Coasterguy21

Michigan's Adventure turns back the clock; plans to open 'Funland Farm' MUSKEGON, MI – Michigan's Adventure is returning to its roots. To commemorate the park's 60th anniversary, West Michigan's largest tourism attraction will be opening a petting farm this season. Titled "Funland Farm," the attraction will bring back memories of the park's Deer Park Funland origins. Deer Park was established in 1956 by L.R. Beardsley, Dr. E.S. Gillam, Hardin Dey and Martin Kasichke as a small animal park featuring deer, Freddie the llama, Storybook Lane and a variety of barnyard animals. In 1968, Roger Jourden purchased the park from then-owner Benny Bensinger and began selling off the deer and purchasing attractions, eventually renaming it Deer Park Funland in 1972. Funland Farm will be similar to its predecessor. It will feature a variety of animals, including llamas, alpacas, a mini horse and a miniature donkey. Families will have the opportunity to interact and take photos with the animals. The animals will be housed in a clean, barnyard-style environment located near the Mad Mouse Roller Coaster. The park also plans to interact with fans on social media this season. Special throwback Thursdays will be featured on its Facebook page showcasing images from the park's history and encouraging guests to share their memories on Instagram. The events calendar has also been expanded to include a special celebration on Grandparents Day. Michigan's Adventure and Wildwater Adventure will open for the season Memorial Day Weekend. Michigan's Adventure is owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. In addition to Michigan's Adventure, Cedar Fair owns and operates ten other amusement parks, three water parks, one indoor water park, and five hotels. (Article from Brandon Champion of the Muskegon Chronicle/MLive: http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2016/03/michigans_adventure_turns_back.html )

^Swan Boats..also now at Michigan's Adventure. Paddlewheel Excursion removal was announced shortly after Dinosaurs Alive was announced. Most major scale rides I'd expect an announcement with. Something fishy is going on with this one.

^So every coaster has to be ground-breakingly innovative or hold some sort of record to bring people through the gates at every park? Because if that is what you are trying to say, history begs to argue with you! If its new for the market, it will work well. Hydra, Talon, Patriot, Silver Bullet....none of them were "record breakers" or ground-breaking, but still installed and people still ride them. And those are just a few examples. Lets not forget that a relocated Thunderhawk (a coaster built in 1998 originally) helped increase Michigan's Adventure's attendance number big time. Coasters, as long as fun and interesting (and unique to the market) will do well for the most part. Enthusiasts may pick it a part, but the GP will still come.

^^I think you might want to research the word "equity" & phrase "total equity". As for the rest, I will refer you to the statements I made above. If MiA was in such bad shape, why not try to sell when the other ones were put up? Its because of the margin. It's a pretty profitable park. A lot more goes into determining the worth of a park and also what to put in to the park. Several factors. As for the Screamin' Swing, yes it is S&S, but a much smaller model (hence the upcharge). While I think it would be great at MiA, it is what it is at this point. There were rumors not to long ago that Dorney's would move there but Dorney's still has theirs. Here's a link: https://www.dorneypark.com/rides/Thrill-Rides/Scream-Swing

This place looks pretty awesome! I'll be down in Central Florida next week. Debating on if I should try to get into that place or not (depending on how busy it is). If not, it's all good, there is still lots to do on I-Drive, but I would love to check that place out.

