Originally Posted By crapshoot He hasn't oficially started his reign as CEO of Cedar Fair, but Matt Ouimet has already begun a serious campaign of cleaning up Knott's Berry Farm. Gone are the excessive merchandise carts that everyone tripped over. The whole entry plaza is now devoid of exteraneous crapola. Changes have already occured back at the Firemen's BBQ area, although I haven't seen what's up there. The Christmas Craft Fair is now supposed to have free admission along with free parking this coming holiday season. Ghost Town is to be awakened, cleaned and brought back to a former glory state. So the big question, what about the ride mix. How deep will he go? But anyway, just keep a watchful eye on the future of Knott's Berry Farm, things are happening like never before.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper I sure hope Disney's next CEO does whatever he can to lure Matt back to run our parks.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Great to hear, crapshoot. I'd love to see a renaissance at Knott's again. Including an updated Beary Tales or other family dark ride.
Originally Posted By crapshoot << Including an updated Beary Tales or other family dark ride.>> Then we have an accord.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Yay!! Based on what he did at DL, it seems to me Ouimet would have taken a look at Knott's and realized what great old "bones" it had, and that there was a great identity there that they could be revive, rather than compete with "iron" parks like SFMM for the biggest and baddest iron. Oh, how I'd like to see a Knott's that captured the old charm and identity it used to have.
Originally Posted By ChiMike This is great, great news. I'm glad Matt is there. His speciality seems to be encoutering obvious problems and solving them with obvious solutions.
Originally Posted By oc_dean Thanks for that tidbit Crapshoot ... I look forward to seeing what Matt does. If he can de-imphasize the "Magic Mountain" aspect of Knott's ... and re-insert more what it was pre "Six Flag-sification" ... then we'll have a winner in the hearts of millions of Knott's fans.
Originally Posted By Manfried If they are obvious problems how come previous management could not obviously saw them? I hope that park gets better, and turns into something other than a forest of iron rides. That new one of theirs was not open when I was out early summer, doesn't look like I missed anything.
Originally Posted By ChiMike >>If they are obvious problems how come previous management could not obviously saw them? << I am not sure if they obviously 'saw' them, but I know they sure as .... didn't obviously solve them. My best advice would be to give Cyn a ring. I'm sure she will explain to you why what a mother of 4 on a fan message board knew, she herself wasn't quite aware of. To be fair both her and Paul couldn't even cut it as real retailers, so perhaps the learning curve of running a theme park was too steep. Seems that Matt as a common exec with a some coaching from Greg, picked up the do's and don'ts of Disney Theme Parks pretty quickly.
Originally Posted By crapshoot <<If Matt could just bring the Haunted Shack back, I'll be happy.>> There are unsubstantiated rumors to that affect. But what an ADA nightmare it would be to design.
Originally Posted By crapshoot Just to update everybody on what's happening to Knott's Berry Farm: Most of the "non-themed" superfluous crappola has been removed from Ghost Town. It's beginning to look pretty clean once again. Matt no longer allows typical maintenance work to be done during themepark operating hours. But the real show doesn't officialy begin until Jan 1, 2012 or there-abouts. That's when his term as CEO actually begins.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Ha ha. Kar2oonMan, although our memories tell us it was a marvelous dark ride, the YouTube videos I've watched recently, tell me that 'Bear-y Tales' is better left, along with that Sid and Marty Krofft San Francisco ride in Fisherman's Wharf, in the deep recesses of our memories.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Lol, agreed. I loved Beary Tales, but at that time of my life, I love showbiz and chucky cheese too.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Kar2oonMan, although our memories tell us it was a marvelous dark ride, the YouTube videos I've watched recently, tell me that 'Bear-y Tales' is better left, along with that Sid and Marty Krofft San Francisco ride in Fisherman's Wharf, in the deep recesses of our memories.<< But the ride smelled like boysenberries! Boysenberries, Jim!!!! But you're probably right. The memory does seem to enhance these rides into something better than they really were. Really, though, I meant a NEW version of that sort of ride -- a musical dark ride of a Disney caliber. Something other than a gut-wrenching coaster or spinner.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Chuck E Cheese? That is a curse word in my house.<< LOL! I'm not the only one! Whenever I go in there, i feel like I've lost my mind. Animatronic creatures playing to hyper kids ignoring them, juiced up on Mountain Dew/Cherry Pepsi mocktails they've created for themselves. What a place.
Originally Posted By crapshoot <<Animatronic creatures playing to hyper kids ignoring them, juiced up on Mountain Dew/Cherry Pepsi mocktails they've created for themselves. What a place.>> My one and only Chuck Up Cheese experience was at my niece's 5 year bday party. It was when I watched her walk over to Skeeball, set her slice of pizza on the floor to play. Occasionally she would reach down, pick up the slice and munch away. Not a good experience for me.
