KIBeast

I'd say that Red Force is the example to examine. With the difference in length of launch, TTD could reach the speed necessary to clear the top hat. Also, El Toro Ryan on YT has an interesting and logical video on the announcement. I don't see the layout being altered much, except to accommodate the LSM launch. We may see a re-theme, but doubtful on the addition of any extra track. The price tag for Dragster has already been 25 million, not to mention the subsequent money spent on launch cables and fixes to its other issues. A new LSM launch will be costly as it is. El Toro Ryan Re-imagined explanation

Speaking of live music, I thoroughly enjoyed what I would refer to as the Fury band at Carowinds. Very talented. Maybe put a band in the Orion area to entertain guests while they wait?

If this is what you get with the Prestige + Family pass, I may need to consider buying a pass for the 1st time ever!

I like LaffTrak at Hersheypark. Wouldn't mind something similar at KI. Not sure if the Crypt building or Boo Blasters is large enough.

How they thought the best pricing strategy was to basically give passes away and expecting nothing to happen is beyond me. Heck, Disney has been steadily increasing admission prices annually with no drop in attendance. No, SF parks are not Disney, but they could charge considerably more and see no declining attendance. However, if they intend on doing so (which they should), they also need to make some across the board changes in level of operations and guest satisfaction.

Sounds like something I would've done in my 20's @BoddaH1994, I wouldn't have let the price of a ticket stop me back then

Actually, a dark ride would be an excellent choice. It's about time (or I would argue past time) that Boo Blasters on Boo Hill is gutted and replaced. There has been a history of re-vamping that building to use as a different attraction. Honestly, I wouldn't mind an actual Haunted House dark ride. Then again, maybe it's not the right area for such an attraction.

I see what you are getting at in a way, but the reason The Beast is a terrain coaster is it utilizes the terrain, not due to elevation changes. Then again, maybe it is less noticeable.

Traveled with my son to Holiday World this past weekend. We just had a nice father/son trip there on this occasion. We arrived at 10:15am. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there was no charge for parking. They were very efficient in directing traffic in to your specific parking space. We applied sunscreen, then went about walking in. Side note, I left the house having forgot my printed tickets about an hour into the trip, but since I had bought them when I booked the hotel, I just brought up the email and was able to access the tickets. Yes, I'm an old school guy who prefers printed, but the QR codes scanned from my phone, so this may change how I go about it from here on out. Upon entering, we were greeted by a very friendly worker who noted we were both wearing our Fury 325 shirts and asked us how we liked Carowinds. I told him how we loved it and how Holiday World was on our list of Amusement Parks we wanted to visit. He told us to enjoy our day and we went about picking up a park map. Both of us picked up one. He has began collecting them wherever they are available. I put mine in my cargo shorts pocket so he would have a pristine one while we used his throughout the day. There was a fairly good crowd there. I expected it being a Saturday and all. We immediately went to ride The Raven in the Halloween area of the park. It was about an hour wait, which sounds pretty standard when you consider there is no Fast Lane. However, the longer we got into our day, I started to realize just how good operations are at KI and CP. The Raven is a fairly short ride cycle, so not sure why the line was moving as slow as it did. The Raven was a pretty good coaster...not extremely intense, but a great coaster none the less. My only issue with the coaster itself is being a short ride. I Next, we headed down to ride The Legend. This line was also slow moving. It was a longer ride duration than the Raven, so I did enjoy that. Also, it has an enclosed helix, which seemed very Beast-esque. However, the turns in the helix seemed to be quite a bit tighter. Also, felt like we took 4-6 right turns consecutively. Not a complaint, but an observation. We exited the Legend and made our way towards the Voyage. I've heard many people really stating that it is their favorite wood coaster. The line to the Voyage was surprisingly the shortest we encountered all day. I must say, this was my favorite of the trip. I've heard many claim it's better than The Beast, but I don't believe that is a fair comparison. The Beast is more of a terrain coaster while the Voyage is an out and back. To me, the Legend would be a closer comparison to The Beast. However, the Voyage quickly rose to a very high spot on my list of favorite wood coasters, even though it has steel supports. It has near non stop pacing throughout. I noticed some very similar direction changes to GCI, except I feel like GCI does them better. Finally, we went to the back where their last coaster, Thunderbird is located. As far as I know, the only launching wing coaster, although I could be wrong. By far, this was the slowest moving line of the day. The theming was done fairly well for this one. It begins with a 60mph launch into a sidewinder loop (I think). It had many fun elements. By far, my favorite was the inline twist into the brake run. Excellent coaster, but a bit short. We then went to eat at a place near Thunderbird. Trey ordered the Thunderbird basket, which was chicken tenders (chopped up), fries, bacon, cheddar cheese sauce, chives and ranch. I ordered something very similar, minus the chicken tenders and chives. Excellent place to eat. It was 3:30pm at this point and we had only been on each coaster once. I was a bit surprised by that. Another huge plus is the free drinks that they offer. Most of the day, we drank Gatorade, but we did drink a Pepsi and a Mt Dew at one point. We went back and rode the Voyage 2 more times after that. It was decided that the extremely long wait for Thunderbird simply wasn't worth it. At that point, we decided to head back to the hotel, even though the park was still open for 2 more hours. Believe it or not, he was the one that was ready to leave. I asked if he wanted to catch a last ride on the Legend or the Raven and he declined. We went through a nice shop in their Christmas themed area (1st area you encounter) where he bought a nanocoaster of the Voyage. Since we spent about $35 on that, we qualified to get a Holiday World t-shirt for $9.99. The hotel was about 30 minutes away, but was well worth it. I had read reviews on some that were closer and a lot of them had several bad reviews. The one we stayed at had only one. The hotel had an indoor pool and hot tub. The hot tub was very welcoming to some tired feet. All in all, Holiday World was worth the trip. The positives were free drinks and parking along with quality coasters. The negative being the slow moving lines. We did also notice that every coaster has only 2 trains, which probably does not help on your days with heavier crowds. I would highly recommend visiting if you get the chance.

