Great America 2007 Brochure

Here is Great America's 2007 brochure:

There's the 2-Parks logo! Yeah!

I know that all the rights for the ride names and such, like Top Gun, are up in the air, but I kinda hope they keep them all. I'd just hate to see Top Gun become "Jet Coaster" or something.

I'm also glad that they have added the wave pool this year. A water park really is lacking without one. That begs the question as to why Cedar Fair has let Valleyfair! lack one for so long.

Overall, I'd have to say that it's a good brochure!

Dorney Park 2007 Season Update #9

The park was busy getting ready for the season today when I took these pictures. The cars are back on a lot of rides, and everything is looking good. We're getting close, only one more month!

First off, AquaRacer. Slide pieces have arrived! You can see them all stacked up in this picture. I can make out dark blue and aqua pieces in this picture.

Another shot. Here you can also make out some bright yellow pieces. Interesting colors, I must say I like them. Can't wait to see how it goes together.

Here is a more general shot. You'll have to click it to really see what I mean, but I'm wondering what that lime green/yellow thing is. It's right next to the concrete block that's along the lazy river. I could be 1000% wrong but maybe that's the bottom of the slide?

Here's another overview shot. You can see Water Works, the AquaRacer slide pieces, and if you look through the trees, you can see the lime green/yellow thing I was talking about. And we can't forget about Talon's loop.

They were digging up the remains of the house when I went by. I guess they were taking out the foundations and such.

Last shot - I'm guessing at this point that whatever rumored improvements Laser might have been to get are not going to happen. Since it was a rumor though, perhaps it was never even planned at all.

I'll keep watching as I'm sure the slide will go up soon!

Canada's Wonderland 2007 Map

The 2007 Canada's Wonderland park map is now up on their website. You can click here to be taken to their map page.

It's cleaned up a little from last years, which IMO was pretty bad. It's still really far from good though. Not to be negative, but with a lot of the other former Paramount using Citigraph, who does a great job, Canada's Wonderland has a poor product by comparison.

Great America Really IS Open!

Thank you.

Dorney Park Season Pass Ad

This came a few days ago. There's a few things that Dorney nerds like myself would be interested in. Let's look.

Looks fancy. There's that new logo again.

Look at that in the box. How interesting that Capital BlueCross is sponsoring AquaRacer to the point of it being named that. I know that it hasn't literally gone through a name change, but I sorta like that sponsors are back in with the park like that.

This is in there too. Obviously the relationship with Capital BlueCross is pretty strong for this season. I like the online coupon as well.

Just for good measure, here's the Maxx pass info. I've got mine, do you?

Universal Orlando Posts Solid Year

The Universal Orlando Resort is technically owned and operated by Universal City Development Partners, LTD, and they recently filed their annual report with the SEC.

I was made aware of this through this article from FloridaToday.com, which details the resort's 2006 results.

Since I didn't know this company existed and owned and operated Univeral Orlando, I wanted to read this report and get the skinny. So I did. And here's some stuff I found:

· Universal City Development Partners (UCDP) ownes and operates the two theme parks and Citywalk. The on-property hotels are owned by UCF Hotel Venture. Talk about splitting up ownership of all that stuff.

· The company pays out a minimum of $4.6 million annually for the rights to various intellectual properties. (i.e. characters and themes)
~They have exclusivity East of the Mississippi for the Marvel characters.
~They have worldwide exclysivity for the Dr. Suess characters so long as Universal does not use them in more than 3 North American parks. How detailed, eh?
~They only have the right to use Dreamworks stuff (i.e. Shrek) that was created/released prior to Jan. 1st, 2006. So, don't look for any Shrek the Third updates this summer.
~They use Popeye and his gang from King Features and are the only ones in the US and Canada who can do so. This runs to 2019 and can be renewed so long as at least one Popeye attraction is at the park.

· 43% of '06 admissions were from US states outside of Florida, 31% were from other countries, and 26% of admissions were from Florida residents.

· In 2005 they spent $30.4 million on capital expenitures and $41.4 million in 2006. They estimate, however, that 2007 "including intellectual property rights, to be between $100 million to $120 million." And here's the kicker: "A large portion of this cost relates to the design and construction of multiple new attractions that are currently being negotiated that we anticipate opening during the next few years." Hello Harry Potter! Why else would they specifically mention that they are spending on property rights? And designing something big?

· Attendance at the two parks in 2002 was 10.4 million, 2003 was 10.6 million, 2004 was 12.1 million, 2005 was 10.8 and 2006 was 10.5 million.

· Revengs of the Mummy gave the resort record attendance in 2004.