DirkFunk

If you close a bunch of rides because you're "re-evaluating the offerings" and "looking at crowd flow" in the same breath that you're discussing looking to cut operational costs, of course the closures are about trying to save money. The problem with pointing at their additions is that their additions haven't pulled in crowds. Mako might be good, but SeaWorld Orlando had an attendance drop when it opened. Same with SeaWorld San Diego's...well...everything. Comparisons to Celebration City are nonsensical because Herschend bought their competition to purposely eliminate it. SeaWorld can't acquire anything because they're overleveraged and have no money, and they're on the verge of liquidating park assets (they're obviously eliminating rides and attractions) because they're a disaster finanically.

It stunk. But now that it is dead, I will say nothing but great things about it because no one else can ride it.

Opening weekend has been lousy every year for years. Obviously it only improves from there but by June all the college kids and internationals are there and you actually see food booths open, Gemini running both sides, full capacity on coasters, etc. I'll go for opening weekend to get my Steel Vengeance ride (singular) in, but I'll go in knowing I'll spend minimum time because half the coasters won't run and food waits will be preposterous.

You're getting a Q-Bot, right? Because otherwise you're gonna have a lot of problems squeezing in everything at Great Adventure in during a partial day. You'll be staying in Bordentown probably, 25-30 minutes away. If you leave in the AM from Detroit, you could try to do an Easter Vigil on Saturday night (Jackson's church says it's at 8PM) too rather than do the 9AM Easter mass that's gonna last 90-120 minutes in Jackson. Definitely possible. Your biggest issue is dealing wth traffic getting out of the DC area here. I'd actually think that staying until close is the best option. That or leave at like 1PM.

Obviously this isn't going to affect anything. They don't do any maintenance there.

To 1500, I think. Almost all of those people will be in line, so think 40ish minutes being practical assuming all three trains are running.

Imagine that there was a piece of equipment your wife, partner, or mother worked with had killed people in the past. Their employer limited the information about that in order to get them to use the equipment, and it wound up malfunctioning, leading to their death. Do you think you'd make comparisons to automobile fatalities and chalk it up as bad luck? Actually, it does. Lots of people don't drive their own cars, especially in the few cities with real public transit. If you buy a car that is defective in such a manner that someone is maimed or killed, there's liability for the manufacturer. There's also liability for construction companies that they construct roads and signage in an appropriate fashion that it doesn't fall on your vehicle, that guardrails don't have systemic failures that lead to them impaling your car and you, or that your car rides on pavement that isn't complete garbage intended to defraud tax payers.

Someone should let OSHA know Dawn Brancheau never actually died. That would probably go a long ways in fixing everything.

I've heard it is moving pretty slowly - there was a construction update on Screamscape where they've got some trenches dug and have some concrete going up. Maybe it'll take off soon? Otherwise they'll be lucky to open by July 4.

I'm just picturing this all going down in one hours time. Someone from management showed your post on TPR to upper management and after realizing how dumb they are called up the web designers in a tizzy yelling at them to change it immediately because the company is dumb. You just saved SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment!! (well maybe for one more year anyway... ) Be an every day heerrrooooooooo! Hope they send you a free membership! >.< You laugh, but I've legit gotten some weird emails in my life from parks for things I've said online. Nothing, and I mean nothing, would surprise me.

They're so concerned with trying to get consistent cash flow in all 4 quarters that they're literally hoping their season pass base just bothers to convert rather than retain them by just keeping passes as an alternate ticketing option. If you're looking at me to make sense of this and rationalize it, I'm sorry. So can't do that.

They still sell passes, though - plus the terms and conditions of sale are very different. Like I was saying, when you're auto-renewing the pass, you're doing so with the expectation of a 12 month period, whereas memberships don't have that. It doesn't seem worth the trouble to invite more lawyers into the mix. They're primarily competing against themselves and stuff like "buying Mach Tower" and "never promoting Tempesto".

So about the auto-renewal and transferring them to a new product....ehhh...there's some issues there by forcing people into a new thing such as that at a potentially inflated cost. Probably not wise for them to relive this: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-cfb-tourism-seaworld-lawsuit-20170514-story.html

So for year 1, you're locked into your 12 payments. Same as Six Flags in this respect. The difference is in Month #13 - at that point, you are no longer contractually obligated to pay BGW money for another 12 month period. You do so month by month, and you can cancel in February or June or whatever and only have paid for the period you utilized.

