AndrewRnR

The Season Pass Podcast had a great episode recently where the FunSpot guys were very candid about performance and it seems to be doing really well. I believe they said something like 250k riders for White Lightening last summer alone. I think part of the reason it seems dead in photos you see is because the bulk of park's business is either groups (I've seen some school-age groups complete fill up the place random afternoons) or night business. They really seem to do a good job of picking up on the "what can we do after spending the day at " crowd.

But it wasn't operator error - the train should've set up on the tunnel brakes but it didn't. The brakes at the end of the tunnel failed and caused the train to slip through hitting the train in the brake run. The operator couldn't have done anything. Arrow brakes are(were? haven't looked recently if they have switched) some of the few that are spring-open, pressure close. If there is a leak in the pressure hose, which I heard could've been the case, the pressure wasn't fully applied and the train slipped through (probably didn't help it was raining).

^While I was slightly skeptical of the late May opening, the photos showing the train on the track and brakes/electrical work being done seems to me they would be ready to test as soon as track is complete. If that is the case a late May opening could still be possible.

Why? Because by buying all the small older hotels they don't have to worry about anyone nearby undercutting them in rate and at the same time allow them to all but control the rates for that area of the market. I stayed in one of the old motels brought under the Mt Olympus brand when I visited last year. Sure the outside was painted but to answer your question about the interior - not only was it not touched all the info in the room (phone, card on back of door, etc.) still had the old hotel name. Pretty sure all they did was paint outside to match and throw their own lock on the door!

I'm not sure I fault Six Flags for the delayed opening - for us to assume they "should've" started earlier, or did something different with permits is crazy. This is a large company with people a lot more knowledgeable about construction than us. I'm sure SF more than anyone wants it open soon but there are a million reasons why constructions or even permit started when they did - from knowing that if would be best to ask for permits at a certain time to get through political red tape, to not starting construction for certain financial reasons (I've been involved in projects where we literally had to wait until the start of the new quarter to ensure the costs 'hit' the books a certain way). I'm sure there are reasons - project stat dates are just picked at random. ...And the winter was among the worst on record - even with that the ride is coming in close to their anticipated opening day by a week or so? I'd say that pretty impressive.

Is Darien Lake worth a visit for a credit run? I'm doing a road trip and was thinking of driving up after closing out Kennywood one night to Erie, then drive up to Darien Lake for 3 hours in the morning/afternoon of credit whoring then head back to Waldameer then on to CP in late evening. It would be 2/3 hours out of the way each way so I'm not sure the park is worth it for a few hours of credits. But at same time I have the time available and don't mind doing the drive if it is worth it.

I'm skeptical too but I don't think it is a bad decision. Sounds like a franchise-type approach by Six Flags - so of sorts its a win-win for them as they potential won't lose too much should the park not happen.

Just to add on to what others said... I think the coasters are "interesting" (I can't bring myself to use the term good!) because they ARE at Mt Olympus. Cyclops is a boring figure-8 layout but what makes it crazy is the fact you literally are thrown out of your seat unlike anything else on all hills (...and then there is the final drop! holy crap!). There is no way any other park (in the US at least) would let guests ever ride that in its current form. Zeus is just your standard out and back. As to why they don't care - because no one holds them responsible? Does the state inspect rides on a yearly basis? I'm no ride safety inspector but after 2 hours there I could've found 20+ things that probably were severe no-nos. Why doesn't the state catch that? I'm not sure how WI inspects rides but many no-nos I saw were have no fencing between rides and paths (you could literally walk right onto track of kiddie coaster) - things that are present (or in this case not present) when the state inspects the rides each year. They also probably don't care because they are slowly controlling the town. Mt Olypmus is unique in that they are working to build a self-made monopoly by buying up what would be run-down motels charging next to nothing a night, re-branding them (keeping them run-down...) and charging top dollar - essentially creating a false price floor in the market.

^ South Florida is one of the biggest metro areas in the country. Add in the huge tourist pull of South Beach, cruises, people driving to the Keys, etc. it actually has a lot more tourism than you may expect.

Perhaps since I work in revenue management (not in theme park industry), a dept responsible for dynamic pricing, I'm bias but here's my thoughts. I think the theme park industry is late to the game - restaurants, hotels, airlines, entertainment - everyone else in the greater hospitality industry already does it. I actually was part of a discussion on the subject within IAAPA and most people in the industry HATED the idea with a passion because it could upset guests - makes sense since they are so guest focused. The truth is the larger parks (read: Disney and Universal) already are on-board and Cedar Fair has announced they are bringing on a team to support dynamic pricing. It doesn't have to be pricing changing by the hour but there is several other ways to approach the topic. My favorite example to use is Halloween events. For example, Cedar Point charges the same price for a day in May when they are open 10-8 as they do for a 12-12 day in October which has a parade, fright zones and many haunted houses. Why aren't you charging more for that? (To be fair, CP have started doing some price increases after Labor Day - but still you get my point). So much more is being offered - why not charge more! As others mentioned sports teams now charge more when a big name team comes to town - why not charge more for high demand days? At the same time - as previously mentioned - parks have attendance limits and dynamic pricing can be used to curve that. Again, using the CP example the Saturdays of Halloweekends are known to push the park to the limits - clearly guests aren't happy (see reports in the media of people saying it took them hours to leave this past Columbus Day weekend). Supply and demand. Time to balance it out. Much like FastLane and paying for a better experience, I would rather pay say 10 dollars more for a holiday weekend if that means crowds aren't crazy.

Unconfirmed reports say the fall was less painful than a ride on Hades 360.

^ No need! The most ironic fact about Mean Streak is that a gas line runs right under it! Next time you are in line you can see the pipe!

