goettablitz

I find it interesting that Backlot, Invertigo, Firehawk and Vortex are by far the 4 "winners" in this pole. I have long imagined that if I ran the park and could do whatever I wanted Roller Coaster Tycoon style, those are the 4 I would replace. I think KI it too high of a caliber park to have an inverted boomerang as well as a Vekoma flyer instead of a B&M. Besides there is a reason Paramount sold their second and third Vekoma flying duchman coasters (Xflight and Batwing). It is ironic that one of them would eventually find its way back to KI. Backlot just looks aweful and is poorly placed. And Vortex has become rough and obsolite with the addition of Banshee.

It was a toss up for me between backlot and Invertigo. I dislike backlot for the poor placement, an ugly urban jungle right in the middle of the park. However i voted for Invertigo because it is not rideable for me. All vekoma boomerangs and inverted boomerangs must be killed with fire.

YES YES YES!

Sounds like you had a great time. I truly love Dollywood. They have the total package: Great and unique coasters, lots of good shows, beautiful scenery and themeing, fantastic food and a wonderful staff. It is one of my top parks.

I believe the rumored new coaster is supposed to go on plot of land recently purchased by Kennywood. http://screamscape.com/html/kennywood2018_2.htm

I think this is a fascinating idea. The food truck festivals are always cool to see weather at KI or at some event in public. I don't see why they could not just hire say a 3rd party to come in and run their own kitchens and food stands. It would accomplish the same thing. Regardless food service at KI is not the best. Neither the friendliness of staff, the quality of the food, the time it takes to wait or the value for money spent. I hope something is done to improve. There are thousands of other restaurants in the tri state that compete for the same work force to do essentially the same work yet most of them are pretty successful at the above mentioned issues. Perhaps there is need for a systemic change at Cedar Fair / KI. As mentioned above, a smaller number of highly motivated / better paid pool of employees maybe more successful than a large, poorly paid workforce. There are parks out there that do execute good food and friendly service at a reasonable price such as Dollywood, Busch Gardens and Sea World. I have always felt that a parks food can be as much as a draw as any ride or show. When I go to Dollywood I look forward to the food, rides and shows. It all goes hand in hand to provide a great guest experience.

Disneyland Wood - Voyage, Steel - Montu I rode it a few times. Never went upside down only up and down. To board you walked up through the center of the ride and doors opend out to your pod. The restraints were very restrictive with a sholder harness and lap bar. The contol stick was in between the w riders. I did ride SOB with and wthout the loop. Opening day of the ride it was smooth as glass but never again after that. Extremely rough especially in the rose bowl with or without the loop. The first drop was great but aweful after that with no airtime. It never lived up to The Beast. Mean Streak was also really rough with no airtime. Probably the roughest coaster i have been on. The original trains were also pretty aweful. Wood - SOB, steel - Corkscrew at Cedar Point

Ugg I hope not...... Larson Looper 2.0 is all this is.

I remember hearing a rumor a long time ago that the Adams Family Coaster was green lit at some level. At some point in the development Paramount decided not to continue with the project. It was sold to Dollywood and became what is Mystery Mine. Much like how X-Flight and Batwing (Vekoma Flyers) were originally going to be built at Kings Island and Kings Dominion and were sold to Six Flags during their development.

Congrats to KI and Great Coasters. MT has truely become my favorite coaster at Kings Island and is getting some well deserved recognition.

New millennium flyers and loosen up the trims.

I'm pretty sure that the clicking you are hearing at the bottom of the drop is the anti-rollbacks under the train chattering a bit.

If anyone is at KI today please let us know what the crowds are like.

None in the US you say? What about Pteranodon Flyers at Islands of Adventure? But I think your correct in saying IOA will not call them out as i dont think they care nor should they. https://rcdb.com/559.htm

I am assuming that Six Flags went with Raptor track instead of Trex is likely cost. The Raptor track would be cheaper and Six Flags has not been making big, high capacity additions to their parks lately. SIX has been adding the 4d free fly coasters and larson loopers marketed as coasters everywhere. Both are relatively inexpensive and low capacity. Also the RMC remodels are cheaper than tearing the existing ride down and building a new one. The rumor as to why The Boss has not been RMC'd yet is also cost due to its large size.

The 2 across version is called Trex track.

The millenium flyer trains that Mystic Timbers uses are wonderful. They are t bar style like Diamondback but less restrictive than Diamondback in my opinion. I'm not fan of the restraints used on Beast and Racer and how they cram your legs over to one side. All that being said I am a bigger guy, 6 ft 3 and around 270 and i fit on Mystic Timbers just fine. I think if you can get into Beast this should be an easier fit.

I completely agree! Not only are the food prices very high but overall the quality is not there. I wouldn't mind paying if the food was good and they had some signature items. When I go to Dollywood I look forward to the food as much as I do the rides. Yes the prices are higher which is to be expected (just like Kings Island) but the food is actually really good and memorable. Like the cinnamon bread at the Grist Mill or giant pizza slices at Lumberjack Pizza or the italian sausages and grilled peppers grilling along side the midway or the fried chicken restaurant with Miss Lillian the crazy chicken lady, I'm getting hungry thinking about it! The point is there isnt anything at Kings Island that is better or more unique than something you can get at a fast food joint on the way. Not to mention how long the food lines have gotten this season. So for the time being Ill be voting with my food dollars elsewhere.

Any idea what the crowds look like today? I'm thinking of heading up tonight after work.

Congrats! Love the on ride ring photos!

Yikess, when i worked there in 2001 and 2002 i dont think there were any power outages. Seems like bad luck this year or something going on with the electrical inferstructure.

I find it infuriating that a park can charge so much for food that is generally just meh and have longer lines for food than most rides. Absolutely crazy! By the way pick any other area around town that has fast food restaurants and they are competing for the same employees as Kings Island (and are open all year round) yet I have never ever waiting an hour at a Wendy's, Cick-fil-A, Chipotle, Subway, Panda Express etc. As a result I usually eat on my way to the park or after visiting.

I do not count racing coasters (2 coasters with an identical layout or a mirrored layout) as 2 credits. I do count dueling coasters where both tracks are supposed to be unique as 2. The same would go for Pimeval Whirl or Space Mountain where there are 2 tracks but they are only there to increase capacity. So I also would not count rides like that as 2 credits. A ride like The Racer at Kennywood is a mobius loop and therefore is only 1 track. The left and right side cannot operate independantly and therefore would be 1 credit. Twited Colossus only has 1 track so again could not be 2 credits. Most use rcdb to determine if a coaster counts and how many credits there are. Rcdb does not count rides like larson loopers or rides like Surf Dog but often times the parks do.

I guess anything is possible if you throw enough cashy money at it.

KI could always build a custom RMC. Just like Six Flags did with Goliath, Silver Dollar City did with Outlaw Run, Dollywood with Lighting Rod and Kolmarden did with Wildfire.