Archive: April, 2010

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

• Cedar Fair is shopping for credit because they didn't know what the market was like. Duh!
• Yet another developer looks at the former Six Flags New Orleans site, and days later says no thank you.
• Orlando Flex Ticket: A good deal and competitive with Walt Disney World offerings? Do people actually show up and wing it in Orlando? Lazy river sidebar.
• Cedar Fair keeps threatening to sue Santa Clara over 49ers stadium stuff. Now they're trying to renegotiate the lease.
• Nickelodeon goes away at Kings Island, Snoopy arrives. Gonch has the perfect description about what that means.
• Seasonal business aren't sure if the new health care reform law will require companies to offer health insurance to seasonal workers.
• Smaller parks thrive in down economy, especially those who don't require admission.
• Off topic: Video game nonsense.
• More amusement parks covered by Google's street view.
• A ride injury lawsuit against Disney, about a guy who had a stroke weeks after riding, goes to trial. Any bets on whether or not that lawyer has ever seen the inside of a court room?
• Universal Singapore starts pulling down Battlestar Galactica coaster over a glitch. Go Vekoma!
• Universal parks down a little in attendance, but up in per capita spending. Probably because every kid who ever went has a Thing 1 onesie or T-shirt. And you can even get them at the Orlando airport!
• PARC spending lots of money this year.
• Volcano locks down travelers, Orlando attractions invite them in.
• Mike has seen the Kiddieland ride first hand at Six Flags Great America, and posted photos in the Day in Pictures forum. Family and kid sized wood coasters rock.
• Some dudes infiltrate an abandoned island on the Walt Disney World Bay Lake.
• Check out a copy of the recent newsletter outlining some of the features of CoasterBuzz. Also has info on our need to replace the site's Web server.
• Knoebels Flying Turns a labor of love, obviously, because at this point it doesn't make much business sense.
• Insert love for Zamperla here.
• Facebook is a little scary.
• Check out the growing event list on the CoasterBuzz Club page.
• You can get the latest headlines on CoasterBuzz from the Twitter. Follow us @coasterbuzz.
• CoasterBuzz Club is $25 per year. You can join or renew today. Enjoy CoasterBuzz with no ads.

Jeff, Gonch and Carrie review this week's news in the amusement industry.

• Gonch has a birthday, Jeff hangs some roller coaster photos.
• Intimidator opens at Carowinds to a warm reception. Compared favorably to Diamondback and Behemoth.
• Intimidator 305 opens at Kings Dominion. Jeff thinks it's an awesome ride, but falls just short of the best ride ever due to the defensive riding required. Kings Dominion overall is looking like a great park compared to nine years ago, and has a great general manager.
• Cedar Fair and Apollo deal fails without the vote even being considered. What's next?
• Herschend CEO appears on reality show, Jeff thinks it wasn't terrible, Gonch says every show is the same, Carrie says it's all contrived.
• Circus is coming to Coney Island. Does anyone still go to the circus? Gonch is indifferent because of the evil clowns.
• Shocker: Freestyle Music Park won't open this year. It gets the Price is Right horns. No Plinko for you. Drew Carey was hanging out in Seattle because he's a part owner of the Sounders soccer team. Jeff doesn't care for soccer. Carrie thinks that sports that anticipate scoring don't do well in the US. Freestyle still won't open.
• Autopsy of SeaWorld Orlando trainer comes back with expected results.
• Walt Disney World suffers a series of bus accidents, the most recent enough fatal for a boy at the campground.
• Silver Dollar City turns 50. Good story about how the park came to be, from a Chicago newspaper, no less.
• The Wild West World fraud case is finally over, as Etheredge gets five years in jail.
• Universal's marketing for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter draws criticism from those who booked spring vacations. It's also strange how many media reports paint it as a full theme park. Will the blurry message bite the park in the ass? Gonch and Carrie are not that familiar with the Harry Potter books or movies.
• Japanese firm wants to license the Paramount Pictures stuff for a theme park in Osaka. Jeff explains how this is just a licensing deal, not "Paramount" trying to get back into the theme park business.
• Walt Disney World nerds freak out over the "TRONorail," a monorail wrapped in a big Tron movie promo. Try on your souvenir T-shirts before leaving, please.
• Jeff contemplates putting a podcast player in the CoasterBuzz Feed.
• Check out the growing event list on the CoasterBuzz Club page.
• Plugs for Coasterimage.com and Vimeo.
• You can get the latest headlines on CoasterBuzz from the Twitter. Follow us @coasterbuzz.
• CoasterBuzz Club is $25 per year. You can join or renew today. Enjoy CoasterBuzz with no ads.