The Interpreter

I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned what Cedar Point calls their version of this classic ride!

For some time now, PKI has required four or more for the "packs," while the other Paramount parks have only required two. PKI is a business...Six Flags is greatly increasing their season pass prices. I note in passing that even at Kentucky Kingdom, historically one of the cheapest of Six Flags passes (but NOT when it was just Kentucky Kingdom!), passes are now $54.99. I also hear that more pass price increases are on the way at Flags. Paramount no doubt is responding by raising theirs, seeing an opportunity. What better time to test than now? Avid fans have already bought their passes. People who buy this late are normally not as price sensitive as those who buy early.

As I have said here before, I am not an employee of a park, any owner thereof nor for a media company. I have never been an employee of Kings Island or its successor companies, nor of Six Flags. More than that I am not going to say. And the park you are no doubt referring to doesn't even open until four weeks from tomorrow. About two weeks before PKI. What shape it is in, or what shape PKI is in, should best be judged after the parks open for the season. This will by no means be a normal season for any Paramount or Six Flags park. Or for Cedar Fair, either, for that matter. Knotts Berry Farm just had an 11 percent decrease in its admission price. Same story at Cedar Point. Geauga is struggling. Worlds of Fun finally gets a new coaster, but not just because someone had some extra money to spend. Times are so abnormal (and I study this industry so carefully) that when Six Flags Over Georgia opens Saturday morning, I intend to be there. Others will be running around trying to get rides on every thing they can. I will be watching the ride ops, the managers, the crowds, the reactions to the parking fee (whatever it may be), and, just for kicks, I may even buy a season pass to see how long that takes, how I am treated, etc. Then about three weeks later, I may repeat that experience at a park in North Carolina, then a week later in Jersey. A couple of weeks later, on a Friday, I may well be in Mason, Ohio. You could even look for me, but I bet you wouldn't know me if you saw me. Look for the guy in the suit and...oh, never mind. I'm talking too much. The times, they are a changin.

There is more to Paramount Parks, Horatio, than you have dremt about in the Carolinas....snakes, even!

Uh, unless my memory is VERY faulty, the Cincinnati Zoo helped operate the Wild Animal Habitat, and received the token admission of one dollar collected to ride in the last years...It was very popular, and one of the reasons for the dollar charge was to lessen lines...

Sad to say, you haven't missed much. The Columbia Palace, it isn't.

Somebody PLEASE tell me Wings is going. Somebody who is right, preferably. That place so needs to go. And I sure hope the replacement is a sit down place WITH table service. PKI needs such a place, badly.

Probably, but if so, it was not reported. . . I'd assume there is a reason the monkeys no longer have access to cars, and vice versa.

Well, at Great Adventure, people use their own cars! Monkeys can do some mean things to windshield wipers. Well, they could before they were physically separated from the cars a year or so back!

The people from China were impressed with the number of flat rides at PKI? Sheesh. Anywho, I have been very disappointed with Paramount. The food, the shows, the entertainment....all went massively downhill while the theme park was owned by a company that owns movie studioes. Hurts my head. All that being said, I can guarantee that PKI is in a lot better shape today than would have been Six Flags Cincinnati featuring Viper, Shockwave, an SLC and a boomerang and a Batman Stunt Show. Then again, if IJST's theming isn't a near rip off of Batman The Ride, I don't know what is. That pastoral part of the park has been reduced to looking worse than the average Six Flags' Batman The Ride area. And that's pretty bad, indeed. And the coaster isn't even a good one like BTR is. The sad thing is there is no guarantee that the next owner will be better. We may well be posting on some board some day: Yes, the park will change under new ownership. There is no guarantee it will be for the better.

Denise Dinn Larrick never designed ANYTHING. Thankfully. Larry Bill and Dennis McNulty would have a fit, as would Michael Graham and many others, with the mere idea of giving Denise credit for designing Raven. Seriously, I doubt the woman could design an escape route from creditors.

To my knowledge, the Busch Seaworld parks and Busch Gardens Tampa, Six Flags Marineworld and Six Flags Great Adventure are the only major parks with large wildlife attractions. Hersheypark has Zooamerica. I just don't see an investor group going this direction. I doubt I see ANY acquirer other than Busch going down that road. And, looking at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, a case can be made that even Busch would not. For the record, the safari at Six Flags Great Adventure is VERY successful. It also is an additional charge attraction, though it is now included with season passes (until somewhat recently, it was not). Much of its business comes from schools and colleges, though. And there isn't a competing zoo five or so miles to the south.

I know what they are called. And I still think someone has had one too many Crabby patties!

Not to mention that by next year, "they" will probably be a different "they." OTOH, next year will probably be almost locked into stone before any change of ownership. . .

Man, somebody's had one too many crabby patties.

Well, it's confirmed that PKI's is going to operate this year. I'd suggest you ride it as much as you can. The future of no thing, nor even of us, can be guaranteed. . .

No. It becomes SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom Bash.

"I don't know." OOOOPS!

and http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../602260356/1003

The company you speak of is no doubt the William Robinson company. No doubt John was there, no? Did Brian tell his wonderful story about Scout?

Maybe it's just me, but it seems a little hypocritical for combat to criticise ACE so sharply then use its name in a video he is shooting.

...which is why it is so important who owns the park. If it is someone who doesn't have a great deal of learning to do, there indeed may not be many stumbles and problems. If, on the other hand, the new owner/group has plenty of ideas of its own but little experience in the industry, and the experienced hands in the chain either leave or get separated, things could get a lot worse rather quickly. The few people on this board who claim it doesn't matter who owns the park and that things will be just the same as if CBS Corporation nee Viacom continued to own the park(s) are very mistaken. These next few months may be the most important that Kings Island and the other Paramount Parks have faced to date. What happens next WILL affect things for years. Postively or negatively. Which? No one knows. It is far too early. Even the buyer itself, if it has selected at this point, doesn't have the capability to predict the future with 100 percent certainty. Things WILL change. That is a given. And remember, all this is taking place while the biggest operator in the industry has entirely new management and is making drastic changes, while still facing a nearly crushing debt load. One prediction can be made with near certainty. At least in the near term, the days of dozens of coaster installations in the USA and Canada per year are over. At least for a while. The pendulum has swung toward family attractions, shows, improving customer service including cleanliness and line reduction and increasing per capita revenue in the parks (which may soon mean the near universal end of the very cheap season passes that both parks and patrons are addicted to). This doesn't even take into account that GE doesn't seem to be enthused about keeping its theme parks, the Busch parks may or may not stay under AB ownership and small, traditional parks--with a few glowing exceptions like Holiday World and Knoebels--are struggling. The times, they are a changin. And those who deny that are about to find out they are very, very wrong.

Combat, are you SURE? http://www.pkicentral.com/forums/index.php...30entry112375 Plus, this has been repeated in various places....to go to the tour, you MUST pay the eight dollars. This is an ACE event, not a park event. \ The ACE Flyer makes CLEAR you pay either way. Unless you are SURE, I wouldn't be correcting others.

Whoever buys thge parks had bettter do just as good or better as Paramount did. Or?

It's a post yesterday in the forums there by a poster who lives in Charlotte but is apparently from Cincinnati. Said poster also claims there was an all day meeting at the park today to announce the sale. I am sorry, but large, publicly traded corporations do not announce their sales toemployees before they do to the media and investors. I don't believe this one for even a minute. Especially since there was a conference call to investors YESTERDAY, and the only thing mentioned was that the pending sale had been announced. I bet anything that is ALL that is behind this.