Sven20

The email was cut and paste. I'm on the email list of several parks, it was the same. Insert park name...."incredible, UNBELIEVABLE new attraction for the 2019 season." The more interesting, if you want to call it that things, was SF turning a season membership into essentially a hotel rewards program like Wyndham or Choice Hotels.

The parks get what they get for a reason.They produce little revenue and EBIDTA n the totality of the chain. CF did a study of all their parks in the early 2010s that lead to the increased investments and plans for CGA, Carowimda, Wonderland. The economics, demographics, income, etc of all the areas were studied. The smaller park that scored well was CGA. VF was second best reading between the lines of CF statements over the years. Wonderland and Carowimda were obvious to get more investments being fast growing cities. CF had the big 5 and it's going to what I call the selected seven...CP, KI, Carowinds, Wonderland, KB, KD, and CGA. VF seems to be 8th in the pecking order with the positive statements on them the last year or so on their growth despite no massive rides added. The other 3 parks are in no man's lands essentially. They make a small amount, but not to justfy major investment because he ROI is not evident.

The parks get what they get for a reason.They produce littlereenue and EBIDTA. CF did a study of all their parks in the army 2010a that lead to the increased investments and plans for CGA, Carowimda, Wonderland. The economics, demographics, income, etc of all the areas were studied. The smaller park that scored well was CGA. VF was second best reading between the lines of CF statements over the years. Wonderland and Carowimda were obvious to get not investments being fast growing cities. CF had the big 5 and it's going to what I feel the selected even...CP, KI, Carowinds, Wonderland, KB, KD, and CGA. VF seems to be 85th in the pecking order with the positive statements on them the last year or so on their growth despite no massive rides added. The other 3 parks are in no man's lands essentially. They make a small amount, but not to justfy major investment because he ROI is not evident.

Plus it sounds like SF is upping their CapEx spending this year with the rumored new coasters at SFMM and SFGAm. It will be nice to get some new coasters that aren't RMC conversions (not complaining about those at all as they are all awesome) or S&S 4Ds. I just want to see the SF parks add different rides again so it gives me a reason to visit the various parks. However, I do hope they keep putting the Raptors in smaller parks. A park like SFStl would benefit greatly from getting a Raptor. SF Capes is not increasing. They have reiterated that on every conf call and investor presentation.it's based on a formula of 9 percent of North American revenue. They have stated the 9 percent is very likely to decrease as revenue growsbecause they are happy with what they get with their current gross ride expenditures. SF was firm even with the new parks or wasn't increasing. More parks same Capex ..that means continued low cost rides and coasters. Same money more mouths to feed

Big lol..Fanboy fantasies at work

Big lol..Fanboy fantasies at work

I didn't see Railblazer down at all the day I was there a week and a half ago. We rode it all different times of the day, and as far as we could tell it was open from park opening to closing. Okay. I'm at SFFT it's a shot show. Broke down constantly yesterday. Today broke after 1 cycle to start day. Got back in line after first ride broke down again. Then they went to 1 train ops and that train had only 7 working seats. Of course with no srl and ops without enough iniative pull people and call out empty seats trains were going out with 5 or 6 all the time. SF parks don't have the ops to handle a ride like this.

I didn't see Railblazer down at all the day I was there a week and a half ago. We rode it all different times of the day, and as far as we could tell it was open from park opening to closing. Okay. I'm at SFFT it's a shot show. Broke down constantly yesterday. Today broke after 1 cycle to start day. Got back in line after11st ride broke down again. Then they went to 1 train ops and that train had only 7 working seats. Of course with no stl trains were going out with 5 or 6 all the time. SF parks don't have the ops to handle a ride like this.

Does Railblazer have constant breakage like Wonderwoman at SFFT? WW is down constantly with restraint problems.

Thinking of doing a relatively last minute trip possibly to SFOT this week. Any idea what it's normally like? Should I expect the park to be jammed with last thrill of the summer park goers before schools start back or is it very light?

Thinking of doing a relatively last minute trip possibly to SFFT next week. Any idea what it's normally like? Should expect the park to be jammed with last thrill of the summer park goers before schools start back or is it very light?

Depends on the field you enter. A friend of mine worked his way through a masters degree managing a Food Lion. He couldn't get a sniff in DC in spite of having internships at prestigious organizations and a top notch degree because he was "the supermarket guy". And when it comes to graduate school applications, I can tell you this from watching it first hand - no one cares if you worked a job. What they want is activity applicable to the degree. If you bussed tables to get through college and someone else had the chance to volunteer 20 hours a week in a lab, that second person is more desirable by a ton. I say that as a paid employee of possibly the most prestigious public university in the US. If I had a kid, I'd advise them to spend their summers in classes instead of working for $9/hr because completing their college degree in the shortest amount of time would pay dividends down the line. Aside from maybe doing the Disney College Program, no employer is gonna care about what garbage job you had when you were a teenager when you're looking to get into a professional setting. You're now talking about college and not HS. My example was HS. College I had engineering internships every summer except after freshman year. That year I took summer schools b/c I wanted a double major and a minor. Of course, in college you should be looking for summer stuff applicable to your degree. There are many summer job fairs, well that's the way it was in STEM. These jobs require only to be 16 in most cases, these are fine HS summer jobs. Also, many kids in college are "surfing", ie..don;t know what they want to major in for 1 or 2 years and then there is the large group that pick nonsense majors with little to no job prospects or earning potential upon graduation, they are your barista. This large group are prime for these park jobs.

