Why do some parks wait so long to announce new rides while others don't?

Does anyone know why some parks such as Cedar Point tend to wait a very long time to announce new rides while others tend to announce them by the end of the summer?

I highly doubt they wait so long because of security reasons. It's not like announcing a ride in August instead of November will give the competition time to re-adjust their product and build something better as a result.

I was also thinking that maybe Cedar Point and other parks wait so long because they know that vague construction hints cause speculation with enthusiasts which leads to an additional amount of excitement. Although this could be possible, (Cedar Point defenitely seems to be embracing the hype of their new ride as evidenced by their website blog) I highly doubt that they let enthusiasts dictate time timing of their press releases. Besides, a lot of enthusiasts are already in the loop of what's going on by the time of the press release. (Who here was really surpirsed when Dragster was announced on Jan 9th)

My final thought is that maybe they wait until the Fall / Winter so as to generate interest in the winter and pump up season pass sales. However, if waiting until fall to announce a ride is a good strategy, wouldn't everyone be following it?

Any comments and suggestions would be welcomed.

"My final thought is that maybe they wait until the Fall / Winter so as to generate interest in the winter and pump up season pass sales."

That would be part of it. Why don't others wait... well when stuff starts being actually built or areas closed due to the construction you might want to announce what you are doing.

Another thing that seems to dictate press releases is other parks in the same market. If you release 2nd, then you can tailor your announcement to steal the thunder of the other park. Also, the buzz will linger a bit more because there's nothing else to take their attention away from it. I remember last year Dorney and GAdv announced within the same week.

Lastly, the news item on CBuzz will be more recent, and thus drift off the news page later, allowing more people to see it over the competition. :)