Shavethewhales

After that clue, if this turns out to be anything but a giant cat sauna, I'm going to be disappointed.

I keep thinking the end has come for this park and then being proved wrong, but this time it really seems like there's no way out unless there's another entity willing to come in at the 11th hour and pay off these debts. Very unlikely, but you never know. What are the potential options from the sheriff's sale? Could someone make a bid on the entire park, or is it purely going to be piecemeal?

The kiddie coaster is now in Tulsa, OK, where I've been watching it slowly be built all spring/summer. I think they might have a ferris wheel and something else from Fun Spot as well. It does suck to see an amusement property fade away, but there's nothing to hope for from this one in particular. Those lakes don't look like they get a whole lot of traffic, and Fort Wayne is too far away. I'm a big proponent of small, locally operated attractions, but it still comes down to location, location, location.

I haven't been looking for discounts as much as I used to, but it seems like they haven't had any major discounts for single day admissions over the last couple of years. There might have been a coke promotion here or there, but nothing like what most parks do. There are a few deals for combo lodging + 2 day passes at pretty much every hotel though. I guess they really don't need to give away the gate in Branson, you're either going to come for a few days of vacation or not. It's more of a destination park where locals aren't the main draw.

I'd like to see some photos of exactly what you are complaining about. From everything I've been told over the last few years the park has made a turn around in everything except putting enough trains on the coasters. I haven't been there myself, but I'm surprised to see the sudden rise in complaints this year. Six Flags can no longer be blamed for the ills of this park, it's been years since they've been in control. CNL is just a property investment company. They still don't really seem to get the attractions business and want to keep their investments as low as possible.

You can actually search for nearby parks on RCDB: http://rcdb.com/qs.htm?qs=PENSACOLA Waterville USA's woodie is intriguing, but it's a bit far for just the one credit.

Interesting... Could mean anything coming from them though. CNL seems to be fairly stingy with their properties. In typical holding company behavior, they want to build up the value of their properties with as little capital investment as possible. However, I think FC is in a prime position for something major that would really put it back in the spotlight. They've done an excellent job with the concert series - the park has been packed out numerous times this season. All the rides and the park in general are in good shape now and their Halloween event should be very popular once again this year. There's so much going for them right now, but it still feels like the park is missing a star attraction. I'm not expecting much for 2015. If we're lucky, we'll get a decent flat ride of some sort in ErUPtion's old space. A new coaster really would be ideal though, and that's not even the coaster enthusiast in me speaking. The park really does need a modern, appealing, star coaster to market. I'd love one of those GCII out-and-backs such as White Lightning or Starliner II.

Yup, basically the common sentiment here We watched OR be rumored about and built for over two years, and I still remember how on my first ride it still blew away all of my expectations. I think it's starting to be overshadowed by some of the newer RMC's, but there's something special about this one in particular. It's not as long as some of the others, but it just flows together so perfectly. In other news, today is Geyser Gulch's last day... only 10 days till the announcement!

The basic setup is that Skyline Design will own the intellectual property to and actually design the products that Skyline Attractions will manufacture and distribute. Any additional design work we do for industry customers - including Great Coasters at their request - will be done by Skyline Design. Well, there are some answers in the press release, too, and "ride" isn't the only word we use. I hope we didn't give the impression that we're limiting ourselves. If only. We played around with that a bit, but couldn't resist and ended up eating our designs. I didn't see this post until today. That answers a lot of my questions, thanks for the clarification. I'm really excited to see what you guys mean when you say you aren't limiting yourself to rides. I'd wager the biggest opportunities for innovation in modern American amusement parks lie outside of rides. As I've been saying a lot lately, It's all about the experience.

Geez, everyone's doing teasers these days. I'm imagining something tower based... something like Zamperla's Aviator, but much taller and with some sort of extra gimmick to the seats that could let them tilt or even go upside down.... There's also a lot of stuff from Funtime that is kind of like what I expect from this company. (http://www.funtime.com.au/)

You can't simply switch people out and expect things to suddenly turn around. As I've expounded on in other threads, SF needs to get back to competing on a customer service standpoint, not just building big rides and luring people in, then essentially pounding them with hidden fees. Repeat visits need to be an objective. Doing that involves a whole litany of new priorities, including theming, guest interactions, line management, etc...

