haiderodes

Nice photos! Its so picturesque in the snow. Goes to show you, that parks can still function well in the snow! What rides, if any, were closed?

^I wanna say it was sometime in the 80's. I distinctly remember seeing a red track Goldrusher in some family photos from the park. My first visit to the park was around 1987.

Those ships were cancelled due to the cost involved in having US flagged ships. Due to our laws, it is a lot more expensive to have a ship registered in the US than other places. That's why the majority of boats are registered in the Bahamas and other offshore locales. There was a MSNBC special on not too long ago about the cruise industry. They profiled NCL and spoke specifically about this and why there arent more Hawaiian cruises.

I work for Harrah's Entertainment and have worked here since before we were purchased by Apollo (along with another company). There really hasnt been a major change aside from some capital projects being put on hold (mostly due to the economy). In fact we have remained the largest and most stable of any of the gaming companies around. I find this interesting news as we recently purchased a racetrack near Cleveland. Ohio, as many know, is close to legalizing gaming, so I imagine its a prudent move to get a strong footing there. Seriously, you haven't seen any change? How about the staff at your property dwindling, how about retail and restaurant space being leased out and the employees that worked in those original locations being let go and not transferred, how about them creating 5 property "pods" so all the upper mgmt of all the "pod"properties being let go and 1 executive for each dept run all 5 properties, do you miss your 401K matching 'cause I guarantee you that will never come back along with raises or bonuses. You may be front of house and don't see it the same as us back of house employees see things but I myself see big changes coming to Cedar Fair if this goes through and myself as a shareholder will be voting no. Then again on the bright side maybe we will finally get that giant ferris wheel out here we were told about months ago Its hard to say confidently that the changes we have had as a company are related strictly to the transition and not adjusting to the economy. Keep in mind lots of companies had to take the same measures for paycuts, suspending bonuses, 401k match etc. Compared to other similar companies in town, we have fared the best mostly because we were taken private before the meltdown. As for the ferris wheel, that isnt the only thing they have announced...remember our arena? Things always get announced but put on hold/never built here in Vegas. Again, its hard to say this is strictly related to the transition and not the economy when it could be a combination of both. As for leasing of outlets, lots of companies are doing that these days. Its a smart business move, its less cost upfront for us and in some instances, we have merely purchased the franchise keeping our own employees. Six Flags, Cedar Fair and other gaming companies have been doing this for years. Honestly, when you have few in-house offerings that are that strong to pull in the people, you have to try something else. While I question some of the partnerships, some just make sense. The "pod" system had been around before Apollo, however it has been adjusted to account for various aquisitions and whatnot. BTW, I dont work front of house, nor do I work for any one property. So that may be why I have a diffferent perspective, as the focus of my work is for Southern Nevada as a whole. I'm not sure where you are getting the stats on 80% of full time people being put on call. Sure there was some consolidation of workforce and elimination of redundancies, but again itshard to say Apollo did it.

If it were up to me, I would have painted Scream! this year instead of Goliath. Sure it had started to fade, but it didnt look nearly as bad as Scream!. Then again when they get around to painting that one, they are also gonna need to do some work on all the signage and queue walls. Perhaps it was the quality of paint used? Bright colors and direct sun exposure/intense heat do not a good mix make...take Manhattan Express for example. It was repainted a few years ago and its fading AGAIN.

Even though the show terrified me the first time I saw it when I was a lil kid, I grew the love it. I can't wait to see what they do with the pre-show. It would be cool to see them bring back some version of True Colors. The biggest items I would like to see are the fiber optic starfield and of course to hear "Another Part of Me" BLASTING as you leave the theatre. Memories. Technology in that theatre has improved since the mid 80s so just think about all the cool suprises they could have in store for us (especially with the moving floor). On the other hand, I think the biggest form of flattery would be to recreate the EO experience as close to exact as possible. As for Alien Encounter, it has a single two-stage preshow (foyer and main preshow) and two actual theatres. So it would be difficult to do a side by side overlay.

As for some effects/props missing on SFMM's Batman: the aformentioned fog at the station reentry and in the trenches, the spinning fan blade in the sewer tunnel, the police car with broken fire hydrant, the Batman logo in the station actually being illuminated and the TV screens in the station being on (its been so long I forget what they actually used to show!) It also annoys me when they leave the regular lights on instead of using the stage lighting in the station. This year I had the chance to ride all but one of the other SF Batmans and suprisingly there were more differences between them (effects/props wise) than I first thought. And I'm not just talking about variances in the queues. For example, SFGAm's has extra prop pieces affixed to the back of the cars. SFStL's has lights along the inside edge of the platform that flash once the floor drops. I also noticed that the newer Batman's (i.e. SFOT) dont have the holders for the mist/foggers at the station re-entry, so its as if they never added it.

I'm so excited! I LOVED Captain EO, even though as a kid it scared the crap outta me, as I got old enough to understand what was going on, I grew to love it.

2 tickets for Cher this upcoming Saturday - $50 total (employee special)

I work for Harrah's Entertainment and have worked here since before we were purchased by Apollo (along with another company). There really hasnt been a major change aside from some capital projects being put on hold (mostly due to the economy). In fact we have remained the largest and most stable of any of the gaming companies around. I find this interesting news as we recently purchased a racetrack near Cleveland. Ohio, as many know, is close to legalizing gaming, so I imagine its a prudent move to get a strong footing there.

"Sorrow" - Dolce

Pretty impressive considering there are some 3 minute long rides out there that always seem to have a stacking problem!

