Sunday, December 17, 2023

Iron Menace Topped Off at Dorney Park!


© Dorney Park
So I did drive by just to stare at Iron Menace's newly completed lift hill, and I did take some photos, but they pale in comparison to these beautiful shots shared by the park!  Yes, in case you've not heard yet, Dorney Park placed the highest piece of Iron Menace's lift hill into place late last week, and it's as beautiful as the renderings show.  Well, actually much more beautiful in person!


© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park
With the ride's lift hill complete Iron Menace is now towering 160 feet over the lower portion of Dorney Park.  The new skyline of the park is beautiful and feels very balanced once again with a taller ride in that section of the park.  It's a real sight to behold as you come down Lincoln Avenue and turn into the park as well!  The ride's relative muted colors (you catch mostly the gray of the catwalks on the lift hill) are a nice contract to the nearby Possessed tower, and both are always framed somewhat by Steel Force in the background.


© Dorney Park
Dorney also released some awesome drone footage of the ride being topped off which allows us to see the entire worksite in its splendor.  The park has put down a packed stone layer so the crane can get around the worksite, and you can also see all the planters on the midway have been removed to allow for better traffic flow next year - it's sure to be a lot busier in the lower part of the park.


© Dorney Park
You'd never know there was a Rita's building down there from the way it looks now!


© Dorney Park
Tons to see in this one, but I'm focused on the ride's station area.  You can see a lot of new support work for the building that will cover the transfer storage area.  There's also more footers out further and I think the Zephyr will pass through between that area.  I can't wait to see that part of the ride go up, but I'm equally excited to see the ride's first drop and Immelmann go up soon!

 

Stay tuned for more updates from the park - they are providing the BEST construction coverage and updated I have seen a park do in many, many years.  And not just saying that because we love the park!


Sunday, November 19, 2023

Digesting the Cedar Fair and Six Flags Merger


© Six Flags
I had to really let this one sink in for a while before covering it here - but as I'm sure you've all heard by now Cedar Fair and Six Flags have reached an agreement to merge into one company.  The new company will trade on the stock market under the ticker FUN but will be called Six Flags Entertainment Corporation.  Essentially that means that the company we all love named Cedar Fair will cease to exist when the deal closes in the first half of 2024.


Technically neither company is buying the other in the merger, and shareholders of each company will receive shares of the new Six Flags according to set multipliers announced already.  The new company will have an enterprise value of around $8 billion and they will own and operate "27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and 9 resort properties across 17 states in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico."  A big plus for the merger is that the company will be less exposed to bad weather in one specific part of the country as they'll have parks much more spread out.


© Six Flags
The new Six Flags also expects to quickly achieve around $200 million in "annual synergies" - meaning cost savings to the bottom line.  From purchasing power to being able to remove duplicate jobs, the new company can push more toward profits by leveraging their larger enterprise.  They think they can turn that into as much as $80 million in EBITDA within three years.


© Six Flags
The new company will have a 12 person board with six members coming from each company.  The current Cedar Fair CEO, Richard Zimmerman, will service as the new Six Flags' CEO.  Six Flags current CEO, Selim Bassout will become the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors.  Cedar Fair's CFO will keep the position in the new Six Flags and current Six Flags' CFO will become the Chief Integration Officer.  The new company's headquarters will stay in North Carolina where Cedar Fair's currently is.


Based of where both companies are currently, the new Six Flags will have around $3.4 billion in revenue, $1.2 billion in EBIDTA and entertain around 48 million people per year.  In the end Cedar Fair unit (stock) holders will own 51% of the new company and Six Flags stock holders 49%.


© Six Flags
On a call regarding the merger leaders of both companies were quick to point out that the plan will allow for a larger amount of free cash flow that they can use to pay down debt.  They also say that the larger cash flow will be used for investing in the parks.  Exactly how that will work, at least to me, will depend on their performance as paying down debt to support the new company's stock price will typically come first.  Since the new company will still be publicly traded the burden of making decisions to support the stockholders will always be #1 - not what the coolest coaster is to build.


© Six Flags
To me the leadership set up is telling (along with other facts sprinkled so far in this story).  I know this is a merger of the companies but to me personally it feels like Cedar Fair is adding Six Flags to their company.  From the CEO placement to headquarter location, Cedar Fair seems to be running things here.  And from a purely personal opinion that makes sense as Six Flags' leadership feels underwhelming when compared to Cedar Fair's.  There are definitely pluses from both companies to explore but Cedar Fair even notes that they think they can vastly improve Six Flags' parks in-park spending, mostly through food and beverage.