No....they do not! Valleyfair and Worlds of Fun don't even fall into the 1.5 million attendance category. They fall into the 1 million and fewer category with Michigan's Adventure. Michigan's Adventure was pushing 800,000 when Thunderhawk opened and they have been increasing ever since. It is very plausible that they are extremely close to Valleyfair and Worlds of Fun, who I'm sure are over 1 million but not more than 1.5 million. The gap is smaller than "double that". And they do 1.7% of what? RipCord and the Mini-Golf do really well at the park. The Go-Karts were removed for the 2013 season and weren't doing as well (plus the price of gas). I'm sure Screamin' Swing would've done fine but an upcharge doesn't warrant a big announcement. There's a small chance it is still being moved there, but very small. Bumper Boats were moved from Valleyfair without an announcement . Keep up the comments with the low attendance though, MiA has one of the highest profit margins in the chain, which is probably a reason they are hesitant to add anything super major. Attendance doesn't always equate to revenue. You remember the first FunForward presentation? Brian Witherow (CFO of CF) said that Michigan's Adventure makes money closer to on-par with their larger parks (it was in terms of margin). grsupercity is spot-on with a lot I feel. The park has constantly been fighting with the townships in the past 7-10 years. Not only that, but Cedar Fair has been spending lots of money upgrading the infrastructure. It may not seem like it, but I would bet between the water deals, the land purchase, the new POP systems, attractions, new employee center and all the rest of the infrastructure upgrades, the park has easily seen over $10 million spent since 2010. And now with the sewer issue ongoing, it will cost more money. Once they are able to pull away from this, I don't think there will be as much hesitation to build following that. Kinzel always said his plan before the recession was to build one coaster every two years in the big parks and one ever four years in the smaller parks (according to his biography by Tim O'Brien). Of course, that wasn't the case with WoF, VF or MiA. Now, Ouimet is doing things a bit differently. The Muskegon market is not as big as the other markets that other parks are in, but there are still ways for the park to continue to expand, but CF just has to work through these issues first. Cedar Fair has more than made their money on this park, they bought it for $27 million in 2001 and it still continues to have one of the highest profit margins (and, in a way, jumping to a big addition that costs more money to run in this market may hurt that profit margin), hence the reason it was never put up for sale when Valleyfair, Worlds of Fun & California's Great America went up for sale during the economic downturn. I would like to see a coaster or a high-end thrill ride, but it just is what it is at this point. Still love visiting the park and it is still a great day whenever I go.

^Ok, now I will admit that I am stupid. Sorry about that. I will say, working in marketing, that it is definitely a love/hate relationship I have with it.

Yeah, the last conference call pretty much said investment will continue to pour into Carowinds. The waterpark, they hope, will boost the season pass base and they even mentioned a hotel. Canada's Wonderland was also mentioned as a nice market ripe for a bit more. Valleyfair and California's Great America were called parks that they may have underestimated at first, like Carowinds, and are potentially a bit untapped market/performing better than expected. Matt Ouimet did also say that the investments into those parks will more than likely not be at the level they invested into Carowinds though. I think All Wheels Extreme is a step in the right direction.

This is just every coaster enthusiast stereotype ever all rolled into one post. Posts like this are why I can't stand the vast majority of coaster enthusiasts. Who cares? Calm down. lol I don't care that it has those records. I like it because it is a good ride in my opinion! I was just pointing out the fact that it does, indeed, hold those records because of the manner of his post blasting the park for advertising it that way. Even if it weren't true, they could advertise it any way they want. And I am not a ride or die enthusiast, there are a lot more important things to me honestly. He was blasting a park that wasn't false advertising it anyway. Excuse me for saying they weren't false advertising. But if that comes across as stereotypical, then so be it! Do not really care at all. And you also missed a few stereotypes, some of which appear in your own posts. So pot meet kettle. But it's whatever, obviously it is bound to happen on this site. We all can be stereotypical every now and then I guess. You'd be surprised. That's why marketing exists. And it goes a long way! Even false advertising. Its a human stigma but people believe what they want to believe anyway. So yeah I guess it doesn't really matter in the end. I prefer coasters of more quality than records, but records do have a certain draw to them to more people than just enthusiasts. We studied a whole section about that in one of my marketing classes and how amusement parks specifically put that spin on it to boost revenue.

The GP believes the truth in this case! It doesn't bother me it says it because, as of last check, Goliath does happen to have the Guinness Book of World Records for Tallest (drop), Steepest, Fastest wooden coaster. The latter of which it will lose when Lightning Rod opens. So maybe you should check the facts! Yes it is. But did you really criticize what a park says (while its the truth) without ever having been there?

