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Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/13/2018 in all areas

  1. http://amusementtoday.com/2018/12/international-ride-training-announces-the-2018-iroc-ride-operations-excellence-award-winning-parks/ It was just released today that Kings Island is one of four parks to receive the 2018 iROC Audit Excellence Award. Congrats to all of the ride ops for doing a great job and keeping everyone safe (Sorry if this has already been mentioned in another topic)
    7 points
  2. Congrats to ride crews at Kings Island, Valleyfair, Holiday World and The Park at OWA. At Coney, we train using the "Ten Critical Components" that are referenced in the news release. My direct report boss (the Director of Operations at Coney), has attended the Ride Operator Safety Schools the past couple of years.
    4 points
  3. I am pretty sure Chad was just poking fun at John. I do not think there is a literal clue in that picture of a new ride.
    4 points
  4. That was Matt Ouimet. Although still on the board, he is no longer CEO. That seat now belongs to Richard Zimmerman. New blood could have different ideas. Only time will tell. I am not sure I want to see a wing coaster flying overhead, but a sprucing up of the entrance would be nice. I think modernizing it like CP's entrance facade would be nice. Paging @Hawaiian Coasters 325 and @Maverick44 for some more Giga Concepts!
    4 points
  5. It’s the second time they came out with a Kings Island new coaster story that can’t be immediately proven. The problem is guests are falling for these stories.
    3 points
  6. I'd like to see the outside of the Festhaus brought back to what it used to look like. It looked very nice.
    2 points
  7. Online news articles are all about clicks. They do whatever these days to get ad revenue.
    2 points
  8. 2 points
  9. Man, John Matarese has gotten lazy with his writing. Is that really news worthy? I've had work colleagues coming up to me telling me "Hey did ya hear Kings Island announced their new ride?" I'm like... "uhh... no. That's a fan submission. Very well done, but it's a fan submission..." Social media has completely gone off the rails with false information and news. Although it is keeping the park in the buzz, so that's a plus for the PR group I guess!
    2 points
  10. Well, per Chad on Twitter Winterfest is apparently starting daily operation tomorrow. He invited WCPO for some Blue Hot Chocolate and a clue regarding a future attraction.
    2 points
  11. And that is not without precedent at Cedar Fair. Carowinds did a Great Carolina Fest this past year that featured food from the Carolinas. Knott`s also does their Boysenberry festival. I could see KI doing something similar. Remember the focus of late has been on having special events throughout the season that spark a sense of urgency to visit the park (thus increasing visits and the odds that pass holders will spend money inside of the parks).
    2 points
  12. More themeing to the German heritage would be nice in that area of the park. I do not see a dedicated restaurant for German food like Goetta personally. Not when you got Larosa's flying off the counter. What would be nice though, is a weeks German festival and open an extra line in Oktoberfest for German food!
    2 points
  13. While I personally would love a massage after a long day, would anyone want to give a massage to someone who is dripping sweat after having spent all afternoon in 100+ heat??? Especially at the KI rate of pay???
    2 points
  14. I don't even remember saying any of this haha. Crazy.
    2 points
  15. Winterfest may be here, but it's not too late to still talk about Haunt! I promised myself I'd write this report at some point not just to document another great trip, but also to brighten the moods of any KICers who may already be experiencing the offseason blues if their favorite ride isn't operating for Winterfest. Either way, who doesn't like the joy of seeing a newly written trip report just waiting to be read?!? 'Twas the night of Friday, October 19, and my Fall Break was in full swing. My parents were out of town that weekend, leaving me home by myself with an available car. Of course, I chose to use all that spare time wisely...at Kings Island. I invited two of my friends, Margaret (one of my church friends; she has gone to KI with me three times before) and Meagan (my roommate at Cedarville U), both of whom were available to go on this night. We arrived at Kings Island just after 6pm. I knew lines were not going to be bad for most of the rides, but Meagan had never been to KI and I wanted to make sure she could ride a good number of rides, including the ones that tend to get longer lines on nights like this (especially a certain coaster that didn't have very many days left). I had renewed my Platinum Pass a few weeks earlier, so I decided to redeem my complimentary Fast Lane Plus and buy two more for my two riding buddies (I didn't mind paying, since it was not Saturday ). There was a good line to buy Fast Lane, and we waited ~15 minutes. That would happen to be our longest wait of the night. A lot of rides had short lines, but I had never used Fast Lane on any ride other than Vortex prior to this night, so it was cool getting to go through the Fast Lane lines on some