homestar92

There's an old footer from The Bat's transfer track that, until very recently, had an old, rusty bolt sitting on it. It had been there since AT LEAST 2010. Perhaps it was somehow related to The Bat or Vortex. Either way, it has been removed now and I am saddened. I always wanted that bolt. If I had disposable income, I would pay top dollar for any piece of an Arrow Dynamics Coaster. I'd really like the front car from an Arrow looper train to go in a future man-cave. Anyone know if those ever show up for sale? That would be an artifact worth something to me.

My prediction is a rehab of Action Zone. New Paint on all rides (except Invertigo), and a big flat or SMALL coaster to go with it. Maybe even a couple of small flats. However, despite this rehab, I believe Son of Beast will continue to sit for AT LEAST one more season.

^Keep in mind, a hypercoaster is only a hypercoaster when it has no inversions. So that would only hold true if you rode it post-loop and it was your first non-inverting coaster over 200 feet. I know, roller coaster terminology is kinda dumb, but that's the widely agreed upon definition. Not to stray too far off topic, but is Phantom's Revenge a hypercoaster? It is less than 200 feet tall, but given its larger drop goes into a ravine and is more than 200 feet, what does that make it?

Funny Story - I dreamed that it reopened last night. I got on the ride with my roommate (though admittedly, I'm not sure why he was there, especially considering he's not quite the ride warrior I am). The trains had been shortened to 5 cars (from the original 6) and we rode in seat 1-2. Though I never rode it, I know the layout very well from watching POV videos. The dream included the whole ride, and I woke up as our train (the blue one) was pulling into the station. When I woke up, I had a charlie horse. So the ride has managed to hurt me without even being open, lol. But seriously, is anyone here a psychologist that might be able to tell me why I had such a dream about a ride I've never even so much as been in the station of? Also, one coaster I've ridden with a reputation of being painful is Hurler at Carowinds. Everyone online complains that it is extremely rough, but I thought it was rather average for a woodie when I was there. For anyone who's ridden both, could you pechance enlighten me as to how the roughness levels compare?

^Do you know for certain that they are one, or is this an assumption based on the fact that Cedar Fair did not remove Durga? Hopefully I'm not sounding accusatory, I'm actually just kinda curious.

I would not recommend using a front of the line pass on a weekday when it is in the high 90s. The park will not likely be crowded enough to justify that. That said, the unlimited drinks will be VERY nice on a hot day. Just food for thought. Unless 4th of July crowds last all week typically?

My one, and only hope with this ride is that its eventual replacement will be another unique and interesting woodie. As others have said, a traditional wooden terrain coaster kinda like the original Beast would be cool. Or a GCI with ridiculous twists and turns and all sorts of interesting elements. Or an Intamin Plug-n-Play woodie that stands just a hair over 200 feet, so we can still have a wooden hypercoaster. But definitely not a reopening of Son of Beast. I think the only hope for ANYTHING similar would be a complete tear-down and rebuild from another manufacturer (which won't happen, ever). Even if that did occur, you could at least expect the rose bowl gone.

If I remember correctly, it was also cleared in 2010, but KI chose not to run it that year. It's pretty obvious that it was cleared in 09, seeing as it ran for a good part of the season. Also, having never been through Wolf Pack, I have to wonder... How thoroughly have they gutted the station? Suppose it were a perfect world and they could make Son of Beast as smooth as Diamondback and they were to reopen it. Would they have to completely rebuild the station to do so? And don't worry, I'm not one who believes it will EVER be back, nor do I think anything with a "Beast" moniker will ever lay on that plot of land after its imminent demolition. I would consider it to be a "curse" of sorts.

It may be alright in the dry park. While it is usually pretty crowded the week of the 4th, I checked the webcam today (er, yesterday) about midday, and it looked D-E-A-D. Now Soak City, on the other hand... Would NOT want to wait in those lines. BUT, all that said, plan for crowds. If the place is empty, consider it an added bonus. Put up money for Fast Lane if you can afford it, or expect to wait in lines a lot, because people are often off work on the 4th of July, and it almost always gets VERY crowded.

I have to have rows 1 or 2 on Diamondback. I favor Row 2 on Beast and Racer for smoothness, but I also really enjoy the front row. On Vortex, it has to be 1-1 for the view, or 5-1 for the smoothness, no exceptions. I prefer row 6 on Backlot, and any seat in the back half of the train on Flight of Fear. On Firehawk, I usually have no say in the matter, but I've noticed no real difference. Finally, on Flight Deck, it's gotta be the front. Did I miss any at KI? Outside KI, my only preference is that I be in the front on any B&M standups or inverts that I may ride. Afterburn in the front seat was the greatest coaster experience I've ever had, other than night rides on The Beast, or any ride on Vortex.

Thank you very much GYK

Just realized that I misspelled "compliment" in the title. If any mods would like to change that for me, I think it would really complement the mood of this thread

To try to steer the topic into a different direction, I think that a cool Platinum Pass perk would be that you get so many Fast Lane tickets for free in a given season (Even a small number like 3-4 would be fine). I think it would be a great way to sell more platinum passes to locals. Or allow you to buy 4 passes for yourself (for different days) for the per-pass pricing that you would get buying 4 for 4 separate people on one day. This would get more regulars using the program. "Free" trials have a way of making addicts out of people who would ordinarily never try something. I think that would have HUGE money-making potential for the park. Also, I think what GYK was getting at, is that if the park makes more money, we get better new attractions (at least, in theory)

I've noticed a lot of threads on this forum always turn negative. So I decided to make this thread so that we can all share happy, positive things that happen to us at/around/regarding Kings Island. I'll go first. I like the night staff on The Beast. They work very efficiently, and always seem very happy, even though you know they want nothing more than to go home. I also like the Flight Deck staff. It seems like they are always super-enthusiastic and I always have more fun because of it. In short, I like when ride-ops are upbeat and fun.

