CoasterGuy06

S&S still makes parts for Arrow rides, unless something has changed very recently.

No it doesn't. Six Flags charges everyone admission to enter the park, whether you ride or not. It's been that way since day 1 over fifty years ago. All they are doing now is giving anyone that doesn't ride ammo to request refunds too.

It's going to be spun into bad press, but they 100% did the right thing in not allowing him to ride.

Yeah that picture of Zoomerang being removed was from March or April of 2013. I probably should of put that in the caption

^It's old

^^Zoomerang was sold to a park in India.

Here's a new article with more information from Dan on their plans for the park. Highlights include: -They are spending $7 million to purchase and expand the park -Final pricing to be decided. He expects season pass prices will go up, but lower food prices. -Getting Rampage up and running is a priority, but they are unsure of an exact timeline at this point. -They have a strategic plan through 2018 -There will be a big emphasis on employees and ther cornerstones of safety, service, friendliness, and cleanliness. Full article From AL.com

I would say it is a combination of both. The waterpark was too small for its crowds when it opened, and it took them six seasons to finally expand it. Some of the owners felt like those people you see on those house flipping shows: buy dirt cheap, make cheap improvements, upset the guests, and cash out.

My understanding was at the time they were really interested in adding a park in the south. I believe the proposed deal was for five years and they would have the option to buy the park outright.

^^Don't know about SFFT, but some parks will allow a coaster to run with only 2 people run a coaster if there is only one train running (Main panel op doubles as the attendant for their side of the train), but require three to run multiple trains so the main panel op never leaves the control panel.

Here is a link to one of the local news station's interview with Dan today. Clicky

I wonder who did that?

Without going in to too many "deep" details: -Opened in 1998 by 11 cities in the area, lead by then Fairfield Mayor Larry Langford (currently in prison after being convicted on bribery charges). He was stubbon and did things his way. He fired the first general manager, who actually had park experience, over disagreements on how to run the park and replaced him with a former FBI agent. Yeah. -Nearly had a management deal with Cedar Fair before the 2000 season. CF pulled out at the last minute (The park was listed on Tshirts a Knott's Winter Solace that year. That's how close it was). -Eventually signed deal with Alfa Smart Parks to manage the park. Finances improved, but it was too little too late. Filed Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2002. Operates only as waterpark in 2002. -Purchased by Team Pro Parks and Southland Entertainment who reopen the full park in 2003 -Southland sold the park in 2008 to Adrenaline Family Entertainment -2011 two big things dramatically lower attendence: the string of tornadoes that hit the area on April 27th and a riot broke out during the park's first "$10 before 10" promotion of the year. Promotion was ended. -AFE also got out of the amusement business and listed both of their parks on the market. Clementon is bought by Premiere. -January 2012 park is bough by General Attractions, which is basically a renamed Southland Entertainment that had sold the park in 2008 for a fraction of the price they sold they park for back in 2008. Rides side closed, waterpark expanded. That's about as simple as I can make it As of the end of last season, all were gone except for Rampage, The Pirate (Huss Pirate ship), and Buzzsaw Falls (Shoot the chute), although BSF was sold and was supposed to be relocated to another park. Correct. Lori and Will's kids still run Holiday World and have nothing to do with Dan, Natalie, and Pat's purchase of Splash Adventure.

