befat

Kings Island already admitting defeat by declaring that this coaster will be trash. Seriously though, it’s probably a steel drum that the bolts came in. There appears to be a black one next to the T shaped footer.

I'm hoping someone more familiar with Kings Dominion knows, what is all of this in red? Old Lion Country Safari? I'm assuming the park doesn't own the area in yellow?

Kings Dominion is missing a mat racer slide. It's the only slide complex I can think of Cedar Fair adding in recent memory other than the drop slides which KD already has. http://newsplusnotes.blogspot.com/ has a theory that they'll eventually move all of the waterpark to the other side of Racer 75. That makes sense to me as the 2 slide towers left on the other side are originals. Interestingly, KI has the same slides which are also originals. However, I hope they can move the Proslide tube ride or replace it with the modern version https://www.proslide.com/rides/pipeline/. It's a great starter water slide for kids and still lots of fun. The old body slides can go. Water coasters don't seem to be Cedar Fair's thing. I think this is a sign that Volcano's removal truly was a last minute decision as they clearly had other 2020 plans on the books. There's no way the wave pool site would be combined with the Volcano site. However, the old waterpark site could be. Is it conceivable that Cedar Fair would add a B&M Hyper in the same park as I305? It could go right over top of Backlot like Behemoth does. Edit: To further this thought, they could move the park entrance of the waterpark to between Apple Zapple and Twisted Timbers. Add a parking lot behind TT and you're all set. I'm sure the long walk from the parking lot to the waterpark is a huge deterrent for people. It would be for me. Trips to the waterpark with kids requires a lot of stuff.

Polris, Plaris, Polars? Orin, Orn, Oron? I give up. I don't think it will work for 2020.

Has a hashtag ever been officially part of the name the way a number has though? This could be groundbreaking!

Attaching a number to the ride name is so 2010. How about something more modern, like a hashtag? Polaris #tallerthanDiamondback.

John Matarese isn’t wasting his money! By being ahead of the curve on this one, he’s getting all the clicks.

The park will make an announcement. If nothing else, because the cost to do so is next to nothing. All they have to do is wine and dine the local media and they’ll get “free” advertising. However, the amount of paid advertising that they do will be considerably less than say, 20 years ago, because of the power of social media.

The park will probably make an announcement when they’re ready to sell 2020 season passes. They don’t need to make an announcement before the first track piece arrives or immediately after. The day the first track piece arrives will add to the excitement either way. I don’t think they’ll try to hide the track back behind Banshee. The easiest way to get the track to the site would be through the park. That service road under Banshee has a lot of hills to navigate. Not impossible but I think unlikely. So I think they’ll either stage it in the parking lot or take it straight back and store it on the unused portion of the Firehawk site.

That’s right! I forgot about that. It’s crazy that Nickelodeon Universe was only around for 4 seasons (excluding Nickelodeon Central). NU was so well done.

It seems that people are telling horror stories of opening day crowds. On Diamondback’s opening morning, it went full queue, into Planet Snoopy, toward the Eiffel Tower, past Floral Clock, past the DB splash down and maxed out at Reds Hall of Fame Grill. The line came within about 30 feet of crossing back over itself. That never came close to happening again. As long as this ride is running 3 trains and has minimal downtime, I think 90 minutes will be the extreme after the first few weekends. With regards to queue design, you don’t design a permanent queue for opening day crowds. Since Diamondback, KI has had a plan with temp queues for opening day and the first few weekends. I’m sure the 2020 coaster will use the service road like Banshee did. I’ve thought more about why the Firehawk queue isn’t being used for the new coaster. Logistically, it makes sense to move the entrance to the right side so that it doesn’t block FOF when the new ride goes beyond full queue. This way, the line will hug the fence-line on the right when it gets long and is probably why the food stand is being removed. Is FOF photo still gone? Maybe we’ll see some 20oz’s and pretzels being sold there.

Ahh, I stand corrected. I thought it was the gate by Mystic Timbers.

I took my first trip to the top of the Tower today. I know there’s nothing new to be seen in this picture. But, I think it’s strange that we’ll be looking straight across at a new coaster next year instead of down at a construction site.

Log Flume. There is acid and chlorine behind that gate, (so don’t block it).

I think I know what happened here: B&M: Yo Hershey, you like this color for your supports? HP: Yea B&M: Yo KI, you like this color for your supports? KI: Yea B&M: Yes, hello? Can we just double that order of gray paint?