Good point, but to be fair I honestly expect every single chain to adopt this model. People love to bash Six Flags, but it's undoubtedly brilliant. It's so brilliant that I would think most of these chains will totally phase out standard season passes soon. Six Flags already seems to be working on it. It might work better for Six Flags than others because it's so cheap and their customer service is so bad that nobody will ever care enough to cancel (basically it's the "Planet Fitness" business model), but I think it'll be a hit for every chain that adopts it. I'll be the first to say that my take on Six Flags was wrong in the past. They actually have good ideas. And it shouldn't just be a thing you think - Parque Reunidos is all about this too. Merlin I'm sure will join in, and then we'll see who else down the line. The thing about SEAS is that we've seen them adopt other Six Flags innovative ideas and not really understand how it was the ideas are supposed to work. Doing the annual meal plan in Orlando for $80 was apparently a disaster for them financially which was totally predictable at that price. Now maybe they've done more work with the membership idea, but again, they have to overcome that stigma right now. I'll also point this out too: Kings Dominion has invested heavily in kids areas and family rides. Busch Gardens Williamsburg is building coasters and removing major rides with lower height requirements. Did everyone forget that whole talking point of "families spend more money than teenagers that ride coasters" that kept being repeated for years and years? Or are we just gonna pretend none of that ever happened?

And honestly, considering how Intimidator 305 never draws a sizable queue at a straight up coaster park, that seems like a bad choice for an addition in that market, especially for a park that should look for a wider appeal. But what do I know? I don't run the park. Of course, the guy who does only has for like 3 weeks. They're also closing things at an incredible rate. BGT has the Jungala rides, Tanganyika Tidal Wave, Gwazi, Rhino Rally, and the Marrakesh Theater closed up, along with a bunch of food/merch locations around them. Yes; it looks like they're gonna push ahead with a Shamu's Happy Harbor redo, but doesn't that seem like it would be better as an expansion? Since, you know, closing the area for the retheme is going to eliminate most of the kid rides in the park? Here's another question for you: Can you name any parks who closed significant numbers of attractions without replacements to try and offset dropping revenue that also successfully managed to avoid bankruptcy? Just give me one. Well, a new coaster in Sesame Place isn't a replacement for a ride at Busch Tampa. edit: LOL as I post this BGW announces they're copying Six Flags with membership plans to try and spread out revenue through the year. This is definitely not a reactive company.

Yeah, I'd guess there's more too it, probably medically. She's no spring chicken.

If SDC gets rid of it's big indoor rides while it is bleeding money, then yes, people will probably say it is floundering.

First off: This was the best drop tower of all time. Seriously. Secondly: OMFG I got so excited it might still be open somewhere, but it looks like it's closed forever after 2014. Anyways, thanks for the memories of one of the great weird rides I'm proud to have experienced.

Yeah, nah, not unless you rent a car and go way out to somewhere like the Poconos or Vermont for a mountain coaster. Hopefully you don't have any blizzards come through while you're in town and get to have a good time though.

Kings Island had FOF closed for Winterfest. Their one indoor coaster: Closed. There's no accounting for common sense. I'm with the people who didn't think much of it, but like, c'mon, that's not the best answer as to what to do with the ride system and that building.

Makes me wonder if it just wasn't a good enough ride to keep the locals coming back. We're so used to rides here in Orlando like Transformers and Kong that are, IMO, a "one and done" which is fine since many of the visitors are not from around here and are only riding these attractions once in a lifetime or once in many years. Whereas a park like BGW I'm sure has a much much higher "annual pass" locals population of guests, and while the ride was "ok" maybe it's just not something that kept people coming back after 13 years. It basically just overstayed it's welcome at the park. Maybe, maybe not. They're an hour from Richmond, 2-3 from DC/NOVA. Plus SeaWorld Orlando has been pushed into being re-positioned as a park geared increasingly to locals on passes, which they've stated in their calls and reports. LOL, see, I hadn't thought of that either. Good trade! Seriously though; so maybe they can cut some costs by reducing their attraction load by one and laying off a maintenance guy or two without badly affecting the attendance. But what does that say about the vision of the company that they didn't, say, retheme it? Put some new projectors in, give it a new name, you have a new for XXXX ride for less money than it costs to probably install another Italian protos#ittype that doesn't work.

