larrygator

If you don't pay your bills you increase cash flow and you don't hemmorhage as much!

Thank you for pointing out the clip, here it is. www.wlky.com/video/22475854/index.html You are always free to post links to third party news sources. TPR asks that you not link to promote other websites if you have under 50 links.

Doesn't Six Flags own the rides and everything that's put in since, well, a while back? Similar to the SFNO situation? When he says 'Water Park and remaining rides' does he literally mean the concrete pools and rides that Six Flags doesn't care to relocate? I assume remaining rides would fall into 3 categories: Rides that were there pre-Six Flags/Premier (Possibly Tin Lizzies and International Carousel could fall into this area) Rides that can not be fully moved (i.e.: Pools, Blizzard River rafts can to moved to other parks as replacements, but the concrete throughs would remain. Rides that are not economically feasible to move (i.e. possibly Thunder Run)

You have pretty much summed up all the major questions that have been asked over the past 10 pages.

^^There's always the possibility of limiting capital improvements for a couple of years and concentrating that spend one year for a bigger installation. It's real easy for enthusiasts to sit back and speculate, it's the parks that have the difficult part of implementing and staying profitable.

They still have the lease arrangement in place for LaRonde.

I don't recall a specific announcement (like Quassy), but I think it was delayed until 2011 at the earliest.

For those who don't see the inappropriateness of this act a total stranger doing this I have these question. What's the difference between this occurence or if a cast member in costume cops a feel on a little girl in the park? I'm not trying to be a prude here, but what to know where some people draw the line.

^Looks like: 1 - Bird 2 - Flying Insect 3 - Sail 4 - Birdhouses 5 - Or no idea what there are trying to show Ineresting that the name of the project is Wuzel "Earth", yet 4 of the 5 references involve flight. Also, looking at the park map currently on Phantasialand's website, I no longer see: Walzertraum - Spinning Garden Boat Ride Goldenbahn 1001 Nachts - Dark Ride themed to 1001 Nights Since those rides were both in the WuzeTown vicinity are we to assume Wuzel Earth will replace those missing attraction? Was the removal of those rides previously reported?

The abundance of riches in defensive linemen Florida has coming is obscene, but I'm still concerned on the offensive side of the ball. UF may not have a difference maker at wide out which is rough as the team transitions to a more traditional passer.

Australia and Japan for me. That should only be about $12,000 or so after flights, add-ons and spending money. I'll suspend retirement saving for one year.

Shane - I caught your name in the credits. Very humble of you not to mention your video contributions to the project. thanks again

You danced at a strip club???

When the mercenaries were approaching didn't Ben (or Richard) send every one to the temple. My guess is the mystic Chinese guy and a couple of others were always there, but others like Cindy and the kids only arrived after the mercenaries came. I think in the end Widmore is the only one that can kill Jacob's nemesis, and Ben is going to have the turn the wheel and return to civilization and convince Widmore to return to the island.

What was Elissa's theory? I searched back a couple of pages and couldn't find. Maybe I'm forgetting something here, but who was in "Jacob's house" when Locke and Ben visited?

^^damn you, you stole my comment!

^EPICALLY LAME! Stay out of our thread.

Divv - thanks for all the submissions to the Park Index. If anyone is curious about all the rides at Adventure Island they can now be found in the Park Index. Adventure Island in the TPR Park Index

thanks Divv. Sorry, I made you go to a park and take pictures. I just looked at the video of the Gold Mine on the Adventure Island website. It looks like a lot of fun, if your name is not Elissa or Divv. Gold Mine Video

