OldJJman

Thanks. I know. I'm sorry. I was bored in between doing loads of laundry. I thought I'd look into this a little more deeply, and do something constructive. I fail.

The man's name is Danny Rogers. If you want to support them, please get his name right. Now, did anyone listen to the interview? It was a PR blitz and nothing more. Mr. Rogers was out there, on the radio, as a pitchman (tactless), hunting for investors. As the interview progressed, it was quite obvious that there are NO current investors. That has NOTHING to do with a NDA. Even the councilman, Arnie Fielkow, had his doubts about SSA and/or the city of New Orleans having sufficient funds to go through with either project (amusement park or sports complex). Though he did say that the city WOULD NOT, be financing either project in any way. It would have to come from private investors. Call me a serious doubter, but what credentials does Mr. Rogers have? I did a little bit of looking, and found basically NOTHING. Just a few interesting tidbits. Strange. What roller coaster company was he the CEO of? With the amount of very knowledgeable people on this website, SOMEONE must know and/or have heard of him. Yes, there are many people here on TPR, that are on a first name basis with people from pretty much every “roller coaster” company in the world. Yet, not one person has stepped forward to admit that they actually know, or have heard of this man in that capacity. Your BS meter should be on medium about now. I did some more digging and came up with this on the SFNO.com website: A question was asked to Mr. Rogers directly: 3) Please state some of the previous Amusement Park (conversions or new construction) projects across North America that you were directly involved in? Finally responded to, by Mr. Rogers: (Answer left exactly as was posted, complete with grammatical and spelling errors. Looking over his other responses in the “forums” they are all just as bad.) 3. As to personal background that is restricted information.This company's policy is to never divulged personal information on the Internet again for obvious reasons. No other information about this group will be made public. Let’s look at this again: “As to personal background that is restricted information.” OK. Your BS meter should be approaching HIGH right now. No other information about this group will be made public. That statement alone could and should scare away ANY serious person looking into this venture. He continued: This company's policy is to never divulged personal information on the Internet again for obvious reasons. “obvious reasons” ??????????? What possible “obvious reasons” could be out there other than a complete failure at a different major project, or worse, some sort of illegal transactions? I don’t know, but “obvious” it is not. Since when is a on-line resume` harmful “personal information”? Especially, when you NEED to establish credibility, which they so desperately need at this point in time. By now the pointer on your BS meter should look like a sledge hammer, banging you in the head right now. But, let’s continue (for a few more giggles): I found an on-line article in the New Orleans “The Times-Picayune” that obviously NO ONE has read thoroughly. You can find the complete article here. I just want to point out some MAJOR statements from that article. Rogers said his non-incorporated company in Bay St. Louis will neither own nor operate the amusement park. and: "It will be investor owned, controlled and operated," he said today. Interesting. It is “his non-incorporated” company. Hmmm. His. No accountability. No dependability. No responsibility. Therefore, no one to answer to. “….will neither own nor operate the amusement park.” Yet they’re pitching proposals, and running a website, like they would be controlling all aspects of the park, including what rides would go in and/or be refurbished. And: "It will be investor owned, controlled and operated," Yet there are NO investors to speak of (again, has nothing to do with a NDA). So not only are they looking for someone to finance the park, but they’re also looking for someone to take control of the direction that the park might go and finally, someone to operate the park. Mr. Rogers is simply acting as a middleman, trying to make a quick buck off of trying resurrect a failed park, that was done in by a hurricane. He’s looking for money to finance it, someone with ideas to implement, and someone to run the park as well. Incase you forgot: Rogers said his non-incorporated company in Bay St. Louis will neither own nor operate the amusement park. He really has no interest in the success of the park itself, other than to be a broker (which means making a % off of any transactions) to ANY interested parties. Please, no offense intended to Tatum, but what SERIOUS player is going to let a 14 year-old be a moderator on a website of a company (“non-incorporated” at that) that would be potentially dealing with millions of dollars? It makes no sense. Until there is some concrete evidence of anything SSA says being true, please don't be duped. This whole thing stinks, beginning to end. JJ

Did you know that Vortex's station at KI was originally used for the Bat? Did you know that the station for GE's Comet was originally used for the famous Crystal Beach Cyclone?

