homestar92

I realize this is a several weeks old post, but the name was not a coincidence, but that's not where it came from. After Cedar Fair bought the Paramount parks, it remained a seafood restaurant for several years and was called Outer Hanks. The pun is not Tom Hanks's name, but rather the Outer Banks. After changing it to Mexican food, they kept the Hank's name, likely due to people already referring to that building by that name. I initially thought the same thing, that it was a pun on Tom Hanks, but I put two and two together when I noticed Outer Hanks at Carowinds. I'm sure the pun is a lot more immediately recognizable to people in that region.

^Anyone have pictures from similar angles from the KIC event back in 2012 or 2013 when we got a behind the scenes Firehawk tour? I'd like to see what 5 or 6 years of wear and tear to the paint looks like.

I have one and only one problem with this coaster. "Let's make a fun little wooden coaster for families to enjoy together" "Great idea!" "But give it a name that, when Googled, turns up almost exclusively alcoholic cocktails" Brilliant.

Took what could end up being my final ride on Firehawk tonight. It was a bit sadder than I expected it to be. It was never one of my most favorite rides in the park, but I've always liked it. I just hated waiting in line for it. These last few seasons when lines have tended to be short, I've really grown to like the ride a lot. It will be very dearly missed. I now know how it must feel for my many friends who still think back fondly on Son of Beast. Except with this ride, we were fortunate enough to be given an opportunity to say goodbye. I also noticed something in the shops around the park: The fact that the ride being removed was Firehawk was right under our noses the whole time. Look in the shops at the various pieces of merchandise that represent all the coasters. Vortex is present in all such pieces. Firehawk is conspicuously absent from many. If, by some strange miracle, the rumors of Firehawk going to Kentucky Kingdom end up being true, then I look forward to a great many rides on it in the future at its new home. Just be aware that counting on this possibility is almost certain to leave you disappointed.

The only place that a Zamperla Volare belongs is the footnotes of a theme park history book. They are the worst coasters on the planet. I would rather marathon Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags over Georgia or Predator at Darien Lake in exclusively wheel seats than to take even a single ride on one of those pieces of hot garbage.

Not to nitpick, but wouldn't Kentucky Kingdom have been the closest SIX property to KI? I guess it's not that much different of a drive though. Either going north on 71 or south on 71 to get to one or the other from KI.

The portion of Firehawk from being lowered in the station until you made it to the lift hill always reminded me of the dentist. I was never a fan of that. Love the rest of the ride though.

^ For some idiotic reason, the park considers Surf Dog to be a coaster, despite the fact that for the majority of its ride cycle, it does not coast.

It always sucks to lose a ride. Firehawk was never one of my favorites, but that in-line twist and final helix are incredible. Definitely sad to see it go, but I will happily sacrifice the red-headed stepchild in order to keep my beloved Vortex a few more years. Press F to pay respects. I'll start: F

I'm with you man. If Vortex goes, I understand that it's nothing personal and that it's a business decision. It wouldn't offend me, so I'm not going to be boycotting the park or anything like that, per se, but I would likely take a year off. There would be no ill will with the park, it's just that it would be very difficult for me to go for a while because any time I venture back to the site that once housed Vortex, it would be too difficult for me emotionally. For that reason, I probably wouldn't renew my pass, at least not the first year, as it would be extremely difficult to get my money's worth out of it.

I'm conflicted because while Vortex is my favorite ride, the inline twist and final helix on Firehawk are my favorite ride elements in the park. Either way I lose something I like.

I don't necessarily think so. Keep in mind a couple of things: The construction site will be larger than the final product. Congestion likely won't be as bad next year as it seems this year. Queue lines for other rides (including Vortex and WindSeeker) can be reconfigured if needed. I don't think Vortex would be leaving due to the 'tiques. If it is indeed leaving, it's because they want to make room for project 2020, not the Antique Cars.

