cathyJ

Who got the rides?

For YEARS there was rumor going around that the two Virginia theme parks ( BGE and Kings Dominion ) would set aside time where only families ( adults with children ) could enter their parks. Now this is one rumor that could be placed under "could have been possible". Back in 2006 the Virginia senator who was behind that state's anti-gay marriage admendment wanted to make it a law in Virginia where places like KD & BGE and other places like bowling, carnivals, parks, theatres, and so forth..under law would create a time where "only families can enter". Somewhat as to what Jeepers had been doing for years. Now before people post messages and saying "..now thats a great idea..to keep it family friendly"..keep this in mind. ..the law would only apply to those who are legally married in the eyes of Virginia. In other words..kids whose parents are hetrosexual but not married...they wouldn't be allowed to enter. Nevermind gay couples with kids. To make a long story short, that "law" never got passed the talking stage ( nor did the Virginia law that banned those who are gay from working in radio/TV within Virginia ) and even if it did I am sure KD and BGE would fight it in court. Heck the jury is still out whether or not what Jeepers have been doing ( only allowing those with kids to enter ) is legal or not. After all on the federal level, I believe it is against the law to use the excuse "only those with child" as to whether or not they could enter. The excuse "to prevent child molestors" wont wash since it is a fact that most of those sickos are hetrosexual, married and have kids of their own. Check you local police reports. Of course OTOH..if an adult did try to sue Jeepers ( or whoever ) over that rule, even though they could win, the press chances are would go after that person and question the motives ( "...why do you want to enter Jeepers..a place for kids in the first place?") Forget saying "..to get my credit". The average Joe would have no idea what you are talking about. much less radio talk show hosts like Michael Savage or Rush Limbaugh.

Over the years there were a LOT of scenes that ended up getting deleted from The Jerk. Years ago I remember watching the movie on a local TV station in West Virginia and pretty much the ENTIRE carnival scenes were edited out ( I assume because of the content ). To watch The Jerk, its best to see it totally unedited. Good movie though today its dated. The long defunct Glen Echo Amusement Park outside Washington DC made an appearance in the classic sitcom Gomer Pyle USMC back in the late 60s. Not only did the show had scenes of their famous Coaster Dips coaster but lots of shots of the rides too. Since Glen Echo closed in 1968, they must have filmed the show there very close to the end of that park's existance..as an amusement park. Interesting a few years back when I visited Glen Echo I visited their main office and actually brought up the Gomer Pyle episode since the guy there went on about how "so little film is out there of Glen Echo when they were an amusement park" They had no idea their place was featured in a sitcom and a popular one at that !!!!

Denver's Elitch Gardens ( Mr. Twister & The Wildcat ) were featured in the 1972 Sci-Fi/Horror Telly Savalas flick "Visions Of Death". Good Luck in trying to find this movie unedited. Back in the mid 70's The Kroger Supermarket chain I believe sued the movie people because the movie featured a number of scenes of the King Soopers supermarket chain however it was done without the permisson by Kroger.

I have that Throgmorton book, I can't see how ( if they were serious ) how could they moved Idora's Wildcat there in the first place as the coaster itself was half-destroyed from that fire and rest pretty much was rotted out. Blueprints maybe? Indianapolis should be able to support a park in its own right now ( afterall it is big enough ) but my guess is that if one were serious enough to build one there they could ( again "could" ) run into a legal problem with Indiana's other big parks..Holiday World and Indiana Beach ( maybe Fun Spot ) as I am sure they could claim Indy as one of their main turfs reguardless of the distance between those places and Indy. Of course there are many cities around the US who do support more than one park without any trouble ( Denver for example ) and I doubt the other parks could stop such a project from a legal standpoint but then again the fear alone could prevent it. I seem to recall reading years ago about plans for a park to be built around Baltimore but there was a fear that Hersheypark and SFA ( maybe it was still Adventure World then ) would get their lawyers in motion to try to stop such a thing. Not sure exactly why this project never happened but if that were the case it would not be a surprise. Also Indianapolis is known as a sports town. In other words unless one is into the Indy 500, Pacers, Colts or the other sports there, have personal ties to Indy ( family and friends ) or on business, Indianapolis is not exactly a city for tourists. That could be a reason why there isn't a park there now. And oddly until Northwest Airlines started a mini-hub there somewhat recently, Indianapolis was actually a difficult city for many years to fly to non-stop from many other cities in the country.Even those so-called Indy 500 tour packages..it was more/less..get into town for the race only and then leave after the race. Few if any offered anything as far as tours around Indy itself. I remember back in the 70's, the very popular sitcom "One Day at a Time". The show was set in Indy and again as popular as the show was ( One Day lasted for almost 10 years ), other than the opening credits there was very very little "Indianapolis" featured or even mentioned on that show. That was a shame though. The show could had sent a message to millions of viewers that there is more to Indianapolis than just a car race and a basketball team known as the Pacers ( The Colts were still in Baltimore then ). Sadly the show didn't do that.

