Everything else goes here, including discussion of parks outside of Carowinds and any off-topic discussion
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By pproteinc
#65584
Decided to sum up all of the 2015 projects for Cedar Fair amusement parks if anyone didn't know what the other sisters were doing. Here a list below:

Carowinds is getting the largest capital investment in Cedar fair with Fury 325.
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Cedar Point will doing the standup to floorless conversion on Mantis to be renamed Rougarou and the huge renovation to Hotel Breakers.
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Kings Dominion will be doing a WaterWorks expansion with a new Splash Island for the little ones, a 65ft tall slide complex for the thrillers and an expanded cabana accommodations and amenities that will enhance the overall water park experience.
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Kings Island will also be doing a Planet Snoopy expansion adding three new rides: Woodstock Gliders and Snoopy's Space Buggies. Also they will be some renaming and relocating of restaurants and expanded coca cola marketplace.
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Dorney Park will be getting their version of Woodstock Gliders called Cedar Creek Flyers and Smokehouse BBQ a new restaurant to be located across from Center Stage.
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ValleyFair will be getting a SoakCity Expansion adding Breakers Pipeline features four tube slides where riders stand on a platform sixty-five-feet up, Breakers Plunge which are two speed slides that drop riders ninety feet, virtually straight down, and Barefoot Beach, an interactive splash pad spanning nearly an acre that features a multiple water play elements such as small slides, aim-and-spray water shooters, and multiple jets of streaming water that spray up from the ground and cascade down from overhead, pretty cool for the younger crowds.
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Knotts Berry will be getting an interactive 4-D attractions similar to CW's Wonder Mountain's Guardian called Voyage to the Iron Reef.
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California Great America will be rebranding and expanding their KidZville area into Planet Snoopy. There will be three new rides in the area for 2015: Peanuts 500, a race track, Snoopy’s Space Buggies similar to what KI will be getting as well and lastly are you ready???.....Joe Cool's Gr8Sk8??? :wtf: ....Is it true? Could this be Carowinds' dear flat ride that was removed this year to make way for Harmony Hall? Is it really headed to the west coast? Intriguing minds would like to know. Also they will be building a new Pavilion, a multi purpose that will be home to the Red Zone Rally pregame event for all 49ers home games, as well as other Levi’s Stadium events as well being used for corporate meetings and parties.
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Michigan's Adventure will be receiving nothing. I for one sadly think this park will be on the chopping block in the coming years.
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By Jay
#65591
First off you missed Canada's Wonderland and Worlds of Fun.

Worlds of Fun getting some waterpark stuff - https://www.worldsoffun.com/article/med ... ash-Island

Canada's Wonderland also getting some waterpark stuff - https://www.canadaswonderland.com/what- ... sh-station

Michigan's Adventure will be receiving nothing. I for one sadly think this park will be on the chopping block in the coming years.


This isn't true at all. Just because a park isn't getting something shiny and new doesn't automatically mean they are going to kill it. Michigan's Adventure is a big enough park for it's market, and will get enough attendence to justify it's operating costs but not much else. The return on investment isn't there for something new.
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By pproteinc
#65596
Jay, thanks! I for sure thought I included the two parks clearly I did in my head. As for MA I see what your saying but it seems as if the park haven't had any expansion in years. I know the water park, to me, is the main draw but geez a slide maybe?
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By Jonathan
#65603
Here are some thoughts from me several weeks ago responding to someone who thought corporate wasn't being fair by investing so much in Cedar Point instead of Michigan's Adventure.

I'll just repost it here because it's equally relevant.

Michigan's Adventure has very low attendance (I doubt they even top a million guests a year) and is in an extraordinarily small market where population is declining. It shouldn't be the least bit surprising that Cedar Fair isn't putting big investments into that park. I never really understood why they even purchased it.


Muskegon is a 3.5 hour drive from Detroit. Sandusky is 2 hours. The distances aren't even close and 7 hours round trip exceeds the threshold for a day trip for nearly every person, not to mention why would Cedar Fair want to cannibalize their own attendance at Cedar Point by trying to draw people from Detroit to Muskegon instead? Michigan's Adventure is a local park for the Grand Rapids market and shouldn't be put up against the other parks in the chain simply because they share the same ownership. The park should be grouped in more with places like Waldameer, Lake Winnie, The Great Escape, etc. than Cedar Point, Canada's Wonderland, Worlds of Fun, etc.


And again, comparing investments at Michigan's Adventure to Cedar Point is absurd. They are not comparable parks and we wouldn't even be having this discussion if they weren't both owned by Cedar Fair. I think what people need to realize is that while corporate has a big say in what kind of investments go into the individual parks, each park is still individually managed and budgeted. Michigan's Adventure is its own thing and Cedar Point is its own thing.
There's also a lot more to it than "If you build it they will come". In your earlier post you alluded to Cedar Point being in a small town in the middle of nowhere, but the reality is that Sandusky is an hour from Cleveland which was at one point the 7th largest city in America. So Cedar Point started out as a regional draw with a very large population to draw from, but then over time developed into more of a national draw, which is important since Cleveland and the Rust Belt have been bleeding population. So the problem with Michigan's Adventure is that it doesn't have the local market to drive it toward becoming that destination park.
I know it sucks to have a home park that is corporate owned but does not get the same treatment that its sister parks get (growing up my home park was Carowinds; my how things have changed now, though), but it's not like corporate is sitting there divvying out money to each park and giving Michigan's Adventure the shaft because they don't like them. I suspect that for the most part profits are returned proportionally to each park for capital investments, with some redistribution toward very large projects. Carowinds is probably one park that is getting more money put into it than it returns right now, but that is because Charlotte is one of the fastest growing metro areas in the United States and an economic hot spot. The potential is there for massive attendance growth.
By Edwardo
#65644
It's my understanding that MiA makes the company a decent amount of money without the company having to add new stuff all of the time. The park isn't going anywhere.
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By cwgator
#65716
pproteinc wrote:Decided to sum up all of the 2015 projects for Cedar Fair amusement parks if anyone didn't know what the other sisters were doing. Here a list below:

California Great America will be rebranding and expanding their KidZville area into Planet Snoopy. There will be three new rides in the area for 2015: Peanuts 500, a race track, Snoopy’s Space Buggies similar to what KI will be getting as well and lastly are you ready???.....Joe Cool's Gr8Sk8??? :wtf: ....Is it true? Could this be Carowinds' dear flat ride that was removed this year to make way for Harmony Hall? Is it really headed to the west coast? Intriguing minds would like to know. ...


They are getting the Joe Cool's Gr8Sk8 from Knott's Berry Farm. This ride:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiqjbqlpO6M
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By tarheel1231
#65717
^Watch Cedar Fair market that ride as a coaster. :wink:

I feel bad for Canada's Wonderland as two of their attractions will be outdone this year (Guardian by Iron Reef and Leviathan by Fury 325).
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By gabed
#65718
^Both Guardian and Leviathan were prototypes, they were going to be outdone at some point within the Cedar Fair chain.