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Industry News:
2008 Park Attendance Report - (4/18/09) For the second year in a row, the Busch parks have a little bone to pick with the new annual attendance report issued by TEA and ERA. They claim that the attendance estimates for the Busch parks are well below what their true numbers are, “wrong across the board” according to Busch spokeperson, Fred Jacobs. He corrects the report saying that the Busch parks combined brought in more than 25.4 million guests in 2008, 10% more than the 23 million reported in the new 2008 attendance report. He even went on record to point out that SeaWorld (Orlando I assume) brought in 6.2 million in 2007, far more than the 5.8 million estimate from last year’s report.
In their defense, ERA did mention that they had come to Busch asking for their help to compile their figures, but Busch, like most other park operations, refuses to give up this sensitive information, so they only have their best estimates to go by.
(4/16/09) The official 2008 Theme Park Attendance Report can be seen (and downloaded) by clicking here.
Coaster & Amusment Ride Videos - (5/12/09) The new Roller Coasters In The Raw Volume 3 DVD is now shipping, which features a lot of videos of coasters that are no longer with it. You can view a preview clip of the old Myrtle Beach Hurricane that is featured on the DVD.
(4/15/09) The new Roller Coasters In The Raw - Volume 3 will begin shippings on May 11th, and you can pre-order your copy from Theme Park Review now for $10. This two-dvd set includes coaster footage from over 40 different rides, including many that are now “gone but not forgotten” like the Myrtle Beach Hurricane, Drachen Fire, Texas Cyclone, The Bat, Orient Express, WindJammer, MegaZeph, Villain, The Chiller, Hercules, Psyclone, XLR-8, Geauga Lake Big Dipper and many many more.
You can also pre-order Coaster Expedition Volume 12, which includes footage from 20 parks in China, Korea and Japan that have never been featured before on a Theme Park Review DVD. All together, Volume 12 will show off over 60 different roller coasters on the two-DVD set.
Coaster Trips - (3/27/09) Theme Park Review has announced that they still have a few spots left open for their Scandinavia 2009 trip. You can find out more about the trip and what parks they will visit here.
(2/3/09) Theme Park Review has announced that the rates for their Texas USA and Deep South USA trips this year have dropped due to them scoring all new cheaper package deals for hotels and transportation. The Texas 2009 trip is now $999 a person and the Deep South USA trip is $1099 per person. You can pull up all the details here.
 General News - (7/10/09) An Ebay auction is currently going on to sell Michael Jackson’s former Bumper Car ride from Neverland. The current bid price is already over $46k.
(7/8/09) I really don’t know much about it, but Cartoon Network is featuring a new game show called Brain Rush where the host plops down in a seat next to a unknowing rider on a coaster and apparently begins to give them questions for prizes. I haven’t seen an episode myself, but from the teaser video on the website it looks like they were filming it at Knott’s Berry Farm earlier this summer.
(7/3/09) Teens looking to do a little traveling to take in theme parks and roller coasters may want to check out the ThrillCoaster Tours website. The teen vacation group is heading out to the California parks in just a few days and will launch their “Get To The Point” and “MidStates Tour” trips in August. They even post blog updates from some of their trips, such as the review of Manta at SeaWorld Orlando.
(6/19/09) The ABC TV show, Wife Swap, is currently seeking to audition Roller Coaster Enthusiast families “WHO SHARE THE LOVE AND THRILL OF RIDING ROLLER COASTERS AND THRILL RIDES AROUND THE COUNTRY”. So if you’ve got spunky and out-spoken kids, lots of opinions you like to talk about, and a family that is pefect for TV they want to hear from you. Of course it’s also worth nothing that all families cast to be on the show will receive $20,000 “for their time and commitment to the project.” That’s a lot of money folks... especially under these trying times. To apply or get information about the show Please contact:
Amanda Gershkowitz
Call: 646-747-7949
Email: Amanda.gershkowitz@rdfnewyork.com or wifeswap.amanda@gmail.com.
(4/17/09) Apparently a legal war is brewing over who has the rights to make fake waves… as Wave Loch has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against a new company called American Wave Machines which just opened their first stationary wave attraction in Taiwan last year and plans in place to open several more in the near future. While in some cases there is room for some competition, the problem lies in the fact that American Wave Machines’s founder worked for Wave Loch in the early days of the company and had complete access to their trade secrets and designs.
(2/23/09) As we quickly head towards the start of the 2009 theme park season, I think there are a couple of important issues I should mention. First off I’ve got to ask that you should support your local parks as well as your favorite parks. Times are tough for everyone right now, but if you are able, supporting your local and favorite attractions will help ensure that they are able to remain open. We’ve seen just how quickly a project can fail in the last few years as new parks like Wild West World and Hard Rock Park were both forced to close before they could even finish their first year. Visiting these attraction will also perform a second very important task, by letting the owners and management know that they still have active customers, they will have the confidence to continue to plan ahead and invest in new attractions for the years to come.
It can take years sometimes to design a new attraction at a park, and the bigger players like Disney and Universal are poised to begin letting many of their creative staff go… important people who will be hard to replace once gone. This move alone could delay the addition of major new projects by years, causing a several year period of slow expansion and new attraction. Strong attendance in 2009 will send a clear signal to the parks that they still have an audience who will support them through these tough times, making them willing to approve new projects for the future. Strong attendance in 2009 is also the best way to show Wall Street that the theme park industry will not collapse and give confidence to the investors and build up the stock prices once again.
Now that I’ve mentioned what we can do, as a fan community, to support our favorite leisure activity, I’ve got a message for the parks as well. Now is also the time to lower some of your prices that may have gotten out of control in the last few years. There is no reason to charge $15 to park, and $75 is a bit too high of a price for admission to a Walt Disney World park. While we know everyone is hurting for money right now, the best thing you can do to maintain and even grow your attendance figures is to lower some of your prices and offer some great deals. This will allow your guests to spend the extra money they’ll save there on other items once inside the park, which is where we all know that you make the most profit anyway. Working together, we can keep the industry alive and well… and keep new projects in development. Otherwise if things get stale, it may only be a matter of time before some of the major ride and attraction vendors are forced to close up. We’ve already seen how this has impacted Sally Corp, who had to lay off nearly half of their staff, and I’d hate to hear any more stories like this, or worse ones.
Internet Fun - (7/16/09) CNN has posted a list of their picks for the top waterparks in the United States.
(7/14/09) Weird Al has release a new music video online for a song called Skipper Dan... which is all about being a famous Disney Jungle Cruise skipper.
(7/10/09) A little bit of fun for everyone… as I’ve been sent a video showing off a B&M Hypercoaster where the rider sings about being on the “credit roller coaster” while taking a spin on La Ronde’s version of Goliath. Of course you could just rename this video clip, “Coasting With Mullets” and it would still be funny. Besides... how ironic is it that they are singing about credit and debt problems while riding a Six Flags coaster.
(7/9/09) A new bit of Internet Fun for you… check out this website to see a project currently under way to build computer model theme park rides.
(7/8/09) Andy Shine’s July Coaster Quiz has gone live, check it out!