of the other rides for the experience. And yes, our night would still be fun without it, but I wanted to use my complimentary Fast Lane Plus at some point and this night was my best choice for when to use it! I wanted to be sure I grabbed some pictures this time (as I didn't get any on the previous visit - October 12) and this was my first attempt. It gets better; I promise. Plus, I was attempting to take it as we were eagerly rushing to our first ride, Viking Fury! Riding Viking Fury first was Margaret's idea, as she enjoys this ride and how underrated it is. I like Viking Fury, but I was long overdue for a swing, as my last ride on it happened on August 29, 2014! And of course Meagan had never ridden it. So Viking Fury made a great first ride! We walked right on to one of the end rows. And let me tell you, Viking Fury makes a pretty fun night ride, especially on the end! Needless to say, we had fun, including Toothless (as it was his first ride on it too!). Like Margaret and me, Meagan also enjoys roller coasters. However, she prefers a more gradual transition into riding them (i.e. she'd rather not ride Diamondback first, but after she's ridden other smaller coasters then she'll do it). Conveniently enough, Viking Fury has a neighbor which for many is the ideal starting coaster, and for us was our next ride. Which ride? Adventure Express! I was excited to ride my original favorite night ride, and of course we rode in the back. The three of us had fun careening around the turns and through the pitch-black tunnels! After the ride, Meagan was ready to ride the bigger rides! Our next ride was Delirium, which was Margaret's second favorite ride! We waited two cycles before experiencing a very chilly ride! It was nice riding Delirium at night again, as I barely remember the last time I rode Delirium at night (it had definitely been a while!). Since Banshee was right next door, we we were ready to ride that next. After paying $2 for a locker, we headed through the line and rode in the back row. Zipping through the dark (and past the lights) on Banshee is definitely more fun than a daytime ride! Even though I don't ride Banshee on every trip, it's a great ride...especially at night! Like The Beast, which I prefer to ride in the rain or in the dark, I prefer to ride Banshee at night. I wouldn't mind riding it during the day, of course. We rode Banshee again, in the front this time. The chilly 68 mph wind in our faces added an exhilarating touch to our nighttime scream! We determined that our locker rental would allow us enough time to ride both Firehawk and Mystic Timbers and still make it back to the locker before the rental expired, even if it meant walking an entire lap around the park. Once we agreed on what to do, we set off toward Firehawk. Our first ride was on the yellow train. Prior to this night, I had actually never ridden Firehawk at night. In fact, Margaret and Meagan had never ridden Firehawk at night either! We had a blast on our first ever night ride on Firehawk. We all loved flying through the dark and upside down five times! We loved it so much that we rode a second time! This time, we ended up on the Red train, so I got some good (attempts at) night pictures of the ride. Our next stop was Mystic Timbers, as we had enough time left in our locker rental to ride it two times as well! As we passed Vortex, it began to rain... ...and we walked through my now-favorite scare zone, Pumpkin Eater! I wasn't sure how I would react to the scareactors, but I found out how when I said "hello" to every scareactor I saw and laughed in response to their scaring me. I actually loved it! I was never a big fan of Haunt, but I must admit that it is starting to grow on me. Maybe next year I will finally muster the courage to brave one of the mazes... On to Mystic Timbers! I took a break from taking pictures, for my non-waterproof camera's sake. Our two rides made me appreciate my rain jacket A LOT. I had not ridden Mystic Timbers in the rain since August 15, and I had never ridden it in the rain AT NIGHT before! It goes without saying that they were the CRAZIEST rides I have ever had on Mystic Timbers!!! The ride was insane and I had to keep my eyes closed as we were jostled side to side and up and down as we careened through the woods!! Our first ride on Mystic Timbers would be Margaret's last ride for the night. She loved it, but since we were now fairly wet (and a bit cold), she decided to sit out on the rest of the rides which Meagan and I would ride for the rest of the time (it was around 10 at this point and we planned to leave at 11) and she was completely fine with waiting for Meagan and me while we rode. After another watery truck ride through the woods of Rivertown, we walked back to Action Zone and retrieved our locker contents. Yes, we had just made a lap around the park just to make the most of a locker rental. Yay! It's probably a good thing Margaret sat out on our next ride... ...Diamondback! In the back! We put the "back" in "Diamondback" by riding in my favorite row, 16 (a.k.a. the back ). Not long after we took our back seats, a cold, wet, and ejector-airtime-filled ride followed. And before you ask, I did NOT dare stick my hand back during the splashdown (I normally do, but that's normally during the summer!). I just looked at the water instead. Since