For the record, I did NOT count Dive to Atlantis as a credit!!! Yes, and quite easily I might add!! (Already got it. Don't have to do it again! YeeHaw!!) JJ

Not too many wood coasters have a drop like the 2 trick pony, Cyclops. (The first drop can catch you pretty good as well.) But, that is all that Cyclops really has to offer. Well, that and seats that aren't always attached to the train! Ghostrider's drop, during the first couple of years was comparable. As is the ejector section of flat track (yes, you read that right) of the Williams Grove Cyclone. Nothing else comes to mind right now. That being said, "Coaster" just kicks A$$ all over Cyclops. The 2 seater articulated trains also kick A$$ all over the PTC's! The airtime is as extreme as the laterals, and sitting solo getting thrown side to side on those sofa seats is a lot of fun. I just dug up my TR on rec.roller-coaster written 9/16/2002: Even from the lift hill, this ride didn’t look like much. Seventy feet tall, back and forth a few times, brake run. Yeah, right. This free form twister is one mean bitch! Not much in the way of floater air, but all ejector! (Well, except for the hill where your picture is taken, you float all the way to standing!) The laterals are sick! Slamming up left, right, up & down! Riding solo was of little comfort, as I was just tossed further to the sides and had a hard time sitting up straight. How does such a “little” coaster pack such a wallop?? Well, for everything it was in the back, I thought I had to try the front---just to check it out. Yeah, whatever. The front seat was twice as deadly as the back!! The ejector air and insane laterals were just awesome! ....... In the 70 ft. category, “Coaster” kicks ass over all the competitors, by a wide, wide margin! Like others have said before, I will reiterate: Go ride Coaster, before it’s too late! ..... This ride is simply awesome! If you want to read the whole TR, you can find it here. The "too late" reference was to the possibility that Playland would lose it's lease and "Coaster" would be torn down. When I was talking about "the 70 ft. catagory", I was referring to "Phoenix", a top ride for a lot of people. This may also come as a surprise to some people, but I rank Phoenix a lot lower than most. I'm NOT saying it's a bad ride, because it's not. Phoenix is a really good ride. It's just that my personal preference is for airtime with good/great laterals. For Mitch's poll I had them ranked: #9 Coaster #19 Phoenix #23 Cyclops JJ

What a classic line, and oh so true too!! I love "Coaster" very much, as it still resides in my top 10 (#9) after all these years. Glad you managed to convince someone to get you out there! To anyone else, if you're in the area, do not miss Coaster!! You won't regret it! JJ

Or someplace a little more sensitive, eh Chris??

I guess I'm really let down by this. I mean they make an AWESOME looking building. They put a state-of-the-art Mr. Potatohead in the queue line, and then they make a ride out of rolling desk chair in front of video screens. Think back to the "Baby Tatsu" video. Put KT in a desk chair, going past several video game consoles with shooting arcade games: viola' - Baby Toy Story Mania. With such an awesome building, they'd be better off putting in real arcade games such as "Fascination" and "Skeeball". At least they could generate some revenue there. After the novelty has worn off, it will end up being like Buzz, even on the busiest days in August, pretty much a 10-15 minute wait at most. Yes, the technology may be cutting edge. But who wants to pay $59 (or whatever) to play a video game, that they can play with better interactive enjoyment at home on a Wii, PS3 or 360? I won't be rushing over to do anything other than enjoy Mr. Potatohead. JJ

Are you serious? If Jazzland, or especially SFNO, didn't put them out of business, then they're more than secure with what they have. ANY competition that Southern Star Amusement can provide will almost be negligible as they are a start up company, with no proven track record to speak of. Dixie Landin'/Blue Bayou will be fine no matter what becomes of the old SFNO property. JJ

