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The initial hope was to run 4 trains, but that obviously never happened. I can't speak to KD, but KI did in fact have 4 trains on site. I believe the decision was made by the park upon testing, due to the length of the coaster and the brake/block set up. Other things, including other KI coasters and how they were were operated from a safety standard, factored into it. All 4 trains have eventually been used on the ride, just not simultaneously. One train has not been usable since the early 2000's. OL:FOF did run 3 trains for years. It opened late - with just single train operation. It was mid-June before the public was allowed to ride. The trains were shortened - during testing - from 6 cars to 5. This was because it would valley at the lowest portion of the track prior to final brakes. The rumors of a "Bat Phone" are true. This came about when Drop Zone opened in 1998. They both pulled from the same power grid. I recall supervisors having to "call" before launches, but I'm not positive if it was true of every launch. Part of the requirement when operating the unload side was that you had to drive from ready to unload, unlock restraints, open safety gate, eye the seats for left articles, raise all "down" restraints, replace any "ear buffers" on the OSTRs, clear room, close gate, then send train from unload to waiting. The unload op was under a time pressure because of the challenges of timing launches. BTW, I was on crew in 1998, but to verify, I asked some of the Rides Managers at the time of whom I am still friends. That's the info I feel I can share. As far as SOB - I only recall it running 2 trains. It was designed to operate 3 not 4 afaik. Beast was designed for 4 but never operated publicly as such.

That article isn't even an hour old and it has at least several errors. Beach was being sold and hadn't planned on opening before covid happened as I don't believe they had a buyer. DisneyWorld has a re-open date of July 11th. Six flags isn't considering temperature checks, they ARE doing temperature checks. Article says "Legoland is ready to reopen even earlier, preparing to receive visitors by May 1." Are we not already past May 1 and they are not open. Legoland is under Universal heading...I thought Merlin owned Legoland. Kinda hard to put any credibility into that article... I bet @Gordon Bombay and @Joshua and @Snowball among others loves seeing articles like this!

I wonder what this crane is doing here. Photo credit: legomaster, Fye coasters discord.

You’ll enter through Firehawk’s photo booth (it won’t be a photo booth anymore) and walk down stairs into the queue. The “prop building” is in the queue right before the stairs up to the station. The exit of the station connects to the main Area 72 midway and takes you past Orion’s photo booth, which is a new structure.

Ive looked at several pictures of orions station, and Im still a bit confused on the layout, will we be onboarding from the east or west side? if so, do we enter the effects shed before or after the ride? because it appears the entry way goes through the picture booth but that obviously wouldnt make any sense. As for the lack of trees in that area, I think once benches and tables are put in for the eating area, it will feel less empty

That was how many days ago? At the rate things change it's hard telling anymore.

According to this article, the Travel & Tourism Advisory Group submitted guidelines to the governor 2 weeks ago. So now we know that the whole "it's being worked out in groups" thing is nothing more than him hiding behind the curtain so to speak. I'm not saying I don't disagree with his decision, but I would like a lot more transparency when it came to these matters. He is essentially lying to the public by saying that the advisory groups are still working when in fact, they've submitted their plan 2 weeks ago. With the addition of businesses in that sector already announcing tentative opening dates for June 15th and 30th in some cases, I feel like he's gonna be backed into a corner sooner or later. It's also an interesting read, because the article specifically goes into detail about what restrictions we might expect. Things like one way entry and exits, off limits areas, among other things. https://www.cleveland.com/business/2020/05/ohio-tourism-industry-losing-patience-with-gov-mike-dewine-lack-of-timetable-for-reopening-zoos-museums-amusement-parks.html I think that a date of June 14th or around there would be good to announce. It would be in line with Indiana and would prevent Holiday world and places like that from getting practically overrun even with capacity requirements. EDIT: I think that this is why we've been seeing a lot more testing on rides recently. They've submitted their plan, so they're probably working to implement it on the assumption that it's going to be put in place.

Gates are there - it's just a wide loading platform.

