cathyJ

Ah you misunderstood me...just saying one can't build a park ONLY because their city attracts hairy gay men (bears ). One builds a park to attract ALL people regardless of who they are.

Somewhat true as Indianapolis is also the home of some major businesses and often conventions are held there. Also it needs to be said that Indianapolis for some reason is fast becoming America's "Bear" Capital..as in the gay bear community. My brother is gay and he is in with the so-called "bear" crowd and even he really don't have an answer as to why Indy has that claim. The only thing he tells me is that Indy's Midwest Bear Festival attracts thousands from around the world every December and as a result, of course Indianapolis makes a LOT of money out of that and the fact some of that city's bars are known nationwide as "bear friendly". But nonetheless..one can't build a park and expect it to be a success only because their city just happens to attract..well gay bears.

That news chopper from KXAS-TV...even though KXAS is the NBC station serving the Dallas market..the station is really a Fort Worth television station. I know..so what LOL But on some of those media websites...people can be so damn picky about such things. Believe me there is nothing more funnier and more bizarre than looking at messages of people getting into online screaming matches on which is better..Fox News or CNN , or if Atlantic City's WMGM-TV should move to Philadelphia or stay in Atlantic City, or the "debate" that Clear Channel Communications is really the "anti-Christ". Ah ok....LOL

Not saying its the case here but perhaps the paper had some "hidden" ties to Six Flags or even Intamin, or maybe either one of those companies paid off the paper in exchange for the lack of coverage on that lawsuit. I have doubts it happens very much with TV or radio but with newspapers, many of them have been known to "overlook" a story on purpose for various reasons such as politics, friends and of course..money even though the same story can very well appear in the other media such as radio and televison stations.

I have to agree with you there. Besides is it even possible for a park that has been closed as as long as SFNO has been to even be a success? Now I know there have been a few parks ( SFA comes to mind ) who were closed for a full season over money issues but they bounced back but 4 years is a very long time to be closed. Then again there is Magic Springs who were closed for a good 5 years but I believe they are having issues like many of their rides are closed plus there was Rocky Springs in lancaster, PA. From what I can remember they closed in the 60s only to re-open a decade later but their "second life" didn't last, maybe a year or two tops.

If Westboro is right then "..people who say they have bipolar disorder are common trash who deserve a fist in the mouth because those who say they have this "bipolar" crap are in reality faking their illness just to get attention and sin...yes my friend these people will go to hell. no questions asked..." ( Westboro Baptist Church /Shirley Phelps on WEPM-AM Martinsburg, WV " The Jay Young Show" last year ) ..and I am not even going to begin at what Westboro called the people who live in the city of Indianapolis. Lets just say according to Westboro..God hates Indy. Last year a good friend of mine interviewed Shirley Phelps on his radio show. Ah not exactly normal people we are talking about here.

I hope I am wrong but I have a feeling sadly we may lose even more celebrities this year. Patrick Swayze, Dick Clark and Walter Cronkite are three I can think of right now whose odds are NOT in their favor. Actually Cronkite's own daughter just last week I believe had made a statement not to expect her father to be around by Labor Day. And for Dick Clark, just the other day I saw a recent photo taken of him sitting in a wheelchair with a blank look in his face while his daughter was feeding him baby food.

Great pics !!! Whenever I hear about parks like Idora, Chicago's Riverview, Pittsburgh's West View, Norfolk's Ocean View and the other parks who "died"...I always think to myself "what if?" *Had the Wildcat didn't fall victim to that fire..how long would Idora been around? Could they lasted into the 90's? Today? *Had Riverview not closed in 1967, could they had survive the 70's? Could we have seen a steel looping coaster at Riverview? Had Riverview stayed around, would we even see the opening of "old Chicago? Great America? Over the years I have chatted with many who remember Riverview and all of them really believe that park would still be around today...had they not close in 1967. *Had Norfolk began the re-development of the Ocean View neighborhood while Ocean View Park was still open..add some expansion..how long would that park be around? *West View Park..had they only expanded and added more bigger rides and had that reporter praised one of West View's coasters rather than Kennywood's Thunderbolt...would things had been different for West View? So many parks..so many questions.

The other site I belong too someone had mention what would Walt Disney think of his "baby" today. Of course they said chances are he wouldn't like it. I agree with that but then again chances are I am sure it would be the same with others too. For example our local cable channel the other night aired a program about Barney Kroger who founded Kroger Supermarkets. From what I saw, Barney only wanted kroger to sell FOOD and food only, not anything else. Today Kroger has their own pharmacies, sell furniture and in a few places even jewerly. Ah Barney Kroger wouldn't like today's Kroger. Dittos more/less with the Kohls Family who launched the Kohls Department Store chain. I used to work for them and I remember that video "This is Kohls". A very interesting video. The Kohls family at first really wanted to keep their stores strictly a local chain with locations only in upper midwest and thats it. They were NOT interested in becoming another JC Penney. Somehow the Kohls family became less involved with Kohls. Look at Kohls now?

