The BLOGFlume—Happy Memorial Day!

It appears that Paramount’s Kings Island’s newest roller coaster, Italian Job Stunt Track, has created a problem. The lines for the attraction have surpassed the park’s expectations, and it seems that they are trying different techniques to try to meet guest demand. Not only is the ride incredibly popular, but also the coaster does not have the largest capacity with only 12 passengers per train, meaning that the capacity is somewhere around 1,000 passengers per hour at maximum efficiency. The park is encouraging guests to ride the new coaster as soon as the park opens, and to expect long lines throughout the day. Kings Island will also be offering special “speed pass” tickets for Gold Season Pass members beginning on June 6, 2005, which will allow guest to schedule a return ride time later in the day. The speed passes will be limited to one per member per day, and the park will continue this policy until August 14, 2005. Kings Island is also considering the testing of other types of ride reservation systems throughout the summer, but I would only count on the Gold Season Pass system for the foreseeable future. Some more positive reviews have started to hit the web, and it seems that only the crazy coaster fans seem to have a problem with this new coaster. However, it seems that Kings Island should have found some way to increase the ride’s capacity in anticipation of the overwhelming demand for this highly themed attraction.

Not Much Change

Since it’s the unofficial start of summer, I usually try to avoid theme parks on Memorial Day Weekend. However, I happened to be over near Six Flags America Sunday afternoon, and with a parking pass to go along with our normal season pass, we decided to take a peek at the park to see how crowded it was, and check out the changes made to the water park. As I had expected, the parking lot was filling up at 11:00, and was into the overflow section when we left at 1:30. The main section of the park was relatively crowded, but the lines were manageable. Most of the rides were operating at peak capacity, aside from Batwing of course, but lines were starting to fill up when we left in the afternoon. I wasn’t able to make the media preview day for Six Flags America’s “new” water park Hurricane Harbor, so I took a little time before leaving in the afternoon to see what changes had been made. I haven’t been to the water park in a couple of years, but from what I could tell, very little has been changed. There is a lot of new neon-colored paint everywhere, and lots of new colorful signs, and of course the three new attractions. Still, these are primarily superficial changes. In fact, two of the three new attractions, Bahama Blast and Buccaneer Beach were not yet complete, and it appeared that Tornado had just been finished in the nick of time. I didn’t bother taking a spin on the new water slide because of the lengthy line, but I don’t quite understand the popularity of this type of water slide. Guests are forced to lug giant 4-person cloverleaf slides up to the top of the staircase, only to slosh back and forth before going down the drain and into a splash pool. The line moves incredibly slowly, with only one raft able to be in the funnel at a time, so only a maximum of 4 people can ride the attraction every 30-45 seconds. While Six Flags bought stock in fluorescent paint, aside from the bright colors and three new attractions, nothing else was improved in what was advertised as a brand new water park experience. The walkways are still cracking, and seating areas are still incredibly limited, especially around the wave pool. The park is still incredibly lacking in shady spots. While I had expected Six Flags would do as little as possible, my hope was that they would have really given the water park a full upgrade, but as usual, Six Flags manages to disappoint.

Crosschecked
LA Times 5/28/05

Despite the bleak outlook for the end of the NHL lockout, hockey is still one of my favorite sports. I know eventually the players and owners will come to their senses soon to settle their differences. However, even if the lockout ends prior to the start of the 2005-2006 season, fans may have a hard time finding NHL games on cable. ESPN has smartly declined an option in its NHL contract to broadcast games for the 2005-2006 season. The NHL will be out the $60 million that ESPN would have paid for the broadcast rights for the upcoming season, but may be able to recoup some of the money be negotiating a new deal once the lockout ends. ESPN is still interested in broadcasting NHL games, but feels that the $60 million is too much for a league that doesn’t seem to be missed too terribly by its normal viewers. The NHL is really starting to feel the pressure from the lockout, as it has now lost an entire season. Wall Street investors have recently increased their bid for the entire league to $4 billion, but the owners still want to hold on to their losing investments as they try to solve their problems with players. My home team, Washington Capitals, have a local cable television deal that has not yet been affected, but many other fans may have just lost their only access to professional hockey, and unless the NHL can get its act together, hockey as a nationally broadcasted sport may be over.