DirkFunk

Went for the first time in 15 years (!) yesterday. My basic thoughts are: -The buildings in the park look great. They've worked hard to upgrade the food options and it shows. Anchor Bar looked packed. Also, some of the flat rides looked really great. I thought the Huss Ranger and the Sleighride looked outstanding. -Lots of areas that were newish looked outstanding. The kiddie area was very attractive. The new shops where Beaver Bros' is looked great. -Things that don't look so great: the abandoned mini golf under Viper, ROS, Mind Eraser. -Love the Fascination still being there. Loads of fun and only having one attendant w/coin slots means maybe it stays awhile longer. -The one train on everything situation is horrible. That they're offering express passes for rides if the wait exceeds 45 minutes tells me that the park must often be so dead that they aren't afraid to risk a jam up at Guest Services for that. Same with the Sunny Day Guarantee and Ride Guarantees. -The blacktop sucks. Thank god Cedar Fair is moving away from it. Hopefully these guys follow suit. -I can picture the park falling off hard attendance wise between the rider death on ROS and the fact that the rest of the major coasters are kind of terrible. Predator is lousy, Mind Eraser is exceptionally bad, Motocoaster is pretty "meh", and Boomerang is shockingly decent for what it is but still a Boomerang. The place needs some shade structures, new trees, and a coaster that manages to better fill the gap between the kiddie rides and the giant multi-inversion monsters that the park runs. Predator simply isn't a reasonable option for kids to be introduced to coasters and RMCing it doesn't fix that gap. A nice mine train or one of those new fangled Gerstlauer family coasters would be a great fit. If you're dedicated to a one train only philosophy, build something with a big train too.

So a bunch of flat rides that are still there are why DCA "failed"? That's a hopelessly simplistic viewpoint, in my opinion. No one is demanding to choose between Hogwarts and a Top Spin. But clearly, based on the empirical data that exists, there is a place for flat rides in large theme parks. Its tough to think of the theme parks that don't have them, actually. The ones that don't aren't run by Disney, that's for damn sure. There are perfectly reasonable questions about whether or not a particular ride can meet the target audience the park is looking to draw, but the idea that they "can't fit" is nonsense. You'd have to be freebasing pixie dust to believe it.

I would take the complaining of "obtrusive sightlines" more seriously if it didn't come from a group of people who think seeing a German castle appear at the end of a romanticized, synthetic version of small town Midwestern USA was immersive and logical. With enough rationale and hand waving, any of this stuff can be pushed into "making sense," whatever that is supposed to mean.

With platinum passholders getting in early, you're already at a disadvantage at the park's biggest attractions. The park also has rides with grotesque capacity: Bat, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Fly, Silver Streak, and Time Warp are all gonna be below 600 people per hour, along with the two dark rides and all the flats. Most of the other rides will honestly not do much better. The two B&Ms are also on opposite sides of the park -you'd be picking one to not wait too long with and one that you will. Without a Quick Queue, you'd have to prioritize what you'd want to ride and accept that, without waiting in long queue lines, you will probably miss a bunch of stuff. With the bands, that changes. You should be able to do all the coasters at least once, plus the dark rides (in fact, do those first), plus the biggest flat rides. You're going to the busiest seasonal amusement park in North America in peak season for one day. I don't really see a way that you're gonna get everything done without paying for help.

Yeah, this. Those people are psychotic about "carnival rides", but suggest to them that Astro-Orbiters, Dumbo, and Mad Tea Party are just that and they flip out hard. There's plenty of ways they could do it with a giant pendulum ride or whatever else. Why they would do it for that sort of attraction is the bigger question to me.

So I hear through the grapevine that testing hasn't gone so well and they're already re-profiling the airtime hill? Guessing this won't be open for Memorial Day....

Magnum's triangular hills mean there's airtime in pretty much every seat, so go towards the middle of the train and sit in a middle seat in the car. They're basically glorified mine train cars (just like Gemini's) so the front and back of each car are effectively "axel seats". There's not much you can do with the lap bars, mind you - the springs are always loose, but I just put a hand down there to kinda keep it from stapling me in or position my outside leg against it to provide some resistance. 1-3 is the "magic seat" in so much as it is by far the most violent. Ultimately, Magnum is aggressive as hell because it was designed without the aid of most of the tools that other modern steel coasters had just a short decade or so later. Some rides some people just aren't going to love. Lots of people dislike that sort of aggression - see also, endless Voyage debates.

