TombRaiderFTW

That's a shame, but it makes sense that the pandemic threw off parks' maintenance schedules. I loved Storm Runner when I visited Hersheypark in... 2014, I think? That one element that's half inline twist and half corkscrew is a ton of fun. You rotate quickly enough that it's basically airtime the whole time. Hopefully it's just what they said and it'll be back in 2021.

I'm a simple man. I see Adventure Express merch, I buy it. In all seriousness, I've never felt compelled to be into pin collecting, but I really, really like those. I'm gonna need to find some way of showing those off.

Thanks! So, if a coaster goes in Vortex's spot and its entrance is in Coney Mall, it'd be cool to see something with a 1920's-y theme (or even a 1960's-y theme.) Somebody here once suggested a Zamperla Moto coaster with a horse theme like this, and I have to admit that I do like that idea. Maybe not a copy of the *exact* ride I linked to, but something with a custom layout could be cool. If we didn't already have wooden coasters coming out the wazoo, that would be a neat place to put that Rye Aeroplane coaster previously discussed here. If its entrance is in Rivertown, it'd be really cool to do what you were talking about with a spooky story! Something with a haunted mine would be really fun. Maybe it could be something like Firechaser Express at Dollywood?

So, if you think about it, Kings Island's original design was based on a romanticized version of Cincinnati. Its German heritage (Oktoberfest), its history (Rivertown), and its classic place to have fun (Coney Island) were all there. Hanna-Barbera isn't necessarily a Cincinnati thing, but Hanna-Barbera was owned by Taft Broadcasting, which was based in Cincinnati. (International Street is the exception, and since I've never heard an actual reason why it was chosen, here's my theory: Dennis Spiegel said at the first Coasterstock that the Eiffel Tower was originally going to be at Coney, prior to the decision to build Kings Island. Putting it in an international section gives a plausible reason to exist, plus gives an opportunity to create a spectacle of an entrance area, much in the vein of Disneyland.) Within the context of those themes is where the park's attractions' themes exist. Was there an actual beast that terrorized Cincinnati when it was a settlement? Not to my knowledge. Did racing coasters exist at Coney Island? Nope. Do people really do things that make them dizzy at Oktoberfest? Well... Yeah, actually. But my point is that while each area is BASED in a part of Cincinnati's identity, it's not a 1:1 reflection of it. It's just a framework for everything else to exist within it. There's not really anything reflecting real life directly, as if it were the theme/amusement park equivalent of a fourth wall break in a movie, y'know? Theme/amusement parks and movies both exist to provide escapism. And yes, I think that's still true of amusement parks, too, despite the lack of focus on theming. Which brings me to my answer to OP's question: I'd like to see more of that "this ride's story exists within the context of the area it's in"-kind of thing happen than have an explicitly real-life-Cincinnati-themed ride at the park like Steel Curtain. This is just my opinion, but to me, if the park reflects too much of the outside world, it ceases to be a theme park and becomes a really elaborate outdoor shopping center, like The Greene in Dayton. I'm exaggerating for effect, of course, but do you know what feeling I'm talking about? To that end, if it were up to me, I'd also not have Skyline or Tom+Chee in the park, either. I enjoy both of those chains immensely, but... We're in Mason. Cincinnati proper isn't THAT far away. Heck, there's a Skyline just on the other side of 71. Wouldn't it be more interesting to have unique dining experiences in their places? Imagine if the park even had its OWN take on Cincinnati chili. (This is in a world where such things are realistically doable in a theme park setting--I recognize that there are a lot of reasons why that kind of thing isn't usually attempted.) I had somewhere I was heading with this, but I forget what it was.

