AndrewRnR

It is an interesting setup - trains can only be moved when there is a stream train sitting in the Frontierland station otherwise it triggers an E-Stop for the steam trains. Unless there is maintenance reasons its rare to see it happen during the day as the ride usually runs the same number of trains for a better part of the day and there is room to store two trains between the station and the steam train tracks if they need to take one off. So usually one is removed and sits there waiting for the steam train to close for the night. BTMRR has one block between the storage shed and the steam trains, then two between the steam train tracks and the station. Worlds longest transfer track?

Sign out front Just got back and was very impressed. I took some photos here and there (then got caught up in having fun and put the camera away... sorry!) but my friend took a few hundred he'll be posting tomorrow. Overall Despite being more than twice as old as the target demographics for the parks it was a really good time. I visited LEGOLAND California last fall and enjoyed the relaxing nature of the park and what's not to love about LEGO models everywhere. This park is on par, if not better than the California one. The location along the lake really helps as even when you are on the opposite side of the park you can still see it through the trees. The atmosphere is great. Most (if not all?) paths are pavers (or stamped concrete). It is really hard to notice any former signs of Cypress Gardens unless you knew what you were looking for (save for the obvious recycled attractions). Landscaping was great. They kept as many trees as possible it seems like and there are flowers everywhere. It didn't look like a park that just opened but rather a park that has grown in. Rides The ride collection was nice - lines were VERY long so I didn't get to ride as much as I would have liked. It is really nice they kept the Triple Hurricane and you can hear the roar (squeaking?) of the train around that whole area. The Dragon's dark ride was about the same length as its California counterpart. Island in the Sky was down for the day. The highlight for me was the Rescue Academy - teams sit in self-propelled fire trucks or police cars and race to a "burning" building then work together to put up the fire before racing back. It was actually lots of fun. I remember talking to the park's GM a year a so ago and he joked it was the best ride in the park since all the "electricity" for the attraction is supplied by guests doing the work to move things or shoot the water. Test Track was positioned perfectly so that as you crest the hill you have a perfect view of the lake. For "opening day" operations wasn't terrible but as someone used to crazy high capacity rides and top-notch operations you have to give the park some credit that with so many little kids the attractions do take longer to load than say your average Intamin or B&M creation. Entertainment The Pirate's Cove show wasn't half bad. It featuring a lot more water skiing then I thought and featured the usual LEGOLAND humor "You know, you despise him, and he smells... Brickbeard!" The Gardens If I had to saw there was one let down for me with the park it was the gardens. Besides a few benches near the entrance you would have thought the Merlin team never walked the gardens. Plenty of Cypress Gardens signs (yes, I know the area is still called Cypress Gardens but this was with the old logo that said "Adventure Park" under it). A few of the smaller side paths were overgrown. I know that that area is a protected something (wetlands?) but the water in the canal throughout the garden looked like it has been sitting still for years - like a big sheet of green ice. I counted one bench in the entire thing (there was about 10 at the entrance) and it would have been perfect to sit and relax. No signs (and if you been there you know it is like a mini-maze) - not even an entrance sign to let you know about the gardens - just a plastic A-frame. Good or bad (depending on how you look at it) there was no sign of LEGO anywhere in the gardens. Food The food selection was great and cheap (for theme parks). I ate at the pizza & pasta (and salad) buffet which was 10.99 and included a drink. Of course there was the Granny Apple Fries. The park does a good job of trying to stay away from typical greasy theme park crap. The one quick service location served pre-made box sandwiches that looked really good. MiniLand The MiniLand features Florida (Daytona, NASA, Key West, Tampa, St Augustine, Miami, and random tourist stuff), DC, Vegas, San Fran, Hollywood, and NYC. The Miniland is unreal - its just really cool all the litte details. You could spend lots of time just looking at all the little details (most of which are humorous in nature). Details like the Stratosphere had X-Scream and a tiny bit of the Big Shot on it, employee break areas behind the casinos, a couple getting yelled at by a cop for PDA. The list goes on and on. One con... The attractions are great but for the most part have the lowest possible capacity out there. Take driving school or boating school where there is maybe 10 people on it at once per a few minute cycle. Coastersaurus and Flying School both only have one train and with the PTC junior cars they recommended one adult to a seat which made for some serious long waits. The Dragon was running one train (second train wasn't even on site). There just isn't really any "people-eaters" attraction wise which cause lines to get very long, very fast. Without going into specifics out of respect of the person who shared the information with me - today official numbers wasn't what you rank as a "busy" day at the park but most rides had long lines (the coasters, minus flying school, all had 30+ min waits) and the midways were slammed. Granted not every store and food location was up and running but this park could have some capacity issues. We got there before opening and stayed until park close and didn't get to do everything. Like I said I was really impressed with the park - they market it for kids (rightfully so as that is what the kind of rides the place has) but I think anyone (especially if you played with LEGO before) can enjoy the park. The park is a garden in itself and there are LEGO displays everywhere. One thing I have come to like about the LEGOLAND Parks is the little humor they use throughout - the script in the ski show, the details in the models, etc... it is like the park was built by a bunch of fun people who realized building a park around LEGO bricks should be fun. The question of the day, hour, week and last 2 years... will it survive? I think it will be the sleeper hit (and I was very skeptical from the start). The bar has been set so low by almost anyone I know around Orlando ("it will never make it", " give it two years", etc) that I think everyone will be surprised. Yes today was a preview day in which not one person paid to get in (friend and family of park staff and construction crew) but the place was packed, people were having fun, and the line to buy an annual pass was long. The quality of the park won't let it fail. Boating School Driving School Crowds! The line may be long... but its worth it!

