DirkFunk

I don't believe it should. I think history indicates the potential is far greater for Kentucky Kingdom, assuming it is run competently, than merely being a regional water park. From the Koch's perspective, operating it as a water park makes more sense than running it as a full themer and cannibalizing from their core product (Holiday World). Things being what they are now, perhaps they regret it. I can tell you this much: they just bought a park that had just sold off its dry rides and decided the wise thing to do was buy new ones. I personally don't gain from Kentucky Kingdom being torn to shreds. The only people who would are already rich (or at least in possession of millions in assets).

Visionland, as originally built, had lofty attendance goals and no practical way to meet them. It was probably a money grab for politicians in the area, a thought backed up by the head of the project now being in prison. Following management groups are, by and large, no longer in the industry, showing their skill. There's a million people in the immediate metro area and a lot of underserved communities within reasonable distance. For the Koch's, there's usable infrastructure there and exponentially more people within a 50 mile radius. They have a pretty good formula to make it work. When you put it like that, you would think that a reputable park operator would have snatched it up long before the Koch's came in. So I'm still not totally sold. Especially when you consider the fact they essentially had to settle for this park after Kentucky Kingdom didn't work out... Well, as someone already said, Cedar Fair was under the very real impression it would be their's. Who knows what they saw in due diligence. In the years since then, the operators that exist have been in a "sell" mode rather than acquisition. As far as what the Koch's had planned for Kentucky Kingdom....they made it clear they were scrapping the dry park after a short time. I don't think that sat well with some in the fair board. And really, why should it have? That park once had 7 figure attendance under the management of the guy who's there now. IMO it seemed like a natural thing for Holiday World to purchase and run at a smaller capacity since Louisville is quite obviously the residence of much of their visitors in Santa Claus. Thankfully they *didn't* get the park.

Visionland, as originally built, had lofty attendance goals and no practical way to meet them. It was probably a money grab for politicians in the area, a thought backed up by the head of the project now being in prison. Following management groups are, by and large, no longer in the industry, showing their skill. There's a million people in the immediate metro area and a lot of underserved communities within reasonable distance. For the Koch's, there's usable infrastructure there and exponentially more people within a 50 mile radius. They have a pretty good formula to make it work.

I don't understand what everyone is having a hard time with. You can go on the Mount Olympus site and see that the "indoor theme park" is open every day.

HAHAHA. Does anyone have any ideas of the good eateries at Cedar Point. Pink's is actively good. Toft's has excellent ice cream. Bay Harbor is competent continental cuisine. While chains, the hard truth is that TGI Friday's, Perkins, Johnny Rockets, and Famous Dave's are as good as most anything you'll run across heading back towards OH-2 or I-80/90. I mean, sure, you could go downtown to Zinc, but a lot of the food in the region is the epitome of awful, and at least those chains force Cedar Point to generally use decent stuff. The downside is being seasonal, the staff has a tendency to be lousy at their jobs in the restaurants, so that can be a crap shoot. Most anything that's in house is probably bordering on inedible. About the only thing that Cedar Point's can do consistently outside the chains without screwing up is deep frying cheese.

If you click on the "buy" buttons a few times eventually you get a list. Pink's is on it, which for me on a not so busy day might actually make it worth my time. They're express location: only two types of bread, only cheese available is american. Home of the $12 footlong.

I'm less surprised that they chose a high swing ride than *what* high swing ride they purchased. All the problems with those would seem to be a turn off.

Tried going in 2011 (I think?) which was the last year the kiddie coaster was there. Closed due to weather in spite of not raining yet. I know from others that the park was basically a 1950s style Storybook park with a petting zoo and collection of mechanical rides. The name "Deer Forest Exotic Animal Sanctuary" isn't one I've ever heard before - the new ownership must have just re-christened it and refocused what they wanted to do with the place. Good luck to them.

There was much CONTROVERSY~ (not really - just a couple local crazies were upset) because the angle of attack on the first drop was changed during the retracking process last year. It is certainly possible some hills might be changed, but they've probably been changed a hundred times over.

The permanent stuff that was permanent to the fairgrounds is gonna stay; rides like Jungle Twist and Windstorm that had spent years on the road beforehand will probably just return to the road and appear at independent midways. They'll likely be back running at Texas State Fair this fall.