Carolyn Weaver, the longtime manager of the Arrow division of S&S worldwide retired just this month. That in and of itself is fairly unimportant in the context of this discussion, but in the blog post announcing her retirement, they named the new manager of that division (indicating that they plan to continue running that division) and, importantly, emphasized that "S&S continues to support all Arrow rides with their parts and refurbishment needs" http://s-s.com/ss-worldwide-announces-retirement-carolyn-weaver/ Arrow parts are a huge market for S&S. That sector of their business probably won't be gone until all of the Arrows are gone. And since some Arrows are now over 50 years old and others are not even 20, I'd say that division could continue operating 30 or more years into the future. And even then, so many Arrows were built that parts could be salvaged from retired Arrow rides for many more years to come afterward. And that's a fairly common practice. If my information is correct, one of the Corkscrew trains at Cedar Point happens to be one of the Double Loop trains from Geauga Lake.

I mean, to be fair, Cedar Fair does a similar thing, just less obviously. Shivering Timbers Twisted Timbers Mystic Timbers Soaring Timbers and likewise: Firehawk Nighthawk Kiddy Hawk Steel Hawk Skyhawk Thunderhawk (twice!)

I forgot about Splintercat! Good times. I still think it's a great coaster name. Just not a Great Coaster (International) name, as it were.

I have joked among my friends many times that I wish they would do something like that during, say ERT for a coaster club event.

If you ever get down to Atlanta, I recommend you give Blue Hawk a ride. It's a Vekoma looper, which are generally agreed upon as being more painful than Arrows, and the new trains made it a downright pleasant ride. Granted, Vortex is my favorite ride. So my "pleasant" is not the same as the general public's "pleasant". However, I think that such a retrofit could really do Vortex good and make it even more loved than it already is.

The comment about the air being eerily calm is pretty much the only thing pointing toward Vortex (however, one could argue that the air would become more calm if a hawk ceased to fly around in it). Firehawk just makes the most sense for removal and the Firehawk removal rumors predate the announcement that something is being removed. Plus, given Vortex's significant place in Kings Island's history, I imagine we'd get more than 12 operating days' worth of notice that it's being removed. Plus Firehawk's poor reliability and comparatively low ridership when compared to most other coasters in the park make it the prime candidate for removal. People think Vortex is unpopular because they don't like it, but Vortex is one of the most ridden rides in the entire park, and it's got a 48 inch height requirement. Removing a 48 inch ride would upset many children who are not yet at 52 inches. As far as I know, Firehawk has the strictest height requirement among all rides in the park. That, combined with its downtime and poor hourly capacity probably contribute to its lower ridership.

If we extrapolate from existing data points, probably a Haunt maze that will be painfully visible from the main midway all season long. Though it does have a large station. You could build a pretty darn good haunt maze in there.

I agree with you in that The Bat is almost certainly not being removed. However, don't read too much into the paint. They painted King Cobra just one year before it was removed.

^ removing Invertigo would open up the parking lot for expansion. You could probably build SIX rides if you built them over the parking lot! - homestar92, channeling his inner Terpy.

^ You could honestly fit a giant coaster of Beast or Son of Beast proportions in there. The only thing with using that land for a Giga is that it would be an interesting layout for one. Most gigas are basically an out-and-back design (with I-305 being the most different of the bunch, IMO). It doesn't seem like a giga coaster tract of land, however, there is also a ton of land back behind there and even back behind Action Theater.

Someone I know said that they heard on the news that the announcement of which ride was to be removed will happen today. I can't find anything to back that up, though. Has anyone heard anything similar? Last I heard, the announcement would be "later this week". I guess either way, we'll know within the week.

Are we really assuming that good business decisions are a part of Kentucky Kingdom's M.O.?

I mean, it's not like RMC leaves the track in place when they refurb rides. They're quite used to working with wooden support structures. However, it's worth noting that while RMC has done some crazy stuff with small rides (Hurler and Twisted Twins being notable examples, Adventure Express is WAY too small for the typical RMC design. Most RMCs at least marginally resemble their original form. RMC Adventure Express would be a brand new ride with a very very small amount of reused support structure.