However no one can ignore that Six Flags is a clear national brand, perhaps a bit global even, and Cedar Fair is not at all, their parks names' are their real brand.  This will also gives all Cedar Fair parks access to Looney Tunes and D.C. Comics, which when done right could be cool, but if smothered into the parks like Six Flags does it could be pretty not cool.  Cedar Fair in the past few years entered a new 'make it themed' era and I pray it doesn't stop with this merger.


© Six Flags
When the deal was announced there was a lot of fear about park areas between the two companies that overlap, and rightfully so.  Northern and Southern California, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey for example.  Six Flags and Cedar Fair leaders were asked about this and they do not seem to view these as redundancies, instead they see an opportunity to grow season passes that would allow visitors to go to both parks with one pass - creating an even bigger base of visits, and in turn money.


© Six Flags
But, when pushed again about the value of divesting "lower return lower quality" parks Cedar Fair's CEO said "As we look at the portfolio, I said this before, there were these are really irreplaceable assets. We’ve always struggled with, how do you grow if you shrink your portfolio. But I do think as we look at the combined portfolio, we’re going to evaluate a whole range of ways to unlock and maximize the
values. I’m most excited about focusing on all 42 to see how we optimize and, and create the ability to generate as much revenue uplift and cash flow generation as possible.
 

But over time, as stewards of capital in the market, I think our Board will have the opportunity to evaluate what really drives and maximize shareholder returns once we get to that targeted leverage ratio, and we’re looking forward."


So, the new company will most certainly not be afraid of selling (or I shudder to think of other options) parks that are not meeting their standards or present other opportunities that are too good to pass up.  Recall that Cedar Fair sold the land under California's Great America well before this merger, knowing full well it meant the eventual end of the park.  The comment does acknowledge that these are "irreplaceable assets" but at the same time makes it clear that their job is to "maximize shareholder returns."  So while they do not appear to have an immediate plan to divest any parks, it is by no means off the table.


© NewsPlusNotes
In order for the deal to happen there are several items that have to take place.  Largest is an affirming majority vote from the Six Flags Entertainment stockholders.  The new company also needs antitrust approval, though that doesn't seem a real issue at all in their minds.  Also, the deal can be killed for a number of reasons including if Six Flags board of directors changes its recommendation that stockholders approve the deal or doesn't make the recommendation at all, then a "Cedar Fair Triggering Event" takes place and then Six Flags owes Cedar Fair a cool $63.2 million.  The deal itself is about 140 pages long, and I personally can't get through it, but you can at this link if you like.


The fact that if the deal falls through Six Flags owes Cedar Fair that much money is also telling to me about who holds the power in the deal.  That gives me some comfort, but as we've seen in countless other large mergers in other industries, there's always some good and often plenty of bad.  Buckle up for this one, indeed.


Thursday, November 16, 2023

Official Photos of Iron Menace's First Track Pieces Installed


In addition to the not-so-great photos we got when driving by the park, Dorney has also sent out some definitely-great photos of the track for Iron Menace that has been put into place!

© Dorney Park

There's lots to be seen in these photos, much of which we discussed in the previous story.  Here we have the track immediately before the transfer piece - with Possessed looking on approvingly from the background.


© Dorney Park

Zooming back out to the road you can get an idea of the part of the construction site that is now active with supports and track in place.


© Dorney Park
Moving in a bit you have footers for the end of the tilted loop and the start of the ride's corkscrew spin in the foreground here, with the brake run in the background.


© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park

Additional images of the track standing from different angles give the same views of beautiful B&M track.


© Dorney Park

This view of the transfer track will feed directly into the station track piece, which will be immediately on the left.  From there its immediately up and onto the ride's lift hill.


© Dorney Park

This little park that could held in there for many years and was rewarded with a great B&M coaster.  It is pretty cool to think that the park will have three B&Ms when it opens... that is something reserved for much larger parks, usually.



© Dorney Park

© Dorney Park
I can't wait for more track to arrive at the park so we can see the lift hill (hopefully) go up before things get too cold out.  The station track piece with the base of the lift hill should also go into place soon, if it hasn't already.  Stay tuned!


Sunday, November 12, 2023

Iron Menace at Dorney Park Has Gone Vertical!


© NewsPlusNotes
Out running errands today and I figured, why not stop by the park and see what's up?  Well, a lot is!  Iron Menace at Dorney Park has gone vertical, with most of the brake run and the transfer track in place.  It is amazing to see in person, the scale is much larger than your mind might expect.


Up top is the view coming down Lincoln Avenue toward the park, immediately your eyes notice the giant coaster pieces starting to frame the background.  It will be much more impressive in the future when the B&M Dive Coaster's tilted loop will be right here as well!


