Rivertown Rider

It will be interesting to see what happens with the Attitudes building now. There is plenty of room with the CPW area to do the Harmony Hall Marketplace type area and use the gutted Attitudes building for seating. While the overall building wouldn't be as big as Harmony Hall it would still be a lot of room.

I'm really hoping that we get some indoor seating in the restaurant. The building space is certainly big enough to do that.

This is from February 18 and the Smokehouse was done by Memorial Day when Soak City opened. That was also done from the ground up so I would think it would be quicker since the building is already built. They would have to re-do the front of the building but the back and sides are complete save for if they decide to paint it.

I went to the park today and the haunt decorations come within about 10-15 feet of the Attitudes building. If the Smokehouse is coming in time for Winterfest I wonder if the existing Attitudes building will be used without them tearing it down and they can just gut some walls and retrofit it into a restaurant rather than re-building from scratch. The square footage of that building is about 12,000 square feet whereas the Reds Hall of Fame and Grill is about 75 feet by 140 feet (10,500 square feet) if my calculations using Google Earth are correct. This would give them plenty of space to put seating in there as well which I think a lot of us would prefer and this should also give them plenty of time to get it done in time for Winterfest in November. I also went back to Dinos Alive and a lot of the dinos had costumes on so I would say it is safe to assume they will be there thru the end of the Halloween season.

^ While I agree that it is close to Festhaus I think it would work if you have some different food choices there than you have at Festhaus. I did some measuring using Google Earth and it appears that the Attitudes building is about 100 feet wide x 115 length (or approximately 11,500 sq ft). If you took out the Coney Potato Works building you could add the Harmony Hall Marketplace area on to the existing Attitudes building where Potato Works is now. According to the Carowinds site, Harmony Hall is 26,500 feet. To make a perfect square you would have to make it approximately 163x163. While Harmony Hall is not a perfect square I don't know that you would have to make it exactly like Harmony Hall. If you go width wise 163 would take you just past the existing Potato Works building. 163 length wise would take you to about where the blacktop starts curving around by the Carousel. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I wonder if it would make sense for the smokehouse rumored to be coming to Coney Mall to be like a version of Harmony Hall at Carowinds. This would serve several purposes: you could have several different food areas (like a BBQ section, an Italian section, a fresh grill, maybe you could even move Skyline in there as well); it would also give you additional indoor entertainment space; and it would give more indoor seating. Festhaus is typically busy and it would make sense to build another indoor space for the reasons stated above. If they also put a space in there for Skyline it would allow them to gut the current Skyline building and patio area and use those areas for expansion as well as being able to have a more efficient Skyline space. If they take the Attitudes building and the Potato Works building that gives quite a bit of space plus they could also use part of the Gardens area to build a Harmony Hall like building.

I think should tear down the arcade building that is now used for KillMart. Between that space, the old Flight Commander pad, and the Dino's store you could put several flats in there.

I hope they keep the Coney Mall name as well as it is an important part of the park's history. It will be interesting to see what we get next year and where in Coney Mall it will go.

I enjoyed the instrumental music being brought back this year and hope it returns. It brought back the majestic and escapist feel that the parks has been lacking for several years. If I want to hear pop music I can hang a left and walk towards Action Zone. If you really watch the people sitting around the fountains and the tower for long periods of time it is not generally teens and college kids, it is their parents and grandparents. Music is not going to make anyone come to the park but it can really set the mood. If I had control over what music was played IS would have instrumental, Rivertown would have a Country Western vibe, Coney would be 70-90s, X-base would be alternative, Oktoberfest would be German, and Action Zone would be current pop.

I stumbled upon this Eiffel Tower video from 1980. It has a lot of great views from around the park as well. It is crazy how different some areas of the park look now.

The park has been a little snake-bit with some of their additions over the past 15 years or so. Timber Tower suffered problems and downtime and Adventure Mountain was also there a very short time. That is not to say anything about the constant up-and-down problems with Lightning Rod. Hopefully whatever they add has very minimal downtime.

I could see Wild Beast at Canada's Wonderland eventually getting the RMC treatment.

