CoasterBuzz Podcast #109 posted

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

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

Michigan amusement park reaches point of regulatory scrutiny, but it still seems like a strange idea in a state with a horrible economy.
PointBuzz celebrates ten years of serving Cedar Point fans. Jeff can't think of anything else he did for ten years!
Schlitterbahn announces re-themed slide. It's amazing the extent that they take water parks to.
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom accident story gets worse, as depositions imply a lack of preventative maintenance, or maintenance not prescribed by the manufacturer.
No Dark Knight coaster for Six Flags New England, and instead there's a parade. Mike says they can build the same ride and theme it to something different instead of the movie tie-in.
Six Flags licensing its brand for a park in China, and previously with a Middle East park. What is the Six Flags brand really worth outside of the United States?
Shapiro tells NAB that Six Flags wants to be a content company. Jeff speculates that this is the bigger picture they need outside of the amusement business to pull themselves out of the rut they're in. Perhaps better parks won't be enough otherwise.
First quarter numbers are up, in part because of Easter's placement. Hard to say if that's meaningful.
Off-topic: Road construction in the Midwest.
Gate Central system rolling out around Cedar Fair legacy parks making for a faster processing system. Mike's wife hates recycling pass pictures year to year.

As far as the pass pictures, I get my picture taken for my SF pass every year. I could have used last year's pic, but don't like to, and I don't have to, unlike what seems to be the case at CP. I'd rather take a few extra minutes getting my pass, something I only do once a year, than deal with someone at the gate, every time I visit, trying to decide if the picture on the monitor is really me. And software can have problems, too. Are we going to hear, "Sorry, you can't use your pass since we can't pull up your picture" ?*** This post was edited by ilovethewildone 4/22/2008 6:06:26 AM ***

I would just like to set the record straight on the whole story of TDK at SFNE. This has nothing to due with permits or anything like that, its all politics. The State of Mass has the strictest fire and safety codes than any other state and they were never going to let this project happen. You will never see an indoor ride at SFNE because of it. They had no choice but to cancell it and ship it to another park.You can see pics of it coming down and being trucked out.

http://sfneonline.com/forums//index.php?showtopic=156

That's nonsense. The state has no incentive to try and knock down the park's efforts to build an attraction.

I was at every town and state meeting for the ride since day one and i can only state the facts as i heard them. The state officials kept talking about prior incidents such as the gradv fire where 8 people were killed and the Station night club fire where 100 people died 5 yrs ago. They wanted them to make so many changes that it would have been impossible for them to do and add a couple of million to to the project. They made it very clear that they would never let the park build an indoor attraction.

Couldn't they have just removed the building and theming and just construct it as an outdoor mouse coaster?

I know it wouldn't have been the same, but at least the park would have gotten a new coaster out of it.

Whether or not it matters, they already have a spinning mouse on the other end of the park.

I don't think there is any conspiracy to defeat SFNE's efforts to build any new roller coaster. But the indoor aspect and fire danger seems to make sense. And if Ajrides was there and heard it straight from the board, well... that's difficult to argue with.

I wonder if they'd have the same problems with a new Sally Ghost Blasters type of dark ride?

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