Dave Althoff, Jr.
2019-09-22 15:22:56 UTC
I don't know what damned consultant is going around telling parks that it
is a good idea to be rid of their amusement rides. Several parks have tried
it, and not one has yet been successful at it:
Coney Island: Eventually realized that amusement rides are important and
reestablished a midway
Conneaut Lake: Intended to become just a waterpark (with one slide?) and
concert and special events facility. The plan was stopped,
but not before most of the rides had been sold, and so far
the park still has not recovered.
Geauga Lake: Hard park closed to become only a waterpark. Somewhat
successful as a water park but held only limited appeal,
was not particularly profitable, and has since closed
Lakemont Park: Just "re-opened" this year as a park without rides, but
on the day I was there was totally dead (except for the
Skyliner, which was only mostly dead). No waterpark here
and most of the new park facilities are non-revenue
generating. Catering at this park also seems almost non-
existent, so good luck with that...
Coney Island: After reestablishing the midway, but making some very odd
decisions with regard to ride selection, and apparenlty not
understanding the lessons of 1971-1997 has now deciced to
remove all of the rides *again*. I shouldn't be surprised
given that this is the same company that owned Americana,
and decided to dispose of it by selling it to the buyer
least qualified to operate it...
It was one of the old time carnies who described his show as "a 110-trailer
popcorn wagon." What I learned during the NAPHA convention in 1997 was that
this also accurately described Coney Island. Coney Island is a catering
company that also operated amusement rides and a pool. The money comes from
the catering, parking, and food service operations. The pool and midway
are, or at least were, the reasons people come to park the cars and eat the
food.
Well, I know what the park is thinking, sort of. They're thinking that by
removing the rides, they get to save something like $1.5 million dollars in
salaries and benefits for the mechanics they just laid off, not to mention
all the seasonal ride operators they no longer need, , plus the expenses of
operating and maintaining their fleet of amusement rides. The way the park
operated, the rides were strict POP on a fairly inexpensive wristband. Even
at that, in a world dominated by Kings Island, the wristband had to be kept
cheap enough that people would buy it. Ohio is P-O-P territory; people here
don't like to fool with tickets, and that includes the ride staff. It was a
model that worked for them, but on the whole Coney Island was probably
losing money annually on the midway. Their decisions to install the
cheapest extreme-thrill rides they could find probably didn't help much.
The park's most recent installations have been low capacity European
high-thrill (read: upside down with a lot of spinning) rides, in a park
with terrible bumper cars and no adult rotary swing or Himalaya.
So the midway doesn't stand on its own. It's a bit of an incoherent mess
except for a nice selection of kiddie rides, but the ride selection did
offer a little something for just about everyone. Not enough of a midway to
spend the whole day there, but a nice add-on for the pool and for the
picnic grove. And that was the whole point. The midway isn't itself a huge
draw. There are more and better rides at Kings Island. At the same time,
the giant pool and accompanying waterpark aren't the best of their kind
either, but what local pool also has a Ferris wheel? And the midway can
also help drive group sales in the picnic grove, the literal bread and
butter of the park.
So now the park has decided to shut down the amusement rides, and in fact
is quite literally going out with a BANG. We arrived at around 7pm. The
park was to be open from 4PM-11PM, flat admission $25/carload including
parking and rides. The park was busier than I have ever seen it, with long
lines for all of the rides. The word "free" is the most powerful word in
advertising, and I've learned that Cincinnatians are a cheap lot. Not that
they're frugal, nor that they won't spend money, but they will jump on a
deal without hesitation. My 6-passenger sedan with three people in it was
probably one of the smallest and emptiest vehicles to enter the parking
lot.
The big draw tonight was the International fireworks competition, so a lot
of people were sitting around basically waiting for the show to start,
playing on the playground equipment and standing in line for the rides.
Yes, for the rides. The rides were all running with heavy loads, thanks to
the promo deal. I managed to take pictures and video of most of them, then
it was time for the fireworks to start.
The team from Vietnam put on a beautifully choreographed show.
The team from Belgium put on a colorful show.
The team from Russia put on a somewhat monochromatic program, but looked
like they actually had a story to tell, and did so remarkably well.
Apparently the judges agreed and declared them the winners.
The Rozzi company shot off an Independence Day-style finale.
While most of the crowd fought to get out of the parking lot, we took
advantage of the shortest waits the rides had all day, with rides on the
Scrambler, Tempest and Python. It was our way of saying goodbye, and in a
way reliving 1971 (although back then I was too young to care).
On our way home we did what everybody did back in 1972 after the rides
closed at Coney Island: we went to Kings Island, took advantage of their
Haunt schedule, and got two rides on Mystic Timbers before closing. It's
obviously their first week of Haunt, and their screamsters have not yet
figured out that when it it two minutes to closing and people are running
from the train exit towards the ride entrance, they aren't interested in
being scared. There's no need for a flashing necklace to tell you that; and
attempting to jump in front of and scare one of these people is a good way
to get mowed down. I didn't actually collide with the guy, but the random
person ahead of me did. We got our final rides of the night, then headed home.
