CoastersRZ

I am excited that they announced opening day already. April 16th is the day before Easter. I am glad that they are opening at their usual opening time in mid-April instead of the beginning of May like they did this year. This looks to be a more "normal" operating calendar. Ie, 10am openings, and daily operations beginning in mid-late May.

I assume that he was referring to the new coaster track that Gravity Group installed on The Racer this past off season. It would seem like a logical place to expand the use of that track. By all accounts, Racer was moving great with this new track from GG. Only would make sense KI would use more of it. Unless there were cost/schedule reasons for not using it.

I think the real issue is current ownership. They are the ones that prompted the decision to remove the rides. Still a silly move in my opinion. I wish someone would purchase it and reinvest in the dry side and add a couple of things to the pool as well.

One thing I noticed, which was not directly Winterfest related, was that the band organ front on the Carousel had been removed. Hopefully it is getting a refurbishment for the 50th. In its place they had some panels that had graphics on them to emulate the surrounding panels. The middle graphic said “Grand Carousel. Eat. 1923”. Opps! Somebody didn’t double check that graphic! It should say 1926. I liked the trees in Planet Snoopy. They did away with the dimly lit “giant light bulbs” hanging in the trees they used to have and had the canopies of the trees done in lots of different colored lights. I also like the white and blue in the trees on the back side of the Festhaus by Delirium and the Kings Island Theater!

Well, the Racer at Kings Island is visible from most of the Coney Mall midway. Racer 75 is not as visible from their main midway. It is located by their water park, Water Works. And the far turnaround is located by Lake Charles and Anaconda, so it is not as visible as what Racer is. Wood coaster track is not normally painted these days because the wood is treated wood, and the need to often retrack/replace pieces, especially the top few layers of wood. I would love to see the original red and blue return. Or at least paint the handrails.

I saw that Premier Rides would be assisting in the refurbishment of the ride. It sure would be nice if they could start marketing this as a new classic ride for other parks to add to their line up. Kings Island could use a classic flat ride or two.

If I had to guess, Scene 75 gets their annual inspection done in December, for the following year. So they are re-certified a few days/weeks before the certification were to expire. Much the same way people renew their driver`s license shortly before they expire.

Jack Rouse was originally involved with live shows at Kings Island during the Taft and later Kings Entertainment Co (KECO) days. Many of the original staff members at JRA were former KI live entertainment people. The original Bubba Gump Shrimp Co concept was also developed by JRA, and I believe they did the concept work for Winterfest in 2005. JRA is based in Cincinnati, about a block from where my current office is. In fact, about six years ago, I was "loaned" to them for about a week from my current place of employment because they were swamped with a project. I assisted on a water coaster overseas. I am sure there are other connections as well.

I believe that in 2019, the park opened Winterfest the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving. Yes, I would love to see them extend Winterfest a weekend or two earlier, and would love to see them extend it a weekend into January, then maybe KI could be open on my birthday (January 9th). However, extending into January is problematic with the rides. The rides are certified by year. So once midnight on New Year`s eve hits, the rides technically are no longer certified to operate by the Ohio Department of Agriculture`s Rides Safety Division. I wonder if they can create some kind of extension to remedy this situation in the future? I would love for the park to open at say 3pm on some days for Winterfest. There is just so much to see and do, that you can`t do everything in one visit. That might be part of the plan, forcing people to visit a second time makes them buy another admission ticket if they do not have a pass, or if the have a pass, gives them more opportunity to spend money buying food/going ice skating, etc.

I agree. I much prefer having the live E stage in the Festhaus then the theater in the round set up they had back in 2005. I am glad that we are getting the Winterfest parade. That was one of the highlights from Winterfest 2005. I still would like to see some live entertainment and story come to the train one of these years for Winterfest, like it had in 2005.

Sometimes the primer that they use on these coasters is a white to cream in color.

Very nice video. And Tony in the ride operations segment is Tony Caravillano, who is now the GM at Worlds of Fun.

Very exciting. Dollywood is a fantastic park. It is the only park besides Kings Island where I have had a season pass. I will be going down there in about a month and taking my kids, parents, and in laws. We can`t wait. It looks like that site plan is for the Wildwood Grove area of the park. Exciting to see the expansion. Dollywood has really expanded a lot these last several years. I remember my first visit before Wild Eagle, FireChaser Express, and Lightning Rod were at the park.

Is this a Canada`s Wonderland requirement or a requirement of the local government there?

When was the parade time when they did Winterfest in 2005? I want to say it was around 7:30.

I think that the Eiffel Tower has been featured in all of the special anniversary logos that the park has had. I know the 20th, 25th, 30th, and 40th all had special logos.

I echo what others have said. The Fastlane needs re worked so as not to share a majority of it with the exit line. The exit path is not very wide and can get congested especially if there is a rider going up the exit for alternate access in a wheel chair. I would like to see more trees by the turn out of the station. It still seems weird to be able to see most of The Beast`s station from by Shake, Rattle and Roll.

Very cool article! Thanks for sharing. Nice to see Paul Bonifield mentioned in the article. I had the privilege of working along side of him when I worked as a ride operator during Haunt in 2013 and 2014 at Extreme Skyflyer.

The logo will appear on special merchandise. The park confirms seven rides will be painted for next season: Eiffel Tower The Racer Race For Your Life Charlie Brown Adventure Express Backlot Stunt Coaster Drop Tower Flying Ace Aerial Chase See more details here: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2021/november/kings-island-unveils-special-50th-anniversary-celebration-logo?fbclid=IwAR25KippohAWOwKX4h5Ruy7aZxyJeVXJ0mAIWtM-YwUKcXyupgBbHh8MMOw I am pretty sure that the exterior of the trough for Race for Your life was painted back when Mystic opened. I wonder if they are going to freshen that up, or paint the inside of the trough? Freshen up the exterior of the trough? I also wonder if we will see the red and blue hand rails return to The Racer. Kind of would have liked to see the original logo featured on the 50th celebration logo. Still excited to see the 50th anniversary logo. Can`t wait to see what else KI has in store for next season.

A very cool photo. Thanks for sharing it!

Yes. Keep in mind they did resurface the accessible lot by the front gate a few years back. Eventually, they will need to resurface portions of the parking lot, otherwise, it will deteriorate into just gravel.

So does it get repainted the same color or does it acquire the paint scheme that California`s Great America`s Drop Tower recently received?

I think BeastFarmer hit the nail on the head. They are likely wanting to push this weekend for Haunt, and then in a week or so, announce the parade as a lead up to WInterfest to get people excited about it and talking about it. The floats are indeed in the parade float tent behind the Racer. One of the floats in the tent had the lights on when it was sitting in the tent, was on when I was at the park for Haunt on Friday night

The actual steel track is painted. The wood supports are not painted.

Well, part of that is they have been trying to give each park its own identity, and not have the same corporate identity from park to park. Case in point, look at the Soak City name for the water parks. Carowinds water park is now know as Carolina Harbor, Cedar Point Shores at Cedar Point and this year California`s Great America rebranded their water park South Bay Shores. I wonder how long before Soak City at Kings Island gets its own unique name and theme to tie into the area?