it had just rained (and it was still drizzling at this point), I knew we had to seize the chance to ride The Beast. I already know how fun The Beast is in the rain or at night, but I had yet to experience The Beast's wrath in BOTH conditions (much like how on the previous Friday, October 12, was the first time I ever rode Vortex in the cold, rain AND dark!) so Meagan and I were pretty hyped as we boarded my favorite row, 17. One long lift climb later, we were pulled over and down we went into the darkness for what would be one of the best, if not the best ride I have had to date on The Beast! The woods and the surrounding tunnels were pitch black and all I could do was helplessly enjoy the ride as everything sped by at 65 mph! Another EPIC ride at the mercy of The Beast (happy early 40th anniversary!)! Earlier, when approaching The Beast, I noticed this part of the park was quieter than usual. Indeed, Vortex had gone down for the rain while we were at Mystic Timbers, but it had gone back up by the time our Beast-tastic nature hike (er, ride) concluded. Perfect timing, because we were just now getting to it, we didn't have much time left, and I really wanted Meagan to get a chance to finally experience the ride I always talk about (she is my roommate, after all, so she is well aware of my Vortex adventures). We headed back through Pumpkin Eater and hopped right in line for Vortex. There was a small station wait, so Meagan took her first ever Vortex ride with me in 6-2! I told her everything she needed to know and before I knew it, we had already reached the 148-foot summit and plunged into the darkness! We laughed and twirled our way through the night as our Vortex train hauled us through its course one element after another. When we disembarked, I asked for her verdict and she said it was good! She enjoyed it! Last but not least, we had just enough time for a cold, post-rain night flight on WindSeeker! We bundled up and clutched Toothless close as "Flying" began to play and the 64-seat hub lifted us up to 256 feet in the air. As I said, it was cold, but the view of a fog-shrouded Kings Island and the surrounding area proved no less spectacular! After safely landing three minutes later, it was time for us to head out. We were cold and still a little wet from the rain, but we were happy that we got to experience this fun night at Haunt together! Meagan and Margaret loved their #FirehawkFinalFlights! Margaret said that Delirium will inherit her "favorite ride" title from Firehawk. Good choice. +Viking Fury: 1 Total: 4 (I really need to ride this more...it's underrated!) +Adventure Express: 1 YTD: 8 Total: 63 +Delirium: 1 YTD: 4 Total: 27 +Banshee: 2 YTD: 5 Total: 30 +Firehawk: 2 YTD: 6 Total: 23 +Mystic Timbers: 2 YTD: 5 Total: 28 +Diamondback: 1 YTD: 9 Total: 118 +The Beast: 1 YTD: 4 Total: 20 +Vortex: 1 YTD: 155 1/3 Total: 648 1/3 +WindSeeker: 1 YTD: 32 Total: 151
    1 point
  16. Yes, but the screenshot was formatted to look as if it was actual animation.
    1 point
  17. That's just a screenshot of The Beast unleashed video that people keep thinking is real
    1 point
  18. Yes. And I think all of those are taken into account. When they raised the food department wage a few years ago they did not raise the budget - they limited the hours. There is some give or take. They work less but make more. It’s makes it more attractive. Honestly with the staffing issues that they had in a lot of departments (especially @King Ding Dong‘s Freestyle Machine in RT ) I don’t know where the cuts would be. I know that after the 4th of July results the rides crews were brought down to minimums except on weekends, so stuff similar to that is on the table. Plus they are going to have a surge of employees with the dorms, so the ability to staff should be better. Sorry to derail the topic. This festival looks awesome! Labor budgets will be allocated separately for this if it happens.
    1 point
  19. How is a new parade connected to updating theming in Oktoberfest?
    1 point
  20. How interesting. Both Kings Island and Holiday World won awards. One park whole-heartedly encourages their guests to have a great time and re-ride to your hearts content if there are no lines while the other continues to annoy it's guests with it's ridiculous no re-ride policy and blames iROC. Things that make you go hummmmmm........
    1 point
  21. @RollerColt Yeah social media can be bad. Twitter is the worst. I dont even know how Im supposed to comprehend this tweet, let alone decipher it. Don makes his own blue ice cream hot cocoa is all I got from it.
    1 point
  22. That is all part of the Easter eggs that have been woven into the story. Much like those Flight of Fear bulletin boards with news clippings. Those were not original, but showed up after a certain person started working in that area of the park. That person no longer works at the park (they used to post on here a lot, but I haven`t seen them recently).
    1 point
  23. I only rode Ghoster Coaster once. It had horrid capacity. Each car/train only held two people. The one time I rode the ride was on a day when the park was very empty in Sunday October (around 1999 or 2000). There were only about ten people ahead of us in line, and we still had to wait nearly fifteen minutes to ride. It was not a very fun ride either.
