ahank

Here's a general topography of the area from Google Earth: While it's tough to see, the track on the middle-right side of the picture is Adventure Express and the shadowy building in the distance is FOF. Now, unless you want to want to walk down and up that big downgrade, I wouldn't want a path going down that way. Plus, it would subtract even more from Adventure Express's experience.

^Floating around the website, not the park, heh.

They were at the exit of Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror this year. There's a picture of them floating around here somewhere.

Great PTR malem! It's great to see some of the newer members getting together and meeting some of the older members here. I'd love to see another KIC event. I got to attend RWCW a few years back and I got to meet some really cool people, and the opportunity to meet more of you is one I would love to take advantage of!

Putting a path underneath of Adventure Express? Is this Roller Coaster Tycoon?

I've heard Crystalised by The xx on International Street before. I also know Diamondback plays This Aint A Scene, It's An Arms Race by Fall Out Boy in their queue TV's.

Giraffica? I didn't know we were at Busch Gardens Tampa.

KIExtreme is the reason I became friends with certain enthusiasts and still talk to them today. When it was in its prime, as standbyme said, the community was fantastic, even though it was so small. Even though the community was much more minuscule than KIC, I remember being much more active and constantly talking to many of the active members (some of which I still do). The website was also constantly updated with new features like KITunes (PKI Unlimited, anyone?), a great photo gallery, desktop wallpapers, and history section (sigh). The fact it was ad-free was pretty nice as well. Such a shame what a waste of potential KIE had. There were some really fantastic things that were in the works and it had potential to be such a great resource for information for both enthusiasts and curious common-goers alike.

While in line for FOF yesterday: Person 1: "Cedar Point has rules about flipping off the on-ride cameras, but Kings Island doesn't!" Person 2: "I wonder why?" Person 1: "'Cause [Cedar Point]'s where all the sl*ts go!" Keepin' it classy.

I've used this image before and it seems like a good time to use it again. Whenever the Paramount v. Cedar Fair debate is brought up, I will use this. Now, perhaps this was just a bad day at the park (which it was miserable, might I add), but there is absolutely no reason for this. Cedar Fair has done a spectacular job at coming in and cleaning up a much needed dirty park. Cedar Fair has my vote.

I have, on more than one occasion, seen deer underneath the turn after the lift on Flight Deck.

"You so. Have the. Tone. Raider. Ride. Halloween. Huant" New to Halloween Huant in 2012 - Tone Raider: The Ride

Thoughts change and times rearrange. I still check up on this site once or twice a week and I still talk to a few members, but for me college is quickly approaching and you start to realize that maybe roller coasters aren't the most important thing in your life anymore.

Paging TG93. You there, TG93?

^It may soon be...

Oh boy. This is me dreaming really really big here, so bear with me. I would love to see Son of Beast have a major overhaul, starting with the complete removal of the rose bowl, excluding the first drop into the rose bowl. Then, it would dash into the woods (that I wish were there), have a couple of airtime hills, and make a spaghetti bowl element (can you tell I like The Voyage a little bit?) and then come back and finish the circuit starting with the second helix, and make part of the helix a tunnel (much like daddy). I also thought up a rough story line to go along with the ride (please excuse my nerdiness!). The son of the infamous Beast that terrorizes the back of the park has been captured and transported to the front of the park securely. Guests are able to take a visit to the high security facility known as Outpost 5 that keeps the son locked up in two ways. One is the "Express" train (Adventure Express) that goes right by the facility. Unfortunately, this train accidentally took Track 2, an abandoned track as they go on their adventure through the woods and the rest of the Adventure Express ride (this isn't really a "new" idea, per say. To see that inspiration, first click here and play Track 3 and listen all the way through, then click here). The other way is a tour of Outpost 5 itself. While touring, you learn that the son has escaped and caused major damage to the facility. This can be represented by a newscaster from a local news station bringing "breaking news" that the son has escaped (TVs showing this newscast could be put up like the queue TVs in Diamondback, etc.) You then enter Outpost 5 (the station, which is now enclosed instead of open air) and see many of the "officials" on another TV screen inside the station telling you to evacuate immediately and get to Outpost 4 (also referenced in the Adventure Express Station Master audio) via the trams located in front of you. You enter the trams (the coaster cars, of course) and are off. As you climb the lift hill, you hear noises coming from behind you of gnarling, scratching etc. implying that the son is coming for you. You then follow the turn around and hear a loud roar just as you go down the lift, implying that the son is right behind the tram! You then follow the roller coaster course as usual, blah blah blah, etc. etc. The break run is now enclosed and is where you exit the ride (much like Flight of Fear). You can still see the damage (the building is scratched, there are "mud prints" of the son all over the floor, etc.) but then another TV screen comes on. This screen shows the "officials" welcoming you back and ensure you that the son has been recaught.

