Thursday, January 20, 2005
Cedar Point Getting a Dark Ride?
An interesting job posting has shown up on Cedar Point's website:
We have an opening for a full-time technician in our Animation Department.The successful applicant will have a working knowledge of electrical control devices. Knowledge of fiberglass repair process and mechanical devices is also preferred.Vacations, holidays, health insurance, good starting pay available in this union shop environment.
A technician for the Animation Department who knows about fiberglass and electrical control devices. Sounds a bit like an animatronic. Could Cedar Point be interested in a dark ride again? This really could be anything (even not related to rides) but I have never heard of the animation department before and this doesn't seem like a "traditional" animation skill.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Janice Witherow Leaves Cedar Point
While not a "public" face, she was the most well known and liked of any Cedar Point employee. At least to us coaster enthusiasts. Janice has been Cedar Point's public relations representative since 1990 and now she is moving on to a job as a full time mom.
I've talked with her a few times and she has always been an amazing person. At CoasterCon this past summer she was still on leave but stopped by to show off her new baby. She even admitted to me that he had been on Top Thrill Dragster already. Janice has ridden the coaster before she knew she was pregnant.
She will be missed but hopefully she will not be gone forever. Good luck, Janice.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
GE Wont Sell Universal Orlando Yet
NBC/Universal only owns half of the parks. The other half is owned by the Blackstone Group.
General Electric Co. has locked itself into the volatile theme-park business for another year, promising not to sell its share of Universal Orlando at least until 2006, according to company documents.
The industrial giant became a co-owner of the two-park resort last year when NBC -- a GE subsidiary -- merged with the entertainment unit of Vivendi Universal in a $14 billion deal.
Under an old agreement between GE and Blackstone Group -- the New York private-equity firm that owns the other half of Universal Orlando -- either company could have bought out the other's share after Feb. 1, 2005.
A new agreement, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, will prevent both companies from selling their stakes to each other -- or to another company -- until after Jan. 1, 2006.
After completing the merger in May, GE executives talked favorably about Universal's worldwide theme-park business. Months earlier, they had raised the possibility of selling the parks, citing an industrywide travel slump.
Analysts and company insiders predicted at the time that GE, a tightly managed company, would not have the stomach for the capital-intensive and fluctuating theme-park business. The parks would eventually go up for sale, they said.
The new agreement -- and the fact that the Orlando parks are poised to turn their first profit in four years -- has done little to alter that sentiment.
"My guess is still that GE will eventually sell," said longtime media analyst Harold Vogel, owner of Vogel Capital Management, a venture-capital and trading fund in New York. "But they're in no rush to do it."
The extended agreement will give Universal Orlando another year to improve its financial health, making it more attractive to potential suitors, analysts said.
The parks have been in the red since 2000, losing $87 million in 2001, and $52 million in 2002 and again in 2003, according to company financial statements. As the tourism industry began to recover in 2004, the parks got on track to turn a profit for the first time in years.
Full 2004 numbers are not yet available. Through the first three quarters of 2004, the parks made $24 million; they lost $33 million during the same period in 2003, according to company filings.
It's not apparent what Blackstone or GE will do next year. An NBC Universal spokesman could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
"It's very unclear what will happen at that point. Clearly, we're committed to holding it for a longer term," Blackstone spokesman John Ford said.
Local park officials said the agreement, filed last month as part of a restructuring of Universal Orlando's debt, indicates that both companies are pleased with the turnaround.
"Now we need to focus on the future and growing our business," Universal Orlando spokesman Tom Schroder said.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Court orders Six Flags to pay back taxes
From the former Worlds of Adventure:
A recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling could mean Six Flags Inc. will have to pay Geauga County more than $2.5 million in personal property taxes on rides at the Bainbridge Township park.
At issue before the court was whether three rides at the park would be considered real or personal property for the purposes of taxation.
The court found in a 4-3 decision released Dec. 22 that the Grizzly Run, Mind Eraser and Skyscraper rides were "business fixtures" rather than real property, and therefore subject to sales and use taxes assessed by the state tax commissioner in the late 1990s.
Oklahoma City-based Six Flags sold the park last year to Cedar Fair LP, whose parks include Cedar Point in Sandusky.
Six Flags had appealed the assessments to the state Board of Tax Appeals, contending that the rides were "structures" as defined by Ohio Revised Code, and thus exempt from sales and use taxes.
The code defines a structure as "a permanent fabrication or construction, other than a building, that is attached or affixed to land, and that increases or enhances utilization or enjoyment of the land."
More at the link.
Michigan's Adventure Expansion Canceled
A fight has long gone on here in Michigan about who controls the park's water: the township or the county. Finally Cedar Fair said enough was enough and canceled any plans to expand the park by adding a hotel, campground and other improvements (the waterpark will still be expanded this year, unlike what was reported on other coaster websites). Read the article here.