(7/6/09) Theme Park Insider has created some great buzz for themselves this past week with the results from their Theme Park Insider Awards. Check out the results here. For you big ride photographers, Coaster101.com is holding a photography contest between now and July 16th. Click on the link for official details.
(7/3/09) A reader sent me a link to an interesting article posted to GADV.com entitled, The Race For the Sky, which documents the timeline and history of the roller coaster arms race to be the tallest and fastest ride on the planet.
(6/25/09) Okay, this is very cool… one of our readers sent in a link to show off a custom cake topper they had made for their wedding cake. After searching long and hard to find something ‘coaster’ related and coming up empty handed, they decided to have this little baby created for them by ThumbprintKids, which looks quite amazing. Of course you’ll pay handsomely for something as unique as this to be created for you, but if you’ve got the money to burn…
(6/23/09) The official movie trailer for Zombieland, shot on location at Wild Adventures, is now out. The dark comedy looks to be interesting… and yes, they even kill a few zombies with the thrill rides apparently. Take a look here.
(6/13/09) While it may not be for everyone, the all new second season of the animated theme park enthusiast spoof show, Coaster Universe News Today, is back for an all new second season - now in HD and even more reliable than ever before. You can see the new episode here.
(5/29/09) That coaster enthusiast hasn’t thought about what it would be like to have a coaster in their own backyard, but one did something about it. Make the jump over to Theme Park Review to tag along with the Big Mike Roadshow as they stop into visit John Ivers in Indiana who built not just one, but two custom made steel coasters in his back yard: The Blue Flash and Blue Too.
(5/19/09) Season Pass Podcast has posted a new episode this week which is actually the first part of two with Disney Imagineer Rick Rothschild, with a behind the scenes look back at the creation of the American Adventure in Epcot and the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland.
(5/7/09) Scarehouse, the popular Haunt in Pittsburgh has launched the official Scarehouse CD, featuring the music used in the various haunts as well as information about the musican behind all the tracks, Delirium Dog. I know I’ve been a fan of the track they released online last fall called Stay, which now has a permanent home on my iPod. In addition to buying the CD right from Scarehouse, you can also download it directly through iTunes as well.
(5/3/09) The May edition of Andy Shine’s Coaster Quiz can be found here.
(4/30/09) If your in the mood for a laugh or some satire about the Theme Park industry, then check out the new Waste Land: A Source of Amusement Trash website. They start off with an interesting and timely piece about the transformation of one more Six Flags coaster down in Mexico… introducing Superman: El Ultimo Swine.
(4/13/09) I’m a bit late with this but the April edition of Andy Shine’s Coaster Quiz is now online. This one is a bit interesting, as it asks a lot of questions about all your favorite coaster related clubs and websites.
(4/10/09) File this news article under odd coaster facts that I never knew. Did you know that the busy summer coaster season causes an odd problem for 911 call center workers across the country? When surveyed about the number different type of “inappropriate calls” they recieve, they mentioned there was a distinct increase in the number of ‘butt dialing’ calls made accidentally by roller coaster riders. They answer the line, hear lots of loud noises and people screaming their heads off and, “You know, you have to kind of listen to those for a few minutes just to make sure it’s not a serious call.”
(4/3/09) Haunt fans in the UK can rejoice with the launch of Scare-E TV, an online channel devoted to all things “Scare-E”, including haunted attractions. They are also looking for interaction from the public, asking you to send in you rown video reviews of haunt and scare attractions from all over the UK. If they like it, you could soon find yourself on Scare-E TV.
2008 Attendance Report - (4/3/09) The 2008 park attendance report will be published this year on the TEA (Themed Entertainment Association) and ERA (Economics Research Associates) websites, and then sent out to the media in mid-April. In the meantime you can still download your own copy of the 2007 report.
(3/17/08) Once again TEA and ERA have joined forces to release the 2007 Theme Park Attendance Report. You can find this report posted to the websites for InPark Magazine and Park World Magazine.
Alterface - (6/19/09) Alterface, the creators of the interactive Desperados attraction, have posted some pictures of their newest creation, The House, to their website. They describe The House as being more than a 4D Theater, or a Haunt ride or dark ride, but rather a blending of them all to create a new interactive experience. The House uses three full HD screens that will play a horror movie for the audience who sits in a highly themed room packed to the brim with special effects.
(4/21/09) Alterface is happy to announce that the 25th installation of Desperado’s will be taking place very soon, will also mark their first installation in Africa when the new attraction opens at Heliopolis near Cairo, Egypt.
(3/18/09) Alterface and Closterman Design presented a new concept for a haunted attraction at IAAPA last fall and now “the project has become a reality” it seems according to a statement from Alterface. The two partners will provide all new details about the project at this year’s National Haunt & Attractions Show in St. Louis  (March 27-29). In the meantime, they have sent us the basic storyline as well as some basic attraction information.
The pitch - It’s the 1920s. Carli Winepeg, a young actress and silent movies star who focuses on horror films, has disappeared with all her film crew in a dark medieval castle in Transylvania. The shooting of the movie ‘Castle of Chaos’ will not be completed.
Eighty years later, the mystery has still not been solved and has in fact given rise to a legend. The inquiry revealed that Carli Winepeg was a rather strange character. She was for example always accompanied by her loyal and mysterious big black dog, which behaved just as aggressively as its mistress. If she is alive now, Winepeg could still terrify many people. But here’s the question: Is she really dead? The castle itself has turned into a tourist attraction... Yet strange things still appear to be happening there and the inhabitants of the nearby village have tried to warn off people curious to learn more. Enter at your peril...
The attraction - Gathered on a rotating platform, sitting on themed seats, the disoriented players quickly move from one screen to another. They are armed with a pistol and try to react to the many surprises that spring up everywhere. The 3D images are completed with real effects in the room, while the raging elements, lights and sounds create a unique and frightening atmosphere. Projected on the screen, the players are at the mercy of the terrifying Carli and the creatures that surround her.
(12/2/08) Alterface and Closterman Design have joined forces to create a new multimedia and interactive haunted house attraction concept. The idea is to seat 30 guests onto a large rotating platform in the middle of a room full of special effects, animatronics, and interactive 3D images. Concept artwork and even a brief video can be seen here.
 B&M - (5/12/09) Gravity Photography dropped by the steel plant that makes all the B&M coaster track and came back with a ton of new pictures of grassy fields full of yellow B&M track and some red Dive Machine sized track. There is also quite a few unpainted support pieces on-site as well as shipping containers, which means that it’s likely that some of this track may have an international destination ahead of it.
(4/21/09) Remember that mystery Yellow track that was spotted outside the B&M production facility in Ohio? While some of it is still there (we believe it’s for some kind of Sit-Down Looping coaster) there is now a new piece of bright red track. If I had to guess, I would say that this may be for a new hypercoaster project. Carowinds perhaps? Another ride for China? You just never know…
(1/23/09) Last fall a few enthusiasts started checking out the factory in Ohio where all the B&M coaster track gets manufactured and back then they spotted what ended up being the track for Diamondback and some red mystery track that appeared to be for a Dive Machine project somewhere. One of our readers returned for another look around and while the mystery red track is now gone, there was a lot of new yellow track on site for another
mystery project. While I’m not a major track expert, I would say that this yellow track appears to be for either a sit down or floorless coaster project.
