johnjniehaus

7-1 is my favorite row on The Bat

I'm with you 100% that when rides are removed a replacement needs to already be in the works. Unfortunately I think the pandemic scratched any plans they had for The Vortex plot and at this point people have just accepted the fact there's nothing there and probably won't be for a few more years

Not a huge fan of the name changes with the exception of Franklin Flyers (that one was good) We will now have Woodstock Express and Woodstock Air Rail (two Woodstock coasters...hmmm ok) and there was nothing wrong with the log flume name in relation to the area in my opinion

The Runaway Mine Train at SFOT, the Dahlonega Mine Train at SFOG, and Big Bad John at Magic Springs all have 3 lifts. As mentioned already The River King Mine Train at SFSL has 3 lifts as does Big Thunder Mountain at Disney World and Disneyland. So not totally uncommon for an Arrow mine train

How about we swap Delirium to Six Flags St Louis for the Colossus (giant ferris wheel)?

Few rides who's days are numbered.... 1. Boo Blaster: ride was in worse shape than I've ever seen it this past season. Maybe Phantom Theater revamp or something original. They won't take this out until they are ready to replace it. 2. Invertigo: Banshee has sort of taken the spot for inverted looper in the park's lineup and Invertigo is a rare vekoma model that eventually the park will not want to invest in (much like Firehawk) 3. Congo Falls: enough said it's been circling the ride cemetery for years. Possibly it and Invertigo leave at the same time with possible Timberwolf removal 4. The Bat: Hard to say how long a lifespan it will have but eventually I think it'll suffer the same fate as Vortex and due to the poor location it may not be replaced by anything. Is it going away tomorrow? No but do you think it will be there after 2030? I'm not sure if it'll last that long. Hopefully because I love that ride! 5. White Water Canyon: so this is random I know but has anyone noticed a trend of parks removing their river rapids rides? Carowinds, Holiday World, etc.... I think maybe it's a possibility that one day WWC will be filled in

My opinion is that yes ACE coaster landmark arrows such as the Matterhorn, Magnum, Loch Ness Monster, etc are prime candidates for re-tracking and restoration. The commonplace arrow is toast if it "reaches the end of its service life". There's a lot that goes into the lifespan of a coaster. The Matterhorn is older than many wooden coasters and the Runaway Mine Train at SFOT is still going strong. So some arrows may have many many years left in them. The "best" ones unfortunately also probably have shorter lifespans because of higher speed and forces and stress on the parts. I honestly fear for the Arrow suspended coasters seeing as none of them are recognized by ACE and there's only a handful left. Of course I have my preferences but at this point I don't care which park keeps their arrow suspended coaster, I just want one park to step up and make a big investment in preserving one

#PT2025

FoF 12/26/23

Can anyone tell me how Pipeline compares to Riddler's Revenge at SFMM? I mean Pipeline looks cool and I'm totally onboard with the revival of the standup design but Riddler is absolutely amazing - long layout with 6 inversions...it's just hard for me to see Pipeline being able to top that

Merry Christmas and to all a good night!

Is there any place on the official KI website or the Cedar Fair website that information about the auditions is listed?

While nobody wants to see an amusement park chain go out of business, this is a great point that Kings Island has a proven history of being a very successful, profitable park and that's thanks to it's unwavering fans who come out to the park each year and have been for multiple generations. Everyone from the enthusiasts to the one time visitors play a part in why Kings Island is such a desirable park and it's true that it would have no problem finding a new owner if the current cedar/six chain went under

Hey does anyone have any information or updates on what is going on with Montezuma's Revenge? As far as I know ever since they removed some track and the loop, the park has been pretty silent other than the announcement that the project was delayed and that Monty would not open this summer as was planned...

Very excited to see this open (hopefully next year) I was wondering why each train car looks like the front car of a Schwarzkopf train? Hopefully it runs pretty smoothly and doesn't disappoint. It's been many years in the making at this point. Side note: if it took IB this long to get this coaster running, how long is it going to take Knott's to get Montezuma back up and running? We haven't heard too much about that project have we? If anyone has news on Monty please let me know.

