n1ch0las

^Parks announce when they stand to make the most money for the following season. This is why most chains wait until September to announce their new attractions, as it gives time for guests to renew or purchase annual passes for next year. If you announce earlier, you risk guests choosing not to visit that summer and waiting until the next season, losing out on that revenue.

Small update from a trip I took on Saturday night: Prowler was running both trains. I only took night rides (which were fast and awesome) so I couldn't tell if there was any track work done over the week. With the exception of Prowler's crew (which weren't stacking at all despite only two on platform) all Operations were pretty horrid. Detonator had two staff who must have been on their first day alone. Despite having season Fastlane (honestly the only way to visit the park with how bad ops have become) and getting walking onto the first car, it took at least 10 minutes to load and launch the two towers. One staff member was visibly upset (as was a staff member on Timberwolf as well) and I felt bad for her, as she was obviously overwhelmed. Have to imagine the standby line was at least an hour or more. Patriot was pretty similar, my two train waits were typically about 10-15 minutes long. A couple of times they hadn't even opened the airgates before the other train was stacked. To be fair its not entirely the parks fault, guests seemed to have brought the entire kitchen sink with them into the station and took a long time to get/drop off their items into the bins. Mamba was having issues all night, went down three times on the same spot in the lift hill in the four hours I was at the park. Timberwolf was running really well, once it completes its track work it might be the second best ride in the park.

Nice report. If the retracking on Prowler is true that's either really poor planning or perhaps the park noticed a safety concern after opening for the season. Either way its a good call, since the coaster was getting pretty bad in a few spots.

It was their games department on This American Life, and it was an awesome story. As for the terrible operations so far this year, I think its a combination of the park not having all their rides ready for summer from a maintenance perspective, and also major staffing problems before high schoolers got out. The park needs a lot of staff and unemployment is very low, kids can get better paying (and easier) jobs elsewhere. One thing that's always bothered me is how WOF runs one train on all coasters during the weekdays even when they have staff to run two. I know it saves on wear and tear on the trains and wheels, but it always creates long waits and drives down satisfaction.

Hey folks. I'm in Orlando for the week and planning to hit BGT and Sea World tomorrow and Wednesday. What should I expect queue wise? Last time I was here (2012) waits were minimal at BGT, however I've never been to Sea World. Just wondering if I should budget for Quick Queue or not. Thanks

Season pass Fastlane is an upsell that I have a hard time saying no to being only 15 minutes from the park. Last summer I avoided Saturdays due to lines...not anymore. $100 to guarantee each of my visits are awesome? Totally worth it.

Metal structures are great for coasters the size of a Wild Mouse, but I'd be surprised if it'd be cheap and easy to build a building around a 100ft+ coaster, especially one that winds down the side of a giant hill. Disaster Transport was probably one of the better examples of this, but it didn't really catch on. Disney does it to an extent, but only for their highly themed portions of rides.

Ah, details in news articles are so important not to get wrong. 600 ft tall wooden coaster? I thought they couldn't build above the tree line! http://blooloop.com/link/alton-towers-coaster-secret-weapon-sw8/

WOF: Prowler Timber Wolf Patriot Mamba Spinning Dragons Boomerang

Went to the park yesterday for closing day. Only stayed a few hours but had a nice time before the park started to get pretty busy. Prowler has really developed a lot of shuffling on the downhills and turnaround over the year. It looks like the park hasn't really touched the track at all since opening, so I hope that it receives some attention over the offseason. Can't wait to see new trains on Timber Wolf, man those things are horrid. I think a lot of people will be surprised how much they enjoy that ride when the re-tracking is finished and new trains (or at least PTC refurbs) come in. Today was the first day that I went to the park all season where Mamba and Patriot both opened with two trains. What a difference that made to the overall lines and experience. Prowler still only had one, but oddly didn't need it at first, I had 5 re-rides to start the day. The park has a lot of work to do on the operation of its rides during the offseason, hopefully they come back more organized and with greater efficiency during 2017, which should be a big year for how the park operates as a whole with a new front gate and Winterfest.