Officially on the books, the only known B&M project we haven’t seen anything about is the Dive Machine going to Happy Valley Sheshan to open sometime later in 2009, but I’m still guessing that was what the mystery red track was for. On the rumor side of things, we’ve heard about possible B&M projects for Toverland (Inverted), Valleyfair (Inverted), Efteling (Flyer) and Carowinds (Hyper), the three B&Ms planned for Universal Studios Dubailand, as well as whatever is in store for SeaWorld / Worlds of Discovery project in Dubai and even the Six Flags Dubai project. Still… none of these are a perfect match yet, so does anyone else know more?
(12/18/08) News Plus Notes has posted a great article after being allowed to tour the plant in Ohio to find out all the details (and take photo) of where all the B&M track is made.
Busch Entertainment - (6/9/09) According to a couple of Screamscape sources, some corporate types from Merlin Entertainment were spotted taking guided tours through Busch Gardens Tampa and SeaWorld Orlando sometime last week. Looks like they’re still interested in a possible purchase of the parks.
(5/15/09) Anheuser-Busch InBev announced that they will “issue $3 billion worth of long-term debt” and use the proceeds to repay some short-term debt and a portion of the bigger debt from the $52 billion merger. According to the Orlando Sentinel, this deal combined several other previously announced asset sales and finance deals has allowed the company to raise $11.5 billion this year, far above and beyond the $7 billion they wanted to raise previously. This does take some pressure off the sale of the Busch Entertainment theme parks, allowing them the time to hold onto the parks long enough to ride out the recession and get a better price for them in the future perhaps.
(5/8/09) According to an article at the Orlando Sentinel, the Busch Entertainment theme parks reported lower revenues than normal for the first three months of 2009.
(4/28/09) According to this article in the Orlando Sentinel, Universal Orlando’s parent company (G.E.) has made some comments that sound like they have given the idea of buying up Busch Entertainment some serious thought. They wont confirm any interest outright of course, but just the thought of the power behind a combined Universal and Busch Entertainment, does make one pause to reflect on what it could mean to the industry in California and Florida. Combined, the two would certainly be able to give Disney a run for their money.
(3/19/09) While this doesn’t say anything about the Busch Entertainment, it does look as if InBev is starting to cut loose some major sponsorship deals in the racing world. Visit this site and scroll down a bit to the Budweiser article.
(3/12/09) I really don’t know how serious this news is but we’ve heard from a source that Fox may be looking into a possible purchase of the Anheuser-Busch Theme Parks division. After being about the only major movie studio to stay completely out of the Theme Park business for decades, I’m not quite sure I believe that they may be ready to jump into the action at this point in time. But the arguments are good as most other Studios have have owned their own parks did find them to be quite beneficial. While Paramount opted to sell their off, the fact that budget minded GE saw the light and decided to keep the Universal Studios theme parks may have been enough reason to make Fox management give the idea a serious look. Meanwhile they’ve got to be aware that some of their top programs have already been sold off to other park chains, such as The Simpsons (Universal) and now Ameircan Idol (Disney). Of course if you wanted to buy a major theme park chain on sale... now is the time to do so. On a side note, our source says that while Fox may be seriously interested, they also know that they don’t know a thing about the industry, and may be seeking a partner with some operations experience. Anyone else heard rumors about this yet?
(3/9/09) It seems that new AB-InBev head-honcho Carolos Brito make some comments this past week that really started all kinds of news headlines about selling off the theme parks once again. He mentioned that the company was planning on selling off $7 billion in non-essential assets this year, and while not mentioning the AB Theme Parks, they are usually considered to be part of this. Brito went on to say that they have been approached with purchase offers for some of these assets that they are looking into… but once again, he has never mentioned the theme park division by name.
However, in an interesting move Screamscape sources tell us that a memo went out internally to the various parks this past week, asking them all to be mindful of expenses and to look into various ways to cut back on operational costs… reminding everyone to perform even the most simple of tasks such as turning off the lights and computers in the office when you leave for the night. Such a move tells me that Brito may not be in any rush to sell off the parks and may be willing to hold onto them for a bit longer in order for the economy to recover which will allow for better bids to be made.
Cedar Fair - (7/15/09) Cedar Fair has launched Ride Warrior Nation, a new website designed for thrill ride lovers everywhere, promoting the chains 122 coasterand 581 rides. Check it out!
(7/10/09) Cedar Fair has announced that their Q2 Conference call will be held on August 4th at 10am (EST). You can listen in to it live here.
(4/17/09) Cedar Fair has announced that they will hold the Q1 conference call on May 5th at 2pm. You can listen in by following the links on this page once the event takes place.
(3/16/09) It looks like Cedar Fair is serious (or want to appear that way) about looking into the possibility of selling off a few of their parks (Worlds of Fun, Valleyfair, California’s Great America) and some spare land attached to a few others. To help push such an agenda forward they have hired the services of Merrill Lynch to go over it with them as well as exploring “other strategic alternatives” in an effort to reduce debt.
(3/10/09) Cedar Fair dropped a huge bomb today mixed in with their announcement that they would be changing (cutting) their cash distributions to shareholders in order to help reduce their debt by $200 million over the next 3 years. While that shook up Wall Street, what is shaking up the enthusiast community is the fact that they also mentioned that they were looking into options to possibly sell off as many as three parks as well as “excess land” they own next to Canada’s Wonderland as well as the old Geauga Lake site in Ohio. The three parks that may be on the auction block may come as a surprise to some, but they mentioned California’s Great America, Worlds of Fun and ValleyFair.
While the possible sale of CGA comes to no surprise to anyone, since they been talking about selling it to the 49er’s NFL Football team for the past year, the other two were kind of shocking at first. Valleyfair I guess I can understand, once you get past the historic signifigance of it all, since Cedar Point and Valleyfair were the first two parks spark the creation of the “Cedar Fair” chain. Beyond that, the park is on the small side, they really have been hesitant to invest heavily in it for quite some time and given the location, they do have to deal with a shorter season than some of the other parks.
Worlds of Fun kind of surprised me though, because they have been investing quite a bit into that park over the last several years. Five of the park’s seven roller coasters were added in past dozen years alone: Mamba-‘98, Boomerang-2K, Spinning Dragons-’04, Patriot-’06 and now Prowler this year. The park has also seemed to be really growing a local following for it’s Halloween event as well, so I was surprised to see Worlds of Fun on the list instead of say… Michigan’s Adventure. Not that Michigan’s Adventure is a bad park or anything… it just really sticks out in comparison to the rest of the parks in the chain, especially following the purchase of the Paramount Parks a few years ago.
(2/13/09) Cedar Fair has reported that the company has made a $5.7 million profit in 2008 compared to a $4.5 million loss reported at the end of 2007. Attendance was also up 3% from 2007, bringing in 22.7 million guests.
Creative Kingdoms - (4/28/09) Creative Kingdoms has opened a brand new MagiQuest facility in Japan at the infamous Tokyo Dome.