Oh, you know what's a great idea when you want to expand seasonal operation into winter? You close your one dark ride. Cosmic brain level stuff. We're at the point where I want someone to buy the company. Anyone.

Yeah this is a good tip IMO. Just stopping in at the Birding Center is justification enough if the place is open. Los Galanes is really good in the center of Mexicantown, and El Rancho (which has a really good mole) and Xochimilco are solid too. But like, if you want to eat something distinctly Detroit and you're on a budget, there's Coney Island Lafayette. American Coney Island is next door, but that's for posers. Don't eat there. Not that anything in Detroit is crazy expensive except entrees at Cliff Bells or The Whitney. As far as the dude talking about the cost of driving - like, sure, the federal mileage per diem is 0.54/mile and if you drive 1200 miles, that's like $600+ bucks, but like, you own a car for the purpose of driving it. At least that's how I look at it. Plus those are easy miles - mostly flat, may not even need A/C given the time of the year, lots of freeway driving where you set the cruise and forget it. Anyways, what I'm getting at is that its pedantic and doesn't even matter because homeboy's girl need the car.

Detroit - In Midtown, you have Jolly Pumpkin, Motor City Brew Works, and Traffic Jam all on the same street in view of one another. All also serve food. Plus there's the Shinola store and Third Man Records (and some other places too). That's about the easiest bar hop in the history of bar hops. The Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit Historical Museum (free), and Charles H Wright African American Museum are just a couple of blocks away. If you head Downtown, you can do a solid architecture run with the Guardian Building, Renaissance Center (and GM showspace on the first floor), Hart Plaza, Spirit of Detroit Statue, Joe Louis Monument, and a loop on the Peoplemover. If you want to drink there, Grand Trunk Pub and the Whiskey Parlor are steps away. You go further into the middle of downtown and you can hit Standby, Punch Bowl Social, Rusted Crow, Cliff Bell's, Cafe D'Mongos, and more. There's some really good stuff in Corktown and Mexicantown too, but with such limited time, you're better off concentrating on those areas IMO. Toronto - The lazy thing to do is to head to Roundhouse park and drink at Steam Whistle, visit the CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium, and do a Rogers Center (Skydome) tour or see an event there if something is occurring. The slightly less lazy thing to do is to take a boat across to Centreville Island if it's open and snag the coaster credit and ride the awesome old dark ride at the amusement park, then grab a beer in the bar there. I personally wind up on West Dundas when I'm out there more often than not because I know folks that way, and there's a preposterous number of places to do at all hours: Bandit Brewery is absolutely tops, but if you head up to Dundas and Keele, that's where there's a ton of action. There's architecture everywhere that's cool from the Art Gallery of Ontario to the library at UT. If you want hipster juice there's Kensington Square. The Sharetea location near Yonge-Dundas Square (AKA Canada's Times Square) is where I'd told the best pudding tea in the city is - yeah, it's a chain, but it's a Taiwanese chain first and foremost, OK? Sneaky Dee's is also real and probably has a wait unless you show up at 1AM like I do. Honest Ed's was real but they closed it; Koreatown and the section of Bloor it's by is still cool though and has a great documentary only movie theater. If you never leave the 'burbs because that's where CW is and that's where you stay, Brampton has the best indian food probably on the continent. Vaughan Mills is near the park and it's a gigantic mall with a food court that has circus acts in it from time to time. Master Steaks in Mississauga is a throw back to 50 years ago - counter service cheap steak dinners in the middle of an industrial park. As far as the ETR goes, if you have an unlocked phone, grab a SIM chip at PetroCanada and get the cheapest package so you can have some data when traveling. The 400 can become a horrible, horrible slog. Yeah, the 407 is expensive as hell, but it never, ever has traffic on it. I'm willing to spend $20 USD to not spend a half hour or 45 minutes in traffic. BTW: I've heard good things about Myrtle's Punch House in Cinci and I know there's a pile of decent bars in Covington across the river (hey, it's walkable). Also, there's a bunch of not hideous coasters or parks on the route you're missing (Martin's Fantasy Island, Marineland, Idlewild, Kennywood, Coney Island Cincinnati, aformentioned Centreville). Not sure if you care or not but I might as well bring them up.