CoasterBuzz Podcast #108 posted

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

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

Great Escape sickness outbreak reaches nearly 500. Is that the mechanics of pool chemicals or just the risk of getting in water with people?
The Six Flags New England construction saga continues, and we still can't figure out how you start building a $7 million attraction and don't get the right permits.
Geauga Lake auction coming up, including the wood coasters, Double Loop, the boomerang and the family coaster. Can Jeff score a Skee-Ball machine?
Moody's kicks Six Flags' credit rating.
Fair operator set to close on Wild West World, and we have reasonable hopes that an established business understands they need cash to run it.
Kings Island insurance decision overturned by court. What good is insurance if you never get it paid out?
Six Flags Over Georgia drilling wells for water rides. But aren't the crappers the real culprits in water consumption?
Kentucky legislation requiring 18-year-old ride operators is completely arbitrary and not based on data. That's stupid.
Great article from the LA Times on international expansion. Check it out.
Six Flags renews contract with Nintendo for Wii Experience. What good is it when you still can't buy one? Isn't the Wii actually competition for Six Flags?
New ride at Universal Studios Florida looks cool. Islands of Adventure is poorly marketed and people don't know what it is until they get there.
Mardi Gras is crazy at Universal. Still PG, and you don't need to show your goodies to get beads.

Jeff. I seriously doubt you will be able to get a skee ball machine unless you plan on buying the whole lot of them.

That is how Norton auctions work. They won't auction off single items in arcades, gift shops, etc. It's all done in lots.

I am basing this off of the auction I went to at Santa's Village that Norton also did.

If they can get more for individual units than they would for the bulk of them I'm sure they'd do it.

Yeah, but only if there are enough buyers for all individual lanes. You'd have to aleart the auctioneer before bidding, too. I'd be in for one...

All I am saying is don't get your hopes up. If you go to this auction, they will hand you a list of what is being auctioned off. You will see that alot of things will be auctioned in lots (or bulk like you describe it). They don't make exceptions when they go through this list. It's a predetermined list that they follow.

They get enough people in the industry where they will have some that won't have a prob bidding on the whole lot of the skee ball machines. You don't have a chance to bid on one.

But good luck anyway. :)

The next thing we are looking for is a Bowler Roller for our game room. I don't recall GL having those, does anyone remember? They are usually set up in 4 or 5 games so I wouldn't be oppose to getting that many if the price is reasonable. We could always try to sell the others on EBay or something.

Dude, I wasn't serious in the first place. I don't have room for one!

OK Jeff...but still, don't get your hopes up! :)

Jeff's lying! His multi-million dollar complex funded from his evil corporation CBuzz and Pointbuzz can handle skeeball and the entire Fascination building from CP. He just decided to let it die so that he can piss on the ashes of it and let nobody else enjoy it for future generations to come.

I'm onto you Jeff! *gives the bullhorn gesture*

~Rob Willi

I could put one in the garage, but where would Diana park? ;)

I honestly want a skeeball machine like Lori has!

^You guys only come to my house to play skeeball, not to see me, lol.

You'd be surprised where you can fit a skeeball machine. I can't say for sure, but I'd bet that the GL machines were the 10' variety. Ours is 13' and we were still able to fit it our game room (which by the house plans is supposed to be the living room). You can't walk into our house and not notice it. It's definitely a coversation starter and a lot of fun to play. If you want one bad enough Jeff, you'd find room for it ;)

OK Jeff...but still, don't get your hopes up!

Screw that. Get your hopes up. Do you have a really long truck that can go round trip to Pittsburgh? I could throw in a Hi-Lo alley for a nominal fee.

I'll take the Hi-Lo!! Seriously! And I've got a truck.
*** This post was edited by loriu 4/10/2008 10:50:36 AM ***

Lori,

Check your PM.

When I went to the Erieview auction (also run by Norton), there was some schmo who bid something like $600 for what he thought was one skee-ball lane. Turns out he wasn't paying attention and he had bought 12 lanes or more, each at $600. The auctioneer was not happy when he had to rebid those.

I'm sure you've got the answer already, but the Dark Knight is a standard Mack mouse as found at Hersheypark. Among mouse fans, this is often revered as one of the best as usually the trims are off.

The project looks like it's taking a turn for the worst. It's not listed on the Six Flags New England site at all. I know they've got issues to work through, but if they really were so nonchalant about the problems being worked out, I would think they would still list it as opening this year.

Also somewhat worrisome is that the press release only lists it as opening at two parks this year--Chicago and New Jersey. But the worse thing is that that one rumors site has it listed as being dead completely. I don't know if I believe it yet, but then again, I didn't expect to find Dominator two-hours away at King's Dominion or Hypersonic XLC taken out either.

While not even close to being on the same scale, you might remember the FEC Adventure Park USA in New Market, MD not being able to open their Schwarzkopf Wildcat on time due to lack of permits that it claimed it didn't need because the ride is portable. It almost looked like they were going to have to tear it down, but it opened last summer.

If they can't agree on a compromise and they're left with a ride that is SBNO with no hope of it ever opening, send it down to Six Flags America. There's plenty of room next to Joker's Jinx and we'd finally get the family steel coaster that the park is lacking.

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