© NewsPlusNotes
From the backside of the construction area you can get more of an idea of what is up so far - the pieces we're seeing here are for the final brake run.  In the foreground, not built yet obviously, will be the final helix that will connect with that track.  The footers for that helix look largely complete at this point.


© NewsPlusNotes
Looking at the vertical pieces from the other side we get a good look the structure.  At the end of the brake run is the transfer track piece, which is currently slide off to the side.  After that area will be the ride's station, harder to see here as it will be in the background.


© NewsPlusNotes
A bit of a better view of the station area, which I would assume will be the next to go into place.  The park shared video of the base of the lift hill (already connected to the station track) being taken to the work site, so that should be in place soon.


There isn't much new track in the staging area, so until more shows up the focus will be on the brake/transfer/station area.  I'm sure the park will give us some great looks at the now vertical track soon as they've been doing a fantastic job keeping us updated on Iron Menace's progress.


Thursday, November 2, 2023

The IAAPA Legends Panel for 2023



 Now that Halloween is over the scariest sight for November is the line for admission to the Legends Panel on Wednesdays at IAAPA. There have been reports from Galaxy's Edge and Shanghai Disneyland, and other giants of the entertainment industry with cool stories of their experiences. This year is no exception.


The subject is Universal's Beijing Resort and how they learned new strategies to remain successful during the Covid Pandemic. There will be three members of the the panel, Tom Mehrman, Sylvia Hase, and Mike Hightower. Keeping the discussion moving with piercing questions and great repartee will be Bob Rogers, of Founder and Chairman of BRC Imagination Arts, 


Tom Mehrman, who served at President and General Manager during the development of Universal Bejing Resort has a background of working in the amusement park industry with many perspectives. Being part of the management team at Knott's Berry Farm and learning how to compete with Disneyland, leading Ocean Park when Disney Hong Kong, and developing Universal Bejing Resort, he has examples of creative solutions that can be applied to many different sized parks. And beside that he has a wicked sense of humor. He is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Universal Destinations and Experiences, Pacific Rim Universal.


Sylvia Hase, President of Hasbas Entertainment, has produced world class events and live shows worldwide. Her work has won awards from both THEA and IAAPA and it covering multiple continents. She was also first female director for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Her production of The Little Mermaid is the longest running show is Tokyo Disney Sea history, being experienced by over 35 million guests to date.


Mike Hightower started working in the aerospace/contracting industry after graduating from Stanford University. He is recently retired after being named President of Universal Creative. He has opened projects in China, Dubai, Singapore, Spain, and the United States. He spent some time working directly with Tom on Universal Bejing Resort and it will interesting to see if their recollections have any significant differences.


This is the Legends 2023 Panel, and it will always be too short, no matter how long it lasts. With this much experience on the dais, the audience will be standing room only and discussed many times on the trade show floor. Pardon us, we want to see where the head of the line starts so we know in advance. See you at S310EFGH at 4:00 pm!



Sunday, October 29, 2023

Iron Menace Supports + Track Photos at Dorney Park


© NewsPlusNotes
Dorney Park has started to receive more track and support pieces for Iron Menace, the park's new-for-2024 B&M Dive Coaster.  The park was extremely busy for the last night of Haunt this weekend so guests were parking in the overflow lot - which happens to be where the track and supports are being stored.  Above is one of a handful of track pieces that have arrived to date.  In the background is the largest support that is now on site.


© NewsPlusNotes
The track appears a bit darker in these photos than it is, they were taken as the sun was setting and I did not want to adjust the photos to make them look weird.  There are some new and much longer track pieces on site now, I think they look like parts of the brake run but I could be wrong.  The fins on the track appear for the brakes, not any lift hill component.


© NewsPlusNotes

The construction crews have added catwalks to a couple of the pieces of track that have already arrived.  This gives an idea of how the finished product will look - for this section (which is probably post-brakes and before the station) the catwalks are the support color, not track color.


© NewsPlusNotes
This very important piece of track is also on site, the base of the lift hill!  With so many of the key pieces of track for the brakes/transfer/station in place, crews will be able to start to assemble in the ride in no time!


© NewsPlusNotes

© NewsPlusNotes

© NewsPlusNotes

© NewsPlusNotes

This was also my first look at Iron Menace's supports that are on site.  I love the contrast of the support color with the track, it looks great in person.  


The park is well underway with footer preparation, it looks like they might have 50% or so of the footers already complete for the ride!  I don't take photos over work walls, so I do not have any to share of these footers.  Dorney Park is doing a great job keeping us all updated on the progress of the ride, so hang tight for more updates from them now that the park is closed (well, closing today) for the season! 


