CoasterBuzz Podcast #116 - June 30, 2008

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

• Building a big wheel on International Drive in Orlando. Can the market make something like that work?
• Jeff really appreciates a well-kept mini-golf course. Some of them really suck. Gonch, on the other hand, sucks at mini-golf.
• Kings Island is all abuzz about the new roller coaster coming out next year. KIExtreme.com just posted some more construction photos. Kings Island really needs this ride, whatever it might be. Italian Job gets no love.
• Morons in the PA legislature change their tone over a ban on amusement park specific taxes, apparently just because Kennywood is Spanish owned.
• Meanwhile, Cedar Fair says if an admissions tax is applied to Kings Island, they'll do their best to "un-annex" out of the city of Mason and back into the township. We speculate that this is the city trying to catch up with their poorly planned growth.
• Anheuser-Busch is under siege by InBev with a hostile takeover on the horizon. Stay tuned.
• Teen killed in low zone of Batman at Six Flags Over Georgia. It's hard to understand how this kind of thing happens. More interesting is the way discussion around these events goes online, and also the connection the media makes to actual mechanical accidents.
• CoasterBuzz Club events coming up this year: The Fall Affair at Holiday World, and BooBuzz at Cedar Point. Visit the CoasterBuzz Club page for more information.