GAcoaster

Having done retail in parks I can tell you going cashless just makes sense. No tills to have to worry about guests or employees stealing from, no having to count drawers when guests claim to have been short changed, no having to worry about cashiers who have no clue how to make change. The SeaWorld parks are converting to cashless as well and offering cash to card conversion kiosks. Going cashless also means people don't really think about how much they're spending. That's part of the idea Disney had when they introduced Magic Bands. Tap your band and it's just "magic" so you don't think about how much you spent until the bills come.

It's only June, but Fright Fest preparations have already started! Auditions are happening for Dead Man's Party:

Finally the park has a new president, Brian Bacica. Here's part of his resume:

Yep— and there were enough shows for a full day of entertainment if you weren’t a ride person…

I had the same thought. I’d guess they could, but would it be worth it? The standup to floorless conversions they’ve done seem to be underwhelming.

I'm hoping to ride this afternoon. I can't wait to see where this falls on my list of standups since I've done Shockwave (GA), Shockwave (KD), Mantis (CP), Joker (MM), Scorcher (SFOG), and Green Lantern (GA).

As much as the Looney Tunes Shoppe is/was needed, that landscaping was a really beautiful entry to the park.

Interesting-- I'm sure there will be issues...

I'm hearing many promising things about the new attraction. The moving sidewalk concept with "shooter" game aspect is unique. By the way, for anyone who is interesting in following all the construction and rumors about Universal Orlando, Orlando Park Stop is a great resource. Alicia has her ear to the ground and is always on top of permits issued for just about everything in the Orlando theme park market before everyone else.

Very excited that they are giving us so many opportunities to ride as passholders (in addition to the single quick queue they issued last year!)

I think they should just sell poster maps again to supplement the app map.

Here's another from 1989 with some of the same rides plus a few more including the Olympia Looping Coaster:

I just watched this great video of the Oktoberfest in Munich and it's about a half hour long and full of great rides and coasters! The link I'm posting is 10 minutes in with the Junk (Joust-A-Bout) which I believe is the one that was pictured in the 1982 brochure, and the Icharus (Condor) which would have been brand new like GA's was that year. There's also great shots of other rides GA had like the Matterhorn, Calypso, Break Dance, and Monster Spin.

Yeah, the parade float was out of service for 8 months, but Disneyland's looks much worse and even seemed to burn a tree next to it.

Yeah everyone here at WDW is abuzz about it-- our dragon caught fire first

Yeah, I'm looking forward to trying it out. I actually liked most B&M standups I've been on, and I think this will be interesting. I have a one time quick queue they gave us last year, but passholder previews would be great!

Frontier City and Elitch Gardens are the last two operating in the US, and I know Elitch's has been spotty operations.

With each successive management team from Time Warner onward, the maintenance budget and staff has been downsized and the park has never recovered properly. Things that other parks do to winterize and rehab the park no longer does. Look at Cedar Point- they have/had many of the same rides and they keep them in amazing shape. Every year their Ferris wheel has all the cars removed and rehabbed, then reinstalled before the park opens for the season-- it's the exact same wheel GA has but looks like new in comparison. GA used to do the same, but the lack of maintenance personnel and lack of budget means instead things only get fixed as needed rather than getting the preventative maintenance they should get. Part of the issue has always been GA's costs are higher than just about any other park because it is unionized, but it also been a bigger draw and made higher profits for the company than just about any park in the chain. I'll be curious to see if Kingda Ka gets similar modifications to Top Thrill Dragster since both are maintenance nightmares and bottomless pits of money for repair and upkeep. Supposedly the cost is about $5 million each year to keep KK running, so the ride has cost the park more than $100 million between purchase and maintenance over the past 18 years. Imagine what they could have done with that instead of dealing with Ka. If modifying it costs $10 million but it's cheaper to maintain and becomes a better and more reliable ride, maybe they update it?

With the raves that RMC's new coaster in the Atlanta park is getting, it's not surprising they're ding an upgrade!

You'd think since GA makes up such a large percentage of the company's revenues it would be a priority to get a park president in place...

I keep thinking about what the current issues with the park are, and looking at other parks in the chain and seeing/hearing anecdotes which are much more positive than GA's opening has been. I think the biggest difference is the park's lack of leadership and being in flux without a park president in place calling the shots. I see what's happening specifically at Fiesta Texas and realize a big part of why they seem to be doing so much better between updates, rehabs, events, etc., and ACTUALLY providing an improved (PREMIUM) guest experience is they've had a dedicated park president for several years so they have consistency. One vision steering the ship and sweating the details. It makes such a difference. Between that and having very direct competition with SeaWorld (they're only 15 miles apart) means they have to keep up the experience or they lose their guests.

Their splash boat, Condor and three kiddie rides: https://unwof.blogspot.com/2023/04/five-rides-removed-for-2023-50th.html?fbclid=IwAR3I9v-iIk88ZIO7EM-M4E0fJNasyQqpCIlw0yjNRc1Yw2jHBkAW0d_K9sI Knott's had a chaperone policy, but I think they've dropped it since then. They were having a problem with some sort of TikTok trend causing issues in the park.

I thought Green Lantern and SUF were running?

Yeah, WoF's story sound familiar-- 5 rides removed this year, some remaining rides not ready to open with the park, and disappointed guests...

I always love the Safari maps. It's something so unique to the park.