Archive: September, 2009

Jeff, Diana, Carrie, Tyler and Mike (with Artemisa and Natalia) review this week's news in the amusement industry.

• From inside a recreational vehicle in a remote part of Indiana comes the post-Fall Affair CoasterBuzz Podcast!
• Carrie ends the exclusive ride time soaked in a painful downpour on the Voyage at Holiday World. Low attendance made most of the day feel like an ERT day.
• Pilgrims Plunge is excellent. Jeff and Tyler took several laps. Tyler kept it wet. Carrie didn't ride because she didn't want to get wet.
• Holiday World beats its attendance record.
• Chang coming down at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom as it appears to be having some re-focusing issues, perhaps to the water park.
• Six Flags Over Georgia under water with flooding in the region. Was supposed to open for the weekend (it did).
• Walt Disney World: Not just for burgers and fries. Jeff and Diana are going back almost entirely for the food (seeing how as she's pregnant). They share dinner adventures around Epcot. Tyler shares stories of premium dinner.
• Family of boy hurt in Xcelerator accident retains lawyer to do lawyery things. Lack of transparency in this doesn't seem to serve anyone.
• Cypress Gardens fails again, future not looking great. We wonder if Buescher's original vision would've worked out if it weren't for the hurricanes that year.
• There are pregnant women everywhere!
• Family parks seem to be resistant to the recession. Mrs. Koch mentioned to us that group sales were soft at Holiday World, and yet they still broke their attendance record.
• Kings Island suffers massive PR failure with skeleton displays of poor taste, including a murdered football player from Tennessee.
• New parade at Six Flags Great America. It makes the kids go "ape crap!"
• La Ronde has an SLC going up for next year. Weird how that will play out next to a B&M inverter.
• Diana disses the Great America of the 80's.
• CoasterBuzz Club is $25 per year. You can join or renew today. Enjoy CoasterBuzz with no ads.

Jeff, Mike and Pat review this week's news in the amusement industry.

• Mike says that his parents want to take him to Chicago's Kiddieland before it closes, but he says they never took him there in the first place.
• Gonch wants the old Hard Rock Park street signs. Send them care of CoasterBuzz.
• Costumed character jobs are probably be miserable. But those Marvel characters at Islands of Adventure have their unit showing.
• Marvel cross-over series in the comics translate well into movie cross-overs.
• Wild West World trial delayed as attorney has a cold. What happened to the right to a speedy trial?
• Harry Potter announcement reveals... nothing! Word on the street is that the big ride will be based on the Robocoaster platform. Mike has been to Middle Earth, Narnia and doesn't want his kids to play Quidditch.
• Megan Fox: Thespian.
• Discussion of business ethics breaks out on CoasterBuzz over Wal-Mart after mention of Six Flags Nigeria deal.
• New Orleans ready to terminate Six Flags lease. And get more money from them. Apparently they haven't noticed the company is in bankruptcy.
• Strange device found mounted on a Disney World bus, grounds the entire fleet for a couple of hours.
• We like Bing "bird's eye" view. One of Jeff's cats are on Google street view.
• Cable snap on Knott's Xcelerator caught on video, and released (probably illegally) into the world. Hard to say what happened. This is another example of how a lack of transparency doesn't help anyone.
• BooBuzz at Cedar Point had a slightly smaller crowd, but good times with lots of Maverick laps. Jeff got to see parts of the old convention center building, and there's a real treasure underneath it all.
• We've been tossing the idea around of a tenth anniversary party/conference in January, maybe at Castaway Bay. Would you come?
• The Fall Affair at Holiday World pre-registration deadline has passed, but we'll be accepting on-site registrations.
• CoasterBuzz Club is $25 per year. You can join or renew today. Enjoy CoasterBuzz with no ads.

Jeff and Pat review this week's news in the amusement industry.

• Tennis rant. And by the way, they're expanding the tennis facility across the freeway from Kings Island.
• Dead guy found in a pond on the Darien Lake grounds after a concert. How does that happen? Jeff shares his wacky high school concert story.
• Southern Star still has no public financing plan for New Orleans site. But the whole things shows how one-sided Nickelodeon is with their licensing agreement. They're not putting up a dime for this.
• Kiddieland nearing its last close. Good piece on NBC's nightly news about it. Park is representative of the transition from trolley transportation to urban sprawl.
• Legoland wants to build a water park as well. Lego sure has become a strong brand.
• Border crossing for tourism between US and Canada hurt by new passport requirements.
• Son of Beast has become quite a legendary failure.
• Merlin reportedly going to go IPO soon. Jeff says there's some acquisition action going on, this week.
• Toy Story Mania coming to the Wii. Game is inspired by the attractions at Disney parks. There's a version for the iPhone as well.
• Cedar Fair does more posturing over 49ers deal in Santa Clara. They want either income for lost revenue on game days or to sell the park. Project still needs voter approval.
• Surprise! Conneaut Lake getting sued by the electric company now. When will people stop giving that place money?
• Magic Kingdom is getting a huge renovation to Fantasyland that will take years to complete.
• Golden Tickets. Yawn. Jeff still thinks it's dirty.
• CoasterBuzz Club is $25 per year. You can join or renew today. Enjoy CoasterBuzz with no ads.
• BooBuzz 2009 details posted for Cedar Point!
• The Fall Affair at Holiday World has a pre-registration deadline of this Friday. Register today!

Jeff, Mike and Pat review this week's news in the amusement industry.

• Cedar Point's Tony Clark joins the guys to talk about Shoot The Rapids and the fun that comes with marketing a new attraction.
• Tony says that the decisions to install rides are based on guest research.
• Wet factor is likely to be variable, and ride animation is not always complete. Height requirement hasn't yet to be determined.
• New haunts at Cedar Point promise to raise the game. Jeff got to see the new Toy Factory in its early stage, and it's looking awesome.
• BooBuzz 2009 details posted for Cedar Point!
• Disney acquires Marvel, theme park licensing arrangements not likely to change any time soon. Getting a bigger audience is key, but it may not be the theme park audience specifically.
• Analysts suggest Spielberg will take contract extension with Universal Orlando.
• Coasting for Kids event is closing in on $10,000 for Give Kids The World. Way to go CoasterBuzz community!
• "Ticket to Danger" is the part of the new evil, texting while doing anything.
• Old Chicago Riverview photos show up from Tribune, Mike's parents have fond memories of the place.
• CoasterBuzz Club is $25 per year. You can join or renew today. Enjoy CoasterBuzz with no ads.
• Faux bomb guy in CP parking lot gets lesser charge for his coffee can.
• Chippery franchise is a good buy for an amusement park.
• Halloween hours get longer and some parks even add days.
• The Fall Affair at Holiday World promises to be a big deal. Register today!