Update: Park is officially open, crowds are huge (word on the street tr projection for today was raised quite high) and people are eating this place up. Ive been to LEGOLAND CA and this is looking to be on par if not better.

I think it gets a bad rap for its location. I've been to Cypress Gardens several times and the LEGOLAND site a few and it really isn't that hard to get to - it just isn't really near anything. Let me paint the picture - coming from Orlando you take a major expressway for about 10 miles past Disney, then take a major road that turns into a divided highway for about 20 minutes then turn down onto another divided highway for about 5 minutes. I would say its the same, if not easier, to get to from the major highway to the park then Cedar Point is from the turnpike. (Or to a lesser extent Schlitterbahn, Lake Winnie, etc.).

Thanks for the update! I'll be there on Saturday for the preview day - I'll try to do a trip report that night or Sunday.

While I don't always agree with results of polls like this I always find them a fun read. I don't read into all the "well this ride is really better than this but more people rode it..." stuff - I just like to see where rides/parks fall and helps me plan some of my trips. There have been a few times when planning a trip I debated skipping a park then saw that a ride ranked real high and gave it shot (ie Boardwalk Bullet). On a side note... people always hate on the Golden Tickets for being based on ads and support of AT... I listened to the award ceremony while driving yesterday and someone (I forgot who) said, during their "acceptance" speech something along the lines of "now that I one I guess I"ll have to buy more ad space." HA!

Yeah, that was for SOB. I do remember hearing that it would be expensive for Mean Streak, though I forget how much... Since its similar in size and scope as NTAG I would say around 10-11 million. I have to wonder how many parks will spend that kind of money on existing rides when you could get a new coaster for a lower price tag (or close to it). Granted the results are great but the Texas Giant was an "icon" of sorts. Mean Streak I'm not too sure about. Mean Streak is almost a giant catch-22. On one hand its a slow, boring ride that is really rough (just rode it last week and was one of the worse rides I have had) yet if you turn off the trims that (partly) make it slow and boring then it beats itself up. My idea for the ride would be reprofile some of the hills (I always thought all the hills leading up to the final brake run could make for some great bunny hills) and use lots of topper track.

