larrygator

I took the same survey but Six Flags asked about the season long Flash Pass for $350. At $150 it could be a really good value, at $350 it is not, unless its for unlimited Platinum passes. It looks like they are trying to find the best price point. I agree it would be completely oversold at only $150. Being that their season pass costs about 3x the cheapest the cheapest single day admission, I would guess that the Season Flash Pass be set between $250-$300 to maximize sales while minimizing saturation. I would also foresee they being certain blackout dates, but let's wait and see if it comes to fruition.

it is not unusual in surveys for the questioner to formulate opinions of different sides. In this case the findings will simply justify that many DC Comic characters are well known by the customer base. What I found most interesting in the survey was the question about Flash Pass being added to your Season Pass options. "How likely would you be to purchase a season long Flash Pass for $150?

More riff raff means higher attendance and more coasters. But private tour companies will offer trips, the same way they do to Atlantic city. Won't change anything, but Christie does suck as a governor. Still waiting on that disaster statement for south Jersey for the storms a few weeks back. Still have friends without power. Typical GOP selfish jerk, completely out of touch with his state. I don't think Christie's choice can be attributed to being out of touch with the state. How many of New Jersey's 9,000,000 people use those bus lines? It was using state money to subsidize people living in another state. How is it selfish? want is he personal gaining from this decision. But you are right private tour companies can pick up the slack, that's what the private sector does.

Hersheypark is the only park with both a B&M and a GCI that have no stairs to enter or exit the ride platform

Morey Piers has about 60

I enjoyed almost a full day (8 hours) at the park today. Luckily my favorite coasters Skyrush, Storm Runner and Lightning Racer had the shortest waits most of the day. Skyrush was never more than a 20 minute wait after 12:30. LaffTrakk looked to still about an hour all day. Fahrenheit was over an hour most of the day. Great Bear (which I also really like, had a longer line than expected most of the day). 10 rides on SkyRush 8 rides on Lightning Racer 3 rides on Storm Runner 1 Laff Trakk 1 Cocoa Cruiser 1 Great Bear 1 Fahrenheit 1 Extreme Reese's Challenge (just for shits and giggles) 1 Hershey's Special Dark Milkshake Fahrenheit has never been a coaster I cared for, but I enjoyed it more today than the previous 4 times I visited since it opened

Wicked Cyclone

I'd prefer to wait for more announcements. It's difficult for me to anticipate on speculation and assumptions.

I know this has been out of the news recently, but last month work started again on this project after re-financing and muddling through some more bureaucracy. Projected opening is now 2017. http://www.northjersey.com/news/american-dream-bonding-amended-1.1357939 State approves East Rutherford's amended Triple Five agreement; parks' foundation progressing June 18, 2015 By Kelly Nicholaides The state Local Finance Board approved on June 10 East Rutherford’s amended $125 million change in the financial agreement with developer Triple Five, but it’s unclear whether the borough will have a second reading ordinance on the June 16 meeting agenda to approve the change — which increases the bonds from $550 million to up to $675 million and adds the option of taxable or non-taxable bonds. Mayor James Cassella said the vote would likely happen in July, At issue will be whether Triple Five chooses taxable or non-taxable Redevelopment Area Bonds, and corresponding insurance policy to protect the borough from lawsuits by bond holders in case American Dream Meadowlands project fails. Elected officials have been asking for an insurance policy since early 2014. Mayor Cassella said the borough is better off issuing taxable bonds because it takes the burden off of East Rutherford to file complex financial documents every year with regard to post bond-issuance issues, and it would be a big savings for Triple Five. "Getting insurance for taxable bonds costs considerably less," said Cassella. "Tax exempt bonds cost a lot more to insure, and so it would be a huge saving for Triple Five to choose the taxable bonds, because it’s nowhere near as close to the insurance costs. We’re talking tens of thousands for the taxable bonds and maybe into the millions for non-taxable," said Cassella. The financial agreement amendment began on May 19 when the governing body introduced an ordinance, 4-3, amending the agreement with Triple Five to raise the bond amount from $550 million to $675 million and provide the option of non-taxable as well as taxable Redevelopment Area Bonds (RABs). Councilmen George Perry, Joel Brizzi, and Michael Homaychak voted yes, and Councilmen Saverio Stallone, Ed Ravettine, and Jeff Lahullier voted no, with Cassella breaking the tie with his yes vote during the May 19 vote. That amended agreement was approved by the state on June 10. The governing body also voted 4-2 on May 19 to introduce an ordinance to secure the bonds and authorize the execution of the financial agreement for Payments in Lieu of Taxes, with Councilmen Saverio Stallone and Ed Ravettine voting no. The financial agreement has yet to be revealed, and would involve Triple Five using Payment in Lieu of Taxes monies to pay back the bonds. Previous figures in the Financial Agreement discussed in public sessions calls for Triple Five paying $20 million for the new police and court building constructed in anticipation of the project, and approximately $160 million in PILOTs over the course of 20 years, $1 million up front, and a sewerage agreement, officials said. Triple Five spokesperson Tony Armlin said that the developer will opt for the taxable bond option, and have the alternative, non-taxable bonds choice available. "Our preference is taxable bonds. It’s much better approach for simplicity of execution and structure. It’s less expensive too because the sales transactions cost less. It’s an option that wasn’t really available a few years ago because there wasn’t a market," Armlin explained. Triple Five has invested $150 million on 23,000 tons of steel and $100 million on 7,000 piles for the foundation, and concrete for the amusement and water parks. "The project is progressing significantly. Once the framework is in place, there’s opportunity for more work on the exterior, interior and all the electric, drywall, structural work inside. "For the balance of summer we’ll be working on pile caps, and should have structural steel fabricated and received by September, for erection by October," Armlin said. East Rutherford elected officials have been trying to finalize financial details for two years since Triple Five took over the project, which had already approximately $1.3 million invested from Mills in the ill-fated Xanadu mall. Rebranded by Triple Five in 2010, the American Dream Meadowlands plan calls for an indoor water park and amusement park, retail and entertainment. The construction would help some of the 300,000 union building trade members in New Jersey, with 3,000 in the IBEW Local 164 electricians alone, and is expected to bring up to 2,000 workers on site by 2016 — with a new target date of opening as 2017. Triple Five needs up to $2.5 billion in financing to complete American Dream Meadowlands, through a complex funding combination of bonds, a portion of sales tax and PILOTs and state Economic Development funding. The plan is for Triple Five to make PILOT payments to East Rutherford, under the RAB law, whereby the financial agreement together with the PILOTs paid will secure non-recourse RABs. "Proceeds will be used to make disbursements to the developer for project costs, pay the borough a sum certain to retire outstanding debt of the borough related to the project and fund borough purposes, establish reserves, if any, under an indenture of trust by and between the borough and a financial institution, acting as trustee for the RAB owners and pay costs of issuance for RABs," the ordinance reads.