I agree with you. I can only imagine what the tabloids will be saying about Michael Jackson next week. My grandmother actually reads them and believes them too. I do have to admit that I do glance at them just to get a laugh such as Oprah Winfrey "could" be a lesbian because she is seen having lunch with another woman or the latest from Larry Sinclair who claims he did drugs and had sex with President Obama several years ago, never mind the fact that Sinclair had spent time over the years in various mental hospitals and has failed 8 different lie detector tests..of course The Globe and National Enquier fails to mention that part of the Larry Sinclair saga. LOL

Seattle would actually would be a better fit of this kind of park than Las Vegas. I know Vegas has grown a LOT in recent years but Las Vegas is also in a deep recession. Yes I know the country as a whole is in a recession but Vegas is a bit worse off than many other places. Can we say foreclosures? I still remember watching a few years back those late night ads on local VIRGINIA TV from the Clark County/Las Vegas, Nevada real estate folks telling people how they should move to Vegas where everyone can buy a house without credit, even without a job lined up in that area. Wonder how many of those people who took up the offer still have their homes? Any of them still working? Anyway maybe such a park would work in Las Vegas but the timing I believe wouldn't be right if anyone would want to build such a thing in that city right now.

I understand your point. But what I saw was a close up of the Bronco's stadium ( Invesco Field at Mile High ) taken from the back as in near Federal Blvd. and then the camera pans to the left (almost going into the area that once was the home of the old/now defunct McNichols Arena ) and then the shot of the entire skyline of Denver. I kinda still think it was a "business decision" as to the lack of Elitches. Come to think of it there was another shot of Eddie Murphy driving through downtown Denver in a scene where he was trying to get to his daughter. Despite all the stores/restaurants that are in downtown Denver the only business whose name was seen was..Starbucks Coffee. I could see the downtown Denver Virgin Music store, Jasons Deli, Johnny Rockets, Good Times Burgers, 1st Bank and Arbys..but their names were missing too. Tonight I was talking to friend of mine who lives in Denver and he was telling me that both Village Inn and King Soopers ( Kroger ) were asked to be featured in "Imagine That" but both said..No way !! Maybe that was the case of Elitch Gardens too

Somebody had posted on another site recently about how they had seen the new Eddie Murphy movie "Imagine That" which was filmed last year in downtown Denver and how Elitch Gardens seems to had "vanished" in the movie. Last night I went to see that movie ( not a good movie BTW but not that bad either ). I myself did notice that in the opening scene when the entire downtown Denver area was shown, everything was seen..except Elitch Gardens and this was from the viewpoint of Invesco Field at Mile High which is more/less across I-25 from Elitch Gardens. How could anyone miss Elitches? However the movie folks had no trouble showing the Pepsi Center, Wells Fargo Theatre, the Denver skyline and everything else..but the area where Elitch Gardens is...in the movie was just an empty lot. Did anyone else notice that? My take on this is that the movie was made by Nickelodeon which has ties to Cedar Fair but Elitch Gardens isn't part of that family so as a result Elitch Gardens was "erased" from "Imagine That".

I have been told over the years that back in the 70's Disney was actually looking at Charles Town, West Virginia at one point. At the time ( 1978 ) what is now Charles Town Races & Slots, had bought out Shenandoah Downs ( a large horse racing track across the street ) only to close down the large complex. As big as Shenandoah Downs was ( the place could seat 45,000 people ) and the fact that the complex was close to both DC, Northern Virginia and Baltimore, Disney wanted the land to do their thing and Charles Town Races & Slots was willing to let them have it too. Zoning wouldn't have been an issue since the town at the time..well they didn't have any. However at the time West Virginia had some strange law on their books where whoever wanted to buy Shenandoah Downs or any other track in the state...well it had to stay that way meaning more horse racing and since Disney didn't want to get into the horse racing business they passed. Now Disney's America..when the idea to build a park in Virginia fell through ( there is actually debate as to why that exist to this day ), Shenandoah Downs was still standing ( the place would finally get torn down in 2003 ) and Charles Town Races & Slots went back to Disney and told them they now can take the complex and do what they want since the rules had since changed in West Virginia. Disney again...took a pass.

