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KingsMills79

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Everything posted by KingsMills79

  1. Yes, Carowinds is my home park. I have had most all of the food options there during multiple visits but my ABSOLUTE favorite is the Smoked BBQ pork. ($11.99 in 2016) The pork is slowly smoked in their own custom smoker before being shredded and you can pair it with three (I believe) different sauces. The meal includes the choice of side of which I always get the homemade Mac n Cheese. (It;s so good it will make you slap your grandma) The other sides ore OK, but I have had the broccoli salad in lieu of the mac n cheese when they've sold out. (It goes quickly) The other meal option I recommend is the BBQ ribs. Again, you won't find these kind of food options at a SF park, and it is a welcome (refreshing) change from a simple Chicken tender & fries basket you find at most parks these days. I'm sorry that you had a bad experience at HH. Yes, the lines are long during peak hours but I trust if you visit Carowinds in the future you might give Harmony Hall another chance based on the above recommendations as they really do cater to the customer.
  2. ^Then you haven't tried Harmony Hall because the local food critics rave about the food choices and dietary options. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/food-drink/article9146828.html
  3. ^To this day I still don't understand why TR couldn't have stayed in the park. I know there are some that say the wood was deteriorating and such but just a few years back, they spent millions on a 5 year retracking on TR so it boggles the mind why the decision was made to scrap it when they could have very easily taken a page out of KI's handbook and simply extend the waterpark by allowing an access area somewhat like where X-base is now. In fact, if you were to do an overlay of Google Earth (then and now), the only real attractions that needed the room to be installed were Blackbeard's Revenge and Surf Club Harbor and to be fair, those could have simply been originally designed to be built around the coaster's structure. I guess it is what it is but being I grew up near KI and now relocated to Charlotte for work. Carowinds holds a special place for me as it's the closest thing I can get to my original home park. The only good thing that could possibly come of this is if CF pays close attention to the surveys they send out and replace TR with a nice new GCI like MT.!!! We'll see what the future holds.
  4. Not exactly what you are looking for but Google images turned up a few examples of clearance testing MF back in 2000(??) and Seaworld's Manta more recent. I guess each park (or manufacturer) has their own method. Source:... http://www.coasterbuzz.com/CoasterPhotoPhotoImage/200 http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/photo.php?pageid=204&linkid=4696
  5. What is this Banshee queue hologram of which you speak?
  6. ^I have an idea I want to throw out there. What if (and it's a big if) assuming KI gets a giga we take a page out of Coney Island NYC and bring back on old nameplate/icon much like they did with Thunderbolt. We all know that the Thunderbolt coaster was an old relic of a wooden coaster that sat dormant at Coney Island for many years until it was finally removed in 2000. Fast forward 14 years and neighboring Luna Park decides to use that nameplate for their new Zamperla coaster using almost identical signage (albeit modernized). Here's my thought...KI gets a giga and names it after the old "Shooting Star" from Old Coney Island. They could actually design the new giga off the same footprint as the Shooting Star to pay homage to a once great classic coaster. According to RCDB, the Shooting Star was an L-Shaped out and back coaster that ran along the Ohio river. Here's where it gets interesting...if KI indeed owns property all the way down to the Little Miami River, I could vision a giga starting at a station in say the DA or Action Theater space, (or somewhere in between). Have the lift hill and drop headed towards the river, high speed banks and airtime hills running along the river, horseshoe turnaround and eventually headed back into station. I'm not too handy with MS Paint or Photoshop, but I'm sure some of you on here could do an awesome mockup on Google Maps with an overlay from Fury 325 or Leviathan's layout as they are both L-Shaped out and back coasters. I dunno, the station may seem a bit off the beaten path if you have to traverse under Racer to get to it, but to be fair, Invertigo, Beast, Bat, Firehawk & FoF to me, are off the beaten path just the same. Here is an image of the old Shooting Star station and logo. Can you imagine how this would look with 21st century LED lighting.....thoughts? Shooting Star station pic source: Pinterest
  7. ^Thanks, I knew it was somewhere around that area.
  8. I miss the foot long coney island the father & son are eating at 0:39. IIRC, weren't those were sold in Rivertown? I seem to remember getting one from the (now) named Rivertown Potatoworks.
  9. Funny, the rendering looks a lot bigger/longer than just 3 buildings
  10. Agreed. Growing up as kid in the 70's KI was my home park. IIRC when walking down I-Street you would hear traditional French Cafe music and subsequently in Oktoberfest, they would play some sort of German Polka music. Even though I-Street had shops representing Italy, Spain, Germany and Sweden, I don't recall any other world music being played. (i.e. music from Spain or Italy) It would be kind of interesting if they brought back all of the different shops from that era. I remember you could get French pastries, German sauerkraut, Italian Sausage e.t.c. They even had a working bakery where you could buy mini loaves of Wonder bread. Now it seems as if all of the shops are nothing more than common trinket shops. How cool would it be to grab a miniature Eiffel Tower souvenir in 2017. Can you still get the saltwater taffy anywhere on I-Street? That was a BIG draw back in the day.
  11. Solo tripping from Charlotte, NC to Ohio Wed 5/17/17 thru Sunday 5/21/17. Have Platinum Pass with FL+ and will be visiting KD, CP & KI. I do it every year since family/friends either can't schedule the exact same time off or simply don't like extreme/thrill vacations. You will not be lonely if you strike up conversations. I meet tons of people this way and keep up with them via social media. Do not be afraid to ask if you can ride with someone. To be fair, if they are a wanting a specific seat they may ask you to jump ahead of them or vice versa but I've only encountered that situation once. Also, when you are almost to the loading gate, keep an eye out for the ride op assigning seats holding up "one" finger as they are always looking for single riders. Have never met anyone on this board being located in Charlotte, but I will be at KI on Sat 5/20 if anyone wants/needs a ride partner. Only caveat is we would have to time the wait/que if you have no FL+ but I have a lot of patience. Hope this info helps the OP.
