King Maple The Tree King

While in the past there has been a lot of abuse of the disability policy, I can tell you that this year it has greatly improved. Having personally taken someone around the park who has a disability and is wheel chair bound, I learned first hand how the system has greatly improved. First off, you can no longer just go up to the exit of a ride and hop on, you first must visit guest relations and receive an Attractions Boarding Pass. There at Guest Relations, my friend notified them of his physical limitations and they helped him consult on what would be recommended for him to ride and what wouldn't, then you receive your Attractions Boarding Pass. This pass allows you to go up the exit of a ride, however, once you get there you must present the pass to a ride attendant. If the line is under a half an hour they will let the person with the pass and one additional rider (until this year it was three additional riders) board the ride. If the line is over a half an hour they will write you a time on your pass, stamp it, and you are free to come back at that time (Note: you can not have any other active times written on your pass when you go to get a new time, in essence: you can only wait in one line at a time). Now if you have more than 2 people in your group, you can have your group wait in line while the person with the pass and one other wait at the exit, then just notify the ride operators and they will help you all get paired together, thus everyone waits an equal time. I was really impressed with how the system was executed this year. My wife was wheel chair bound for 4 months after foot surgery..when we went to Top Gun we were told they would stamp that paper and we could come back..which we told them never mind...who wants to make two trips clear back there. Maybe if they had an employee at the entrance of the queue. Or maybe you could have planned ahead, and you know, just sent one person with the pass to go get it stamped as is something indicated on the sheets.. You were probably too busy creating other user names and ripping cigarettes out of peoples hands though.

How many of those babes have full sets of teeth?

Anyone else think this is Jackson pretending to be Larry the Cable Guy?

To go to a grad night wouldn't he had to have graduated high school?

Art you can't grill'em til ...you kill'em. Deer look a lot better on my plate...than the grill of my car. You haven't lived until you have done the backstrap boogie Why am I so reminded of? And for the older generation like myself:

Sure Brown, if you want to make it out to be that way. Some of us don't support every change the park does, some do, nowhere does that say EVERYONE. However, if you wanna play it up to be that way, by all means go ahead.

How are you coming up with "blind support"? Not disagreeing with everything that the park does should in no way be considered anytype of "blind support". That is treading real close to the "fanboy" mentality. No, that is called a generalization, I did not once say that everyone who "does not disagree with everything that the park does" should be considered offering "blind support." I was referring to Boddah, the person whom I had addressed in my post, as he is consistently never offering any form of criticism and likes to post replies counteracting others criticism. He clarified that he has a responsibility to those who support this site as to why he does that and I respect him for it. I was referring to him, not anyone else on this thread as offering "Blind Support." No, I was referring to Boddah, the person whom I addressed, not "everyone."

^No it wont, the backwards side is gone. Actually Boddah, regardless of whether its a logo or not we are entitled to have an opinion on it, no matter how minor of a subject it may be. Back in the day, Kings Island was all about quality and the details in things, those times went and now the park has a new marketing front about bringing back "nostalgia." and frankly no one seems to be buying it. The logo is a perfect example. No, I have not seen it in person and admitted that, however like I said, judging from the picture it looks awkward and weird on the front of the train. In recent years there was nothing there? Actually, last season was the only time nothing was there, every year leading up to that there had been the decals on the front of the trains that said "Paramount." If the park was really concerned with nostalgia, then why is The Racer the only thing getting some of that "nostalgia?" Why not paint the ride? It hasn't received a fresh coat of paint since 1998. I'm sorry, but I'm just not buying the spin on this one.

Well said GatorHead, well said. You know there are some of us who really enjoy some things CF has done, and there are some of us who disagree. I, myself, really enjoy some things and am looking forward to riding the "new" Racer. However, Boddah, there are some of us who don't blindly support everything the park does. Personally, I think the logo looks stupid, granted you can't see it that well, but from what I can tell it doesn't compliment the train very well. That is my opinion, and many others opinions, that does not make it ignorant. I thought these were forums for discussing Kings Island, not just praising it.

Ah, I can't wait till this summer when hopefully these press releases and advertisements will have some information about 2009 that will hopefully have us all very, very excited.

Well you know Woofer, grammar is just a fad. Like stand up roller coasters. And backwards facing wooden roller coasters. I'm just trying to bring some nostalgia back to these boards.

You know, your common spelling mistakes, bad grammar, attitude, and logic are very similar to someone we once knew.....what his name....Jimbo, Jay, Jelly bean......oh yeah.....JacksonPKI!

If Nostalgia was the reason don't you think they could give it a fresh coat of paint or at least get some of the gum off of the walls? I think budget and other reasons like SOB_TOM noted are the reasons we are getting a "re-invented" racer and "entertainment" (if you can call CF shows that).....not nostalgia.

a.k.a. pages 2 - 3 of this topic. Woofer I am 1 of the 2! <G>

Only if you write an article for them.