I personally find the airtime on the blue side to be slightly stronger than the red after the re-tracking so while it's a minor complaint, hopefully the airtime can stay just as good after the blue side is finished. I do agree with everyone else that painting it critical to keep the color scheme in tact. I also agree that the red side has that one spot that everyone knows about and it should be addressed at some point. I'm not sure why they stopped the retrack before that bump but you can visibly see that they re tracked a few additional feet on the blue side going up that hill to the turn while on the red side, the new wood ended right at the bottom of the drop - therefore when you come up the other side you hit that jolt that leaves you thinking "what the heck!"

As long as the holiday funnel cakes on I-Street return and they get Santa Jim for Tinker's Toy Factory I'll be happy! Santa Jim deserves a film or TV appearance of some sort. My sister and I didn't grow up believing in Santa but if I ever was to believe he's the guy I'd believe in...

The only IP I would want to see is a return of Hanna Barbara to kiddy land. I have a real soft spot for Looney Tunes and Peanuts because I watched VHS tapes of both as a kid but Hanna Barbara would be really cute and would pull in nostalgia like crazy for some older park guests. My grandparents still say they will meet us in Hanna Barbara Land...

The main thing I don't like about the DC retheme idea is that nearly every six flags park has that area already and they all feel similar. Cedar Fair in my opinion has knocked it out of the park with the unique themed areas at KI (Adventure Port & Area 72) and also the Jungle Expedition at Kings Dominion. It makes for a more individualized feel to each park and keeps things interesting and fresh to anyone who is coming from out of town.

It's a horrible idea that makes sense... I'm definitely against it but I could definitely see it happen. The Bat might look cool with a navy blue, yellow, and grey Batman color scheme but that's about all I'd enjoy - the fact that The Bat is still around

I wonder if they will let me use my Six Flags Gold Membership (the old one where you pay $6.59 a month) at Kings Island now? Do you think they are finally going to cut off the old memberships or will they still be grandfathered in?

Yeah I don't know what the profit margins are on SFMM/Knott's but I think if they are selling parks that Dorney is getting sold pretty quickly. Hopefully they get a great buyer because I really love Dorney and their great history!

I think the small parks will suffer the most. The parks listed above will get most of the investments. The smaller parks like frontier city and Dorney Park will probably never see a new coaster again (unless it's a cheap clone). This also brings up the question of will another company such as Merlin or Sea World try to buy certain parks that the new Cedar Flags company decides they want to cut from their roster?

Which you know is going to happen. The last thing they want is for a bunch of factions within the board. "Oh I'm a CF guy" and "Well I'm a SF gal" etc. From a standpoint of wanting to move forward successfully I think everyone will do their best to get along and compromise.

This is like a dream but also like a nightmare. Historically competition has been good for both chains to build bigger and better thrills. I personally hope we see more of Cedar Fair leadership in control of the new combined company because frankly CF has better parks and builds better rides. Six Flags has been cost cutting like crazy and the new coasters/rides they build are frankly just not exciting. When was the last time Six Flags built anything by B&M? I hope this merger will pull six flags up but I'm afraid that it'll drag Cedar Fair down. Another thought - it seems as if Six Flags is the one taking the lead here. Correct me if I'm wrong but Cedar Fair is essentially becoming part of six flags? So does that mean that the parks are going to get renamed? How about rides? I really liked the direction CF was going at parks like KI and KD with the new themed lands which have unique stories unlike six flags that just themes everything for a DC character and slaps the same labels on everything at every park. Of course another concern for me personally is the older rides and rollercoasters... Six Flags has been removing old rides and rollercoasters at an aggressive rate! Most of their Woodies are rough and don't receive the love that the ones at Kings Island need. What is the future of Cedar Fair's collection of Arrow coasters under the new merger plan? Sure maybe there is a bigger resource for scrap parts/trains but I fear for arrow loopers and suspended coasters. If the new business motto is six flags policy I think we'll see a lot of older rides removed in the next ten years and they will be replaced with dumb clones that pale in comparison. One final thought, what happens to parks that exist in the same city or geographic area? For example Magic Mountain/Knott's? Some of the other parks are rather close together as well... I personally think we'll see more parks close and land sold if there is a demand for it. (See California Great America) Oh side note: the two Great America parks will finally be reunited under the same ownership for the final years because CGA closes! Ironically kinda cool from a historical standpoint.