So, my son is at Kings Island today with his mom. Being overcast and a bit rainy, the park is virtually dead. in 2 1/2 hours, they have been on 8 coasters, not including a re-ride on The Racer. He called me to tell me how much he loves The Beast re-track. He said that it's even better than the 1st time he rode it. His one word description was, insane.

I also believe a wild mouse coaster would be a nice addition. I rode Apple Zapple at Kings Dominion. It was pretty alright for a mouse. I rode Wild Mouse at Hersheypark a few years back. I like how it was a little more thrilling, but there were several places where I had to hold the lab bar between me and my kid to keep my legs from banging it.

Add in heat wave temps and it's a recipe for short fuses. I get aggravated by the heat, simply standing in line. Honestly, I've had people cut the line on me to catch up to family and it did not bother me. Actually, I let a couple of guys come through in front of us at Carowinds so they could catch up to their friends, waiting in line for Fury. Granted, we were all in the Fast Lane, but I actually asked them if they wanted to cut us to catch up with their friends. It was a situation where we all kind of arrived at the line simultaneously and a couple of their friends arrived mere seconds later, but were separated. They thanked us. They didn't ask nor were they trying to cut in front of us.

Looks like the largest single rail coaster thus far, opens tomorrow. Wonder Woman : Flight of Courage

I would not be surprised at all if Dragster has given its last rides. Like you, I haven't heard anything about her condition. I hope she is well on her way to recovering. It would seem that with this incident, combined with the others, that it's a strong possibility TTD is slated for removal.

@Browntggrr, I was just telling my son this morning that a possible reason TTD was not open for 2022 is a major change is in the works. Also a possibility that it is being removed. We'll all just have to wait and see. I find it intriguing with all of the possibilities.

Just to update on the rumors circulating about Cedar Point, there is a staging area with fence that you cannot see what is behind it. It could be for the Pavilion, but why hide construction materials for that? I saw this on Theme Park Predictions channel at YouTube. Time will tell. We'll see if there's another announcement in the near future.

I see. We are referring to 2 different rides. The Tiki Twirl I was referring to is the one at Cedar Point. This one is at CGA. 2 different ride experiences.

Tiki Twirl is an excellent ride. It doesn't remind me of Surf Dog at all. More like Der Spinnin' Keggers, except titled.

I think some rides will be moved to other parks while others will be sold or demolished. Some coasters that will not be re-located can have their trains sent to another park to be used as parts. I think the single rail coaster will be moved for sure. Not sure where, although I just watched a video on YouTube suggesting that Valley Fair may be the recipient of that coaster. They also said they did not believe their invert, flight deck, will be moved. Word has it that it only runs one train and is uniquely built to the terrain. Could be a possibility that KI may receive one of the re-located coasters. *disclaimer - anything stated is purely speculation by me...well, me and the dippin' dots guy

It's happening! It's happening! Finally getting that Giga bathroom I predicted in 2020.

If only they had flexed their street cred Seriously though, I rode The Beast at night with my son in 2019, to get our last rides on Vortex as well. While in a tunnel, someone had their phone out with their flashlight on. Really ticked me off. The fun of The Beast at night is the darkness.

Yes. S&S bought out Arrow and from what I know, they currently make parts for Arrow coasters. S&S - Arrow

I certainly will let you know. I really liked both parks. Mostly had good experiences at both. Other than Hurler, I really had no complaints about Carowinds. Hopefully it receives the RMC treatment.

Personally, I would love to hear about Don's history with working at KI. Any stories that he could share that would be an inside look at how his career has progressed, or how the park itself has changed and/or grown.

Just subscribed on YouTube. Looking forward to it.