Crawler was taken down for a maintenance overhaul. It's going back where it was last year. As for the re-theming of the area, that kind of stuff isn't in the budget and I don't think it will be ever again.
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-Bob (formerly Coaster Jedi)
Matt the mutt 1989-2003
gimmie a hell yeah!
But alas SF is too cheap to do this correctly and will instead just put a ride anywhere without any regards if it fits the theme of the area. If not they should have had the ride have a orleans type theme with a name matching that section of the park.
This is meant to be a thrill park and any theming they do attempt is a bonus in my view. Southwest Territory was done very well but its not their specialty.
Bottomline: If the coaster is good(and I have every reason to think it will be), I dont see the big deal with blending it in to Orlean's Place.
I go to SFGAm for riding. I dont go attempting to be sucked into a heavily themed environment.
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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"
If SF wants to make money on their parks they will have to make it an experience the whole family will enjoy and not a small part of the visitor's who may be thrill ride enthusiasts. Paramount has learned this by having great kid sections and even trying to theme rides like TR. Someday SF will learn thi but more likely will just have more problems and be bought out again.
Its the whole experience that makes the park and not the fact that you may have some thrill rides which will be outdone in a few years while classic rides will last much longer and still draw crowds.
And im very happy SFGAM added this ride and im looking forward to riding it, but if they are going to invest this money they should have invested more and made the whole area have the same theme rather than just flopping in rides in a haphazard manner IMHO.
*** This post was edited by Bob O 2/12/2003 12:23:17 AM ***
The success with CP is the award winning service they provide and the coasters. To me, SFGAm is doing the same.
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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"
*** This post was edited by Chitown 2/12/2003 12:32:39 AM ***
But to keep this up they have to build a new coaster every year or attendance drops and for a company this size it will be hard to do every year either due to money or the size of the park. The thing is parks IMHO make more money from families coming to a park and visiting and spending money on food/t-shirts and other trinkets which you find goes very well at the industry leaders but not at the regional parks like a SFGAM. I havent been to CP enough to know how they do in that catageroy but do have hotels to increase their revenue stream.
Its nice to have alot of kids buy season passes but that doesnt neccesarily help the bottom line,escpecially if the behavior of the teenagers isnt kept under control. And when i go to SFGAM i see few people walking around with items purchased from gift shops and see numerous people fleeing the park to either eat in their car or nearby Rests.(like i do) which all affects the bottom line.
Please: This topic has been brought up many, many times, and all possibilities have been gone over again and again and again. If you somehow still believe it's possible, fine. Just don't bring it up anymore, because you won't hear anything new!
As for the re-theming of Orleans place issue: Well, that's somewhat of a different ball game. It could happen. It almost certainly won't, but it could. But, I don't personally see the need. Contrary to almost everyone else, I believe that Yankee Harbour surrvived Batman just fine. Sure, it was a little odd when you were in that whole Gotham City area, but move over towards Yankee Clipper, and there was no mistaking where you were supposed to be (V2 has totally ruined this, of course). So, in my opinion, a themed area can easily survive one fairly heavily, yet oddly, themed attraction in its midst. As long as they put the giant "S" a few yards back from the main midway (i.e.: where it's easily visible, but clearly not a part of its surroundings), things'll be fine. Add in a few flats with Orleans sounding names in the following years (can anyone say Ferris Wheel where Power Dive was?), and you're fine. Because, frankly, I'd hate see our nice, unique, themes go over to a comic theme. I know comics can be better than a lot of people give them credit for, but do they really belong as a themed land in GREAT AMERICA? Think about what you're saying...
EDIT- Following the turn this thread has taken... Bb, O., you won't see a lot of "Great America" mercahndise around. Why? Becasue most of the stuff the park sells is Looney Tunes and Super-hero themed. From my experience, that stuff sells quite well. I don't buy any of it, but a surprising amount of my friends do. And I've seen families buying the stuff by the cart-load...
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I hear America screaming...
*** This post was edited by (SF)Great American 2/12/2003 12:53:28 AM ***
You are comparing a regional chain of parks to parks like Disney that specialize in being destination parks. They thrive on tourists to bring in the business and profits. Six Flags, Cedar Fair , and Paramount are strictly geared to the regions they reside in.
If a seasonal park like CP and SFGAm can achieve 3 million guests, they have had a good year. Besides coaster enthusiasts, I dont expect people from around the country to flock to SFGAm and in the same sentence, I dont think they expect that as well. That isnt what they are about.
