CoasterBuzz Podcast #105 posted

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

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

Gonch is the micro-celebrity of the roller coaster enthusiast community.
Disney's Hollywood Studios will be home to a live American Idol show. Seems like a good fit for that show. Heck, the Indiana Jones show there has been around now for almost 20 years.
Off topic: What's up with all the foreign films in the Oscars?
Pennsylvania bill is designed to exempt amusement parks from taxes that are specific to the business. What makes amusement parks a target for these? Gonch says it's because they can't pick up and move.
Strange accident in New Zealand involving death of a worker, but follow up details seem to be unknown.
Locals in Michigan want the sale of public land for this amusement park project. Jeff is still skeptical.
Another movie studio wants to put a theme park outside of Seoul. Asia is still hot. Is there ever potential for a tourism reversal, with Americans going overseas? Jeff really wants to see Japan and is fascinated by its culture.
Indiana Beach is sold, enthusiasts predictably freak out.
Six Flags New England gets busted for building without a permit. How does this even happen? It's not like the park doesn't know the protocol, and it's not like the town of Agawam doesn't see the cranes.
New indoor water park for South Jersey prompts hilarious comments from a local about it being like an "inappropriate bath house."
Six Flags Over Georgia strikes a deal to be more efficient with water, will be permitted to open water rides. It's interesting the way construction standards have changed just in the past decade or so.
Mark Shapiro has a press conference at Six Flags Magic Mountain for a little attention, a year after they were interested in selling it. Another coaster is in store for 2009, he says. We wonder if that's going to have any impact on it.
New ride introductions don't seem to have the impact they did a decade ago. People barely noticed Griffon at Busch in Williamsburg. But speaking of which, how does that park get away with not constantly building new rides. Is it the historical area? Jeff doesn't think so.
Jeff wraps up a week at Disney World, and observed that people are willing to pay for a great experience if they can deliver on it. Disney seems to deliver on it consistently.
When will Disney do a 24-hour day? Last weekend Magic Kingdom was open until 3 a.m.

3am? Wow!

In western New York Most schools get off this past week so many families go down to Disney last week.

Seoul Metropolitan area is around 25 millions people (half of South Korea population!). They also love their amusement parks. Lotte World does over 5.5 millions guests a year, Everland did 7.5 millions visitors in 2006. So, there is a good reason why all those companies are building around Seoul.

I would just like to clarify the story about SFNE. First off the park submitted the plans for the coaster and did get the building permit but then they had to ammend the plans because they wanted a variance on the height of the building to raise it from 65ft to 70ft, but the town was jerking them around about it which should have been no problem because there is always changes to plans when building. I was at all the town meetings and the last one i went to they got their last approval from the conservation board and it was known that they were already building the ride. The town got pissed because they had started with the constuction before they got the approval on the height variance. It was all BS that the town was jerking the park around so much about the ride. There was even one of the town officials who spoke at the meeting and said they handled the whole situation wrong. I also said the same thing because of the amount of money brought into the area from their biggest company. I guess thats what happens when you appoint a female Mayor that doesnt know **** about running a town. The stop order will not last long as they never do and the park will have to pay a small fine and the construction will continue. [profanity removed... watch yourself... -J]
*** This post was edited by Jeff 2/26/2008 1:13:23 PM ***

^ I'm not even going to ASK how the mayor's gender is in anyway relevant to her competency...what is this, 1908?

Hey, you mentioned my Holiday World statement! That was funny! (you know I wasen't serious on that original comment, right, Jeff?)

Gonch, it's pronounced E- Lees Burg.

Cool. Now I know. :)

Dutchman, how do you feel about correcting a micro-celeb? ;)

I asked for the correction, so it's cool. :)

I'm not even going to ASK how the mayor's gender is in anyway relevant to her competency...what is this, 1908?

LOL...I was thinking the same thing! Had the mayor been male I doubt he'd even mention it.

Yes, it's 2008-female politicians can be just as incompetent and dishonest as male ones!

Note to Jeff: I liked that movie too ;)

I'm glad someone does. I totally identify with the Bateman and Garner characters... 30 somethings trying to figure out what the hell their current purpose in life is. Great dialog movie overall, totally deserved the screenplay Oscar.

I was referring to the other movie...the one that takes place in Tokyo. Although I was rooting for Juno to win Best Pic too.

Oh yeah, I forgot I mentioned that. Similar themes though, coming of age at whatever age. :)

You said kiddingly that Universal might be mad because they got rid of Back to the Future. What about King Kong? They made another remake maybe a year or two after they took out that ride, and put the Mummy instead.

As for why Busch Gardens Europe besides the fact that it maybe a clean park (I haven't been there.), how much compeition do they have? The big park in North Carolina is supposedly 5 hours away from Busch Gardens. Six Flags America doesn't even adverise there park in Maryland, and thus they must want people to come to Six Flags Great Adventure instead. Great Adventure is almost 6 hours from Busch Gardens. Dorney Park in PA is quite far being almost 6 hours too.

So, why is Busch Gardens doing so good besides the fact that they MAY have great coasters (However, they don't have a lot.), and people say they are clean? I think the reason is because what is there competition??

Now, why does Hersheypark do so good? Think about it first besides the fact that it's an amusement park with rides. First off, I might think I would want to go there because that place is just chocolate heaven. I'm not crazy into chocolate, but that park sounds so good. Now, with the rides side of thing, you have the fact that, that park has a lot of rides for everyone. I think that park would be a pretty spaced out park, and not just a dinky park like Dorney Park.

I really like Dorney Park, but it is kind of small. It's surrounded by parks like Knoebels, and Kennywood which aren't the big chain park. I'm not saying that Hersheypark owns a chain of parks, but I think that it's a bigger park similar to a Six Flags or a Cedar Fair.*** This post was edited by Spinout 3/1/2008 8:44:51 PM ***

BGE has a ton of competition. People have to be coming from somewhere, because Richmond alone is not supplying millions of visitors, so I'm guessing that means DC/Baltimore, where there are several closer options. The park is also very much on the way to Virginia Beach, which is popular for the entire region.

^^ Huh?

BGE is only 1 hour away from King's Dominion, and King's Dominion is that much closer to all major population bases (except for Norfolk) than BGE.

Also, Dorney Park isn't "surrounded by parks like... Kennywood." Dorney and Kennywood are five hours apart, I doubt that there is any market overlap there.

Someone needs a geography lesson.

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