I'd rather have this guy lol

New today: Sea World FL June 11. Much of Disney FL July 11. Masks req at both.

Check this out!!

^Why would the rides need to be re-inspected when they haven’t been inspected at all for this season? Do they even do yearly inspections? If they do they would need them anyways so why do them now if they don’t have a re-opening in mind. And if they are trying to figure out different methods of operation why wouldn’t they just use one rollercoaster instead of testing multiple? Not arguing just asking.

I don’t think Cedar Point would be testing rides if they haven’t at least heard something. They’re original opening date wasn’t until may do they didn’t even have trains back on any tracks or anything before the pandemic. I don’t think they would be going through the process or re adding trains and testing them if they didn’t hear something from the gov.

Here's an interesting article. It seems like the members of the travel and tourism group are starting to get fed up with Mike DeWine. Tbh I wouldn't be surprised if they start going after him kinda like what gyms did. https://www.cleveland.com/business/2020/05/ohio-tourism-industry-losing-patience-with-gov-mike-dewine-lack-of-timetable-for-reopening-zoos-museums-amusement-parks.html?fbclid=IwAR2TG3Rz8aTy3W5YZfQfTWso8l8Kkwf7ce5JTU4p0wz96CdvJwmJM8f0vU4

I don't think that this has been posted, but definitely an interesting read about the financial implications Corona Virus has on KI , Warren County and their perspectives. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/warren-county-says-state-inaction-has-cost-it-millions-including-delay-for-kings-island/ar-BB14EH93

I thought EPCOT would reopen with “Social Distancing Robots”.

South Carolina is already fully opened, specifically in MB, and North Carolina is going through phases.

Each state has ride inspectors and signs off on rides within their state. A couple (maybe just Fury?) rides reside in both. Not sure how those are handled. Both must agree to opening plans if/when that happens.

I would think the most restrictive guidelines would dictate Carowinds opening - so whichever state has the most restrictions probably controls it. Or they completely block half the park off and evac on Fury before it crosses state line

How does that work with Carowinds as they are in both Carolinas? Is one a controlling authority?

I think I will vote after I ride Orion. Voting before is not a fair to the poll.

probably just something to do with one of the trains... who knows...

I think they're referencing the supports on Iron Dragon being visible in the same style as the art. The idea is that the map art for Millennium Force is part of what is in the folder.

I don't know if I've heard about The Bat phone... I remember hearing about how FoF had to coordinate its launches with Drop Zone since they both required such a large power intake. And after the fire at FOF in 2014, they had to set-up a livestream of Drop Tower and concentrate all their launches to in-between Drop's cycles. Does that have anything to do with it? Regarding SOB, I've frequently heard that it never ran three trains with the public. I believe it, but don't have any concrete evidence or anything.

It's obviously the world's tallest Coca-Cola Freestyle stand.

Could always get hired to find out lol.

Yeah, I think maintenance is the first one to train on the ride. They need to know it better than anyone else. Someone else can probably explain better the actual progression of who does what when.

And if they are not able to open, I am sure rides are like other pieces of machinery (cars, HVAC, etc.) and that it is good to run them periodically so that sensors and valves and hoses and other components do not rot away. It really is surprising how quickly components can go bad after just a year of neglect or not being used. I have an older tablet that I hadn't used in about 6 months and it won't turn on even plugged in or take a charge now - light stays red after days of being plugged in. Find anyone with an older vehicle that was running fine and they let it sit a year - if it even starts, dash lights usually start coming on just from simple neglect of letting them sit a year unused.

This area isn’t large enough to plant a bunch of trees down the middle of it, and even if you could add them in its present state, it would cause lots of congestion in what’s sure to be a high-traffic area.

One reason they might be testing is the same reason some airlines are flying empty planes right now. If you run the rides a couple times every few days, you don't need to get them reinspected. Plus it probably keeps the supervisors fresh for when they need to train associates. In addition to that, Cedar Fair is apart of the Ohio Travel & Tourism group, so they might just be testing out different methods on how they want their rides to operate.