Your thinking is that the 3 big chain parks mentioned above should model themselves around Disney. Its like apples to oranges.
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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"
EDIT-Um, that was directed at Bob O, not you, Chitown!
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I hear America screaming...
*** This post was edited by (SF)Great American 2/12/2003 12:58:00 AM ***
Bob O. is stuck in Disney. :)
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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"
As Chitown said, Disney and Universal are in an entirely different league than the Six Flags parks. They have more money to spend on new attractions (yet still add them less frequently!) and draw from a much larger population (basically the whole world) than the SF parks (basically all local/regional parks). Disney and Universal are true theme parks. Six Flags parks, despite calling themselves "theme parks", are really not much more than amusement parks. That used to be a bit different under Time-Warner, but times change and SF is doing what they need to in order to continue to attract crowds.
Anyone who claims SF isn't a destination for families (in the region, of course) is just plain full of it. Take a look around one day and see who the majority of people attending are. Note the outcry that saved Whizzer and then try to tell me that SF does nothing to attract families.
SFGAm is one of the highest-attended amusement parks in the country. They are not in danger of losing money, because (A) they draw from a HUGE population base, and (B) there's no competition to lose that money to! I see plenty of people streaming through the gate, and plenty of people buying from food shops and gift stores.
It sounds to me like some just go to SFGAm with the idea that they're going to have a bad time because it's not Disney. Really, until they realize it's not, they're going to have a crappy time.
The problem with Bob here is that he'll complain no matter what. If SFGAm spent their capital on theming the entire park instead of S:UF, then he'd complain we didn't get something new. If that money was spent on a family attraction, then he'd complain we didn't get anything thrilling. You can't please them all and, apparently, you can never please Bob O.
-Nate
*** This post was edited by coasterdude318 2/12/2003 2:36:23 AM ***
Who says the Superman can't save the day in New Orleans? Was Orleans built on top of a green kryptonite mine and I missed that bit of history?
In the Superman comic books, cartoons and movies he traversed the globe saving the world from evildoers...so why couldn't he go to to Orleans?
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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)
Honestly, you are like George Bush. "Indsutry Leaders" is a quite popular phrase with you. If you replaced it with "weapons of mass destruction" you could be President!
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"If two coaster trains almost hit each other, why is it called a near miss and not a near hit?"
Bob O said:
And Chi-town that is why SF will never draw families/sell merchandise or make as much money as any disney park. You may get alot of teenagers to buy season passes to ride some thrill rides but that wont draw families who spend the big money when they visit a theme park.
Well no one will be able to sell as much merchandise as disney does. Simply put, the Disney complex down in Florida is a friggin town or county anywhere else in the country. With the amount of people throughput they have, its no wonder no one can sell as much stuff.
The theming has nothing to do with anything that you sell. Who honestly goes somewhere and because they are in awe of the environment decide "lets buy stuff".
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Chris Tyson
Photographer
www.pkiunlimited.com
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BMCOASTER
bmcoaster@wi.rr.com
redman822 said:
Bob O,Who says the Superman can't save the day in New Orleans? Was Orleans built on top of a green kryptonite mine and I missed that bit of history?
red: Let me take your point one step further. Did *anybody* see the movie Superman II? Do you remember the beginning (before the appearance of my all-time favorite Villian - General Zod ;))? What did Superman keep terrorist from destroying? The Eiffel Tower. Where is the Eiffel Tower? France. What type of themeing is Orleans Place? FRENCH. See it all works out :)
One more thing, directed to (SF)GA, why are comics, and especially Superman not worthy of consideration? Do you NOT recall Superman's tag line of "TRUTH, JUSTICE and the AMERICAN WAY"? (3 separate links) Sorry, there isnt much MORE worthy of being in an "Americana" themed park (except mabye a section on hypocracy, but I digress....)
lata, jeremy
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"Sunshine, daisies, butter-mellow! Turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"
*** This post was edited by 2Hostyl 2/12/2003 11:31:54 AM ***
Personally I think SFGAm is trying to increase foot traffic in an area that may need a little boost to attract more guests. That's what parks do. They look at areas in the park that appear to be lacking and try to correct the problem. That's what CP did when adding Wicked Twister to the Oceana Midway.
If you want to complain about the direction the theming is at SFGAm, go check out it's sister park in Santa Clara, CA. The theming is not even close to the original park out there (though it is still a nice park). I love SFGAm and the park's theming is among the best I've seen compared to some of the parks I've been to.
X Factor
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