Dick Kinzel "coaster war" interview

MK, with all due respect, you are forgetting the fact that Magnum and MF provided CP an excellent ROI, while Mr. Kinzel did say both were two of his best business decisions. Furthermore, Mr. Kinzel was opitmistic that TTD could turn itself around. The problem with TTD is not it's height! The problem is design, capacity, and reliability, both of which screw the ROI if all you consider is ridership. Magnum and MF were wildly successfull providing an excellent ROI because they are well designed, thrilling rides that have great capacity and reliability.

Yes, I have riden Maverick and it is an excellent ride, and definitly one of CP's best. I've heard it reffered to as a "legacy ride" at CP and could not agree more. It will be a big draw for years to come.

So what's the difference between MF and Maverick? National FREE publicity! When the price of steell comes down, I will bank dollars to donuts that the new height record will return to the Point. It has too, if you're going to market yourself as "America's Roller Coast" given the park itself has a legacy to maintain itself. First to break 200, 300, and 400 and then stop? Doubtfull imo.

I agree with Tom. I think that CP will once again reclaim its title of tallest Roller Coaster in the near future. (5-10 years).

I would counter that the folks who are waiting in line for MF and TTD are not spending near that amount of money, on average, than the folks who are running around through Camp Snoopy and Kiddy Kingdom. And, that is the real issue for Cedar Point.

If you have 100 people in the park who spend a per cap of $30 it is going to be worse for you than if you have 75 people in the park who spend a per cap of $50. In essence, more people doesn't necessarily mean more money.

Of course, I am on the outside looking in when it comes to studying those numbers but I think it is safe to say the population driven to the park for TTD, MF and even Maverick are spending less money than the family crowd would.

You may counter that the parks per cap keeps going up. Well, when you continually raise prices that is going to happen. But, attendance is either flat or on the decline and I think that all going to come to a head sooner rather than later if CP doesn't focus some more money on the family dollar in the coming years.

Frankly, I think it is time for a true family coaster...ala a spinning mouse or something along those lines. (Worried about capacity? Build two ala WDW's Animal Kingdom). My guess is that the ROI would be much better on that than on a mega-hyper-terra-something-or-other.

^ That's exactly what Cedar Fair just built at Knott's with Sierra Sidewinder. Not that precedence proves anything, but they did "test" Xcelerator at Knott's before installing TTD at Cedar Point. Also, if you look at Mack's press on that coaster, it talks about being able to have a high capacity spinner which is unique in that market segment.

Take that concept, make the track and trains longer and you have a high capacity spinning coaster that is pretty unique in the US.