Splash Adventure WaterPark purchased by the Koch family Birmingham, AL -The Koch family has acquired Alabama's Splash Adventure Waterpark and will re-open the park for the 2014 summer season. Dan Koch, who led the acquisition, is bringing his family's seven decades of experience in the amusement and water park industry to his new home in Alabama. “I am thrilled to be living and working in this community,” said Dan Koch. “Our family wants Alabama’s Splash Adventure Waterpark to be the number one choice for family fun and family memories for generations to come.” Koch Parks, Inc. has purchased the water park with 89 acres of land, which will aid in future expansion. General Attractions, LLC, the park’s previous owner, will retain 150 acres surrounding the park for future development. Kent Lemasters, President of General Attractions, LLC said, "We are pleased that the Koch family are the new owners of Splash Adventure. We feel very confident that because of their very high reputation and experience of over 75 years in the amusement park industry, that they will continue to take the park forward to new, high levels of achievement for the benefit of the entire area including those who visit the park and the surrounding communities and we wish them every success." The Koch family has a reputation for superior customer service and will operate the park with a special focus on providing safe, family fun for all ages. New attractions include five new rides for kids including a Wacky Worm Coaster, Rio Grande Train, Junior Bumper Boats, Mini Helicopters, and Vintage Boats. A new Laser Maze Challenge will also be added for heart-pounding family fun as well as games to entertain the younger family members. All guests will enjoy free parking, free sunscreen, free access to inner tubes and free in-park WiFi. Additional expansion plans for Alabama’s Splash Adventure Waterpark are currently being developed. The park will re-open for weekend operations beginning May 17th. A job fair will be held on March 22 from 8:30am until 4:00pm to hire new Splash Team Members to join the Koch Parks family. Alabama’s Splash Adventure Waterpark, now owned and operated by the Koch family, is located on the 20/59 at exit 110 just minutes from Birmingham and Hoover. For more information on tickets, season passes, birthday parties, and group outings, call 205.481-4750 or visit http://www.alabamasplash.com

So true! People would be shocked at the number of times and the places employees were caught where I worked. This includes someone working the same ride as I was.

Here's some updated information about rides

Very excited about this news!

You are starting to somewhat see this at some parks. Halloween Haunt is the busiest time of year at Kings Island, but a regular season pass does not give you admissions during it, while gold/platinum passes do give you admission. Walt Disney World also offers discounted season passes to local residents, but they only grant admission during the "slower" times of the year.

Then the ride should not have been able to be dispatched. The train has sensors to detect if the lapbar was properly lowered, the sensors told the operators she was ok to ride, and they dispatched the train. The whole point of modern safety systems is to make rides as "idiot proof" as possible for operators so that human errors are minimized. It sounds like they did what they were supposed to, unless maybe they figured out some sort of "glitch" that allowed them to fool the safety system. I operated a S&S ride at one point, and several operators figured out a way to "trick" the system into allowing larger guests to ride. Even if that was the case I would still argue the manufacturer/control programmer shares some blame for not finding and fixing that glitch. Also, if Gerstlauer was so concerned about the lack of seat belts on the ride they should have never sold the trains without seat belts. IIRC, at one point PTC offered their trains with or without seat belts. They then made the decision that all trains would be shipped with seat belts installed, and parks would be taking their own risk to remove them.

^They will just be at KK instead of traveling. We had them at Splash Adventure last year from May 9-July 21. They will be at KK from June 2-September 1. A waterpark in Illinois had their second traveling show for several weeks last year too. Assuming they have kept the show the same as last year you will get to meet Zoey, Sparky, and Alicia if you visit KK this year

This is the Sea Lion show that will be a Kentucky Kingdom. It is called Sea Lion Splash by a company called Squalus. These pictures are from their website. It's from Splash Adventure Waterpark this past season. It was actually a REALLY good show and our guests LOVED it.

Hereis an article from a few years ago that talks about the difference about the state inspections for the rides at Carowinds. One of the former employees can better explain their pay, but from talking to one of them a few years ago I believe they told me the park assigns you a position when you are hired (like Afterburn operator) and your pay is taxed for the state that position is located, even on days where your work location is in the other state.

In today's social media age it is kind of dumb NOT to be updating guests on a marketable capital addition, IMO. It's a great way to keep your guests interested and can help convince them to buy season passes, plan a visit, etc. Granted there may be nothing really to update at this point, but if there is they are missing out on a very cheap and easy form of advertising.

^ That's a good point. This photo from KI's Twitter page looks like there is not a dropping floor.

All of that will depend on the park. I participated at Carowinds in 2012 and there were not that many people that did it there. I think there may have been like 15 people total. There the actual marathon was before the park opened and once the park was open we were able to just enjoy the park for the day. Other parks marathon one ride all day, and others will marathon one ride for a couple of hours, move on to another ride for a couple of hours, etc. throughout the day.