(11/24/08) Creative Kingdoms announced at IAAPA an aggressive expansion plan that will see new MagiQuest centers opened in 2009 in: Tokyo, Hawaii, Concord, NC, Xanadu and Pigeon Forge. Earlier this week MagiQuest also introduced the first real live villain, Xavier, to the game, and will roll out a MagiQuest 2.0 in the summer of 2009. The new version of the game will allow players to change the outcome and storyline of their character based on the choices they make.
The new Hawaiian location will be built into Oahu’s Hilton Hawaiian Village with the game built into the landscape, village and shopping areas. This MagiQuest location will also be the first to offer play in two languages, Japanese and English, and will be ready to open by Spring 2009. Meanwhile Japan’s second location will open in the Tokyo Dome at about the same time.
Meanwhile the new location in the massive Xanadu Mall in New Jersey will see a new MagiQuest built in as part of the “The Funplex” location that offer a mix of video games, bumper cars, laser tag, go karts and MagiQuest. The press release also mentions that a huge stand-alone MagiQuest facility is expected to open in Late 2009 in Long Island that will feature 20 quests and 7 adventures. They also confirmed that MagiQuest will be part of the new Great Wolf Lodge that is opening in Spring 2009 in Concord, NC.
Now the press release seemed to overlook releasing any new details about the Pigeon Forge location, but after pressing for more details I was told that MagiQuest will be added to the Adventure Quest building, taking over the entire upstairs half of the large building. While the rest of the downstairs attractions will remain, the entire facility will change it’s name to MagiQuest.
(11/21/08) Creative Kingdoms, the force behind MagiQuest made a major new product announcement last month as they unveiled plans for a spin-off company called Aqua Kingdoms, who will focus on bringing new high-tech attractions to water based attractions. A key feature will be the use of an AquaGlove that will work in much the same fashion as the magic wands to at MagiQuest, allowing new levels of interactivity in a wet environment. They have plans for a full AuqaQuest water based interactive game experience, a Kinetic Water Play Structure and something called Cannonball which seems to be a new take on the giant dumping water bucket concept.
Disney - (7/10/09) - UDPATE - I'm not sure how hard this was intended to be, but for a walking Disney attractions database like myself, I figured out the whole Dee Bee code language pretty fast. I had big help however from a reader (Big shout out to Sean!) who kick started my brain into the right thinking mode by suggesting that each of the symbols represents the first letter of a Disney attraction they represent. For example... the It's A Small World smiley face means "I". The Astro Orbiter means "A" and so on... though some of them are a little vague or hard to figure out since they represent attractions long since removed from the parks.
The first short message found near the Tamu Tamu building simply says:
"If you can dream it".
The second longer message found just after the 4th of July fireworks show at Epcot is somewhat of a direct message from a particular DeeBee.
"I am so happy it is the fourth! More sparklees! More Bigger Bang! I do so like the big sparklee bang! - Bangee"
So it appears not only have we cracked the Dee Bee language, but the latest message was also signed from "Bangee".
(7/10/09) I’m not exactly sure what the deal is but Disney seems to have started their own viral campaign of sorts at FindTheDeeBees.com. Unfortunately I’m guessing it has more to do with Pin Trading than anything else due to all the Pin Trading links on the site, but the FAQ page talks about DeeBees as some kind of small creature that only comes out at night which has been reported at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Go into the blog section and you’ll find a few images showing off messages in some kind of DeeBee language, which seems to be made up from Disney logo wingdings or something. May be a good way to translate if you’ve got a font full of those… I saw one once somewhere I just can’t remember where.
(6/29/09) With the passing of Michael Jackson, many theme park fans have started to remember Disney’s first 4D Theater attraction, Captain EO. While I’m sure Disney was hesitant to ever bring back Captain EO to the parks due to all the negative press than Jackson had generated in the past decade, some believe that his passing may actually give Disney a reason to bring this attraction back for a short run. An online petition has already started for just such a movement. Even if Disney never brings it back however, though the magic of YouTube, you can view the entire film (2d) version in the clips embedded below to relive it one more time.
(6/9/09) Disney is working with Simworx to promote the European release of Race To Witch Mountain with the aid of portable Morphis Movieride simulator theaters that are showing a custom produced film starring the characters from the movie.
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(6/7/09) It’s been awhile since we’ve heard much about the lawsuit between Royce Mathew and Disney over the mouse ripping off quite a few elements for the first Pirates of the Caribbean film from his own project. Perhaps one of the more shocking things is that not only did Disney deny any of this, but they went so far as to alter previously published facts about the creation of the Pirates ride, now claiming that the ride had always had a story about cursed pirates who transformed into skeletons in the moonlight. The following is a update from Royce about the matter…
Since October 2005 Royce Mathew has repeatedly showed proof that Disney had deliberately lied and had exposed that their official Pirates of the Caribbean book was deliberately infused with concocted facts so that Disney, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio could continue to claim that there always was a story about cursed pirates who transform into skeletons in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride attraction and it’s conceptual proposals. Yet no one listened to Royce.
Now as just published, in Disney’s 2009 official book entitled, The Art of Walt Disney World Resort, on page 74, it exposes and confirms that the Walt Disney company had indeed committed fraud and had been lying throughout the legal proceedings with which to get the court to dismiss the lawsuit, financially destroy Royce Mathew and to alter the public’s perception of the truth.
The evidence speaks for itself here as you can see when you compare the artwork as it appeared in Disney’s Official Pirates of the Caribbean book (2005/2006) and the new Art of Walt Disney World book (2009). To read all about this ongoing lawsuit Royce has had with Disney and to find the back-story about what elements were ripped off for inclusion into the Pirates films, visit DisneyLawsuit.com.
In other news, Disney has been quick to build a tie-in to the NBA Finals games between the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic by coming up with the “Fairytale Series” to create a rivaly between Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Of course it helps that the finals will also air on ABC, so it’s Win-Win for Disney either way. Meanwhile there is a little wager going on between the top dogs of each resort, so watch the video below to see what the loser has to do at their respective park.
(6/1/09) According to Variety Disney is hoping to pick up the slack of theme park merchandise sales by offering select items for sale online. They’ve already added some here that allows you to buy some popular toys previously only sold at the resorts (like the monorails) or order your own personalized Mouse Ears.
(5/22/09) Sad news for Disney fans this week as Wayne Allwine, the official voice of Mickey Mouse for the past 32 years, passed away on Monday at the age of 62. He passed away with his wife at his side, who strangely enough is also the official voice of Minnie Mouse. To date only three people have even been the official voice of Mickey, Walt Disney himself (1928-1947), Jimmy Macdonald (1947-1977) and then Allwine starting in 1977.
(5/19/09) According to the local news Disney has bought 15 acres near the National Harbor development area, with the plan to build a 500 room Disney themed resort hotel, which I assume will be similar to the Disney/DVC combo hotel concept under construction in Hawaii. While Disney wont give up any details on the project, Jay Rasulo did confirm that it “will be a project of significant scale and put a recognizable Disney footprint in the Washington area." While they have no set timeline, given the current state of the national economy, “We wouldn't be buying this property if we didn't think this was a great location for a Disney resort hotel," Rasulo said. Sounds to me like Disney is striking now while the price of the land is likely at it’s lowest price point.
