jcgoble3

I'm not at that skill level yet (the Gauley is solid Class IV and V stuff and I've only just begun to advance to Class III rivers), but the Lower Gauley (Class IV) is one of my goals for next fall. I did do a commercial rafting trip on the Gauley in September (both Upper and Lower) and had a blast doing it.

*peeks in from lurker land* I didn't renew my pass last fall for this year because I was beginning to lose interest as I was no longer getting the adrenaline rush I used to from coasters (Xtreme Skyflyer was the last remaining true adrenaline rush at KI for me). I was also noticing a gradual decline in quality even back in 2022. It looks like I picked the right time to make my exit and move on to other pursuits and hobbies. I've followed the further decline via Facebook this year, mainly through the passholders group, and based on everything I saw this year, this 2024 schedule doesn't surprise me in the least. Kings Island at this point is a shell of what it was five years ago. I've taken up whitewater kayaking, and while that might be more expensive, at least I get my adrenaline rushes, don't have to deal with corporate bull****, have far fewer crowds to deal with, and can do it year-round with a drysuit. I was considering buying a couple of Winterfest tickets this year (Mom loves Winterfest), but the likelihood of that is continuing to go downhill.

Eh, I've moved on, not just from the noodle but soon from amusement parks in general. I don't get any adrenaline rush from coasters anymore so I've moved on to bigger thrills. I just got back home on Saturday from a trip to ACE Adventure Resort in West Virginia where I did whitewater rafting on the Gauley River, mountain biking, ziplining, whitewater kayaking, and some other stuff. I don't plan to renew my season pass as I've only visited the park once this year and probably won't visit again unless my mom wants to go to Winterfest.

I get email notifications of mentions. Yes, Starbucks does still sell overpriced tea. I don't recall exactly which jacket it was, but probably it was the GateKeeper jacket, which I still have but the zipper broke, so it's been retired to the trunk of my car to serve as an emergency jacket if I walk into a freezing cold restaurant (Taco Bell, I'm looking at you).

Posted without comment: https://www.facebook.com/539706336051128/posts/4698017320219988/

https://sanduskyregister.com/news/337812/cedar-point-wont-break-silence/ What is Cedar Point trying to hide? They won't talk to the media, won't release the name of the victim or any information about her location or condition, which potentially violates Ohio public records laws by continuing to refuse the victim's name. The public at the very least has the right to know if she survived, but the media needs her name in order to find that out. I smell something fishy going on here.

Been a while since there was an update here. https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/will-schlitterbahn-open-this-year-kck-waterpark-shows-no-signs-of-activity A few things of note from this article and articles it links to: One, all criminal charges were dismissed in February due to abuses by the prosecutor in the grand jury process, namely use of inadmissible evidence. Two, Schlitterbahn Kansas City stated in August in a Facebook comment that all 2018 season pass holders would get a free 2019 pass, after complaints of unusually high amounts of downtime. Three, Schlitterbahn Kansas City appears to have decided to not open at all in 2019. I checked their website, which simply says "Check back for 2019 tickets", and clicking on the buttons to buy tickets or season passes does nothing. Other locations appear to be operating normally. The Kansas City location's Facebook page has also been dormant since October.

Ping! Yeah, glad I could share my skip-the-line passes from the wheel game with someone. As for why that day was packed: Rain the day before caused people to delay their visit a day Several after-prom school trips Beautiful weather Flying Pig Marathon that morning (I saw several people with various race shirts on, most likely marathon runners that came to KI after crossing the finish line) Basically just a perfect storm of circumstances.

I got my final Firehawk ride yesterday evening in the cold drizzle. Right after my train was dispatched, Firehawk went 2-9 weather and the other train, which had just been loaded, was unloaded and the riders were sent down the exit instead of back into the queues. I don't know for certain if they reopened, but sending the riders out the exit and ushering everyone out of the main queue suggests to me that it was not likely. Does anyone here know if Firehawk ran at all today? It would be kinda cool (for me, not for those who missed their last ride) if my final ride ended up being the last public train ever.

JavaScript is broken on the forums when I access it from a web browser, preventing me from posting in any way. I can only post from Tapatalk. This has been observed in all of the following environments: Firefox 62.0, Ubuntu 18.04 Chrome 69.0.3497.92, Ubuntu 18.04 Firefox 62.0.1, Android 9

Standards and the definition of a "good" coaster evolve over time. Vortex may have been good when it opened and for quite some time since then, but over the past few years modern standards have overtaken it and its rough transitions are no longer acceptable to many people. IMO it stood the test of time for roughly 25ish years, but in the past few seasons it has begun to struggle to pass that test, if not outright fail it. I get that it is historically significant, but that in and of itself is not a reason to keep a coaster around forever despite being outdated. It's time to retire it for good.

Pixel phones allow you to uninstall anything that isn't necessary for Android to run, including preinstalled apps. And yes, that includes the (minimal) bloatware that Verizon adds to their version of the Pixels.

