The Ouimet years: some early thoughts

Not so much the curved midways, I'm more interested in the in ground LED lights :)

Light up concrete!!!1111

Ensign Smith said:
I'd add to that list a Space Mountain, but we already have a poor man's version. ;)

Ensign, actually I'd call it a poor man's Star Tours. The last time I rode Star Tours, walking through the "repair bay" I remember thinking to myself, THIS is what the line for Disaster should be like.

Is it the poor man's Star Tours/Space Mountain, or the cheap man's?

When they start having princesses and autograph sessions I'll get worried, but until then, I think things are improving.

Princesses and autograph sessions are helping to make Disney a fortune. I have heard that the princess salon in the World of Disney store at Downtown Disney is grossing $1 million per week.

Don't underestimate what parents are willing to spend on their children today. Parents will pay an extra $3,000 for a vehicle without thinking twice so their kids can have monitors to watch their tv and dvds. I've been saying for years (well...ever since I became a parent) that Cedar Fair...but Cedar Point in particular...was missing the boat when it came to the young family demographic. I suspect that is something that immediately caught Ouimet's eye given his background.

Does that mean princesses? No. But it will likely mean more capital dollars spent on that demographic than the thrill demographic. Or, at least more as a percentage. Oh, you will still get your thrill rides, but I think we are going to start seeing a shift in the attraction makeup that has been long overdue.

^This. He is not going to be putting princesses at every store, but more attention will be put towards young families.

I hope (and I'm pretty sure) the era of Cedar Point roller coasters is not going to end, but I will say the early 2000s era of three coasters in four years would not occur ever again with Matt Ouimet, Jack Falfas, or even Dick Kinzel.

JuggaLotus said:
Is it the poor man's Star Tours/Space Mountain, or the cheap man's?

Perhaps 'cheap and misguided' might be the best description.

Or a downright disaster... HAH no one ever thought of that one before. :)

If they quite using generic names for all their rides, then he's done some good lol

He said he considers Knott's the gem of the chain. Perhaps he will resurrect Knott's Bear-y Tales or Kingdom of the Dinosaurs in an updated form? That would be fan service.

I'm excited this year for the Golden Ticket Awards. With Ouimet at the head of Cedar Fair (and Cedar Fairs marketing strategies), I'm wondering if Cedar Point will still remain #1, or will Ouimet put the money towards someting else and not pay Amusement Today for the award.

Skippy said:
If they quite using generic names for all their rides, then he's done some good lol

He said he considers Knott's the gem of the chain. Perhaps he will resurrect Knott's Bear-y Tales or Kingdom of the Dinosaurs in an updated form? That would be fan service.

Actually, I believe he named Cedar Point as the flagship park...

Didn't say 'flagship park', I said 'gem' (my words are even in your quote). That said, I misquoted him. He called it the 'jewel' of the chain and seemed really excited about it:

http://ocresort.ocregister.com/2011/07/03/new-knotts-president-prom...ory/81589/

Matthew Ouimet said:
“This is one of those parks that’s a jewel.”

I still wonder how Cedar Point is arguably the best park in the chain and Valleyfair is one of the bottom parks. They were both the original Cedar Fair parks so they both should of received the same amount of love before Cedar Fair started acquiring other parks.

Anyone back to the discussion, Cedar Point will always be the flagship park but Knotts is a jewel. It serves one of the biggest markets.

I have a feeling he's excited to be competing with his old park.

Anyways, it great to hear that Knott’s new GM Raffi Karprelyan and Cedar Fair are talking with various dark ride manufacturers about some ideas for new dark rides to add to the park. Sounds like they're listening to the fans that have been ignored for far too long now.

http://micechat.com/blogs/in-the-parks/3322-meet-knotts-new-manager...gress.html

Who said Valleyfair was a bottom park? That they tried to sell it was nothing but posturing to play games with Q and anyone else worried about the financial health of the company.

Valleyfair really has been pushed aside. It's quite obvious that the park is behind the others in terms of the amount of attractions and such.

Seriously? Have you even been there? Renegade is awesome. One of the best wood coasters in the chain.

Don't you understand, Jeff? Any park that isn't Cedar Point and doesn't get CapEx on the same scale of Canada's Wonderland has been "pushed aside". Particularly if it is the poster's home park. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

RideMan, I made no mentions of Cedar Point or Canada's Wonderland. Sure, they may have Renegade, but Valleyfair really is one of the smaller and less publicized parks. Plus, Valleyfair is about half the size of Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Canada's Wonderland; that's probably part of the reason why that it is one of the bottom parks now.