^It's a coaster enthusiast event held at Holiday World. It usually features ERT on rides and behind-the-scenes (or coaster) tours!

Glad to hear you had a nice day! I completely agree with you about the park feeling "off" yesterday. Not having any shows and Diamondback/Invertigo being down really seemed strange!

^In a world where the media plays off the fears of people, yes.

^Oh yes, I definitely learned my lesson! We actually ended up leaving the park about two hours before closing so we could get home without having to drive in the dark too much.

Let me preface by saying this; this is the first time my parents let me go to the park by myself (we live in Indianapolis, a good 2 hour drive). So needless to say, I couldn't sleep the night before and ended up getting to bed around 4:00 a.m. I woke up at six and met up with my friend at 7:15 and we got breakfast at McDonald's and took I-74 toward the park. We got to the park around 9:45 and, between parking and such, got into the park just after it officially opened. First thing we did (after going to the restroom, of course!) was head back toward The Beast. We were both happy to find that it was a walk on (although it didn't stay that way for long). We hopped on 3-2 and had ourselves an extremely nice ride. The retracking did it's purpose and the ride feels great, not to say it didn't before! Afterwards, we made a counterclockwise motion and headed for Vortex. When I was younger, I didn't mind the bang-i-ness of this ride as much. But now that I am pushing 6'0", my shoulders were definitely in for a world of hurt. It may have been the seat (although I have always enjoyed 7-1) but besides the great airtime on the first drop, the rest of the ride was not to pleasant. We decided to make our way over to Flight of Fear and Firehawk only to find that Flight of Fear's outdoors switchbacks were already all open and Firehawk was down, so we decided to head over to Racer instead. Only the red side was running in the morning, but it provided a great ride nonetheless. After Racer we head toward Adventure Express which already had its queue back past the wood overhangs, which surprised me since it was only about 10:45 on a Wednesday. Everything seemed to be working except for one of the stone men and the door that was, once again, left wide open. We decided to head toward Action Zone and take a spin on Delirium, which we didn't expect to have a long wait. Turns out, we were wrong. All of the switchbacks were open and the ride ops took a long time. Now there may have been good reason, but whatever it was, it took a good 10 minutes between each cycle to get the ride going again. After about an hour long wait, we were finally treated to a pleasant ride in the cooling breeze. We decided to backtrack and head toward WindSeeker. If there's one ride in the park that I really feel uneasy riding, it's this one! While I can see how others enjoy it, it is definitely not my cup of tea. We then decided to head back to Flight of Fear to see if the line had gotten any better, but it had not. All of the switchbacks outside were open as well as the entire group of switchbacks on the left side of the building. It was really nice to see a lot of the lights and theming functional. Flight of Fear continues to be one of my favorites at the park to this day. Since both Diamondback and Invertigo were closed, I got the opportunity to ride many rides I hadn't ridden in some time. Some of these included Zephyr and Shake, Rattle & Roll. After riding some flats and grabbing some lunch at Potato Works, we decided to head back up to Rivertown and catch another ride on The Beast. This time we sat in 1-2 and had yet another great ride. Shoutout to the ride op who was really lively and full of energy as well (whose name escapes me). He really kept the crowd at an ease and peppy. We backtracked yet again to catch another long wait and ride at Delirium. We then headed over to Flight Deck which was a walk on. We were extremely tired by this point, I running on two hours of sleep and my friend having back pains. We decided to get a nice ride on the train. We then went and got another ride on The Beast, picked up a few souvenirs, and decided to head on out. Despite some of the marquee attractions being down and the park being surprisingly busy, it by no means ruined our day. We had an absolute great day to come to the park on (mid-seventies all day) and it really couldn't have gotten much better! Ride totals: Beast - 3 Delirium - 2 Adventure Express - 1 Racer - 1 Flight Deck - 1 Vortex - 1 Flight of Fear - 1 Eiffel Tower - 1 WindSeeker - 1 Viking Fury - 1 Scrambler - 1 Zephyr - 1 Shake, Rattle, & Roll - 1 Train - 1

For the record, only Invertigo and Diamondback were down today. WindSeeker, Delirium, etc. ran smoothly all day. Perhaps Kings Island isn't having an off year just an off start.

^Because Diamondback is down for maintenance.

^If the front entrance were completely redone, it probably wouldn't be nearly as large as the current one. They could rebuild guest services, the restrooms and the gift shops in the areas they are already in.

I was literally just about to post the same topic. I'd bet that we'll see WindSeeker go down for a little bit this week just to make sure that nothing like this happens at Kings Island or any of the other locations.