ajfelice

Speaking from a similar experience in a park not too far away from Kennywood, this situation does receive my sympathies. Kennywood hasn't impressed me lately in terms of how they conduct business, but the park is not unsafe or gang-ridden. Situations like these, for the lack of a better term, stink because the incident is isolated from the normal day-to-day activities at Kennywood. Yet Kennywood is stuck having to prove that they are a safe park because one isolated incident occurred. The reality is, again speaking from experience, that anyone who minded their own business or refrained from instigating the problem was not put in danger by the fight. Yes, a bunch of people were involved, but I'm willing to bet the innocent family of four who didn't have one negative encounter with that group had no reason to feel in danger (even if they did feel that way). I unknowingly walked right through the "scene of a crime" in park before authorities arrived without one push, shove, comment, or any threatening behavior from the people involved in the incident, because likely I had nothing to do with their personal problems with each other. Unfortunately incidents like this happen, and the social media wagon explodes the real story out of proportion. In response, parks are forced to weather the storm and launch campaigns to prove that guests are safe.

I like how the "Full Site" button is easy to locate. How strategically convenienient.

Sounds like a great addition. From the little skimming I did around the internet it doesn't seem like anything was released in months' past regarding construction. Since Wave Pools are FAR from an easy thing to construct quickly, I would assume this project has been ongoing for awhile now. And by awhile I mean like since September since Indiana Beach is telling guests that they intend for it to be open this summer.

1. Gravity Group gave up the keys to The Voyage back in 2006. It opened to rave reviews and ran well for several seasons. About five years into operation, complains became a little more common about roughness. Interestingly, wood coaster manufacturers give their coasters about a five year window before track work becomes a regular need. Gravity Group may come to the park once a year or every few years to run some tests and give feedback, BUT all of those results become "suggestions" to the park. I have went through the results of this testing procedure for the Gravity Group coaster in my park of employment, and the results are full of precise suggestions on what kind of adjustments to make. It is up to Holiday World regarding how much money and resources they want to invest in re-tracking, and which parts they want to adjust. 2. Holiday World does a fantastic job with The Voyage. Hands Down.

Parking is and has been at a premium at Cedar Point for the past several years if not longer. I would venture to say that they aren't going to make any major sacrifices in parking anytime soon. Parking on the causeway, which is far from an ideal situation, happens periodically each season which indicates that CP has already been walking on thin ice with their parking availability. Parks shouldn't have massive parking lots for "what if," but Cedar Point is already experiencing what "has been." I'm sure some things can be arranged on the peninsula to open future expansion opportunities, but there is hardly any wasted space if any at all.

^Depends on how thorough you want your visit to be. If arrive at opening and time the coasters just right, you should be able to get on most major attractions once and maybe have some time for a couple re-rides without a FL+. By major I mean all the coasters except the kiddies and a few major flats such as MaXair, Windseeker, Power Tower, and Skyhawk. Starting at Magnum and working my way counter-clockwise around the park has never failed me to get on everything I wanted. However, if you have never been to Cedar Point and won't likely be back for several years, I would recommend a FL+ so you can get much more re-riding. If you plan to enjoy other things such as flats, shows, or you just want to make the day relaxing, a FL+ is recommended. Personally, I'm very good at limiting my nourishment and resource needs (I will spend literally only 15 minutes maximum eating food, zero time in gift shops, and avoid entertainment from 10am-10pm), so I typically make my visits to CP or any large park very grueling. However, that method is not for everyone, so FL+ is a great way to reduce waiting and get a "whole park" experience.

My brain wandering at night thinking of where to go for an adventure. Google Maps to see how feasible my crazy adventure is based on the days I have available (usually I'm driving). Google for locating hotels near or somewhere between parks. Check my network of connections for cheap or free tickets. Purchase tickets in advance online, at AAA, etc. for best deals. (Or search Google for deals) Simple, yet has worked countless times. Thank You Google and connections!

The money skeptics need to understand that just because attendance and revenues were down, it doesn't mean the park has nothing to spend. Without the filter of media, the situation is likely that they have to reduce their costs and be conservative on some spending projects. By no means are they out of capital, but they are not in the ideal position. It wouldn't surprise me if this coaster or any of their major projects are financed over a few years. I find it hard to believe these projects are paid in cash all at once.