OK, hold on there for a second. This is a completely stupid example. I honestly don't blame your average guest for accidentally pulling down their lap bar out of habit because EVERY SINGLE ROLLER COASTER SINCE THE EXISTENCE OF ROLLER COASTERS you would get in and then pull down your lap bar. So don't give me some bullshit about how people don't listen because for decades and decades people were wired to get in and pull down their lap bar. if the park wants to have some out-of-the-ordinary rule where guests don't pull down their lap bars then have trains where the lap bars are locked in the up position until they are unlocked. Doesn't the GCI Millennium Flyer trains do this? So why does it work perfectly fine at a park like Holiday World then? Really? Because I could sit here and site many many many examples to you of where it works perfectly fine. Would you like me to do that? It's clear to me you don't know much about theme park operations so I'd suggest you stop talking out of your rectum. Actually, it's a perfect example b/c your entire stick is if you tell them they will do it. I can tell you as somebody that goes to 20+ parks per year, the majority don't listen or pay attention to anything around them. They are self absorbed. You can cite an anomaly all you want and pretend it's the norm, it's not. If you want to bring extra junk to the park, pay for it, buy a locker. Pretending bins are somehow efficient is talking out of your "rectum", to use your own terms. It's in no way efficient, as people have to cross the ride and then come back. It adds 15-20 seconds if people move with initiative, more with the sloth like culture of America. Then there is the. lets have a mini convo instead of getting are junk people. I've seen it a million times.

I'll say this about "the kids" - for a lot of fields, working every summer and supporting yourself doing a job with your classes is no benefit whatsoever. It's actually a net negative, because it means you weren't doing unpaid internships related to your field. This is especially true in policy and finance fields. Kids are also being pushed harder than ever to commit to getting AP credits, going to universities, taking classes in summer, and obtaining advanced/terminal degrees while partaking in a variety of extramural activities in order to hopefully obtain scholarships. Pay-For-Play soccer exists in America largely because parents see their kid's high school and travel team activities as a cheaper alternative to paying for a state school and books by getting their sons or daughters a free ride (that is often promised). All this means much lower labor force participation. You can't have it both ways, after all: do we want ride operators or do we want the best educated, most driven, highest competing labor force in the world? BTW: Cedar Point was packed this weekend Bill, so maybe there's just been some weird delay in people turning out to the parks. I worked a summer job in HS and played travel soccer. They were hardly "fun" summer jobs. I worked for my uncles' roofing company having to get up at 5am every morning. I participated in many school clubs and activities, besides playing 2 varsity sports. I earned 24 credits via AP's upon HS graduation. I don't see the trade off scenario you present. I was not an anomaly, all my HS friends were the same. This is not a back in my day thing, I know many kids that do the same know, but they are the minority. Talking to kids now and their parents, I just shake my head with the mentality that has been perpetuated. There is a high level of entitlement and many thinking they are too good for a "service job", for the summer. Having a "not fun HS job" reminds kids of what their future could be if they don't handle their school work. If they neglect their education they will be saddled with a job they hate for decades, not for 2 1/2 months.

They only bitch about capacity because the parks do a poor job of moving people through the process. At pretty much EVERY park in Japan, in between ride cycles one or two employees will come through the station telling everyone at the airgates who is about to board the next train coming in to take off their bags, pull cell phones out of pockets, and they "prepare" everyone for putting their stuff in the bins. Here in the US, no park that I've ever seen does this so you have people at the very last minute getting their crap together after the air gates have already opened. I will never understand why more parks don't go through this simple process especially when most of the time I just see park employees sitting there bored while waiting for the next train to come in. EDIT: I was just reminded that Holiday World not only does this, but the employees will actually TAKE YOUR BAGS and offer to put them off to the side in between trains. Again, the process only works as fast or as slow as the park makes it happen. Guests are not there to think about the daily operations of the roller coasters, they are just there to ride. So if a park offers bins for people to put their stuff, but they see that it is slowing down capacity, IT IS THE PARKS RESPONSIBILITY to speed that up or come up with a solution that does not impact guest satisfaction. And I will say it once again that I have seen examples at parks all over the world that work, and I only blame the park for their laziness if they cannot come up with a solution. The attendants/ride ops can tell people 5 times between each dispatch not to touch their lap bars for RMC's and literally every train and if you're fortunate every other train somebody pulls down their lap bar. It was ridiculous at places like SFOG and KD. By the time you're in the station people have heard it 50+ times and they still do it. Then you have the people where the attendant has to say 10 times to stop sitting on the hand rails and they sit their oblivious. The simple fact is people don't listen, they are self absorbed. This is not Japan or some European country where the majority of the people aren't like this. In the US people just stroll to put things in bins slowly, they often decide to have a conversation with their buddy and goof off in the process. Then when the ride is over there is a traffic jam with people getting stuff from bins as they get their stuff they have to relive the ride. Bins are in no way efficient and definitively slow operations. Let's not even get to the point of do all these people need bags? If they want to bring extra junk pay for it, get a locker. Don't slow operations and lower the satisfaction of the guests who don't bring all this stuff to the park.

