debt loads relative to their cash flow. Mr. Shapiro hasn't wavered from his view that the old amusement-park formula -- build bigger and better roller coasters as often as possible -- isn't a money-maker. He says he's not overly interested in the typical teenage fans of such rides, who were once Six Flags' best customers. He is courting parents, young children and corporate groups, and is emphasizing rides tied to movies and cartoon characters, which can generate T-shirt and sweatshirt sales. Six Flags used to spend $200 million or more a year on capital expenditures, mostly on new roller coasters and other rides. It has cut that figure to about $100 million a year, an amount Mr. Speed calls "sustainable." The Possibilities Mr. Shapiro also has been trying to boost revenue from licensing deals and movie tie-ins. One afternoon this summer at Six Flags Over Georgia, the 297-acre park outside Atlanta, employees were loudly hawking food and trying to persuade customers to buy photos. Employees have been encouraged "not to sell stuff, but to hawk it exuberantly," says one Six Flags executive based at the park. Mr. Shapiro sees advertising and licensing possibilities all over the parks. Before climbing aboard the Dark Knight roller coaster, riders see a faux newscast that's partly a promotion for the movie. Elsewhere, flat-screen TVs bombard people standing in lines with advertisements for everything from Chrysler cars to Pampers diapers. Sitting recently at a restaurant in the Atlanta park, he explained what he has in mind. "The umbrellas at the tables are Coke," he said. "That fits. No one complains about that. And we signed up Ben & Jerry's to sell ice cream. That fits. Disney does some of this, but they are too subtle." Annual revenue from licensing deals is expected to jump to about $56 million this year, from $16 million in 2005. Mr. Shapiro readily admits that this year is a critical one for Six Flags. Shortly before Memorial Day, in an effort to boost summer attendance, he cut ticket prices across the country by an average of about $10. Adults can now buy discounted one-day passes for about $29. He added a weekly concert series with performers intended to appeal to preteen girls, such as Vanessa Hudgens of Disney's "High School Musical" fame and English pop singer Natasha Bedingfield. He says studies show that young girls influence their parents' spending habits more than young boys do. Attendance this year, through June, is at year-ago levels. The company's debt load, says Mr. Shapiro, gives it less room for error than he'd hoped. Accidents, while rare, can dent attendance. In June 2007, a Superman free-fall ride malfunctioned at a Kentucky park, severing the feet of a 16-year-old girl. Six Flags estimates that tragedy, which resulted in a lawsuit, cost it 500,000 visitors last year. In June, a 17-year-old boy was killed at the Georgia park after he jumped a fence and was hit by a Batman roller coaster. To conserve cash, Six Flags has gotten rid of one of its three advertising agencies, reduced radio advertising, and cut about 300 full-time jobs at the end of 2007. Its goal is to shave operating expenses by $50 million in 2008. 'Interest-Free Loan' Some of Six Flag's bonds have been changing hands at about 50 cents on the dollar, reflecting investors' doubts that the company will make good on its financial obligations. In June, the company gained breathing room when it struck a deal with nervous bondholders that lowers the company's total bond debt and gives it more time to pay the bondholders back, albeit at higher interest rates. Next August, Six Flags is obligated to pay $288 million to preferred stockholders. On Thursday, for the second straight quarter, it suspended dividend payments to these shareholders. That will save the company $5 million, for now, but the amount will be tacked on to next summer's bill. "We see it as an interest-free loan, and given this credit environment, you've got to take advantage of that," says Mr. Speed. He says the company hopes to renegotiate with its preferred shareholders, which include a Fidelity Investments fund and Silver Point Capital, a hedge fund. A strong summer, he adds, would give him more leverage in such talks. Mr. Shapiro's goal for the year is simply to break even on a "free cash flow" basis -- that is, to bring in more than it spends on operations, capital expenditures and debt service. Six Flags hasn't managed that feat for any full year since going public, says Mr. Speed. "There are too many yellow flags, like weather or the broader economy, to guarantee it," Mr. Shapiro told investors on Monday. "But if current trends continue, then we can get there." Walking around Six Flags Over Georgia in suit and tie, Mr. Shapiro engages in some wishful thinking: High gas prices can help his business. Cash-strapped families will still take vacations, he theorizes, but instead of flying to California or overseas, they'll take weekend trips closer to home. "It's a working premise," he says. "But no one knows for sure. We've never had $4-a-gallon gas. It's obviously not the economic environment I would have chosen." Brad Elster, a 40-year-old software consultant, brought his wife and two daughters to the Georgia park, lured by the discounted tickets. He says he spent $100 refueling his Mercedes sport-utility vehicle on the way to the park. "The cost of filling up would never have crossed my mind in the past," he says. "But we decided this time not to buy any souvenirs or any of the pictures they try to sell." Mr. Snyder said in June he was supportive of Mr. Shapiro's approach. "A lot of times it takes longer than you like, longer than you want," he said. "A lot of companies that are consumer cyclical are down now," he said. "No one anticipated gas would be where it is, or this real-estate market. But we think if Mark gets the cash flow to positive, the market will reward him and us."