(5/16/09) Disney’s D23 Fan Community has announced several special events that will take place later this year. The list includes a screening for D23 members of UP on May 28th at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, a special D23 Flowers and Fireworks Celebration event at Epcot on May 31st, Mary Poppins events in New York and Chicago, and a special Lion King event in Las Vegas on June 27th to celebrate the new show that just opened this month at Mandalay Bay. More events are on tap for the summer at the Walt Disney Studios, Disneyland and more. You can see the complete list and all the details here.
(5/9 /09) Walt Disney World has launched their own Viral campaign across Central Florida with the placement of several bright red banners that simply say, “Shine On?” Exactly what it means, Disney isn’t saying, they’re not even officially confessing any attachment to the campaign itself, but I’ve been told that we should keep an eye on the ShineOnToday.com website for more hints and that we will find out what all the fuss is
about on May 11th.
(5/8/09) Disney’s stock price took a huge leap up for the first time in months, rising 13% after several analysts upgraded their ratings after Disney showed “stronger than expected results” from ESPN, Disney Chan, ABC Fam divisions, despite a 26% drop in quarterly earnings.
(3/26/09) While Toy Story Mania may be one of the first true combinations of a video g ame and theme park ride, the official Toy Story Mania video game isn’t far behind. This week Disney Interactive announced that Toy Story Mania!, a new video game inspired by the rides at Disney’s California Adventure and Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme parks, will be released exclusively for the Nintendo Wii this fall.
In addition to galleries adapted from the attraction, the game includes new and original galleries and a series of mini games, all hosted by beloved characters from the movies. The thematically-connected levels are designed for up to four players of all ages with competitive and co-operative multiplayer options. Toy Story Mania! also includes bonus 3D features, transforming the game experience with eye-popping visuals.
(3/11/09) While once has to wonder just how well all amusement parks will fair through the recession a stock analyst has posted their opinions on Disney’s future, claiming that the companies theme parks could struggle well into 2010.
(2/18/09) Disney collectors are a ravenous bunch, so it seems Disney has decided to launch a new and somewhat unique new collectible product line called Vinylmation. Apparently the first run of these strangely painted figures already sold out in a matter of weeks and the first fan site has already launched at VinylNation.net.
(2/17/09) In what could end up being an interesting alliance, Disney and Lego have struck a deal to allow Lego to launch new toy lines based on Disney/Pixar films. The first three out the door will be based on Cars, Toy Story and Disney’s upcoming blockbuster film, Prince of Persia, which is actually based on a video game.
(2/12/09) Disney will open a DVC Preview Center later this year in Roosevelt Field Mall (New York) that they are calling Doorway To Dreams. The preview center will include a full scale recreation of a two-bedroom vacation home DVC room and an “interactive family vacation discovery zone” and supervised children’s play area.
In other news, I could barely believe the headline when I read it but BloodyDisgusting is reporting that Disney is working on ideas to bring the Tower of Terror attraction to life as a feature film, much in the same way that they did with Pirates and Haunted Mansion. Of course… some may recall that Disney already tried this once before back in 1997 with the terrible made for TV film staring Steve Guttenberg. If true, lets hope it’s more like Pirates and less like the Haunted Mansion film. Meanwhile I still want to know whatever became of Disney’s plans to make a film based on the Jungle Cruise that was announced back in 2006 or the movie version of Big Thunder Mountain?
GordonRides - (5/2/09) GordonRi
des and Dynamic Designs have announced a new flat ride creation that they are calling the MegaWhip. They expect the new ride to be ready and available for sale by this fall in time to have the “full product debut” at IAAPA in Vegas this November. The concept of the MegaWhip is based on the idea of the original Whip flat ride, but redesigned to allow the cars to navigate turns in both directions during the course of the layout. This development will allow for each ride to have it’s own unique layout instead of being a carbon copy of each other.
While I don’t think we’ve seen any real rides from GordonRides yet, they do have some interesting ideas on their website, such as the Inverted Wooden Coaster. Check it out! Dynamic Designs on the other hand is the current company of Bill Kelley and Steve Okamoto of Steel Dragon fame.
The Gravity Group - (6/18/09) Earlier this year the Gravity Group took their  prototype Timberliner train out to Holiday World to give it a test run on The Raven. They were nice enough to send me this great picture for use on Screamscape, which I unfortunately misplaced until today, but it gives you a great look at the basic shape of the new train design. You can see even more pictures of it in action over at the official GravityCast, including an video of it making a test run.
(12/16/08) An interview with Michael Graham of the Gravity Group has been posted to TGESource.
(11/19/08) Gravity Group has announced the creation of their very own brand of wooden roller coaster trains that they are calling Timberliners.  Designed from the ground up Timberliners will be compatible with today’s existing wooden coasters, allowing for parks to upgrade to them in the future. The trains are described as being single-bench models (like the GCI Millennium Flyers) with shock absorption, ergonomic styling, an ‘innovative restraint system’ designed for higher throughput, integrated monitoring, on-board soundtrack capable, magnetic braking capable and perhaps the most interesting… “launch system capable”. The press release mentions that Timberliners are available for purchase for the 2009 season through Gravity Group’s sister company, Gravitykraft. Unfortunately the only picture I can find of one of these things is a tiny little one in the corner of this graphic posted to the Gravity Group website.
Great Wolf Lodge - (5/6/09) According to this news article, Great Wolf Lodge is going through with a proposed deal to sell their ownership stake in the Great Wolf Lodge resorts in Wisconsin Dells and Sandusky, Ohio to CNL Income Partners for $6 million. Both resorts will continue to operate as official Great Wolf Lodge resorts however as part of a license / management contract.
Currently Great Wolf Lodge has no resorts under construction, after just finishing up the Concord location last month, but has issued letters of intent to build future resorts just outside of Atlanta, GA, at the Foxwoods Casino in Connectict and at the Mall of America in Minnesota.
(2/27/09) While Great Wolf Lodge has posted a large Q4 loss, this was already announced in advance, but the surprising news was that their operating results for the quarter were much better than what analysts expected. Here’s the numbers rundown: The posted a loss of $36.5 million in Q4, up from only $7.7 million the year before. However revenue increased 12% from $39.3 million to $44.1 million this year in Q4.
IAAPA Asian Expo - (6/17/09) A
couple of readers sent in photos from the IAAPA Asian Expo show last week for us to enjoy. It didn’t seem like there was much in the ‘new’ category to show off, other than a very elaborately George of the Jungle themed Splash Battle model (may have been in the 3DBA booth, but I’m not sure), and another Pirate themed splash battle display.
IAAPA Convention Schedule - IAAPA will be held in Las Vegas for the first time ever in 2009 from November 16-20th, with plans in the works to possibly lock down into an alternating schedule between Orlando and Las Vegas. IAAPA is currently scheduled to take place in Orlando in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2019. The 2009 international IAAPA show schedule also includes the Asian Attractions Expo (AAE) from June 10-12th in Seoul, South Korea and the Euro Attractions Show (EAS) from September 30th to October 2nd in Amsterdam.
Lo-Q - (5/30/09) Lo-Q has announced that they signed a deal to bring their Text-Q system to Parque Isla Magica in Spain by this summer. Unlike the standard Q-Bot based service Lo-Q is known for, Text-Q allows park guests to use their cell phone to make attraction reservations once they pay a fee to use the system.