In response to goodyellowkorn182, I will note that I was merely pointing out irony specifically with line breaking policy number 1 on that sign, and making no moral judgment. But, in response to pki_rulz, a lot of us are complaining about Fast Lane, but that doesn't necessarily mean we all want it gone. I enjoy watching people put $50 bucks a piece into the new coaster fund park's bank account. I think we can all agree, however, that the Cedar Fair model is imperfect. Sure, no truly "perfect" model exists. But the system can improve. In many ways, it has since launch. I think the park learned a lot from Haunt last year. I bought Fast Lane during Haunt, and I honestly felt guilty because even the Fast Lane lines were so long that I KNEW everyone else was waiting longer than they would have if it didn't exist. Heck, even waiting in the Fast Lane line, wait times seemed only slightly less than I remember from Haunt 2010. If the park's statements are true (and I personally believe that Don never lies to us) then they did see that issue and tweak the system as a result. I may be wrong, but I believe they raised the price slightly (from $40 to $50) so that though 20% less people get the passes, they make the same money. Though I may be wrong about that. It's an evolving system, and we will hopefully see things change about it so that it can enhance the experience for those who buy in, all while having minimal impact on those who choose not to. I will openly say that the park handles the program decently for it being so young, and I like the fact that even with Vortex's line backed up to Jukebox, I can still ride within 30 minutes. On an unrelated note, this is post number 150 for me (:

Carowinds still has two entrances. One in South Carolina, and one that straddles the state line. Though I don't know it they use the South entrance as it was closed when I was there, but considering that it is on the map, I would say they do sometimes. I mean, we know how Cedar Fair likes to take things they don't use off of the map even if their presence is painfully obvious.

Ha, because purchasing an option that the park provides like Fast Lane is totally the same thing as line jumping, right? Right? Oh, wait, it's not. It is essentially paying the park to allow you to skip the line, so actually there is a lot of similarity.

It takes literally like 2 minutes to get to Invertigo from the main gate. To add another entrance anywhere other than AZ (which really, REALLY doesn't need it) would basically require adding a second parking lot. And even then, the only place where you could have room for an entrance without interfering with residential areas would be X-base. Though admittedly, if there were an X-Base entrance, I'd use it every time to get my morning rides on Firehawk/FoF out of the way as quickly as possible before lines get long.

^It's worth noting that at Carowinds in particular, I can see no justifiable reason to get Fast Lane. Hardly any of their popular rides are in the lineup. Perhaps they too are in testing to see if the system could work at their park. Quite unlike KI where literally only like 3 rides are not part of the program, and only one coaster. I know CP's Fast Lane features most of their popular rides. I know little to nothing about any other Cedar Fair parks. And is it just me, or with the water park overhaul, do I see potential for them to add a program called Splash Lane (or something just as cringe-worthy) in the near future? EDIT: I'm tempted to file a trademark for Splash Lane now...

To answer someone's question a few posts ago about how other CF parks handle Fast Lane, I can say that Carowinds is a lot like KI was last year. They only have a handful of rides, and typically they only use it on rides that already had the infrastructure for it in place. It's worth noting, however, that crowds the day I was there were ridiculously light, with most coasters being one-train operation and still walk-ons. As such, I didn't see many takers. I had actually put aside money to buy Fast Lane since I was only spending one day there, but since it was so light, I went with a snazzy Afterburn T-shirt and a souvenir cup instead.

I will pitch in one more thing. I think we can all agree in the irony of this photo I took earlier this summer at Carowinds:

I do not think I deserve a Big Mac if I do not buy it. I also do not think that buying a Big Mac means I necessarily deserve it. What if I had just robbed a bank and then decided to spend the stolen money on a Big Mac? I know, arguing with Terpy is treading dangerous water, but I personally believe I have a point. Besides, I don't really feel that anyone really deserves anything that can be bought with money. For example, having been an obedient child who never caused trouble, I feel that I deserve my parents' love and care. I do not deserve the car that they bought me, though I am grateful for it. Maybe it's just me, but I feel that saying you deserve something implies entitlement, and I was raised to not believe that anyone is entitled to anything.

Even with your claim that they deserve it because they have more money, consider this: I have plenty of money that I COULD spend on Fast Lane. But I choose not to. So by your logic, if I were to choose to spend this money on Fast Lane, then I deserve Fast Lane, but if I choose to spend it on something more substantial, then I no longer deserve it? What about the people who are frugal? I understand that those who work hard and earn more money deserve the nice things they have. But what if those same people decide to save their money? Does that decision then make them no longer deserve nice things, simply because they chose to have different priorities? I fail to see how the way you spend your money determines what you do and don't deserve.

Does an Arrow looper exist that has lap bars instead of OTSR's? And if so, are they actually Arrow-made trains, or were they retrofitted from some other company?