Good call! I'm still banking on seeing teasers after July 7th. End of Carnivale and Gold goes away the same day. As in years past, I'm sure the announcement will come along with sales starting for 2020 season passes.

Please delete.

Thanks- @aj74205 for the comparison! I find it interesting that the turnaround helix on both rides ended up interacting closely with other rides. On Top Gun, that train flew so close to Son of Beast. It was always fun to watch! Obviously, Yukon Striker has a tunnel under that same helix on Vortex. Edit: To add to the confusion about the differences between Bat and Vortex, RCDB.com has a picture of Vortex's plate which lists a recommended speed of 100 km/h which converts to 62 mph. RCDB says Vortex's speed is 55 mph, so ???? I'm guessing the speeds were actually measured at some point since they are less than the speed listed on the ride plate. I can see how speed would be variable depending on what conditions they were measured under. Weather can play a big factor, along with beginning/end of season. I'm wondering if the differences in length are simply a mistake. These rides were pre-internet so I'm sure accurate information was hard to come by for RCDB. Now, all they have to do is copy the announcement information. (I have a great appreciation for this website though!)

Son of Beast was around to be "RMC'ed". New Texas Giant opened in 2011 and the decision to tear the ride down after was made public in mid-2012 with the ride being torn down later that year. The GM said publicly that the decision was made after a thorough evaluation of the ride. I'm sure an RMC conversion was considered. In my opinion, SOB did not lend itself well to being converted. We probably would have gotten basically the same layout as before, like in this fan creation. Instead, we got Banshee.

Sorry for the double post. The South Padre property is also being rebranded. https://schlitterbahn.org/guests/

Thanks. I figured they still fully owned the property since it’s still on their website. But then again, so is the Kansas City property. I’d love to see a full case study on Schlitterbahn once this is all said and done.

Interesting that there is no mention of the Corpus Christi property. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the end of Schlitterbahn as a brand name. It goes to show how a tragedy can impact a brand name. (See Sea World).

@MDMC01 In an effort to not derail the decoding thread, I’m moving the conversation over here. I had forgotten the reason that X-Flight and Batwing were designed with the GAU (Guest Automation Unit) motors on the train was so that they could be lowered on the lift. They ran into issues with this so that idea was scraped by Six Flags. https://youtu.be/qrhcVrKJnVI The whole system (both types) that raises and lowers the train is known as the GAU. If there were an issue with the GAU motor (or pin, which locks each row into the prone position), it would force an evacuation. It’s way easier to evacuate from the station than the lift. It looks like Vekoma has been working on some new ideas for their flying coaster model for a while: https://youtu.be/nO5we1Xmiqc https://rcdb.com/15201.htm

For Stealth/Nighthawk and Firehawk, there is/was a giant hydraulic powered structure under the station that lifts the train. For every row, there are 2 little whee ls that ride along 2 metal C shaped bars which raise the train (circled in red). These metal bars are all attached to one big structure under the station. For X-Flight and Batwing, the mechanism that raises the train was/is a motor attached to the chassis of the train for each row. I've never seen this mechanism/motor in action but I'm guessing it is hydraulic powered. Photo credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO9aX70VK-o Edit: Check out the screen grab below from a video of X-Flight to see the difference in the systems. Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRfvCMv8P6A

In watching videos of all three Flying Dutchman’s in their 5 different locations, here’s what I noticed about the seat lifting mechanisms. Stealth used an off train hydraulic system which I’m assuming is the same as Firehawk’s. Nighthawk also uses an off train hydraulic system. X-Flight used on train lift motors on each seat. Batwing continues to use this system. When X-Flight was moved to KI, the on train system was removed and the off train hydraulic system was installed. I believe the motors from X-Flight were sold to Six Flags. If the Firehawk trains could be modified to accommodate a different lifting mechanism, one would think they could be converted back to their original configuration. There’s no reason to ship the entire train across the country. But by storing the trains at KI, CF has the potential to make money by selling parts to Six Flags or save money by shipping parts to Carowinds should the need arise. I do think eventually KI will decide that the location next to the new ride is not ideal and they’ll be moved elsewhere in the park. Nighthawk and Batwing are major coasters at their parks. I wouldn’t be surprised if they stuck around for a lot longer.