Back in the early 90's when Disney cancelled plans for Disney's America in Northern Virginia...another town some 50 or so miles away contacted Disney and told them they could build in their county..no questions asked !!! No politics..no protests...nothing !!! Pretty much Disney could do what they wanted. And the taxes Disney would have had to pay..next to nothing. The town was Martinsburg, West Virginia. Disney said no anyway. Over the years I have heard two reasons why. 1. Disney never really was serious about the project anyway. 2. Had Disney said yes, the park would have had to been built outside Martinsburg town limts in Berkeley County. Problem? Berkeley County has NO zoning whatsoever ( if they do now it must have changed within the last year ). Disney could have done whatever they wanted on the land they owned but other than that....no say. In other words had Disney went there, an adult book store or strip club could have opened up right next door and there wouldn't be anything Disney could do about that if they would had decided to build in Berkeley County. Come to think of it I believe there was a city in North Carolina who offered the same thing ( build here... no questions asked ). I think it was Raleigh or Cary but that part I am not sure.

Pretty much all of the Denver parks ( Elitches, Lakeside & Waterword ) could be on the list of parks that made a comeback only because of the metro area they are in...Denver !!! Back in the mid to late 1980's, Denver had America's worst economy ( I heard it was even worse that Detroit's current economy ). It was the Oil Bust. I believe at the time while 1 out of 5 was unemployed, 3 out of the remainding four were forced to make less money ( going from 100K a year down to working at Burger King...you get the idea ). Being in Denver in 1988 I remember quite well the rumors ( even by their own staffs ) that all of them, Elitches, Lakeside, etc....well they could be gone by 1990 or 1991. Even though Elitches added rides in the late 80s, they did it more so as a gamble than anything else. Well by the early 1990s under a new mayor, came new types of businesses which took the area away from being depended too much on oil. The new airport, new sports facilities and teams, new attractions...and a whole new Elitches and even Lakeside was starting to add new stuff and look at Waterworld. Well anyway I guess somewhat what goes around comes around...a few months back one of the Denver papers "suggested" that next year Elitches and Lakeside should be open next summer...only on a rotating weekends basis and both should closed during the week. Some of the Denver's papers actually WANT a depression as they think this downturn ....well let the whole damn thing collapse and start over again.

Tina Turner June 1984 Charles Town, West Virginia Sadly only about 60 people showed up ( yes only 60 ). Not only did Tina put on a good show but she actually went out into the audience and shook our hands too and told all of us face to face how greatful she was that we were there to see her. VERY CLASSY WOMAN !!! I think I still have the pic of Tina Turner giving me a hug someplace. Why only 60? At the time sadly a lot of people thought of Tina as a "has-been" singer. Then a month or so later came that tune "Whats Love Got To With It" and within a few months Tina Turner was back on top, playing the BIG places and no longer doing small race tracks in West Virginia.

