Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park Discussion Thread

[ernierocker]

It's about time Webster updated their dictionary to include this place under the definition of "shady".

[LoneRider92]

Well, Hades is still one of my favorite rides of all time (and I know I'm in the *very* minor minority), but I can honestly say I'm not a big fan of the operating style of Mt. Olympus. Being so close to the Dells, I've never stayed at any of their locations and I figure I never would want to. The procedure does seem to pretty much be 1) Buy out location 2) Put some Mt. Olympus title on the location 3) Move on to the next one. The motels they buy out aren't very grandeur and they make very few, if any, improvements once they acquire it.

 

I’m all for having people come visit and have some fun in our neck of the woods, but it’s becoming a little harder each year to want to give them my money, and I’m almost getting to a point of advising people not to visit. The only nice things this year were the revamp on Hades and buy-one-get-one admissions towards the end of the season; everything else is a tough sell. I’ll still go for Hades next year, but there had better be at least some attempt of maintaining the ride.

[DirkFunk]

It's about time Webster updated their dictionary to include this place under the definition of "shady".

 

Well, Nick would do the maintenance on the coasters and upgrade the hotels, but he's busy with other things...

this dude really took this picture of his wife/house/car

[robbalvey]

^ You know.... how can you fault the guy? Dude's living the "American dream."

Edited November 2, 2013 by robbalvey

[Looty]

I certainly can't think of a better place to drive around in a Ferrari than in the Wisconsin Dells!...It's like the 'Miami' of the midwest!

 

In all seriousness, what the man chooses to do with his money is his business. With that said, a part of me feels jibbed knowing that a small amount of my money went towards 'those' (open to interpretation)

[Jew]

Aside from it looking like his wife didn't spend much money on a hairstylist, who cares what he does with his money? It is his family business, he can do whatever he wants with it.

 

Clearly keeping costs down through hiring sketchy ride operators and not going above and beyond with maintenance are part of his business model, and so long as people keep coming to the Dells and visiting...

[Philrad71]

So basically, Mt. Olympus is like the Karnival Kruise of theme parks?

[DirkFunk]

Me? I'm just amused at the trashiness of the photo. Look, he can do whatever he wants. If he's taking advantage of the system to basically destroy the town's independent operators and put everyone out of business, that's not something I can anything about. But he's also the theme park industry's version of a slum lord. There's nothing to cheer there unless you're part of his family or a sociopath.

[Jew]

Taking advantage of the situation? Mt. Olympus is definitely not the highest quality theme park, but he's consistently invested in new things and bought out businesses that may have otherwise folded on their own. Or in the one case, the guy used the money to build a brand new resort.

[DirkFunk]

Taking advantage of the situation? Mt. Olympus is definitely not the highest quality theme park, but he's consistently invested in new things and bought out businesses that may have otherwise folded on their own. Or in the one case, the guy used the money to build a brand new resort.

 

If I believed that his plan was really to prevent blight on the strip, I would totally be for it. I don't believe he's positioned himself politically out of an interest to serve the greater public good, or that he's bought all these properties because of some altruistic streak he has. His goal is to be *the* power in Wisconsin Dells, whether by buying the "competition" or preventing them from springing into existence, no matter how small. But I've already spent too much time on this. It's the Dells.

[_koppen]

Well, Nick would do the maintenance on the coasters and upgrade the hotels, but he's busy with other things...

 

Those pants

[GayCoasterGuy]

It's really a shame for us coaster nerds.. that place could really be a destination.

 

I still LOVE Cyclops, even with the potholes. A hardened, intensity loving coaster friend of mine was hurt on Cyclops this past summer. Then, I saw a kid with a bloody elbow after riding Hades.

 

There was a rumor about Cyclops getting the old Hades ratchet-bar train. That will be bad news for us coaster fans, and potentially even something worse... That type of air time and ratchet bars don't always make a good combination. It would also tear up the track much more than it already is. Ride it while you can!

[larrygator]

Well, Nick would do the maintenance on the coasters and upgrade the hotels, but he's busy with other things...

 

Those pants

 

You misspelled the word breasts.

[Koasterking48]

So much class in that picture...

[Ed Farmer]

If he's taking advantage of the system to basically destroy the town's independent operators and put everyone out of business, that's not something I can anything about. But he's also the theme park industry's version of a slum lord. There's nothing to cheer there unless you're part of his family or a sociopath.

 

 

Good thing that this has never ever happened before in the history of business.

[Intaman]

I came across this write-up about Nick Laskaris,

 

 

I would say he has definitely faced (and survived) some tremendous challenges during his life. I'd bet even Hades 360 can't hurt him.

[Intaman]

 

If I believed that his plan was really to prevent blight on the strip, I would totally be for it. I don't believe he's positioned himself politically out of an interest to serve the greater public good, or that he's bought all these properties because of some altruistic streak he has. His goal is to be *the* power in Wisconsin Dells, whether by buying the "competition" or preventing them from springing into existence, no matter how small. But I've already spent too much time on this. It's the Dells.

 

I don't think he is taking advantage of the system by acquiring what some might describe as "dive" motels. There are major hotel chains e.g. Hilton, that acquire properties and rehab/renovate them. They later rebrand them. This reduces development costs. Of course, the Mt. Olympus Village is far from a major hotel chain. However, if the demand is, indeed, there, this likely makes sense. This is a way to expand his business.

 

By the way, the Mt. Olympus Village already has to compete with more inclusive resorts like the Wilderness, Kalahari, Great Wolf, and Chula Vista. I don't think that the Concord Inn was ever competition, especially at the going rate for a Village room (I think their price points were rather far apart). Unlike these resorts, however, the Village does have proximity to the strip and free admission to the park (if that means anything), so, again, its supply and demand.

[Jew]

^Kalahari was also developed by a guy who sold his properties to Nick Laskaris, so if his goal was to force everyone else out of business, he didn't do a very good job by essentially funding the competition.

[Mrlittle]

So I was semi joking with gravity group on their Facebook about retracking Hades 360 and they replied with this..

Ryan Little, yes indeed. The remaining areas of tracking on Hades 360 were completed last week. No kidding!

 

My ribs would like to thank them if this is the case.

[vacoaster09]

Posted today on Gravity Groups facebook wall:

from Gravity Groups facebook

[Hoppy]

^ Woo hoo! I will have to make a trip out and give it another try.

[AndrewRnR]

Maybe I'm jaded but I'm not sure retracking will solve the death-like experience of the ride. I heard rumors saying it was "ok" the first week of operation last year but by late summer when I rode Hades the entire ride was miserable. You can have experts rebuild it but if no one takes care of it...

[Lightning9SX]

I wound it bearable opening weekend. But in August, absolutely terrible.

[CMV]

Anyone wanting to prevent blight on the Dells strip had best take a time machine back to 1965.

[Intaman]

Posted today on Gravity Groups facebook wall:

 

You mean, they finally retracked that section where I temporarily lost feeling in my legs?