I was just wondering because Barnstomer, although similar, isn't an exact mirror clone of Go Coaster. There is an extra turn at the end and a *seemingly* longer brake run that aligns directly with the station. From what I have seen on other coasters with tire drive lifts immediately after the station, the train can't advance into the station until the previous train has cleared the lift for rollback protection. When Go Coaster runs two trains, how do they get around that? Are there some brakes/anti-rollbacks on the lift I forgot about? Barnstormer has a chain lift if I remember correctly.

I think you might be confusing Go Coaster with Barnstormer at MK as it runs two trains. Naturally it stacks every cycle when running both.

I see the tower erryday and they havent done anything visible to the tower since the announcement. There have been many projects that have been announced over the years that have yet to come to fruition (even before the economy tanked). Thus, most locals tend to be skeptical till its actually open...por ejemplo CityCenter. Even though they start building it or even complete something, doesnt necessarily mean it will open.

When I was on he WDWCP I went on tons of behind the scenes tours, classes, etc. but perhaps the best was a tour of Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We got to walk all around the tower, through control rooms, maintenance areas and best of all the 5th dimension floor! One of the coolest parts was getting to ride it with the lights on and sound effects off, totally different and slightly more frightening ride. No wonder they incorporated more lighting effects into the drop shaft on the DCA version. If you look up during the drop sequence, you'll see what I mean.

^Wow...I didnt realize Veer had lighting like that! I cant wait to see the Cosmopolitan lighting when its finished...the blue they have been testing looks cool. The tram stations also seem very nice and sleek! Cant wait to check it out tonight.

Not sure if I buy the "uniqueness to the northeast" as a reason for the change in plan. KBF, Disney and SFMM all have similar rides in their line up - rapids, chair swings, carousels and log rides. More realistically, I imagine the cost of transporting the ride to PA vs CA is a lot cheaper. I also figure the publicity over the sudden change couldn't hurt...just saying. Seems kinda strange to announce then suddenly switch delivery destination by 2000 miles.

Usually late afternoon. Last time I saw it, it stepped off around 3 or 4p...before it got dark for sure. Its not a very long route, so its possible to miss it entirely if you stay out of Ghost Town and Calico Square.

^Just to add to that... On some rides, brake units on brake runs pull dual duty as trims as well. Many MCBRs function in this way. If a ride vehicle exceeds a certain speed, it will slow it down. It all comes down to programming, some rides are set up in unique ways. For example on some B&Ms, they allot a certain number of cycles without the trims functioning to account for a "warm up" period. This can work to your advantage if you manage to get the last cycle before the period expires...a trimless ride. I have experienced this on the first train of the day on Superman: Kryton Coaster as well as Riddler's Revenge. With the addition of magnetic brakes, some manufacturers and parks have put in a combination of traditional friction and magnetic brakes on brake runs. In these cases the magnetic brake serves to trim the speed regardless of if the friction brake will need to stop it or not. B&M does this on many rides particularly Silver Bullet and Tatsu as well as GCI on rides such as Prowler, Terminator, etc. This helps cut down on wear and tear on the mechanical friction brakes as the train would be moving at a lower rate of speed through them. And that is just the tip of the iceberg, there's tons of things manufacturers and parks do in regards to braking - some exciting, others not so much.

^This link has a rundown on the specifics for this year.... http://www.knotts.com/special1/index.cfm Ultimately, walking around it will be a normal day in the park save for the craft fair and the parade which is ghetto fabulous.

I enjoy Knotts best when its either Scary Farm or Merry Farm mostly because there are so many additional activities going on. 1. From the plays in the Birdcage Theatre to the Snoopy on Ice Christmas Show and the scarier-than-halloween Elf Mountain overlay on the log ride, there's tons o fun during the holidays at KBF. There's also a craft fair(if you are into that sort of thing) and lots of other special holiday entertainment in the park as well. 2. December weekends will be busy mostly because Toys for Tots is going on. I'd suggest going early and staying late if you want to do all the rides plus see the holiday entertainment. Back in 2006 we did the second Sunday and it was pretty crazy. Last year we did a weekday and it wasnt too bad. This year we are going on Tuesday, Dec 15th so it shouldnt be that bad (at least during the daylight hours). 3. SFMM is only open weekends until the weekend before Christmas and Castle Park only has its rides open on Saturday and Sunday...not sure if they are doing a special holiday schedule though.

Chorizo Sausage Burrito from Jack in the Box - $3.23 USD

Cool photos. Its cool see what they've been working on for almost 4 years now. I remember them talking about the thing back in 2003-2004...some of us natives thought we'd never see it get built! The "new road" you mentioned isn't new it all. Its a stretch of Harmon Blvd...it was there before they started construction on City Center. In fact the bridge over the freeway was only open for a few months when they closed that stretch of the road. Needless to say it will be nice to have it back open as it will be great to have that option to get west of the Strip again. Oh yea and Mandarin opens Friday. Training (front desk at least) started at Aria today for its opening two weeks from tomorrow. One of my coworkers and I are planning to walk over to check out the new mall on Thursday after work. Should be interesting!

I have found through working for a large "entertainment" company myself that names come and go especially on the back end. Sometimes it can make you or break you, but I agree sometimes the path of least resistance is best. For example, my company Harrah's Entertainment, has many brands including the namesake Harrah's branded properties. However, some time ago they announced an intention to rename the parent company Caesars Entertainment because that brand, which we own, had more international recognition. So while only two out of 40 properties are called Caesars, its that perception of the name that wins over. I see this name change as something similar. While the main catalyst is a change in ownership, I think putting the most widely known name in the company up front makes sense. As far as "entertainment" goes, it probably represents any other ventures present and future that aren't necessarily related to a park itself. Many companies use that term in their name to describe a broad range of their products and services. Of course this is just my two cents