Shavethewhales

They didn't have much choice in removing the tower because of the condition they allowed it to deteriorate to. It's not a huge loss, until you notice the trend behind it. Look at those two photos that DoinItForTheFame just posted. Notice how when they updated the roof they cleansed it of all the little pieces of theming and do-dads in favor of a more modern, clean surface? That's been happening all over the park, especially in the last few years. The old stuff is rusting away and simply being hauled out. A lot of the little themed areas and gardens are now bare, or the authentic theming has been replaced with screen-printed boards or whatever can be done cheaply. Everything on the park now has a life span of 10-15 years before it is declared junk and simply hauled away. Times change and things wear out, but the apparent change in attitude towards theming, atmosphere, and general charm is unfortunate. They did a really good job on the Fireman's Landing theming, so I know they still know how to do it, they just don't put effort into maintaining what they've already got. On the positive side though, the new food stand looks great, and there have been some nice updates in some other areas of the park.

The rumors from the general rumor mill say that a 2017 coaster project is already in motion, so without knowing much else, I'm wondering if they are already discussing another big project behind this one, or if they're trying to subversively gauge how well received a new dive coaster will be in 2017. I'm just thinking back to 2012 or thereabouts when we first saw the pitch for Outlaw Run presented in a similar survey, and sure enough a few months later it was under construction. You'd think things would be set in stone sooner, but its hard to tell what their schedules are or what the real purpose of these surveys is.

I don't know if this was posted already somewhere among the blabber, but there's a new food stand location going up: From the sounds of things, a bunch of stuff is happening in the area by the Saloon and Lumbercamp. There's always been a lot of congestion there, so they've been needing to open it up for awhile.

A few years ago it was said that HFEC officials went to check out Blue Fire and were impressed with it as well. I'm sure they are well versed in the latest attractions, but it still all comes down to what they think they can market best. A giga coaster would be beyond exciting for us, but there's got to be a hundred options on the table that would give better ROI right now. Personally, I'm just waiting for some dirt to turn before I let my imagination run too wild.

The new coaster is a little sad... I mean, I know it's essentially a junior coaster, but the layout looks like a half-hearted attempt from RCT. The log flume that the park already has looks incredible though. I love how it goes into a building and past some tanks. That's how Zoo rides should be setup.

I hate how so many parks purposefully shoot for mid summer openings for their big new rides. If you're going to start advertising a new ride for 2016 in August, I naturally expect it to be open when I come through in late May/early June when I usually take my trips. Some people blame the weather, but there's no reason they couldn't have gotten started a little earlier. This is another reason why I sometimes wait until the following year to hit up new coasters.

A launched B&M wing coaster would be awesome IMO. I loved Thunderbird. A dive coaster would be equally as good, and would give some great theming opportunities. I also feel like a standard Wing coaster with traditional lift is the most likely option that they went with just based on what they are comfortable with and what they would try to market. That's just my rough feeling of what they would go for, but I'm usually wrong. I'm not a huge fan of the "standard" wing coasters, so I'd be happy with anything else. I think they got a huge amount of praise for Wild Eagle just because of the location and the novelty of it at the time, and as we've stated many times before they do work hard to duplicate successful additions.

I have no problem with MS focusing on their waterpark more if that is what is successful for them, but I'd hate to see them lose all their rides. These two flats seem like they are a pretty good chunk of their ride offerings... I feel like they may just want to cannibalize the park because then they can add to FC and other CNL parks without having to buy anything new. CNL is insanely cheap.

Doesn't Knoebel's have a lot of trouble with theirs as well? It does seem like I've heard about a lot of the power surge installations having trouble. Another reason why I hope it's a new model. Also, anyone been watching CNL much? Weren't they supposed to liquidate their amusement park holdings by the end of 2015? I'm wondering how close Premier is to buying the park outright.

Nice. Not really what I was expecting, but it is certainly something this park needs. There really isn't a lot here you can point to as a true high intensity thrill ride other than the Silver Bullet and the new superloop. This is something I've been hoping that they were working up to. Hopefully it's a new model and not an old fair ride that they'll build a deck around. I also hope they'll be able to do something with the paneling so it can match the decor a little bit at least. With the recent new rides and Splash pad being big hits, and this sure to be the same, a new coaster can't be too far off...

^I mean, any hotel in the middle of a big city should be pretty lucrative, especially one inside of a historic building. The rest of this is just cheap development, possibly to serve as a placeholder for when they have the funds and interest to go back to the original ideas. Food trucks/containers are a current fad that don't cost much to implement and remove later, and the fountain/light show stuff are just cheap gimmicks to make it flashier. So basically they're just going to do a glorified food court for now and perhaps in a decade they'll be ready to go back to the drawing board. I could certainly see the Ferris wheel being abandoned too. It's a gimmick as well, but not a cheap one. Interestingly, OKC is also opening up a food truck court with a Ferris wheel this year. There's probably others as well. Once multiple cities try copying fads like these, they tend to die out really fast, or at least lose most of their glamour and original appeal. I'd give it a couple more years before food trucks and container buildings are completely out of style.

