I'm not saying that Kings Dominion will ever be better than Busch Gardens, but I recall something HAJiME said awhile back that should have struck a chord with all of us: you can't expect people to come to a park, see a removed attraction site with no activity on it, and let them keep seeing it over and OVER. I know I'm a bit of a special case, but I get sick walking by the station. I imagine guests are disgruntled over the removal with no CONFIRMED additions. In fact, people still whine about it on the park's Facebook page.

The park is in the best hands it could be in right now, unless the Busch family was actually looking into buying and keeping their favorite parks (SWO/BGW), which I doubt. The change, no matter how optimistic any one can make it, is hard on the park. Busch Management is stretching the Blackstone dollar as far as they can, and it is admirable, especially with this recession looming like the plague. They have certainly done very well for doing a few updates and special events additions.

It's clear the removal of the Wolf was less of a question and more of an eventuality. It was retracked halfway through its life cycle. The manufacturer was absorbed and no longer provided support for it, leaving it in the hands of Rattlers, Inc. I know LNM has been in this same position, but that model of coaster is very self-sustainable. Hell, if Anaconda is still running, I think the model as a whole is safe. I know I'm going to wake up when I'm 20 and see that the stillbirth suspended roller coaster, known as Draggin Iron, as the last of its kind, it will be a sad day...

But back on topic. No matter what kind of business you are in, you can't keep taking from your consumer, while giving little in return, and expect them to give them their patronage.

Let's say you are going to buy a sandwich. One guy has a pretty decent sandwich. It's basic, but it's tasty, cheap, and big. The other guy has a sandwich with bread flown in from France, vine-ripened tomatoes... let's just say it's DAMN GOOD. Only problem is, some of it got moldy so it had to get cut off. Also, those French bread imports are steep, so it's pretty expensive, and it's missing what should be there. Which sounds better to you, average American?

I think they should look towards building a long, terrain-intensive, family roller coaster. All of the coasters left at BGW are rather short in length and do not use the terrain as intensively as the Wolf did. (Though a lot of the terrain was modeled to fit the ride) The target demographic of Busch Gardens isn't looking for tallest/fastest/first, they honestly believe in a high quality attraction.

Double Posting For Justice
------
Gardaland is a Merlin/Blackstone Park. 0.0

I've mentioned in old, old posts about park expansion that I think Busch only developed 2/3 of the land they originally purchased. I wouldn't be surprised if the last few years has been spent planning how to use that untapped area and incorporate it into the existing park. As it stands, the park is a nice little circle, with Festa branching off a bit. Just east of the Festa section, you have the Wicked Woods space cleared out, then you have a massive peninsula, sitting there, unused. Also, everything to the east of the train tracks of the bridge in Germany is also unused. It's all woods.

Now, We need to think: how much bigger can the park really get? It's already pretty damn big. Adding another country over on the unused land would make it bigger than Magic Kingdom, and I think filling out the entire peninsula would make it larger than Epcot, and Epcot is fucking HUGE. Also, the very idea of using that land is rather ambitious. There is no concrete avenue (maintenance road) to that area yet, the train would likely need to be rerouted to have some level of Transport Ride uniformity, so you are talking about the addition of four bridges and the exclusion of one. In a recession. With new management. That's nuts.

I don't think the idea of a mass expansion in the future is entirely ludicrous. What has the park done in the last 10 years?
-Removed Hastings, replaced with Killareny
-Removed Petting Zoo, added Jack Hanna's Wild Reserve
-Removed Drachen Fire
-Removed Wilde Maus, added DarKastle
-Removed LeMans, added Griffon
-Added Forest of Fun
-Removed Big Bad Wolf
-Drachen Fire Area is Now Festhaus Park

I understand that, as a park progresses, old stuff leaves and new stuff arrives. But we sure as hell haven't gotten a lot of new stuff. No one here is going to like what I am about to say, but the general public is taking notice of what Kings Dominion is doing. They have added two solid roller coasters in a span of three years, while removing a bad one and adding two flat rides. In the last three years, Busch Gardens has gotten one roller coaster, lost another, and zero new flat rides have been added. Busch Management needs to wake up. In my opinion, the park needs to open a D or E ticket level attraction every year for the next 3-4 years. Yeah, that's a lot of money they are going to spend, but the idea of cutting costs by removing rides and upping prices is a very short-term success. I believe the shovels in Germany better catch fire and start digging for this tower. I know I'm growing impatient with the parks stagnating flat line up and dwindling coaster collection, and it's only a matter of time before the majority of parkgoers realize this too.