Magnetar Technologies - (6/29/09) A press release from Magnetar Technologies announces that they have won their patent suit against Intamin over the creation and use of magnetic brake technology for roller coasters. According to Judge Feess, Intamin is prevented from recovering against Magnetar due to “Intamin’s “unclean hands” in forging documents submitted to the Patent Office by Intamin president Sandor Kernacs.” The forged documents were said to have assigned the rights to a US Patent for Braking Systems for an Amusement Device” to Intamin.
“The Court’s ruling confirms Magnetar’s original contention that Intamin Ltd. does not have viable patent rights that cover Megnetar’s products, and that Intamin Ltd. has improperly asserted patent infringement claims to suppress Megnetar and other competitors in the amusement industry,” said Edward Pribonic, President of Magnetar Technologies. “In light of the disruption that the patent litigation has unfairly caused to Magnetar’s business, we plan to continue with our antitrust case against Intamin in order to be made whole.”
Merlin Entertainment - (4/30/09) Merlin Entertainment has reported a 20% increase in profits over last year. They also mention that they’ve been talking with Busch about a possible buyout, but right now the deal has been set off to the side as the two parties have been unable to agree on a price.
(12/16/08) Merlin Entertainment has confirmed that the deal was signed to build Legoland Malaysia in Iskandar. The $210 million project is expected to open in 2013, follwing Legoland Dubailand that is on track to open in 2011.
(12/11/08) Merlin Entertainment is on a buying spree again, this time picking up the Underwater Adventures Aquarium attraction at the Mall of America.
Sega - (3/29/09) Sega has launched Storm-G, which is a hybrid arcade game with an extreme motion platform that can do barrel rolls at Joypolis in Japan. The ride portion itself has two seats (front and back) where the riders are strapped in with OTS restraints while they play/ride through the game world. I’ve embedded a video of it below, but you might want to jump ahead to the 1:30 mark to avoid listening to the lengthy description of nothing important at the start of the video.
Six Flags - (7/10/09) Six Flags has opened their second Roller Coaster Cuts location,  this one in another city without an actual Six Flags theme park, located in King of Prussia Mall outside of Philadelphia. Is it just me or should they really not have Mr. Six’s bald head plastered on the homepage of hair cut website? I mean… honestly… no hair at all on his freaky bald head. Bring back the Screaming Asian Guy!!
(7/5/09) More good news for Six Flags as they have expanded their promotional partnership deal with Nintendo to promote the upcoming Wii Sports Resort game title, which will also ship with the new Wii Motion Plus plus-in unit that will increase the motion tracking precision of your Wii-mote. The new display units will be shown in nine different Six Flags theme parks starting this weekend (SFMM, SDDK, SFGAm, SFOT, SFFT, SFOG, SFNE, SFA and SFSL).
(6/25/09) Good news for Six Flags today as they have managed to extend their partnership deal with Chrysler to further promote the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brand name cars in 13 of their parks. As for the financial aspect of things, Six Flags has been given permission to spend the cash they made that was being held as collateral for their lenders to continue operations, despite an objection by Avenue Capital Management II (who is owed about $100 million).
(6/19/09 Six Flags has added quite a few new commercials to their YouTube channel. A good one is the one I’ve embedded below... though I think Mr. Six is being a little harsh with the 1 Flag rating for the Churn the Butter segment. In some places that might get a 3 or even 4 flags.
(6/17/09) According to this article, some information that was previously deemed confidential, was leaked out from the Six Flags filing. It indicates not only predicted EBITDA information for the 2010-2013 seasons ($240, $265, $285 and $310 million) but it also mentioned planned capital spending budgets of $105 million for the 2010 season and $110 million for 2011.
(6/15/09) As expected this summer, Six Flags did file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy late last week, however it is still business as usual for the parks. According to Mark Shapiro, while all of the parks are profitable on their own right now, the company as a whole inherited a $2.4 billion debt load that simply, “cannot be refinanced in these financial markets.” Six Flags is currently seeking court approval for a pre-negotiated reorganization plan to restructure the debt load to just $600 million. Six Flags has gone as far as to post a public message about the Chapter 11 filing on their website as well as posting the open letter from Mark Shapiro to all of the employees as well.
(6/12/09) Screamscape sources tell us that Six Flags will begin posting some special deals exclusively to their Twitter followers. While I don’t know the exact deals, we have heard they will involve some very deep discount offers on park tickets and other items. Start checking for Tweets, as the first deals are thought to be going live any day now.
(6/7/09) About.com has decided to take on Six Flags’s Manditory Lock Policy with a new poll to get your opinion on it: Are they reasonable, unreasonable or reasonable only if they are free?
(6/3/09) For the third time this year, Six Flags is taking advantage of the policy that allows them an 30-day grace period to make a payment. You can read more at Reuters.
(5/29/09) This Summer Six Flags has begun the quest for the Holy Rail, all part of the official Six Flags Tournament of Thrills contest which is being conducted on the official Six Flags Facebook page from now through September 7th. Here they will put various coasters in head to head competition to find the best of the best. This first week it’s Tatsu VS Raging Bull in a battle of the B&Ms.
(5/22/09) Six Flags has taken another step towards fully embracing the internet with the launch of their new official Twitter page.
(5/18/09) Reuters reports that Six Flags has been making some financial moves of late, making some payments (about $7 million) on notes due in 2013, after taking advantage of a 30 day grace period. They are also performing a similar move now with another grace period on other notes due in 2015. In a statement from last week, Six Flags said that the goal was to shed $870 million of debt and obligations to get them into a more comfortable position.
(5/14/09) With the Monday deadline between Six Flags and the city of New Orleans past, the city has now filed a temporary restraining order against Six Flags, barring them from the property as well as specifically prohibiting them from “removing any exhibits, rides or other assets at the site”. At this point however, from what I’ve been led to understand, there isn’t much left when it comes to rides they can salvage.
(5/11/09) Six Flags announced that their revenues through April 27th, 2009 (which included Spring Break) dropped $12 million to $110 million. Revenues in Q1 were reported as dropping $15 million, but a good part of that was the move of Easter from Q1 into Q2 this year. You can read more details here.
In other news, the city of New Orleans claims that they are giving Six Flags a Monday deadline to settle the dispute over the Six Flags New Orleans park site with them. To this I say... fat chance. They had a chance two years ago to take a good offer and blew it off, and from what I understand, once Six Flags files bankruptcy, any and all issues with the city of New Orleans can be negated by the court at that time if the judge choses to do so.
(5/8/09) Six Flags has announced that Mr. Six has begun using Twitter. You can find him yourself and follow his posts here.
(5/6/09) Six Flags will pay out $66 million to the investors who own part of Six Flags over Texas and the S.F. over Georgia parks. It seems Six Flags is required to make a buyout offer for a certain amount of ownership shares each year and they’re cashing in, with Six Flags paying $6 million, the Georgia Limited Partership paying another $7 million and a loan from a Time Warner sub-company paying $53 million. Yes…. I said Time Warner, one of the former owners of the Six Flags chain of parks. According to the article, TW is under obligation to fund this payment if Six Flags is unable to meet the obligation. “If Six Flags defaults of the agreement, Time Warner could acquire Six Flags’ interests in the partnership parks.”
