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You can see plenty of that topic in the last 5 pages of this thread.

oh my goodness

Here's another shot from a different angle. Seems like they're just putting a new piece in. Wear and tear may have got to that section of track. Interesting way of covering up the ends.

I loved the buffalo chicken mac ... hope they make the mac and cheese bar permenant!

Or just ride the train, eat the pork, and ride the train back to the dry park.

Iron Dragon is returning. Likely doing work on that piece of rail. In the presentation, they announced that VR would be back for Iron Dragon in 2018 on the same schedule as last year.

I hope it's just a new piece of track... I'm sure we'd know if it was closing, but I love arrow suspended coasters, and I've only rode Iron Dragon once, just simply because the other rides there are more fun and take up more time in lines. I was just thinking this past week how I kind of regret not riding it this past August when I went.

Sure it is feasible but there are several challenges. Ribs are more expensive than pork butt so I don’t ever expect them on a meal plan. They are more difficult to prepare in that they have thin membrane on the backside that is a real pain to peel off. (Both spare and back ribs) While ribs are very forgiving in cooking, the timing is much more precise with ribs than pork butt or brisket and can’t really be measured with a thermometer. Skill and experience is required to a much greater degree to produce an acceptable outcome. Something likely in good supply in the Carolinas for an acceptable price and harder to obtain in the Cincy area. I even occasionaly screw up and produce “fall off the bone” ribs while still tasty are a mess and more akin to pulled pork than generally accepted quality bbq ribs. They need to have a bit of bite still to them.

Looks like they read this board and combined the info they read into a blog. Nothing new there, so echo chamber.

Oh, I had not thought about what they would have RMC'ed.

I'm not necessarily sure that an Iron Man ride could even be built (I'm fairly sure Universal has some clause written somewhere that says that no original Avengers/X-Men rides can be built on this side of the Mississippi river. It's the reason that you won't see any of the original Avengers characters at WDW despite Disney owning Marvel now) but since the Transformers franchise seems more likely to be okay to use, I could definitely see a Transformers ride being built, maybe even a dark ride if Viacom was quick enough to get to it (given that the Transformers dark ride was built before 2012). I'd love to see Paramount levels of theming that could be maintained by Cedar Fair, but given that we have a test of that with MT, we'll see how long it lasts before it fits in really well with the trees.

I really like the pulled pork and mac n cheese, only had it at CP though.

Definitely some Transformers or Iron Man ride(s)! What kind of rides is anybody's guess, but I'm sure they would have been massively advertised/hyped. I'm very happy with Cedar Fair, but I do sometimes miss the way Paramount themed rides really well.

You must have missed the photo they provided.

Tony Clark during the special presentation did mention the land still unused behind the new RV sites. Will be interesting what they do. The marketing team also showed us a really cool commercial that reminds me Disney ads or Univeral you would see on TV. It seems like they want people to know there's more than just roller coasters there (Ex. the beach). The food options they showed off during the new presentation looks great (nearly all of them coming to a revamped FrontierTown, which is entering it's 50th season). They are turning the Coca-Cola station near Matterhorn and the Sky Ride into a cotton candy stand with 12 (possibly more) flavors and toppings apparently. They don't have a name for the stand so Tony Clark called it something to the lines of "Crazy Cotton Candy Stand 1" (RCT reference).

BBQ vs MAC N CHESSE This could be worse than B&M vs Intamin[emoji41]. Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk

I feel that if Cedar Fair had not purchased the park, KI may have already been closed and the land sold. When Paramount first bought the parks, Viacom had not yet purchased Paramount. After Viacom bought Paramount the parks were constantly being shuffled around to different divisions of the company. The parks went up for sale several times before Cedar Fair purchased them. They were not really interested in owning the parks. I think Cedar Fair saved the parks from being closed and the land being sold off. Just feeling on it.

