Spectrum91
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Posts posted by Spectrum91
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3 hours ago, Magenta Lizard said:
It needs to be said that this picture was taken from an area the photographer was not supposed to be in. Risking your access to the park entirely by trespassing to take pictures is just dumb. Especially for something everyone will be seeing in living color (and un-tarped) in a couple weeks anyway.
If you can see something from a ride like Drop Tower, but are unable to photograph it from publicly accessible areas, just tell people so they can go look for themselves. Don’t risk being banned from the park, it just isn’t that important.
The floats appear to be in a backstage area, but are you sure the photographer was? I can't figure where in the park that shot is, but it could've been taken through a crack in a fence or similar.
Edit - The floats appear to the back of Drop Tower's queue house, near one of the entrances to Timberwolf. There's a large swinging gate there with a substantial gap between the sides someone could easily stick a phone or camera in-between.
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23 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:
I refuse to share my knowledge of the Miami Valley Railroad in the Amusement Park Railriad Thread until way later because there's so much information and I know if I'm wrong I'll get called out
23 hours ago, Shaggy said:LOL! Aint that the truth! Its sometimes like sharks waiting for bait to be thrown... Ha ha!
When I wrote the blogs for KI, I had to develop a thick skin very quickly... people can be brutal when they are hiding behind a computer.
22 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:Hurts don't it? Everyone knows the basic knowledge of the Miami valley railroad- I always try to dig deeper when I do my chapters.
Personally, if I share information and it turned out I said something wrong, I'd like to be corrected so that I can instead convey the right information. I don't think people are actively looking for things to correct or have malicious intents, but instead value accuracy and appreciate Kings Island history. Just my take on it, anyway.
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It looks as though the post was edited and several of the issues were corrected.
Here are all the corrections that have been made:
- Phantom Theater opened 1992 (previously said 1993)
- Der Spinnen Keggers previously misspelled as Der Spinning Keggers
- Bayern Kurve previously misspelled as Bayern Curve
There's still a few errors though:
- Flying Dutchman is listed as having closed in 1991, but 1990 was actually its last season
- Flight Commander is listed as having opened in 1991, but actually opened in 1990
- Rotor is listed as having closed in 1982, but I'm pretty confident its last season was 1979
- McScrappy's Slide is listed having closed in 1994, but it operated in 1995. This part has been updated though to note it opened as Flying Carpets, but that should be Flying Carpet.
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Yeah it's definitely not that old. Looks post-Paramount, so 2007 at the absolute oldest.
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^I like how that website got both the location (Kings Island) and date (January 4, 1970) wrong on all of their Kings Dominion videos.
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The Smurf has sold for a staggering $1,025 - easily the highest I've seen a Kings Island collectible go for it.
For the sake of archiving the item, here's a screenshot of the entry and all the current pictures attached to it.
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Seems to happen a few times per a decade, but a genuine Kings Island Smurf is currently for sale on eBay. At the time of this post, it's up to $260.55 with 5 days left. If I had to guess though, I'd expect this guy to fetch $600-$700 by auction's end.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/153230145471?_trksid=p2471758.m4703
Smurf's Enchanted Voyage opened in 1984 (not 1982, as several online sources falsely claim) and closed after the 1991 season. It was a re-skin of the original Enchanted Voyage, which opened with the park in 1972, and was ultimately replaced by Phantom Theater.
Here's some highlights of the ride:
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Thanks for sharing! Definitely a one-of-a-kind piece of Kings Island history.
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The plan view the park shared may be a little confusing, so I laid it over Coney Mall's current layout and added a bit of color. Here's what the ride will look like, and a gif showing the conversion. The names for the structures pulled from the image the park shared, albeit they were a little tough to read.
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^Pretty sure that whole commercial was filmed at Kings Island. Always cool to see some historical footage.
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^Halloween Horror Nights should definitely be at the top. The houses are incredible quality, incorporate amazing original stories and great IP's, and are completely brand new every year. Meanwhile, Kings Island finally retired a 17-year-old house this year.
Like good job to Kings Island having its fans vote for Haunt, but by no means is it actually a measure of how it compares to other events on that list.
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^Where was that at? And the full balloon and basket? Would love to see any pictures of it now!
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https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2018/october/the-graveyard-of-old-kings-island-rides
I enjoy that the park does the defunct ride graveyard every year, but I'm surprised by the number of errors in this blog post. Misspellings and wrong years for several attractions...
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4 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:
As I have said before, I would be surprised if Cedar Fair gets a new Intamin. I believe that the last new Intamin coaster installed in the United States was Skyrush at Hershey back in 2012.
Wave Breaker opened at SeaWorld San Antonio in 2017 and Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts at Universal Studios Florida in 2014. They've definitely been less active in the U.S. though.