While you are right, it does take an incredible amount of work, regardless of whether the train was being flipped around or not that work was going to be done. The trains are disassembled every off season and as the individual parts are cleaned it is determined what needs replacing. The trains are then put back together, and as you said this takes an incredible amount of work and attention to detail. It is also very time consuming. Now with turning the backwards Racer forwards they have two options: 1: As DeloreanRider stated the brake fins are located to one side (Rider, the chain dogs and rollback do only work in one direction but they are located in the center, hence why the brake fin is off center) This means that the brakes for the ride are located off-center on the track. If the train is rebuilt as it was in past years and just put on the track in a different direction then they would have to change all those brakes on the track around. That seems like it would be more work than needed and that there is an easier sollution: 2: Just flip the brake fins on the undercarriage around so that they line up with the brakes on the track. Essentially you're doing the same off season work except just putting the fin back on on the other side. Like DeloreanRider said, no matter which option is chosen it is time consuming and unless they want The Racer opening late in the season I'd wager that the decision has been made and they are saving the official announcement for a later press release.

Ha! Gordon, you really think he's ever going to read this again and reply to you? Unless he's promoting another article he wrote, then he'll probably never view this topic again because he's down at the GWL with coasterwmmn and Rumor Smasher.

Oh, certainly not, its an industry wide trend, at most, not all, similar venues, such as amusement parks, movie theatres are an entire different ball game and issue. The difference is, a lot of those places have somewhat decent quality and somewhat good service. KI, however, has absolutely awful service. It be one thing to pay those prices, and at least be treated with a smile or a "have a good day," but when you're raising prices and the managers are in the back allowing the employees to blare the rap music so loud that they can't hear my order, then it becomes an issue. Not to mention the selections of food, who knows how long some of that stuff has been sitting out, even most fast food places have higher standards. Like, I said, there should be somewhat fair pricing, at KI you pay high food prices for....garbage, and as the reports have indicated thus far from CWinds and KD, you now get to pay even more for the same garbage. So, I think I'll pass yet again on the prices and selection of food at KI and join the many others in the parking lot picnic grove or down the street, where if I'm paying that much, I'm at least enjoying it. The Cincinnati Zoo is an example of somewhat reasonable family deals.

A hint about Six Flags Great Adventure, just who is posting this? I still don't see how no matter how the prices can be so high on anything sweet or Italian. I assume our rides will be re-themed heavily like the ones at Carowinds in Dominion then? Yee-haw! Any strip teases or vampires with that American music? What about price gouging?

An attraction like that however would require talented actors, not high school kids and fan boys who think they are horror film stars.

From what I hear, KI will fall directly in line with the CP policy. As opposed to KI's the past few years where the pass was good the holder of the booklet and three guests. It will be interesting to see if KI broadcasts this change and gets the message out to its guests or if they just assume everyone will make themselves aware of it like they did with Halloween Haunt. Now the disability police is not even off Limits.

^As does KI, but its good ONLY in the picnic grove. Certain special events at the park have had the option to sell those drink wristbands to guests attending the event such as the formerly held ACE and CoasterBuzz events. Thank you for sharing your experience and welcome to KICentral! It's always nice to hear some of the "every day family" views as opposed to the "enthusiast" views (no offense to anyone, just saying our major audience here seems to be mainly enthusiasts and thrillseekers ). I agree with you, when it comes to providing and affordable and enjoyable family-friendly environment, HW steals the basketball from KI and shuts them out of the game. I love Kings Island, I love the rides, I love the experience, but there are certain aspects such as the food pricing and quality that are a huge disservice to the guests. At Disney, it is one thing to pay a lot for food, but their it usually has some good quality, is fast, and the service top notch. Not to mention, the selection. At Kings Island, the dining venues might change names, but the selection, poor quality, and poor service come with nearly each venue and it is a real turn off to the guests. It was bad under CBS, it got worse under Cedar Fair and continued to get worse under Cedar Fair. From what I hear, we will see even higher prices in 2008. New in 2008: No new rides, but new shows, and our new higher food prices! RollerNut, doesn't Carowinds open this weekend? You shall have to give us a report on the food pricing!

Was browsing the internet this morning while making an excuse not to begin working and noticed Gordon had updated his Queen City Discovery site with more photographs from the former Americana/Lesourdsville Lake park that was/is in Middletown, OH. It's the first article on www.queencitydisco.com Sad to see such an excellent wooden roller coaster slowly dying, great shot Gordon:

The worst part is, I doubt that regerunner's views are unique. I am sure many families feel this way. While my kids are pretty much grown up, the way Cedar Fair views their "family market" is ridiculous. These days, if I still had younger kids, there are plenty of other places I can better spend the family dollar on activities, especially in the Cincinnati area. The prices at Kings Island haven't always been horrible. Even up to the mid-late 90's while the food quality declined prices were somewhat reasonable. CBS really raised the prices and Cedar Fair kept up with the tradition and from what I hear the price raising is back for 2008. Along with better prices there are also needs to be respectable service. Maybe the staff here at KICentral should start photographing the grassy areas of the parking lot or the families dining out of the coolers in the backs of their van and call it the "Parking Lot Picnic Grove."

We are all aware of your previous posts, and myself, Woofer, and Interpreter had been saying similar things for quite some time.