    1 point
  24. And is it me or its it slightly weird that in the station of Mystic Timbers there is a sign that says outpost 5? Cause outpost 5 and Mystic Timbers have nothing to do with each other but idk. I could just be too excited and eager for a new coaster
    1 point
  25. That is correct. I hope people get the photo!
    1 point
  26. Reddi Wip - Maybe an whip ride (like the beetle bugs) but one that whole family can ride
    1 point
  27. Chad Showalter just tweeted a hint about a future attraction:
    1 point
  28. I was thinking. Does the giga (if it is a giga) necessarily have to start in the old Firehawk entry area? I know this sounds unusual, but there is that land on the left side of FOF where you can have a station there and have the lift hill go overtop the FOF building and drop into the Firehawk area. Plus an upside is they can connect Xbase to the main midway (oktoberfest). Heck, they could even give the giga an Oktoberfest style theme. They could also do what we've been speculating which is turn the Firehawk station into a Haunt. I will be coming out with a concept with an Oktoberfest style theme with this idea. I'm just saying that they don't necessarily have to use the old Firehawk entry area as the entrance to the new coaster. During the season, they could turn that area where Firehawk's entrance was into like a viewing area where you can watch the drop. And at Haunt, use the Firehawk station for Haunt.
    1 point
  29. I don't think you get to resurrect a coaster without its perfections and flaws for this threads scenario. LOL
    1 point
  30. Maybe something people are overlooking is the fact that KI could potentially add a wing coaster or dive coaster in the area that Firehawk used to occupy. Now, would I be upset if KI goes with a giga coaster? Absolutely not, but there are other options out there that they could go with.
    1 point
  31. There’s enough local beer and German cuisine/heritage in Cincinnati that it should not be that difficult. It’s almost like it was originally intended to serve that purpose during the park’s inception. I’ve never understood not only the misuse of Oktoberfest, but the straight up rejection the area receives. The tristate has multiple Oktoberfest’s throughout the fall. It’s something the park could take advantage of seasonally and throughout the whole operating calendar. The state of the (exterior) Festhaus is a crime against all things good. Seriously disappointing. The interior isn’t much better as far as dinning options, but that could be remedied. Coney BBQ is an example of successful food options within the park in regards to both quality and popularity. I’d love to see that applied to the Festhaus and Oktoberfest as a whole. And for god’s sake. Serve Goetta. People love Goetta. It’s German. It’s Cincinnati. Just do it. They have an entire festival dedicated to the stuff and people come out in masses for it. I’d turn the entire Hank’s Burrito Shack into a restaurant that would serve creative Goetta dishes. That would be awesome.
    1 point
  32. Yes, but people are getting sold on that DESIGN. And that could provide some serious problems, since the public are not coaster enthusiasts, and will not realize that certain elements will terrify them as much as a parabolic airtime hill.
    1 point
  33. I’m going to be in hysterics if they announce a dive coaster in August.
    1 point
  34. First the Steel Beast video that was all over social media, and now this. I feel like the masses have spoken: Giga or Bust!
    1 point
  35. But those 800 steps hurt 10x more than all the 15,000 you took!
    1 point
  36. I second this! If they had a KI coaster shirt series similar to CP’s, I would totally buy Bat and Flight of Fear* shirts! *On a related note, can we have some Flight of CHEER merch? I feel like this is a missed opportunity; I would gladly buy a Flight of Cheer shirt if it was available.
    1 point
  37. They could sell some of the old roller coaster parts in the shops that would end up in the landfill otherwise. They could also offer valet parking.
    1 point
  38. They could name it "Floss Mode". Is that better for you?
    1 point
  39. They aren’t hints for future attractions; they’re just fun Easter eggs.
    1 point
  40. Those legal documents speak louder than anything else right now though...
    1 point
  41. I’m refering to the suspected B&M project that was discovered in documentation that has been posted on this site. By stating that a Dive Machine could be the next new project after “the Giga” infers that the upcoming B&M project has been confirmed to be a Giga. In reality, that’s only speculation at this point. Nothing has been confirmed about the type of coaster that could be installed aside from the documents stating that B&M will be involved. Could it be a Giga? It sure could. It could also be a Dive Machine or Wing Coaster for all we know. There has been plenty of speculation over the years on this site that will always lead to some disappointment amongst the enthusiast community. Just recently, a select few thought the park was going to spend $20,000,000 + to rebuild the failed Son of Beast because of Halloween decorations at another park. That was not the case. While there has been a lot of speculation about a Giga headed our way (alongside some impressive concepts and renderings), there’s nothing that points to it directly. It’s silly to make assumptions when none of us(or very few silent members of this site) really know what’s coming next. The assumptions about a Giga being “for sure” always give me a chuckle. That’s all.
    0 points
  42. What? Who gave you access to the internet? Lol! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    0 points
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