I forgot about SFoT - thanks for someone remembering. - Cedar Point - Dollywood - Silver Dollar City - Busch Gardens (both) - SFoG - Six Flags St. Louis had a decent train as well

Skyhawk at Cedar Point had a price tag of 6 million in 2006. That is what I based my guess on - but strange the Barnstormer has a lower price tag years later.

I'm going to agree with Screamin Swing. It fits the 9 million dollar price tag.

While it is hard to ever "prove" the contracts rumors there have been a few others: - Busch parks having an exclusively clause for dive machines in the US - Paramount Parks having an exclusively clause for the flyer coaster by Vekoma. The story goes Paramount Parks helped fund the R&D for the concept and in turn got a contract hoping to install them at their other parks. They weren't thrilled with the results of Stealth and dropped the contract - giving SF the chance to build X-Flight which ironically ended up at Kings Island afterall. (Some rumors even go so far as to claim as X-Flight was already in production for Kings Island or another Paramount Park when they decided to give up on the project - giving SF a chance to snatch up a coaster already in production - hence why X-Flight was announced later in the off-season and the construction started very late). Those are just some rumors/word on the street I have heard over the years- can't say if they are completely true but good stories non the less. Exclusively clause isn't bad business, rather I would say its smart business. Other industries do it - for example most band's concert contracts with venues restrict them from playing another venue within so many miles within a date range from their show at that venue.

But do they really need to do something with it? I'll be the first to admit I think the ride sucks and I would love to see some topper track or I-beams on it, but I don't think the park seems a huge motivation to do so. The ride in its current state draws decent crowds (it usually is in the top ten rides - counts wise for the year at the park) and probably would draw more crowds if it wasn't in the very back. A lot of people really like it - we have been on other wooden coasters we know that the grass is greener but to most people Mean Streak is this tall, epic looking ride that shakes you around "like how a wooden coaster should" as my one friend put it. If the rides still draws plenty of rides and for the most part the public enjoys (maybe not loves, but doesn't hate) the ride in its current state then why spend loads of money to change it?

It really doesn't surprise me about the "Facebook Response." I would guess that the demographics of people who would post and comment on King's Island page would be the younger demographic who doesn't have disposable income. (I'm looking at some of the posts and it seems to be made by the under 24 demographic.). It really has nothing to do with people knowing what the Flash Passes prices are, my point was more so what the industry trends are. If Six Flags are getting over a 110 dollars for a platinum flash pass then 50 dollars is quite under-priced. The key I would think is to charge enough to not only operate the program (which would be a small amount I would assume) but enough to make sure not everyone can afford it or it starts to defeat the purpose of it.

50 bucks for what sounds like unlimited ERT for a better part of the day? If anything I would say its under-priced. The similar equivalent at Six Flags, the platinum flash pass, is over a 100 bucks depending on the park. While I like the Flash Pass/Q-bot style systems the best for the simple systems that really don't use any technology I always liked how Sea World Parks do it - one time for each ride or unlimited. The general public I would guess would be more than happy with one ride on each (plus maybe a bonus ride of your choice) and then you could price unlimited even higher - like one time skip the line for each major ride at CP for $50, unlimited for $75.

Even *IF* it was ruled a suicide that doesn't change the fact the park still allowed him to ride (granted if he tried to sneak on with pants on or something). Regardless of his attentions the park still allowed him to ride which shouldn't have happened.

Clone Balder. Could be placed on the waterfront and that would make one heck of a boardwalk-inspired twister.

Crowds will really depend on on if the weather is nice enough for people to go to the water park (which I'm sure this time of year it will be). I was there a week or two ago during the week and the park was empty because everyone was in the water park.

