CoasterBuzz Podcast #129 posted
Posted
Jeff, Mike and Pat review this week's news in the amusement industry.
- NYC wants to buy some of the Astroland property. Nobody wants what Thor Equities wants to build.
- Six Flags and Intamin settle with Lassiters over Kentucky Kingdom accident. We assume that she'll be taken care of the rest of her life financially. Jeff plugs the Cleveland Clinic.
- Hard Rock Park going to auction, bidding starts at less than a tenth of the original cost of the park.
- What impact will this strange economy really have on the amusement industry? It seems genuinely bad when you see people around you with problems.
- Industry lobbies for school years that sync with vacations and park seasons.
- Paramount Pictures wants to get back in the theme park business, this time in Osaka on the Expoland. Seems strange after Viacom then CBS shed their parks, but perhaps it makes more sense in the Japanese market.
- Santa Claus, Indiana, gets GPS love. But people are not spontaneously driving there after a TV ad.
- Mike gets Jeff on a Twitter rant again. That leads to a lengthy discussion about being over-connected. Mike cleverly points out that this is just another thing that people want to consume. There's a cultural tendency to consume far more than we need.
- Sandusky is down one indoor water park.
- Q-Bots spread to California. Gonch is right that it just keeps continuing to spread.
- Shanghai Disney? Depends on who you ask. Certainly China seems like a natural market to expand in.
- Cypress employees want to sue the park. For a lay-off? That seems pretty silly.
- Six Flags is playing a development role for a new park Qatar. Is the brand really that valuable, and in the Middle East?
- Busch Gardens Europe doing a holiday event. By the way, Ohio has two climates, Mike.
- Univeral lay-offs at 3%.
- We appreciate your support of CoasterBuzz by joining the club. It's still just $20 per year.
Link: CoasterBuzz Podcast
Busch Gardens' Holiday Event is not opening this year. It is opening in 2009. I'd say they got the word out plenty early. :)
"I can see Paula sitting there listening to this -- horrified."
Uh ... yeah.
Actually (not that you asked) ... the top-by-far Googled phrase leading traffic to our park has been "Santa Claus Indiana" since the RadioShack ad started airing in November. The top search result to Santa Claus, Ind., happily, is www.HolidayWorld.com.
And you can make Twitter a private page, if you like. It can be a really good tool if used properly (for examples, free media leads sent to my iPhone are great). Sorry this all riles you up, Gonch. Actually...I enjoy hearing you over-modulate. :)
Merry Christmas, fellas ...
Paula
Paula Werne
Holiday World
If there's one thing I overdo in life, it's modulate. Getting riled up and overmodulating is what Jeff pays me to do. :)
Just for the record, if I google Santa Claus, Indiana - Holiday World is the third listing on the SERP.
Try Santa Claus, Ind. and Santa Claus, IN ... those are the ones that pop us up top.
I hope Jeff pays you well enough that you can eventually retire the hat (and the naughty profession that goes along with it). :0)
Paula Werne
Holiday World
Hell, it was because of the pay that I was able to buy the hat. :)
With the combination of santa claus and holiday, I'd imagine you guys do well in all kinds of season-related search results. I'd be milking that for all it was worth.
Jeff Young said:
Busch Gardens' Holiday Event is not opening this year. It is opening in 2009. I'd say they got the word out plenty early. :)
Im glad you said that.. I was thinking to myself , "since when is a years notice last minute?"
As for weather in VA. Our cold "winters" dont really start until January/February. We are typically in the 50s - 60s during the day with little precip in Nov/Dec, so it fits well in our area for the holiday season. Night is cooler, but not obscenely cold.
'Course what weather is standard anymore. I was in Florida last week and it was upper 50s one of the days.
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