Its good to hear that Madonna still sings many of her old hits at concerts. Interesting there is a small group of people who don't listen to Madonna's music. HER OWN KIDS !! Despite being called by many as the world's top pop music star, its been reported over the years that Madonna doesn't allow pop music ( and country music too BTW ) to be played in her own home. Not even her own hits. Not really a shocker since Madonna's household rules have been reported so much in the past ( No TV, No Radio, No Internet access, No Movies, No print materials, no junk food, no milk, no meat, no pasta., no tea, no energy drinks, no sugar...etc..etc... even a trip to an amusement park is a no no from mama Madonna ). I actually feel sorry for her kids.

I remember the 80s quite well Actually I can remember exactly what I was doing on 12/31/79 and 12/31/89..watching TV LOL The 80s were actually a mix bag for me and a lot of it has been forgotten over the years. I lost a number of family members in the 80s but I managed to travel a lot more too. People talk about how bad the economy is today but in the early 80s it was a lot worse. It was so bad in Virginia ( some parts of the state had 20% unemployment rates !! ) not only do I remember seeing people getting kicked out of their homes and those mowing their neighbors lawn to "make ends meet" but ( again totally forgotten now ) there were rumors that Kings Dominion wouldnt be open for the 1981 season. The building of Grizzly changed that. Even though MTV came along in 1981 it actually wasn't until 1984/1985 when many saw the channel for the first time. Before 1984...top 40 radio meant a mix of light rock, country, disco, punk and metal...all on the same station. Kenny Rogers beside The Clash beside Hall & Oates beside AC/DC//beside Michael Jackson..ah yeah that happened on our then local top 40 station..99.3 The Fox. MTV put a stop to that. But the thing I remember back then...it seemed that people just didn't care about stuff. Stores would still sell cigarettes, cigars, beer even porn to minors if they wanted too. Heck I remember buying a six pack of Miller beer..when I was 16 !!! Try doing that today. A 30 year old skateboarder? Who cares !! Collecting old TV Guides? Dittos !! One pretty did what they wanted too and few would judge. Today.some of that may be still true but a 40 year old skateboarder today chances are would hear the comment "..that is weird..now grow up". Today it seems everything "must fit".

I wonder if Kennywood was the first choice for the filming of this movie or was there another park line up for this movie but for one reason or another ( usually thanks to poliitcs ) the movie people went elsewhere..and they found Kennywood? Well either way..they picked a winner. Kennywood would be just about the only park outside of California that could be used as a movie location ( even though Kennywood I believe has in the past in fact said NO in appearing movies like Rollercoaster and Flashdance ) Hersheypark may be bigger than Kennywod but it would be impossible to make a movie there without the public thinking they are watching a 90 minute ad for Hershey Foods. I have always heard that Pennsylvania is a very easy, liberal place to make movies. I can believe that since some states, I have read about over the years actually have rules in place as far as what can/can not be filmed within their state for example I seem to remember reading online a few years back where Alabama has this rule that no movie can be filmed there that uses foul language. if that is true well so much for Superbad 2 being filmed at Alabama Adventure.

I really wouldn't worry too much about that. if a park in mananged well and run well..chances are it will survive. Look at Kennywood..when Pittsbugh lost most of their steel mills..they survived. Back in the 1980's while the east and west coasts were doing quite well, some cities like Dallas, Denver, Houston, and Oklahoma City were going through a depression known as "the oil bust". Yet despite the high unemployment in those cities at the time, their parks survived though it the case of Elitch Gardens they did move to spur business in downtown Denver after that city lost many downtown stores. Nah, even if the economy was doing well, I still believe HRP would be in trouble. Bad managment can do that. While the "rock" attractions seemed cool, how could they expect churches and groups like "Coasters for Jesus" to go there with a rock & roll theme? Chances are it would be a park people whose faith is against rock and country music. would avoid It would be the same with Opryland as well if they stayed "pur country" but at least that park tried to cater to all since I believe Opryland offered Christian concerts on occasion and there have been a few times a few rock acts actually played the Grand Ole Opry in the past ( I blieve Cher did the Opry once ). And WSM? That well known country radio station whose parent company owned Opryland..well in the 70's WSM played DISCO music during the day and left country music at night. You have to cater to as many as you can to be successful...not just a few.

