Archive: August, 2010

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

• Carrie is Hersheypark happy.
• Woman allegedly harassed by security at Six Flags America for breastfeeding, despite Maryland law. Jeff and Gonch are all for it, Carrie says our culture has too many mixed messages about what to be inhibited about.
• Family of boy who saw trainer drowning at SeaWorld sues the park. Jeff hates that everyone assumes every lawsuit is crap and lawyers are evil, even if this one isn't the greatest.
• Mike's older daughter turns three, tries to be a roller coaster enthusiast like her dad.
• Cedar Fair announces four Mondial WindSeekers, for Canada's Wonderland, Knott's Berry Farm, Cedar Point and Kings Island. Shocker.
• Meanwhile, Funtime probably pissed off the entire industry by blowing the secret on Cedar Fair's ride announcements, and sets all kinds of bad will with the rest of the industry in the process.
• We can't really decide if the WindSeeker rides will have broad appeal or not. They might or might not be thrilling rides, but the height might also get to people.
• Sorry, Michigan's Adventure is not ripe for more giant rides. Muskegon has nice beaches, but wow is it out of the way from everywhere.
• It sounds like there's a GM shake up in progress around Six Flags, which is not surprising with new executives in place.
• Butterbeer, the beverage available at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, is all the rage. Some Web site found out what the nutritional data was. It's practically health food to the typical enthusiast.
• Freestyle Music Park board bails, Gonch waxes nostalgic about Hard Rock Park, and for the millionth time, Jeff wonders what might have been. Carrie says Knights In White Satin will go down as the best dark ride ever as time goes on. Jeff also wonders if the licensing company did a poor job vetting the company that developed the park.
• Businesses around Legoland Florida are all excited about it, but is it really enough of a stand-alone thing to keep people in town?
• Luna Park at Coney Island serves up a million rides. Is it dirty enough?
• Carowinds announces its own light show. We all like it.
• Geauga Lake's Big Dipper shows up on eBay, and no one knows for real who owns it.
• Register today for The Fall Affair at Holiday World! Join us Saturday, September 18.
• BooBuzz returns to Cedar Point on Friday, October 15.
• Check out the 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, Mike and Carrie review this week's news in the amusement industry.

• We've been doing the podcast now for almost five years. We're trying hard to hit episode 200 before the end of the year.
• Accident in the Dells keeps getting more strange, with criminal charges against the operator, clandestine ride repairs and the operator returning to work. As horrible as it was, we mostly agree that criminal charges against the individual operator sets a dangerous precedent.
• Turning the cars around on first generation launched Intamin towers. Ok.
• Universal Orlando posts its first attendance gains in two years, probably because of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Jeff retells the story of his first visit to Islands of Adventure after Carrie admits to never having been to any of the Orlando parks.
• Holiday World attendance is up 10%. No surprises there with Kentucky Kingdom closed and a new water ride.
• Lebron James shoot basketballs at Cedar Point, and mostly misses.
• Happy Magic Water Cube, now with more magic and happy, but less Olympic swimming.
• Woman suffers emotional distress after being allegedly molested by someone in a Donald Duck suit at Walt Disney World.
• The Six Flags transition continues with a new CEO, and it looks like the company is set up for long-term success.
• Disney reports good results, but the resorts and cruise ships are slower to recover. Gonch finds they're still advertising deep discounts.
• Speaking of Disney World, the princess stuff plans are revised, probably to be less girly.
• Way off topic: Star Wars nonsense and introducing it to your kids.
• Viral video shows these guys hitting a basketball from high atop Alabama Adventure's Space Shot.
• Funtime says they're going to sue Cedar Point for buying a similar ride from Mondial that allegedly infringes on their patent. How is any of this good for Funtime?
• Ocean Motion is up for sale. The Gonch household is full of swinging ship fans.
• Register today for The Fall Affair at Holiday World! Join us Saturday, September 18.
• BooBuzz returns to Cedar Point on Friday, October 15.
• Check out the event list on the CoasterBuzz Club page. Got a ticket for Holiday World? Come to the Fall Affair for a couple of bucks extra!
• 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, Mike and Carrie review this week's news in the amusement industry.

• Alton Towers designates hotel rooms as sexy and non-sexy. Marketing stunt or real?
• Dollywood announces Barnstormer, an S&S swing. Good to see that these are not another dead product after the initial issues.
• Tower accident in Dells likely operator error. Ride doesn't have much in the way of mechanical interlocks to prevent tragedy.
• Harry Potter's journey is forbidden for the overweight, and one guy is using it as his motivation to lose weight.
• Cedar Fair trend reverses: Per cap is down, attendance is up. Once again we explore issues of value.
• Single day ticket at Walt Disney World hits $82, a theme park record. But again, who really does single-day visits?
• IAAPA nails down the Expo to ten years in Orlando. Everybody wins. There used to be so many interesting things from the enthusiast angle about that show.
• Universal Orlando is now 20 years old. Jeff went that year, 1990, and couldn't believe how different it was when he finally made it back in 2001.
• Planet Snoopy comes to Valleyfair, and apparently planets are more popular than camps.
• Register today for The Fall Affair at Holiday World! Join us Saturday, September 18.
• BooBuzz returns to Cedar Point on Friday, October 15.
• Check out the event list on the CoasterBuzz Club page. Got a ticket for Holiday World? Come to the Fall Affair for a couple of bucks extra!
• 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, Mike and Carrie review this week's news in the amusement industry.

• Coasting For Kids raised more than $30,000 last week! You can still donate, it's not too late to help out Give Kids The World!
• Theme parks keep targeting people with more money, to the extent that Disney is even selling high-end homes on the property. It's not creating a class system, it's just capitalism and market forces.
• Disney is building a resort on Oahu. Jeff rants about how much he loves Hawaii.
• Room rates jump in Orlando, thanks in part to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando. First time we've talked about hotels outside of the Disney influence in awhile.
• Mother of the year leaves her kids at home while she goes to Holiday World.
• Snoopy turns 60, doesn't look a day over 6. Carrie does her Peanuts adult impression. The issue of licensing comes up again in contrast to Blackpool's Pleasure Beach which adopts a Nickelodeon theme. We're starting to wonder if the Peanuts aren't "good enough" for a brand. And what happened to the Looney Tunes?
• Vekoma Boomerangs have a bad time. The LaRonde ride apparently had a restraint failure, while the one at Trimper's had a lift break.
• Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom situation is settled, company walks away with $2 million.
• Del Toro wants to do a Haunted Mansion movie for Disney, and we think that's OK if it has the feel of Hellboy, Blade II and such. No Eddie Murphy is already an improvement.
• Harry Potter ride prompts a 911 call, plus stories of other non-event ride failures.
• Cedar Fair successfully refinances, making the whole Apollo fiasco even more ridiculous.
• Seattle has big amusement park history, and unfortunately, it's all history and no now.
• Jeff is annoyed with the negativity around the Muslim Family Day at Six Flags Great America.
• SCAD Tower accident is super scary.
• Register today for The Fall Affair at Holiday World! Join us Saturday, September 18.
• BooBuzz returns to Cedar Point on Friday, October 15.
• Check out the event list on the CoasterBuzz Club page. Got a ticket for Holiday World? Come to the Fall Affair for a couple of bucks extra!
• 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.