Cheryl and I hopped onto the 2 train near our FiDi apartment, changed for the 1 at 42nd, then got out at 59th and walked to the Wollman Rink in Central Park, which is annually transformed into a kiddie amusement park, Victorian Gardens. This was our 25th park of the season! The non-jumpers with chariot. Then we ran all the way from 65th Street down to our apartment near Wall Street. It took an hour, me bitching the whole way. But a great workout. Hope you enjoyed our photo TR! The white horse row. I didn't get a photo, but the organ is great on this carousel too. They were playing great Popeye and other cartoon music. Awesome carving. We saw some of these horses at the Carousel Works in Ohio back during our January Kalahari trip. They're also restoring the Nunley's Stein & Goldstein carousel. Yay, Cheryl! This is a 1908 Stein and Goldstein, one of only 3 remaining by these carvers. Only a short walk from Victorian Gardens is the famed Central Park Carousel. Amusement park sign in big city! Amusement park in big city! Awsome-looking water whip ride! I love Mangels Whips, but I'd never seen a water version before. Free entertainment included! Balloon ride! Name of park on train cars! Rink wall and hockey net seen from roller coaster! Awesome POV shot of station from top of lift hill. The star of our show! Mini Mouse! Buzzplane. You can fun slide from the 40th floor of the GM Building. Like this frog-hopper type ride. ...Zamperla. They even have a thing on the website that all rides are quality Zamperla products. What do you call these? Lot's of kiddie flats here, all made by... Victorian Gardens! Ah, Zamboni ice resurfacers! Not something you see at too many parks. The Trump organization runs the rink during winter. Trump? NYC Parks Dept. sign. I actually worked for Parks back in the 80's in college. We're going with Option 1 here. Weekend prices are a little steeper. Let's see...$7.50 park admission plus $2 to ride...that's more expensive than the Coney Island Cyclone! Entranceway

I saw another article that did explain InBev's move recently to remove A-B's board, and then A-B's lawsuit. But apparently the increased offer to $70 makes it all moot and they're going to cozy up to each other now. If anything gets ugly, it will be drama we see from the people and politicians of Missouri (and across the USA) who are loudly vowing to block any takeover of an American icon. I for one am going to write to A-B and InBev as a shareholder and express concern for the parks. -Martin

^^^^ Welcome back from Europe, Shark Tums!

This development is likely bad news for the theme parks. InBev will almost certainly try to sell the parks if the takeover happens. I was hoping the takeover would fail but this article suggests that the deal is done. My guess is that InBev-AB will spin off Busch Entertainment aka Worlds of Discovery into an independent company because I don't think there are any buyers. And then we'll see the quality of these parks go downhill. The Wall Street Journal Article is below: InBev Boosts Offer for Anheuser-Busch By DENNIS BERMAN, DANA CIMILLUCA and DAVID KESMODEL July 11, 2008 9:53 a.m. InBev NV boosted its takeover offer for Anheuser-Busch Cos. by $5 a share to $70 in an effort to seal a friendly deal with the iconic U.S. brewer, a person familiar with the matter said. After weeks of escalating tensions since InBev launched its $46 billion takeover offer for Anheuser a month ago, the two sides are negotiating a friendly deal, according to people familiar with the matter. Anheuser's board is likely to accept the new offer, which amounts to about $50 billion, this weekend, one of the people said, adding that so-called social issues including what the combined company would be called still need to be worked out. Anheuser and InBev spokespeople couldn't immediately be reached. Anheuser officially spurned InBev's $65-a-share offer two weeks ago, saying it "substantially undervalues" the company. News of the new offer comes just days after InBev signalled its willingness to make a hostile takeover offer if necessary. On Monday, the Belgian brewer put forward a slate of directors to replace Anheuser's board. It said that "to date, Anheuser-Busch has been unwilling to engage with in a dialogue." Anheuser subsequently filed suit against InBev, accusing it of making false and misleading statements. A lukewarm response from Anheuser shareholders to the company's defense strategy may have contributed to its willingness to open negotiations. When Anheuser rejected InBev's offer, it announced a stepped-up cost-cutting program aimed at boosted its share price. Besides the cost and time a protracted takeover fight would entail, a friendly deal could help InBev keep key Anheuser management in place and avoid alienating the U.S. company's distributors, a person close to the deal said. The combination would create the world's largest brewer with net sales of about $36 billion annually. The two giants market about 300 brands on six continents, producing in total 10 billion gallons of beer each year. InBev and Anheuser are the second- and third-largest brewers in the world in terms of volume, respectively, after London's SABMiller PLC.