Attitudes was open last night with some additional merchandise that they probably cleaned out of the warehouse. I also saw the VP of Food and Beverage along with another person who was holding a notepad in front of the Attitudes building. I didn't get close enough to overhear what they were talking about although I did think about going up and asking them where the Antiques were going to be next year. Another thought came to mind today when looking at the KI Instagram and seeing them talk about the old Skyride. Cedar Point's Skyride adds a lot to that area of the park and I feel like a similar length Skyride would add a lot to the Coney Mall area as well as providing great views of the park. If they put something in like the Skyride and brought back the Antiques somewhere along with another smaller flat (maybe something like the Winnie Witch Cauldrons) and maybe something like CW's Shockwave it would really improve the overall feel of Coney.

Dollywood has announced they are closing River Battle on September 4. While I enjoyed the attraction and hope it get relocated somewhere else as opposed to demolished the ride never seemed to be super popular. The other three water rides in the park always have enjoyed longer lines that River Battle even though River Battle was the youngest of them all. It will be interesting to see what the park does as there are rumors that this will start the long rumored expansion from the River Battle area up to the train loop which will really open land up for future expansion.

I would love to have our Eagles back. I agree with Shaggy that they are historical to KI and would be a welcome addition back to the park.

For me I'm more excited for Winterfest. I haven't been since the late '80s Winterfests so I am looking forward to it.

With these announcements, Canada's Wonderland further cements itself as the flat ride capital of the chain (and maybe the world). Carowinds additions look very nice and would love to see us eventually get a teacups ride again. The coaster additions all look very nice, I think the CGA coaster will have capacity issues but the other two RMCs look very good. Hangtime looks very fun as well. It will be interesting to see what we get.

With Don doing the Instagram live video from Dinosaurs Alive today, Dinos not being listed as a perk on the Season Pass perks, and the store having BOGO sales, I am convinced that Dinos is going away after this year. I would expect them to announce in the next couple weeks that the Dinos are going extinct and to see them before they are gone. I think you might see a big Coney Mall expansion go back in the Dinos Alive area with Antiques, an Electro Spin, and then a couple smaller flats like a Music Express, and then a family ride like what Canada's Wonderland is getting with Flying Canoes or Tea Cups. To cap it off I think they should try to find a way to connect that area with X-Base. I would tend to put the more extreme rides like the Electro Spin on the side closer to X-Base. If they put a ramped bridge connecting the area similar to the bridge that goes over the tunnels leading to The Bat, then maintenance could still easily to access the maintenance buildings. They could also put bathrooms in the area for X-Base and the Coney expansion and maybe even a quick service restaurant. While part of the area is rather hilly towards the back part of the park, the area toward X-Base where the T-Rex and Triceratops are more level which would be a good place to put the Antiques.

I find it curious that the park hasn't teased anything at all. Here's hoping for the Antiques, a Top Scan, and a Music Express or Tilt a Whirl or the Barrels (or all of them ). I figure we will have a better idea tomorrow sometime on if there will be an announcement on Wednesday or not.

Or take a long walk back to the rest of the park.

I went to the park yesterday and visited Attitudes which is looking pretty bare. My wife asked the worker and the worker said that they are tearing down the Attitudes building and Coney Potato Works for the Smokehouse. She did not say anything about them tearing down Coney Confections but I could see all of their merchandise at Confections being easily relocated throughout the park's other stores. After walking around Tower Gardens I don't think that area is going to be used for the antiques unless it is just the back part closest to the attitudes building, especially since they have already started putting up candy canes. I think they could increase the seating with the Smokehouse compared to what it in Soak City and tear down the current Skyline Patio and using several of those areas with bridges to build the Antique ride. (The more bare Attitudes) (Pic taken from the tower. This area could look a lot different soon.)

That post was great. As I don't ever really remember the monorail or animals at the park since I was young, the article was very informative.

Looking at the approximate size of the building of the Smokehouse I don't think it would take up all three buildings worth. I think they could easily use the back part of where the Attitudes building for the Antiques and possibly put a small flat like a Tilt a Whirl or Music Express on the midway side right beside of Scrambler.

On the Cedar Fair conference call they mentioned that all parks would be making next year's announcements on the 16th. We only have one more week until we find out. I could see see them using the Confections and Potato Works area for another smoke house and the Attitudes building area plus Tower Gardens for the Antiques.

I think the big thing in B&M's favor is the reliability. I don't want KI to build a giga that has constant downtime and I think that is why they would probably go the B&M route.