Seriously??? Why are you even spending your time ranting about that? I'm trying to read the VF thread not this nonsense. Maybe because all this thread discusses is being mistreated and how the park is owed a coaster. I get how fanboys operate but sometimes it just gets too crazy! The Darien Lake thread is notorious for that and I haven't even been around that long to realize that. I read through this thread and just wonder. After numerous solid capital expenditure projects, there are still complaints. You also took the time to rant about his rant, which is just odd and the rant messed with the flow of the thread. That's not fun! Also, if you got on to read the VF thread, then the last page and a half was just complaints about a special ad ran that features an inverted coaster. The complaints surfaced because people thought it meant that VF would be getting that B&M invert. [/rant] ^ and for PhantomPoster

^No clue. Hyper was 200 and was broken by Arrow. Then we had Giga and Strata from Intamin. Technically a lot of that marketing came jointly from Intamin and Cedar Point. They ended up referring to Maverick as a "Terracoaster" when it opened in 2007. I don't remember when the term Mega coaster was being thrown around, but I believe that sits the same as hypercoaster. At any rate, when it comes to naming coaster classes off of the SI system, technically only Giga exists (unless you count Mega). So this new class doesn't need to be named after SI at all. Just the fact that this is a unique project, for the moment, is what I am excited about.

Canada's Wonderland's Haunt is a separate admission event too! I'm assuming this dining deal change is supposed to be for those that are separate admissions as pointd out, but it's weird to see the other two on there unless there was a mistake.

I'll enter in: 1. Facebook: I still use this the most. I post and interact quite a bit. I also run some pages through it so that may be one of the main reasons I'm still active. I don't share as much on FB as I do on Twitter. 2. LinkedIn: If this counts, I use this pretty frequently and am constantly trying to network and make changes to my page. 3. YouTube: I do actively browse YouTube when I am bored or trying to find something to fall asleep to. 4. Twitter: I am starting to use this a lot more often now. I would say the majority of my shares come from Twitter because its designed to do that more than FB in my opinion. 5. Google+: I use sometimes. Not really active on it. I pretty much have it to maintain my Google Hangout & Drive 6. Instagram: Mostly only use for my business accounts, but not personally. 7. Pinterest: Still have an account, haven't used in years

My friend is a member of Screamscape... That's funny, because I am the one who took the pics and I don't know you. Here is the rest of the gallery from the trip. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOwRKU6amGMy8wEDuNY3_GFLZSf26wF-5sIM1DkaM05ThvnEHxw3s_1t0O0c5irMA?key=NlhnTUl4bE4xUi1JaktHN0l0QS1ITG4zOGVONW1n At any rate, great photos! Thanks for sharing. Really makes me miss Back to the Future and Jaws here in America.

Yes, that is how recycling works. It happened to a good portion of GL's coasters. I'm excited for details to eventually emerge on this project! I am rather intrigued!

^I did the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Leavesden back in May and was pleased with the experience. The immersiveness of the theme park experience is extremely awesome and I did enjoy the Wizarding World when I was down in Orlando. When I visited the Orlando park last, it stormed later in the day, so the Harry Potter area was essentially a ghost town and I was able to snag two back-to-back rides on The Forbidden Journey. I felt like the studio tour was really well in London, but the gift shop and other areas were so extremely packed when people exited or when they were waiting for their tour time to begin. Was more uncomfortable than dealing with the crowds in Orlando. With that said, it will be interesting to see how it plays out in Hollywood seeing as the Orlando area usually is jam packed. Maybe Universal Creative and JK Rowling came to an agreement regarding size, one can hope at least. If not, I don't see it as a deal breaker, it just might be uncomfortable for a little bit.

^I think he was going for first inverted coaster with a cobra roll.

When they visit Gringott's in the Harry Potter films. Heck of a ride to get to that vault. Was a great setup for a dark ride (and glad it became a reality)

All these posts literally make me LOL! "Won't be renewing my season pass"...Disappointed again"..."Guess I'll just skip this park". Is this a threat or promise? Less lines for those of us that visit then. I'm sure people at corporate right now are going "Crap, we made them mad. Now those few posters on TPR won't be coming next year. That's going to kill our attendance and revenue". They know what they are doing and they have been taking the park in a good direction. It doesn't have to be a frickin' thrill capital. And, news flash, it never will be! Does that make it a bad park? No...it's a really good park still. Seriously guys, did you honestly expect a coaster this year? You're complaining about not getting a coaster since Renegade in 2007 (unless you want to count Cosmic Coaster). There was only a 4 year difference between Steel Venom and Renegade. I get that you are going on 9 years now, but guess what? Valleyfair is in the lower attendance bracket in the chain...1.5 million guests or fewer. There have been MANY MANY parks that get higher attendance numbers than Valleyfair that have waited way longer for coasters. Lets take a look: -Silver Dollar City pulls in more than 2 million people annually: Not counting the family Grand Exposition Coaster, they waited 12 years between Wildfire & Outlaw Run (2001-2013). -Holiday World brings in just a little over what Valleyfair brings in and they waited 10 years (2005-2015) Really...what more do you expect? It is what it is and I think garyman hit it on the head that lots of money still has been going into the park.

