homestar92

California's Great America had theirs completely updated with new seating, new projectors, and more effects. It's also got a live actor who interacts with what's happening on screen, and it's generally one of the neater experiences I've had in a Cedar Fair park. I would love for a similar update to hit KI, however, if they are going to license something for it, I'd rather see a more current and relevant IP. If we're going with a video game IP, Tomb Raider seems like a cool one to use. They could call it Tomb Raider: The Ride

I really hope a large chain never owns Kennywood. I don't dislike Six Flags or Cedar Fair, but I don't want their hands on that park. As bad as Garfield's Nightmare is, I don't think it's worse than whatever Six Flags would put in there. And I shudder to even think of what Cedar Fair would do... Boo Blasters at Boo Mill doesn't have a nice ring to it...

I had a wonderful time on my visit to Michigan's Adventure. I went in expecting a poor experience and I was also pleasantly surprised. Their waterpark is also great. But they don't have lifts to get the tubes to the top of the big slides, so you're gonna get a workout!

The reports that Cedar Point has less room than KI are greatly exaggerated. Geographically speaking, both parks are the exact same size. 364 acres. Cedar Point has no shortage of land, and while it's true that KI has lots of undeveloped land, the truth is that not a ton of it is really usable. If you can't realistically get a reasonably flat footpath back to a particular tract of land, you can't use it for any attractions and it becomes irrelevant to this discussion. The only rides at KI that are built on the particularly rocky parts of the terrain are The Beast (which extends WAY far away from the nearest path) and The Bat, whose entry path is basically a giant bridge over the valley they built the ride into.

The blueprint isn't really a trade secret. It's public record ever since it was filed with the city. The "leakers" got the blueprint by walking into Mason city hall and asking for a copy of them, as many people here have done. These blueprints absolutely and unequivocally represent our 2020 attraction. There's simply no way around it.

Dropped by Soak City for lunch. That side of the park seemed very crowded, and yet, the lines for the slides didn't appear to be long. Didn't set foot in the dry side, but the parking lot seemed quite full.

Well, I figured out why I never got the PassPerks email. Apparently you only get PassPerks at your pass's home park. Mine is from CA Great America because I had a trip planned there and thus wanted the free Fast Lane for renewing early. Oh well, always next year I guess. At least the free Fast Lane at CA Great America was worth it. The park was slam-packed the day I visited.

Shooting Star, if they chose to use that name for a ride, is probably not really trademarkable. It's a name that is already in use for other amusement rides (I can think of one at Dollywood just off the top of my head). The fact that they HAVE trademarked other names is more evidence against Shooting Star than is the fact that they haven't trademarked that. All this being said, I don't think, at all, that the name will be Shooting Star. It's frankly an awful name for a coaster of this scale IMO and they wouldn't have paid for other trademarks with no plans to use them. If our ride does somehow end up being Shooting Star, then I'd expect Orion and Polaris to be used in some way, possibly names for the trains. Though I find it odd that they would trademark only two names when this will almost certainly run three trains. One option, and it's not one that I like, but it's just a thought... More of a thought experiment, for that matter since it's obviously not going to happen. I'm curious what reactions would be in this situation. What if Racer were being rethemed as Shooting Star, and instead of Red and Blue Racer, we now have a space theme with Orion and Polaris? The new pad could be a rerouted queue to effectively move the ride into X-Base without actually moving it and then its existing exit path could be extended around as a new entry into X-Base. I should note that I absolutely do not think this would ever happen and am not suggesting that there's even the tiniest chance of it. After all, why rename a timeless ride whose name so perfectly describes its shtick? But it is a fun thought experiment. I wonder how that news would go over among the General Public. Or, for that matter, the guy whose job it would be to promote these changes?

Right, but the money is already spent and the cost does not change whether I use it more or I use it less - so every time I use it that I may not have originally planned for is effectively free as it was never a factor in the decision to spend the money. The fact that my cost per meal typically ends up such that it's far cheaper than eating out anywhere else and that it may even be a bit cheaper than packing a homemade lunch means that even if it's not free, it's still cheaper than any of my alternative options. A net gain for me either way!