I'd be pretty excited for either, but a starflyer would be a much bigger deal IMO. I'm honestly just glad that they are doing anything. I thought this was going to be another off year. I'm used to not expecting much from FC, but things continue to improve at this park. This will actually be the third new flat ride to be added to the park recently, after years and years of doing practically nothing until the SF sale.

Back when the removed the Swinging Six Guns they looked at putting it back in the park somewhere else but never got around to making space for it. I'm guessing they are simply going to replace the Rodeo Roundup with it now. Not much to be excited for as the Swinging Six Guns were pretty mild even by Waveswinger standards, but they were cool to look at with the big gun decorations, and at least it's something.

The lack of an actual coaster riding along the top disappoints me.

As I understood it, the original starliner was already lost. The new starliner was essentially going to be like Fun Spot's White Lightning. Here's a good overview of it: http://newsplusnotes.blogspot.com/2014/08/miracle-strip-pier-park-nearly-ready-to.html It's a big loss for GCII since this was going to be one of their only recent sales. The location seems like it would have been great, but it looks like this is another case where a beach-area amusement park doesn't understand marketing. They were close enough that they could have tied in with the beach access and other local businesses. Instead they tried to make it into a closed-off destination without enough attractions to make it worth it.

I think we can all understand the reasons for trimming Voyage. It's not something that needs defending or whining about, it was a simple necessity that fans need to come to terms with. After my visit earlier this year I wasn't as impressed with Legend as I thought I'd be. I can certainly understand both why it has such ardant fans and why HW would focus on it for improvements. Lateral forces on a wooden coaster are a special taste that only a fairly small segment of the population really enjoy. I think you have to be small and/or young to really like them. For us bigger/older folks it just hurts after awhile. It's generally a good layout though, but I'd trade less side slamming for a little more airtime. I'm not sure the first drop was the issue though... I just don't want to see a token inversion. I'm still on the fence about some of the recent conversions. The crazy RMC's are fun, but a lot of the time I enjoy the classics even more.

lol, how often do you get to ride OR? You sure do monitor it closely. It is essentially still a wooden coaster, so it will get it's bumps and jolts with age. I didn't notice much when I rode it a couple of weeks ago though. Seasonal maintenance is just around the corner so it should be even better in spring.

It's crazy how it was so successful when it was small, but moving basically across the street and expanding killed it. I still think it was a case of miscalculating the critical mass required to make a whole park experience work. Starliner might have saved it... or not. It looks like the original owners are completely out now, so the question is whether someone else will scoop this up. The wheel people only wanted it for the land and it sounds like they've moved on. Obviously we can all hope that someone will jump on the opportunity and finish out the park.

It didn't need to be relocated anyway, since it's not a classic. I just want to see a new one built. The layout was brilliant, I wouldn't mind seeing it "cloned" to a couple of parks like PowerLand's Thunderbird. By the way, last weekend was insane for SDC. 23,500-ish people in the park on Saturday, easily over 60,000 for the weekend. The highway leading to the park was backed up for miles. The only reason an attendance record wasn't set was because they ran out of parking and many people turned around rather than deal with the wait. Some people were stuck for three hours... SDC has a lot of obstacles in front of it for further sustained growth. They can be overcome, but it's going to take a ton of $$$ and reshaping the hills around the park.

Here are those photos. Kind of sad that this is the progress we'll be watching this year.

They've started on the final portion. The last curve and the bump into the station are already gone. I'll try to post a photo on my lunch break.

I just hope it's more like Thunderbird and less like Wild Eagle. But these days I mostly just want them to stop screwing with the older details of the park. which has always been a futile cause. I'll take an authentic grist mill over a new roller coaster at this point.

Reviving this thread because I'm getting more into personal investing. Anyone betting long on SEAS? I think that with the recent announcement that the killer whale shows are being phased out of San Diego, the current negative PR trend towards them will slowly back down. There is some backlash against them for opening up the same type of shows in the middle east and elsewhere though... but I think it's a good bet for the long haul. December seems to be the best time historically to invest in both FUN and SIX.

Rain absolutely scares people away. It's been a huge problem during the past few years because we've had extended rainfall right on a lot of peak weekends. There are still a lot of people who come just for the shows and crafts, but not as many as there used to be.

It's not over until the day they actually demolish the Blue Streak.