I'm guessing we just need some reliable data about the virus spread outdoors. And it'll arrive soon I would think. Literally everything I've read up to today suggests it almost always spreads indoors. Not so much outdoors when it's hot and humid out. We'll see. Been loosening things up in Indiana for about three weeks now, and cases and deaths both trending down versus the peak in mid-late April.

You'd also be surprised at the number of times I was working coney skyline where guests paid for their food, but just didn't show up to collect it. Literally ordered from me in person. Happened about 3-4 times a day.

Just because he hasn't made it public doesn't mean he hasn't given them a estimated date that they could aim for. If they didn't know something was close they wouldn't have bothered starting to testing rides etc. if money is a big concern as people say why waste time and energy starting up rides Unless they have some idea of a start date and doing so might expedite the process a little. pulling from my workplace, no they don't have a specific date but they do have a date range which is allowing them to start putting effort into preparations etc. they have let us know we're close though think it depends how Vegas goes and what materials they can get a hold of. Plexiglas has become quite the commodity lately lol

i'M a Doordash, Grubhub and other apps delivery driver. There are some places that don't even start making the order until the driver arrives. I avoid those places like the plague, time is money. And the great thing about being an independent contractor is I don't have to accept every offer thrown at me.

What could possibly go wrong?

Wonder if they ever get self conscious knowing there's cameras . It'd be hard for me not to work there and wave once in awhile lol

I check the webcams here and there, and this is the first day I have seen any activity. Several work trucks visible at various locations. Hopefully it's a good sign!

Iowa amusement parks are going to be allowed to reopen June 5th.

I understand where this desire comes from, but generally, things get off topic around here when there's nothing new to discuss. Maybe I've missed something, but there's not really anything new that's been revealed about Orion. And people are generally really good about reporting new stuff here when it happens. On-topic-ness is usually self-correcting.

The Beast still runs three trains. Yes, the brake shed is not a block section anymore, but they can park all three trains in the station and just outside the station. Now the top of the lifts are the block sections on the course. Which is why the train on lift one will sometimes stop (it has to wait for the other train to clear lift two before it can depart from lift one). Back before they redid The Beast`s brakes, they could only park two trains in the station due to the skid brakes, so it wasn`t uncommon to get stopped at the top of lift two.

Maverick at CP has 6 trains, but with their size, dispatches allowing two trains in a station at a time its almost equivalent to 3 train operations if you think about it. Also something Maverick, Fury, and Leviathan have in common is the pre break run between the stations and the lift hill which can help avoid stacking as well as the longer final breaks

Son of Beast never operated with three trains. The third train that shipped with the ride was sacrificed for parts very early on in SOB's first season.

Flight of Fear was designed with four train operation in mind. I'm honestly not sure of specifics in the ride's train operations, but I know who to ask for more information. The Beast was indeed designed for four train operation and that's the sole reason why there's the brake shed after the first tunnel. A lot of people online say it never ran four trains because there were capacity issues. Richard Fussner, the park's loss preventions director at the time The Beast was built, told me it was because running four trains at one time were too heavy and causing too much stress on the track. The Beast has never ran more than three trains when it's been open to the public.

Good question. My guess is the scanners will be a screening tool with manual screening if you are flagged. I don't see them just dropping the booby trap floor out on you if you scan high. That will be interesting as well. Will FL holders need to virtual queue or just get in FL line or just get priority. If the virtual queue system prioritizes FL holders what will be the algorithm. Has the potential to make the whole system more transparent or less.

Not trying to be silly on a serious topic here, but I have a question: If a fart can escape what you are wearing, why should masks be able to work?

While not riding the best fireworks ride, one can take the best pictures of the best view of the best fireworks ride. On July 30, 2019, I hopped up on Vortex’s Fast Lane bridge after my last ride of the night, and I was not disappointed!

Start here and see the replies from CF properties! https://twitter.com/DorneyParkPR/status/1263877305891459073