Interesting analysis. Park apparently "made" money by beating expenses on 11 of 14 weekends during the summer, but they wouldn't actually admit a profit in the article. Either way, I'd imagine we'll see the park again in 2017.

Weiner Prater next week! Any suggestions from those who've been there before?

While the American Eagle model is really great, having something that actually fits in your basement (and doesn't cost 5K) is probably slightly more realistic. I'm in for one! Hope it hits its goal (1 day in and only 8K to go out of 60K looks pretty promising). For what its worth, if LEGO actually ever makes a roller coaster it'll probably retail for a lot more than $150 bucks!

Exactly. It had nothing to do with "too much growth". It was simply a business move. Had CF never acquired Geauga Lake, I'm confident it would still be in business today. I think it had a bit to do with "too much growth" as well. You try and depreciate 100s of million worth of rides/infrastructure off the books at a mid-sized park and still try and make a profit ever again. Cedar Fair's only choice when they bought that park was to close it.

This thread is interesting. Real reason I came here: I'm heading to the park tomorrow for the first time in 7 years and want to know whether or not I should budget for Fastlane? Are there any food outlets I should try and hit? Has anything decent been added to the park since 2009? Not planning on hitting the water park.

Pretty good foreshadowing in this sentence.

Why would Sea World sell their two best performing parks to try and save a sinking ship? If you're going to unload parks, why not the poor performing ones?

Probably note a huge surprise, but the park announced this afternoon that Verruckt will not re-open this season. Limited portions of the park will reopen tomorrow at noon.

^Depending on the cause of the accident (we still don't know if it was a restraint issue or if the whole raft was the problem) the testing errors could hurt the park. Already the major network news stations are connecting the dots and showing videos of the testing of the ride before the re-profile to add some shock value to their stories. Driving past on my way to work this morning there was still blood on the slide that you could see from the highway. I'm thankful that the news vans are choosing not to show that view on TV.

I wouldn't expect an official report for a very long time, and when it does get released it won't include as many details as you might think. This is such a terrible tragedy for everyone (park included) and one of those accidents that just punches you in the gut.

I thought this was a fun ride too. My wife hated that you could feel the car "jumping and landing" and she said it didn't feel safe. Leap the Dips is my oldest coaster as well. If you think the "jumping and landing" feeling is scary, watch the track itself shake like crazy on each of the dips as the car passes over them! It's a very fun ride and absolutely worth the money to take a few spins if you have the opportunity.

I won a contest to name the giant gorilla on the top of Sky Trek Tower at SFGAm. His name is Larry, it was 13 years ago.

^I've been riding Timber Wolf in the second row lately and at night that thing is delivering some pretty great ejector airtime and a mostly smooth ride. Once they smooth out the second helix and the final 1/3rd of the ride that thing is going to be pretty solid again! And new trains, those PTCs are falling apart. Maybe it can get Mean Streak's one day?

Wow! A lot of Pokémon hate on this thread! I know a lot of parks have put out "Pokémon Guides" to their parks, with the first rule being "Do not leave regular guest areas" for safety purposes. I actually think its pretty great that a lot of tourist destinations (a museum next to our place is putting lures out every lunch break this week to try and get people in their doors) are jumping on the bandwagon so early. Letting guests know that there are new things to catch in the parks just increases satisfaction (something to do while walking to a ride or waiting in line) and I can't see how that's a bad thing. Personally I think Pokémon Go has done the one thing no video game has ever been able to accomplish - to get people moving in a meaningful way. I've been to places at 10 or 11PM that are swarming with people just playing the game and that's really cool. And before you get all "get a job!" on me I'll say that I'm in my late 20s, great job, beautiful wife (who also plays) and we've enjoyed the game as a hobby with a beer after work. Pokémon pub crawls are the best.

I had just taken a trip a few days before your visit and Dragon was down all day. Around noon there were two maintenance workers literally hammering away at the track with mallets on the turnaround where one of the supporting wires should have been. Needless to say I was OK not getting that credit! Tornado and Outlaw were definitely rough, and I don't mind a rough wooden coaster. Outlaw was manageable but could still only manage a few rides on it. Did you do the Skyride? Going through the Monster's loops during operation was awesome! Definitely something you'd never get at a corporate park.