I've found that holidays (which for KI's purposes includes opening day) can be either absolutely slammed or absolutely dead, with very little in-between. Essentially, the effect of weather on crowd levels is massively magnified on those days. Weather that might be the difference between a 20-minute wait or a 45-minute wait on a normal day can be the difference between a 5-minute wait or a 90-minute wait on holidays.

Incorrect. Adventure Express is a steel coaster.

No, no, no. Gold Passes are still available at least through the fall season and almost certainly through next spring, as they always are. The Sunday deadline was only for a couple of renewal perks that are now no longer offered.

Sure. For starters, remodel the men's restroom to have fewer urinals and more stalls. Having an entire wall of urinals and only one stall (literally, only one) is a bit ridiculous.

Just the same three: the snake, The Bat, and the (rare) tree. EDIT: The auto-capitalization filter strikes again!

To state that it's dead and won't come back. Only from fanboys that don't understand how the industry works. Those that do understand those things know and understand why a SOB revival will never, ever happen. It never should have gained that much attention. A few people got it started and it blew up way bigger than it ever had a right to be because too many people don't understand and know how to tell the difference between a teaser and an Easter egg.

Glad you had fun! As far as food service goes, that's been an ongoing issue for several years with generally poor service, and a lot of people have blamed it on the dining plans (i.e. they already have your money, so there's no incentive to improve anything because they know you're essentially locked to them no matter what). However, the confusion over the 2-Day All-Day Dining may be explained by the fact that AFAIK they do not sell such a thing to the general public (in fact, I've never heard of it before). There are many things available through group sales (where your insurance almost certainly obtained its deal from) that aren't available by any other means, and the 2-Day All-Day Dining appears to be such a thing. So it's likely something they rarely see, and it's possible those associates may have literally never seen one before, especially since at this point in the season many associates have quit to go back to school, so people are getting shifted around between departments and new associates are being hired for the fall season. That doesn't necessarily excuse the issues with it, but may at least explain it.

I could definitely NOT see such a thing. Why do so many people want to see the park do this? Why would the park resurrect anything related to a ride that sent two dozen people to the hospital and is generally a giant black eye for the park? I daresay nobody in the coaster industry is even willing to be associated with that name at this point. Son of Beast is dead and buried, as proven by the tombstone in the Banshee queue. Let it rest in peace. Please.

Yes, antique car rides like this have a single pedal (press for gas, release to brake) and a working steering wheel. A guide rail prevents riders from drifting off course, but it is otherwise fully rider-controlled.

The dialogue there has been switched up a few times. When I saw it a couple weeks ago, that line was "We shoulda went to Kings Island." With 2019 passes now on sale, I'm not surprised that they decided to change it to that.

Assuming it works the same as the last several years (which seems like it should be a safe assumption), those should be already loaded onto your pass. For the bring-a-friend ticket, go to the ticket windows at the park, give them your pass, and tell them you want your free bring-a-friend ticket. They will scan your pass, verify the ticket hasn't been used, and print out the ticket and hand it to you. The FL+ pass is the same way, except you would go to the Fast Lane booth inside the front gate (to the left as you walk in).

So now that the dust has settled, or hopefully started to at least, my thoughts in no particular order: The ONLY misdirection by the park here was holding the announcement on National Roller Coaster Day, but even that was justified by also being the anniversary of the date the old 'tiques closed. Anyone who thinks the park deliberately misled them is deluding themselves. I don't get the mentality by some "enthusiasts" (scare quotes for a reason) that the park is obligated to put in a big new roller coaster every year and that they have to complain loudly when the park does something else. Enthusiasts are only one demographic, and a pretty small demographic. Families pay the park's bills. And on that note, this is something the whole family can do together. My 67-year-old dad, when he saw it, said "finally, something I can ride!" My 64-year-old mom is excited for it too. This is something parents and grandparents can ride. That is important. Although my parents took me to Paramount's Kings Island a few times as a kid in the mid-90s, I have almost no memories of the park in those days. But one that has stuck with me is riding the antique cars, and how I was scared of the big rides but loved the scenery and driving the cars. So yes, I'm excited for it too. It's childhood nostalgia for me. It's awesome to see the park correcting the biggest mistakes made by Viacom. First we got flying scooters again (even if they aren't as good as the originals), and now 'tiques. I can finally begin to forgive Viacom for the travesty of what we now call Backlot Stunt Coaster. Although it wasn't announced, I hope Racer gets some substantial track work and refurbishment, including a paint job. Such routine things aren't generally announced this far in advance or at a big public presentation like this. Much more likely that it would just be a post on the park's blog around February or something like that talking about it, perhaps even with pictures of the partially completed work.

There are three endings, and you were lucky because the tree is the rarest of the them. If you don't mind being spoiled on the other two, look below: