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John Allen's theory from the 70's still hold true. Wooden coasters shouldn't be more than 110ft or so tall, too many forces, pressure, etc on track & structure. Keep in mind he told KI engineers if they were going go as high as they were & as fast as they were with The Beast that the turns should all be fairly low to the ground to avoid undue stress on the structure....

I don't see why there would be any need to remove Congo Falls? People like to ride it and gets people wet like it's supposed to do. It's also been there since I was a kid; I'm 37 years old now. You guys are right though, it would have been moved already If they had plans to move it in the park. I wish that it was over in The Vortex plot of land now, but I'm guessing the park has a 5 year plan for that area.

Construction well on the way at Carowinds. These are taken on 9/4/2022.

Well they did have one train stuck on the MCBR for most of the day, so obviously something that they need to address and maybe didn't have the part available.....

Little weird that Diamondback has all the trains in storage on the last ride night of the regular season.

And yet the Carowinds VIP site says you get bottled beverages... It will be interesting to see what Cedar Fair does with this apparent bait and switch. Many here may recall after season long meal plans were purchased for the 2nd year, they changed the meal window to two specific time windows and due to outcry changed it to the current 4 hour window, an increase from the 2 hour window the previous year. We have also seen outcry change when they tried to change offerings at Panda and a few other places mid-season and reverted back to what it was when the season started. On one hand, the purchasers of the Prestige are probably some of the higher per cap spenders, yet the numbers of Prestige passes would be much less than the number of season meal plans, so the outcry will not be as large in numbers as the meal plans, so if they continue devaluing this experience they are now ticking off some of the folks that contribute the most to per cap numbers. Based on what is happening, I think they oversold the Prestige passes and are downgrading the offerings to try not to lose their shirt. Bottled beverages for less than say 100 prestige passholders is a lot easy to manage than hundreds or thousands of passholders. I know people that have purchased the Prestige in part due to the bottled beverage options (one has a kid allergic to the dye in drinks and cannot get water from the soda fountain machines due to the cross contamination since it is always coupled with Hi-C or lemonade) and removing that after the sale sucks for them. They were using it as a "drink plan" for their kid instead of buying bottled water. Now come 2023 and people cannot get into the VIP or preferred parking and we may see this program be a one hit wonder LOL. It will be interesting to see how they deal with not ticking off these higher paying guests... It is evident though from this site and social media that many feel the honeymoon is over on this experience already. I think if CF came out and said "my bad" and explained it wasn't ready for primetime and they feel they cannot provide the experience they were looking to provide and offered refunds for the difference between the pass the person would have bought and Prestige, it would be better received than if the experience is horrific next year. I think many would accept that given they have already experienced the benefits of front of the line and snacks and drinks that they would be ok with it. Sure some would be ticked, but they can never please everyone. It wouldn't surprise me if they evaluate refunds versus the costs to provide a better experience during the off-season.

My honest response to this is look at several of the most recent "dark/flat rides" that have come out over the past few years. Snake River Expedition is a prime example of a practically non-interactive Cedar Fair attraction that guests absolutely love. Look at the plethora of dark rides in the Florida parks and many do not have any interactivity nor do they need it. It creates alot more complexity for the ride and honestly in my opinion ruins the whole guest experience. I've had that belief since I first rode the Scooby Doo conversion when I was a kid. Suffice to say that taking out the shooter aspect probably would reduce a lot of wear and tear on the attraction and would be a way to consolidate on an enjoyable guest experience for everyone. That being said guests back when PT opened didn't know of PT before hand, however now guests and more specifically families have been reintroduced to the characters within the attraction. I believe if anything it will become a massive hit based off of the responses this year and the

One of the more complicated aspects of Congo Falls is the water. If they moved it they'd have to lay new supply lines. It'd be a bit of an undertaking for such a modest attraction.

I personally still think that if they are going to bring back Phantom Theater, or renovate the ride into anything else, that there is a very good chance that the park will implement virtual reality technology into its design. It would raise the ceiling for what the park could visually do and mitigate the maintenance costs by avoiding a largely mechanical display. It would also coincide well with blasters if they chose to go that route. Imagine seeing all of our beloved characters with high quality 360 degree animation.

I have been watching it most of the day. They were first late to test the ride, got two trains on the track, then it was stopped for hours until they sent a train around and plopped it into storage. (Around 1:15pm) The last train sat in the station until around 6:30pm when it was sent off but at an incredibly slow speed. Took 20-30m to climb the lift. I kid you not this was incredibly slow. Thought it wasn’t moving at all until I looked closed and saw it slowly moving up a pixel or two every so often. It hit the MCBR and was stopped there until 7:30pm-ish when it was sent off and then put back in storage. Possible lift motor issues? It did get its chain replaced in the offseason. Curious to know if it’ll be open tomorrow.

TBH I think they should move the VIP lounge to the International Restaurant. Honestly would be a good space if they are going to give a large amount of passholders VIP access. Do what BGT is doing with the passholder lounge where the whole space becomes the VIP lounge usage with an exclusive menu and stuff like that. I believe there are multiple rooms up there (currently used for meetings that could be moved to other areas around the park) Make a room into a sports game viewing room where they have TV's and a bar and have another room be a kids room where kids can play. Here's a video of BGT's passholder lounge.

well the vip section was around 39 a day before the prestige pass offered. So I would think it will take the parks a bit to get everything on the same page as far as what the demand will be in the vip area. Since the rollout was a bit lacking in clarity as to what was offered at what park I elected to skip the prestige and stay with the gold/platinum for 2023 and let everything play out for a year. I may go with the prestige after next season (2024) but that will depend on what the reviews the people on this site give for prestige in the 2023 season.

The terms and conditions make it pretty clear that lounge access and other prestige benefits only work at your home park. But I figured I am at Carowinds for the weekend it cannot hurt to ask. So I stopped by the lounge and asked if a prestige pass from Kings Island would work, and they said it should let me scan it. Then proceeds to scan it, says that it’s valid, and gave me a wristband. I honestly have no idea what is going on. Is it supposed to work or not? Is it a training issue? They scanned the pass and said the computer showed it as valid. The Carowinds lounge did not have any bottled beverages. Just two large containers of ice water, one which was infused. Plus bags of pretzels and Chex mix. I spoke with some regulars to the park and their lounge used to have a cooler with bottled beverages, a large selection of snacks, and granola bars. They have been cutting back None of these things feel permanent or long term.

You might be 100% correct. I think we can all agree that it is time to update BBOBH at this point.

I am ok with it coming back. I worry that if there is not some sort of interaction piece like you are mentioning, it will be a flop to those that did not grow up with PT. The nostalgia is not there for younger guests. Considering it's location by PS, it will be boring if not done well visually with some sort of interactive piece as well. That is just my opinion with having 3 kids that are not familiar with PT the ride.

Because a good number of folks on this site are hellbent on shoving a coaster into every single semi-available piece of land within the park. The mental gymnastics preformed to justify a new coaster installation is mind boggling to me. I’m also confused to why everyone wants to see Congo Falls removed. Same goes for Timberwolf. There’s plenty of available space for new additions without removing either of these. It’s also important to understand that not every new addition needs to be a coaster.

We went around 1 and it was closed. I did call KI and they officially said it was not open.

I'd say the inescapable chill of mortality is quite horrific to most, but I dunno.

The people I've met on here seem pretty chill for the most part, but I see where you are coming from.

I’m pretty sure that with the rain, this didn’t happen today. I went in the rain at 11, and saw some chefs at truck. But it wasn’t open. Then soak closed early. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It appears that The Drums of the Dead set is being repurposed for Terror Rising. The Off the Rails set is also transitioning to NyteWalkers, including what might be the addition of a long trampoline run like the original NyteWalkers at CGA along the front of the stage area. Since this show likely won't feature live singing like Off the Rails this should provide even more space for the stunt performers.

