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gad198

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  1. Dueling Dragons had separate load and unload zones. That's the only B&M that's had them to the best of my knowledge. When the KI giga comes, I would hope that the park would opt to have things set up Fury 325 style. The small stretch of track between the station and the lift hill can serve as its own block. Fury can actually have a train on the lift hill while dispatching the train that's in the station. The train simply stops on that section of track and is held until the train ahead of it is at the far turnaround by the front gate. That setup frees up the station to have a train in the station unloading and loading while others are out on the course. That is one of the reasons why the hourly capacity on that coaster is amazing.
  2. SeaWorld San Diego is a nice park. My friend Dave and I were out there a few months ago and we really enjoyed our visit. The biggest issue they have is that the park doesn't have a whole lot to do on the "amusement" side of the park, so this will be a welcome addition. This new B&M dive will fit in very nicely in the park, and it will be the only B&M dive west of the Mississippi. I'm sure they'll get some mileage out of this addition.
  3. Is there a "let me see what 2020 brings" option? With the possibility of B&M hypers/gigas at Kings Island & Hersheypark and an RMC Gwazi, I'm WAY more excited about anything in 2020 than I am for anything next year. Copperhead Strike and Yukon Striker look like the best of the 2019 bunch, but I'd rather take the possibility of anything top-shelf worthy in 2020 than the sure-fire 2019 additions.
  4. I actually am more excited about the area around the coaster than I am the coaster itself. I am definitely not a Steelers fan, but I think the interactive areas look really interesting. If nothing else, a lot of these areas will be accessible and open when the weather is poor. It'll be interesting to see how this ends up looking when everything is complete. Personally, I'm not digging the coaster, like, at all. Aesthetically it's not pleasing to look at. The layout doesn't seem to have a lot of flow to it. It looks like they decided to add a bunch of random elements together with no regard for how everything flows together as a whole. I haven't been to the park since 2011 and this definitely won't be the ride to bring me back.
  5. A KI giga made by anyone other than B&M would be a mistake of epic proportions. RMC coasters would probably bring a more "thrilling" coaster, but you have the following major drawbacks: much lower capacity - 24 seat trains (vs. 32 for a B&M) much slower loading due to the design of the trains and restraints. I've yet to see ANY RMC coaster load and dispatch quickly more guests will be turned away because of the more restrictive restraints way more downtime. I've ridden 8 RMCs thus far and have experienced downtime of some kind at 7 of them. Ask Cedar Point reps how they feel about their RMC right now I'm not even going to discuss the possibility of an Intamin since there's an almost zero percent chance of that happening. They still haven't figured out how to make good restraints! Kings Island is not going to spend $30 million (or more) on a new attraction without knowing EXACTLY what they're getting. Cedar Fair B&M hyper installations have all been fantastic and have been very popular with park guests. More importantly, B&M coasters are good financial investments for the parks. RMC coasters cost as much now as new B&Ms and come with way more headaches. Mack hasn't gone anywhere near 300 feet yet. Kings Island knows that if they're going to install sometime of this magnitude that they absolutely, positively, have to get it right. Kings Island won't overthink this.
  6. I do think there's a very high probability that a giga coaster is coming to Kings Island within the next few seasons. The odds of the giga being anything other than a B&M are close to zero though. Cedar Fair hasn't worked with Intamin in years. Mack has yet to go anywhere near 300'. Cedar Fair isn't going to spend $30 million on a project of this magnitude without knowing exactly what they're getting. Leviathan and Fury 325 and the smaller B&M megas like Diamondback have been enormous hits for their respective parks. A B&M giga at Kings Island would have a strong possibility of being the best ride in the world. There's no other coaster company that provides the combination of reliability, comfortable ride, throughput, and ROI that B&M provides. From the park's perspective you finally get a no-doubt-about-it signature attraction. Mystic Timbers was a brilliant addition - fun, re-rideable, a 48" height attraction...but it didn't break the bank. The Western Row construction project didn't include the expansion of Kings Island Drive without cause. The new parking arrangement is designed to better flow through more cars. It's been nearly 10 years since Diamondback, a ride that completely changed the dynamic of the park. The attendance of the park can more than support a ride of this magnitude. It's time. If it makes financial sense for the park to install a giga, they will. Kings Island has the land. Kings Island has the attendance. It's just a matter of time.