Good to see Bruce speak up for the park! Here lives here in Orlando and his family works at some of the local parks.

Cedar Point has lowered height requirements before - Millennium Force opened with a 54" requirement which shifted to 48" towards the end of the season. So it isn't unheard of the park lowering things.

^ I seem to remember Alan S or Ron Toomer back in his Arrow days saying it was more expensive because of the each tie needing to be cut and welded... or something along those lines (inside rails that is). But whats not to say Chance Morgan has a machine that can make this type efficiently now. From cost of materials to design to the trains to the way it manufactured all play in to it. (Even patents play into it - Vekoma licenses the Arrow track design from them if I remember correctly).

With every picture I see the more and more I want to go on the TPR Mexico trip. The worse part is that is still over a year away!

How do they plan on opening in time? By having ACE members help... https://www.facebook.com/ACEMidwest I'm slightly confused - the park has a huge amount of people turn out for jobs but turns to local community to volunteer? Perhaps this is more of a goodwill play on ACE's part but still a little strange.

Thanks Robb for posting! It was a great but different (for Kid Rock) concert. The park wasn't as full as I've seen it in previous years for concerts (park was clearly expecting more with cops stationed to block off the street to the aux parking lot - which was never needed) but come show time pretty much entire stadium was full. I expect much of it had to do with the Super Bowl since the kickoff was just about a hour after the show ended. As you see in the clips he mentioned how great SeaWorld was a few times during the show and it always seemed genuine since it was followed by comments how he used to come there as a kid. He stayed away from his more vulgar songs (Cocky, Devil Without a Cause, You Never Met a Mother F..., even perhaps one of his biggest hits: Bawitdaba) and stuck mainly to his more recent country rock tunes. He even joked at one point "we are digging deep today... 'family friendly' show hmm... we'll play some stuff we don't usually play." (Someone told me earlier in weekend one of the backup singers tweeted they specifically rehearsed different songs and reworked others). He never cursed and let the audience sing the more vulgar parts. At one point when he was doing a DJ turntable routine he stopped and was like "um yeah so the next part... block the kid's ear for a few seconds." Whether if he was asked to tone down(I heard he wasn't) or he did it on his own, it was still probably the most energetic and lively crowd at a Bands, Brew and BBQ event. Quote highlights: "Wasn't expecting this lively of a crowd - looks like we're gonna have some fun." "SeaWorld is a great place - we used to come down here every easter..." "No matter how you slice it, this is a place that pays a lot of taxes and one of the reasons that America and Florida is such a great place to be. More importantly, the bottom line when you cut through all of it - it brings families together and creates memories that last a lifetime." "I wish SeaWorld had rock and roll concerts when I came here as a kid.. I just remember going home wet from a big smelly whale." You would never know anything had happened in regards to bands canceling and effecting the event - and the MC before/after the show was quick to remind people to keep checking the website this week for next week's concerts. One theory I have - the CEO said late last year they were going to focus more on driving revenue than attendance and weed out discounts. Then a few weeks ago there was Groupon offers and a huge focus on Fun Cards - quite the opposite of his remarks. I wonder if knowing it would be hard to announce bands with a short notice and expect people to buy tickets they found a way to quickly build up an annual pass base so that when people hear "just announced this weekend..." they can go "oh, I have a pass, that's included" instead of "oh, I have to spend 90 dollars to see them?"

I have heard the park wasn't going to ask Kid Rock to censor himself so not surprised to see these signs today when I walked in. So far light crowds... I have a feeling with him playing up to almost kick off may keep some crowds away.

^ Kid Rock has previously "declared war" on PETA so I'm sure the more people who post the more fun he will have with the issue come Sunday. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how he adapts (if at all) his R-rated show to a theme park... I'm sure he'll have some interesting things to say.

Living in Orlando all the local parks are a given (as well as BGT and SFoG0. I'm planning a trip to visit the remaining parks I haven't visited as well as visiting some old favorites (* - new park for me). (In order of trip/flow of trip) Canobie* Lake Compounce* Quassy* Knoebels* Hershey DelGrosso* Lakemont* Kennywood Waldameer Cedar Point Kings Island Kentucky Kingdom* Holiday World Six Flags Great America

^^ They recently acquired some land - they bought the Wet n' Wild land. I would suspect that is where we'll see expansion down the road. While there is not much land directly next to the park, there is several large parcels behind the Doubletree across the street and down near the Lockheed Martin site. For the longest time Universal owned a bunch of land as far south as the convention center so expanding in an area not near to the current site has been in looked at before. As for the additional hotel rooms - I wouldn't be surprised to see them acquire the Doubletree hotel (afterall it is owned by Blackstone so at one point is was under the same larger company as Universal). Or one of the other hotels. Disneyland acquired the Disneyland Hotel and that worked out well for them - I think it could be done with Universal.

Wanted to add my opinion to that - Rocky Mountain helped build El Toro(as in constructed not sure what the Intamin/RMC workload blance was). So I would assume now that Rocky Mountain builds coasters on their own Six Flags have been going to them to effectively cut out the middle man (and probably save money).

^ Crowds will be big but with the pass they will be manageable. Between Express and following basic theme park rules (i.e. get there at opening/be at gate for opening, don't each lunch at peak times, etc.) will help you out. At the Studios park the crowds will be focused on the parade/concert later in the evening which should help with crowds there as well. Many of the major rides offer single riders line so that is another crowd beating tool in addition to Express.

When in February are you going? Feburary can either be super empty and crazy busy depending on the week/holidays. Weekend before, week of, and weekend after President's Day 17th will be quite busy but before that you'll find a fairly empty park - so much so I don't even know if I would recommend buying Express. Saturdays will be busier because of the Mardi Gras event but on less crowded week days you could do both parks by 6pm if you get there at opening.