CoasterBuzz Podcast #203 - April 18, 2011

04/18/11 • 58 min

CoasterBuzz Podcast

Jeff and Gonch review this week's news in the amusement industry.

Coaster season is officially upon us.
Intimidator 305 opens with a reprofiled first turn. Gonch and Jeff discuss the ups and downs of the love child of Millennium Force and Maverick.
Cedar Fair drama continues with Q, and one side or the other has to be lying about the circumstances of Jack Falfas' departure.
Aside: Comcast, you suck. Try delivering the bandwidth Jeff pays for.
Merlin Entertainments has a good year, and expects another.
The Tokyo Disney parks reopen after the earthquake, with some debate about how important that is.
Vancouver's Playland has a Star Flyer in its future.
Disney World monorail accident lawsuit is settled.
MouseZoom soft-launches for fans of Walt Disney World. The site features full-screen, detailed photographs, and a new forum. Go check it out!
Tilikum returns to performing at SeaWorld Orlando. The reaction generally falls into one of three categories.
Merchandise sales push up to 20% of revenue, helped by new rides.
SeaWorld Parks being sued for allegedly ripping off park designs. We don't buy it.
PointBuzz has some construction photos of Windseeker. Check them out!
Disney breaks ground on Shanghai park, opening in 2014. Isner says it'll be the best of Disney and China, implying that they'll get the culture this time.
Kentucky Kingdom denied funding by city, now asking for substantially less.
Dorney gets approval for another recycled ride, but so what? It's a nice park, and the water park is the focus. We love Talon.
Cedar Fair is doing a series of events with Guinness World Record organization.
New rides to watch this year: Texas Giant and Cheetah Hunt. Jeff says the latter will be the surprise hit of the year.
The Fall Affair at Holiday World will be September 17, 2011... save the date!
You can get the latest headlines on CoasterBuzz from the Twitter. Follow us @coasterbuzz. You can also like us on Facebook.
CoasterBuzz Club is $25 per year. You can join or renew today. Enjoy CoasterBuzz with no ads.

Jeff and Gonch review this week's news in the amusement industry.

Coaster season is officially upon us.
Intimidator 305 opens with a reprofiled first turn. Gonch and Jeff discuss the ups and downs of the love child of Millennium Force and Maverick.
Cedar Fair drama continues with Q, and one side or the other has to be lying about the circumstances of Jack Falfas' departure.
Aside: Comcast, you suck. Try delivering the bandwidth Jeff pays for.
Merlin Entertainments has a good year, and expects another.
The Tokyo Disney parks reopen after the earthquake, with some debate about how important that is.
Vancouver's Playland has a Star Flyer in its future.
Disney World monorail accident lawsuit is settled.
MouseZoom soft-launches for fans of Walt Disney World. The site features full-screen, detailed photographs, and a new forum. Go check it out!
Tilikum returns to performing at SeaWorld Orlando. The reaction generally falls into one of three categories.
Merchandise sales push up to 20% of revenue, helped by new rides.
SeaWorld Parks being sued for allegedly ripping off park designs. We don't buy it.
PointBuzz has some construction photos of Windseeker. Check them out!
Disney breaks ground on Shanghai park, opening in 2014. Isner says it'll be the best of Disney and China, implying that they'll get the culture this time.
Kentucky Kingdom denied funding by city, now asking for substantially less.
Dorney gets approval for another recycled ride, but so what? It's a nice park, and the water park is the focus. We love Talon.
Cedar Fair is doing a series of events with Guinness World Record organization.
New rides to watch this year: Texas Giant and Cheetah Hunt. Jeff says the latter will be the surprise hit of the year.
The Fall Affair at Holiday World will be September 17, 2011... save the date!
You can get the latest headlines on CoasterBuzz from the Twitter. Follow us @coasterbuzz. You can also like us on Facebook.
CoasterBuzz Club is $25 per year. You can join or renew today. Enjoy CoasterBuzz with no ads.

Previous Episode

CoasterBuzz Podcast #202 - March 21, 2011

Jeff and Gonch review this week's news in the amusement industry.