Depending on whether I do a clockwise or counter-clockwise loop, I am planning on making this my first or last park of my next summer midwest trip provided A)The accelerator is open and B)the PARK is still open by then.

Not all woods have to be haunted to make it scary, Banshee is there and The Bat worked with Mystic Timbers to protect the woods, Bat found that abandoned construction site to live in. Banshee was a Irish woman named Scarlet Green who have a loving family till the robbers ruined her life and killed her becoming the Banshee. And if there's a horror theme coaster there, this will be a area of the park to be really dark in theming like Alton Towers"

CF owns a bunch of property off-point- which could be a reason for improving the roads and traffic flow to & from CP. https://fox8.com/news/future-road-project-should-make-drive-to-cedar-point-safer-faster/ I can see a future where more off-point land is used for another water park like you mentioned, additional parking lot, more hotels, perhaps even moving Lighthouse Point (??).

While a dark forest theme would be nice, it would require...trees. And If they started planting even large boxed trees (expensive) this fall, it would be years before they grew in enough to complete the theme. I'd rather see a phased in approach with Oktoberfest getting some flats and theming first. Do some background work in AZ and then retintroduce it as something to pay homage to the OG land it was--safari themed. We have a great templated about 8 hours southeast of here we could use...

I agree with this, however, I think that the Action Zone land should continue to cater to the more dark, mysterious horror theme. Think of it as a Black Forest sorta thing on the outskirts of Oktoberfest. The old Germanic feel would contrast well with a scary, forbidden land outside of town. Adventure Express would also work well with this theme I think.

I made a prediction if Areas get refurbish and new ones added. That's the result I made.

Kings Island could play on its history with the newest coaster for this area, and add a B&M Surf Coaster, this will remind guests of King Kobra which was closed in 2001. This would be the world's 2nd Surf Coaster, the one at SeaWorld Orlando looks awesome! It would take up the place of Invertigo, Congo Falls and cut through the trees turn around in the parking lot and come back, it could run through the Congo Falls area for some nice water effects as well. This would help give KI more variety and not copy something CP already has.

Went back again today for it. Today was with chips, I assume they ran out of yucca. But it was great and the truck has shorter lines than any other food option in Soak City. (It was packed today) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

just please, no plywood cut-outs...

Here’s some concept art that I made for a possible Phantom Theater revival. I feel like there’s a strong chance of the ride being reimagined after the success of Encore. I feel like it would likely be placed inside the Boo Blasters building in order to save money on a new ride system/building. This may be wishful thinking on my part, but I think that there’s a chance the practical show scenes from the original could be modernized and reimagined instead of relying on screens or a shooter element. I also feel like a revival could include animatronics, but with less movement compared to the originals.

I'm definitely surprised there wasn't any new Phantom Theater merch other than the poster this summer--maybe it's just yet to come in? The characters are unique, distinctive to Kings Island, and highly marketable. The Usher plushie in particular is a no-brainer. I would buy that for sure!

Someone on Reddit made some cool PT merch concepts

I have seen this suggestion many times over the past few years & I keep having the same question: Why is it some believe that the people starting/ involved with these incidents can't afford the increase? And along with that question- why do some only believe it's teenagers? Like yourself, I do not agree with that as well. Don't punish the majority for what a fraction of unruly guests do. As I have said before- put the unruly ones on social media blast being escorted from the park & charged to the fullest extent of the law.

Looks like a trip back to WoF is necessary. I will post photos of Carowinds and Dollywood construction progressions anyone wants them.

I agree, if they were going to move it that would have been done a long time ago. Why take on the extra expense unless you need the space? Why look at an empty spot unless there are plans for it?

Wow. Looks like restraints popped open when it slammed into the ground. Hopefully nobody was seriously injured. https://breaking911.com/breaking-video-amusement-park-ride-in-india-breaks-crashes-down-violently/