ajfelice

There is a exemption from minimum wage for recreational and seasonal businesses. Whether someone is for it or against it, it is the current law on the books. However, just a couple hours up the road we operate in the same way, and the lowest paying jobs for 14-15 year olds have by far the most applicants. Go figure.

So much speculation, l love it. Expansion plans stretching out 5-10 years are ambitious, but also flexible. Nothing is for certain until pen meets paper on a contract for a new attraction which isn't always far in advance as one may think. What I can say is that Chaos will not be an outlier in thrilling attractions to come for the water park and dry park. The word "roller coaster" is discussed in terms of future larger and smaller possibilities. We definitely want another thrilling coaster, but most importantly we are looking to best serve our families with young children. I wouldn't put too much speculation into the lakeshore at this time. Recent projects in that area were for drainage expansion to accommodate a giant wave pool. On a positive note, there are some innovative plans to more efficiently use our developed land. Feel free to guess away for that. As for this... Great question. For now, Ravine Flyer II will run PTCs. Looking back to 2006-2008, Timberliners were still in development, Millennium Flyers were not being fitted onto non-GCI rides yet, and the single-bench PTC would have been a prototype and the risk after a decade of waiting wasn't worth taking. Why don't we just make the switch now? Our current trains have not reached the end of their service life by any means, and the cost of switching would take away greatly from other expansions and improvements. Lastly, a death blow to a season would be extended downtime for Ravine Flyer II if there were teething issues with new trains.

The Golden Ticket Awards as an event and production overall are great! So much great food, adult beverages, and some coasters around. The award winners and rankings are cute and self-gratifying for those slower to accept there is a larger world outside of nice little collection of parks/attractions always getting the same recognition each year.

When facing staffing issues, almost every park will first pick a low-ridership attraction to close first since obviously there would be less people annoyed it's closed in the first place. The placement of Twister has a lot to do with low ridership, but I'm not sure where you are coming up with your assertion "The park complains about Twister having low ridership." The more drastic short-staffing measure is picking a larger, more popular attraction where minimum staffing requirements are so high that keeping that ride open means shutting down several others. Usually these are water rides with sprawling layouts. Lastly, this time of year every seasonal park is hurting for staff. Darien Lake does not need to be overly scrutinized, but then again this is the Darien Lake Discussion Thread where logic is left at the door and dead horses are beaten to a pulp. Why did I even waste my time writing this.

Spider has a mechanical issue at the center of the ride. The only way to figure out the exact nature of the issue is to disassemble the ride. Removing parts from the center may require more heavy equipment than a forklift, so that will be very tricky given the ride's location and the limited staff resources. As of now, there is no time frame on the ride re-opening this season.

Just as I thought PTC trains couldn't get more ugly..... Very interesting design with the two-bench car followed by single bench cars. The combined weight restriction of 265 pounds will also be interesting. I know they cater to families with small children, but based on the size of some adults and children these days, that might get surpassed when the red light comes on. But hey, good to see the coaster will be up and running again.

For clarification on the location, Chaos will be located behind the train station as seen in blue and green in the photo below. Without sharing too much information on what we have in store for the future, the Chaos location could be the start of a multi-attraction expansion southward several years down the road contingent on some other things. What may seem off the beaten path for 2019 will eventually come full circle. Fall operations are not completely off the table, but staffing is a major consideration. If/when the season is extended, the schedule will be similar to Seabreeze or Kentucky Kingdom with the season ending mid to late September. Speaking of staffing, the decline in population in the region is huge red flag going forward as each expansion puts on the extra stress of boosting recruitment efforts. Lastly, if you haven't ridden Ravine Flyer II in awhile, 2018 is the year to do it. Major re-tracking on both sides of the bridge, bottom of the second drop, and tight turn going into the 90 degree bank has dramatically improved three notorious trouble spots.

You will not need a strategy for June 2. That is notoriously the slowest Saturday between Memorial Day and Labor Day. We are talking less than 10-15min at peak for Ravine Flyer II with one train. As for ride opening times, we took a page out of Seabreeze's book and stagger rides for some to open at noon with the remainder by 1:00pm. I am actually in the lobbying stage to get Ravine Flyer II bumped up to noon, but right now it is a 1:00pm opening any day the park is scheduled to close at 10:00pm. Unique non-coasters are the two dark rides, XScream for its great view, and Music Express for its intense program.

We had some snow in Erie the past few days in case you haven't seen the news. A little over 60 inches to be exact. Without any sarcasm, the city is pretty much back up and running as of Wednesday.