Hmm...this depends. CBS ownership, or does Viacom get to keep the parks after the 2004 split? CBS did not seem to care about or want the parks, so if Cedar Fair had never bought the parks from them, I honestly wonder if Kings Island would even exist in 2018. As far as I know, CBS might have even sold the park so it could be razed and condos built on the site, which would obviously make tons of people angry. Thankfully, IRL, Cedar Fair did end up buying the parks from CBS. Now, if Viacom had acquired the parks in the CBS-Viacom split, maybe we have a different story. Viacom has made a few attempts to build new parks since losing the old ones (though so far, none have stuck) so I think they would have actually wanted to keep and run the Paramount parks. So, under Viacom... Son of Beast: Still gets torn down. This ride had many major issues, and RMC did not really get going until 2012-2013, after Cedar Fair had destroyed SOB already. I think Viacom would have been even less tolerant of the ride's major flaws, and it may not have even lasted until 2009 had they stayed in power. Flight of Fear: Probably re-Themed to a Musical Roller Coaster, but remains in the park. (There were actual plans for this, which Cedar Fair reversed) The Kings Dominion model may have been moved to a new park entirely. I'd say...Carowinds. Banshee: Not likely to have been built. In this scenario, Cedar Point is still a "enemy" rival park run by a different company. When Cedar Point built Raptor, they had B&M make a deal with them not to build any more inverted coasters within 200 miles or so of Cedar Point. Kings Island is within this range. I don't know if that deal had a expiration date or not. If not...uhh, anyone want Kings Island to get a Vekoma SLC? Diamondback: Unlikely- after SOB Paramount & Viacom seemed iffy on huge roller coasters, but since Cedar Point never added a B&M Hyper, still possible. Probably would not have been built in the current spot, however, since Paramount was not as big on tossing rides "In Your Face" like Cedar Fair does. Might have actually been the SOB replacement, TBH. Would not be called Diamondback though, of course, if Viacom/Paramount built a B&M Hyper. Firehawk: Might still be X-Flight @ Geauga Lake, but could have been re-located, maybe to Dorney Park or something. However in this scenario I think GL has a much better chance of surviving, but Cedar Fair did have plans to return it to its family park roots and downsize it before the PP Acquisition drove them into massive debt making that impossible. Tomb Raider- The Ride: TBH, unlike SOB, TR:TR has a bit better chance of still being around in this scenario. Running it in crazy mode in 2007 took a LOT of years off it, so had that never happened, maybe it would have lasted longer. It would probably have been pretty run down by now though, and likely still be a shell of the ride it was in 2002, unless at some point Viacom put money into refurbishing the ride. It may have gotten a re-theme though, since the Tomb Raider movie is very outdated by now. Mystic Timbers: ...might actually still be built, but under a different name. GCI's are not expensive, or overly large, and the company has a great reputation so Viacom probably would have taken interest and wanted one. With Son of Beast still flopping, the park would end up needing a modern woodie again anyway. In fact, under Viacom, I think smaller coaster companies would have some rides at Kings Island by now, like Gerstlauer, Mack and Premier Rides since Cedar Fair would have most of the big B&M's on lockdown...unless KI built them first, should Viacom have opened up to big coasters around the 2010's. A Dive Coaster seems like something they could have done, and ironically it would prevent Cedar Point from getting Valravn! Other Notes: WindSeeker probably does not get built, but Viacom might have built a Star Flyer of some sort instead. Racer still runs backwards since apparently that was a Cedar Fair decision, if Viacom is not tempted to RMC it. TOP GUN, Drop Zone, FACE/OFF, and Italian Job: Stunt Track retain their old themes and names. Nick U remains the kids area, but would need some re-theming as lots of the shows the rides were based on are over now. Boo Blasters is likely still Scooby Doo. Crocodile Dundee's Boomerang Bay probably remains the name of the waterpark as well, though it would also have probably been upgraded and gotten new slides by now. Unsure if Viacom would allow Vortex to live as long as Cedar Fair has, since the policies on very old rides like that could be different (Six Flags has destroyed most of their Arrow Loopers, for example, while Cedar Fair has kept most of theirs so far). Well, those are my predictions for this scenario, for at least the major attractions and stuff. Though since Cedar Fair bought the park in 2006 IRL, none of this is true in this universe, and some of it may be a bit optimistic at that.