  7. Just got back from the park. I got in line at the Skyline on International Street at 4:15. The line at that time was to the door with the one switchback open. I walked out at 40 minutes later right at 4:55. I apologize if this has already been discussed, but there are two issues with the setup at that particular location: The drink stand setup is abysmal. The drink stand is located between the serving line and the cashier station. In and of itself that's not a big issue, but there were no drink cups at that location. People who want drinks have to go to the cashier station and then go back to the drink station, cutting back behind people in line behind you. There was only one cashier...on a Saturday...at the beginning of prime meal times. Look, I get that it's early in the season and that finding enough people to work until schools are let out is tough. However, it's becoming more and more clear that the biggest bottlenecks at most of the food stands are at the cashier stations. I don't know why the folks responsible for implementing food service simply refuse to take positive steps towards eliminating major bottlenecks at food service locations. There are only a few potential bottlenecks at each particular location; the cashier stations, waffle fries at Chick-Fil-A, etc. If Kings Island food service management refuses to address these issues and address them quickly, there are going to be many people who will simply spend their food dollars elsewhere. I do have a food plan. Having said that, I'm not going to wait 40 minutes again for two cheese coneys, fries and a drink. More and more I realize that my time is way more valuable to any "value" I feel like I need to extract from my meal plan. I would much rather pay double for my meal plan and be able to have quick service. To the folks at Kings Island food service management, something has to be done. You can do what you can to improve the situation or you'll have the situation improved for others as people don't renew their plans. The dining plans offer amazing convenience, and your consumers want to be loyal. Having said that, your consumer base isn't inelastic as far as the demand. Your consumers are only going to buy if there's value - good food AND quick service, and right now we're not getting the latter. KI - it's your move.
  8. Cedar Point has two things that KI doesn't...nearly 100 years of additional history and Lake Erie. It would be hard for any one additional investment at KI to overcome those two items. Having said that, I do agree that KI is a giga coaster away from being in the "best coaster destination in the US" conversation. Building Diamondback really changed everything for the park. Having an extremely popular, tall, high capacity coaster at the park really took the park to another level. With the opening of Mystic Timbers the park will have four world-class coasters - two really good wooden coasters, one of the best inverts in Banshee, and the aforementioned Diamondback. Adding a giga would bring the park a fifth world-class coaster, and more importantly for the park, would give the park a marquee, no-doubt-about-it signature attraction. As I said earlier, I still believe that Kings Island will get a giga sooner rather than later. I think building Mystic Timbers first was smart and will allow Kings Island to have more popular attractions in the lineup to help soak up some of the additional crowds that the giga would bring. All of the changes at Kings Island and the better infrastructure around Kings Island (Western Row/I-71 construction) just feels like something big is coming. In 2008 there was one world-class coaster (Beast). In a few years we might have five. Kings Island is ready to hit the big time.
  9. Yeah, that was my thought too when I saw that all passholders are invited. The last two season pass preview nights were really nice, laid back affairs. Reasonable lines both years even with nice weather. It was one of the nicer nights that Kings Island had through the year. Having said that... You have two things working against that this year: Friday of opening weekend this year is Good Friday. The last two years that was not the case. Mystic Timbers will be open to the public for the first time. With the opening of a big new coaster I'd imagine that Kings Island didn't want their Guest Services department flooded with irate passholders that were denied access just because they didn't renew in the fall. On a positive note, the hour of ERT on Mystic Timbers on Tuesdays in May and June will be great. I am very much looking forward to those evenings.
