TombRaiderFTW

I haven't been to Holiday World since maybe 2016, but before then there were years where I went multiple times per year. IF the park takes care of its coasters like it did back then, the wooden ones run night-and-day better in the spring and fall. They aren't good rides in summer--they'll all jackhammer in many places. I've never noticed such a polarity at other parks, but then again, KI is the only other wood coaster-heavy park I've been to many times per year.

If you were going to advise a new enthusiast on what parks they should hit up first, which ones would you recommend and why? Let's assume travel expenses aren't an issue. Feel free to consider price of admission, food prices, merchandise prices, etc. in your recommendations, if you feel "bang for your buck" is an important factor. You can get as specific as you'd like. Heck, feel free to write out a whole itinerary if you want! I'll start. Admittedly, I'm leaning more towards the history side of things. In no particular order: Knoebels. It's the best operating glimpse in

Oooh! That's really exciting. Will you post a side-by-side video of a POV with old track versus a POV with the new track once the ride starts testing in the spring? Something similar was done with the Coney Island Cyclone a few years ago: I'm honestly curious if retracking that much of the ride will cause it to run faster.

They're not retracking the whole ride, if I remember the original post correctly. It's just getting IBox track in certain areas.

It seems like cloned rides get talked about a lot when it comes to predicting park plans, but the rides themselves are rarely discussed. What's your favorite ride that has a clone or near clone? It can come from Kings Island, or it can come from any other park. The world is your oyster! Remember, it doesn't have to have an exact replica. For instance, I'd consider Hurler at Carowinds to be a clone of Thunder Run at Kentucky Kingdom, even though the layouts aren't exactly the same. I'll start: I love the Coney Island Cyclone and the near-clones I've ridden. Viper at Six Flags Gre

Yo dawg, I heard you like RMC, so we put an RMC in our RMC so you can RMC while you RMC. Anyway, that's really interesting. It's odd to me that an RMC-designed ride would need to have its track replaced when Tremors, a CCI, has had Topper Track for close to a decade without issue. I've read reports in enthusiast circles that rides that were partially retracked with Topper Track don't hold up particularly well over time (Georgia Cyclone seemed like the most frequent culprit, if I remember correctly), but I guess I'd assumed that was because of the PTCs they often run. I wonder what this me

Kangaroo, Bayurn Kurve, Volcano, and Paratrooper. I'm floored. https://www.instagram.com/p/CHI7m1SF9Y6/?igshid=kxfjoeb6d0to

My Eleventh Commandment senses are tingling.

It's been a couple years since I was last in it, but the Rivertown arcade near Beast had skeeball.

This is purely conjecture and is completely unsubstantiated: In retrospect, I feel like the ride's shaping looks kiiinda like CCI designed a layout and then RCCA got their hands on it and "dumbed it down" for their manufacturing capability and/or to remove laterals and airtime. Like, the post-lift swoop looks like a positive g-heavy version of that of Legend, the turn after the big drop looks like the second turn after Boss's first drop if a bunch of banking was clumsily added to remove laterals, the last turn does that CCI thing of banking during airtime, but it's like they went out of their

Like I said, it's because I'm assuming MFs are lighter than PTCs. If they weigh less, they're not going to cause as much stress.

^ Because I'm assuming they're lighter than Racer's PTCs.

Here's what I'm in favor of. Beast: Either a GCI retrack or a selective RMC Topper Track retracking in certain high-stress areas. Gently reprofile the ride to remove the trim brakes. The point isn't to turn the ride into something else; it's to make it so it doesn't keep stomping on the brakes around every turn. (And yes, I know, it's had trim brakes since opening. That doesn't mean I have to like them. ) I assume doing that would require the track to bank more quickly, so I therefore assume it'd need new trains (as it's my understanding/assumption that Beast's trains don't have an articu

^ Mm, that makes sense. A tangent, and I'm thinking out loud here: It's struck me as a bit odd that Kings Island (to my knowledge) never sends Racer's or Beast's trains to PTC in the winter to be refurbed. Like, the trains are perfectly serviceable come spring, but I feel like trains that go to PTC come out the other end feeling like new, and KI's don't. I can't imagine it's THAT expensive to have done--small independent parks do it. Maybe it costs more than it does to have the park do it in-house, or maybe the trains are of age that PTC won't touch them unless they're replaced with new 3

^ Thank you so much for posting! It's really cool to get firsthand accounts of a time in the park's history that doesn't get talked about in detail often. As far as the spark wall goes, do you know if that's the same prop that was used in Massacre Manor when it was located in Coney Mall, towards the end of the house? I remember something similar being used there.