When Paramount owned the park, there supposedly were rules in place such that any attraction would have to be planned, built, and tested within a calandar year. These rules were implemented after the Stealth and Son of Beast fiascos. In terms of additions, I’d think you’d see more flats such as Larson’s, Funtime, even Gerstlauers. Ive been told that there was survey work done by the Rivertown RR for the return of the Antique cars. Whether that actually would happen is debatable. However, I’d think in terms of coasters, KI would have received a full sized invert, due to the ROI, and reliability of the Inverted coaster type.

I honestly don't think the outcomes of Tomb Raider and Son of Beast would have changed much. Tomb Raider was frankly unsustainable on a seasonal park budget, CBS was apathetic, and park attendance and guest spending slumped during the 2008 recession. If CBS had owned the parks up to the recession, I think Tomb Raider might have gone away even sooner than it did. I'm assuming that Son of Beast's 2006 accident and 2009 medical incident would still have happened in our hypothetical world; if so, I don't really believe that anyone in charge would have tried to redeem it much more than Cedar Fair did. Maybe some sort of leadership change at Paramount Parks during the rise of RMC might have saved it, but if PP's leadership around 2005/2006 was any indication, I don't think they would have been in the business of carefully trying to untangle the liabilities of that ride instead of just replacing it. As far as additions go... I imagine it would have been the "cheap and cheerful" route through at least 2008. If a new coaster showed up, I would imagine it wouldn't have arrived any sooner than 2009, and even then it would be because it was already well in the works prior to the recession. CBS wasn't enthusiastic about owning the parks; they wanted to get rid of them. If we're not selling the parks in this situation, then I imagine that some amount of restructuring within Paramount would have put the parks in some other Paramount-owned brand's hands sooner or later. At that point, maybe we might have seen some more movie-themed E-ticket rides arrive at the park. Oh, and maybe Flight of Fear would have gotten an MTV-related makeover that was rumored at one point. Kings Dominion either wouldn't have a Flight of Fear anymore, or it would be a completely different experience. Winterfest-wise... I dunno if it would have actually come back in 2006 or not. If it did, surely it would have had more attractive pricing than the 2005 version. I don't know what else you could predict more than a couple years beyond 2006, but if we're open to daydreaming, it would have been really interesting to see them switch hands after the recession and focus on turning the park into some kind of year-round destination with Universal- or Disney-quality rides. I realize that's not what Kings Island was originally meant to be and not what it is now, but that's where early-2000's KI was trying to head, in my opinion. It didn't work, but as an eternal fanboy of Tomb Raider, it would have been cool to see that level of detail work out and inspire similar additions. I know the original post specifies that the Paramount parks weren't sold in this situation, but I honestly feel like the parks would have been individually sold one way or another if Cedar Fair hadn't bought the lot. I don't know who would have bought each of them, but it feels like KI would have gone to Cedar Fair sooner or later. There was a lot of heavy speculation and rumoring around then that Kinzel wanted Paramount Parks specifically for KI. From a business perspective, that makes some sense. This was a fun topic to think about. Thanks!

Confused. Isn’t the failure of a failure called a success?

Welcome to KIC @DinoDNA! With every change in attraction there will always be many that are disappointed. Hopefully in the future your grandson will grow to appreciate some other attractions KI has to offer. COSI here in Columbus has a new Dino exhibit and @electricsunmight be able to suggest some others in the area. Life finds a way.

I think the Spongebob car wash ride would have happened. I'm thinking it was a water coaster type of ride? Can't really remember. I am not sure the Diamondback or Banshee would not have been built. SOB was built in the Paramount era, so they were not adverse to building huge coasters.

Son of Beast would have been refurbished, probably to a steel topped track, probably not RMC. Tomb Raider would have been updated to a new theme. IJ:ST would have been rethemed. They would have added more low cost, low capacity coasters.