So far in 2008 have been to: Kalahari Water Park, Sandusky, Ohio Boomers (Dania Beach, Florida) Six Flags Over Texas Sea World San Antonio, Texas Six Flags Fiesta Texas Kemah Boardwalk, Kemah, Texas Playland, Rye, New York Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York (2 - Deno's and Astroland) California's Great America, Santa Clara, California Gilroy Gardens, Gilroy, California Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, California Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Vallejo, California Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, California Disneyland, Anaheim, California Disney's California Adventure, Anaheim, California Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California Holiday World, Santa Claus, Indiana Beech Bend Park, Bowling Green, Kentucky Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Louisville, Kentucky Kings Dominion, Doswell, Virginia Busch Gardens Europe, Williamsburg, Virginia Six Flags New England, Agawam, Massachusetts Alabama Adventure, Bessemer, Alabama Victorian Gardens, New York, New York Quassy Amusement Park, Middlebury, Connecticut Lake Compounce, Bristol, Connecticut Idlewild, Ligonier, Pennsylvania Lakemont, Altoona, Pennsylvania DelGrosso's, Tipton, Pennsylvania Waldameer, Erie, Pennsylvania Lake Conneaut Park, Lake Conneaut, Pennsylvania (I know, it's closed, but we went anyway! See photos!) Kennywood, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania 2nd Trip To Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington, TX (only counted once) That's 33 parks so far if you count Lake Conneaut. I've only had time to post a few TRs on TPR, but all photos are at http://www.flickr.com/milst1/collections To Come: Adventureland, Farmington, New York Splish Splash, Calverton, New York Buffalo Bobs, Primm, Nevada TPR Korea and Japan Trip!!!!! -Martin

I agree that there can't be too many potential buyers for the theme parks. The WSJ article said that Busch Entertainment Corp. could fetch $3 Billion and I'm wondering who in the world would pony up that much. Not to mention the fact that I think the quality of the parks would decline without A-B's loving care. Apparently Busch III loves the parks while Busch IV is more indifferent (where did I read that?), but Busch IV doesn't want to be the Busch that lets an American icon get taken over by a foreign company, so he has to boost the stock price to drive away InBev. I'm now reminded of those pinheads in Texas who became angry when SFOT applied for a license to sell alcohol. I wonder how much beer A-B sells in the theme parks alone. Can't be too shabby. Personally, I'll vote my shares against the takeover, but without the theme parks, I wouldn't have bought the stock in the first place. -Martin

Een heel leuk report! (A very nice report!)

Sea Serpent at Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park in Coney Island on Sunday. Yeah, I guess we should've finished the day on the Cyclone. But still, the op gave us *three* circuits!

Geweldig! Heel leuk TR.

We're trying to decide what to do on a newly freed-up weekend. We live in NYC. Here are the possible trips we're considering. These are all parks for which we do not currently have 2008 visits planned (or completed). I'll put a star next to parks that either one or both of us haven't visited yet (pretty much all of these). We would leave Friday night and come back Sunday night. Thanks for your help! Cedar Point Dollywood* (maybe swing down to Ghost Town in the Sky*?) Hersheypark*/Knoebel's* Canada's Wonderland*/Darien Lake* Jersey Shore Parks* Kennywood*/Idlewild* Valleyfair*/Nickelodeon Universe* SFNE* SF St. Louis* Worlds of Fun* Carowinds* Hard Rock Park* Lake Winnepesaukah* (willing to consider because lots to see in area) Other ideas are also welcome. Thanks.

Ik hou van je Trip Report! Wij moeten naar Efteling gaan! -Martin

Yeah, I agree...but unfortunately, I am just as guilty as most people of supporting the bigger/faster corporate parks in wanting to ride all of the latest and greatest thrill rides. I had forgotten mostly about this little park until I read about the Ballroom fire in February on this very site. Even though I might never get to ride Blue Streak, I have done a bit better to try and support the smaller parks. I usually hit up Waldameer at least once or twice a year and plan to get to Martin's Fantasy Island, Darien Lake, and hopefully Sea Breeze in Rochester this summer. You do what you can, right? I've been to Coney Island twice, up to Rye Playland, and also Gilroy Gardens and Santa Cruz Boardwalk this year already. We'll try to hit Clementon and some Jersey shore parks and Quassy this summer. And Adventureland on Long Island. And we're going to HW and BB this weekend and Alabama Adventure over July 4th. Peace, Martin