Nickelodeon Universe has added the Flying Dutchman Ghostly Gangplank and adventure maze above the amusement park last July, ut it hasn't been discussed here previously. Below is the article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Nickelodeon Universe adds Ropes Course A high-strung attraction at Nickelodeon Universe offers a choose-your-own adventure in the rafters of the Mall of America. By STEPHEN REGENOLD Last update: January 24, 2010 - 4:43 PM Neon lights blinked in the distance. A set of small hands gripped a rope tight. The boy on the wobbly line above was screaming, "I'm not gonna die!" It was a Thursday night at the Mall of America. My daughter and I were resting on a platform, gazing up at a white-knuckle drama unfolding atop the megamall's latest attraction. Touted as the tallest ropes course of its type in the world, the Flying Dutchman Ghostly Gangplank course is a unique mental and physical challenge. For about $6, any adult or child who is at least 42 inches tall can ascend the course's vertigo-inducing heights, including obstacles, tightrope crossings, planks and an apex perch towering six stories above the carnival scene. "Falls are pretty rare," said Ann Jennings, 21, an attendant who has overseen safety on the Flying Dutchman since its opening last July. My daughter, Gwen, and I met Jennings about 30 feet up in the air. It took five minutes -- and several obstacles crossed -- to reach the operator's station. Jennings was roped in and offered tips of the "don't look down" type. Jennings' job as a roaming ropes-course attendant has her leading kids and timid adults up and down the crisscrossing course. She climbs to the aid of people in trouble. "There are occasional freakouts," she said. My daughter, who turns 5 next month, was nervous as we approached the attraction's entrance gate. "Is this like mountain climbing?" she asked. In a way, yes. Flying Dutchman climbers suit up in a webbing body harness. An operator at the base of the attraction cinches buckles and affixes an overhead lanyard into a track. As you head up the initial stairway, the safety line above trails along to keep you always "on belay." You can fall on the Flying Dutchman, to be sure. But the rope will catch you a few inches below, letting you grab and pull back onto the stunt. Alissa Blaeser, an attendant working at the start of the course, reassured Gwen as she was fitted and buckled up.

Without any substantiation (news link) on this we are going to have to move this to the Rumor Super Thread. It is quite odd that the park or Chance would not issue a press release that would be picked up by a local news source. I did not see the flier on the youtube link, at what time does it appear?