Are the Dip 'n' Dots served with a side of Outrageous Park Rumor for only an additional 50 cents? Can't wait to check out the new additions and upgrades.

Having a ride open for guests to enjoy > One non-painted support. I'm just encouraged to see that work is progressing along after an obviously unexpected issue. From what I have seen happen to various ride parts over the past couple years is that water accumulates in these (mostly) enclosed areas and freezes. Water expands as it freezes into ice which will blow out/disfigure/crack metal, or sometimes just severely rust through. It's pretty hard to catch a lot of this until the consequences happen, especially on a support column like this. SFA doesn't have the worst winters on record, but they see their fair share of snow and cold for a scenario like this to unfold. Before the Six Flags ineptitude comments come out, I would like to point out that his is not a once in a blue moon occurrence in the non-Six Flags park I work for. Unfortunately for SFA, this happened on a large support that is not re-fabricated or easily replaced in the blink of an eye like most ride parts are.

This. I'll admit in my youngest days of ride operations my misguided sense of power hurt me a couple times. However, I soon realized that in cases like this it doesn't hurt anything to deviate from the "standard" operating procedure (and I realized how my power as a ride operator wasn't all that cracked up to be). Even if granting a seat request on any ride results in an unoccupied seat and no other guests seem to care about it, why should I care? It's all about the guests in the end, unless somehow their safety is at risk if the seats aren't properly assigned.

Thank You for sharing your experience. I understand Diamondback's crew might not have been meeting expectations, but I would consider the context of being Opening Day before going too far criticizing them. Ride crews are trained several days or weeks in advance of opening, but the training leaves out one huge factor; adding guests to the equation. You can cycle empty trains as lightning fast as possible and even open and close every lap bar and seat belt, but that will never account for the variances caused by guests. As someone who trains people on rides, I can teach all the scenarios I want to make a new operator aware of what might happen with guests, but it takes time for the operator to master the efficiency in handling different situations. Being efficient is hard to train immediately, but instead it is developed mostly over time. In other words, you learn to anticipate and address holdups before they hinder efficiency, or you learn tricks to fix things fast. One other factor is the fact that many of those crew members probably never worked a ride before or have a true understanding of efficiency coming into their job. I can also say from personal experience, after an off-season of not operating rides, it takes a little bit of time to get back into the rhythm of grueling operations. Once the crew gets used to working together and the returning employees are able to offer more help to newcomers, efficiency should improve. Give the Diamondback crew some time. If reports are still coming back a few weeks into daily operations, then their criticism is fully justified.

^^Thank You for directing the topic away from the strange philosophical innovation debate as of recent. From several pictures floating around, Hotel Breakers has seen more than just a new coat of paint and some new furniture. Basically it was gutted from the inside and refreshed on the outside almost to the point you can hardly recognize what it was before. Lot's of new amenities as well. Until now, the place probably didn't look too much different from the 1970s version. In my opinion, this project will have a much larger long-term impact on Cedar Point than any of their recent attractions projects. Perfecting the overall guest experience is what will drive repeat business, as new coasters are typically more of a flash in the pan.

We still have a manually braked Tilt. I would love to gather some insight onto the art of strategic braking. (We will just keep that a secret from maintenance) Spelling aside, Chance has been manufacturing flats for decades without any gaps of time they didn't offer some flats. Chance may have been outside of many of our radars in their time after the Morgan merger/takeover and before the introduction of the Hyper-GTX, but they never discontinued flat ride offerings. Chance produces some very durable rides that are easy to maintain and a pleasure to operate. I'm excited for the opportunity to finally ride a Zipper this year as they are a great example of the unique rides Chance has brought to the industry.

Ummmm unless something has seriously gone wrong in the fabrication way back when or the steel/welds are that badly cracked to compromise the integrity of the ride, I HIGHLY doubt a re-track would eliminate the vibrating or slightly bumpy undertone of Hulk. An entire re-track of a steel coaster would be so astronomically expensive that it would simply make more financial sense in the long run to start at square one again. I would love to know the exact source and credibility of that rumor. Those metal detectors are the worst idea in my opinion. I still love USO/IOA, but that new policy is just asinine.