This is an interesting topic! It's hard to predict something like that. I think we'd still have Nickelodeon Universe, mostly untouched from when it was built. They might have updated some of the rides to reflect what is new on Nickelodeon, but it would be so out of date now since only two shows (Fairly Odd Parents and Spongebob) still run on Nickelodeon that were there in 2006. I definitely think we'd still have Tomb Raider, either updated a little bit or they let the effects continue to die out. Son of Beast would probably still be there too. The Paramount logo would still be EVERYWHERE, and we'd have maybe two new themed rides since 2006. Since we're on this topic, are there any Paramount remnants still around? I still think its interesting to see the old logo with Paramount removed from the top. I feel like I remember someone saying the paychecks still said Paramount Parks up until last year??

I don’t care if a coaster is 1000’ if the largest drop is at most 200’, Phfft. Has construction on the tower even begun?

No DB, and no Banshee! That investment would not have been made. Just a few more BLSC type coasters that included a movie theme. We might still have TRTR. Maybe a few more dark ride experiences.

Lol how did they go from over 400' to 174'????

I think we may have seen a Paranormal Activity or World War Z dark ride or maybe a Maze added to Haunt. The Action Theatre would still be going, promoting Paramount films, and maybe a water ride renamed to theme Noah?

DYK..the average cumulus cloud weights approx. 1.2 million pounds (yes I typed million). Blew my mind when I read that a couple of days ago.

That just looks like wet pavement. If there were flooding, we'd be seeing the water throughout the Diamondback queue and other lower parts. I also just watch a truck drive through that area without any issue.

^^ I know. I just focus so much on the coasters I never make it to the waterpark. I need to start going for 2 days haha

You do realize the waterpark is not a separate admission like up at CP?

Is our resident Intamin member proposing a Mack?

To summarize the last 30 pages for those who don't want to read them: Intamin! No, B&m. No, Intamin. No B&M. But I reallllllllllllllllllly want an Intamin cause reasons. No, they break down. But I reallllllllllllllllllly want an Intamin cause reasons. No, B&M. No, Intamin. No, B&M. But I reallllllllllllllllllly want an Intamin cause reasons. No, B&M. Rinse, Repeat. and repeat and repeat and repeat

Don could post a picture about a porta-pottie and you all would speculate a X-base bathroom

As it looks darker, it might be dinner. However, with the current weather, it could be Launch

He's clearly confirming a winged out and back giga coaster.

With the quality of KI's food department, let's not try steak.

Hmmm.

To all you guys wanting Intamins- are their designs really worth the hassle to the park that they bring? Many of us have posted time and time again the problems that come with Intamins, why do you look past that in terms of what direction you think the park will actually go if they go for a giga? You all know it'll be a B&M. I'd put money on it.

Because most US parks aren't willing to pay for it and have a ride with a significant amount of downtime

I probably would have broken down and started crying, or at least come close to it (as I am extremely sensitive). Honestly, the only thing that scares me when I think about possibly getting trained at Mystic and Banshee is possibly having to deal with those aforementioned instances. I shouldn't let it stop me from getting trained there, though...

Hey now. Don't dis a fence that came "straight from the Vatican" and is very "holy".

I don't understand why people complain to the staff about it. It's not your decision. You all just enforce it. I honestly feel bad for the greeters on Banshee sometimes for that reason.

As much as I've wanted this for years I'm gonna have to say nay on the animatronics. They're hard to keep up, especially in the elements. Unfortunately I don't know if the park would be able to keep up with maintenance on outside animatronics as well as ones that are covered. However, that doesn't mean that additional theming can't be added to the train; fake animals, rocks, logs, trees, something else to look at besides holes in fences. Dick's Sporting Goods sells decoys for $99.99

I'll have you know, I've studied and researched calendars intensely for years now.

According to my expert calculations..... No.

And for those of you who do not know, the Harlem Globetrotters are owned by Herschend Family Entertainment, the company that owns Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO and jointly owns Dollywood with Dolly Parton.

I had my décor down first week in Jan. We had a warm warm day in Columbus right before a huge snow storm. Dragged it all down before work haha