overall experience meaning what Meaning keep the wife happy.

I'm one of many envious of your good fortune, the park is packed today.

Some of that food looks great. I love the taking back of the Mickey copyright infringement paintings. I'm I correct in assuming the women only ate the cookies before hitting Yak and Yeti. Was there anything Elissa friendly?

Valleyfair had 1,250,000 and some change for visitors in 2006 (that was the last time I saw CF publish attendance in their year end report. Now they just use pie chart graphs but they do group the park in the 1 to 1.5 million yearly attendance category still for 2014). So let's just use the average of that range at 1.25 million visitors (not unrealistic since they park hit 1 million in attendance after Wild Thing in 1996). Then you have Nickelodeon Universe which has a lower daily admission fee than VF, the option to just choose to ride 1 ride at a time at even a lower cost if you only want one or two rides, no unsupervised teenagers are allowed in the park after 6:00 pm plus all the food sales competition from the 4th floor at MOA which VF does not have and you 'estimate' they have 5x profit as VF? That means they would need at LEAST 5 times the people to get to your 5x profit margin estimate and that would be 6 million visitors. (So 5 x 1.25 million = 6 million). That would put the park ahead of Sea World Orlando (5,090,000 attendance in 2014) and make it the 10th largest park in the U.S.. The 20th biggest park in the U.S. for attendance in 2014 is Busch Gardens Virginia at 2.726 million. Funny, I don't see NU in any attendance listing anywhere even being in the top 50 parks in the U.S. for attendance. So at a 5x profit margin your still way over inflated on your estimate and you even admit to making that number up. Trying to prove points with made up numbers invalidate your point. And your the one calling for people on this thread to be 'more realistic'? http://www.mynews13.com/content/dam/news/static/cfnews13/documents/2015/6/Theme%20Index_2014_v1_1a.PDF We can speculate all we want, but there are too many unknowns for us on the outside to predict profit. For example: The rent Nickelodeon Universe pays versus Valleyfair's property taxes. Is there a known attendance number for NU, since it doesn't have turnstyles. Then again a turn of the turnstyle might mean a net loss for someone visiting with another CF Platinum pass.

^Thanks, I went the first year they were there (no decals), but didn't realize it was that long ago.

^^ I think the Flyers were a recent addition since 2008. They also refurbished the dark ride.

Hey Mark, I finally caught up adding your stuff to the Park Index.