I'm usually not on the blue bandwagon for many things because they color is used so frequently in all aspects of life, but GateKeeper is just stunning with the choices of blue with the white supports. The color looks great in the morning, afternoon, evening, and night. It's nothing catchy, flashy, or striking, but just overall very clean and classy. If I had to pick a crazy color scheme, this would be my choice. However, I wouldn't want more than one coaster in a park to have this much going on. The image is courtesy of rcdb.com.

I can only imagine what I would give to get a chance to rummage through their Whacky Shack to see what I could come up with and possibly incorporate it into the last remaining Whacky Shack at Waldameer. The more I learned about Bill Tracy over the past couple years, the more fascinated I have become with his creations. Such a sad day to see what used to be a very beloved family park succumb to the wrecking ball.

Raptor could definitely use some love in the cosmetics department, and by some I mean a lot. However, I think the repaint/conversion project that will open as Rougarou wins out because of the potential for higher return on investment. New paint looks stunning, but when it comes to a tight budget the higher ROI projects are going to rocket to the top of the priority list. Hopefully in the near future Raptor gets a refresh or even a bold change of color. I wouldn't mind if the color scheme was simplified to have only one color for the track and one color for supports as I am a firm believer in the "clean look" that is pretty popular these days.

^Probably something like this.

I challenge you to not always bash Six Flags either directly or passive-aggressively at every corner. Parks deal with these significant downtime issues on a periodic basis. A great example is Kings Dominion's problem on I-305 in 2013 that caused significant downtime for the month of August and a short time after.

While many all of us (including me) do not have the disposable income to throw huge wads of cash at a minute long coaster ride, for those that do, they are supporting an incredible cause: Give Kids the World. Everyone wants a chance to ride a new coaster first, and a really neat way to organize that excitement is to auction the limited seats for a good cause that the park collects zero profit from. Yes, it stinks some of us don't have the money to win a seat, but at least the money spent on those seats is for a great cause that is light-years more important than who gets to enjoy Thunderbird first. Not everything in life is fair to people of all incomes. Sad, but true.

Family coasters are neat to me for a variety of reasons. First, as an enthusiast they can be some of the best giggle coasters out there where you ride with non-stop laughing. Second, as someone who committed to a long term career with a family park I know family rides are what we need to do best with. In my opinion, family coasters need to balance kid-friendly with not inducing discomfort (due to tiny cars), pure boredom, or incredible lameness for parents. Family coasters even look better in advertising than standard oval kiddie coasters. For example (standing on my soapbox), Comet at Waldameer does this perfectly in which it's not scary for young children, but it's not something adults will feel crushed and uncomfortable riding with children. Adults even find it a very fun ride despite it's fairly tame nature. A win for everyone. From the few pictures circulating, it looks like Chance designed something that is big enough that kids will love it and not be too scared to get on it, and parents will also find it enjoyable.

Six Flags St. Louis had a power outage that required them to close the park an hour early. A concerned friend wanted to make sure her friends at the park were aware. Thank God they had someone behind the keyboard to let them know the park they were in was closing.

Wore shorts in Erie, Pennsylvania for the first time since probably early October. Despite a few raindrops, it was a great day to be outside not all bundled up for once.

This would be a nice change. More families enjoying the park together and not treating it like a daycare, and less unaccompanied kids/teens causing any ruckus at the parks.----- Sorry to break it to you guys, at my place of work we have dealt with this problem since season passes have been introduced, and free parking and even free general admission doesn't seem to make a difference one bit. Even on the days we restrict free general admission for unaccompanied minors, they still arrive with parents and the parents seem to turn them loose on the place. Management addresses the issue the best they can by threatening and following through with revoking passes either temporarily or for the entire season for those who misbehave (our wristband bar-code system tells us which season pass each wristband belongs to). I haven't been to KK to see how well they handle it, but I have found that you need to set the standard early and follow through with it to keep the "daycare" kids from thinking they run the place. Local parks that are reasonably priced and easily accessible from major residential areas are never going to fully eliminate the daycare problem, but they are forced to have make the best of the situation. Without giving names, I do know of one park that severely put a dent into this problem by outright jacking up the prices for season passes. Pass volume was reduced obviously, but many of the problems that they believed ruined the value of the park for others were reduced to a minimum.