Thursday, October 26, 2023

Big Bear Mountain a Standout Ride of the Season for Dollywood


© Dollywood
Of the class of 2023 new coasters in the U.S., Dollywood's Big Bear Mountain has stood out as one of the best.  Highly rated as a very thrilling family roller coaster by fans, the coaster has quickly cemented itself as a must-ride when visiting the famous theme park.  With bright orange track and forest green supports, the ride also features on-board audio to help riders follow along with their adventure to spot the elusive big bear.


The coaster itself has been created by Vekoma and is engineered to provide a butter smooth ride for passengers, and with the 39 inch height requirement that's even better news for families looking to take the kids on a comfortable but thrilling ride.


© Dollywood
Big Bear Mountain starts with a small launch out of the station immediately followed by a much stronger launch that really sends trains moving along.  They blast at 48 miles per hour to traverse most of Wildwood Grove - the track length is 3,990 which is quite long for a launched ride!  One of the highlights of the ride's layout is soaring under a cave and waterfall - seen above - and hearing big bear roar at you while in there!  The ride's layout is much more zippy that many expected, and features tons of curves and gentle hills that make the ride feel even faster.


If you haven't been able to get to Dollywood to check out Big Bear Mountain, check out the video below for a virtual ride!



Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Silverwood Theme Park Working on Massive Waterpark Expansion for 2024


© Silverwood Theme Park
A massive water park expansion that will cost $15 million and expand the size of the park by 30% is coming to Silverwood Theme Park's Boulder Beach in 2024.  The expansion is named the Emerald Forest, and will allow visitors to enjoy the "wonders of nature, embrace the thrill of the hunt, and the joy of discovery."  

 

© Silverwood Theme Park
The nearly 4 acre expansion will be the largest that has come to Boulder Beach since it first opened in 2003.  The above schematic of the expansion shows the new additions, which are meant to provide something for every part of the family, from kids to thrill seekers.


© Silverwood Theme Park
The expansion will feature new restrooms, additional seating areas and cabanas, a high capacity food outlet named Rapids Grill (which can make 1,200 meals per hour!) and attractions including Salmon Run, seen above.  The children's slide complex features 8 different mini waterslides, ranging in length from 36 to 82 feet long.  These smaller slide areas have been added to many water parks in the the past 5 or so years, and they always appear to be a smash hit.


© Silverwood Theme Park
For thrill seekers, the park is adding the first dual-water roller coaster in the West, seen above and named Eagle Hunt.  Two riders per raft will each cross over 925 feet of slide that include several uphill sections, three of Proslide's Flying Saucer turns and the first ever "Shadow Effect" that Proslide has created - no details on what that is exactly.


It is very encouraging to see a smaller independent park make such a massive expansion like Emerald Forest.  Looking forward to seeing the expansion completed in 2024!


Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Adventureland + Zamperla Open New Rides + Underground Renovation in 2024


© Adventureland Resort
Zamperla and Adventureland Theme Park teamed up in 2023 to create a pair of attractions at the park that are both intertwined and themed as one cohesive expansion.  The addition consisted of a new log flume attraction that has a family roller coaster wrapping over and through it.  The integrated rides are very similar to the same pair that opened at Luna Park at Coney Island (which was delayed a bit due to the pandemic).

 

The rides have a light Viking theme to them and are said to be the park's largest ever single expansion project.


© Adventureland Resort
The new family roller coaster is named the Flying Viking and comes with a super family-friendly 36 inch height requirement.  The coaster climbs to a height of around 50 feet but moves at a maximum speed of 26 miles per hour - perfect for kids just getting used to bigger roller coasters.  The 1,312 feet of track does not feature and large drops, instead it features swooping turns that navigate the combined space of the coaster and the flume.


© Adventureland Resort
If you've read this blog for a while you'll know that traditional log flumes are a favorite of ours, and with some starting to disappear it's wonderful to see some modern versions popping up.  That's exactly what we got with the other addition at Adventureland this year, Draken Falls.  The flume features boats with side-by-side seating (maximum 6 guests per boat) and two drops (a double-down and a regular plunge).  Featuring a maximum height of 39 feet, Draken Falls soaks riders twice before returning to the station.


© Adventureland Resort
Adventureland has also announced that changes are coming to The Underground for the park's 2024 season.  The ride did not operate in 2023 and is a unique 'underground' wooden roller coaster - built by Custom Coasters back in 1996.  When it reopens next year the park is promising that it will incorporate "new technology and effects, guests will find themselves in a story-driven experience like never before. As they venture deeper into the abandoned mine, riders will face new challenges, unexpected twists and opportunities to uncover hidden secrets along the way. "


While modern and improved theming sounds like it is on tap for the ride, it is unclear if the wooden coaster track will be updated or modified in anyway.  We'll find out more later on this renovation!