You need to stop looking at the amusement world with a closed-minded enthusiast perspective. While I 100% agree with you, you also have to understand that most of the world is scared to death of roller coasters and don't understand that a "lap bar" is perfectly safe. Most amusement operators will agree with me when I say that whenever you add an inversion to a coaster, you automatically alienate a certain percentage of the population that come into your park. There are people that just refuse to go on anything that "goes upside down." So you need to do as much as you can for potential riders to feel "ok" with that. The "comfort" descriptor in "comfort collar" does not necessarily mean "comfortable" as in a physical feeling, but more a state of mind. I can't tell you over the years how many times I've heard people say "The ride goes upside down and has just a lap bar??? That's not safe!!!!" So perhaps Busch Gardens felt that for their demographic they needed something to make people feel more secure, even though it's just smoke in mirrors. Of course, the person who said "this story wouldn't happen if they weren't there" is also correct, but like they say, hindsight is 20/20.... To add to this, if amusement parks built rides with only enthusiasts in mind, very few would survive.

Adding another large coaster will probably mean a lot of work on the mountain side, quite a pricy endeavor, not to mention the red tape involved in removing so many trees.

I think they will only do this is you pay the difference between the current season pass price at SFGAdv and the price you paid at the other park. This keeps people from buying the cheapest park's pass online without ever planning to visit that park. You also can not buy a pass at one park, and sign-up for the food plan at another park.

"Old man says"......when I went on Congo Rapids when it first opened- there was no track, you bounced off the rocks, and the waterfall actually worked! And we called it Roaring Rapids! For the "old man" : Construction of Roaring Rapids Roaring Rapids Spotlight Having your raft get stuck under the waterfall was the equivalent of a rollback in the 1980's.

Yes, and its called Flash Pass lol Not all of us are millionaires Unfortunately, Flash Pass is the only reasonable way to fully navigate SFGAdv on a Saturday in July or August. If you have flexibility in your schedule, Sunday is generally a less crowded day.

Because you can never get enough Action Park http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/2015/07/09/action-park-debuting-worlds-longest-waterslide/29934701/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin= Action Park debuting world’s longest waterslide Michael Izzo, @MIzzoDR 6 p.m. EDT July 9, 2015 VERNON – A water park that already carries its share of lore is about to get a little more wild, as Action Park will soon debut the World’s Longest Waterslide. The 2,000-foot-long slide was brought over from New Zealand and rebuilt on Mountain Creek’s ski slopes. The first round of employee testing will begin Friday, and representatives from the Guinness Book of World Records will be on-site to confirm the ride officially qualifies as the longest. The World’s Longest Waterslide, made of 20 1,000-foot sections of polyvinyl chloride plastic, is not yet approved by the state Department of Community Affairs, so non-employees cannot yet ride it. The slide was brought to the United States from New Zealand, where it was designed and built by Jimi Hunt, who had no prior experience working with waterslides. When Action Park President Bill Benneyan first learned of the slide, he said he had to have it for the park, as it fit perfectly with its history of “backyard-style rides.” "This Waterslide screams 'Action Park' and we knew our resort would be the perfect home for it," Benneyan said. "What's more wild and crazy than flying nearly half a mile down a ski mountain on the World's Longest Waterslide?" Benneyan arranged for the waterslide to be shipped from New Zealand to New Jersey without knowing if it would survive the trip. Its journey to Action Park can be seen on an upcoming episode of Travel Channel’s “Xtreme Waterparks” series, airing July 26, at 10 p.m. An earlier episode of the show aired in June and chronicled the construction of the slide. One of the country's first waterparks, Action Park was open between 1978 and 1996, but closed due to a change in ownership. The park reopened as Mountain Creek Waterpark in 1998 with many of the same rides. A few summer’s ago, a viral video about the park titled “The Most Insane Amusement Park Ever" cause Benneyan to reconsider, re-opening the water park under its original Action Park name in 2014. Benneyan has since brought in rides that safely follow in the original Action Park’s footsteps, like Zero-G, the world’s tallest double looping drop-box waterslide, which was also featured on “Xtreme Waterparks.” Action Park has more than 30 rides, slides and attractions, including the Cliff Jumps, Tarzan Swings and Colorado Rapids River Ride.

