Kiddieland may not be completly dead.

[Ilovthevu']

Just in general when businesses are doing bad, and they think they might close, they should mention to the public we need help. They never do that. It always we are closed sign on the door, or this place is going out of business on the windows with 40% markdowns. This is especially true in my opinion for restaurants.

There is so much competition with food places to go, and sometimes you buy too much food in the store, and you have to eat that. If a pizza place said we might close in a month if our customers don't come and visit, that pizza place would survive IF people really like it. I might not go to a restaurant, or food place because I forgot about it, or there are always specials at some other place, but if a restaurant I like is in trouble, and I know it is, I'm going to go there instead of the usual because I really like that place.

For Kiddieland, I'm thinking they had the most attendance for awhile, and they didn't anything new. They also had the Polyp down almost all of the year. However, because people were told it's closing, they have come out in droves. I think the same thing could happen to another place that really within in a month or two, if they don't do better, we are going to have to close. Just tell your customers. Sure, it's not going to get as much publicity as Kiddieland, but anything is better than nothing.

[monsterfan99]

^ It makes the business look despite. If I went to a restaurant and they said "come back and tell your friends or we might close" I would never return. It is not my fault the place has either food, PR/advertising or location problems. If the company will survive, it will. If it doesn't, maybe the company was not a good idea at the time.

It is even worse to tease a close and stay open. People feel tricked and the place will close for good.

The thing with Kiddieland was never the amount of business. The problem was the family feud and the lease. The simple fact they are looking at another location says business was good. They just did the smart PR move to say it was the last season to give them a business bump and allow people a last chance to visit.

[Ilovthevu']

Did anyone go to auction, and find out who bought the rides, and how were your last rides (for bids)?

[Chitown]

They didn't sell any rides yet.

Sunday's event was a closing ceremony with people auctioning to get the final rides.

[rct2wizard360]

Perez Hilton made a mention of Kiddieland on Twitter today.

PerezHilton: R.I.P. Kiddieland! http://www.reuters.com/arti.. onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. P.S. Yes, #TmobileStillSucks

Pretty cool if you ask me.
www.twitter.com/perezhilton

[traincrossing9]

Pretty cool if you ask me.
http://www.twitter.com/perezhilton

Except for the fact that it's Perez Hilton.

[Ilovthevu']

So. Who in the heck is that?

[rct2wizard360]

Perez Hilton is the gayest, most flamboyant gossip headliner in Hollywood.

Guy has over 1,000,000 following him on twitter. So the fact that he went and posted this, I thought was pretty neat.

[FParker185]

And this his how the story ends...

http://www.nortonauctioneers.com/upcoming.htm

[monsterfan99]

No real shock there. The lease was up on Dec 31 and everything had to be gone by then. On the Final Ride day, the owner said they had to have a park land deal done fast to move all the rides. I guess they did not get that done.

It is simply stunning that Chicago has only 1 theme or amusement park within 3 hours.

[voodoopug]

Don't forget Indiana Beach!

[monsterfan99]

The full auction brochure is up

http://www.nortonauctioneers.com/Auctio ... eland.html

It looks like the park is breaking up the PTC carousel. This is sad to see a great carousel broken up.

[FParker185]

After every part is bid on, they will take the total of the bids and add on 10% then put it up for sale as a whole. If someone can match that total figure, the carousel will be sold complete to them.

[traincrossing9]

Well this sucks

October 28, 2009 (MELROSE PARK, Ill.) -- A top official for Costco confirms that the chain will open a new warehouse on the former Kiddieland site in Melrose Park.

A senior Costco executive says the company has filed a letter of intent to purchase the property from the former owners of Kiddieland. He says the Washington-based company needs to get approval from the village of Melrose Park.

Kiddieland closed earlier this month after 81 years of operation. The former owners chose not to renew the lease on the popular amusement park. They have not commented on the Costco purchase.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7086671&rss=rss-wls-article-7086671

[6FlagsCitizen]

It would be awesome if Great America bought the little dipper & put it somewhere in County Fair. Heck, take out Bucaneer Battle & Move it to Huricane or Yankee Harbor (Where it should be) & then put the little dipper in its foot print.

[onyxhotel08]

Parks 9 times out of 10 don't move rides from one section to the next...but we don't need a kiddie coaster we have Spacely's, Cajun and Dark Knight and all are 11 years old or under.

[Ilovthevu']

Great America most likely isn't going to buy anything from Kiddieland. Why? I don't know. in my opinion, the Pipeline, and Ferris Wheel should be a contender besides the toddler rides in which some are actually different than what SFGAm has like the Whip, those little cars, or that Hampton ride. I would love if SFGAm bought that Moser Spring Ride instead of that stupid Zamperla ride in Wiggle's. That ride is boring, but not the Moser one.

Santa's Village went away, and they got nothing from there either.

[onyxhotel08]

Truth is Six Flags is in a poistion right now to recycle any ride that seems like a good fit for a park in the chain even if it is not originally from Six Flags parks.

[6FlagsCitizen]

Although it probably won't happen, It would be a pretty wise move of Great America to purchase the little dipper & Place It in County Fair. Why?

A. Great America would gain lots of respect from the Chicago Land Community
B. Little Dipper Is Not that costly to maintain (If Kiddie Land Can Do it, So Can SFGAM)
C. Not only does the coaster count go up, but we gain yet another woodie & An ACE Classic as well
D. It would fit in Great With the American Eagle & County Fair Theme

[monsterfan99]

There are 4 problems with the Little Dipper for SF Great America

1. Cost - You can buy the thing dirt cheap, but moving is not cheap, even if local
2. Location - Where do you put the ride? The only location would be maybe Splash Water Falls location, but even that is a stretch. Moving BB is not even an option.
3. What it does - As in what it would do for attendance. A ride will not draw in people that has ran for over 50 years within an hour from the park. While people will ride it, there is no audience going "Mom, DAD!!! lets go to Six Flags for the Little Dipper!!"
4. Capacity - The ride's capacity, to say it nicely, is god awful. Add to the fact that, being a major park chain, would add in seat belts to the ride.

Realistically, the only rides SF Great America could use are the Tilt-a-Whirl, Ferris Wheel or Tornado. But even then, you look at how the Hometown Fun Machine is treated. With the Ferris Wheel, a major park needs a massive wheel. The fair style ones won't do, even if the park needs a wheel.

[Chitown]

^Their is one ride at Kiddieland that SFGAm could benefit from that you didn't mention.

The pipeline water coaster. Could be a great addition for Hurricane Harbor.

[FParker185]

I think SFGAm does need a ferris wheel, and what I'm looking at is that nice 150 foot Vekoma wheel at SFKK, I think just about everyone can agree that SFKK is taking steps towards turning the entire back half of the park into waterpark, which will work well in that market, but that leaves a homeless ferris wheel, hopefully in the future of SFGAm. Also another option is Navy Pier is tired of their own 150 foot Vekoma wheel, and are currently accepting bids for a 300+ foot ferris wheel. If that goes on the market I could see SF buying it for SFGAm. Even sold exworks it'd be a pretty simple move. One Semi, 15-20 trips and it'd be moved, can do that over a couple days. Mardi Gras or Yukon would both be good places to fit a wheel that would not really compete with Sky Trek.