DJKostya

I do remember many years ago during the "coaster wars" between SF and CF that SF got into a lot of financial difficulties and was looking to sell off some of their parks, including SFMM. I believe that CF looked at buying SFMM, but was put off by the price (Which was around $1 billion). What CF did end up buying was SF Ohio which was rebranded as Geauga Lake, which eventually closed (Side note: I was able to visit not long before it closed, wasn't a bad little park at all, I rode my first B&M (Dominator) there). SF did eventually go bankrupt but was able to restructure and save itself. While the merger is angering a lot of people it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Sure it may give CF a monopoly in certain regions, but lots of theme parks are like that. There is still plenty of other operators, both large and small in the US market.

Cedar Point has a bit of history when it comes to taking risks and pushing boundaries. They're not afraid to try something new and see if it works (or not). They were the first to break the 200, 300 and 400 foot barriers in coasters, Raptor was the first inverted coaster to introduce new elements for inverts like the Cobra Roll, longest records like Valravn and GateKeeper etc. etc. full list here Records - CP Insiders I don't see any issues with Cedar Point giving Zamperla a go at the new TTD, sure it might be a risk as they haven't built these kind of coasters before, but that doesn't mean they can't start doing it either, every company has to start somewhere. People probably thought Six Flags were mad when they engaged B&M to build the first Batman coaster or RMC when they rebuilt the New Texas Giant, but these risks both paid off in letting companies try things outside of their comfort zones and we are all the better for it.

Sandusky and Cedar Point are an absolute pain to get to if you don't drive. On my first visit we caught the Greyhound bus from Cleveland, which wasn't too bad back then, not sure what it's like now. On my most recent visit I caught the Amtrak train from Cleveland, it's a leg of the New York to Chicago line which is an overnight train. I left Cleveland at around 2am and got into Sandusky at 4am, which meant I had to book my accommodation for the night before so when I got in during the wee hours I could get some sleep. Whilst it was a pain the train only cost USD$6. When you get into Sandusky the public transport is nonexistent, so if you're not on the point it can be difficult to get there. There is a local taxi company run by a group of people, which is fine if you know the mobile number to call, it's all cash and from my accommodation was about USD$10 each way to the park plus tip. It really does surprise me that Cedar Point doesn't have a shuttle bus from nearby airports like Cleveland/Toldeo/Detroit/Columbus like other big parks do.

Throwing this into the discussion as well, don't forget that until 2004 Wonderland in Sydney also held the Hannah Barbera license, so this may have impacted Movie World's ability to also use the characters during this time. Since Wonderland closed however the hot ticket IP has all been around Superheroes, so it makes sense that Movie World stuck with those IPs rather than taking up the Hannah Barbera ones.

Hey they live in the sky so on the land isn't too far a stretch!

I think 2 seems most likely. 3 would be in the way of the new works on Scooby and WoO and 4 just seems really out of place to me, but it's certainly possible in that space.

I love Jamberoo. They put a lot of effort in to make it high quality and it shows. My understanding from family living in the area the reason they use a lot of trees etc. is to somewhat obscure it from view so it doesn't impact the local view/aesthetic, which IMO as you rightly point out just makes the park look that much better.

Interesting that the Gold Coaster is down for over 2 months

Ah my old stomping grounds, I really do need to go back and see how it looks now from when I worked there. Just echoing Dean's comments above, most of the rides/attractions at Disneyland Paris are able to be in English. When I worked there it was a requirement to speak both French and English, you didn't need to be fluent in English but you had to know enough to answer guest questions (I was surprised I passed the French TBH but at the same time I wasn't engaging with the public a lot).

I mean that's totally not what my dad did with me as a child, even he regrets it now what with all the money I spend on going overseas 🤣

I think it looks great, the yellow really makes it pop

Nothing wrong in that. Mack has certainly made a good name for themselves in the past few years as a major player in the coaster space.

I've ridden it a number of times, the first time was not long after it opened on 4th July weekend (Hot tip, don't visit on that weekend 🤣 ). We waited on average 2 hours to get on anything that weekend, but TTD was 3-4 hours wait, for something that lasted 20 seconds. This was before they removed the back wheels and ran with all 6 trains. When I last visited in 2018 I was also lucky enough to get not 1 but 2 roll backs with the second almost being a full stall at the top. It was well worth the ride and it will be missed by a lot of people. I wonder if they are potentially looking into new technologies for the launch, or perhaps they are taking a page out of the Aussie parks playbooks and adding a backwards/spinning seat.

Beastie was my first ever coaster, so holds a lot of special memories. Before CV19 my last trip was to Canada where I visited Canada's Wonderland and got to ride the original roller coasters that the Bush Beast and Beastie were cloned from, brought back some seriously good memories from my childhood!

So very very jealous of you Gazza

It is, but doesn't mean they couldn't add a flat here later on down the track.

The area is missing the whole Munchkinland (Future expansion perhaps?), so why not theme it to the start of the Yellow Brick road, which is a swirl in the movie, or to the Lollipop Guild Munchkins and have the sides swirly like lollipops?

While the concept for the new area looks pretty cool, what i'm really hoping is that this is just Stage 1. 2/3 whatever coasters is great but looking at the concept art there is definitely room for Stage 2 and adding some flat rides to the area.

Such a shame. I visited not long after RailBlazer opened and it was great, bit difficult to get to at the time but the BART was being extended down there with a specific stop of CGA.

Don't forget Corin Forest in Canberra has one as well. http://www.corin.com.au/alpine_slide/ I'm not sure whether it still holds true but it used to be the longest in Australia at 1.2km

TBH I think now is probably the best time, if Sea World intends to keep the monorail, for them to upgrade it. Get some new trains that could increase capacity, are more efficient to run or even go the whole hog and try for a fully automated monorail without drivers.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but if crowd numbers are such an issue why not require bookings to visit the parks in peak periods like school holidays? You can cap the number of people who can attend on a particular day, including an allowance for local passholders. I believe that Disney tried this recently due to capping numbers because of COVID (Happy to be corrected). In some ways I do find it interesting that we don't book to visit a theme park, we can make a booking for just about any other paid entertainment activity (movies, concerts, ten pin bowling etc. etc.). Sure there are certainly opportunities to just walk in and partake, but you do run the risk of being turned away at the door.

Looks like Blue Fire (Or even ST with a photoshop paint job)

Most definitely. I always end up talking to lots of different people, especially if your standing in line next to people for periods of time. In the USA I've found that the people are very very friendly and most will talk to you if you approach them.

I solo travel to parks all the time, happy to answer any questions. It's getting easier and easier. I recommend getting pants/shorts with packets that zip up, that way you can usually carry what you need with you on rides including coasters without too many issues. Now that you can put your credit/debit cards into your phone for contactless payments I can now usually visit a park with just my phone (Any hotel keycard in the case).