Most of those are flat rides, where bins make sense, but a few of them stand out: mainly Raptor, Maverick, and Wicked Twister. These are all high demand rides that all have decent lines throughout the day, and could benefit from removing bins. I personally don't mind the bins, I'm fine waiting longer if it means I can bring my stuff. But the inconsistency seems strange. Of course rides with unloading stations have to be bin-less, but there seems to be inconsistency across rides without an unloading station. Wocked Twister bins don't make a difference b/c it doesn't effect dispatch times b/c of the interval for the LSM. Maverick is a similar situation with 2 load stations you're often waiting for the previous dispatch to clear the block.

Despite overwhelming demand Congress failed to increase the 66K cap last fall and again in the spring. They gave DHS the ability to give 15K at their discretion. This is all politics of them knowing they are needed but they don't want to vote for it b/c they will get some far right person attacking them on being soft on immigration in a primary. Sadly, many kids in the US don't want to do these jobs.

Actually there is one solution that is closer to perfect...BINS! You know, those things that worked just fine for loose articles for years and years now. I think anybody would take the bins over ever-so-slightly longer dispatches. Also, that slightly longer wait wouldn’t feel as bad because you would have your phone for entertainment. This would be the way to keep guests happy, the old-fashioned bin technique! Cedar fair has eliminated bins on all their big coasters across the chain. I'm glad, thus their operations are not at the horrible SF level. Also, CF has a employees that act like they actually want to be there and have some initiative.

People are basing the SFMM rumor on the documentary with what some guy said. He said next year. CGA's permits filed and approved for their coaster are for construction 4/2019 thru 12/2109. That's next year, even though it will open in 2020. CGA could very well be getting the Mack. Let's not even bring up the issue that SF hasn't spent 20M on a coaster since bankruptcy, they haven't even spent 15M. There is also the chance the guy doens't know the US well and misspoke, hecould have meant Carolina. Carowinds Mack is confirmed with shipment manifests from Mack to US ports with the receiver being Carowinds

https://www.cedarpoint.com/auto-renewal Starting on or about September 1st of each year we will renew your Season Pass for the next season and charge the credit card on file. Approximately 30 days prior to the renewal transaction, you’ll receive a confirmation email outlining the products and lowest price* for the following season. If the summary looks good, you simply need to login to the Season Pass Auto-Renewal Portal if you paid using Easy Pay and accept this year’s Payment Agreement (TILA) or if you are set up to Pay in Full then you don’t need to do anything else. If you’ve changed your mind, you can cancel your enrollment in the program via the Season Pass Auto-Renewal Portal with no penalties. Paid in full accounts will be charged the full amount starting on or about September 1st each year. Payment plan accounts will be charged 9 easy monthly payments starting on or about September 1st each year. The payment plan option doesn’t require the payment of any interest or additional fees. No refunds will be accommodated after the initial charge on or about September 1st of each year. A membership...a la Six Flags they keep charging you till you actively cancel. A season pass auto renewal you have to actively renew by agreeing to the terms. Memberships lack of active cancellation is an assumption of continued agreement of the terms.

Again, there already is an auto renew option that you can select for CF. You can do auto renew on the old 9 payment plan or the lump sum.

FINALLY!!! That concept has kept me with every major park chain, sans disney, because I don't have to go through the hassle of renewing year after year. Cedar Fair already had auto renewal if you wanted it. 12mth payments is not the same as membership. On the conf call CF comments and the tone when memberships was somewhat negative.

There is a reason Giovanda only built 3 coasters and is defunct. Goliath is one of the worst hypers every built.

How did you get $7.69 total charge?

There are pluses and minuses to both systems. I have all park season dining with SF and CF. I do like at CF parks I have eaten my meal at 930 or later on some occasions. There have also been times where the 4 hr CF period was a negative, as their was a weather delay. The snack at SF is nice, but overall CF quality and choices of food is way better. The gold star is Carowinds Harmony Hall. I wish CF had a version of that at every park.