Lots of new attractions at Cedar Fair parks next year...HMMMMM.

None of the other Cedar fair parks are broken, yet they get big new attractions almost every year. Dorney was a medium sized park when Cedar Fair purchased it, then they tore down the main reason why they bought it. (Hercules.) But look at all that has been done with Dorney in the last 10 years, while Michigan's Adventure hardly gets any attention at all, though it has lots of potential to be a great park, if they just didn't sit on it, and milk it for cash to pay for building up their other parks.

Nobody is asking for Cedar Fair to add a huge new attraction to MA. I have said it many times. Any decent thrill ride would be welcome. It doesn't have to be a roller coaster. Look at Indiana beach, they are struggling, yet they are still adding 4 new rides in 2014. (as crappy as they may be) But, at least they are adding something. Where as MA has added very little.

It would be nice to see them surprise us. Before Cedar Fair, The owners of MA had grand plans for the park. They built one of the greatest wooden coasters in the US, and they were never sitting on top of billions of dollars in profits. They also built a huge water park. What has Cedar fair done? 3 major rides in 16 years, and moved rides that it already owned, and added little else. Other then boring rides, and lame games. And the wonderful beer garden, that looks like a tailgate party in someones backyard driveway. While admission and prices sky rocket.

I just think, if they are making so much money, they should actually do something with it.

You really don't understand the idea of overbuilding for the market, do you?

As batcrap crazy as I'm sure this sounds to you, adding attractions could cause the park to fail. (See: SFWOA)

Why were they able to add one of the best wooden coasters and a huge waterpark before? Because they were still growing to the market. Now they're where they need to be.

Why do other CF parks get what they get? Because of the markets they're in...which has nothing to do with what's going on in Nowhere, Michigan.

So Cedar Fair has only added three "major" rides in 16 years, moved rides they already owner (never heard of an amusement park company doing that before!), added "boring" rides and "lame" games and sent admission and prices "sky rocket"ing.

And yet it's consistently one of, if not the most profitable park in the chain. Seems to me the majority of MiA's customers are happy with the park as it is.

The majority, yes, but we can identify at least one who exists solely to bitch and moan about how unfair it is.

T-R fascinates me. Based on what he posts, I can't really understand why he visits amusement parks at all. It's like he thinks parks are only in business to vex him with their lame and boring additions and bothersome insistence on earning money.

Unfortunately, we all know that Timber-Rider only goes for the tighty-whitey twister contests. Duh.

Timber-Rider wins every time because we perpetuate this argument by acknowledging his posts.

He's not entirely wrong.

Even Kinzel would argue that ALL parks need some level of investment: new paint, repaved walkways, refurbished restrooms, etc. And that is regardless of growth.

Not saying a new $20m attraction, but would the occasional new flat pull enough extra visits to have a profitable ROI? It may be the most profitable park in the chain, but is it MAXIMIZING it's profits?

Remember, CP adds a new attraction every year (even if it's only putting lights on the trees) to give them something to market. Starlight Whatever might keep enouh people in MA late enough to sell enough extra food & drink to cover the cost. Plus they'd have new lights for the park Pres to put on their house at Christmas.

I think the answer is pretty clear. Someone at CF feels pretty confident that the park is maximizing their profits with limited investment. Where T-R's argument goes from being off the rails to flipped over and burning in a ditch is when he rationalizes CF decisions as some sort of corporate penis measuring contest where MiA is left in the cold for fear that doing otherwise would make Cedar Point feel that theirs isn't the longest.

I can understand Timber-Rider's argument, and his desire for a shiny new coaster or thrill ride at his local park every once in a while. Not everyone looks at their favorite local business and thinks of it the same way the people who run that business think of it.

I get it. Doesn't make him right or wrong. He just wants a big new ride at his local park to get excited about every once in a while.

No, he is quite wrong to believe it's an issue of fairness or favoritism. Even Cedar Point locals wish they could have a new ride every year. Doesn't mean it makes business sense.

I agree with you 100%. I just understand that it may be frustrating to not get any interesting new rides at one's home park for ages. I'm just saying that I could empathize if I was the kind of person who could ignore the realities of why, just looking at it from the perspective as someone who might not understand the realities of business.

But people who know the business side of the equation are 100% right.

I can't fault anyone for hoping for a great new ride at their home park, and it's true, for what ever reason, some parks get the goods more often than others.
And if the complaints would only stop there, I'd be ok with it. But instead we also get constant crabbing about what? Let's see... There's pricing, landscape, parking, season pass processing, entry to the park, the water park, lines, lack of lines, flats, lack of flats, maintenance, alcohol, camping, traffic, stupid employees, and even the cops down the road. And to make matters worse, it all seems to go on the back of the big, ugly corporation who, in my mind, should only be accused of offering fun for all in a safe atmosphere while maintaining profitability. There's just no end, and that for me is where a kindly concerned fan transforms into an ugly troll who harbors issues beyond reason.

I think anyone can understand someone wishing their home park would get a new ride. What's frustrating is hearing about it from the same someone every time that someone puts text on the screen.

T-R is just continuing BATWING FAN SFA's legacy...

Captain Hawkeye said:
He's not entirely wrong.
...Starlight Whatever might keep enouh people in MA late enough to sell enough extra food & drink to cover the cost. Plus they'd have new lights for the park Pres to put on their house at Christmas.

Have you been to Michigan's Adventure in the summertime? And how late did you stay?

There are almost no lights in that park, not because lighting is expensive and FUN is cheap, but because it doesn't get dark in that park until sometimes well after 10pm in the summer.