Really though? Do you go back to parks to ride the tilt-a-whirls? There aren't many flats that really build up the "draw" of a park. Large spectaculars like giant frisbees and Screamin Swings are a plus, but few parks have more than two of those. I kind of felt like this question is aimed at the large body of smaller flats that have slowly disappeared from larger parks. Coasters are the main attraction at any amusement park. Flats, as they are presented at most parks, are just something else to do to take pressure off the big rides. Even though coasters are tremendously more expensive than flats, when you factor in staffing, insurance, maintenance, and whatever else, it's not hard to see why bigger parks would start culling their smaller rides (not including rides specifically targeting young age groups). I feel like most parks could make a bigger deal out of their flats, but the public easily notices when the same ride can be found at a different park, and in any case they just don't have the unique lasting appeal that coasters do. I think DirkFunk's comments (refer page 2) are the most spot-on that I've seen so far. The U.S. just doesn't seem to be able to do flats well and treats them as a background supporting cast rather than individual stars.

I don't think some of these being mentioned are all that bad. You want to see what bad brakes look like, check out the Wildcat at Frontier City. The train slams into a set of breaks so suddenly and unexpectedly that it's not uncommon to hear the whole train go "OUCH!" in unison. Kind of funny to watch actually... To answer the original query, there's not much that can be done about it without specific action from the manufacturer. The train obviously must be brought under control in a very short amount of time, but the more gradual you are the more track length you have to eat up. There's always going to be a halting feeling, but I think B&M's handle it the best. I don't know what they do, but it feels like there are progressive stages of brakes on all the B&M's I've ridden, and that seems to help.

I had very similar thoughts to what you said, PCW_Nut. It's a nice looking ride and a great addition to HW, but just looking at the "theme" itself it looks a little mashed together from several different sources and inspirations. Maybe a design by committee? I also agree that I wouldn't have thought about it much if they hadn't harped on it earlier and with their continued statements of being the first "theme" park. Whatever It's not terribly expensive for a B&M. This is bigger than Wild Eagle and with 7 years of steel prices increasing and inflation. I assume from what they have said that this is entirely B&M's design and tech.

Perfect fit for HW. Excellent choice of ride to break into the high thrill market while still maintaining broad appeal. I'm excited that I will actually get to visit HW next year and ride this thing in it's opening season. So many years I've been watching rides half-way across the country be built from this site, know it would be years until I had the chance to get there and the ride would be old and overshadowed by then. Now I get to experience it myself. Like I said in the chat, it's a clear successor to Wild Eagle, which has been a knockout ride for DW. This will definitely put HW on the map. They were already there for enthusiasts, but now the GP will really flock in. If I had one thing to nit-pick, it would be the inconsistency with the theme. This ride has been hyped as part of the Thanksgiving section, but it's actually named after a mythical bird, and the station and area is themed after a turn of the century farm? I mean, it looks great, but I'm not sure they understand what "theming" means. If they had named it "Barnstormer" or something of the like, it would have been perfect in that regard, but I digress, it really doesn't matter too much here.

Boo hoo, it wasn't exactly what I wanted! Oh, the announcement hasn't been made yet? Just wanted to get ahead of the post-speculation high letdown rush. Seriously though, I'm positive that this coaster will be awesome, but be realistic in your reactions. I'll admit I was a little letdown after seeing Outlaw Run's layout when I first saw it because I was envisioning this mile-long monster in my head, but on my first ride it turned out to be even better than my wildest dreams. As far as my final speculation goes, I'm hoping for fewer gimmicks than the ideas that have been posted for the past few days. I hope it's a "basic" sitdown, floorless, or invert with a great layout. A return to form for the looping coaster with a little inspiration from Alan Shilke (sp?). A launch and/or pre-show would be awesome, but not necessary. I understand now more than ever the necessary marketing appeal of gimmicks and "world's biggest/fastest" titles, but if you really want to make me happy make something that I'll still want to ride over and over again ten years from now.

Yup. Just confirming what I said in the Six Flags Development thread about how Six Flags has spoiled the concept of amusement parks in the public's mind and how new developers have to fight against it. It's all about providing an all-around wholesome and worthwhile experience, not sucker punching guests with hidden costs and making no effort to actually help people have fun. I'm so glad they're modeling themselves after HFEC properties instead of going for the low-hanging fruit.

^You're going insane... we're all going insane... but I'm pretty sure that's just construction fence I think I'm a fan of morning announcements.