  12. Here is a screen capture from Google Maps but it's the closest I can get for you. I think Zephyr was added around 1986 and the 1985 Park map shows the Mat Racer slide just about where Zephyr is currently at the bottom of Racer's first drop. Also, IIRC, I believe the Coney Disco was further down the midway right next to Zodiac. I know you can't really go by park maps for obvious reasons, but the curiosity is killing me. If you look really close, the building material and roof are an exact match of the ride operator's little covered stand just to the right, so it must have something to do with Zephyr after all. One would think that a wave swinger wouldn't need any machinery/mechanicals that large just to operate...I dunno
  13. Shaggy, great pics from back in the day. I am a former KI alumn and graduated right next door from Kings High School. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed these pics. A question for you (or anyone that can recall)...what was the little house (building) behind Zephyr used for? I don't recall it there in the 70's unless it was the old Coney Disco stage where they had a DJ (Duke Edwards I think) from WOKV. I could be WAY off.
  14. You might be right on that. RCDB states Python @ Efteling is a Vekoma and ran Arrow trains for sometime before being replaced with the newer Vekoma trains. on the flip side, I don't know of an Arrow coaster that runs Vekoma trains. Seems like if Vekoma loopers can run Arrow trains you would think Arrow loopers could run with Vekoma trains. Interesting note, our Vortex is a near clone of Python at Efteling yet ours is an Arrow. They are fortunate to have the newer trains.
  15. When we (Carowinds) received our Boomerang from Geauga Lake in 2009, they added the newer style trains and trust me when I tell you it makes a HUGE difference. Imagine what these trains would do for Vortex...it would be a WHOLE new coaster with much smoother transitions in the elements and best of all, NO HEAD BANGING
  16. Trying to book my vacation to Ohio from N.C. For those in the know, is it relatively safe to assume based on the above dates that KI will start full weekly operation on May 15th? They have yet to add the 2017 dates on their website
  17. Could be an optical illusion but from the DB webcam, it looks as if there is going to be a final drop either just before (or inside) the shed.
  18. ^I know it can't be copied due to the patent rights infringement but how awesome would this be at KI just outside the MT gift shop or maybe a different version somewhere else in the park? I like how each coaster is on the menu and has it's own recipe/item. Just a thought.....
  19. Re: Carowinds...Per Cedar Fair press release back in 2014, "Carowinds was the 6th largest park in the portfolio with significant attendance and guest spending potential. Cedar Fair is committed to investing in the future growth of Carowinds while maintaining and enhancing the park's historic legacy" We obviously don't know what the future holds for Carowinds but I say with confidence that with all the transformational capital investments they are making in the Charlotte region, they are "somehow" wanting to turn this into a destination park much like Cedar Point/KI. It has long been rumored that we are to get an on-site hotel/resort since CF purchased over 61 additional acres back in 2011. We did't necessarily need a GreatWolf lodge next door since we already have one within a 30 min drive, but we do need something to promote lengthier stays. While we do have similar market demographics to Kings Island, Carowinds has the unique opportunity to increase capacity through the addition of iconic new thrill rides, expansion of children's areas and the waterpark, of which they just completed in 2016. It is quite possible that we are no longer #6 and have been bumped up in the chain with all of the additions in during the last two years. IIRC, that $50 mil was for a three year plan including our 2017 re-do of County Fair with the 4 new flats, so we'll have to see what happens next.
  20. I recall Gwazi having a transfer track on each side just before the station, but I don't recall the turn going into the station being as sharp as what is indicated on the MT track layout. I was at Dollywood for their "Christmas in the Smokies" last weekend and while in line for Lightning Rod they were adding another train because of the crowds. Let me just say that the transfer track is ingenious...when not in use, the 2nd train is actually is stored just below the operational train while in the station and is loaded onto the track via an elevator like platform. It's kinda hard to describe unless you see it in action, but based on the track layout rendering of MT that we see now, I don't think that is what we will see in the shed. Besides, the train is empty for safety reasons during a transfer so it definitely is not rider inclusive.
  21. ^makes perfect sense Tr0y. I was waiting in line for Fury 325 last summer when all of a sudden we saw a few trains being dispatched with no riders. Once we got to the loading gates, we saw the crew spraying down the trains and subsequently releasing them for full circuit drying. All this due to several protein spills in one afternoon...yikes!! On topic of cleaning...was at Dollywood for "Christmas in the Smokies" last weekend getting on Wild Eagle. Once we got to the gate and all riders were seated and buckled, there was a brief wait and we couldn't figure out what the delay was since everyone on our side of the train was buckled in and ready to go. Well, during this brief wait, both ride ops on our side grabbed a spray bottle and immediately started wiping down the release gates ( the big metal steel gates that open when the train is released). At first, I thought,"really, seems like you guys could do this tonight after you close?",because at that point, I was ready to ride. but... it turns out that on the opposite side of the platform, the ride ops over there were helping a handicapped person get seated which caused the brief delay. Then I said to myself, this is so AWESOME..taking advantage of a brief downtime to keep the area clean. Once again, Dollywood did not disappoint and this is the very reason that they are TOP NOTCH in customer service across the industry. Too bad ALL parks can't do this.
  22. Things Paramount did wrong: Poor ride maintenance (as opposed to Cedar Fair's current standards anyway) I would be curious to know why DB's seats are in such deplorable condition. I know it's not necessarily ride maintenance from a mechanical standpoint but it's what the public sees when waiting in que to load/unload the trains. I guess I would say to myself if the seats are in such bad condition, what else have they been neglecting....I dunno? ........thoughts!
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