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Wayne Brady-tour guide @ USH. Jason Reitman (director of Juno and Writer/Director of Up in the air)-Show Controller @ USH. I believe Joey Fatone and some of the other members of NYSNC worked @ UO in some of the shows as well.

^What's funny is that as soon as I saw the concept art, my first thought was "wow, Legoland just used Shane's concept for their water park!"

^Well, if it's the safety of the company you are worried about...Selling is probably the worst option. The people who ran the company into the ground still have their jobs AND the debt doesn't disappear (Apollo would now be the one responsible for paying it). Plus, where has it been said that they are only making minimal payments on their debt? The first article Adam posted makes it very clear they are in no danger of Chapter 11. Which makes it all the more suspicious management is looking to cash out.

^Current management is selling because it is beneficial to them. They have no long term plan, so any way to avoid the scrutiny of shareholders is OK to them. They also have "golden parachutes" if they were to be fired by new owners. And as I pointed out earlier in the thread, they stand to profit immensely from the sale due to having options at such low prices. Long-term investors are (rightfully) not wanting to give up so easily. Just because management wants to sell doesn't mean it is the best thing for the company. The company already is solvent. In fact, they turned out a tiny profit on reduced revenues.

I'd guess that single game tickets aren't available yet...those tickets for sale are probably season tickets that are already being put up for sale.

^Your assessment of that being a "good price" fails to take into account all the investors who were long-term investors due to the dividend. It's no accident the two largest share-holders have already announced they will be voting against the sale. It's a bad deal.

That eco-adventure theme park sounds awesome! Even more so if it has a credit!

All Intamin's have a system like that now.

Time to bump this with another photo update... This time, I'll feature the standard room at Aria. Long story short, the only thing keeping their standard room from being the best is its size. THE Hotel, Wynn/Encore, and Venetian/Palazzo are all suite hotels with luxury amenities. Aria definitely one ups them in the amenities department, but not in size. Anyways...on to the pictures: A Vegas first: RFID keys. Notice the door doesn't have the typical key slot. That circle above the handle is the RFID thing. The great thing is how you can enter the room just by waving your wallet over the door if the key is in it. Just like the pussy cards in Hong Kong! The bed. Quite comfy. On par with the other luxury hotels on the strip. The TV/desk/mini bar/drawers area. An interesting configuration. I could see how this might be annoying on business if someone wants to watch TV, but their roommate is at the desk. Aria made a big deal about how their rooms are completely touch screen controlled...next to your bed is this screen where you can control the drapes, TV, lighting, etc. The cool part is that you can have presets that it will remember and automatically adjust to at certain times (when the door is open, when you wake up, etc.) The desk area also features just about every input you can imagine. I'm glad new hotels are all including options like this, so you can play your video games, watch your movies, etc. with ease. The annoying thing is that the outlet was like the only one in the whole room that was easy to get to! The bathroom. Whomever decided to put the tub behind the shower is a genius. It's nice to have that extra space to not worry about having towels on the floor to keep the floor dry.

It is capacitors.

Knott's Infrastructure is horribly outdated all around. It wasn't even until my 3rd or 4th year of Haunt that they could accept credit cards at the employee cafeteria. The park also becomes a lake in heavy rain. The cash registers in the stores are old as well. Regarding the passes, what really blows my mind is that tiny little building also has to double as guest relations. It's amazing they can get 2-3 million guests a year and haven't given any thought to upgrading it.

Well looking at the pics of some china parks and the possibilities of future ones that have hilly terrain. Overall, the place is quite hilly... I'd like to know what pictures you are looking at? What parks?

$69 is the standard full price admission...

This is hardly a new problem. heck that's why they did swimming in Beijing early in the morning, so it could be live in primetime here in the states... That's a little bit different given the major time difference. The pacific time zone makes live coverage a lot easier...

There's going to be riots in the streets of Vancouver if they don't win the gold in Hockey!

^Those two trains are in still in service, but the fact that the park has willingly retired 2 of the other trains says a lot about the coasters future IMO. You can only go so long before you run out of spare parts from gutted train sand those other two trains become "problem" trains as well. Or, as you pointed out, keep paying for the welds. At that point you're faced with the decision that other parks have made as to whether or not the cost of upkeep is worth it. Given that, I think it's fair to speculate that new trains might be the solution to keeping Ninja around for the foreseeable future. Especially given Six Flags recent history of refurbishing rides as new attractions. Of course, to be fair...none us really know how far away a decision on Ninja's future really is. So in the mean time all we can do is enjoy the fact the park has a quality coaster for 42" kids.

The extra trains have been used for parts. Just because it's on the transfer track doesn't mean it is ever going to get used!

^I would beg to differ. The fleet started with 4 trains. It's down to 2.

^^Eagles Fortress had to close because it was doing things that should not have been possible on Arrow suspended coasters.

^Agreed. But that's not something a union for entry-level employees should be fighting for. Not even the more skilled labor unions are crazy enough to fight for that!

These guys are morons. 100% free healthcare? I can't believe the union has been able to brainwash their workers into thinking this is a good idea.

I'm most excited for this version of Mummy. Should be the best yet!

^Very true. But I still contend the strength of Cedar Fair was entirely in the dividend and being a safe investment. The amusement industry has never been a "hot" investment. Investors loved the prospect of growth and their dividend. There's no way the deal would have been approved if management was to have said "we're going to cut your dividend so we can grow the company." Now it's playing out exactly like Larry said. Kinzel and Co. got themselves into a huge bind and can't find their way out of it.

Investors didn't object to the sale because they were still paying a dividend. I'm sure it would have been different if they said "this deal will only work if attendance and revenue levels remain constant. We have no room for error or your dividend will get cut." They took a gamble and they lost. There's no way they didn't know it was a gamble too. Nearly doubling how many parks they owned, going away from being fiscally responsible by taking on so much debt, and still expecting to pay out a dividend....

Dancing water with more water pressure? AMAZING!