cathyJ

Ah you misunderstood me...just saying one can't build a park ONLY because their city attracts hairy gay men (bears ). One builds a park to attract ALL people regardless of who they are.

Somewhat true as Indianapolis is also the home of some major businesses and often conventions are held there. Also it needs to be said that Indianapolis for some reason is fast becoming America's "Bear" Capital..as in the gay bear community. My brother is gay and he is in with the so-called "bear" crowd and even he really don't have an answer as to why Indy has that claim. The only thing he tells me is that Indy's Midwest Bear Festival attracts thousands from around the world every December and as a result, of course Indianapolis makes a LOT of money out of that and the fact some of that city's bars are known nationwide as "bear friendly". But nonetheless..one can't build a park and expect it to be a success only because their city just happens to attract..well gay bears.

That news chopper from KXAS-TV...even though KXAS is the NBC station serving the Dallas market..the station is really a Fort Worth television station. I know..so what LOL But on some of those media websites...people can be so damn picky about such things. Believe me there is nothing more funnier and more bizarre than looking at messages of people getting into online screaming matches on which is better..Fox News or CNN , or if Atlantic City's WMGM-TV should move to Philadelphia or stay in Atlantic City, or the "debate" that Clear Channel Communications is really the "anti-Christ". Ah ok....LOL

Not saying its the case here but perhaps the paper had some "hidden" ties to Six Flags or even Intamin, or maybe either one of those companies paid off the paper in exchange for the lack of coverage on that lawsuit. I have doubts it happens very much with TV or radio but with newspapers, many of them have been known to "overlook" a story on purpose for various reasons such as politics, friends and of course..money even though the same story can very well appear in the other media such as radio and televison stations.

I have to agree with you there. Besides is it even possible for a park that has been closed as as long as SFNO has been to even be a success? Now I know there have been a few parks ( SFA comes to mind ) who were closed for a full season over money issues but they bounced back but 4 years is a very long time to be closed. Then again there is Magic Springs who were closed for a good 5 years but I believe they are having issues like many of their rides are closed plus there was Rocky Springs in lancaster, PA. From what I can remember they closed in the 60s only to re-open a decade later but their "second life" didn't last, maybe a year or two tops.

If Westboro is right then "..people who say they have bipolar disorder are common trash who deserve a fist in the mouth because those who say they have this "bipolar" crap are in reality faking their illness just to get attention and sin...yes my friend these people will go to hell. no questions asked..." ( Westboro Baptist Church /Shirley Phelps on WEPM-AM Martinsburg, WV " The Jay Young Show" last year ) ..and I am not even going to begin at what Westboro called the people who live in the city of Indianapolis. Lets just say according to Westboro..God hates Indy. Last year a good friend of mine interviewed Shirley Phelps on his radio show. Ah not exactly normal people we are talking about here.

I hope I am wrong but I have a feeling sadly we may lose even more celebrities this year. Patrick Swayze, Dick Clark and Walter Cronkite are three I can think of right now whose odds are NOT in their favor. Actually Cronkite's own daughter just last week I believe had made a statement not to expect her father to be around by Labor Day. And for Dick Clark, just the other day I saw a recent photo taken of him sitting in a wheelchair with a blank look in his face while his daughter was feeding him baby food.

Great pics !!! Whenever I hear about parks like Idora, Chicago's Riverview, Pittsburgh's West View, Norfolk's Ocean View and the other parks who "died"...I always think to myself "what if?" *Had the Wildcat didn't fall victim to that fire..how long would Idora been around? Could they lasted into the 90's? Today? *Had Riverview not closed in 1967, could they had survive the 70's? Could we have seen a steel looping coaster at Riverview? Had Riverview stayed around, would we even see the opening of "old Chicago? Great America? Over the years I have chatted with many who remember Riverview and all of them really believe that park would still be around today...had they not close in 1967. *Had Norfolk began the re-development of the Ocean View neighborhood while Ocean View Park was still open..add some expansion..how long would that park be around? *West View Park..had they only expanded and added more bigger rides and had that reporter praised one of West View's coasters rather than Kennywood's Thunderbolt...would things had been different for West View? So many parks..so many questions.

The other site I belong too someone had mention what would Walt Disney think of his "baby" today. Of course they said chances are he wouldn't like it. I agree with that but then again chances are I am sure it would be the same with others too. For example our local cable channel the other night aired a program about Barney Kroger who founded Kroger Supermarkets. From what I saw, Barney only wanted kroger to sell FOOD and food only, not anything else. Today Kroger has their own pharmacies, sell furniture and in a few places even jewerly. Ah Barney Kroger wouldn't like today's Kroger. Dittos more/less with the Kohls Family who launched the Kohls Department Store chain. I used to work for them and I remember that video "This is Kohls". A very interesting video. The Kohls family at first really wanted to keep their stores strictly a local chain with locations only in upper midwest and thats it. They were NOT interested in becoming another JC Penney. Somehow the Kohls family became less involved with Kohls. Look at Kohls now?

