djboss302 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Pretty self explanatory. Would you rather own the park, or design/build the rides that go into parks? I'm sorry if there's already a thread for this, but I did look. I would rather own the park, as I can make pitch in decisions for future attractions, and I can see it being fun to just own a park. What would you choose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyRCT3 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 (edited) I could save a lot more than 15% on stress, by switching to designing the rides. I've actually put together a full years worth of finances for an amusement park. Loans, operating costs, taxes, merchandise, etc. It is truly a lot of work. Edited April 22, 2014 by JonnyRCT3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankeeman311 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Good question. I think I'd rather own a park. I'd be my own boss and can pick what type of rides come to the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theymitbgi Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Own the park, assuming it's financially stable. Must have waterpark portion and of course, I'd live on site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterkyle Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I rather design .... well not per say the rides themselves but the Station, queue area, ride colors, and how the midways will look and interact with the rides. Matter of fact that's exactly why I'm going to school for and hopefully be in Cedar Fair's Planning and Design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_koppen Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Own a park, of course! Small family oriented with a few real thrill rides and breathtaking landscaping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyRCT3 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I rather design .... well not per say the rides themselves but the Station, queue area, ride colors, and how the midways will look and interact with the rides. Matter of fact that's exactly why I'm going to school for and hopefully be in Cedar Fair's Planning and Design. Be sure to study suburban landscaping. Good luck to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urzishra Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I'd rather neither. I mean I think managing a park would be fun, but it would magnify things if I went to other parks and they weren't "doing it right." I had this problem when I eat at restaurants. Because I was in the business so long, it was hard for me to divorce "restaurant Rob" with "I'm out and about with my wife Rob" ... It has gotten better since I've switched fields, but it has been ingrained in me for so long (I worked at a restaurant for 11 years, managed one for 3 or 4, my parents run their own place..) that it is still kind of hard for me. That being said, I can make the best breakfast ever. If it came down to it, I think I'd rather own a place then design, but I would only be an owner in title only. I'd put forth my vision to people who can actually make those decisions properly. I don't think I would be very good at designing rides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I think I can't answer as I don't really know, when building a ride, how much of it is the park's responsibility and how much it is the maker's. I would really like to work as an engineer but then I couldn't just build whatever ride I wanted to, so I don't really know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Design the rides. And let me get out my (several) large envelopes with notes, drawings, attraction blue sky ideas to show you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myself Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Designing rides over ownership, by far. Though I should say that by extension, this would also include other designs...buildings, area layouts, etc. I can't even begin to list the insane number of ideas I've come up with for Kennywood as well as other parks. I've felt many of them are feasible enough to propose, but don't imagine they'd be taken seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Design the rides. Crazy ideas always bump up in my head. I am more of a physics people than a business people. And if I ever own a park or even a park chain, I think I will spend way too much money on Intamin rides and finally run into bankruptcy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevinC049 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Design by far. Working with a different chunk of land and different scenarios all the time would suite me over operating a park. All kinds of odd things will pop into my head with quite a few 'what ifs' and 'but if they did ___.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geauga Dog Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I'd rather own a park but at the same time have some input in the design of the attractions, almost a best of both worlds. I've created a few parks over the years to basically have my own chain but I'd be just as happy to buy an existing small to mid-size park and gradually make improvements to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrlittle Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I would own a park. I already know the name, rides, and even location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillseeker4552 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 100% design. My dream is to become the next John Wardley or Alan Schilke! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Owning a park like Lagoon where the park designs their own rides would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanTheBooker Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I know this is just for fun, but owning a park would hardly be worth it just so you could pick future attractions. Even if you were strictly owner and not manager, if you want to your future investments to be successful you've got to go through the proper channels. How does it fit in the park? How does it fit the budget? How does it work in advertising? What permits are necessary? What does maintanence think? What does my planner think? Can our electrical grid handle it? What's the nearest one? It's not as easy as "Give me a B&M hyper and make it blue. Again, I know this is just a fun thread. I'm just ranting. Great discussion topic by the way. And last, I'd own my own park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warbird Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Own a park Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanks4me05 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I could save a lot more than 15% on stress, by switching to designing the rides. Not really. I'm a junior in Mechanical Engineering and I'm getting my degree with the intent to design roller coasters and amusement rides, so I'd be doing a lot of the moving parts as well as probably layout design as well when I get a job. Imagine all the math you did from when you started Kindergarten to when you graduated high school (or including your senior year assuming you are still in it.) It took you twelve years. That's about the material that you will learn in *ONE* engineering course. Now imagine five or six of those courses. Every semester. The teachers are researchers, so they don't always know how to teach, and they ESPECIALLY don't know how to make a fair test. (My joke is that an Engineering exam is like an episode of Foodnetwork's "Chopped" competition: You are forced to use things you've never even seen before, you have nowhere enough time to complete your task, and you depend on everyone else making more mistakes than you to do well.) In high school, you might learn a new formula every week or two, I've had as many as half a dozen in one lecture for one class. You don't have time to socialize, you don't have time to do extracurricular activities, you barely have time to even get a good night of sleep. It's the school work and nothing else. I honestly don't understand why high schools seem to push the whole "STEM fields of bust" mantra. It is simply not for everyone. In fact, it's for very few people. I've been making inroads with various companies, and you'd be surprised at how many proposals don't get awarded contracts, and how many times parks just don't follow through with their original request for some reason. There's a lot more going on in the engineering office than you realize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jokey Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Designing the rides, I've had some small dreams of owning a park but thinking to myself "hey, I designed this!" would give me a lot more satisfaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booink Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I'd own the park so I could go ride a coaster during lunch break ! Seriously I know that owning a park is a lot of stress and responsibilities, but I'm sure I'd like it and anyway I'm a very poor roller coaster designer (my NL rides always looks like crap). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her0ofLime Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 I'd rather design the rides. I could then just let my creative juices flow and do something I really like doing instead of trying to do a bunch of financial stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan P. Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Ive always wanted to own a park, but the more i think about it the less i would want to. Im not a money person so that would be hard to mange and on top of keeping what guests want and i want balanced would be hard. Yeah i could hire people, but id still have to manage them. So i would rater design the rides. Just knowing that there is a small piece of my imagination multiple places around the world sounds fantastic! Now i would hope id have engineers and other people to make sure the rides are safe. Im a creative person so i would want the credit for the concept not the math. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downunder Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 I'd rather own a park, because then I'd sell it and have fun with the proceeds (for me: invest wisely and generate a solid income stream). Okay, sticking with the hypothetical's intent: I'd rather design, running most businesses is very stressful, and I prefer the creative side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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