Back in 2004 my husband and I attended a party in Richmond, Virginia. At the part I met this guy who was a district manager for the Paramount Parks chain. Like me, he was an ex-broadcaster. From what he was telling me the General manager position at a theme park is a lot like that in broadcasting. Pretty much more/less a position that "oversees" other departments such as human resources ( the ones who hire the staff ), budgets, PR sometimes, etc... he also was telling me that the GM does NOT decide which rides the park will get or not ,somehow I dont buy this but I could be wrong but then again maybe with the smaller parks he.she does but a lot of parks have a "board of directors" that decides this. Also with many corp. parks...chances are that decision is done on that level. I also remember him telling me that he knew of some parks that "share" general managers. That is very common in broadcasting. One manager oversees things at one station/park a few days of the week and then oversees things elsewhere. Unrelated to this topic, I still remember this guy telling me that ( and this was in 2004 !! ) that the theme park business is going through a recession and the biz will never really get over it ( he told me that both Cedar Fair and Six Flags were in the process of laying lots of people off on the corp. level ). But the funny thing ( or unfunny actually ) was they here he was telling me the names of all these parks he expected to be history within a few years. Some like Astroworld, Six Flags New Orleans and Geauga Lake that sadly did happen. I also remember him telling me that there was a time around 2000-2001 that Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. were trying to purchase Erie's Waldmmer Park or Martin's Fantasy Island north of Buffalo ( or at least make a deal with them ) to bring attractions related to Lucille Ball to those parks since Lucy is from nearby Jamestown, NY and those Lucy-Desi days bring thousands to that city. Anyway of course, none of that ever happened. That might be a good thing.

On the subject of kennywood Memories...I don't remember where I heard this but the show was a HUGE hit..in of all places...Florida !!!!! I do remember hearing years back where thanks to the success of Kennywood Memories..one of the Denver PBS stations ( KRMA or KBDI ) were planning to do a similar show about both Lakeside Park and Elitch Gardens. Oddly both parks said NO to the idea. I wonder why ????

Even if that law was still on the books I highly doubt it would be enforced at all. With the way the economy is and with state budgets being as tight as it is , it would be very very foolish on Virginia's part to say to BGE ( or KD for that matter ) "..sorry but you can't be open".

Even if they really wanted too I don't think KD ( or BGE ) could be open year-round thanks to Virginia's Blue Laws. A few years back I was listening to a local radio talk out of Harrisonburg, VA ( WSVA-AM 550 ) and the host was talking about Virginia's various Blue Laws that were still on the books in the state and one of them they mentioned was the one that required amusement parks to be closed in December and January. Why that is I have no idea. I do know that back in the 1970's ( and I am sure it was the case before then as well ) in Virginia carnivals were NOT allowed to be open on Sundays. Of course this law didn't apply to amusement parks like KD, BGE or even the long defunct parks like Ocean View, Buckroe or even Lakeside in the Roanoke area. I also believe the law didn't apply to the State Fair either. However one Virginia amusement park that wasn't allowed to open on Sundays was the now defunct Virginia Beach park Seaside. Reason being ( my guess ) was that Virginia considered that park nothing more than a carnival. Since Seaside didn't have a coaster and the rides were just standard carnival rides ( Ferris Wheel, Tilt-A-Whril, Scramber..etc..) I can see how that "no Sunday" rule applied to them. However sometime in the late 70s either that Blue Law was either dropped or simply not enforced as Seaside started to open on Sundays and it became more common place to see carnivals open on Sundays. Again the purpose of all of this..I have no idea. But going back to KD & BGE, the "can't be open in December and January" law I am surprised that is still on the books unless it was dropped within the last five years. But then again if it is on the books, with as much power KD and BGE has I am sure they could change it but since they are already closed anyway I guess they look at it like "why bother?" anyway.