I will note that I have had my drink plan work on a buyout day. So drink plans might work. Dining is a definite no.

Well, I forgot to pack a lunch today at work, so I guess I'm eating at Island Smokehouse for lunch. I love working 10 minutes from Kings Island. I can easily get there, eat, and get back within my lunch hour and the food is free and it's close enough that I don't spend much on gas. It's especially nice when Soak City is open because you can park so close to the gate on that side of the park.

Can you make it with Green Intamin track? I think I'm showing my age here.

^ Best in the park? I think it's the best in the state, and I'm a guy who adores Magnum's bunny hills!

I'm a 3-1 guy on The Bat. On Vortex, I was once a 5-1 guy but now it's 7-1 or nothing. That pop of airtime on the first drop is unlike anything you'll find on any other coaster. When I first got into roller coasters, I had to have 1-1 on everything. Now I can't even tell you how long it's been since I rode 1-1 on Vortex. Probably a few years. Maybe I should give it a go again.

Mako has airtime. I don't normally Love B&M hypers all that much, but I thought Mako was delightful.

We started that rumor on this site. I really, really don't think FoF would get renamed. Then again, had you told me on October 28th, 2013 that Flight Deck was to be renamed, I'd have called you crazy. But even still, I don't think FoF would be renamed.

I'm expecting this building to be something akin to the gotham city sewers you find in the lines for the various installations of Batman The Ride. In other words, just a shade structure made of corrugated steel instead of canvas.

Is there a way to jump to the first unread post in a given thread? I know that the old software had that feature, and I can't find it. I know I'm able to do it if the thread in question was the most recent one posted in for the forum because I can click on the thread name on the right-hand side of the forum list, but I haven't found a way to do that in any arbitrary thread.

I'm really surprised they didn't lay out the queues in such a way that the Firehawk queue could serve as overflow for Flight of Fear OR for the Giga based on which of the two needs overflow. On opening day, you can rest assured it will be the Giga, however, the rest of the time, it would more likely be Flight of Fear. The Giga will be a people-eater and if it's anything like Banshee, may move people so quickly that it almost never has a line at all. The best thing about our Giga is that if Banshee is anything to go by, we can expect relatively short waits most of the time. That thing is extremely popular but has very short lines on even the busiest of days due to its capacity.

In all likelihood, the ride design was being worked on before the marketing and PR teams had all of their plans finalized, so it was designed (and had zoning and permits filed) using a temporary and generic name. All of those details are probably known to the park now, but may not have been when those permits were filed. And even if they were known, there's no good reason to put them on the permits. The city doesn't need to know that information and putting it on there just means it will be known as soon as the permits become available as public record.

I consider it a Giga automatically if it has a 300 foot drop, regardless of height since it is the drop and not the height that determines all of the characteristics of the ride. Same with a hyper but with a 200 foot drop. So Phantom's Revenge is a hyper despite the tallest point being 30% smaller than the biggest drop. If drop is less than 200 or 300, then I consider it a hyper or giga based on whether it is "within reason". I think 10% is a good benchmark. This way, things like Magnum are still a hypercoaster, but we don't have to count things like High Roller on the Stratosphere Tower, which obviously shouldn't count. as a 909 foot coaster.

Lol, where did he get the 305 foot drop from? I saw one post here that initially speculated 330 and was corrected and then since then the consensus has been 301. I don't think I've seen anyone on this forum give 305 as their estimate.

Leviathan didn't have a tunnel when it opened.

I have no doubts that our Giga will be better than the one at Cedar Point. That said, it is my opinion that "better than Millennium Force" isn't a very high bar. I've always felt it's the weakest North American Giga by a mile (yes, I've ridden all of them) and I absolutely do not think that is changing in 2020.

The blueprints aren't fake. Filing fake blueprints with the city would, at best, be extremely uncouth for a large international corporation, and at worst result in possible legal issues. If the "leaked" (I hate using that word for things that are public record) blueprints are fake, I'll eat my left shoe.