DirkFunk

Maybe we can wait to see if it sucks and has miserable capacity first before we fantasize about them selling 56 of these? The art also shows three 4 passenger vehicles, which is...not much.

Sure, they could have themed Pilgrims Plunge like it was at Disneysea. And it would have been the most expensive lipstick on a pig imaginable. The ride was balls.

Well, it can't be any worse than Green Lantern.

The park might close before any of the current dark rides are shuttered. If one was gonna go, it would be Pooh.

Sounds like any small airport. Small being less than 5 gates. KCI was a former Delta hub, so it has low ceilings and looks way out of date but in full reality is enormous and unwieldly. Also because it was de-hubbed right at the worst time economically, no one has done anything to it. As I understand it, the airport is going to be replaced soon.

Lorraine comes across as a NIMBY who's looking for any reason possible to close the park in spite of the obvious value the park if successful can have for the local economy. Unfortunately they don't know nearly as much about economics as they think.

So after they've paid back something like 80% of 20 years of back taxes, you still want to rush to close the park why? So you can get a short term fix of selling the land under it to a real estate developer that'll demand TIFs to actually develop it into condos or townhomes?

I got a phone call to my work line once after a survey I filled out at Six Flags America. Not lying. I know they read them and I always, always do 'em.

Is it probably a bad park now? Nah. Did it lose a bunch of stuff that I used to really like? Yeah. Did they actually bother to replace those things? Not always, and sometimes when they did it was with crap like the old TraumaTizer. I can't sit here and tell you about all the really awesome coasters they built and how at least I can get a bunch of credits because until Icon, they were getting new coasters at the same rate as Michigan's Adventure.

I don't care about them letting down the coaster community, I just care that they got rid of another killer ride who's footprint is such that there's no high capacity alternative staring them in the face. The reasons I liked Blackpool as much as I did 15 years ago are pretty much all gone now, so if its now just Morey's with bad teeth and less charm, why bother to make that trek again?

I've been putting off going back for years because I say "They got rid of a bunch of classic rides" and they just keep getting rid of them, so I guess jokes on me or something.

Feels weird having two identical dark rides in the same state if that's the route they go, but maybe we'll be surprised. Yes, I know they're a few hours apart (even with the 85 mph speed limit) and even with the folks it probably shares from the Waco/Temple/Kileen/Austin areas not many people would notice. But the lack of anything substantive (sorry ZDT) between makes me think it would be more apparent there than even the Chicago/St. Louis crossovers.

They still have the breaded wings if you want them (they license Fricker's wings and equipment). Fricker's themselves probably didn't come up with that either - my guess is that one of them wandered into a Hooters and decided to copy them.

It's not that there isn't demand for any theme parks, it is that the cost of building a theme park exceeds the capability of the demanders to make it a financial success. You might be able to build a theme park in Houston and get 2.5 million people in the gate. It could totally happen. The problem is that you'd spend $650-700 million to do it, minimum. Once you pay your employees, pay the utilities, pay the insurance, pay the interest on the loans you took out to build the park, pay your taxes: you're barely breaking even. Now the real challenge: if you don't spend more money for the next year on both upkeep *and* new attractions, your attendance and revenue will drop. But you already aren't making much money, so what's gonna happen? You couldn't build Great Adventure today even if you knew on the other end you'd get Great Adventure's attendance and per cap spending. That's the reality.

Why not use Coast2coaster? http://www.coast2coaster.eu/

Also, with retail real estate prices dropping like a stone as the Searses and KMarts of the world die, there's a lot of big boxes needing to be filled by something. First there were traditional FECs, then the most recent updates to that model with the likes of Legoland Discovery Center. Parque Reunidos is like Merlin developing several variations. I won't be at all surprised if Six Flags re-enters that world too (they were there a looooong time ago).

Thirsty Pony closes pretty early, and if you're planning on making a late night, forget it. Honestly, the best option to eat at after park close is usually TGI Fridays, who stays open late (like till 2AM on weekends). Dianna's is around but ehhhhh

The park industry in the United States is effectively "mature"; that term in economics means that it is no longer in a growth stage. Almost every major market has at least one park if not multiple serving it. For those markets that don't, the cost of building a new theme park is so high up front between land acquisition, infrastructure, and ride building, and the amount of cash needed to maintain facilities over the long run so great in comparison to all the other ways one might invest their money that it simply does not make any sense for most people to try. Most theme parks built in the Americas failed with their original owner, and it only by the 2nd or 3rd owner and multiple bankruptcies that most of them became capable of returning a profit.

first draft, maybe I'd change some stuff if I thought about it more 1) Voyage 2) Legend 3) Raven 4) Ravine Flyer II 5) Boulder Dash 6) Formula Rossa 7) Millennium Force 8) Diamondback 9) Karacho 10) Velociraptor

11 or 12 people killed on a shore excursion taking RCCL and Celebrity passengers to ruins from Costa Maya. Police suspect a tire blew out at high speed, sending the bus off the road (it may even have rolled a few times before ending up on its side). Yes, it's an official excursion: no other way to end up on a bus trip from Costa Maya than buying from the ship, as anyone who's been knows. I've said this before many times, but for all that ships say about the comparative safety of their shore excursions, the reality is that they're outsourcing to many of the same people you would on your own if you made arrangements, except inflating the price to get a cut themselves. You're not gonna be safer; they're playing on your fears of the unknown.

Blue Streak's a tight fit because of the retrofitted trains, but otherwise I'm of the mind that it doesn't technically need anything. I'd like single lap bars back and no dividers but that's never gonna happen. The ride tracks awesome. I wouldn't mind the park getting a really good wooden twister though as an accompaniment. What the park needs, though, are indoor attractions. It has literally none.

Unlike a lot of other parks which got the RMC Raptors, I think Dorney is a perfect fit since no one goes there for the coasters anyhow. Also - I'd prefer something other than a coaster there. Shock! Horror! I know, right? But like how about a dark ride? Or a permanent haunted house? Or like anything out of the ordinary than a stock production model roller coaster? Whatever it is, it won't be as extreme as Skyrush nearby, and as such I can't picture really moving the needle much in that direction for hobbyists or for the people already attending the place.

I seriously doubt any agreement to use IP at a park being physically constructed is "pending": unless the parties involved were grossly incompetent the agreement is signed and delivered. The fact that Marvel is still at IOA (and will be indefinitely) should be enough to show people that these agreements can't simply be torn up by Disney at a moment's notice too.

Simple answer: Not a big traditional theme park. Costs too much money to have any chance of success.

They're themed to the event happening down the street with 60,000 spectators and are physically connected to the venue where most everyone parks or hitches cabs to/from. There should be people there. There should be queues. There should be no reason I'm getting solo rides on Benno's in the middle of the afternoon. It would be like saying that Coney Island should be dead on the 4th of July because everyone is too busy going to the beach. Trust me, I want these parks to succeed, but it is pretty clear that there are not big crowds and that they are way, way, way behind in their projected attendance. When was the last time Stark's was open? The entry way to the restaurant looks abandoned and we could see a notice on the elevator that it was no longer functional. Any signage the place had was removed. The park didn't even have all the soda available that it should have. I literally couldn't buy a Diet Pepsi!