johnjniehaus

My vote is for a new Vekoma though a mack extreme spinner would be pretty awesome as well. I have said for years the plot screams dive coaster however, Cedar Point has one already so isn't it about time we get something they don't already have? I wouldn't be crying about an RMC but I feel like if they wanted an RMC they should have built one instead of Mystic Timbers (feel free to disagree). Whatever they decide to build, I would like to see it have a 48" height requirement seeing as it's replacing Vortex which did. I also think it's kinda sad that kids have to wait until they are 52" to ride a looping coaster at KI now. That's probably 2 more years for any kids like me who grows 2 inches a year (I don't think I've grown since 2018 though so if any coaster ever have a height requirement of 69" I will never get to ride)

I choose a different question to be obsessed with for each each night of the week. (joking of course). The history book and photo books have been tremendous in answering some of my "keep you up at night" questions especially concerning recent additions or removals.

I'm not going to tar and feather you but yes the monster is definitely a bad capacity, bad efficiency ride but it's a classic and I would hate to see it go. I'll wait in the line and deal with the slow ops to be able to get that good stomach drop and the crazy spinning if the balance is off.

Here's the ones that keep me up at night - What ever happened to the zodiac after Wonderland Sydney closed (I get mixed info including it was relocated to South East Asia and put into storage or it was scrapped)? Would Phantom Theater still be popular if it hadn't been changed and was 30+ years old? How bad would the animatronics/special effects look after all that time? How much longer will The Bat last? It will be a sad day when it goes... Will they ever find a way to turn the blue racer backwards again? Why did Kings Island: a Photographic Journey skip over/leave out Days of Thunder?

Thought I'd revisit this thread and say I agree with not being a fan of monster ops. Loading 3 arms vs 4-6 seems very slow and reduces capacity. I get they want to have less ops on each side but monster is one that it would be worth keeping 3 ops on. Now that you mention it I have noticed surf dog has been closed a lot this season...

And people thought Vortex was sinking/too dangerous to ride?

I could see a mini land developed near the back of Coney mall themed to 1950s route 66 or whatever. A stunt car overhaul would be welcome thematically however, I personally just think it's not a very good coaster. How much money do you really want to invest in a coaster that just isn't that good to begin with theming and scenery aside? If it's between overhaul stunt cars or overhaul/refurbish FoF I'm going to say FoF because it's a major ride that fits the theme of area 72 extremely well and it's gotten really rough in recent years. (The KD version was so much smoother this year). Just my opinion for what it's worth...

Yeah that's my prediction too unfortunately. I'm not a waterpark person so SC additions might as well be a nothing year for me. I mean at least the water park fans are happy. I'd much prefer to see a new gen vekoma or new dark ride (either boo blaster re-do or crypt building) in 2025.

The Golden Tickets is always a fun thing and I've never taken them too seriously because it is voters opinions at the end of the day. I will say that last time I went to Dollywood was 2013 and every year recently I see them win a lot of the golden ticket awards. I have just found it difficult to drive 5 hours and then pay $85 plus parking to go there for what they have on paper (RMC, Arrow Looper, winged, eurofighter, wooden, family coasters). Silver Dollar City is actually much higher on my bucket list because of time traveler and would be similar in terms of pricing (bit further drive though). I do agree that parks with more ace events usually are rewarded with higher votes and parks with more traffic are going to get more votes as well. Dollywood is huge for tourists and Cedar Point is still a heavy tourist traffic park. For me personally, I-305 is the #1 steel coaster and The Beast still holds #1 for Woodies (Pheonix being a close #2). I was happy to see that BGW took the most beautiful park back from Dollywood. As I said I've not been to Dollywood for a long time so maybe they are deserving of the award but I have high respect for BGW and their grounds and maintenance team. That park is the most picturesque I've ever visited. I also have never been to Holiday World so I'm going to attempt to remedy that this October. Working full time and going to college doesn't leave much time for weekend getaways so hopefully it works out. I really want to see if the Voyage can top The Beast for #1 woodie for me.