In other Six Flags news... first the city of New Orleans threatens to sue Six Flags for not reopening the Six Flags New Orleans theme park, and now they actually asked Six Flags if they could put the buyout offer from a couple of years ago (rumored to be somewhere between $10-14 million) back on the table. A bit late for that it seems as according to Mark Shapiro, “we’re no longer in a position to be able to do that.”
(4/28/09) It’s always interesting when a small article creates such a stir within the enthusiast community, and the story about Six Flags charging processing fees to print your own tickets at home did just that. Now a couple of readers thought I was out of line or being biases against Six Flags for some reason when I posted my own comments, and pointed out a few good arguments as well that I’ve felt compelled to pass on.
First up, the processing fee is not a “new” thing for the 2009 season. Checking with one of our deep cover sources, the fees actually started last year, rolled out everywhere in time for Fright Fest last fall. Some readers were also quick to point out that most of the various Cedar Fair parks are also charging their own fees for the same thing. (ie: Carowinds wants $2 to let you print your own E-Ticket, Cedar Point and Knott’s will take $3.) For those keeping score, Universal Orlando now also charges a $2.15 fee to print your own ticket, but E-Tickets for the Disney, Busch Gardens and SeaWorld parks are all free of any hidden charges.
So there, I’d laid it all out for you all. While we are all asking, “Why?” I’ve got to point out that in some of these cases the extra fees do not benefit the parks at all, such as the case with Six Flags, where the fees are apparently a necessary part of a deal with a 3rd party ticket vendor processing company. However, what just doesn’t make sense is why they are announcing these fees when these extra costs could have been entirely hidden, padded away inside the ticket cost and leaving everyone none the wiser. For example, would you be happier to buy a ticket to Six Flags Pasco County (Don’t you Florida residents go spreading that rumor again... that was a joke) for $30, or would you rather buy a ticket for $25 + $5 processing free to print your own ticket? The price is the same... but the mention of a processing fee of any kind just brings a scowl to the average person’s face.
According to my deep cover SF source, the complaints have been pretty much nonexistent up to this point, but that is to be expected because even with the $5, the deal to buy your tickets online is still a great deal compared to the front gate price, so not many people will complain. It’s like getting a great deal on Ebay... you scored an item at a killer price, but then discover that your deal wasn’t as good as you thought once you calculate in the shipping costs. Still... a deal is a deal. I just think that all of these parks who are charging fees (and not just Six Flags) could be handling this a bit better.
(4/24/09) The latest scam to shake as much money out of your pockets  as possible by Six Flags is so idiotic and stupid I’ve been forced to break the old logo out of retirement. According to LA Times, Six Flags is now charging a $5 fee to anyone who wants to print their own tickets at home on their computer.
Yep... just think about that for a minute and groan with me. Your giving your money to Six Flags for tickets, upfront in advance, no matter if you visit or not, and they want to charge you $5 for the privilege of printing your own tickets at home, on your paper, using your printer’s ink. Never mind the fact that you also saved them money by printing at home, allowing them to cut back on the number of ticket sellers they need to staff on any given day, and yet they now feel the need to follow the practice of the most despised ticket agency in the country... Ticketmaster, and charge you a service fee. Oh... for that $5 you can also have them mailed to your home via regular postal mail... never mind that stamps are still 42 cents. $10 will get them to you by UPS... which usually isn’t that much faster than the post office.
(4/23/09) According to the news, the mayor of New Orleans took a trip to New York to talk with Six Flags about to discuss the future of the Six Flags New Orleans park site. Ummm… I thought everyone was fairly clear about this… the park will never reopen again, or at least not as a Six Flags park. I think they made that a few years ago, so I’m not sure why they bothered with the trip to New York on the tax payers dime. While Six Flags is current with their payments to the city for the park, in this follow up article, the city is now talking about filing a lawsuit against Six Flags.
In other news a great article has been posted here, speculating why the unknown bondholder has been refusing to meet with Six Flags, and may be trying to force them into filing a bankruptcy. If their sources are correct, they believe the holder is Fidelity Investments, who may be acting as what they are now calling an Empty Creditor. As strange as it sounds, there are some financial companies out there who are pretty much attempting to force companies into filing bankrucpty rather than refinance or restructure their debt, because they have insurance policies in place that kick in when a company files Chapter 11. They believe this may be the case with Six Flags, as the boldholder would receive far more money from their insurance policy kicking in than they would from an out-of-court debt agreement about how to restructure the debt.
Funny how life insurance policies for people usually don’t pay out in the case of Murder of Suicide and yet the financial sector has learned how to profit by forcing companies to commit financial suicide.
(4/20/09) Six Flags has made an official offer seeking interested parties looking to make a “debt for equity” exchange.
(4/17/09) According to this article Six Flags will be taking advantage of a 30 day grace period to delay certain payments up to 30 days. While they have the cash to make the $7 million payment, I do have to wonder if a bigger financial move is imminent, such as filing for a Chapter 11 reorganization.
(4/16/09) According to Bloomberg, Mark Shapiro is apparently set up to be awarded a potential $3 million bonus if he can manage to restructure it’s debt problems out of court OR if they can successfully work through a Chapter 11 reorganization. This is all part of an expanded new employee contract with Shapiro that will see him in the big chair through 2013. So... your $2 billion in dept, and may have to file Chap 11... but they can afford a $3 million bonus, plus other smaller bonuses to five other execs? It’s that kind of thinking that is going to keep them in debt.
(4/10/09) Six Flags stock will officially be de-listed from the stock exchange on April 20th, and they do not intend to fight the move to do so. If anything, I’ve got to think that perhaps being taken out of the spotlight for a season may stabilize them out a bit.
(3/27/09) I’ve never heard of them, but Six Flags and Abandon Interactive have signed a deal to promote the Freaky Creatures brand of online gaming and entertainment in their theme parks this year.
(3/18/09) In the wake of news outlets across the country trying to peck away at Six Flags’ image, Mark Shapiro issued his own memo to all of the parks Monday morning to bring all of the positive changes they have made to the chain over the last three years, accomplishing what they intended to do in that period of time. Changes like cleaning up the parks, creating a huge increase in park sponsorship deals, getting guest PerCaps over the $40 mark and the big one… becoming “Free Cash Flow positive” for the first time in company history.
With all those tasks accomplished, they can now begin the process of taking on the companies huge debt issue… something the current management inherited from the previous one. Under what would pass as a normal financial environment, Six Flags stock should be doing well and they would have no problem refinancing some of their debt issues, but the world isn’t quite itself at the current time so like many other companies, they are forced to look into any and all other strategic plans to fix their problems. One of their plans is to look into various possible “debt for equity exchanges” with their debt holders.
The employee letter mentions that while they have had positive meetings thus far with many of them, there is one key player who holds a senior number of the notes due in 2010 who has been refusing to meet with them and has, “refused to even meet with me in person.” I have to mirror Shapiro’s next comment here, that this just “Makes zero sense.” Right now they ended the 2008 year with over $200 million in cash, and speaking to their partners and vendors, “Your bills are being paid and will continue to be paid.”