  10. Overview: My friend Dave and I have been to just about all of the major parks east of the Mississippi River over the course of the past five years. We talked about new places we might be able to go or places we hadn't been to in a while, and the one area that neither of us had been to in the last 20 years was the Disney World complex. We ultimately decided that we were going to do a one-week long blowout trip that included: Dollywood Six Flags Over Georgia all four Disney parks both Universal parks Busch Gardens Tampa Sea World the two Fun Spot parks in Central Florida To save everyone's sanity I won't cover each park or trip day in detail. This will be written as a highlight report, just covering anything noteworthy. Things that Underwhelmed: The Disney parks except for Animal Kingdom. Dave and I both felt that the Disney parks simply lacked the "magic" we were both expecting. Dave's last visit was in 1985 and mine was in 1993, and we both walked in to our first Disney park - the Magic Kingdom - with extremely high hopes. While we both loved the attention to detail and the great theming in each of the parks, we simply felt that (1) none of the rides at any of the parks there - with the exception of Toy Story Mania and Expedition Everest - were worthy of re-rides, and (2) there wasn't enough at the parks to do that would be worthy of staying at any of the parks for a full day. Disney really needs to install more attractions - particularly at Epcot, the Studios and Animal Kingdom. The Incredible Hulk at Islands of Adventure. I love the layout of the coaster, but even after they rebuilt the coaster from the ground up and have brand new trains on the ride, the ride is still just as rough as it was on our visit five years ago. Universal really needed to install the vest restraints on this coaster, because the headbanging on the old-style OTSRs was constant. It was perhaps the most disappointed I've ever been after getting off of a B&M coaster. Escape from Gringotts at Universal Studios. The ride itself is fun and the graphics are really cool. Unfortunately, the ride didn't have a real plot that I could follow, which made it difficult to put the ride into proper perspective. We rode it twice as a walk-on both times and never cared to re-ride it after that even with short waits. They had a hard act to follow with Forbidden Journey, and it just didn't have the same "wow" factor as Forbidden Journey. The food at both Disney and Universal - Mythos excluded. The meal we had at Mythos was very good, but the food we had at the Disney parks and at Universal was incredibly average. We tried everything from burgers to pasta to dessert, and except for Mythos everything else was shockingly forgettable. Very few parks do food well and these two parks aren't part of that group. Things that Surpassed Expectation: Transformers at Universal Studios. Universal Studios 3D rides are all very good, but Transformers was amazingly well done. The scenes there were just action-packed, the storyline made sense, and the graphics were just incredible. If it wasn't for Forbidden Journey it would be the best dark ride in the US. We both absolutely loved the ride. Animal Kingdom as a park. There's not a whole lot to do at Animal Kingdom, but I absolutely loved the feel of the park. It is definitely the most "immersive" of any of the parks in Orlando because of the way the whole park feels like an actual tropical park. I really liked the Kilimanjaro Safaris and Expedition Everest, but I'll remember the way that the park immerses you more than the attractions. Toy Story Mania. What a great ride! I thought that the small rope/button combination instead of the normal trigger was a bit odd until the first shot. After the first shot and seeing the clear way the shots were shown on the screen, all I could think of was "why aren't all other interactive dark rides using this technology?" It is the best ride of its type hands down and is way more fun than I ever expected. I absolutely fell in love with this ride. Mako at Sea World. I love the B&M hypers and I went in with high expectations, but I was absolutely shocked by how powerful the airtime on the pre-MCBR section of the coaster is. It has the most powerful airtime of any B&M hyper, particularly if the trim brake is off. The section after the MCBR is just OK, but the first half of the coaster more than makes up for it. I've ridden all but four B&Ms in North America and it's probably my second favorite B&M coaster after Fury. If you're in Central Florida you definitely need to check out Mako. It is fabulous. The Royal Pacific Resort at Universal. The room rates there were high ($185 per night even with a Universal annual pass), but I was extremely impressed with the resort. It's close to the action - about a 10-minute walk to CityWalk and another 5-minutes to the parks - and even have water taxis that you can use to save the walking part. The rooms were very nice and the pool there is just fantastic. The rooms come with the Universal Express line-skip passes for everyone in the room and one hour early entry to one park. Crowds for our trip were really light and didn't really make these perks that helpful for us, but they would both be incredibly helpful on moderate to busy days. I highly recommend a stay there. Just a few other notes: Montu moved ahead of Banshee as my favorite invert. They are really close, but the thing that separates the two for me is the Montu zero-g roll. Banshee's zero-g roll just doesn't have the snap that Montu's does, and Montu rides smoother even though it's 20 years old this year. Both coasters are awesome, but Montu is just a tad better IMO. The Pop Century hotel at Disney is nice. It's categorized as a "value" resort, but it was more than adequate. We got a nice deal (about $100 per night for two nights) and we thought it was a great value for what we got. Disney Transportation is nice, but I was glad that we had our own car. Pop Century has bus transportation from the hotel directly to each park, but honestly, you're probably still better off driving around property with your own car. Your mileage may vary. Lightning Rod at Dollywood is still a great ride. It's definitely a top-5 wooden coaster. It looks like the reliability is improving and they're running two trains more often now, but the load times on the coaster are still making for long waits. Those of you going down over the next month need to get rides first thing in the day, or you're likely looking at wait times of 30 minutes or more even on moderate days. Thanks for reading!