^Just a few notes: -California's Great America is odd this year because it isn't just enthusiast speculation. The chain has confirmed it, but the park has not! In an article that included an interview with Matt Ouimet about the Amusement Dark portfolio, he talked about how the Rougarou conversion worked for Mantis. Then it was mentioned that they'd be doing it at their park near San Francisco. Later on, during the last quarterly conference call, it was stated that Vortex would be converted at CGA. -I don't believe Shockwave will be going to Dorney. The pattern of the chain has kind of been "get rid of the stand-ups and bring more capacity". Mantis becomes Rougarou, SkyRider is sold and now Vortex becoming floorless. Its just the way its been going. Also, in an interview about the company's portfolio, Ouimet stated he doesn't believe in the "transplanted rollercoaster system" that Six Flags operates. He says its kind of like the "witness protection program for roller coasters". He basically says if you have to remove it from one park, how does it extend its service life in another? I find it kind of odd seeing as this is the same guy who wants to restore old rides to former glory, which is also kind of like a "second chance" like transplanting rides....but it is what it is. I think Shockwave is out and may be sold. That'll leave the rollercoaster at New York Las Vegas (formerly Manhattan Express) as the only Togo left in the USA. -MiA is always the hardest park to call being in the market they are in and also the lowest attendance bracket. However, the infrastructure upgrades that have been going into the park have not been cheap and these are infrastructure upgrades that will help the park well into the future as well as be able to support more attractions. With the new employee center going up on the new land, I'll expect a shift with the employee parking lot to help open up more room for a waterpark expansion in the future. I think that may be the idea behind buying that land. Of course, less than half of the land that Cedar Fair owns is developed right now. Looking into the future, I can see these being possibilities: -Screamin' Swing Upcharge for 2016? Maybe. It could happen and I think it'd be a good fit. I wouldn't be surprised to see a SlingShot pop up eventually either. RipCord is fairly popular. -A Disk'O? I think we'll see one here eventually. Whether it comes with a ride package/area (a la Route 76) or by itself. I think we'll see one. -In Park Entertainment. I think we'll see one or two shows pop up sometime. The chain is really starting to focus on in park entertainment now too. -Capsule drop slides? I think we'll get those just like many of the other chains wetsides! With the employee lot moved, they can go back there. -Planet Snoopy? Might come too. Cedar Fair's 5-Year investment plan looks really good from what was released at the conference call and I'm sure MiA fits in some of those categories. Just because there hasn't been any major additions doesn't mean that the chain hasn't been spending money on the park. Those infrastructure upgrades have totaled well into the millions for the past few years. And now you got the whole issue with the city...again. Take this as an interesting tidbit, but I know that the Muskegon County Tourism board is pressuring Cedar Fair into having a year round operation at MiA by trying to convince them to build an indoor waterpark resort. Maybe in the future but not the immediate future. I do see them buying Duck Creek eventually, and that would be a great business move IMHO.

^Now that's funny too. Yes "hybrid" like those

The thing I'm trying to figure out is when did Excalibur and Gemini become wooden tracked coasters? But this did make me laugh Since they were built? They're steel coasters. They just have a wooden support structure is all. I like the look of the old hybrids and, to me, Excalibur is a very interesting coaster. http://rcdb.com/14.htm http://rcdb.com/119.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excalibur_(Valleyfair) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(roller_coaster)

The thing I'm trying to figure out is when did Excalibur and Gemini become wooden tracked coasters? But this did make me laugh

No, they got rid of the Good Time Theater, which was a former IMAX Movie Theater. It hosted a really good ice-skating show in recent years but was ultimately torn down because of the old structure itself. The old Oceana Stadium (which hosted the old dolphin shows) is where All-Wheels Extreme is held at Cedar Point. In addition, even though the Good Time Theater is gone, CP has lots of places for live entertainment. This is something I am glad the smaller parks are now starting to pick up!