/X\ _ *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
/XXX\ /X\ /X\_ _ /X\__ _ _ _____
/XXXXX\ /XXX\ /XXXX\_ /X\ /XXXXX\ /X\ /X\ /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX
NEW! When emailing this account, include the 'canonical magic word' in
the body of your message for a quicker response.
is a good idea to be rid of their amusement rides. Several parks have tried
it, and not one has yet been successful at it:
Coney Island: Eventually realized that amusement rides are important and
reestablished a midway
Conneaut Lake: Intended to become just a waterpark (with one slide?) and
concert and special events facility. The plan was stopped,
but not before most of the rides had been sold, and so far
the park still has not recovered.
Geauga Lake: Hard park closed to become only a waterpark. Somewhat
successful as a water park but held only limited appeal,
was not particularly profitable, and has since closed
Lakemont Park: Just "re-opened" this year as a park without rides, but
on the day I was there was totally dead (except for the
Skyliner, which was only mostly dead). No waterpark here
and most of the new park facilities are non-revenue
generating. Catering at this park also seems almost non-
existent, so good luck with that...
Coney Island: After reestablishing the midway, but making some very odd
decisions with regard to ride selection, and apparenlty not
understanding the lessons of 1971-1997 has now deciced to
remove all of the rides *again*. I shouldn't be surprised
given that this is the same company that owned Americana,
and decided to dispose of it by selling it to the buyer
least qualified to operate it...
It was one of the old time carnies who described his show as "a 110-trailer
popcorn wagon." What I learned during the NAPHA convention in 1997 was that
this also accurately described Coney Island. Coney Island is a catering
company that also operated amusement rides and a pool. The money comes from
the catering, parking, and food service operations. The pool and midway
are, or at least were, the reasons people come to park the cars and eat the
food.
Well, I know what the park is thinking, sort of. They're thinking that by
removing the rides, they get to save something like $1.5 million dollars in
salaries and benefits for the mechanics they just laid off, not to mention
all the seasonal ride operators they no longer need, , plus the expenses of
operating and maintaining their fleet of amusement rides. The way the park
operated, the rides were strict POP on a fairly inexpensive wristband. Even
at that, in a world dominated by Kings Island, the wristband had to be kept
cheap enough that people would buy it. Ohio is P-O-P territory; people here
don't like to fool with tickets, and that includes the ride staff. It was a
model that worked for them, but on the whole Coney Island was probably
losing money annually on the midway. Their decisions to install the
cheapest extreme-thrill rides they could find probably didn't help much.
The park's most recent installations have been low capacity European
high-thrill (read: upside down with a lot of spinning) rides, in a park
with terrible bumper cars and no adult rotary swing or Himalaya.
So the midway doesn't stand on its own. It's a bit of an incoherent mess
except for a nice selection of kiddie rides, but the ride selection did
offer a little something for just about everyone. Not enough of a midway to
spend the whole day there, but a nice add-on for the pool and for the
picnic grove. And that was the whole point. The midway isn't itself a huge
draw. There are more and better rides at Kings Island. At the same time,
the giant pool and accompanying waterpark aren't the best of their kind
either, but what local pool also has a Ferris wheel? And the midway can
also help drive group sales in the picnic grove, the literal bread and
butter of the park.
So now the park has decided to shut down the amusement rides, and in fact
is quite literally going out with a BANG. We arrived at around 7pm. The
park was to be open from 4PM-11PM, flat admission $25/carload including
parking and rides. The park was busier than I have ever seen it, with long
lines for all of the rides. The word "free" is the most powerful word in
advertising, and I've learned that Cincinnatians are a cheap lot. Not that
they're frugal, nor that they won't spend money, but they will jump on a
deal without hesitation. My 6-passenger sedan with three people in it was
probably one of the smallest and emptiest vehicles to enter the parking
lot.
The big draw tonight was the International fireworks competition, so a lot
of people were sitting around basically waiting for the show to start,
playing on the playground equipment and standing in line for the rides.
Yes, for the rides. The rides were all running with heavy loads, thanks to
the promo deal. I managed to take pictures and video of most of them, then
it was time for the fireworks to start.
The team from Vietnam put on a beautifully choreographed show.
The team from Belgium put on a colorful show.
The team from Russia put on a somewhat monochromatic program, but looked
like they actually had a story to tell, and did so remarkably well.
Apparently the judges agreed and declared them the winners.
The Rozzi company shot off an Independence Day-style finale.
While most of the crowd fought to get out of the parking lot, we took
advantage of the shortest waits the rides had all day, with rides on the
Scrambler, Tempest and Python. It was our way of saying goodbye, and in a
way reliving 1971 (although back then I was too young to care).
On our way home we did what everybody did back in 1972 after the rides
closed at Coney Island: we went to Kings Island, took advantage of their
Haunt schedule, and got two rides on Mystic Timbers before closing. It's
obviously their first week of Haunt, and their screamsters have not yet
figured out that when it it two minutes to closing and people are running
from the train exit towards the ride entrance, they aren't interested in
being scared. There's no need for a flashing necklace to tell you that; and
attempting to jump in front of and scare one of these people is a good way
to get mowed down. I didn't actually collide with the guy, but the random
person ahead of me did. We got our final rides of the night, then headed home.
/X\ _ *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
/XXX\ /X\ /X\_ _ /X\__ _ _ _____
/XXXXX\ /XXX\ /XXXX\_ /X\ /XXXXX\ /X\ /X\ /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX
NEW! When emailing this account, include the 'canonical magic word' in
the body of your message for a quicker response.