Some may find this an interesting read http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-09/shanghai-disneyland-is-customized-for-the-chinese-family Rethinking Disneyland for the Chinese Family The Shanghai park is designed with extended families—and even line jumpers—in mind Updated on July 9, 2015 — 6:11 PM EDT As any parent who’s hauled awe-struck kids through a Disney park in the U.S. knows, the stars of the show are the ever-present Mickey, Minnie, and the fairy tale princesses (think Cinderella, Ariel, and Elsa) that Walt Disney transformed into a perpetual profit machine. But visitors to Shanghai Disneyland, set to open next spring, will be wowed by a new cast member in a starring role: Chinese culture. Whether it’s the giant glass peony blossom representing nobility and good fortune at the center of a fairy-bedecked fountain, the “lucky” cloud patterns painted on some spires of the massive castle dwarfing the park, or the traditional dim sum restaurant in the Disneytown night life area, every detail will exhibit a heavy dose of mainland history and customs. “We’re building something that’s authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese,” Disney Chairman Robert Iger says. “It definitely will be Disneyland in China, but we’ll obviously be respectful of the Chinese culture and relatable to the people of China.” In May the company opened the world’s largest Disney Store in Shanghai, the mainland’s most affluent metropolis. But the $5.5 billion resort Disney is building in partnership with Shanghai’s local government—within a three-hour drive of more than 330 million potential visitors—is a far bigger bet on China’s rising middle class. It’s also the entertainment giant’s largest foreign investment ever. Despite Disney’s longtime success in theme parks, risks remain. Since the 1980s, many Chinese real estate developers have added entertainment components to their projects, so there are plenty of rivals for mainlanders’ leisure-time dollars. The number of Chinese amusement parks, including water parks and other destinations with rides, is expected to reach 850 this year, up 40 percent since 2006, according to consultant IBISWorld. Comcast’s Universal Studios is building a theme park in Beijing, and DreamWorks Animation is opening a film studio and entertainment complex in Shanghai. Attractions operated by local competitors, such as Songcheng Park in Hangzhou and Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Hengqin, rank among the most attended in the world, according to consulting firm Aecom. “They [Disney] have to be on top of their game,” says Dennis Speigel, a theme park consultant from Cincinnati who’s worked in China. “It better be sized correctly, it better be finished properly, because the Chinese are so into technology and social media, now they know what’s going on.” China’s one-child policy and a desire by extended families to travel together often mean there are as many as four adults for every kid in the parks, says Craig Hanna, chief creative officer for Thinkwell Group, a theme park designer based in Los Angeles, which has done work in China. So operators need to design plenty of seating, restaurants, viewing areas, and open space where older family members can camp out while others go on rides, Hanna says. Chinese companies don’t typically offer paid vacation time, so park attendance tends to surge around a handful of national holidays, according to Tony Sze, senior counselor of the Chimelong Group, one of China’s largest park operators. To reduce the waits at rides during peak times, the company schedules parades and street performances to draw customers elsewhere in its parks, he says. Disney has been adding games, videos, and robots to distract Shanghai customers while they wait. Another challenge is the Chinese propensity for line-cutting, detailed in a 2010 article in InPark Magazine, published by the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions. The article described tactics such as “constant walking,” moving forward while pretending there’s no line, or using a kid as an “advance man” to snake through the queue, bypassing the waiting throngs. The article recommended enclosed lines that narrow to single file so people can’t jump ahead. Disney’s largest castle. Source: Disney “Rather than pull people away and say ‘I’m sorry, you can’t do that,’ you make it impossible,” says John Rust, senior creative director at Rethink Leisure & Entertainment, another California-based theme park designer. The Shanghai Disney Resort will feature 11 acres of gardens at its center, with benches and areas for strolling. Playing to Iger’s mandate to focus on Chinese culture, the Garden of the Twelve Friends will blend Chinese zodiac symbols with Disney characters. Remy, from the Pixar film Ratatouille, represents the Year of the Rat. The lambs from Mary Poppins do the same for the Year of the Sheep. The Chinese like large-scale visuals, Hanna says. And Disney will satisfy that with Shanghai’s Enchanted Storybook Castle, the tallest and largest such structure at any Disney park. Chinese parkgoers also expect live entertainment. Outside the Shanghai park will be Disneytown, a shopping plaza with no entry fee that will serve as a kind of overflow area and include a theater with the first Mandarin-language live production of The Lion King. Disney has learned from past mistakes. Disneyland Paris opened in 1992 to French criticism of the lack of wine on its menus; Shanghai will have plenty of local food at various prices. The 310-acre Hong Kong Disneyland was dinged at its debut as too small; Shanghai will be three times the size. And the Paris park, with seven on-site hotels with a total 5,765 rooms, suffered from a lodging glut; Shanghai will open with two Disney-run hotels totaling 1,220 rooms. “They’ve definitely learned some lessons,” says Lee Cockerell, who supervised food offerings at the hotels at Disneyland Paris when it opened. “Understand the culture, respect the culture, and make sure the guests are going to get what they expect.” The bottom line: The $5.5 billion Shanghai Disneyland is customized for China, where adult visitors may outnumber kids 4 to 1.

Did Liseberg purchase the SAAB gearbox factory that was south of the park?

One of our summer projects. I had time today and got halfway through 2013. We still have 30 pages of threads to review for the reminder of 2013 and 2014 to catch up.