  11. The item I'm posing for discussion is how much effect has the Fast Lane Plus for renewing season pass holders affected wait times on Sundays during the Fall. Fall Sundays always were a good time to go to the park, especially the ones after Columbus Day weekend. Wait times were always extremely manageable even on the nicer weather days. It seems that has changed for the worse over the past couple of seasons, and I think that part of that change is due to the park giving out free Fast Lane Plus bands to renewing season pass holders. I had a desire to go to the park that last couple of Sundays, but decided to pass because of the reports coming in from the park about long wait times. The day it finally hit me was a late season Sunday last year. My friend Cheryl and I came in to the park around 4 and decided to renew our Platinum passes at that time. I mentioned that one of the perks was a free Fast Lane Plus band on Sundays, and she recommended that we might as well use it now. We got the bands, and went over The Beast. We walked up the exit and into the Fast Lane Plus line only to be greeted with a 25-minute long Fast Lane line. The regular line looked to be around an hour. Cheryl turned to me and said "I don't remember lines being this long on Sundays in the past". I couldn't disagree with her, but I'd be interested in hearing others thoughts on the matter.
  12. I had a chance to ride Lightning Rod on Friday. I got three rides in, and I just wanted to share a few thoughts: Because of the way the trains - and more specifically the headrests - are designed the only row that has a clear view throughout is the front row. Even a ride in row 2 didn't provide what I would consider great views. If the staff will allow you to wait for the front row I'd do it, if only so you can see what's going on the whole ride. The trains seem to be the major reason why the ride is having difficulties. I got a chance to speak with a supervisor and a maintenance team member and they all made reference to the trains as the main reason for the inconsistent uptime. I would go in with the expectation that even if the ride is running during your visit there will be probably be downtime at some point. The ride seems to be stuck with one train operation for the time being. Lightning Rod team members said that they have run two trains on occasion, but there haven't been any sustained periods of consistent two-train operation. Dispatch intervals in one-train operation mode are around 5 minutes. That's around a 300 per hour capacity. That's abysmal, but hey, at least the ride is (semi) open! The newer RMC coasters are not big person friendly, nor is this one. Those over 250 lbs. or have large thighs may have a tough time. The pre-drop and first drop have major airtime. The airtime on the ride is there in abundance once you get past the wave turn, and the airtime toes the line perfectly between thrilling and enjoyable. The quad down is as good as advertised. Unlike most of the other RMCs the restraints are relatively unobtrusive when you're on the course. My first ride - in the last row - had a nasty jolt bottom of the first drop, but the other rides did not. The rest of the course was very smooth. Aside from the aforementioned sight issues I don't believe there's a major difference between front of train and back of train rides in terms of ride quality. I was very skeptical when some other enthusiasts were proclaiming this their #1 overall coaster, but I can absolutely see why some might rank it that high after my rides. I can absolutely make the argument that it's the best wooden coaster in the US right now. I still prefer both Boulder Dash and Voyage when each of those coasters is running well, but the way that they're running right now I would take Lightning Rod over each of them. Lightning Rod is definitely not better than Fury 325, but honestly, that might be the only coaster in the US right now that's better. If you can get a ride this year I'd make the effort to do it.
