Oldiesmann

I don't know if this was my first time visiting, but my first memory of visiting KI was when I was 6 years old. It was the day I rode a roller coaster the first time - Beastie with bench seats and no seatbelts (so you got a little airtime). It was a lot of fun

Let me guess... Rocket Dock and WindowBlinds... I am already making plans to be at KI on the day that Diamondback opens. I was there for the opening of Firehawk (still have my T-shirt from then around here someplace), and am not about to miss the opening of this thing. Even though I hate to see the lake go, it's about time we got something like this. Thank you Cedar Fair for investing in this

Seems that most of the issues affecting the site earlier have been resolved for the moment - all the videos, buddy icons and wallpaper have been moved to a working server (though the high quality videos are missing). However, the RSS feed for the blog is still broken.

Try disabling any popup blockers and make sure you have the latest version of Flash installed. Firefox's popup blocker doesn't have a problem with that site, but I can't say if other browsers will or not. The one thing that really disappoints me is that the RSS feed for the blog is broken. I was planning to subscribe to it, but all it outputs is a page saying "An error has occurred!"

Video works fine for me (Firefox 3), but there's no image for the webcam.

Just signed up as well I don't visit this board as much as I'd like, so this will keep me updated

Here's a couple of links with more info... Official site: http://www.newportducks.com NOL site: http://www.newportonthelevee.com/directory/detail.aspx?id=63 I'll definitely have to check this out - especially since I work at Newport on the Levee