Busch has had no real competition since 2000. Kings Dominion is back, and it's better than ever. The last thing they can afford to do is let their attendance slip to KD.

I've been waiting, since I could ever remember thinking about coasters, to get some decked-out indoor roller coaster, launched or not. You look at all of my old posts, I've been clamoring for Premier to build an indoor in Germany a la Revenge of the Mummy in USO. Mack made one of my favorite Roller Coasters, JTA in SWO. I love that thing. Busch does not really need a fourth water ride, but they could do with a third indoor ride that isn't a bloody simulator. With the success at ChristmasTown this year, coupled with the bitter, subfreezing cold that arrived out of left field, I imagine Blackstone will be building more attractions indoor or indoor-outdoor. The rumored 200-foot stick that hasn't even broken ground yet could be indoor-outdoor. It would be odd to see outdoor attractions in every country except Germany, which would have all 3 E-ticket attractions mostly inside, but I could deal with it.

If Mack Rides wants to come in and build us a nice indoor launcher to anchor down what I suspect to be an addition to the park, I'm all for it.

Does anyone realize how a major addition in the BBW/DF zone would eliminate the concert/multipurpose space that has become popular recently? Do you think management could live without it, or would they make a more official amphitheater?

I've heard that the park always had some ridiculous "master plan" that's held up under lock and key, with general ideas of ride operation years, replacement strategies, blue sky construction, you know, future planning stuff. I'm certain that the idea back in 2000, with Drachen Fire all but doomed, was to figure out short and long term plans for the area. Short term plans were seasonal attractions like concerts and haunted mazes, with the long term being massive expansion in that direction. Around that time, I believe the Wolf was just retracked and received the Vekoma trains. Management likely realized the ride can't just be rebuilt every 12-15 years, so by the time they would have to start retracking it again from all of the intense ride stress, they would tear it down and begin the massive expansion.

However, the Wolf was probably taken down earlier than expected, and management in 2000 did not forsee a terrible recession or an ownership change. So with massive expansion delayed, but an empty, depressing plot of land in place, what to do? You build something "cheap." Not really cheap, but cheaper than expansion.

You can't say the park had no plans ready for the land. Why would a bunch of fansites think/hope for a new country, but the park have no plans for it?

Before he gets here, just like to say that Carter-Gage "The Employee" Malpass had this to say on Facebook:

What a fucking tease.

With all due respect, wouldn't any cold gas dilute into the air and condense water in an area as small as that tunnel? I mean, at least replace the strobe I swear is still in there.

Also, Arrow made coasters with coathangers, so they had to make speed provisions often.

It could be a joke, but can you imagine how beautiful that gold track would be on the plain? Best. Zoo. Trip. Ever.

How can you run the park without having that music?

Supposed to be like an S&S Arrow 4th Dim./Intamin Wing Rider Hybrid. If it looks atrocious, we may not see it in BGW.

Might be worth noting B&M will be building a new type of roller coaster in Blackstone owned/Merlin operated Gardaland this season, and it will open in 2011.

SOunds like what happened the last time I tried to saw something by placing the board between my two legs.

Breaking out the asshats, eh?

You know, it's sounds so ridiculous, it could actually be true.
Like it or not, believe it or not, Blackstone took over Busch Gardens Europe in a tough spot (at least when comparing it to its other season). They have one less roller coaster, lower attendance, dropped traditions, and no comprehensive and obvious direction it wants to go in. The Big Bad Wolf site has not been touched, they added more days to the season, they build a family area that doesn't fit in to the park at all, and they've changed every attraction that was in the 2001 Ireland. To me, it feels like the park changed too quickly and in the wrong way. It's like it experienced a financial growth spurt, and it couldn't handle the changes. Now the spine of the park is beginning to deform, and it's lost its poise.