  13. In fairness to RMC, they've significantly shortened the time that it's taken to do these conversions. New Texas Giant took more than a year, but Iron Rattler, Wicked Cyclone, and Joker at Discovery Kingdom all took less than a year from the time the original ride closed to the time the updated version opened. Having said that, I agree with your post. If Cedar Point really wanted the conversion to be done in 2017 they probably would have shut the ride down earlier than the middle of September. The less forgiving weather certainly will be a factor, and a 2018 opening date would give them nearly a full year to tease the ride. **EDIT** The GhostRider refurb took a little less than a year. Having GCI come in and do the GhostRider refurb made perfect sense. GhostRider - unlike Mean Streak - actually had some redeeming traits before the refurbishment; i.e., lots of airtime and a really fun layout. GCI's major objectives with GhostRider were to make the ride experience better for the riders and allow the Millennium Flyer trains to help save some wear and tear on the track. Notice that they barely touched the layout at all, not because of cost, but because the layout was already good. The other thing to consider is that GhostRider is less than 120 feet tall which is right in GCI's wheelhouse. I don't see how Cedar Fair could possibly justify GCI working on Mean Streak. Why spend all that money to do major re-tracking, probably modify the layout in some capacity, and slap Millennium Flyer trains on the track only to have the coaster run rough again in four or five years? Cedar Fair already has plenty of experience with really rough and tall wooden coasters - Hercules, Mean Streak, Son of Beast. I think Cedar Fair knows that Mean Streak needs major help, help that goes well past GCI's expertise in the retracking and refurbishment of smaller wooden coasters. I also think that Cedar Fair knows that GCI working on Mean Streak would only be a temporary solution. Not only that, it really wouldn't solve the really big issue with Mean Streak - that of low ridership. You'd still have the same boring layout, and a few years down the road you'd likely still have it riding rough because of the coasters size. I simply can't see why Cedar Fair would willingly do that.
  14. Thanks for the Canada's Wonderland info. For those of you who have Canada's Wonderland passes and will be renewing them - or for those of you who may get a new pass there - here are the specifics: It looks like the new for 2017 Platinum Pass price will be $189. The renewal price is $184.50. I'm going to assume those prices will be chain-wide. Canada's Wonderland pass prices are in Canadian Dollars. The current exchange rate is about $0.78 USD/$1.00 CAD, so a $189 CAD pass price will set you back about $148 USD before the sales tax is added. The sales tax rate is 13%. As such, a new 2017 Platinum Pass will set you back about $167 USD. The renewal price is $163 USD. New Canada's Wonderland Platinum passholders get one free visit in 2016. Renewing Platinum passholders get the "free Fast Lane Plus during the 2016 Fall" renewal benefit. Renewing passholders CAN renew online, but you can't complete the renewal process right now because Accesso hasn't fully set up the system. I'd imagine that you should be able to renew online by the end of the week. For those wondering - I just confirmed with a Kings Island guest services representative that if you have a non-Kings Island Platinum Pass you can "renew" the pass at Kings Island as an actual renewal. Last year at Canada's Wonderland I had to process my 2016 Platinum Pass as a new pass and not as a renewal, which cost more and did not allow me to take advantage of the free Fast Lane Plus renewal offer. I'm happy to see they're moving in the right direction on this.
  15. I've had a chance to sift through the videos and posts on this thread and get a good nights sleep. My initial impressions: Pros: GCI as the manufacturer. Once the plans were made public it was pretty clear that it was a GCI coaster. The other Cedar Fair GCI coasters are all very good to great coasters, and this one looks to be in the same class. An all-wooden support structure. This will help make the ride much more tolerable to ride after the first couple seasons and will also make the ride much more picturesque in photos. Millennium Flyer trains. The most comfortable and accommodating wooden coaster trains in the industry. Guests of a larger size will be especially happy with these trains. 48 inch height requirement. The first new coaster with this height requirement since Backlot Stunt Coaster. Excellent move here. Minimal tree clearance = great night rides. I don't know if the night rides on this will be quite as good as Prowler but they should be outstanding. Capacity. 1275 people an hour! That is remarkable for a wooden coaster. To put that in perspective - that's the same capacity that Diamondback has if they dispatch full trains every 90 seconds. I'm really happy that they decided to add a third train, and it shows that Cedar Fair is really committed to adding meaningful capacity to their parks. High uptime. Cedar Fair has consistently shown recently that their larger coaster installs are coming from manufacturers that build rides that have minimal downtime. GCI coasters just work. I agree with Shaggy that it's unlikely that we'll see a drop track. A drop track would absolutely kill capacity, and there's no way that you could achieve a 1275 pph capacity with that element. Drop track coasters also tend to have a lot more downtime. A drop track IMO is definitely not worth the tradeoff that you'd have to sacrifice in capacity and uptime. Cons: Uninspiring name. It just doesn't roll off the tongue the same way that Diamondback or Banshee does. That's really about it. I think this is a really nice, solid addition to the park. I do think that at some point that Kings Island would be wise to put an attraction (or two) for non-thrill seekers in that part of the park. If you walk from Diamondback to either Backlot Stunt Coaster or back around the path to the Eiffel Tower there are literally no rides along either path for non-thrill seekers (I'm not counting the flume and White Water Canyon). I do wonder if the additional upcoming announcement will address that area of need.
