drwpweb

^ If people are saying that not everyone recognizes a cartoon character in Toon Lagoon from 50 years ago, how is it silly to think that people might eventually forget Potter over time?

I was coming to add this. It seems that just about every little kid at some point is facinated with dinosaurs. Cedar Fair proved this with the success of Dinosaurs Alive! In 20 years some people might not remember the JP movies but they will still be able to relate to dinosaurs. I don't know that I can say that about Potterverse. I think in 20 years people will be saying what we're saying today about Toon Lagoon, and how many people might not even recognize the characters.

As a waterpark maintenance person of 9 years now, I'd like to offer my two sense on this: Dj snow as I quoted above from a while back is pretty much right on the head. Air is brought into a chamber (called the plenum) through fans. From there the plenum has a number of stainless pipes exiting it. The number of pipes depends on the number of "holes in the back of the pool" (called caissons Pronounced Case-on). Each pipe handles 2 cassions. The pipe in the plenum in split into 2 sides with each side going to one of the cassions in the pool. From there a pneumatic actuating cyclinder is connected to a door and is controlled via a solenoid that's connected to the wave machine computer. The computer sends a signal depending upon the wave patten needed. The wave pattern can be programmed, and it's up to the park to determine which waves are used in their pool. Basically the computer send the signal to the solenoid which then opens or closes the door which releases the air from the plenum into the caisson, creating a wave out in the pool. There is a little suction back on the caissons but not enough to suck you to it for an extended period of time as there isn't even constant suction on the system. The ropes are there as the waves are generally the strongest/violent at the that part in the pool. The rope is there as a safety measure. The thing other people have mentioned with the deaths of being sucked to a pool grate are from pools that have direct suction. Direct suction is something that isn't really possible in modern well-designed parks. Commercial pools generally feed from the grates in the pool to a seperate tank, often called a surge tank. (The flow from the pool grates to the surge tanks is via gravity.) The suction from the pumps is then on the surge tank. Customers don't have access to the surge tanks as they are in the fenced off areas with the pumps. In older pools and many, many home pools and spas, direct suction on the pools grates is and still is a common problem. In 2008 the US passed what's known as the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGBA). It addresses the issue and required waterparks with and without direct suction to install other devices such as different curved or funny looking pool grates, or devices to kill a pump when it detects suction on the line. If you're wondering why parks had to comply even if there was no possible way for this issue to occur in their park (meaning they had the gravity surge tank system as described above), it's because it's just the way the law was written. In many parks it required a ton of modification to their pools to prevent a problem that wasn't even possible in the first place. It is actually against the law for a park to operate without being compliant with the VGBA laws at this point in time.

Yea, I know that's hurricane season and figured that's why it was so cheap. It's something I'll have to think about. I still have plenty of time. Thanks a bunch for the help and advise, it's greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone! I've decided to try out a cruise for my vacation this year, and I have a few questions. How much to cruise prices bounce around? Is it like hotels and flights? I would really like to get on Oasis or Allure, and it seems like the cheapest prices are Sep-Nov, and that's fine. But how much money should be saved for actual spending on the cruise itself? I've read reports that suggest that you save up to the cost of the cruise for additional things. Is that true? My girlfriend and I aren't the biggest drinkers so it's not like we'd be spending tons on drinks. I'm just trying to estimate what my "final price" would be for the trip and compare it to my other options. Finally, what's the best website to purchase crusies? The lines themselves or a thire party site like crucon or something? Any information would be helpful. Thanks!!

Youre going off of this report? Page 14 Maybe it's just me, but doesn't that seem a bit low for such a large company? Yes, I was going off of the Annual Stockholder Report, and yes that's a lot of profit. I just posted it how the report had it because I was going to link to it but forgot to include the link in my post.

This technically depends on your definition of "in debt". If you own a house and have a morgage on said house you are considered to be in debt because you still owe on your house. Same thing goes if you owe on your credit cards, student loans, car loan etc... Just like buying a house, when a park goes out and builds a new multi-million dollar attraction, they go out and secure a loan to cover the cost of the new ride. Then they pay over X number of years on the loan. Parks don't just cut a check for the expense of an expansion or new ride, the cost of the new ride is spread out over a number of years (just like your house). All parks do this, even the family owned parks. Pat Koch has made comments before about being nervous about signing the loans for their recent Mammoth project because it represented the single most expensive ride they've ever built. The majority of parks end up making money at the end of the year when all is said and done. For example, in 2011 Cedar Fair made $83,995 (in thousands of dollars) before paying taxes (for the year) but still owes money for its expansions. In 2010, they ended up losing money for the year. An example of a company that hasn't made any money is Great Wolf. They haven't turned a profit on their business in the last 6 years, and is a major reason of why they were just sold. They were building their mega lodges and when the real estate bubble collapsed, they owed more money to the banks because of construction loans then the entire property was valued at. So what I'm getting at is a lot of companies (not just amusement park companies) are actually "in debt," and owe money. Just as Gisco said above, the problem is when you can't make your loan payments.

I'm interested to see how this turns out! The park needs a lot of work done to it. The old owners didn't really "close down" the park...the local government pretty much did it for them as they had a lot of building code issues, safety concerns, etc...

It's not as expensive as you think. I mean don't get me wrong it costs a lot of money but not as much as you would think. Plus it's obviously MUCH cheaper then building a new slide. Although off-topic, I believe he was referring to Cedar Point as they been working on re-surfacing their slides. But yes certainly great to see them investing in this park. I was really impressed with the park when I toured it at IAAPA this year. Hearing them talk about all the repairs/investments they did to rehab rides was certainly interesting. I'm glad to see they are having great success there!

They make paint for the outside, non-rideable part of a water slide. Yes, it is possible to change the color of the rideable part you have to re-gelcoat the slide. It's tedious work and requires a lot of sanding to get it all nice and smooth! There are a few companies who specialize in it, traveling all over re-surfacing slides.