I took the behind the scenes tour at BGW (which is really good btw) in 2022 and we got to tour the loch Ness maintenance area and I will say looking at all the work they do on the ride and how smoothly it runs for its age and design, you can tell that it's being well preserved. I know one of the maintenance guys told me that in 20 years he thought the track would be shot so hopefully whatever the restoration project entails is extending that lifespan further. Of course others have pointed out that metal coaster lifespan is an indefinite thing with tons of contributing factors one of which is how much maintenance and upkeep is done on the ride. I personally think that BGW is doing a really good job on this ride. If only they had cared for Big Bad Wolf in the same way... if I could time travel BBW is definitely in my top 5 wish I could have ridden coasters.

I personally don't like being scared but it's not a big enough deterrent for me not to go to the park and get lots of awesome night rides during haunt. Would I prefer the monsters/actors only be in the mazes? Yes, because I prefer not to be scared/jumped. However, I do understand that Haunt is it's own event and that people who are really into that stuff would be disappointed if the roaming monsters/actors went away all together because then their only option would be waiting in the long scare maze lines. I see both sides of the argument. As for me, the last two years I've attended haunt solely for the purpose of getting lots of night rides seeing as scare mazes, actors, monsters, etc is not really my thing.

I've ridden the monster for years and I've never seen them load 3 arms until this year. Maybe they have other years/days and I have never been at the park when they do. I do know that typically they have 3 operators (1 in the control booth and 2 on the ground loading the arms). For years and years I've seen them load two then skip one and rotate it and load two more. 4 arms and 2 stops. I'm not sure how "balanced" the ride is but that's how it's been operated for years (at least whenever I've been there and rode it from 2014-2022). Only on a Saturday have I ever seen them load all 6 arms making 3 stops.

From news articles I've seen and BGW website it sounds like Loch Ness Monster is getting a full restoration/refurbishment. I can't wait to see what they do and I hope this is also a maintenance refurbishment as well to keep this coaster in prime condition for many more years. I've always thought that BGW takes good care of this ride and this has only reaffirmed my belief that they are looking to keep this coaster around for a long time. Such a great ride and is actually one of the smoother arrow loopers in operation.

Yeah I can see the balancing thing but my question was is it more efficient to have one ground operator load all the right arms (3 arms total, moving the ride three different times into loading position) or to load 4 arms making the op run to the far side but only have to move the ride into loading position twice. I'm also thinking capacity wise here. Does the extra time it takes to walk across the loading area and check the far arm take longer than cutting capacity by 4 vehicles (one arm) per cycle and having to reposition the ride an additional time? Whenever I rode it I had to wait 3 cycles before I was on so the loading procedure was definitely because of only having one op not because it wasn't busy.

The Monster is one of my favorite KI flats and I thought I'd ride it since I was up at the park alone last Sat (rest of my family says Monster is nauseating) and I am curious as to what is going on with it and why... First, they are loading 3 arms now instead of 4 or 6. I'm assuming that this is due to only having 2 operators (only one of which is on the ground) however, is it actually more efficient to have to reposition the arms 3x instead of just twice (loading 4 arms)? The 3 arm loading system seems very inefficient to me because of the additional reposition and less riders are able to ride during a cycle. Second, the ride seemed slow. So the actual spinning was normal but the center rotating piece that lifts and drops the arms seemed very slow. Usually the monster drops quick enough to give a mild stomach drop however last Saturday it seemed to be as mild as when it's in the lock position as it slowly went up and slowly went down at a more gradual pace. Third, I thought some of the lights were missing on the arms. (I am not always the most observant individual so this could very well be the way it's always been and I've just now noticed it) Anyone else experience the Monster recently and can anyone give further info on it? Anyone else experience a "slow" ride on it? Can anyone explain why they think loading 3 arms is better than 4?