He goes on to mention their attraction ties to major entertainment features like Terminator Salvation, The Mummy, The Dark Knight and also mentions something about an tie to the upcoming new version of “Fame”. The parks will have new sponsors this year as well in the form of T-Mobile, Mars and in-park M&M Emporiums. He also indicated that the Everyone Pays Kids Pricing promotion will return this season as well.
Flashing forward with hints about the 50th Anniversary plans in 2011, he does mention that every single park will launch a new “major attraction” that season. Again, I’ve got a hunch that this could be a really good season for Six Flags… given the chance to shine instead of all the newspapers being so quick to slam them at every opportunity.
(3/17/09) In an interview Mark Shapiro, he mentioned that Six Flags is working on a combination Theme Park / Water Park / Hotel project for a location "just outside Johannesburg, South Africa." He also confirmed that plans for another Six Flags branded project in South Korea are also close to being finalized.
(3/16/09) Along with the news about Six Flags possibly being unable to may huge payment due this August came word that a possible Chap. 11 bankruptcy filing may be the way for the chain to deal with this issue. This hit the newswire like a ton of bricks, sending the already low-low stock price into yet another tailspin dropping it down to the year-long low of .14 cents a share, before it rose up slight to come to a rest for the weekend at .16 cents. My take… I’m not one to play the stock market, but at this point the stock really can’t go much lower. I’ve also got a wild hunch the 2009 season may be a good one for Six Flags… if they can survive through this debt issue.
(3/12/09) While quickly going over the Six Flags Q4 results, I missed a few major issue worth mentioning. After all the good news came out about how they were doing well, it was reported that they had a loss of $201 million in Q4 due to income-tax expenses. Ouch! They also announced that they did not expect to have enough “cash on hand” on make a $287 million payment on “preferred shares” due August 15th. They do have other ways to make the payment however if they are unable, including an already approved $300 million loan.
I’ve got a couple of other Six Flags news items today. First off the first Six Flags Coaster Cuts location will open on March 14th. You can read more about what kind of experiences they will provide here. In other news, you can see yet another talking Mr. Six commercial (see embedded video) here. Again... this is just odd, please shut him up or get a different voice.
(3/11/09) Six Flags has announced their financial results from the last year where boast the fact that operating income tripled to $144 million and that for the first time ever in the history of the company, they posted positive cash flow for the full year. With Shapiro’s “three year” plan now complete, they have managed slowly turn the tide for the company. There is still a major iceberg in the water in the form of the company’s massive debt and the current weak state of the nations lending banks. According to Shapiro, “we are in comprehensive dialogue with our lenders to remedy that issue.”
Total revenue for the year increased $50.5 million (5%) brining the total up to $1.02 billion. Attendance for the year was also up slightly (2%0 to a chain-wide total of 25.3 million. The all important PerCaps figure was also up 3%.
(3/8/09) Any anyone who has spent some time in the amusement industry knows, there is just something really weird, odd and fascinating about wandering around inside an amusement park that is closed. For most people, this kind of experience only comes in the early morning hours or late at night at the end of a hard day’s work, but in a few rare cases, some people have had the chance to wander through a truly closed park. No matter how you slice it, if you have to sneak in to do it, this is considered trespassing, but once in awhile some good can come from it.
Case in point… I found a story about a young photographer who managed to sneak into the former Six Flags New Orleans park last summer before dusk and snap off a few photographs of the place before getting caught. Doing a little more searching online, I came across many of these photos posted to her Flickr account, so make the jump and enjoy a too-brief look inside the former theme park. All together, there are 9 pictures in the collection, a few of which show off some of the park rides.
Super 78 - (3/9/09) Super 78 has announced the hiring of Troy Bryans as their new VP of Business Development, with the goal of expanding their role as a turnkey provider of entertainment and educational media-based experiences for theme parks, museums and other attractions. Troy comes with a history in the business from previous time spent working with Landmark Entertainment (James Bond 007: A License To Thrill) as well as many years spent with Iwerks.
A quick look at the Super 78 website reveals a number of interesting attraction projects in development such as Wings over America 4D attraction, an Imax project called Flight of the Dragon, a new Iwekrs/SimEx 4D film called Dora & Diego in 4D coming out in 2009 and more. I wouldn’t be surprised if that last one didn’t end up in all the former Paramount Park’s simulator theaters this summer.
Universal Studios - (3/29/09) The Theme Park Guy decided to drop in on Bejing while he was in China to check out the area where another possible Universal Studios park could be built and mix it up with the locals a bit who had no idea what he was talking about. I don’t know about this one… the area just looks so desolate to imagine a giant Universal Studios park being plopped down in the middle of it all, but then again before Walt Disney World arrived, Orlando was a quiet little sleepy town as well.
(2/13/09) In a surprising bit of news this article announced that Universal Studios is talking about building a $1.5 billion theme park project in Beijing with partner, Beiging Capital Tourism. This is all pending government approval of course, if anyone even admits to it at all at this point. Previously Universal was in talks to build a park in Shanghai but those plans quickly folded after GE/NBC bought the company.
Village Roadshow - (5/9/09) CNL Properties has purchased the Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park in Hawaii from Village Roadshow and will re-brand it as Wet ‘n’ Wild Hawaii this summer. It’s estimated that CNL is paying Village Roadshow $29 million for the waterpark, but will keep Village Roadshow on to manage it for them under a 20-year contract. The park added a Tornado slide last year and will be adding two new “killer-category slides” this year, which are already under construction.
Now I have to bring something up as I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before someone files a lawsuit, because it is too easy to confuse the two brand names. The newly re-branded waterparks in Phoenix and Hawaii are “Wet ‘n’ Wild”, which isn’t to be confused with the original “Wet ‘n Wild” (only one ‘ on the n). Of course the ownership of “Wet ‘n Wild” is a bit confusing anyway as Universal Orlando owns the name to the original park in Orlando, but then they sold off the brand name years ago (with a provision that they could keep using it in Orlando), which has been re-sold a couple of times and ended up in the lap of Palace Entertainment, which is now a owned entirely by the Spainish company, Parque Reunidos. None of these companies have anything to do with CNL or Village Roadshow… though Village Roadshow has been running a Wet ‘n’ Wild waterpark in Australia for many many years now, along with the Sea World of Australia park, which has nothing to do (ownership or management wise) with the better known American SeaWorld brand, which used to be called Sea World. To make matters even more confusing, the Australian version of Sea World even uses a logo very similar to the original American owned Sea World logo with a dolphin jumping over waves.
Still… I can sense a war over the Wet ‘n Wild VS Wet ‘n’ Wild name is brewing now that the Australian brand has crossed over into the USA this year. Just wait for it…
Wiegand - (3/2/09) According to Amusement Today, Wiegand has announced that they were hired by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line to open a Mountain Coaster attraction at the cruise line’s port of call in Labadee, Haiti. This will be Wiegand’s second Mountain Coaster in the Caribbean, with the other opening in Jamaica last year. I found a fun video showing off the entire wild run in Jamaica that runs through the jungle in trains themed like the Jamaican bobsled team.
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