  16. Just wanted to comment on this. I don't recall seeing anyone - myself included - saying that RMC coasters are unreliable. I have said previously that they are relatively low-capacity and are very temperamental and/or finicky. I've been on 6 different RMC creations thus far. We have been nervous about getting some of the RMC credits, because they seem to be prone to downtime during the day. The best thing anyone traveling to ride an RMC can do is to hit them first thing in the day, because it's been our experience that their rides are more reliable early in the day. We've personally experienced downtime on New Texas Giant, Outlaw Run, Goliath and Wicked Cyclone. My experience in those parks is - statistically speaking - not enough to confirm that they're finicky rides, but when you're visiting a park with an RMC coaster you know that risk is always lurking. As an enthusiast, I would prefer an RMC coaster versus a GCI. RMC coasters are more dynamic rides with much more aggressive airtime. As a park operator, however, I'd prefer GCI. I've ridden all of the currently operating GCIs in the US except for Kentucky Rumbler. I've seen Thunderhead down on a couple of occasions and Prowler once, but all of the other GCIs I've come across operated consistently and I had no problems getting on them. GCI coasters just work. I'm sure that Lightning Rod is a great coaster, but I don't care how awesome it is if I can't ride it! Take a look at this quote from Dollywood's PR person about Lightning Rod: I added the emphasis. Does that quote scream confidence about RMC? The fact that RMC has had problems with each of their installations this year to varying degrees is not good. RMC makes great rides, but calling their reliability into question right now is not without cause.
  17. This is a pretty alarming statement - especially coming from you. It's really difficult to envision a greater than zero chance of this happening with the ride only having been open for a short time, but the fact that this is even being mentioned is not good. If there's even a miniscule chance that the ride may be scrapped, that says that the underlying reasons were pretty serious in nature and/or the fixes too costly to justify. Given that RMC is a relatively new company to the scene, would they have the financial means to be able to write this off and still remain in business? What parts of the ride would be salvageable? Could any of the wood be salvaged? I can't believe that anyone would want the trains based on all of the problems the restraints have had. Yikes. It's interesting that RMC's Facebook page has gone completely silent since Dollywood publicly announced the recall on June 19. They were averaging one or two posts a week for a few months and then...nothing. I haven't seen a public statement from them of any kind in that same timeframe. RMC probably has more pressing issues than updating their Facebook page right now, but it's just another bad sign in a sea of them. There's no question that this has been one of the biggest stories in the amusement park world this year. The coaster was supposed to open four months ago, and here we are today with more questions than answers. Dollywood has had to play cat-and-mouse with their guests for the last two months about the ride's status, and I feel bad for everyone working in their guest services department! There could be some major fallout from this situation.
  18. Wait times are reasonable today. Banshee is a one or two train wait, and Diamondback is around 20 minutes. The Diamondback and Banshee crews tonight are really good. Average dispatch on Diamondback is right at 100 seconds so the line is moving quickly. Nice night to be at the park!
  19. There aren't seatbelts on any B&M hypers except for the ones in Cedar Fair parks. The B&M hypers at Six Flags, Busch, SeaWorld and the ones overseas don't have them.