We sadly say goodbye to a very well-known roller coaster enthusiast. You can remember Moosh by giving to the Lymphoma Research Foundation.
Another bust in Orlando for second hand theme park tickets. In theory they don't work because of biometrics associated with the tickets, but how can there even be a secondary market?
Burke and Story can't wait to run a park again. Get the popcorn, we're ready to watch!
The jokes around "Festival Tennessee" start coming almost as soon as it was announced. Gonch gives the project no chance of becoming a reality.
Playland needs a new future. Jeff gets on his soapbox about the dogmatic assertion that government shouldn't be in the business.
Plans approved for a giant Ferris Wheel in Las Vegas. The whole city is in a weird state right now, with half-finished stuff.
Meanwhile, the Sahara is going to close in May, apparently without buyers or hope. No word on what happens to Speed. Jeff wonders if he can find the time to visit Adventure Dome next month when he's in town, for the credit.
The Dells worker who dropped a girl 100 feet is convicted of a felony, but we're generally of the opinion that it's problematic for it to be a crime to do your minimum wage job wrong. It was a tragedy, but that's a different issue from whether or not there was a crime. We still think it's a problem with the ride design.
MouseZoom soft-launches for fans of Walt Disney World. The site features full-screen, detailed photographs, and a new forum. Go check it out!
Disney's CFO says high gas prices are not going to seriously impact its theme park business.
Tokyo Disney properties closed following tragic quake and tsunami off the coast of Japan. Some guests were stranded at the park for awhile.
Another maintenance worker dies at Animal Kingdom working on Primeval Whirl. We still can't understand how these accidents happen.
Blackstone wants to sell its stake in Universal Orlando. Analysts are down on NBC-Universal Comcast buying it, but why wouldn't they?
Q Funding is suing Cedar Fair again. Yawn.
The Fall Affair at Holiday World will be September 17, 2011... save the date!
You can get the latest headlines on CoasterBuzz from the Twitter. Follow us @coasterbuzz. You can also like us on Facebook.
CoasterBuzz Club is $25 per year. You can join or renew today. Enjoy CoasterBuzz with no ads.

Next Episode

CoasterBuzz Podcast #204 - May 16, 2011

Jeff, Carrie, Mike and Gonch review this week's news in the amusement industry.

It has been awhile. Not everyone is feeling it.
Jeff says Q Funding and their lawsuits against Cedar Fair is like that guy who always complains at city council meetings about stuff that he has nothing to do with.
Meanwhile, the testimony of Dick Kinzel and Jack Falfas shows that Falfas didn't resign, and wasn't fired. We find it unbelievable that adults act like this, in a public company, and that the board does nothing about it.
Kentucky Kingdom next year? The mayor wants to issue bonds to help finance the reopening, but has anyone asked if the park even has a future?
Comcast says it will decide if it wants to buy Blackstone's stake in Universal Orlando. Why would they not?
Six Flags planning to split stock, and pay a dividend. Current market cap is over $2 billion. That seems a bit high.
I-Walk trademark suit. Isn't that Steve Jobs' walk? It's a stupid name.
American Eagle turns 30 at Six Flags Great America.
Speaking of, a guy showed up at the park packing heat, and he was arrested because you can't conceal-carry in Illinois. Someone commented he was a thug.
We could do a podcast about stupid people. Or politics.
Blackpool doesn't allow outside food. Gasp! Stilly British press.
Gonch enjoys perks, even warm tap water. American Express has a lounge at Universal Studios Florida. Who spends time in the airport "presidential club" stuff?
Disney attendance is up, but room bookings down slightly. We're surprised, because they seemed to have always kept the price at right point to keep the rooms full.
Mike is headed to Disneyland this summer. Jeff is going to wait until next year, when California Adventure is "done." Little Mermaid dark ride is regularly featured on the Disney Parks Blog.
Gonch's secret to getting kids used to theme parks: Start taking them early and often.
Universal Orlando CityWalk is building a mini-golf, and Jeff is excited.
Please get your club memberships in right away for the June events!
The Fall Affair at Holiday World will be September 17, 2011... save the date!
You can get the latest headlines on CoasterBuzz from the Twitter. Follow us @coasterbuzz. You can also like us on Facebook.
CoasterBuzz Club is $25 per year. You can join or renew today. Enjoy CoasterBuzz with no ads.