It sure looks like a Eurofighter to me. 4 across trains, OTSRs, Gerstlauer uses the three tube track on plenty of the Eurofighters. Zierer was contracted out for fabrication for Wicked IIRC; the actual design was done in-house, which is why there's never been a followup. (Now I hear that maybe it is Zierer, so go figure.)

No, no, I knew the answer to the question. This is a core difference between European fairs and American ones; American fairgrounds are almost all built to accommodate agricultural exhibits/sales/auction because that is the original (and to some fairgrounds committees, primary) function. If you look at American fairgrounds from space, they all have similar items; a large exhibition hall, animal paddocks, usually an oval track, made of dirt for the function of horse/auto racing and a grandstand at the track which may double for concerts. The Texas State Fair is different, admittedly; it occupies the space of a former World's Fair, and so there's a number of permanent museums, buildings, and a football stadium (Cotton Bowl) in Fair Park. But even it still has space for these functions. So like anywhere that you have buildings that require year round maintenance, it is best to try and book things throughout the year. Fairgrounds in the US generally act as county hubs for small events, trade/farm shows, etc.

How much permanent infrastructure for agricultural exhibits do European fairs require?

Because the trains were altered.

The manufacturer's guidelines may very well have indicated that the green light was there to indicate containment of the passenger of the vehicle. That would make a great deal of sense, because trusting minimum wage teenagers with people's lives under the pretense of being "well trained professionals" is, on its face, comical. Hell, they make a joke about that at Universal, and it's funny because its true. Since Six Flags has essentially said exactly that since day one, it seemed inevitable that Gerstlauer would be dragged into the suit.

Just looked up the SFGADv one and apparently that took place in 2006. There's also the Big Thunder Mountains, which I'm pretty sure still have the same lap bars *and* allows up to three to a seat. Also, there's Great Escape's mine train, which I think just has an extra padded bar as an alteration but is otherwise largely identical to how it ran at Opryland.

I'm pretty sure both Great Adventure and Six Flags Over Texas have those old style Arrow Mine Train cars, and they have shorter height requirements (44" and 42" respectively). I'm also pretty sure I remember seat belts on Cedar Point's. I'll say this too: Phoenix is a lot more forceful and DEFINITELY has a "looser" restraint than any Arrow Mine Train, and it has a 42" height requirement. I seriously doubt that this is a manufacturer requirement we're talking about.

If you're stopping in Santo Tomas Del Castillo, you're probably taking the Ryndam or the Riviera. Either way, I'm jealous. But, your question: I haven't been yet, but I'm told the thing to do there is take a boat down river and see the wildlife. The town itself is supposed to be classically sketchy for that part of the world, so keep that in mind.

Nothing about the go-karts at Cedar Fair parks is unique or worth saving. They could bulldoze all of them, for all I care. The Cedar Point ones though are probably sticking around a long while since they're part of a full service FEC the place operates.

Kurdistan is supposedly not bad, but other areas are active zones of insurgency. Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Iran, they're all places I can get a tourist visa with far less risk as a tourist not used to warzones. I'd probably stick to them for awhile. If the US State Department suggests nothing but essential travel, I'm probably sticking with that suggestion.

Without knowing you or how long you're going for, it's tough to say. Do you specifically want to focus on parks? Then the prior suggestion is good.

If they weren't busting their backsides trying to make something crazy work, they'd just be a generic amusement park and not what they are. Save the mediocre production model something-or-others for Cedar Fair. Hopefully whatever it is ends up being patently absurd.

WW has, if running very well, a single spot of airtime on the ride. The layouts are similar, but much like how Dinn/Summers turned the legendary Riverview Bobs into a horrible piece of crap at Geauga Lake, they managed to take a much more simple layout and botch the hell out of it too. Plus it only has one train, so on weekends or busy weekdays, the wait is BRUTAL.

I hope this leads to the Disney clickbait sites running "FP+ is going to end parkhopping because THEY WILL CONTROL YOU~" alarmism parallel to "Disney will almost certainly counter with their own ride to encourage parkhopping!" If they can make up attractions it would be applicable for and call them confirmed before promptly cancelling them, it would be even better.

But, but, Robb, the internet says Disney wants to end park hopping and force me to stay at Disney's Animal Kingdom open to close. WHADDAWEGONNADOOOOOO