Because as Jazzland, the park was failing. Plain and simple. The park was then sold as basically a "fire sale" price to Six Flags, who was already biting off more then they could chew. They in turn thought that their name brand could help and make it a profitable park. It did bring in people, to an extent. But, it was also no where near their own projections, and was a "Titanic" waiting to sink. The demographics of the area WILL NOT SUPPORT a large park down there. You can counter with "but there were X amount of season passes bought". The company does not make profits off of SP, unless these people are SPENDING money inside the park for games, food and souvineers. It wasn't happening. Back the truck up! No where did SFMM ever HAVE to get turned around! AT the time when SFMM was listed as a possible "for sale" park, the decision was pretty simple. SF had amassed a HUGE amount of debt. In the BILLIONS. IIRC, in Feb of 2004 they didn't have the cash flow to pay off a 1.1 billion dollar bond it owed to creditors. In order to satisfy a partial payment of said bond, SF sold off all of their European assets, SF Worlds of Adventure (Geauga Lake), Darien Lake, Elitch Gardens, Enchanted Forest, Frontier City and so on. The reason that SFMM was initially on that list was NOT because it was a failing park. It's actually a park that pretty much has broken even over the last few years. The reason being, is that the land it is on, and occupies in southern California, it that the land itself was reported to be worth somewhere between 250-400 million dollars. That's why there was talk of tearing the park down as opposed to selling it to a competitor. That money would have gone a long way in helping reducing the debt SF has, and restoring some confidence to both their creditors and investors. IMO, they chose wisely not to close the park. Instead they have taken some capital from their other sales and chosen to refurbish and rebuild the park. So far they've done a good job. We'll just have to wait and see how the bottom line comes out ($$$). Don't even try to think that SFMM was failing to the extent Jazzland or SFNO. Not even in the same league. JJ (Who is NOT a big fan of SFMM!)

Morgan, I've only done the Food and Wine Festival twice. (Most recently 2003) I know very little about the dining plan, but what we did was basically walk around the lake twice. Whenever we ran out of food or drink, we just bought what was next in sight. There were (are) loads of carts and vendors selling food and booze all the way around. It was quite fun to do in the early evening and then catch Illuminations while somewhat (Or more) inebriated. I do remember though, it did get quite expensive, and that was 5 years ago. JJ

Thanks for sharing the pics! This place is so far off the beaten path, TPR may not even make it there on a side trip! Good Job! BTW - This ATW trip you're taking, how long is this trip lasting? I don't remember if you had mentioned it in one of your other reports. Again, THANKS. These are cool! JJ

16/20 No longer a geek!!!

Having ridden all the GCI's to date, here's how I rank them: 1. Ozark Wildcat - Solid "A+" ride! 2. Kentucky Rumbler - "A" 3. Troy - "B+" 4. Thunderhead - "B" 5. Thunderbird - "B" 6. Renegade - "B-" The above rides are all quite fun, and easily re-ridable. 7. Wildcat - "B-" (Only ridden with the PTC's) 8. Lightning Racer "B-" 9. Roar East - "C+" 10. Roar West - "C" 11. Gwazi - "C-" (PTC's really hurt this ride) The rides above here are OK. I would like to ride the Wildcat with the new MF trains. Yet, Roar East seems a little better than it's west coast version because of the PTC's. JJ

Watch your mouth, boy! If not, some Indiana teacher and myself may come and spraypaint the Dueling Dragons on you!

Thanks for the updates. I need to get back to Knoebels at some point. I haven't been since PPP in 2000.

Thank you for sharing! That was quite cool!! I wonder if a day trip to Cairo is in the TPR future.

I would like to nominate Mr. "Jarmor" for post of the year consideration!!! Awesome stuff man!!

Thank you for the PTR and comments. Like Elissa said, it looks very much like the defunct Jazzland/SFNO. However, it is nice to see actual trees planted there. I think I'll put off heading there this year and give it a year to mature. But I wouldn't wait too long, as I personally don't think the park will last. Before someone jumps down my throat, think about this: if the demographics couldn't support and keep MBP open... We'll see. I hope I'm wrong. JJ

20/20 I need a life.

