Amusement parks are supposed to represent the creativity and ingenuity of our engineer’s and set designers. The art involved in designing and building a roller coaster is one much admired, and yet, often botched. This stems from bad ideas, poor planning, other property confusion or names thought up in committee. The process doesn’t matter; if a name sucks, you know it. Or maybe you don’t. Not yet. But you will – after you read my top five (or perhaps it should be bottom five) bad roller coaster names.
A note: I …

It is becoming clear that the Mr. Six character is going to be sticking with the Six Flags chain for quite some time. Today, it was announced that a water area in the Hurricane Harbor located next door to Magic Mountain would be themed to Mr. Six. The area, called “Mr. Six’s Splash Island” will feature water slides, towers, rain curtains, the works. Debuting on Memorial Day, this is the marketable capital that Jay Thomas mentioned during West Coast Bash.

After a week off for finals, I am back with an all-new, all awesome podcast for your listening pleasure. In this podcast I cover:

Alton Towers’ new coaster
Universal Studios Singapore’s Opening
Halloween Horror Nights’ Rumors
Son of the Beast
Six Flags Magic Mountain Update
Rant about Lockers

You can listen to the show right here: Coasterdom Podcast 3/22/10
Then vote in the poll below to choose which company I will profile next Sunday!
As always, you can comment here or send me an email to coasterdom[at]gmail.com.

Six Flags came into being in 1961 with the opening of their first pack, Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. Since then, the company has become the largest amusement park operator in the world with twenty one properties in North America. Despite the current financial woes the company is experiencing (the company declared bankruptcy last year) revenue has increased, and the company is becoming profitable once again.

Regardless of finances, Six Flags is (behind Disney) the most known amusement park brand in the country. Other companies like Busch and Cedar Fair …

I had the pleasure of attending Theme Park Review’s West Coast Bash at Six Flags Magic Mountain yesterday, and along with the exclusive ride time and backstage tours, the “big three” of Magic Mountain did a little Question & Answer session. Questions were submitted via cards given out at lunch, as well as a few “live questions”. I tweeted the session live from my personal account, and have posted the transcript below with some background information to keep it in context. I will give some general thoughts on the day, …

For the most part, every enthusiast is familiar with the two titular amusement park companies Six Flags and Cedar Fair. And any enthusiast worth their salt knows that the battle between the two regional chains is never ending, and filled with animosity. However it has come to my attention by way of comments made to me by friends and readers that not everyone is familiar with this rivalry, nor are they really familiar with the companies in question (well, mostly Cedar Fair). So, to remedy this situation, I am going to …

Theme Park Insider’s Best Attraction In America Tournament will be kicking off this Thursday, and during the countdown, Robert Niles (TPI’s head honcho) has been releasing a new seed of one of the four brackets every day. Today, he finished off the roller coaster bracket with the #1 seed: Millennium Force. While some (including myself) will grind their teeth, there is still hope. Check out the sixteen seeds below to see just who Millennium Force will be up against.

1. Cedar Point’s Millennium Force [Intamin Giga/Mega]
2. Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Apollo’s Chariot [Bolliger & …

The Sandusky Register is reporting that Apollo Management is looking to acquire the bankrupt, Six Flags. Yes, the Apollo Management that is looking to snatch up Cedar Fair. While nobody cared to comment (what else is new?) this could be a very interesting development.
Seeing that the management styles of the two parks are slightly different, would they merge management styles? Keep them separate? Choose one over the other? The odds are that nothing substantial would change, except that the Six Flags Magic Mountain vs. Cedar Point debate would get all …

In the longest podcast I have recorded, I speak my mind openly about many things, you have been warned. On this show, I discuss in length the Sea World accident and my opinion on the matter, as well as give a less formal Captain EO review. Don’t worry MJ fans, I left all the bashing for your favorite pop star out of it. So take a listen and as always, drop a comment or send me an email at coasterdom@gmail.com.
Thanks for listening, here’s the link to the podcast: Coasterdom Podcast …

The Kentucky State Fair Board has sued Six Flags, claiming that the amusement park operator is planning to take rides off of the park land that do not belong to the company. Specific rides were not mentioned, but the suit will be viewed in bankruptcy court because Six Flags filed Chapter 11 last year.
We’ll see what happens, but it would appear that all this huffing and puffing will come to an unclimatic end. I believe that Six Flags will get to keep all of the rides that it installed since …