My sister and I hit KI bright and early yesterday for the grand opening of Firehawk. We got there about 8:45 to a nice line of traffic on Kings Island Drive. After sitting in traffic for 15 or 20 minutes, we finally got going, paid our $10 for parking and hiked from Son of Beast 62 to the main gate. Once in the park, we joined a nice crowd of people waiting near Larosa's, occasionally moving aside to let employees through, and moving closer to the rope as more gaps opened up. Looking back, we were amazed at how many people had come since we got there. After about 30 minutes, the national anthem was played and we began the mad rush to Firehawk, like most of the other people. We got there to find that the ride wasn't open yet, but had heard that it would open around 10:30. After hearing another rumor that it would open around 11:30 (I think), we hit Outer Limits (front seat - the only way to do that ride) and The Vortex, then hopped back in line around 11, only to learn that the ride wouldn't be open for another couple of hours (at least that's what the employees told us). As the wait got longer, some people gave up and got out of line, so we moved up - eventually settling in near the Firehawk merchandise thingy (which wasn't open at the time). My sister grabbed us some ice water, and I eventually walked down and got me a strawberry fruit chill (which was a bit mushy, but quite tasty). After a short time, one of the area supervisors came by to talk to us about what was going on, and we decided that if the ride wasn't open by 2, we were going to give up. We watched the vendors come by, and were amused at the lady selling the battery-powered misting fans - every time someone went to look at them, she'd say something about "You know you want to buy one!". While my sister got up to go hit the backwards racer, the line moved up some more, and I was now in line between The Racers and the X-Base sign (near the maintenance gate). We noticed that the tests of Firehawk were getting more frequent, so we decided we were going to stick around since it was most likely going to open soon. A couple of the ride associates came by and explained the rules about loose articles and locker rental. Around 1:30, a kid who had run up to see what was going on came running back and announced that they'd just opened the gates. We moved up, excited that we were finally going to go on the ride. As we got closer, my sister had planned to buy Dippin' Dots at the stand near Firehawk, but for some unknown reason, they didn't have any (despite the fact that they had the freezers and signs and such). We finally got up to the "briefing" area, and once again they explained the locker/loose articles situation. We rented a locker, crammed our stuff in there, and hit the queue line. We got up to the "flight deck" around 2:45 or so, and walked towards the station, looking forward to the ride ahead. We were a bit surprised that they weren't pairing people up and spreading them out like they did (and, to my knowledge, still do) with IJ, but we chose the third row back ("row 4") since the line for the front seat was ridiculous and we hadn't eaten lunch yet. The wait in the station was fun - the employees were having a great time (even telling us to ask them if there was any question as to what a "loose article" was), and we watched someone with a laptop tweaking the other car (not sure exactly what he was doing). After a minor delay due to some sort of a problem with one of the sensors or something on the track, the ride resumed, and we finally got on around 3:30. The ride was an absolute blast, although I was a bit disappointed that I had to close my eyes during parts of it to avoid being blinded by the sun. We got off the ride and got our coupons to get our t-shirts, then headed out to the car for lunch. By the time we got out there, it was about 4:15, so we quickly wolfed down our sandwiches, then headed to change for the water rides. We hit Congo River Falls first, and it was a walk-on (like it usually is). We didn't get too wet on the ride, and went to get drenched on the bridge, then dried off some and hiked off to Whitewater Canyon. By the time we got in line there, it was 5:15, and we briefly thought about skipping it so we could have time to hit the water park, but the line was moving quickly, and we had only planned to spend about an hour at the water park, so we waited anyway. 35 minutes later, we got off the ride, completely drenched. Great ride like usual. After this, we stopped to dry off a bit, and walked off towards Boomerang Bay, stopping briefly to watch the elephant at Wild Thornberries soak some un-suspecting riders, and laughing as an associate kept reminding people to put their electronic devices up (two or three times), then had to tell someone (another two or three times) to stop using headphones on the ride. We walked down past the picnic grove, and marveled at the sign showing the area's schedule for the day - it was well-booked as you might expect. We finally got to Boomerang Bay about 6:15, and went to check on locker prices. Seeing that locker prices had increased by $2 this year (last year it was $10 with a $5 refundable deposit; this year it's $12 with a $6 refundable deposit), and that the waterpark was closing in about 20 minutes, we decided to skip the water park, and waited for the train to come back. We purposely took the train back because I wanted to stop at the station and get a Dippin' Dots Sundae (which it turns out they no longer offer). The ride back was enjoyable, although a bit cheesy at times (apparently the fort-like structure is now a "witch's college", but all the witches were on summer break; the bear in the woods wasn't coming towards us and was apparently about to take a nap...). Back at the station, I looked to see how much a Dippin' Dots Sundae was, but seeing that they now only offer the standard Dippin' Dots and a "Dippin' Dots Float", went for the float instead - Mint Chocolate Dippin' Dots with Barq's Red Cream Soda [yes, I'm strange, but this odd combo was surprisingly good]. We headed over to Action Zone and hopped in line for Delirium. The line was short, and we were on and off the ride in about 30 minutes. Nothing unusual here - just another really fun ride. After this, we jumped in line for Face/Off, and again waited about 30 minutes. We laughed at the things laying in the gravel (including a particularly nice cell phone), and wished that the kids in front of us would stop bouncing their basketballs (why can't they give those things away deflated?). The employees at Face/Off were also having a good time, which made it more enjoyable, and because it was late in the day, I was able to keep my eyes open the entire time without having to get blinded by the sun. After that, we hiked out to the car for dinner. By this time it was almost 8:00, but we'd already planned the rest of the night - hit the backwards racers, then finish off the night with the mandatory front-seat-ride on The Beast (even more fun in the dark ). After dinner, we decided that there wasn't time to hit the Eiffel Tower (as much as I wanted to do that), and headed off to the backwards Racers. The line here was also pretty short, and the antics of the employees made things even more enjoyable (particularly after Maggie, the driver, saw a spider...). The ride on The Racer was fun, and we decided to go check out the line for Firehawk, in hopes that there might be another chance to do that before The Beast. When we got there, we saw the crowd, and the "From this point, the wait for Firehawk is approximately 3 hours" sign, and decided to skip it. The ride on The Beast was a blast as usual - especially because it was darker than we had expected. There was a brief delay due to the fireworks (which are now shot off from somewhere near there), but it only lasted 10 minuets, and we still got to ride it. Following that, we meandered up towards the front of the park, thoroughly exhausted after a long day. On the way out, we stopped by the funnel cake stand for some apple fries, then headed back to the car, wondering who decided that getting rid of the trams was a good idea. Due to time constraints, the only shots I took yesterday were Firehawk-related, but I did get some great shots. You can view them here. Notes on the photos: Dane - feel free to download them and put them in the gallery here. Everyone else - feel free to download these and do what you want with them. Just make sure that you give me credit for them if you use them elsewhere. To download the photos: Click "Add album to Cart" from the main album page If you only want to download certain ones, check the box next to the ones you don't want to download, select "Update Quantities" from the "cart actions" list and click "Go" Once you're happy with your choices, select "Download in Zip" from the "cart actions" list and click "Go"

My sister and I were also in that line. We got there early, and waited in the nice crowd near Larosa's for them to open the rest of the park. We rushed to Firehawk, and we'd heard that it wouldn't open until later, so we hit Flight of Fear and Vortex, then returned to the line around 11, at which point we were told that it wouldn't open for a couple more hours. We then decided to wait, and that we would give up if it wasn't open by 2. We started near the Zephyr exit gate, but people kept getting tired of waiting and left the line, so by the time the ride actually opened, we were almost under The Racers. We still didn't get on the ride until almost 3:30, but we got our t-shirts, and had a lot of fun. We got coupons #2125 and 2126, but I'm guessing this is because they'd split them up between the workers so they could get them out faster (rather than creating jams at the exit by having one person give them out).