  20. It would be fun - and very difficult - to make a list of things in the amusement world worse than Mt. Olympus. That place is just comically bad! A few things from my visit there stand out: While in line for Cyclops, we saw the famous "you must be at least 18 years old to ride in the back car" sign in the queue leading up to the station. The sign is there because there are a couple of wicked pops of airtime you get in the last few rows. Most of the people in line were younger than that, so we're thinking that we should be able to hop right in to the famed last row. Nope! Those two rows were out of service. Maybe the second train will have those rows available. What do you mean there's no second train? Am I really watching the restraints fly open while the train is cresting that hill? We should have left then, but we still hadn't ridden Hades... We hop in line for Hades, and there are probably only 300 people in front of us. I'm thinking that this shouldn't be any longer than a half hour wait tops. What our naïve contestant didn't know is that (1) it was only one-train operation, in part due to the fact that Mt. Olympus in their infinite wisdom only bought one train! - and (2) that the ride ops there would leave their mark as the worst I had - and still have - ever seen. The best was when they would see the train coming back into the station and they would - no kidding - jump across the tracks just before the train would arrive. It was the amusement park version of a car driver trying to beat a train at a railroad crossing. After an hour - and nearly half an hour of waiting in the station - and we're getting ready to board the next train. The previous riders clear the train, and much to our surprise two of the ride ops then hop in our seat and pull down the restraints because they want a lap. Are you kidding??!! We had to politely kick them out of our seats. We get our ride - minus the ride ops in our train - and then disembark. As we're exiting we hear: "Hades is currently experiencing technical issues". We both busted out laughing. It turns out that the ride went down for the rest of the night! Back on topic - the storage shed track wheels in an earlier post can also be found on Gatekeeper. You can see them in the first photo in the following link: https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog-article/haunt/These-Trains-Are-On-Track
  21. I've heard a number of passholders mention this, and it would certainly be nice to have the ability to merge the pass and game cards together. They would need to merge together the two software systems together somehow. If the game card system stays around for more than just this one year (meaning there was some financial benefit derived from the game card system) they may look into that possibility. It would definitely make things more convenient. I'm usually at the park once a week playing games. It looks like some games have been affected by the introduction of the game cards more than others. The various basketball games and Ring Toss seem largely unaffected, and I think that most of that is the fact that there is a game card station right next to all of those games. The further someone has to go to get a game card the less likely it is they'll do it. "Impulse" buys keep getting brought up. I'd say that probably 99% of people who go to a park and decide to play games are "impulse" buyers - that they don't decide ahead of time that they're going specifically to play games. With that in mind, I'd group most game players in two categories: Those that are only going to spend $1 or $2 at a time playing games. These players typically have pre-set limits as to how much they're going to spend on games and that's it. Have the game cards affected the total game play of this group? It probably has. People in this group may decide that spending $2 dollars on a game isn't worth getting the card. Those that are willing to spend $5 or more at a time. They're more likely to put more money on the cards upfront and they're generally willing to play at the higher priced games (3 Point Challenge, Ring Toss, etc.) more often. These players can be extremely profitable. Game cards will also mean that the game transactions go much quicker. A swipe of the card is much quicker than taking time to handle money, which means that you can get through more transactions in an hour which makes the park more money. It's an interesting experiment for sure!
  22. I'm glad that this was brought out, because this is one of the most overlooked things in this whole situation. There are a lot of people who are only looking at this in a vacuum - i.e., how these issues are affecting this particular ride. What some may not realize is that the whole industry is watching this saga unfold. There are two main issues here: Whether RMC is directly at fault for these setbacks are not, it's happening on one of their rides. Park operators aren't going to spend time to try and decipher which of the various parties associated with this ride are at fault. Most park operators simply see that this is an RMC coaster and it's not working as it should. This is a hit to their reputation - whether it's fair or not is another issue. RMC is now competing directly with the B&Ms of the world now. RMC coasters from the ground up now are being priced at $15 million and above. The reality is that there are only so many parks that are going to install a coaster in this price range, and RMC is competing against the best coaster manufacturer in the world - B&M. Parks want to know exactly what they're getting when they build a coaster at these price levels, and your reputation and past work goes a long way in determining who gets future business. Just ask Intamin. RMC rides are just really finicky. Outlaw Run and Goliath both suffer from frequent bouts of downtime. Three of their four 2016 rides are closed at the moment. Their trains are pretty restrictive and not really all that comfortable to ride in. I really like RMC coasters (all 6 I've ridden are in my top 30 coasters out of nearly 300) and I hope that they can right the ship, but their track record right now is cause for concern.