Blackstone seems to rake in a fair share of money, so why not try to begin building the park to become a nurturing and self-sufficient environment for its public, employees, and owners, by building roller coasters in quick succession?

You all seem to forget the attraction bulge that the park went through. DF opened in 1992. The Wilde Maus went up in '96, Alpengeist opened up in '97, and the Chariot popped up in '99. Ireland was added with the Wild Reserve in 2001, and if my memory serves me correctly, another crane did not rise until 2006 with the construction of Griffon.

I know there was a 'coaster bubble' of sorts that matched the '.com' bubble in the late 90s, and the bubbles burst soon into the Millennium.
If you look closely, Cedar Fair and Six Flags have NOT been shy to build major attractions with budget deficits over the past three years. What would make anyone think Blackstone would stand idly by with competition from KD and Carowinds adding 2 coasters each from 2008-2010?

I would almost say to expect a major attraction plan for BGT and BGW from 2010 to 2014. BGT may finally get their hyper under construction this year, with peculiar measurements and surveys occurring in the old monorail building. Then a country goes up around Germany, but considerable room is left over for a roller coaster to be built in 2011 and open in 2012. Then BGT and BGW play the charade over again.

It's not all that crazy when you think of it.

This report of filing a 250 ft. high building permit won't die, just like the 305/350 high building permit for KD. Can anyone enlighten us?

Do you think we're blinder than televangelists?

I think someone's been poking around whatever KDfansite pulls out of their ass.

The hopeful soul says a train station, but that doesn't make much sense. I'm just trying to figure out how project 2011 can begin during the Sumer Concert Series in Festhaus Park. I mean, a new roller coaster would have to be built back in that section, right? And the usual timeframe of a big attraction would require groundbreaking in June or July.

I know in Virginia, or at least in my county, you can't build anything bigger than a garage without a permit.

Look, I've never heard of a situation in which the BEC management ever announced anything HUGE dropping at the park before the season before its inaugural season began. I was either 5 or six when Ireland opened, but I don't remember them saying "Hey, just so you know, next season we're closing Hastings for the season after's new attraction.

Thinking about that, it opened pre-HOS, so the park closed in September. That would give them enough time to redecorate and retheme existing buildings while putting in Corkscrew Hill.

So why would they come out and say "Guess what you get to watch us build for the next 1.5 years? _______!"
That's absolutely ludicrous.

Are they going to convert the land into the world's largest bathroom complex? No. But expecting them to announce multiple c to e-ticket attractions for a whole new section far off before it opens would leave the average guest disappointed to see that promised area walled off all 2010.

Screamscape reports that the company that Merlin/Blackstone, the company which bought BEC, filed papers to take ownership of pseudo-defunct Cypress Gardens. It's funny because the former owners of SeaWorld (HBJ) also owned Cypress Gardens, meaning that for a period of time (6 years, in fact) Busch owned CG. Now, 21 years after first acquiring it, the company that's now owned by a different company could buy this park again.

What's funnier are the rumblings of Blackstone eyeing that sweet land up in Aurora, Ohio. The former home of SeaWorld Ohio, operated by BEC untill 1999, may also be snagged up by their parent organization.

And Dominator finished below Volcano??

Dominator is just so much better.

And I'l accept the fact that Raptor at CP is ridiculously rated for feeling so boring.

I think using the same words in different posts is my main fetish.

It's funny how everyone is showing how upset they are since Kinzel's been screwing shareholders over since 2000.

I mean, you buy a park to close and piss off the general public, then you buy five parks and piss off your shareholders, then after all of the debt you've made them lug around, you ask them to sell shares for $11.50 to the guys that are fucking up Sirius....

At least BEC hasn't gone to hell yet.
Oh, I mean SWPAE.