If you go to Page 2 of this thread, and six posts down, SeaWhippet has answered your question about it. Thanks !!! Don't know how I overlooked that. However I wonder how Playland's Laura Balance tried to get the clip removed in the first place? Shooting an email to You Tube? Ah..that will NOT work. In order to get a clip removed from You Tube one actually has to write and/or fax You Tube and then You Tube contacts you (or your company ) by regular mail/fax or phone call to make sure you really are actually part of the company in question. Laywers and affidavits are involved too and its done by phone calls and regular mail...not emails. All of this is to prevent a third party such as you or I the power to get a video clip removed off of You Tube simply because WE don't approve.

Very true.the park themsevles have every right in the world to get that clip removed..if they want. And I agree that clips featuring illegal activities should be pulled as well..however we are talking about You Tube. The same site over the years has featured clips of kids as young as 10 smoking cigars and drinking Jack Daniels, 14 year olds doing cigarette ads, people doing coke/pot, young children driving cars and I remember a clip a few years ago ( this one made national news ) that showed two 20 year olds throwing a cat onto a major interstate highway. All of those activities were/are illegal...and yet You Tube didn't pull any of those clips off of their site. Rather it was the same people who had posted the clip in the first place who pulled them and I assume they did so under pressure by the general public...not by You Tube. Being such a small park I doubt they do this practice but I have heard that the "big" guys like Six Flags, Kennywood, Cedar Fair and even Hershey often monitor You Tube to see clips made at their parks and see if their are any violations and such. I know for a fact that many retail chains do this such as Kroger, Kohls , Target, Wegmans, and Macys ( and as I found out myself Wachovia/ Wells Fargo Banks ) as they have over the years pulled many of clips off of You Tube usally because the clip was filmed in one of their stores without the store's OK or that their logo was seen in the clip. Kinda curious..has anyone in that region contacted this park about this clip? Wonder if the park knows about this?

I have always heard that really the only reason why You Tube would pull a video off their site is due to copyright violations ( and they can only be done by people listed by You Tube as the owners..not a third party ) and ..oh yeah..porn. Of course the "copyright" thing can extend to homemade clips too. A few years back I uploaded a clip I had shot myself taken at the Winchester, Virginia Apple Blossom Carnival. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from You Tube saying that my homemade clip was removed at the request of WACHOVIA BANK !!!! It seems that my shot of the ferris wheel in the background across the street was a branch of Wachoiva and that right there was enough for the bank to "claim" my clip was a violation of Wachovia's copyrights. Ah..the next day I switched banks !!

In the case of Six Flags America, a lot of people do feel that place is unsafe and I put 95% of the blame on that on the local Washington-Baltimore media. For example when Two Face got stuck this is what WRC-TV NBC 4 said on live TV about this incident.... "..oh my this is very bad, people could be killed if a loose screw pops off !!. .." Hearing something like that, no wonder people were scared to ride that coaster. To be fair to Six Flags, it was the same thing with the old Adventure World and even Wild World before that. Anyone familiar with local Washington TV should know who Gordon Peterson is. For years he has been called the "dean" of Washington DC TV news. Back in the 80s a young child was killed at Wild World as a result of a drowning in the then-brand new wave pool, at the time Peterson was the anchor for channel 9's Eyewtiness News. How did channel 9 report this? "......as a result of this death, maybe it would be a good idea to shut down Wild World, it just doesn't seem safe to me !!". Of course when many people heard this on channel 9 and they way they trust Gordon Peterson ( better than their own doctors !! ) , no wonder so many people over the years avoided that park east of DC. of course whenever there is crime in the aera of SFA, often the local TV bring up SFA and sometimes even implied the crime had taken place IN SFA. Funny thing is that of all the times I have been to SFA, never had a problem there feeling unsafe but sadly because of all of this bad press that SFA gets, no matter how many seasons they go through without crime, it really doesn't matter since those "news" people like Gordon Peterson, Jim Vance, Maureen Bunyan, Leon Harris, and even the great sports guy Geroge Michael and the others, if these people tell the thousands of viewers that the park is unsafe or at least make it seem that it is unsafe, then the viewers would trust say Leon Harris ( WJLA-TV ) over anything Six Flags would say. Not fair but thats the way it is..at least in and around DC anyway.