  23. I'll second Forest Park. You mentioned going to the St. Louis Zoo so you'll already be in Forest Park. The St. Louis Art Museum is also in the same complex. You'll have an excellent time there. If you are in the Forest Park area you'll be close to the Hill. There are some really nice Italian restaurants in that part of town, and you'll definitely want to stop at a place called Gelato di Riso for an after-meal treat. Their gelato is excellent, and you'll want to get the lemon and blueberry sorbetto in the same cup. It's one of my favorite summertime treats anywhere in the US. Kansas City has a lot to offer. Some of my favorite places there are: Crown Center. Near Hallmark's headquarters, there's a shopping mall, aquarium and some other cool things to do there. It's also indoors - which can come in really handy during those really warm KC summertime days. If you get a chance I'd highly recommend seeing a production at Musical Theater Heritage. Shows run Thursday - Sunday. The venue is very similar to the Shelterhouse at Playhouse in the Park, but the upshot to their productions is that they use a live orchestra to accompany the performance. It's a really neat experience. Power & Light District. This area near downtown KC is just vibrant. Lots of restaurants, shops and nightlife in a very modern yet clean, safe environment. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. It's a few blocks away from the Power & Light district, and if you get a chance to see a performance or do a tour there during the day (reservations required) definitely do it. That building is a real work of art. Kansas City doesn't have a lot of top-flight non-BBQ restaurants IMO. My personal best bets are: Stroud's - Oak Ridge Manor. The fried chicken is what they're known for - and it's good - but the best items on the menu are the mashed potatoes and gravy and the cinnamon rolls. The rolls are seriously addictive. Make sure you get a few rolls to go because they make great travel snacks! PotPie. Located in the Westport district, it's a quaint American-style restaurant with plenty of French influence. The story behind how the restaurant got its name is very interesting. Velvet Crème Popcorn. A cute popcorn shop located on the Kansas side of KC. If you stop here make sure you get the white chocolate almond popcorn (yes, it's as amazing as it sounds) and the honey cinnamon almonds.
  24. If this does indeed turn out to be a GCI wooden coaster, I think that this works out for people who wanted this to be a wooden coaster AND for those wanting a B&M giga. A GCI wooden coaster makes a lot of sense for Kings Island. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I think that there are three really good features that accompany a possible GCI installation: Most GCI coasters have a 48" height requirement. I've seen talk that the GCI going in at Busch Gardens Williamsburg might be a 46" height requirement, but I don't know if that's been confirmed. Either way, Kings Island really needed another 48" minimum height requirement ride, as it's been a long time since KI has installed a 48" height requirement coaster It seems as though the tree cutting will be kept to a minimum if the layout is accurate. A coaster kept entirely in the trees would be awesome for a whole host of reasons GCI coasters typically run about $10 million these days. A similar-sized from-the-ground-up RMC would cost at least $15 million because of the additional cost to manufacture the Topper/I-Box track. The last point is what makes me hopeful that a B&M giga isn't too far away. A GCI coaster IMO is a mid-sized install. It's certainly a nice investment, but it's not so large that a future B&M installation would have to be pushed out longer-term. Putting in the GCI first also allows the park to have additional capacity already in place, which will be really helpful when the B&M giga comes along. Cedar Fair isn't dumb. They know that their B&M hyper/giga installations have been extremely successful. Kings Island will eventually build a B&M giga; it's just a matter of when they'll do it and where they'll put it. Thinking about the timing of a possible B&M giga - I think it's entirely possible that Cedar Fair made the decision to wait until the Western Row construction projects (and new I-71 ramps) were scheduled to be complete before moving forward with a monster addition like that. Those road construction projects are - as of today - scheduled to be complete by mid-2019. I think it's entirely possible that the earliest we'll see a B&M giga is 2020. I don't know if that's really what's happening here, but it certainly makes sense. Wait until the construction dust clears, add a nice new ride in the interim and then make preparations in the next few years. A B&M giga at KI has the potential to be the best ride in the world, so if it means waiting a few years so that everything else around it is in place first then I'm completely cool with that.
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