I realize you were just picking an example, but it's worth noting that there is a perfectly valid technical reason not to do it at Michigan's Adventure.

It is also worth noting that to anyone who isn't an amusement park geek, there is absolutely no difference between a new ride and a ride moved from another park owned by the same company or even taken out of storage. If it wasn't there last season, it's a new ride.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

For 2014 there's a total of 6 saturday nights, at the height of the summer, where MA is open til 10 pm, and Dave's right- there will still be a crack of daylight. All other nights you might find 9pm closing, or maybe 8,7,6, or even 5... There's one day when the park is closing at 2:30p. (I'd guess they're either predicting a really bad storm or there's a park buyout that evening). They're obviously not interested in late night or Halloween.

More testament to the fact that there's not enough to do at that neglected park.

:-)

I've noticed over the years there's quite a few very popular parks that don't do night time, and don't have much occasion to turn on the lights. Dollywood and SDC come to mind, except for the holiday period (where everything is lit up), they close fairly early.

I know the risk I'm taking by asking this, but why is it that Michigan's Adventure doesn't have a Halloween event? As popular as such events have become, it seems odd that they'd be the lone hold-out.

In checking the calendar, MA's last day in 2014 is September 7th.
I'd hazard a guess that it's probably pretty cold up there by October, but Valleyfair has a Halloween event, so there ya go. Maybe Halloween doesn't play well in western Michigan, but that seems doubtful. It's America's second favorite 'holiday' season, after all.
Let's go with this. Lake season is definitely over by then, the tourists, boaters, and campers are long gone, and there's not enough locals to support (or work at) a Halloween event at MA. Or, apparently, weekends in September, either.

In my last post my comments were based on what you all say that it's smart business not to build up the park based on current visitor numbers, even though the park is making huge profits. based on potential market.

My point was that the former owners had enough vision, with a fraction of the attendance that Michigan's Adventure gets today. Plus competition from Cedar Point, Great America, and Pleasure Island, yet they expanded the park greatly, and more people came as a result. And, eventually caught the interest of both Cedar Point and Six flags, as a result of their vision. So, why a milti-billion dollar company, can't spend a fraction of what the original owners did with building up the park, with less money, is beyond me.

The former owners of the park saw the market, and eventually knew it would be too big for them to handle, which is why they sold to Cedar Fair in the first place. So, when you keep saying they don't have the market to justify expansion. I say bull. They certainly have the numbers that are growing more and more every year. They have no local competition, and I guarantee you, a good new attraction or two would increase their attendance greatly. Also, Cedar Fair must have seen the potential for the parks market to expand greatly, or they would not have purchased it.

As for Geauga lake, I don't think the park was failing at all. I think they planned to buy it, and dismantle it from day one. Not so much because it's location near Cedar Point, but, because they had a slew of shiny, almost new coasters, that they could dismantle, and add as new at their other parks. They could then build for about 75 percent less, then what it would cost them to build from the ground up. They can call them new rides at their other parks, and boost up attendance and sales at those parks, at the demise of Geauga lake. Not because it was failing.

And, the only reason they did not relocate the Big Dipper, was because it would have cost them more money than what they had planned And, I think the only reason the water park is still there, is because it may have been too costly for them to remove it. And, would be wiser to keep it there, and, and milk it for cash. Plus making the locals happy, who still have at least a fraction of their favorite playground. While they see dollar signs on the sale of the real estate around the park.

Call it bitching if you want. What would you do if Cedar Fair bought your favorite park, and sat on it for 16 years, and did nothing with it, but add lame new attractions, and boring kiddy rides, while they other parks are getting big new attractions, sometimes 2 or 3 big attractions at one park. While your favorite park gets bumper boats, and a $2.00 hike on every price in the park. And, nothing at all to get excited about. Fast lane!! Oh boy I am going to rush right there, and pay $30.00 to wait 5 minutes in line instead of 10 and saved $30.00 Yippy Skippy. Such a great improvement.

As for Halloween, MA could have an awesome Halloween event. They have a really lack luster train ride, that they could turn into a great haunted attraction for Halloween. The Family grill would be the perfect place for a haunted attraction, as it is out of the way, and things could easily be built under the picnic shelters there. They could also build an attraction in the picnic shelters behind the water park.

It does not get any colder in Michigan than it does at Cedar Point, in fact, the areas by the lake shore can be warmer in the fall, due to Lake Michigan. And, cold does not stop people from enjoying Halloween. There is a Halloween parade in Douglas, MI, every year, which is a very small town next to Saugatuck. The parade is only 2 hours long, sometimes less, yet there are still 20,000 to 30,0000 people there to see it. And, the Saugatuck, Douglas area is only an hour and half from Muskegon.

So, they could certainly have a decent Halloween event. I think the reason they probably don't, is because they don't want to pay for the construction and the labor. And, with their chain wide attitude, they would most likely charge out the rear for people to visit, and most likely know that local people are not going to pay the Hallow Weekends normal rates that Cedar fair charges at other parks. From what I have seen in their chain wide pricing, nobody here would want to pay that much, unless it was really super fantastic. But with their current vision of Michigan's Adventure I highly doubt they would put any money into it.

Of course the previous owners invested... when you start from nothing, there's room to grow. Cedar Fair has invested with great rides at your park, whether you're fond of them or not. The park is right sized, no matter what you think.

And you're delusional of you think GL wasn't failing. I worked down the street, and routinely would go at lunch to walk-on conditions.