After carefully tabulating the results of this PTR*, I do believe that "Big Mike" may find it slightly unacceptable that the ratio of Big Mike to Rich pics is only 2 to 1. I do believe, in the "Big Mike Self-Promotion Tour Packet 2008" on page 26, section 34, article 19, sub-paragraph 4, billet point 3, reads as follows: "When pictures of an event attended by "Big Mike" are posted for viewing by the General Public (GP), pictures of "Big Mike" must be cropped and edited so as to not show any other person AND the likeness of his greatness, "Big Mike" MUST outnumber the amount of pictures of any other person(s) by 400%, UNLESS said person happens to be a bikini clad person of the opposite sex." *Big Mike pics = 12 Rich pics = 6 Sorry Scott. You fail. Try again.

Great pics Rich! Though I am beginning to believe that Larry is more photogenic than Big Mike! Is it safe to assume that Big Mike's TR will have more photos of himself than you?? Obviously not much, otherwise he would have mentioned it. It's mediocre at best anyway, IMO. Great first drop, then kind of uneventful on the way back to the station. I doubt that too. Having ridden TH on several occasions, I completely agree with his assessment of: Kentucky Rumbler>Troy>Thunderhead. However, as far as GCI's go, I personally think that the Ozark Wildcat blows them ALL away!! JJ

More like DITCHED him! Oh please!! As "I" remember it, it was more "LMAO" than "*sigh*"! That remains a lesson I will never forget! Fortunately, I WILL get someone else on this at some point in time!

Ya know, I really want to believe that the SF management will turn the park around. But such a simple incident such as what Robb experienced really makes me think "Why Bother?" Apathetic employees (such as the girl Robb encountered in the store) have always been a sore point with me, and has been a problem at SFMM for years. For quite a few years, rides were held up due to cell phone conversations being held by ride-ops. Drove me frickin' insane. They wouldn't even take complaints at guest relations as the employees were allowed to have their cell phones on them "for personal emergencies" BS! I do not know if that policy has changed, but if I was on ANY ride that was delayed by ride-op on a cellphone, I'd demand my money back! Cleaning up the midways may be a nice touch, but there are people in the queue lines too. Keep it all as clean as you can. As far as the coffee and donuts thing, it sounds as if the park is not really progressing as thought. While rides are closing at the end of the night, ALL stores near the front of the park should remain open and fully staffed. If it's a real business, you can't sell if it's not open, and I refuse to believe that the operating costs of these stores outweighs the money that can be made by keeping them open 30-45 minutes AFTER the park closes, while guests are filing out. So far, IMO, it's just been a whitewash paint job, and we're told to expect something different. The more things "change", the more they seem the same. JJ

To answer your question in the most direct ways possible, I would say: 1.) Expect first, to simply have the vacation of a lifetime. Doing something that you generally enjoy, en masse'. 2.) Expect to feel like you're being catered to. R&E have made (and are making) lots of plans for your trip. They will think of things you'd probably never think of on your own. They are more than willing to help you in pretty much any way possible. (Except $$, of course.) 3.) Expect to be flexible. Sometimes, even the most meticulous planning gets messed up by traffic, mother nature, etc... 3a.) Expect R&E to have a contingency plan in almost all cases. If you come with NO expectations, you could become overwhelmed with the ease at what you will experience. It's very easy. R&E pretty much think of everything, as they have done it before. Just a fair warning, don't try and plan on something like this on your own. It looks easy, but it's not. One last thing, like Elissa said, actively participate in the (private) East Coast trip board. Ask questions there. There will be a good mixture of newbies (yourself) and veterans, that have done at least one TPR trip before. This will not only give you a place to share your excitement, but you will also learn quite a bit about those who will be on the trip with you, as well as what you will be doing. I hope this is the type of answer you were looking for. Enjoy. JJ