Yusssssssss. That changes the debate ever so slightly. Just knocking the parking price off might make it worthwhile. Thanks!

Just wondering, but do Darien Lake season passes come with coupons for any other Herschend properties? Normally it wouldn't make any sense for me to get one when I go next week, but if there's deals to other places I'm going, then that might change things a bit.

Oh, wow, queuing twice! That's splendid. Maybe the guy directing test seat traffic can then show people how to lock all of their loose articles, including shoes, pants, and contact lenses in a helpful storage receptacle for the low, low price of $5. also LOLOLOL at anyone who thinks this will make anything safer. Any rider who is going to fit in the test seat and get the light will head up to the station and board. The operators on the platform will treat this (and perhaps are being told specifically) that this extra safety check guarantees the rider will properly fit and they'll just run along dropping bars and making sure seat belts are plugged in. They will not care one iota checking for "proper lap bar position" or any of that jazz. The theory is probably that by checking everyone in advance with one person down below, you can reduce staffing to a minimum on the platform to get the ride dispatched in a halfway timely manner. If they keep this up, watching a platform with only 2-3 people slowly saunter along checking restraints in the hot summer of July or August is pretty much a total guarantee. Should be hilarious.

The last couple years, winds where gusts might hit the 20-25MPH mark alone were often enough to close most of the park's coasters. I remember last year during opening weekend that Wicked Twister was closed due to high winds until, I assume, someone realized that the purpose of the ride is to roll back/valley every time. Coasters used to run in rain - again, over the last couple years, that has seemed to change to the suggestion of rain bringing all the coasters to a screeching halt.

Michigan's Adventure: Shade structures, some LEDs, a second train on Wolverine Wildcat, a new and not terrible food option. Being open before Memorial Day weekend and after the weekend following Labor Day would be sweet too. Setting the bar low here, people. Cedar Point: Hotel rooms that aren't shameful are my priority, and supposedly I'm getting that. Beach cleaning equipment would be nice. Something that replaces Dinosaurs Alive with an attraction worth doing. I get the rationale of why Dick Kinzel agreed to get these things, but it's a colossal use of land for something that is just so, so silly. The part that kills me is Cedar Fair's refusal to build decent dark rides because they require maintenance, only to get 60 gigantic animatronic dinosaurs per park and leave them outdoors, totally open to the elements.

Well, it's a battle of guys who didn't know anything about the theme park industry when they entered into it. A lot of people will give Anderson the nod because his business performance could be deemed better - Shapiro's job was to try and prevent the company from auguring in and going bankrupt. Anderson's job is to manage a chain that had its debt wiped out not through brilliant maneuvers, but by courts. So. If I have to pick one versus the other, the guy that was interested in doing more things with the parks that I saw as being outwardly beneficial to me, the end user, the piddly nobody buying a ticket to enter, was Shapiro. Dan Snyder might be a terrible person invested in siphoning every dollar away from the fans of a football team named with a racial slur, but Shapiro's attitude with the parks was to try and improve their infrastructure in such a way that they were more attractive places to visit. Since he left, corporate went to the old ways of cutting the operational budget to increase the total revenue. That isn't so nice.

For a full day park, there's zero doubt whatsoever that Hershey is the best of that bunch. It isn't even that close. I mean, you could combine Compounce or Playland with other parks or attractions in the area and probably have a great time, but Hershey is all around the superior option. Free dark ride next door with the Chocolate Tour, zoo included, better food and atmosphere. And really, better rides too.

No, I get that it was on Nor'easter. I still think it's complete garbage. They can do whatever they want to, and they'll do it without obtaining money from me. I'd rather spend my money with someone who doesn't treat me with complete disdain, and luckily there's still a lot more of those sorts ranging the gamut of theme parks to adventure outfitters. But good for them bleeding money from people. I'm sure we'll see that return in vast improvements to Jersey Junkyard and Great White's track bed.