That IS a shame !!! I wonder why Lisa Marie/Graceland doesn't want anything to do with the Zippin Pippin? Back in 1998 I visited the Rock & Roll Hall of fame in Cleveland and they had this rather huge Elvis exhibit sponsored by Graceland. It seemed they saved EVERYTHING related with Elvis Presley. From actual butts from cigars smoked by Elvis ( yuck !!! ), to used diapers worn by Lisa Marie when she was a little girl ( double yuck !!!) to even a bra worn by one of Elvis' many girlfriends ( no comment there )... Surprised they didnt have Vernon Presley's dentures on hand !!! yet after saving all this..well stuff..they dont want nothing to do with saving the Zippin Pippin. Sad !!!

If the Zippin Pippin was a favorite coaster of Elvis Presley...why doesn't his daughter Lisa Marie buy it and move the coaster to Graceland? Or at least include the coaster on some Elvis tour ( like Sun Studios ?? ). I have never been to Graceland but from what I heard the place is sort of like an amusement park in its own right so the Zippin Pippin should be right at home there too...and they get the tourists !!! Besides when most people think of Memphis..well lets face it..they think of Elvis Presley !!!

Or at least cut back such as some parks rather than be open seven days a week, perhaps they will be open for 5 or just on weekends only. Or even perhaps lower their admission prices and only have a few sections of the park open. I can say this much, I doubt there will a repeat of the "great despresson". This morning I heard on the radio the dj saying that "coming soon people will be selling apples on street corners and the unemployment rate will be 50%". Yeah right !!! Thats crazy talk !! For starters back in the 30's when a bank fails and if you had money in that bank..well your money pretty much was "gone with the wind". today the FDIC takes care of that. If a bank fails, you still have your money. That is why so many people back then were totally broke. Also in the 30's many cities were too dependent on one or two different kinds of business. Pittsburgh is a great example. Back in the 30s. Pittsburgh was pretty much all steel factories and even the non-steel industries, well they had ties to steel as well in one form or another. So when the steel indusrty suffered greatly with the crash of 29 just about everyone there was affected so as a result the city's unemployment rate jumped up past 20% as I have been told even 40%. Of course with a number that high of course that scared the hell out of Kennywood, West View and the other parks in the region. So today if one business suffers badly, it doesn't allways mean the other businesses will suffer as much. But then again it does't help much either.

Several years ago a few days after some gay event was held at Kings Dominion, one of those letters to the editor appeared in a newspaper not too far from where I lived. The person who wrote the letter made all these wild claims that had taken place at KD as a result of this event such as people were walking around the park ( and riding the coasters )...in the nude !!! How a little girl was molested by a bunch of gay men in the restroom near the Shockwave...how the Richmond, VA city police were called to KD and over 100 gay men/women were arrested for "crimes against society"...etc... About a week or so after the letter was published, KD wrote a letter in response. Lets just say Kings Dominion was not very nice to either the letter writer and the paper for even publishing such a thing without checking the facts to see what was true ( of course none of it was ) and how the paper should be ashamed of themselves for "spreading totally false rumors !!!". I really don't know what ( or if ) KD did towards the person who wrote that letter since KD could had sued that person but I am pretty sure KD did go after that newspaper though. For about a year or two after the letter was published I noticed a number of Kings Dominion ads had appeared..some were full page ads !!! Before any of this, KD never did advertise at all in that paper. So my guess is that part of the settlement the paper ran all those ads for KD...for free.

If KD did use KI's Beast for a commerical..that is kinda funny actually considering how many parks years ago used KD as a place to film their commercials. I know there were at least two, maybe three cases where Kennywood actually fimed their ads at KD. And on top of that back in the mid 80's according to a friend of mine who used to work in Denver TV, he was telling me that even Elitch Gardens used KD as a place to film a commerical for them. Today with Cedar Fair being in charge I doubt they would allow any park than is not owned by them to film there...well maybe if the price is right.