CoastersNSich

I love those; they're more filling than two slices of pizza IMO. However, the last couple of times I've been there, they didn't have any.

I'm happy that this also answered the question I had about Bubba Gump's operating in winter temperatures...

I was taking some pictures inside the Festhaus just before 11:30 today. Beauty that I haven't seen for years...

So far, their only capital investment for the 2006 season is Skyhawk, although the site of White Water Landing will surely be busy for a 2007 project.

Me too on the 5th and 6th. Not sure if I'll be there the entire time, but most likely at close on the Sunday!

When I first went past Skyflyer to get to Top Gun (probably before 6 pm), they were charging $5 per person according to the midway sign. Coming back, the sign was changed to $10. Makes good sense when demand is exceeding your supply a bit.

Hardly, but I believe it has happned once (even twice) this year! The first day open to passholders, April 2, KI closed at Noon, just 2 hours after scheduled opening! The day after, also a season pass day, the park was closed altogether. It might have been closed another day in April when scheduled to be open. But as long as the weather is somewhat bearable, and a decent amount of guests are scheduled to show up and/or are present, count on the place being open, but not necessarily til scheduled close. I think the FearFest attractions will still draw a good number, even if it is a bit too nippy for some. I'll be there tonight, and probably either tomorrow (Sat.) night and/or for a few hours Sunday before the Steelers/Bengals game.

The reason? Kings Island, when they were planning their new coaster for 1993, was owned by Great American/Carl Lindner before being sold to Paramount after the 1992 season. They had already had a layout, and concept for this Arrow suspended, to either be called "Swoop" or "Thunder Road." And I assume they chose an Arrow suspended because while The Bat (the very first Arrow suspended coaster, 1981-83) was a failure, it was a fun and popular ride, and that type of ride was missed by the guests. A friend of mine said the name "Thunder Road" was chosen because it had been used previously on a Carowinds racing wood coaster, and KECO/Paramount have been known to repeat trademarks, like "White Water Canyon," "Vortex," "King Cobra/Kobra," etc. I thought though, "Swoop" was the more likely name because the ride was to be located in the jungle/safari themed Wild Animal Habitat area. Also, the very first B&M inverted was actually Batman: The Ride built at Six Flags Great America in Illinois, in 1992. I'm guessing that KECO (which was acquired earlier 1992, minus Kings Island, by Paramount) had bought the second B&M invert, and planned to install it for 1993 at the Santa Clara, CA Great America. For those who may not know, two almost identical parks were built by hotel and hospitality chain Marriott, in Santa Clara and in Gurnee, IL (near Chicago), and both named Marriott's Great America, and opened in 1976. Marriott later added attractions at either one of both of the parks. The two parks were sold after the 1984 season - the Santa Clara park to the city (managed and later bought by Kings Entertainment), and the Gurnee location to Six Flags theme parks.

Isn't there already a similar active topic, with a poll? http://www.pkicentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6349

Favorite at PKI? Vortex, because of the air on the first drop, and I like the inversions as well. I can handle the OTSRS better because I'm big. Favorite overall? I'd say between Magnum XL-200 and Gemini at Cedar Point... Magnum has that awesome lakeside setting, and the intense airtime coming back! And Gemini is IMHO simply the best racing coaster around. Even after 27 years, it's still very smooth, has nice air, and is very interactive with the other train! Oh, and did I mention, they race the trains?

I remember going on Banshee my first two trips there (2001 and 2002). It was very wild, they made single riders pair up. Unfortunately, it was taken down prior to the 2003 season because it cost so much to fix, plus they wanted a new ride that was a bit less intense but still a lot of fun.... they went with the HallowSwings, which are just like the Zephyr at Kings Island.

Wow, someone needs a retreat next year! Back then there was only one coaster (a Schwarzkopf mini steel coaster,) and Splashin' Safari hadn't even been opened yet!

I attended the CoasterBuzz Fall Affair at Holiday World on Saturday, which was the first enthusiast event at the Santa Claus park since 2004. It was very pleasant and more... exclusive since only 150 people attended, compared tp some previous HW events. Anyway, the day included a recording of the second CoasterBuzz Podcast in the Holiday Theater at noon, a good chance to roam the park, and then a construction tour of The Voyage, a gigantic wood roller coaster (the structure is steel) that will open May 2006 as part of the new Thanksgiving section. You can find photos of the construction tour and more of the day's events here on my website. There was, of course, almost 2.5 hours of ERT on The Legend and The Raven. Sometimes, double rides were given! Throughout the day, I had 11 Raven rides, and 12 Legend rides. Thanks again to CoasterBuzz, the Kochs, Holiday World, for such a nice day!

I went up to the Stratosphere back in February. It was the day before they were supposed to airlift the ride to the top, so I didn't get the chance to go, obviously. The shot ride was great - sure, the ride's tower itself was kind of short, but placed on top of a 900+ foot tall tower. X-Scream, however, was probably one of the few rides that truly made me scared because it was running off the observation deck... at least there's some brakes and stops to keep it suspended, looking down on an IHOP 900 some feet below. The coaster, High Roller, was not that thrilling. It was fun riding in a coaster with a panoramic revolving view of Las Vegas. I didn't go into the pay experience, but did check out the 'free' area. It is, however, very accessible via the Las Vegas Monorail. Star Trek Experience is the first thing you come upon once exiting the Las Vegas Hilton Station.