Another big problem Circuit City had was when some years back the chain fired a large number of employees who were experienced with the things they sold in favor of "cheaper" employees who really didn't know the merchandise they sold. Like what happened to to my brother last year at Circuit City. He was looking for a Direct TV system and asked the employee on duty advice only to get "..well all TV's are Direct TV..you can place it DIRECT of anything you want". The employee was NOT joking. He really had not a clue as to what Direct TV really was. He ended up going to Best Buy instead. Anyway there were many many people who never did forgive Circuit City for pulling a stunt like that. Some of you may remember Montgomery Ward. Same thing here too. Many employees who knew their stuff were fired while those who know nothing kept their jobs...then the chain filed bankruptcy and well one just can't expect a chain to be a success if the employee behind the register says "...we don't sell bed spreads" when right behind them is..well bed spreads.

I agree with you totally. I just don't get how these "experts" like dentists, educators, and the like came up with the "idea' that energy drinks are better health wise than soda unless they don't want to upset the many young people who drink them like to so-called "National soda tax" that the government wants to give us and that tax doesn't include energy drinks. Just last week USA Today called this a very stupid idea. But then again, of course its not the first time our government has done "questionable" things. The new cigarette law is a good example. The purpose for that I believe was to help cut down to teen smoking. OK..that is a problem but to me it would had been better just to take cigarettes out of supermarkets and stores like 7-11/Circle K and have them only be sold at bars/liquor stores and tobacco shops like 'Smoker Friendly" , places where kids just can't enter rather than just out right banning a number of brands than have been around for 30-40 years and this is coming from a non-smoker.

I have heard rumors recently that a number of fast food restaurants are "thinking" about dropping Coke or Pepsi at their restaurants in favor of energy drinks. Myself, I doubt that will happen anytime soon since I am sure there is some iron tight business clause between the two but then again.. I wouldn't be surprised if it does happen sooner or later since it seems soda pop has been getting a very bad wrap in the press lately, almost as bad as cigarettes in recent weeks such as that new law banning the sale of Marlboro Lights ( and other smokes that call themselves "light" or "mild" ) that goes into effect I believe in September. Anyway with all the slamming against soda pop, other than the taste I have yet to hear anyone slamming energy drinks. Heck our own school district allows them in class but they won't allow soda pop.

"GP" as in the general public...does talk radio count? My sister is a big fan of those AM talk radio shows. At 3:30 am yesterday Tuesday ) morning my sister calls me out of bed and demanded that I tune into this am station from a nearby town. as they were talking about amusement parks. I did and the radio station was running "Michael Medved". Having worked in radio in the past and listened to many of programs over the years..THIS WAS ONE WEIRD SHOW !!!! Michael Medved...the host was going on and on about how some "little boy" "from Pennsylvania" ( just the name of the state was given ) had got HIV from riding the coaster after the park had one of their "naked days". Acording to the host two men were riding the coaster naked and the next person who took that seat, the little boy had sit down in the car only to notice his pants was wet..well a few days later the parents took the little boy to the doctor and now the child has HIV. Then the host goes on and on and on about how people with HIV and AIDS shouldn't be allowed to ride roller coasters or any other rides in amusement parks...to protect the health of others. And being a radio talk show, there were "callers" and all of them either supported Medved and/or they claimed they knew "other people" who faces similar situations as this little boy and at other amusement parks. Ah yeah...there were a number of red flags here...duh !!! 1. not once during the entire show was a name of an actual park past/present was mentioned..not even in those "phone calls". Just states and many of them where those callers came from like South Dakota doesn't have an amusement park while others like Ohio have several but again no names were given as to exactly where this was "supposed" to had have happen. 2. Can't catch HIV just by sitting down in coaster car or simply by sitting down anywhere period. 3. "naked days"???? What the.....????? 4. The phone number to his show...well I tried calling it only to get a notice that the number was "unavailable". Why am I NOT surprised !!! 5. Michael Medved himself...read some of his columns when they appear in USA Today. Have to wonder what kind of meds he is taking. .....and many radio stations want to know to why so few people listen to the radio nowadays. Gee..could it be its due to people like Michael Medved being allowed on the air? Hmmmmmmm !!!

