2Q2003 Conference Call

Some moderately interesting discussion on the conference call today. (You can hear it here.) If you aren't interested in the financial bits, skip ahead to about the 12 minute mark. Here are some tidbits I took away from my listen during lunch:

* Attendance: CP is not suffering as much as we might have suspected, given CF-wide trends. However, VF is the only park doing well. MiA is in trouble; last year was below their target, if I recall correctly, and this year they are further down still by a percentage point or two.

* According to Kinzel, they will keep dragster running (in test/shakedown) after the season closes "until Christmas, if we have to" to continue working out the issues. They are shooting for a trouble-free 2004.

* The dividend is unlikely to increase.

* CP season pass sales are "very strong" this year. Group bookings sound to be down a bit. Despite good season pass sales, per-capita in-park revenues are up slightly (mostly on in-park spending, with flat admission revenue): evidence against the "season pass holders don't contribute to the per-capita spending" theory.

* No news on the capital expenditures front, but this is also no surprise. CF is always tight lipped about this sort of thing.

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It's not war, famine, or pestilence; it's only downtime.

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Brian Noble said:

* According to Kinzel, they will keep dragster running (in test/shakedown) after the season closes "until Christmas, if we have to" to continue working out the issues. They are shooting for a trouble-free 2004.

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It's not war, famine, or pestilence; it's only downtime.

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I hope Christmas is enough time. Perhaps it's time to ditch the swiss company (whoever they are) that designed the hydraulics. Find another company that will provide a warranty if there system in completely installed and the old systems removed and get a reliable hydraulic system. Do this if it is the hydraulics that are still causing the majority of downtime now. Which I would guess is the case, but I haven't really paid too much attention anymore.

Sure you void the warranty on their hydraulic system....big deal. Like it is working reliable now. Yes, more money would be put into the ride, but it is supposed to be your big attraction. I would think about this if I were in their shoes during the offseason. Granted I don't know the extents of the problems by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know the current design or something aint worth a %^$#.

Now would CP do that....most likely not. (especially by what Kinzel said). But you have to think it has crossed their minds....Actually it is possible in my conversation with a mechanic early in the year, as they stated they did not like the swiss hydraulic engineering one bit.

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"This second hill is my favorite part of the ride. It is so Cool!"
TTD Status: "Contaminates in the system" S.K. Per my conversation
EA Sports "It's in the Game"
*** This post was edited by Hooper 8/6/2003 1:40:31 PM ***

Thanks for posting that man!
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Arms down.....Arms down.....Arms down.......Arms down.....Arms down....Arms down...(you think they would get it the first time?!)

TTD-9 Rollbacks-1

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Do this if it is the hydraulics that are still causing the majority of downtime now.

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Actually, (and I forgot to include this), Kinzel did say that th hydraulics are now pretty much worked out. The most recent problem was the heat generated by the launch sled, if I heard everything correctly. It was a pretty interesting litany of what went wrong with the ride, actually.

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It's not war, famine, or pestilence; it's only downtime.

Help MiA! Visit them and spend money!

BTW, Could Shivering Timbers be *moved* to CP? If so, where would they put it?

I KNOW it would be cheaper to just build a new coaster, but am curious as to if this is feasible.

MrScott

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"If we go any faster, she'll blow apart for sure!"

I made my second trip to MiA last Friday. I still think the numbers are down because of the weather. Besides Timbers, the best thing there is the water park, and we haven't exactly had the kind of weather this year that sends people to the waterpark.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead
http://www.webtechnik.com/ebony/CPLady.htm

I've only made it to MiA once this year, but am hoping to get another trip in.

It will be interesting to see what happens during capital expenditure announcement time. If MiA is slotted for anything, it's one indication that CF blames the weather rather than MiA's management team. Of course, the converse is not necessarily true, but it will make for good off-season speculation...

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It's not war, famine, or pestilence; it's only downtime.

I would rather blame the weather than anythig else. The folks that work there have been excellent...each time I have been there (6 times this season). CF needs to give MiA more attractions--something more to visit the the park than Shivering Timbers and something to make them stay (like a campground or a Hotel). A Sit Down place to eat and spend money would be nice, too.

MrScott

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"If we go any faster, she'll blow apart for sure!"

While at MIA on Monday, Sparty, Dan, and myself saw Mr. Kinzel and Rob Decker at the park. I hope that leads to something. It was my first visit since the CF purchase and wow what a difference. I was impressed. I really hope it works out for them.

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Steve Sergent
MF count: 247
TTD: 11

I was wondering if anyone thinks that in the offseason they will run TTD, to compensate for all the down time. As in run TTD for all the time it was down, along with all the maintinance time.

If I didn't make since let me know.

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http://said.uc.edu/students/oakleysd/cp/CP.jpg
Now tell me Cedar Point is running out of space.