I spent the week working the show, and I was pleasantly surprised how busy it was Tuesday through about lunchtime Thursday. According to CEO Paul Noland, this year's show had record attendance easily surpassing the 35,000+ attendees in 2016, despite his worry that a wide under-performance of parks across the country would stagnate or reduce attendance. Exhibit space was also sold out, despite the less eye-catching appearance of the outdoor exhibits compared to prior years. The show is very front-loaded with activities and events. Monday is filled with education seminars with excellent speakers that go largely unnoticed by many. Tuesday and Wednesday are huge with the festivities of kicking off the opening of the show floor and various press events. By Thursday afternoon most visits with exhibitors have taken place and big contracts have been signed. The show floor is typically drastically less busy on Thursday and Friday. However, the introduction of the day pass has helped Friday out a little bit over the past couple years with many university groups and young professionals taking the chance to explore and network.

We can charge that price at Waldameer for a variety of reasons, mostly about the type of value offered. A Darien Lake Pass is usually used 3 times throughout the season, and a Waldameer Pass is used 8-9 times on average. Darien Lake, while within an arm's reach of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, has a remote location, but Waldameer is right in the thick of 150,000 people so a quick jaunt to the park for just a couple hours or the evening is very common. Guest spending at Darien Lake is also significantly higher, so the face value of a Season Pass does not indicate the true cost of visiting. I could go on, but the bottom line is there is a different kind of value offered. We keep an eye on what Darien Lake is up to, but the parks are very different in how they attract visitors.

I personally didn't know Sandcastle Suites existed until I came across it walking around the property between orientation sessions for work at the park. I even questioned if it was still open at the time based on the outdated, faded appearance on the outside. I don't even recall any major advertising for the place either. Always seemed like Breakers, Castaway Bay, and Express were the lodging places the park would heavily promote. I'm surprised Sandcastle stuck around as long as it did.

I witnessed the rare two-train operation for the first time this past weekend. It is amazing how fast Knoebels gets their trains in and out of the station so quickly. They get trains out so fast, that at first glance you think only one train is running as the station is waiting for the second to even make it to the brake run. Take out seat belts, do away with article bins that cause congestion, and little active enforcement of a loose article policy all make their dispatch times possible. The less restrictive operation policy for operators also helps as it appears their operators have little boundaries when it comes to proper track crossing and sequence of checking restraints. Works great for a smaller operation like Knoebels, but would be absurd to expect in most chain parks.

Taking into account the amount of discussion and negative feedback regarding the effects of short staffing, I think more people are noticing that Cedar Point and many seasonal parks are in a tough situation for Halloween events. Attendance is at its peak, and staffing is at its worst. Some other parks in bigger cities can sneak by during Halloween events because they have a larger population base to pull from and less attractions to staff. Speaking from experience of handling poor park staffing,the park pretty much has to go into basic survival mode to simply get by. Reduced capacity and attraction closures are inevitable, but CP can't just cut the flats and kiddie rides on those tricky Fridays. We can say all we want that a Friday night should not have kiddie rides open as those evenings are meant more for older families. Speaking from experience, I can say with certitude that the first group to complain about ride closures is young families. Cedar Point is also a resort, so much of the Friday night crowd is families who will be spending the whole weekend there. To keep as many people happy as they can, they need to have something available for everyone. With the park in basic survival mode, the remaining staff is working absurd hours trying to stay afloat with peak attendance and somehow pulling off the haunt events. It is a different crowd of people who want to work as scare actors compared to rides, games, foods, etc., so there will be a fair amount of people coming out of the woodwork for that kind of job. Parks will often combine efforts with the entertainment and water park departments to build their management teams who will coordinate the actors. However, with survival mode in full force, "Scare Training" comes down to a list of do's and don'ts as simply getting people to work and in their positions is the main goal. So when visiting Cedar Point this time of year, I suggest keeping in mind their situation. The operation of the park overall becomes less about capacity and service, and more about just being open and functional. Until whoever in charge of these events finds the magic staffing cure, or a park starts losing money during this time of year, we can expect these issues to continue indefinitely.

Going back to the Dragster situation, it took me a second look to realize one of the pictures was a mangled brake fin, not a rag. Ouch. I have no experience with Intamin rides to know how fast these repairs can be made, but I wouldn't doubt the capabilities of a park like Cedar Point to get things going sooner than we think. The best thing they have going for them is that they are closed Monday-Thursday. As for the park employee who shared these photos, I wish them the best of luck when they are confronted by their superior. Not a good image for the park right there. Lastly, my opinion on TTD's longevity is that I do not see it being around as long as other large steel coasters, but I do not think the end of its service life is even in view at this time. The details of this particular issue just happened to sneak out the public which might have generated some overreaction. Imagine if everything Maintenance has found during a breakdown or inspection in any park went viral?