I haven't been to Morey's Piers in 10 years, but wanding me for loose articles in secure pockets and OTSRs on a wild mouse guarantees that I won't be heading back anytime soon either. Stuff like that is specifically what drives me away from being a park nerd and go take on other pursuits.

This is the proper, common sense reaction. If you have a corporate culture where employees are disposable, you can't go acting surprised when the employees don't buy into nonsense team building exercises and corporate brainwashing. There's probably more opportunity for advancement at McDonald's than at Magic Mountain. That isn't good. But as long as the stock price rises, corporate isn't going to care.

As much as I like Laser, there's so many things they could do with that space that would be more interesting than bringing back a ride that's in excess of 30 years old. There's plenty of tested and proven equipment out there that could be there instead. Enough stopgap solutions and cheaping out; why not something new? Even if it's a production model....

Well, ANYTHING they can do for the Boo HIll's capacity is a big win. Hopefully there's some more cars in addition to higher capacity is great. Maybe not making up for Behemoth seat belts, but it is something. Also, WMG looks like it will definitely "count". There's some substantive coaster sections there.

Because honestly, eating a PB&J I threw together at the hotel (itself unlikely) that's then been sitting in my car in the parking lot doesn't sound remotely more appealing as actual food than something inside the park. If I'm at the point where I'm leaving the park to go to my car for food, I'm more likely to just drive it somewhere and get a ready made meal. This is part of my issue with the entire hobby of coaster nerdism too; "lower your expectations" is a stupid mantra. I actually would like to not do that. And really, in no other comparable hobby would it be expected that I should get lousy versions of fast food for exorbitant prices. The food at Carowinds is below grade for pretty much any ballpark or stadium these days. Meanwhile, if I go cruising, I spend about the same amount of money and get loads of food that actually tastes good.

I'd shiv an infant to be able to eat at Nine Dragons or Tony's at pretty much any of the Six Flags parks. I'd even pay a 20% over the Disney pricing after stabbing the kid with a filed down mattress spring to do it.

That's part of the issue. It isn't a "business" so much as it is a public service. A service expected to break even, yeah, but a public service nonetheless. I just don't think the locals (who are typically NYC commuters with a lot of money) have any interest in that. The average household income in the area is $79,585 - that puts them inside the 50 most prosperous counties in the US out of over 3000. They're also surrounded by other high end municipalities: Putnam County, Rockland County, (New York) and Fairfield County (Connecticut) are all in the top 50 as well.

Well, no one takes the bus to Rye. That's the thing - its really more a "community" park than it is some sort of widely drawing theme park. I don't think the local establishment really wants a company like LEGOLAND to come in and push it into being a major draw because being such a draw increases traffic, number of tourists, and makes their slice of heaven (Westchester County is a VERY expensive place to live) less appealing. As previously stated: you're only riding one of the wood coasters. The kiddie wood coaster only opens for the occasional coaster event, and unless ACE is doing something there (probably not), you can forget about that happening. The rides of note are: -the dark rides - Old Mill had an extensive refurb and retheme by Sally around 2001 or so. There's also two classic dark rides (Witch's something or other and Zombie Castle, I think?) that are really excellent for what they are. -Derby Racer. By far the fastest ride of this type among the three existing. The only one where attendants jump on and off the platform while it moves, too. -Whip. Very good Whip ride. The wood coaster is not terrible, but it also isn't good either. It has crappy Morgan trains, and practically no airtime. The real stars of the park are the architecture and the location on the beach. RE: Modern rides - they bought a bunch of stuff in the early 2000s. The problem was that management made exceptionally poor purchasing choices; the log flume was an independent concession (in spite of being a permanent ride) and they spent money on a Power Surge and the Wildwind coaster (abject failure) followed by the Volare. The area is very nice and the surrounding neighborhoods are "upscale" by any western standard. I can't specifically give any suggestions for food, but I'm sure Yelp or Urbanspoon would do a very good job.

Two items: 1) apparently everything at Ghost Town in the Sky will be torn down and "Resurrection Mountain" will be built in its place. 2) Ghost Town in the Sky's acronym is GTits. What a waste of an incredible acronym.

What, you wouldn't be excited for a terrible 3-across Eurofighter ripoff from Zamperla? I really don't care who comes in so long as not-crappy rides are built and crappy rides are removed.