Oct 28th marks 1 year anniversary for S&S/Arrow

Has it almost one year since S&S purchased Arrow and added Denise Dinn to S&S's wooden coaster division. The past year S&S created many new towers, reopened SFMM's totally insane ride, and sold their first wooden coaster. not bad at all. this year the rumored purchase of the new S&S screaming squirel, and another woody in asia. Now all the company needs is to sell an Arrow.The picture would be complete. So what do you think? Will S&S/Arrow/Dinn be a major player or will S&S sell off the divisions? It must be costing a pretty penny to run such a hugh company. Stan Checketts seems to be an industry favorite. Does he have the sales ability to promote his other two division to reach their full potential?

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Does the World need another vanilla cola?

Well, I've yet to ride an S&S anything, but I hope that they can overcome their problems, atleast get the 4d up and going, and head on...I like Arrow:)

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I'm Baaaack...

Me too their my favorite coaster company

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Does the World need another vanilla cola?

I don't know why anyone even mentions Denise Dinn. She doesn't contribute anything.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
Blogs, photo albums - CampusFish
What time does the water show start?

Maybe she just stands there and looks good. Smile Denise smile Just don't open your mouth and everything will be ok.

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Does the World need another vanilla cola?

LOL. Denise ran CCI din't she?
Anyway, I'd like to see more 4D's.
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The "FAB 5" needs to give Mean Streak a "makeover"

Hmmm....this merger happened on my birthday last year, when I turned 30...perhaps it's a sign. *lol*

In any case, I hope that we see more from them, long term. As for the 4D, well, I'm more hopeful for a B&M of that type than more from Arrow.

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Harry Baer IV

"It's not going to stop 'til you wise up..."

I'll probably get ripped a new one for this, but I say if they fail in the next few months, I sure wouldn't shed a tear, good riddence even. Sure, some of their rides are "nifty", but it seems like everyone makes drop towers these days, I wasn't as impressed with the possibilities of an air launch beyond just what Hypersonic is (which is nothing more than a mini Dod-whatever it is), and the looper market is now B&M's. Arrow had their time, and I was never impressed with S&S in the first place and I have real reservations about the ability of a company founded on large steel towers of compressed air to design a good wooden coaster. I won't say I hope they go out of business, but I don't think that they have the pull in this industry to stay afloat for long.

Edit: Unless they decide as Tekno and I discussed, to just move into refits of old Arrow rides - any park would love to spend a million or two on a re-track and smoothing of their aging, banging corkscrew model than spend tens of millions on removal and replacement ...

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Brett
Resident Launch Whore
*** This post was edited by Impulse-ive 9/25/2003 10:19:55 AM ***

If it wasn't for S&S there wouldn't be any drop rides.
Your entitled to your opinion.

I have to disagree. There were plenty of old parachute rides before Mr. Checketts was even born. Intamin gave a more modern drop ride a try before S&S got in on it. Now, I do think that the Space shot is an S&S thing, but still. S&S is innovative, but not tremendously so.

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I hear America screaming...

S&S have also sold a small wooden coaster to a park in Denmark....I think called Farup. Also Fantasy Island in England will be recieving a Thrill Shot attraction next year where all three towers will be 300ft tall.

So I certainly don't think there is any chance S&S will be going out of buissness.

Yes, me and Brett had this discussion, and I actually would not mind if S&S Arrow went into a more refurb/retracking business. The electronics entertainment industry was Shocked when SEGA went from Cosole and first party game designer to multi platform designer(i feel that eventually Nintendo will do the same....), but they were in sort of the same rut as Arrow, and they've bounced back and make great games. Maybe if S&S Arrow would do more work to preserve older Arrows, and maybe come up with a few newer flats, they could just put major coaster designing behind.

We have great companies out there, and not so great companies, maybe they should look at offering some service that most other companies don't offer, or do something for cheaper than other companines, other than design/build coasters.

They do need to rethink their stratagy, and though I hate to admit it(not because I don't want to agree with Brett, but because I don't want Arrow to go under...)I have to agree with Impulse-ive.

But whatever happens, Arrows will be around in 80 years in some form, and we'll all be like :"Hey, I rode that POS when it was new, now its a classic!"

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I'm Baaaack...

Sorry Clint, Brett, I have to disagree *strongly*. Sure, Stan got into the business via his use of compressed air for launching rides, but from there he's been expanding into other areas.

From Shot rides to air-launch coasters, the thrillers like AI, the Sky Swatter, the Screaming Squirrel, and there's more coming down the line from S&S/Arrow. Sure, Timberhawk may not have gotten rave reviews from the enthusiast community, but I'll wager that it's done VERY well in the accounting office...;)

P.S. No matter what you think of Denise, Dennis McNulty was the *steal* behind S&S's wooden division...:). I expect we'll be seeing more wooden coasters from S&S in the future, and that the Denmark coaster is just the tip of the....iceberg...;)

P.P.S. Yes, my geography IS better than that....
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We're whalers on the moon, we carry a harpoon, but there ain't no whales so we tell tall tales and sing a whaling tune...

RG - I'll agree with you that the expansion into other rides is very interesting, but has it really done anything for their bottom line? I haven't seen another air launch, 4D, or Screaming Squirrel installed yet (beyond the 3 that exist, but basically, those checks are already in the bank and spent), or heard any rumors of them being looked at for future expansions. Could a surprise announcement come down the line? Sure, but I think it to be highly unlikely.

For a company that doesn't profess to be anything more than what it is like say, GCI, a little retrack work and a coaster or two every year or two keeps you afloat. But, S&S/Arrow trys to show themselves off as *the* premeir ride manufacturer that does everything - family, extreme, thrill rides, flat rides, you name it, they do it. And there's a saying that goes along with that: jack of all trades, master of none. S&S/Arrow seems to me to do just a little more business than GCI, but their size is so much bigger, I don't know how much longer they can survive.

Scale back, phase out the new cosaters division, and stick to correcting errors of older coasters, making great "flats" like drop towers and screaming squirrels, and maybe look into a piece of this market that's just screaming profitability if you make it work: low-cost retrack and rework of Summers and Dinn megawoodies! (and SoB would probably fall into that category).

And before someone says it, no I'm not a business whiz, future predictor, or anything else, just my honest, reality and observation-based opinion of the best track for the company, take it or leave it.

And Clint, love the POS comment! ... and RG - yay Futurama! Cartoon Network, 11:30pm? ;)

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Brett
Resident Launch Whore
*** This post was edited by Impulse-ive 9/26/2003 11:30:29 AM ***

Coaster Bob said:

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Denise ran CCI din't she?

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Interesting choice of words, she really didn't run anything, except company bills.. she ran those up..
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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82

I wouldn't say that S&S "expanded" into other areas, but instead "bought" their way into other areas. Doesn't matter I suppose, but it's an important distinction to make.

And the real brains behind CCI are still in Cincy...

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
Blogs, photo albums - CampusFish
What time does the water show start?

I think that, during the next year or so, Arrow and Dinn will become more of a liability than an asset to S&S. All that money and nothing really coming from besides 2 wooden coasters... doesn't add up to profits from what I see.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002