Attending the Golden Ticket Awards in 2016 was one of the most fun work trips I have been on. The event itself with networking opportunities, the food, and an awards show that is put on very well despite the questionable winners and rankings. It feels like there is a group of voters who is reluctant to accept that a park, ride, or attraction that might be a favorite for sentimental reasons could be outclassed by many of the innovative new things that have made the industry so great. For example, stop trying to hold onto the notion that The Beast is a Top 10 wooden coaster. It has been outclassed with so many better rides that have outdone it in airtime, intensity, setting, etc..

The ride has been slightly modified/re-profiled over the years. The empty footers are leftovers from original bent locations. Nothing preposterous to see here.

It's really easy to point the finger and question how someone goes about doing something. Especially when you do not have any knowledge of how maintenance goes about transferring trains or any of their processes. The first thought in my mind looking at the photos is an awful feeling of sympathy for anyone who was involved with it. One of the biggest fears of the mechanics I work with is two ride vehicles colliding when they shouldn't; whether they are loaded or empty. This is not only about the thousands of dollars worth of damage, it is about the feeling of a worst fear happening involving safety, and for the park employees involved being able to remain calm and move on from this experience.

I'm not sure if the weight is the issue more so than their tracking limitations. If you watch a PTC train go through a tight turn, you will often notice the cars shuffling laterally. This is because they are maxing out on articulation capabilities. Evidence of their lack of performance on modern layouts is also seen in winter rehabs. NDT testing often yields several welds and parts needing repaired. While spending a winter working in a shop, I have personally seen metal strips from where the wheels are located have semi-circle wear marks on them because the wheels are articulating beyond what they were designed for. The common dialogue between PTC and the park is when discussing mechanical issues, "Your track is too intense." Luis, who does track work on our ride and around the country, says to us every year, "When are you getting rid of those trains?" All of the shuffling and limited articulation compared to other designs puts quite the beating on the modern wood coaster layout.

Tunnels, long or short, can certainly make a ride more interesting or feel more intense. On a wooden coaster, they certainly keep sound close to the train making it feel faster. Short tunnels can also hide a transition or change in layout which also makes a coaster more intense for the unsuspecting rider. In the case of the Ravine Flyer II mention at the beginning of the thread, those tunnels exist for sound dampening with the grumpy neighbors a stone's throw away. Their effectiveness for that purpose is up for debate, but that is why they are there in the first place. On the other hand, they do intensify that long fast stretch of track from the second drop until the train goes up the hillside near the station with the alternating amount of light and sound.

Heard it straight from the park owner during the Pennsylvania Amusement Park Association event today that Scenic Skyway is safe. He pointed out how the land below was modified for access in the event an evacuation is necessary. On a side note, there seems to be unexpected mechanical issues when rider weight is added to the new Over the Top ride. There wasn't much of an answer as to when it will be open.

Agreed. Making a ride operator physically check each restraint adds more structure than simply walking through visually checking to see a restraint is properly secured. Physical checks slow the operators down making them address every restraint every time, instead of addressing only the incorrectly secured restraints they spotted. I see the benefits of the conservative approach used in places like Cedar Fair parks, and I see the benefits of the Disney approach that limits how frequent a restraint is physically checked by the operator. Parks should do what they believe serves them best in line with manufacturer guidelines and laws in place. For many restraint systems, it takes several things to go wrong for a restraint to fail. Without going much into detail, I am not going to panic if somehow an operator forgot to tap my lap bar, especially when the ride just finished its previous cycle with that restraint functioning properly. The small push or tug is not making the restraint any more secure than it already was when I lowered it.

You picked a good day. Park hours are 10:30am-7:30pm with possibly several field trips. However, field trips are nothing to worry about because there will be next to zero GP to generate a crowd that would build any significant lines. The last 2-3 hours of "school days" during early June are usually pretty empty once school groups leave.

^It was me who said that in a comment. What I can say about a future coaster addition is that it is so far away, a manufacturer, type, or even layout has not been selected or have we consulted with a particular manufacturer. We are talking a ways out for the next coaster. But, Ravine Flyer II is not going to be the only major coaster forever.

Profiling certain guests based on appearance to use the test seat is a very slippery slope these days. To avoid a whole mess of legal issues, they would have to test seat every guest entering the queue line. However, a strong periodic announcement or a prominently displayed sign could very strongly recommend that guests use the test seat because the restraints that may not accommodate guests of larger size. Unfortunately, without stopped every guest to be test seated, there will be the occasional guest that is unable to be accommodated by the restraints which can slow down operations.