I agree with you. I can only imagine what the tabloids will be saying about Michael Jackson next week. My grandmother actually reads them and believes them too. I do have to admit that I do glance at them just to get a laugh such as Oprah Winfrey "could" be a lesbian because she is seen having lunch with another woman or the latest from Larry Sinclair who claims he did drugs and had sex with President Obama several years ago, never mind the fact that Sinclair had spent time over the years in various mental hospitals and has failed 8 different lie detector tests..of course The Globe and National Enquier fails to mention that part of the Larry Sinclair saga. LOL

Seattle would actually would be a better fit of this kind of park than Las Vegas. I know Vegas has grown a LOT in recent years but Las Vegas is also in a deep recession. Yes I know the country as a whole is in a recession but Vegas is a bit worse off than many other places. Can we say foreclosures? I still remember watching a few years back those late night ads on local VIRGINIA TV from the Clark County/Las Vegas, Nevada real estate folks telling people how they should move to Vegas where everyone can buy a house without credit, even without a job lined up in that area. Wonder how many of those people who took up the offer still have their homes? Any of them still working? Anyway maybe such a park would work in Las Vegas but the timing I believe wouldn't be right if anyone would want to build such a thing in that city right now.

I understand your point. But what I saw was a close up of the Bronco's stadium ( Invesco Field at Mile High ) taken from the back as in near Federal Blvd. and then the camera pans to the left (almost going into the area that once was the home of the old/now defunct McNichols Arena ) and then the shot of the entire skyline of Denver. I kinda still think it was a "business decision" as to the lack of Elitches. Come to think of it there was another shot of Eddie Murphy driving through downtown Denver in a scene where he was trying to get to his daughter. Despite all the stores/restaurants that are in downtown Denver the only business whose name was seen was..Starbucks Coffee. I could see the downtown Denver Virgin Music store, Jasons Deli, Johnny Rockets, Good Times Burgers, 1st Bank and Arbys..but their names were missing too. Tonight I was talking to friend of mine who lives in Denver and he was telling me that both Village Inn and King Soopers ( Kroger ) were asked to be featured in "Imagine That" but both said..No way !! Maybe that was the case of Elitch Gardens too

Somebody had posted on another site recently about how they had seen the new Eddie Murphy movie "Imagine That" which was filmed last year in downtown Denver and how Elitch Gardens seems to had "vanished" in the movie. Last night I went to see that movie ( not a good movie BTW but not that bad either ). I myself did notice that in the opening scene when the entire downtown Denver area was shown, everything was seen..except Elitch Gardens and this was from the viewpoint of Invesco Field at Mile High which is more/less across I-25 from Elitch Gardens. How could anyone miss Elitches? However the movie folks had no trouble showing the Pepsi Center, Wells Fargo Theatre, the Denver skyline and everything else..but the area where Elitch Gardens is...in the movie was just an empty lot. Did anyone else notice that? My take on this is that the movie was made by Nickelodeon which has ties to Cedar Fair but Elitch Gardens isn't part of that family so as a result Elitch Gardens was "erased" from "Imagine That".

I have been told over the years that back in the 70's Disney was actually looking at Charles Town, West Virginia at one point. At the time ( 1978 ) what is now Charles Town Races & Slots, had bought out Shenandoah Downs ( a large horse racing track across the street ) only to close down the large complex. As big as Shenandoah Downs was ( the place could seat 45,000 people ) and the fact that the complex was close to both DC, Northern Virginia and Baltimore, Disney wanted the land to do their thing and Charles Town Races & Slots was willing to let them have it too. Zoning wouldn't have been an issue since the town at the time..well they didn't have any. However at the time West Virginia had some strange law on their books where whoever wanted to buy Shenandoah Downs or any other track in the state...well it had to stay that way meaning more horse racing and since Disney didn't want to get into the horse racing business they passed. Now Disney's America..when the idea to build a park in Virginia fell through ( there is actually debate as to why that exist to this day ), Shenandoah Downs was still standing ( the place would finally get torn down in 2003 ) and Charles Town Races & Slots went back to Disney and told them they now can take the complex and do what they want since the rules had since changed in West Virginia. Disney again...took a pass.

Another big problem Circuit City had was when some years back the chain fired a large number of employees who were experienced with the things they sold in favor of "cheaper" employees who really didn't know the merchandise they sold. Like what happened to to my brother last year at Circuit City. He was looking for a Direct TV system and asked the employee on duty advice only to get "..well all TV's are Direct TV..you can place it DIRECT of anything you want". The employee was NOT joking. He really had not a clue as to what Direct TV really was. He ended up going to Best Buy instead. Anyway there were many many people who never did forgive Circuit City for pulling a stunt like that. Some of you may remember Montgomery Ward. Same thing here too. Many employees who knew their stuff were fired while those who know nothing kept their jobs...then the chain filed bankruptcy and well one just can't expect a chain to be a success if the employee behind the register says "...we don't sell bed spreads" when right behind them is..well bed spreads.