On TPR's 2009 Scandinavia Trip, participants were lucky enough to meet Mattias and his business partners and be treated quite hospitably. Some of the Mattias' visions of the future are included in this interview from January 2010. Enjoy! Online article from parkworld-online.com Amid all the European consolidation of recent years, one group that has been quietly doing its own thing is Parks & Resorts Scandinavia (PRS). At the end of a record-breaking season, Owen Ralph caught up with Mattias Banker, one of PRS’ three young owners. Since 2006, Parks & Resorts Scandinavia has invested over SEK500 million ($70m/€50m) in attractions and infrastructure. This Swedish chain entertains around 2.5 million annual guests and includes Gröna Lund and Aquaria in Stockholm, Skara Sommarland and the animal park Kolmården. Q: Please give a brief history of Parks & Resorts Scandinavia A: The group was founded in 2000 with Kolmården zoo and hotel, and a year later they added Gröna Lund and Skara Sommarland. Gröna Lund is Sweden’s oldest park, it’s 126-years-old, and until then it had always been family owned. Q: However the new owners faced a few issues and in 2006 they sold everything to Johan Tidstrand and his sister Helena, who fought bravely against Parques Reunidos. After that they acquired a small aquarium in Stockholm called Aquaria. A:Johan and I have been friends for a long time and recently he asked me to join him. Just a few months ago we bought 20% of a project called ABBA World. Before this I was just a normal park visitor and had a company selling surgical implants. Johan had a tattoo business, he is a tattoo artist. Now Johan is the majority owner, I am minority owner and Helena is a silent partner; she is not working at the parks. Q:How will you ensure the parks retain a family feel? A: First I must say that we still have sons and daughters from the old owner family working here and they are doing a fantastic job. I think my approach to keeping that old atmosphere going is just be here, to live it. PRS previously had its office in the centre of Stockholm, but we said ‘this is stupid,’ so as I speak to you now I am in my office in the centre of Gröna Lund, and Johan sits just across from me. It was great when we moved in, we found all these posters of some of the concerts artists that have played here, people like Roxy Music and Bob Marley. There’s a fantastic heritage here. If you start planning exit strategies and looking at EBITDA all the time you loose that feeling. We do have people looking at the figures, but personally I am not as interested in that. It’s important to look at what our customers want and ask, “How can we make this the best park possible?” I think I know what it’s like to be a visitor to this park, and I know what I want. Q: For the 2009 season you added a new coaster at each park. Was this a defensive move in light of the economy or would you have done it anyway? A: It was always part of our plan when Johan and I bought the parks, but then all hell broke loose. I don’t know if we would have decided to buy the coasters if we were in the economic climate we were in a year later, but to be perfectly honest I am really glad we did. This has been a fantastic season; I think we were up over the group by about 20%. Now we can have a little slower year in terms of new attractions. There will be something new, but I think it’s important to spend some money renovating our parks too. Q: How did each of the parks perform in 2009? A: Gröna Lund attendance was up by 23%. The park smashed its daily attendance record on August 2, when 23,000 guests packed the park for a Lady GaGa concert. The same week we smashed our weekly attendance rate with 120,000 visitors! At Skara, they had really lousy weather in that part of Sweden but it was still one of the best seasons ever. Tranan [the new S&S Freefly Coaster] was key to their success. It’s a good ride. Weird, but good! At Kolmården, attendance was up by 16%. This year we put a coaster into our marine area. It’s a just a family coaster from Vekoma but it’s a huge step for the park and as its shows it’s possible to have attractions and animals in the same park. Q: Did the “stay at home” trend help? A: In Sweden we are “easy” people. If it says in the newspaper you don’t need to travel, 80% of us don’t. People are doing their vacations at home, and I think a combination of this, some good attractions, and a lot of PR actually, put us in a good position compared to previous years. Q: What are your plans for Gröna Lund? A: Our big goal is to develop the parking lot at Gröna Lund and put a real top 10 rollercoaster and maybe a Star Flyer or something on there. I think we can absolutely do this. We aim to have a building permit within a year-and-a-half, so maybe in three years we can move ahead with new projects. The parking lot will add about 10,000 square metres of extra space to the park. At the moment we have something like 38,000 square metres. Actually we will only be loosing about 220 parking spaces, and most of our people come by boat or by bus anyway; this is a city park. I still have my parking space though! Q: What about the other parks? A: I am pretty sure we will be following the resort model in future. We have a small camping area outside Skara, maybe we can add a hotel. At Kolmården we have a hotel already. If I say it’s like [Disney’s] Wildnerness Lodge I am lying, but it’s like a lodge you might find in Africa. We would like to make our animal park more like Animal Kingdom or Busch Gardens, with a mix of attractions and animals. Kolmården used to be owned by the city, but didn’t make money. We added the first ever theming in 2007 when we moved our tigers into a new area called Tiger World and this year we added Delfinexpressen, the new coaster. It worked out perfectly, the people were happy and the animals were happy. It’s a huge park and I think the future we will be more of a themed park, a destination resort you can stay for two days. We also want to move towards pay-one-price. At the moment, you pay your entry and you can see the animals and a dolphin show, but you need to add money for our safari park and some other attractions. Q: Tell us more about ABBA World A: It’s a semi-permanent museum that will tour the world starting this January in London. I’m not a big fan of ABBA, but the way they are using technology and 3D is very interesting. It’s comparable to being on stage with ABBA. The ABBA museum was supposed to open in Stockholm, but the backers had some financial difficulties and together with Stockholm city called Gröna Lund/PRS and asked us to help. We contacted Live Nation and Universal Music and together bought everything. Now ABBA will travel the world and finally, maybe in two or three years, end up in a permanent museum here. Personally I am not very involved with this project, but it was a good opportunity for PRS. Q: Do you have any plans to expand outside Sweden? A: It’s embarrassing because we are called Parks & Resorts Scandinavia but we don’t own anything outside Sweden! It’s a name we inherited, but we have no plans to change it. Maybe some day we will expand outside Sweden. We get contacted from time to time with different parks and projects, but our main goal is to work with the attractions we have already. Except for ABBA, I want to be personally involved in everything. I can’t say we won’t buy something else, but right now if we add any more I will probably have a heart attack! Q: Would you sell out to a larger group? A: This is not something we want to sell; I want to give this to my kids. We don’t have an exit strategy and we don’t buy other parks just to make money. We have been contacted by bigger groups [about takeovers] but have said, very politely, “Thanks but no thanks.”

Good question. I thought the answer was no, but verified it. Through the past 10 years, no national chain has run a Super Bowl ad nationally. Although ads may have been purchased locally to run in individual markets during the broadcast.

As a Florida alum and fan my biggest concern is at WR and RB. The offense is going to have to change with Brantley at QB next year but with no proven receivers returning and the only Top 20 WR recruit being only 5-10 that concerns me. Maybe Florida can still reel in Ivan MacCartney, but freshman recievers are generally not game changers. Florida still doesn't have a go to RB, we have a lot of speed but need someone that can come through with those tough yards. Mack Brown (Florida's prospect, not the coach) is supposed to be good but we'll have to see. And I wouldn't say Florida and Alabama (with a lot of holes to fill) are that far ahead in recruiting when 4 other SEC teams have Top 10 recruiting classes: #4 Auburn #6 LSU #7 Tennessee #9 Georgia

Although I don't find many Zamperla rides to be thrilling, but I do enjoy them (except their Flying Coaster) It would be cool if Zamperla used Luna Park as a "test" park for new rides. I don't expect it to happen, but it would be neat.