More like 34 years. Although they weren't known as Paramount's Kings Island until 1993, the park has been thrilling us snce 1972.

Then again, when you read about the story, you have to put yourself in the guy's shoes. You are a guest who has spent hundreds for his family for a day of amusement at Kings Island, and in turn, expect things to go well, with all the rides open and quick moving lines, and most importantly, good customer service. Unfortunately, they don't deliver on those expectations, you're a bit upset, and you let them know at guest relations. To try to get you to come back, they offer you six tickets at no charge. When you pick up the tickets with your name on the envelope, you see that they misspelled your name, and the misspelling happens to be slang for "weak, timid or unmanly." Now you're ****ed. Now, this wasn't exactly one of the top news stories in Cincinnati, and the Target 5 segment is often placed later on in the newscast... so probably the "Wussy" here is "Tom Sussi." Or maybe the PKI employee for not double-checking the guest's name. I wouldn't call this guest the 'Idiot of the day." My $0.02.

I remember my last and only visit about 10 years ago. The place was starting to age, with some bumpy slides and such. I did like some of the slides though, like a toboggan slide where you plunge almost straight down and splashing into a pool on a sled, as well as an innertube rapid, like the ones the Beach has. Even though they did a lot of discounts, as well as a go-kart track, Surf Cincinnati's novelty was wearing away. I guess that the location wasn't the greatest either - it was located at the end of a cul-de-sac in some business park in Forest Park, even though it was visible off I-275 and near the Hamilton Ave. exit. Not to mention competition; in addition to Kings Island, The Beach and Coney Island, some municipalities have built new pools/mini waterparks, and those drew away from Surf Cincinnati.

I'm not here to make fun of Mr. Lusby, PKI, or Target 5, but the lead anchor/reporter of the Target 5 division... Tom Sussi... Sussi, which rhymes with Lusby and Wussy. I hope everyone's all right soon.

Walter and Claude. They've had a better record of reliability, compatibility (for larger riders) and safety than Intamin has of lately. The fact that their trains seat 4 across are also very family friendly, IMO. But if it were Intamin vs. Vekoma or most other steel manufacturers (other than B&M), I'd go with the Intamin...

I went on the PKD space flyer last year, not too exciting for the young adult that I am. But it was kinda fun.

Is anybody having problems trying to access the Post and Enquirer articles? I'm guessing that this is because they're being swamped by people looking for more info. AZ, isnt't this exciting?!

I guess this means I'd better put the laptop away, and lay on the bed to go to sleep, rather than surf the net. I just set up a wireless network at home... I can't wait for some rides!!

Probably getting into some sort of "ideal" mode, the chain as a whole could be sold to another investor/group of investors, which would want to streamline the Six Flags lineup. The 'new' Six Flags would include the 'classic' regional theme parks that they have either built or had for a long time, such as SF Over Texas (the original), SF Over Georgia, SF St. Louis, SF Great America, maybe others. Other parks that Cedar Fair could buy are Darien Lake, Magic Mountain, and Great Adventure - they have a good history with both large and medium-sized parks. Smaller SF parks like Kentucky Kingdom, Elitch Gardens, Great Escape, etc. could either end up with SF, CF or someone else - they have small footprints yet have good revenue potential. As I started in a new topic, it seems there will not be an AstroWorld, as Six Flags is closing it to sell the land.

After 37 years, AstroWorld, a Six Flags theme park located next to Astrodome and Reliant Stadium in Houston, will close after this season, and its site will be sold. Six Flags cites increasing land value, as well as parking issues with Texans NFL games and Astrodome. A light rail line has been extened to the area, and the value of the land is greater than that the park itself... Houston Chronicle AstroWorld It should be noted that AstroWorld was closed over Labor Day weekend when evacuees from New Orleans and Superdome were relocated to Astrodome, and Six Flags did not want to interfere with relief efforts. It reopened weekends starting last weekend, but will close for good Sunday, October 30.

This year Paramount's Kings Island Cedar Point Geauga Lake Wyandot Lake* Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom Six Flags St. Louis* Camden Park* Holiday World Wonderpark Las Vegas (NYNY, Nascar Cafe, and Stratosphere) Previous years Six Flags Great America Six Flags America LeSourdsville Lake # Coney Island (OH) Busch Gardens Williamsburg Paramount's Kings Dominion Dorney Park Hersheypark Williams Grove Michigan's Adventure Indiana Beach Beech Bend Park Fun Spot Parks on the Wish List Kennywood Conneaut Lake Knoebel's Worlds of Fun Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Over Georgia Dollywood Paramount's Carowinds Magic Kingdom Epcot and more! * - First visit was in 2005 # - Last visit was in 2002, which was also this park's last year of operation.