CoasterBuzz Podcast #76 posted

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

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

The gang manages to get out into the world and ride some new stuff.
Greg reports long lines and positive reviews from Busch Gardens Europe and the new Griffon.
Gonch says that Firehawk at Kings Island so far has problems similar to those it had at Geauga Lake.
Mike is impressed with the Wiggles at Six Flags Great America.
Jeff and Gonch score laps on Maverick at Cedar Point, which opened earlier than expected after modifications. We like it. We like it a lot.
Jeff loves Renegade too at Valleyfair. Is Jeff turning into Paul Ruben?
Jeff also digs the Park at The Mall of America, and the aquarium.
Smoke-free at Indiana Beach. Gonch comments about how things have changed culturally so quickly.
The food pricing at Cedar Fair parks is out of control this year, and this coming from the guys who pay whatever they have to pay.
Mike is amused by all of the advertising at Six Flags Great America, but at least we can see that these "partnerships" really exist.
Conneaut Lake: Mostly dead is slightly alive?
Some of the coasters in Japan are scary for the wrong reasons. Greg has cheated death.

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Firehawk's second train hasn't yet passed its state inspection, so that's the reason for it being one train operation. It's going to be up and running with both trains and stations as soon as possible.

Every 5-6 minutes is an improvement over Saturday, where the dispatch interval was 10-15 minutes. The crew seems to be slowly but surely getting into pace.

That's good to know.

Not that I have to hear or read anything more about it, but you skipped the Magnum incident.

Everyone is up in arms with the food pricing at Cedar Fair parks! I don't mind paying extra when eating in the park, but I do at least want something decent for the money. At the 3 Cedar Fair parks(KD, CP, and DP)I have been to this year none of the food was really that good. KD was the best with Bubba Gump's Shrimp Shack because how can you mess up fried food? ;)

Yeah I had that same sticker shock when I bought my kids the stuffed Pretzels at CP. Think they were around $8. 2 pretzels and a drink cost $20. Come on!

Hope some Cedar Fair people are reading this. Lower the prices.

*** This post was edited by Coasterfantom2 5/29/2007 11:51:15 PM ***

amen. CF, lower the prices, atleast at CP. (unsure of the situation at KI).

Premium parking at SFA is still 25.00, and I'm not seeing the signs yet. Has anyone seen the misters? Those things are sweet! The Wii Experience here (in Skull Island) is still busy.

Based on what pkidelirium said about the throughput, there is no way they handed out all hteir shirts on Saturday and it would be questionable if they did on Sunday.

24 riders per train. Ride opened at 1:30. I don't know when the ride closed, but the park closed at 10, co lets assume 11. That's 9.5 hours. On a 10 minute dispatch that's comperable to what I experienced on X at Magic mountain. That would only be 6 trains per hour or 144rph over 9.5 hours = 1368 shirts Saturday.

Pkidelirium said 5-6minutes Sunday. From what a friend told me it opened at about 1:30 on Sunday too. Which if you assume 11 trains per hour (a little less than 5.5 minutes per cycle) you would get 264pph or 2508 for the day. Assuming no down time.

Does anyone know how it ran on Monday? Because I'm thinking they still have a lot of shirts, or maybe they continued to give them out Yesterday and today until they're gone.*** This post was edited by Jason Hammond 5/30/2007 8:14:09 AM ****** This post was edited by Jason Hammond 5/30/2007 8:14:43 AM ***

Usually CP is good on their food prices. Geauga Lake on the otherhand has outragious prices!

Have you not been to Cedar Point in, I dunno, five years?

I was told that Monday it was still around a 5-6 minute interval.

There's no way in heck they gave out all the shirts this weekend. I'm going down there this afternoon/evening to see what things are like now that the holiday weekend is over.

amen. CF, lower the prices, atleast at CP.

They did, sort of, in 2006. Apparently, the Great Price Drop Experiment is over.

Just to nitpick, if you sit on the outside right wing of Griffon, you'll will get a little bit wet from the remaining drops of the wave following the turnaround. But I will agree with Greg that it's mainly a visual effect. And again, to reinforce what Greg said, you get a really good food bargain for your money at Busch.

You guys have me really psyched to ride Maverick and it's only three weeks away.

Apparently, the Great Price Drop Experiment is over.

I warned you guys that SF was changing the game...

...and that the only chance for continued financial growth for the big parks is in getting the essentially stagnant attendance to spend more.

Just got back from KI.Silly crowd management nonsense outside the Firehawk line had been stopped, so it's a normal line now.It was almost exactly two hours from when I entered the queue to when I bought my on-ride photo. One train op still, dispatch interval 4-5 minutes.

Psst, Hey Jeff! Can we get Firehawk added into the database? I just went to add it to my track record, but it doesn't exist.

*** This post was edited by pkidelirium 5/30/2007 9:28:06 PM ***

Done.

One train op still, dispatch interval 4-5 minutes.

Woo hoo! They're on pace to top 300 riders per hour!

Sigh...

Odd-I was cleaning out the glove box in my Nissan Maxima the other day and found the old window sticker. 100% Japanese Assembly with parts being 99% Japanese and, get this, 1% Canadian. Go figure!
*** This post was edited by Joe E. 5/31/2007 2:42:09 AM ***

Not to be rude, but what does that have to do with anything?

Well did you listen to the show?

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