I don't consider removing one of the best parts of the ride a "solution". Sure, the ride will be smoother, but it won't be nearly as fun without the loop.

I don't think it will be back, mainly because they couldn't afford to compete with Holidayfest (which saw an astonishing 52% increase in attendance last year...)

Removing the loop is the wrong thing to do in my opinion. That was the best part of the ride, and it won't be the same without it. The loop wasn't the problem. It was just a rough ride altogether. I'm all for anything that makes it a smoother ride, but not if it involves removing the one thing that made the ride so famous to begin with.

Thanks for the info. I was going to attend that conference call as well, but it looked like it was more for investors so I skipped out. WinterFest's main problem is that it's too darn expensive, especially compared to local competition, mainly HolidayFest (see http://www.holidayfestatthebeach.com for this year's prices).

I didn't expect them to buy all five parks, but I am excited to see what the company will do with them, even though we probably won't see any changes until next season.

I'm with the people who want CedarFair to buy PKI. They've got a great track record with Cedar Point (hundreds of awards, quality top-notch rides) and I think they'd be the best ones, especially since their only business is amusement parks. I don't really see why Anheuser-Busch would be interested in King's Island - it doesn't really fit in with their current offerings - two Busch Gardens parks (nice rides, but both parks also have wildlife conservation programs and wildlife exhibits), two waterparks (each of which is conveniently located near a Busch Gardens park), Sesame Place (Sesame Street themed kiddie park in Pennsylvania), three SeaWorlds, Discovery Cove (a tropical getaway designed to teach kids all about the ocean and sea life through a unique hands-on experience) and KingsMill Resort and Spa (conveniently located in Williamsburg, Virginia - not far from Busch Gardens...).

I also wish PKI had left HB alone. Many parents grew up watching HB cartoons and it was great seeing them point out the various characters to their kids. Even though most kids only recognized Scooby Doo, it still gave the parents something memorable to share with their kids. I'm especially annoyed that The Beastie was re-themed. I thought that they would surely leave that one alone since it wasn't an HB-themed ride, and it had become a family favorite. The Beast is still one of the most popular coasters in the park (probably the most popular at that), and there was really no reason to do that. I am glad that the kiddy whip ride was moved to a more promenant spot though - many people probably weren't aware that the ride was even there last year because it was crammed back in a corner. The Nick Central parade helped to increase its popularity some, but it definitely suffered because of its location. Crew reductions can happen for a number of reasons, but I experienced the effect of this last year (although it might have been due more to a crew shortage than a planned reduction). At some point, someone decided it would be a good idea to remove the greeter position at Beastie. This was a horrible idea in my opinion and only made things worse for everybody (including guests) - height-checking wasn't done until the kids got up to the front of their row (in most cases), and we had very little time to check height in between our other responsibilities. It also caused delays in many cases and probably had a lot to do with why so many parents got so ticked when their kid wasn't tall enough - if they had been told this before they got in line, they probably wouldn't have cared as much. Granted, it would have been easier if people had actually read the sign at the beginning of the ride (and if a very few people didn't try to sneak their kid on the ride even though they were too short), but things were a zoo at Beastie during any normal day, and it was especially bad during the few times when we were swamped...

http://www.schmidty.com/vmhistory/history/...chwabinchen.asp

Video worked fine here, but maybe that's because I've got a broadband connection.

The ride itself. The pre-show is good, but it would be better if they'd leave the stupid emergency lights off.

Glad they're almost done with it. I really miss that ride! Now we can look forward to standing in really long lines for that ride again

You're probably thinking of Fender Bender 500 - similar concept, but that's about it. The way the ride operates is much different than that of the antique cars. Riders have no control over the cars, and it's all powered by electricity, not gasoline.

Best advice as far as ice water is to bring a souvenir cup or a water bottle of some sort. They'll fill it up with ice water for free.

Nice job

Yes, they actually did have to build a special access road to get to Delirium, but it wasn't for the sake of transporting the parts. It was so they could get a couple of large cranes and a cherry picker back there to get the big gear up there. I don't think they built the road all the way around the campground. It appears to be an extension off of an existing access road (from what I've seen from the tower...).

It's just honesty really. If the person says they're at least 13, then the site admin can't get yelled at for collecting their personal info if they're not 13 yet (legal stuff).