CoasterBuzz Podcast #164 posted

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

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

• Jeff drove 2,400 miles, stopped at Mount Rushmore. No one got his "robots from space" thing, even after showing the original.
• Former Six Flags execs invest in water park, humorously suggest that Six Flags was just fine when they were booted out.
• Tom and Huck are River Blasting through Silver Dollar City. These things are like the new flume.
• Hooray for New Jersey, with no serious accidents! At least it was a positive story.
• Wildebeest will be featured on a National Geographic show. Jeff got the headline wrong and no one even noticed.
• Timberliners are coming to The Voyage at Holiday World. They're designed in the modern times! (See video with Mike Graham, at about 5:14.)
• Southern Star loses the Nickelodeon license. Who saw that coming?
• Comcast and GE agree on a value for NBC Universal. A cable provider owning a broadcast network is still pretty weird.
• NYC to buy a big chunk of Coney Island. Will anything ever really happen there?
• People can't drive in Seattle.
• Schlitterbahn launched an iPhone app. This is definitely the future we're looking at in terms of obtaining information.
• Kalahari gets sued for drowning. A little weird that people should be surprised about a lawsuit when a child actually died.
• Mason wants higher taxes on admission and parking for Kings Island and The Beach. Price sensitivity aside, there's a real moral issue with taxing a specific business.
• Son of Beast: Will it stay or go?
• Six Flags is rehabing Texas Giant for $10 million. For something related to Mean Streak? For real?
• Have we turned an economic corner? Disney had a nice fiscal 4Q.
• IAAPA was this week, but Jeff had to miss it for the first time in years because of his new day job.
• Kings Island cleared for a heart issue that killed a rider. It's been awhile since calls for "safety" issues have come around over pre-existing conditions.
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Link: CoasterBuzz Podcast