I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately... So, it seems like dark rides require extra money and time from maintenance staff to keep running well. By "well," I mean consistently throughout the year and in the same state it was when it opened. It seems like most seasonal parks want to put in the initial investment without needing to continually invest, or at least not invest on the scale needed to run well. At parks like Six Flags over Georgia, people at the top of the chain of command have decided to make their dark rides a priority. The Interpreter once pointed to Melinda Ashcroft as the reason why Monster Mansion runs as well as it does. I'd speculate that Holiday World does the same thing with Gobbler Getaway. When Cedar Fair was doing the whole Amusement Dark thing, it seemed like they were making a point to put in dark rides that they were willing to care for if people took to them. Admittedly, that was by having zero animatronics, but still, it was something. But it seems like both Wonder Mountain's Guardian and Voyage to the Iron Reef landed without making much of a splash, so we didn't see any more dark rides from that initiative. The last time I rode WMG, the screens were out of focus, and the guns were poorly calibrated. VttIR is already being rethemed less than a decade later. I'm curious to see how the Justice League dark rides hold up at Six Flags. They seem like they had a not-insubstantial budget put into them, and it seems like they're going to need some bucks to keep running well. They almost feel like SIX's version of Tomb Raider: The Ride, which is to say that they pursued a big concept that looks awesome at first but isn't sustainable for a seasonal park. I'd surely think they'd have kept that in mind when designing it, but... Would I love to see more parks get dark rides? Absolutely. Dark rides are often my favorite thing about a park, and especially when they're original IPs. But it seems like a lot of major parks aren't committed to them in the long term, and I'd rather have a few good rides than a bunch of rides operating half as well as they could.

So, I actually really like walkthrough stuff. I love Noah's Ark at Kennywood, and I enjoyed Wacky Shack at Waldameer and Kings Dominion's old walkthrough whose name escapes me at the moment. Those specific kinds of walkthroughs, though, seem to be a dying piece of history. I'm speculating that ADA requirements and some amount of liability are the causes of that. As far as a modern walkthrough goes... I'm split. I feel like there's promise in the concept, but the first thing that comes to mind is something like Madame Tussaud's, which isn't my thing. I can't think of a good equivalent in the modern era. I'll take a highly themed coaster queue any day of the week, though.

I'm *completely* speculating, but I do wonder if that ride couldn't pass clearance tests with standard PTCs. People can't reach out and hurt themselves if there's a gigantic wall in the way. See also: New Texas Giant and its windows.

It's one axle and two road wheels, lateral wheels, and upstop wheels per row, which is the same as PTC. I don't know what the stripped-down chasses of PTC cars or Millennium Flyers look like, though, so I'll give you that one. Out of pure curiosity, can I ask who told you?

ARE Millennium Flyers actually heavier than PTCs? Do any of us here know that?

Burn it. Burn it with fire.

Don't forget meanest.

^ Wait, which Diamondback? That really short, slow, kind one?

...What year is it?! I'm old now. You're my new favorite poster here. I'm going to start referring to Tomb Raider: The Ride as "That Highly-Themed, Totally Immersive Dark Ride Adventure, Tomb Raider: The Riiiiiiiiiide!"

^ It depends on the specific instance, I think? In the case of The Great Nor'Easter at Morey's Piers, new track was made to replace the old track for almost the entire course. The new track was made to tighter tolerances/was more carefully made so that the ride would be smoother. I *think* new trains might have been involved, too? I could be wrong since the details escape me at the moment, but Blue Hawk might have had specific sections of track replaced in the same way. I know it used to run Arrow trains to replace the original Vekoma trains, but I'm not sure if the Arrow trains were replaced with the change to Blue Hawk. It's basically the same idea as retracking a wooden coaster, but more intensive since entire track segment(s) are being replaced.

So, those bottom two cut-off images are certainly a coaster train. Based on the shape, I'd say they look like Maverick's or, more likely, Millennium Force's. The images on the left are an artist's rendering. The top images are a bit more vague, but one of those looks like a seat with a t-bar restraint. Random spitball: it's new trains or fiberglass bodies for Millennium Force for its 20th anniversary. Or perhaps the trains are getting special decals (not advertising-related) to acknowledge the year.