Delirium13

You aren't alone there, I also like the Legend the best of the three.

I don't know if this has been mentioned, if so I apologize. I happened to be out near the Clermont Steel Fabricators factory today... ok I was about 15 minutes away, but being an interested person with some time to burn, I took a detour and drove by it. I know we've already ruled out the dark green supports as being for another coaster, but sitting on the side of the building, I saw a large lime green piece of track. I don't have any pictures unfortunately, so if you want to wait until someone takes a picture to believe me that's fine. Not claiming this is track piece is destined for Kings Island, but thought I'd let you all know what I saw. I haven't seen it mentioned here so if I missed something just let let me know...

Sounds like an amazing event! Wish I could go but will be out of town unfortunately.

^^ I'm sure there are plenty die hard fans of NASCAR all over, but I think the point is that the fan base in the areas around KD and Carowinds is more densely populated and established. Kentucky Speedway just received it's first Sprint Cup race in 2011. Regardless of how many fans of NASCAR there are in this area, I sincerely hope we don't get a NASCAR themed ride at all... The two Intimidators are great looking coasters, especially Kings Dominion's, but I think the NASCAR theme is tacky (Sorry if that offends any fans, not intended to).

In addition to this, Transformers, and Harry Potter, aren't there rumors of an expansion the Jurassic Park area as well? The Simpsons expansion looks very cool, almost seems like a scaled down Wizarding World, where you step into the world of your favorite characters and get to eat and drink and experience places like you're actually there. Very cool. Universal has been making a crazy amount of improvements in additions lately, I can't wait to get down there to experience them all.

No, I think he's saying they wouldn't alter the construction schedule to "throw people off". Which they wouldn't.

Man that thing needs a new paint job...

Interesting, hadn't heard about the original plans, but sounds like they made the right decision in changing things up from one giant expansion of meet and greets. One thing I have noticed about New Fantasyland that you mentioned is that it really is only two new rides (unless you count the second Dumbo ride), but the area seems very well done, regardless. It's a shame that the WDW doesn't seem to have much planned after the Seven Dwarfs ride opens considering all that is going on just a few miles away at Universal Orlando, hopefully they aren't getting complacent...

While we're on the topic of budgets being cut at WDW, I have a question for those of you who know more about Disney Parks (I haven't been to one since 1999 unfortunately). From what I've seen in pictures and heard about, New Fantasyland seems to have some amazing attention to detail throughout and the Little Mermaid ride, though pretty much identical as far as the ride goes to DCA's version, has a much more detailed queue/exterior to its California counterpart, and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride also looks promising. Was the expansion originally supposed to be even more spectacular and after the budget was cut, it still ended up pretty nice or was this a rare occurrence of WDW following through with their original concept?

I saw that video earlier today, the ride looks absolutely amazing. I've been following the project since first hearing about it a year or so ago. I'm a big fan of the Haunted Mansion rides, and since this was considered to be the "Haunted Mansion" type attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland, I was very intrigued. After I saw the video I was not disappointed, the effects looked really impressive in the video and I can only imagine what they look like in person. The story is very original and the technology used looks phenomenal. Disney seems to be taking some time to really beef up Hong Kong Disneyland and the additions of the Big Grizzly Mountain roller coaster, Mystic Manor and the areas that surround the rides look great.

^ That needs to happen ASAP. Keep the pop, rock, rap, whatever for the Action Zone or even Coney Mall. International Street at the very least, though I think all the areas deserve their own music, needs to return to the classical music that makes walking into the park have a "magical" feeling to it. I'd be surprised if Ouimet thought that the music choice for International Street was ok. It'll be interesting to see this year as they seem to be focusing on the themed areas a bit more with the first addition to actually fit Oktoberfest's theme in years being added. Hopefully area specific music will return, but of course I've been hoping that for years.

@@KingsIslandPR just posted this photo: My guess due to where the truck is in the park that it's most likely something for Dinosaurs Alive, which has already been announced to be receiving a new addition or two.

I don't know where the rumor of a new map came from, but I definitely agree that out of all the Cedar Fair maps, Kings Dominion has got it the worst. I wish they would go back to numbering the rides and attractions like they used to, pre-2007 I think. While I think Kings Island probably has one of the better, if not the best of the Cedar Fair maps in terms of clarity and not being overly-exaggerated, but you still run into the slight issue of an overly congested looking kids area. I'm not a huge stickler on how the maps look, but when the kids area is just a mess of ride names, that doesn't make for a very effective map in my opinion. I'm also surprised CGA didn't a Cedar Fair style map this season, I figured with their new roller coaster they'd make the change.

Here it is for those who have been waiting, the NEW 2013 Kings Dominion map......... is Not sure what is different about it other than the grid system, which should make it a bit easier to use. If I'm not mistaken, the Paramount Parks' maps used a similar system for a few years, did they not?

Great to see work being done.... but I really hope that paint that. But really it is nice to see The Racer getting a lot of attention this off-season.

I like Flight Deck's queue line, and that it sits back from the other rides. Not every ride has to have a queue made up of big ugly concrete pads with a bunch of turnstiles. And the line is hardly in the way of any future park expansion.

According to the Fun Perks site I was there 6 times, so I guess that would put me at 7 if my first visit wasn't counted. My biggest regret was missing out on Haunt. With the way my summer is shaping up, even though I have a pass, I'll be lucky if I'm able to make it out there 6 times this season, but hopefully one of my visits will be in October.

That brought back a lot of memories! Thanks for sharing.

Very cool photo, I'd love to see a POV of The Bat but have never been able to find one, I wonder if the park has some POV footage hidden away somewhere.

At my grade school the 8th grade class always had a big Kings Island trip at the end of the year, when I was in 5th grade the switched it to a COSI trip. By the time I was in the 8th grade the trip was a half day at a local park, but that's life.

Great picture of The Bat! I don't think I've ever seen that angle before. Also, loved the Phantom Theater picture. One of my most missed rides at the park, makes you sad to see those and compare it to what's in there now - at least we still have a decent dark ride though. Thanks again for doing this, I love seeing all the interesting and unique photos of the park you have!

Great pictures! Thanks a lot for sharing them!

Any chances of the old front gate/International Street music coming back? Thanks again for taking the time to answer these questions!

As mentioned above, here's a link to an article about Ouimet at the Batavia plant, mentioning Kings Island as "on his radar". http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-theme-parks-ceo-staycations-fun-075033518--finance.html

^ Someone who has actually been to the park, or been going for years, can probably shed more light on the subject... but from what I understand, Knott's lost a lot of its family-owned, theme park charm when Kinzel's Cedar Fair took over. Giving it the thrill rides and concrete treatment.