Arn't we all just making educated guesses? Steve, while I enjoy his posts and his insights, hasn't shown how to back it up besides saying he heard it from someone. Maybe he is right, maybe he is wrong. We can't be sure about anyone until it is announced. ^ The boat ride surrounds an island. The current way they get guests to the island is by building a temp. bridge forcing the ride to close. ^^ I have a B&M model in my office does that mean my park is getting a B&M? But I agree it seems like a Zac Spin would be a good fit.

Yes and no it certainly depends on the ride type and what not my point was more so manufacturers and such are picked out in advance as in a few years (Dragster being designed in 2000, Mantis planning in '94, , track for Millennium Force arrived in late '98, etc.) . As for the manufacturer for Shoot the Rapids I can't recall hearing that but it was suppose to open in 2009, or the very least a water attraction, but that was pushed back - at least according to Kinzel in the Sandusky Registry. Forgive me I don't remember the exact quote off hand. None the less *if* there was a major attraction planned for next year it wasn't cancelled within the last few weeks because the Dino thing is performing well at KI.

That's not how it works. Parks like CP have five year plans and additions as large as roller coasters are in the works for several years. They don't tell a company it may be this or next year thats too costly for both parties. GCI may do it but not after a taking in a big sum for breach of contract.

^ I'm sorry but I don't think the dino exhbit would cancel any plans. Any new ride would have been on the drawing boards for a few years- therefore I don't see them making a decision for new ride within the last few weeks based on the results of the exhbit at KI. I'd be surprised as Terror Island was always well received.

Actually prep work is something Cedar Point has started earlier on some project but on others they didn't even start till late fall. So it is hard to rule out anything based on that. - Millennium Force construction didn't start till Labor Day and it was completed at testing by early March - Mantis they didn't start to drain the lagoon to break ground until after the season was over (mid-Sept) - Wicked Twister didn't break ground until mid-Oct If construction hasn't started by November I would say then I would count out a coaster but until the fall it is hard to tell.

While yes I agree if there was a problem Cedar Fair would be all over it but it wasn't really his decision to trim the many wooden coasters at least not because he is a "conservative" person. Trims most of the time are in place to save the ride from beating itself up. I remember talking to some people at Cedar Point and they told me how after the first season it was clear the only way to save Mean Streak from tearing itself apart was to trim it.

I think one thing that is being overlooked is his non-theme park experience. He did wonders for Disneyland but I'm more excited about his other accomplishments. Sure he can fix and improve operations and ride experiences but I see him brought in as the person that will grow the company. Kinzel bought more and more parks whereas I think Matt will grow the parks into resorts. Lets be honest the hotels at Cedar Point for the most part (heck when compared dollar to dollar with Disney resorts) suck - Matt has experience with Starwood. Add in his Disney Vacation Club and Disney Cruise Line experience and this guy knows how to turn a park into a destination. I think most of the Cedar Fair parks have reached their attendance limits at their current stage - take Cedar Point for example no matter what new or big ride they add the attendance doesn't drastically go up or down - it has remained the same for almost 20 years. How do you grow a park like that? You turn it into a destination. Those who travel around the world always comment how nearly every park has a resort - I wouldn't be surprised to see more of that happen with Cedar Fair. Like I said I think Matt was brought in more for his abilities to manage resort than just a theme park destinations. - Will the headquarters remain in Sandusky? I could never really think of a good reason why the headquarters is in Sandusky - but I bet it has a lot to do with where Kinzel lives. (On a side note you have to wonder if Cedar Fair has a hard time attracting top talent or losing some - like Peter Crage - because of the location.) - How much will management change? This is the first real outsider brought in since well... forever (not counting the Paramount Parks)? It always seemed that if the only people considered for the GM/VP roles were those who worked in the company for 20+ years (or your dad is the CEO...).

I met Alan at IAAPA and he immediately took me under his wing. I always joked spending one evening with Alan taught me more than a few years of working in the industry. He knew his stuff and wasn't afraid to share it and help you out. He really cared about this industry - it wasn't just a job for him. He wanted to make the industry a better place and do what he could to help people with their careers.