Seagulls are kind of like birds of prey, right? I'm so happy we haven't uncovered anything that would spoil this announcement. Big applause for HW for somehow keeping the suspense in-tact. I really have no clue what is going to be announced today. The recent clues combined with industry trends would seem to indicate a B&M wingrider, but there's plenty of misdirection going on as well I'm sure. B&M doesn't speak German, do they? That's really messing up my confidence in making a guess. Oh boy, if this turns out not to be a B&M after all, lols will be had.

They're going for money. Lots and lots of money. But not long term money though, just whatever they can rip out of their customers pockets after they've been sucked into one of their parks. I was amazed at how efficiently monetized SFOT was on my visit earlier this year. It was my first time at a SF park since I was a little kid, and boy did I pay for it. It was something like $65 just to get in with parking, food was of course overpriced, there were rip-off games EVERYWHERE instead of nice park atmosphere, aggressive photo takers, and as always: the increasingly necessary pay to skip the line scheme. I left the park that day thinking there would be no way in hell I would have paid that much if I wasn't a dedicated coaster enthusiast. They definitely loose customers on this model, and only win them back once every few years when they add something big. It's a scheme that only seems to work in a big metro area - I don't know how some of their other parks do it. I know I won't be back until they add at least a couple of good coasters, but meanwhile I'll gladly keep shoveling out for Silver Dollar City season passes every year no matter the cost. There's something to be said for providing true value and winning repeat customers. We've certainly had many conversations on this topic over the years, but it still piques my interest: how much are park visitors willing to take before they give up on going to parks? I really thought the fastpass scheme was the beginning of the end, surely customers would revolt at being virtually spit on for not paying over and above what they already paid to get into the park, and that's on top of the lockers, food prices, etc, etc. I think they've really gone the wrong way with it all. Six Flags (and in some cases CF) is largely responsible for sullying the whole concept of amusement parks in much of the general public's minds. Start talking to any old person on the street and you quickly understand that they have two concepts of amusement parks in their heads: Six Flags and Disney, and they typically loathe the former and admire the latter. That's one the main reasons I root on HFEC and any other chain/park/project that actually raises the standard of amusement attractions in the public mind. I hope someday Six Flags has to compete with a customer service approach, but for now it's all about the quick money. That turned into way bigger post than I expected. I'll stop rambling now.

I hesitate to post too much about this, but I've been shown a picture from one of my old acquaintances who is getting to work on "something at Hersheypark". In the photo one can just make out some sort track system curled tightly around inside a building. Can't say much more than that, but from the little I've seen it does look very interesting and worth looking forward too.

Ray Johnson truly was one of the people SDC was originally created to celebrate and admire. He is greatly missed. ---- Geyser Gulch + the cleared area is a fairly significant amount of land for SDC. The actual Geyser Gulch structure is pretty massive, but there's a lot of mixed rumors over whether it will be simply refurbished and repurposed or torn down with another large play structure being built somewhere in the new area, or maybe a combination of the two where part of it gets taken down and a new extension built. They did mention that they wanted to have a big play area still though, and I know there would be backlash if they don't have one. SDC has always had some really creative play areas. I grew up playing on the massive bouncy rope nets that hung high above the general area where the Splash Battle is now.

Lol, no way! They really are building Seagull: the Ride! I'm preparing myself now for the possibility that this will be a wing coaster. Not that I wouldn't like it, but it isn't what I've been picturing all along. Wouldn't be too hard to set the gold standard for wing coasters though - I could see a massive 200' tall monster soaring across the Voyage. Just so long as they let it put some forces on the riders.

I think I like "Seagull: the Ride" the best. I just imagine a giant seagull swooping down to save the pilgrims as their ship breaks apart. HW needs a little drunk history.

Whatever the ride style, this ride will be intense and crazy awesome. B&M has shown that they are perfectly capable of going outside the box and providing good forces if the customer wants that. Really, more than anything, I'm looking forward to just simply seeing a great B&M layout - a return to their full potential. B&M's are already awesome in my book, but I'll give that they have dampered some of their recent designs. A good ride here could really re-ignite the debate over who's the better manufacturer: B&M or intamin. A launch and pre-show would be icing on the cake, but in the end it all comes back to design. Of course, we could still be wrong about assuming B&M... Just two days... two days...