The deal would value Merlin Entertainments at about 2.5 billion pounds ($3.71 billion), one of the sources said, with CVC Capital Partners, Blackstone and Kirkbi A/S — the Danish investment company owned by the family behind the Lego brand — owning about 30 percent of the business each. . . Management will own the remaining portion, while Dubai International Capital, which reduced its stake earlier this year from about 16.5 percent to single digits will fully exit the business that counts Madame Tussauds and Legoland among its attractions, sources said.
It’s totally confusing and has little effect on the Carlsbadistan park, but we like to stay current just for fun.
McLellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad recently unveiled a program called Lochard WebTrak. The online program is free, available to anyone and it allows users to see where planes are, how high they are flying and how fast they are going. The program also tells users the plane’s tail identification number. The WebTrak information is based on air traffic control radar information.
If for instance if you happen to see a low-hovering blue helicopter drop three dark bags into your neighbors yard you can click on WebTrak a few minutes later and replay the airspace to see if that helicopter shows up. If it does then so will all it information including aircraft number, elevation and speed. . . you know just for your information.
Tip Top Meats is a Carlsbadistan institution. And owner John Haedrich, 81, is the reason for that. His friendly, authentic charm has made him popular with visitors from around the world.
We have family from Idaho who won’t eat anywhere else. “Why would we,” they say. “We love Big John and like supporting his business.”
How can we argue with that? Last Friday the Voice of San Diego ran an interview with Her Haedrich and we learned even more about his competitive nature.
I am the competition. I was a boxer, OK. You go in the ring. You know … your opponent is well-prepared to come at you, you better let him have it. That’s what I do right now. . . Come on, show me what you can do. I have better prices, better variety, better location, better help, better situation, period. They can’t compete. Who can compete with me? Nobody can. They have a better price over there. But people still come here to buy my steaks.
Click the link for the rest of the interview and then stop by Tip Top for a slab at Carlsbadistan’s best European market and maybe a word or two with a man who has eaten 10 tons of meat.
When it comes to sewing wedding dresses on a budget, few come close to Carlsbadistan’sBailey Bickford. She makes them out of toilet paper. In fact, her asswipe designs are so stylish that she picked up 3rd place in Cheap-Chic-Wedding.com’s 6th Annual Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest.
Just think what she could do with actual fabric. . . although you wouldn’t want to flush one of those dresses down the toilet when you were done with them.
In an active community it is a complete shame that our shuffleboard courts at McGee Park (the only public shuffleboard courts in Carlsbadistan) are being torn down this week so Hi-Noon Rotarycan move their “historic” gazebo to a spot even more popular with homeless people than Rotary Park.
A North County Times article explains exactly how the shuffleboard destruction is going down:
The city is supplying the electrical wiring and lighting for the structure, and assisting in converting the existing shuffleboard court to concrete walkways and turf, where additional tables and chairs will be placed during events.
Please note the words “converting the existing shuffleboard court to concrete walkways and turf.” The City of Carlsbad is actually destroying another action sports facility so people will have a place to sit in the shade? Seriously? Guess us shuffleboard players will go underground. Hopefully street shuffleboard is still legal in Carlsbadistan. . . We might have to buy one of their “custom pavers” just in protest.
Hyatt Hotels Corp. representatives insist that guests at the 329-room resort will notice no difference after the Aviara becomes a Park Hyatt, which is the Hyatt chain’s upscale, contemporary brand. All signage will be changed during the first two days of the changeover, they said. . . “We are thrilled to be managing one of California’s most beautiful resorts,” Chuck Floyd, Hyatt’s chief operating officer for North America, said in a news release. “Park Hyatt Aviara Resort will be a wonderful addition to our luxury Park Hyatt portfolio and Hyatt Resort properties worldwide.”
It will take a while to get things straightened out. A Google search for “Aviara Resort” still returns a list of links to the Four Season’s webpage which “regrets to inform you that the resort is no longer managed by Four Season Resorts and Hotels” but does not offer a link to the new site. It does, however, offer links to other Four Season’s properties. We’re sure the Park Hyatt Aviara wil eventually begin showing up properly.
We have more questions, but we’ll have more info after we give the new Hyatt a test run.
Yesterday (June 19, 2010) between 9 AM and 1 PM Encinitas-Based K5 Boardshops introduced dozens of people of all ages to the quickly growing sport of stand up paddling. Equipment from the major SUP manufacturers, including boards and paddles, was on the beach and free to demo at California Water Sports on the Carlsbadistan Lagoon.
Yes, we tried it. It was fun. We didn’t even get wet. It was a lot like canoeing standing up. Or, like hiking on water. . . [click to continue…]
Encinitas-based action sports retailer K-Five is doing a SUP demo right where most all SUP’ers should SUP– in the Carlsbadistan Lagoon. This Saturday, June 19, 2010 from 9 AM to 1 PM all the major SUP brands will be at California Water Sports in the Lagoon letting everyone take their products out for a test paddle. California Water Sports, 4215 Harrison St, Carlsbad, CA 92008.
KUSIsits with two Carlsbad parents who believe that there is a “cancer problem” in Carlsbad even though researchers say the statistics don’t show a “cancer cluster.” They say they want more tests.
Commuters who begin their day at the Carlsbadistan Coaster Station with a copy of the soft-porn tabloid California Gentlemen are going to have to get their kicks elsewhere after NCT officials pulled the publication from station racks, according to a story in the North County Times.
Southern California Gentlemen, which features young women clad in bikini bottoms and little else, plus sex tips and a listing of the region’s strip clubs, sold for $1 this week inside a locked green dispenser on the station’s train platform. . . Its front, shown through a clear plastic dispenser cover, featured a busty young brunette called “Big Boobs Vanessa.”
Can’t say we’re going to miss Vanessa, but we’re guessing there will be some who do.
If you have a Carlsbad news story, press release, event, rumor, or scandal that we'd be interested in (and there are a lot of them), please click the link to send them to The Editors.
Or just search the site to see if we've mentioned it before, right here.
Following who exactly owns Carlsbadistan’s Legoland California theme park gets even more fun today as both Reuters and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners is buying a 30 percent stake in Legoland (and SeaWorld) parent company Merlin Entertainments.
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