48 minutes ago, MDMC01 said:Skyrush looks fun, but it's painful as it crushes your theighs, especially in a wing seat. Ymmv, but imo, just do it for the credit and move on any of three nearby coasters (Great Bear, sooperdooperlooper or Comet).
I agree that Skyrush crushes your thighs, but in my opinion the sheer speed and intensity of the ride make it worth it. I'd obviously prefer to avoid the discomfort, but I'll accept it.
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27 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:
It's also worth noting that a fifth Flight Trainer was operating in the US at the time of the accident. It was called "Flight Trainer" and opened in 1991 at Rye Playland in New York. I've yet to see any photos of it yet, though.
Interesting, I never knew there was a fifth. Here's a picture of it, from the Save Rye Playland Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArtDecoPLAYLAND/about/):
And from a May 1998 article in The Journal News:
QuoteThe county was saddled with a $1 million ride called the Flight Trainer that it bought in 1991 and operated for about a week before it was shut down for safety concerns. It later sold the ride at a loss of $20,100.
However, an August 25, 1991 article in The Courier-News says:
QuoteOpening in a couple of weeks for older children and adults is The Flight Trainer, a ride 69 feet off the ground that simulates flying a plain.
So I'm not sure if one of the articles is incorrect, or if the ride didn't open until September 1991 and barely operated. I also wonder where it was relocated if it was sold.
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59 minutes ago, Shaggy said:
Kings Island's Flight Commander was indeed relocated to Flamingo Land.
Intamin built 4 "Flight Trainer" rides in the USA: Kings Island's (Flight Commander), Kings Dominion (Sky Pilot), California's Great America (Skyhawk) and Knott's Berry Farm (XK-1)
The KI version was closed following the 1995 season and sold. The Knott's version operated through 1997, the KD version operated until 1998, and the Great America version until 1999.
Knott's version was sold to Seibuen Yuenchi (a park in Japan) and was called simply "Flight Trainer" (the Intamin Catalog name.)
Kings Island's was sent to Flamingoland where it was called Top Gun. The clincher is that this version was the only one that included a larger octagonal box at the top. When re-located to Flamingoland, it was painted to resemble the windows of an Air Traffic Control Tower.
Regarding the last line, it appears Kings Dominion's version also had an octagonal box at top - https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/134/358571356_6fe6c84fc7_z.jpg?zz=1.
There's also been claims it was relocated to Play Centre in Brazil (https://KICentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/8549-what-happened-to-flight-commander/&do=findComment&comment=137752), but I've never been able to find a picture of a flight trainer there, only reports of one.
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Excellent article and fantastic research! I agree with Gordon Bombay above that maybe the actual events and alleged ghost stories may work best in separate articles (or at least that's how I'm interpreting his post).
Quick question though... toward the end of the article you mention that Flight Commander closed after 1995 and was sold for scrap. What's your source for this? I've been trying to figure out the ride's fate for a while now and stumbled upon an old post (https://KICentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/130-flight-commander/&tab=comments#comment-1757) that suggests it may have been relocated to Flamingo Land in the UK. Flamingo Land's flight trainer (ironically named Top Gun) operated from 1996 through 2004 and a picture of it can be seen here.
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I'd still be surprised if the train was open the first Winterfest. If it was open, then the fact it wasn't included in the article or map above suggest it was a last-minute decision. And this last-minute decision would have required staffing train engineers and ride operators, opening an un-decorated pathway between International Street and the train station (which would also require additional employees to clean and patrol it), and pulling the ride out of its off-season maintenance.
It makes more sense that the 1982 Winterfest was smaller scale and, following its success, the park decided to expand the event in 1983 and have rides open during it.
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Guests for sure could not enjoy a ride on Smurf's Enchanted Voyage in 1982 - that attraction didn't open till 1984
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1 hour ago, KIBeast said:
There will be more than a new restaurant next year. How do you market that to get people through the gate? And that, is what it's all about.
That's what many people thought for 2013 too.
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9 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:
The only thing I see different in the shed: Christmas decor with the existing decor and Christmas music on the radio. I don't think the screens will change.
I personally don't even think they'll change the radio music.
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^But if the Coney smokehouse was to pull all of its food from the Soak City one, wouldn't the Soak City location need to operate pre- and post-season, when the remainder of the water park is closed?
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^I don't foresee this actually happening, but Sally Dark Rides (who created the sets for Boo Blasters, and Scooby-Doo before that) has built a North Pole Adventure attraction. I imagine the company could easily integrate sets and props from this attraction and create a spooky festive new ride experience.
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^Not necessarily. It's often the opposite.
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Future of Planet Snoopy
in Kings Island
Posted
Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle was part of Hanna-Barbera Land from 2003-2005. When Hanna-Barbera Land became Nickelodeon Universe in 2006, SDATHC moved to International Street. SDATHC and now Boo Blasters have been on International Street ever since (despite the fact that the entrance faces into the children's area and the associates wear children's area uniforms)