You are right about Kilimanjaro being a lost ride as far as pics goes. The only time I can remember seeing that ride in a pic form was actually in a TV commercial. Sometime back in the late 70s, maybe it was the early 80s, Richmond's Q94-FM radio was sponsoring a concert featuring The Village People. While most of that commercial was for Q94 and "the Q Morning Zoo" and the Village People belting out "In The Navy" and "YMCA", some of that commercial featured the attractions of KD and a good many of those scenes were from that mountain including Kilimanjaro. Alas..I bet that footage is lost too unless KD keeps their old TV commercials in some sort of archive form at the park or elsewhere ( I wonder if any park does this?). Q94 has since been bought by Clear Channel Communications and since Clear Channel is known to not really care about the past f their radio stations..ah I very much doubt Q94 has a copy of that commercial. Hell I doubt they even remember the concerts they had sponsored at KD back in those days.

I'm not sure if it was on this site or another one but I remember reading a post from someday who claimed that despite the Volcano as recently as two years ago The Time Shaft and parts of Smurf Mountain ( the track ) were still there !!!! I remember the press release that KD had sent out about the construction of the Volcano but as I recall KD mentioned that the man-made mountain was just sitting there. How many years were between Lost River/Time Shaft/The Smurfs to the construction of Volcano? Also I wonder what made KD to close those original "mountain" rides?

The coaster Twisted Sisters and the rock band Twisted Sister.... My next door neighbor is a lawyer and I showed him some of threads on here about the band Twisted Sister going after Six Flags, claiming copyright violation thus making the park change the coaster's name to Twisted Twins. Ah..he thinks there is a little "more" to this that just that. According to him since the band is.was named "Twisted SISTER" and not Twisted SISTERS"...he says it is very doubtful the band could play the copyright angle..unless the band of course just happens to own the words "Twisted SISTERS". My lawyer neighbor seems to think that since so many people didn't like the coaster to begin with ( from the reading the threads it sure seems that way ) and chances are SFKK knew that, perhaps ( his thoughts ), the park got had got together with the band in private to create the story ( band vs. coaster ) just for PR . In other words, re-name the coaster, bring up the "story" as the cause which equals more people would talk about the coaster and story and perhaps give the coaster a second spin. Of course if that was really the case, since the coaster is now SBNO...well.......chances are we will never really know if that was the case or not.

If that was true, couldn't they just change the name and keep it open while they go to court? I guess it's good to at least get the credits out of the way and it probably will make Holiday World seem even better. ^I don't think you understood... Twisted Twins used to be called Twisted Sisters. In 2002, the band Twisted Sister threatened to sue SFKK because of copyright issues, so the park changed the name to Twisted Twins. The ride's status has absolutely nothing to due with the name change. After the STOP tragedy in 2007, a law was implemented in the state of Kentucky that requires all ride operators to be at least 18 years old. Because SFKK had always relied on teenagers to run the rides, they were very understaffed when the 2008 season rolled around. To compensate for the loss of employees, they closed off the Northwest Territory, because it was the least-visited area of the park. They are supposedly rehabbing Mile High Falls, but have released no information regarding the status of Twisted Twins, other than stating that "it is not in the budget for the 2009 season." I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that we can kiss the Twins goodbye. Doesn't the city of Denver, Colorado own the copyright to the words "Mile High"? If they do ( which I doubt but hey that is what I heard over the years anyway ) I wonder if Denver could have gone after SFKK for having a ride called "Mile High Falls". Years ago I heard about some town in West Virginia who was calling themselves "the mile high city of the east" only to get a C&D from Denver, Colorado telling them they could no longer use the words "mile High". Even though I remember hearing this on the radio, me thinks it was an urban legend.

When a company files bankruptcy or even finds themselves with a new owner that is usually one of the first things they say..that it won't affect day to day operations. Reason being is mainly so the employees won't quit their jobs and people won't stop visiting because they assume "bankruptcy=out of business". Sadly most of the time when a company files bankruptcy it usually means big changes will take place in the near future. Of course its too early to tell.

I believe there was some talk not that long ago about banning such ads like those or at least restricting them to late nights. Myself I can't stand political ads. Almost like watching children at a playground..no wait many kids act more adult than those jokers. Last year we had one that aired here Virginia where two guys were running for city council. One ad featured one guy calling their other "..a damn liar" while the other guy called him in his ads "..retarded". People ( not a surprise ) were disgusted by this as I noticed when I was reading all of those letters to the eidtor that appeared in our paper at the time. And if that wasn't bizarre after the election the very same two men were seen at a local BBQ..joking and such with each other...as if those ads didn't exist. Oh for the record..the guy who was called "retarded" won the election.

rare credit? Any coaster that is located in Cuba only because if you are an American one isn't allow to visit there even though I think that rule doesn't apply to members of the national press ( example..ABC News or CNN ) or someone in government circles. President Obama and his family or Katie Couric and her kids could visit those parks if they wanted too but chances are neither me or you can.