goettablitz

This is not what Disney does. Disney has X number of fast passes per ride per day and they all have return times to spread out the fast pass queue. When they are gone they are gone.

Ultimately I would like to see Triotech come in and redo Boo Blasters. That way during the summer you could have one attraction, switch to a Halloween attraction for Haunt and then change it to something Chrismassy for Winterfest. The could even have the Peanuts characters for all three. Do one based on summer vacation, one on the Great Pumpkin and on on Charlie Brown Christmas.

I am not a big Vortex fan. I will usually only ride it once a season. The only ride I avoided more than Vortex is Invertigo. That being said I see no reason to remove it as long as it has adequate ridership.

I seem to remember from one of my first visits to Kings Island in the late 80s / early 90s that in the kids area there was a "tree" where a puppet show or some type of story would be told. Also there was some type of farm playground with a tractor that you could climb on. Any memory or photos of this or where this was located?

Gwazi did just come to mind as 2 GCIs without curved drops.

One of my favorite parts of Thunderhead is the station flyby. It is probadly the only straight piece of track on the ride and the interaction with those waiting to ride is really cool. Also right after the train flys through the station there is a short drop and turn. As previously stated it's one of those subtle things on GCIs that don't look like much but it takes you by surprise and gives a nice pop of air. Also I completely agree with the element within an element type of design that GCIs loves to do. Can't wait!

I'd call that a coincidence not logic....

I would think putting it in either X-base or Coney Mall close to the old Flight Commander pad makes the most sense. Right now the biggest draws are Banshee in Action Zone and Diamondback & Beast in Rivertown. Seeing that the SOB station is right next to Banshee and that area is already packed over there I think the end of Coney would be best for evening out crowds. There hasn't been a big shiny new attraction there in a while. At least not one that will draw the crowds of a giga, invert or hyper.

Perhaps something like Wooden Warrior at Quassy?

I believe that the 2 GCI's that I have ridden (Thunderhead and American Thunder) both run 2 trains.

Looks like the first section of the "shed" is the transfer track. But not sure from that up to the station. I am starting to wonder if the shed will be some type of immersive tunnel. http://www.simworx.co.uk/immersive-tunnel/

I would invite your friend no matter how big or small they are. Especially if you don't know if they will or wont fit. As stated above there are some tricks for larger people to ride and there are other things to do besides coasters. Each ride manufacturer is different and therefore depending on ones height and or weight might fit on Vortex but not on Beast or Flight of Fear. Your friend wont know until he tries. I have a large friend or two but I still invite them to go to the park when I go. At the end of the day you are there to spend time with your friends and that is what it is about, hanging out and having fun. I would bet that your big friend would appreciate the invite even if they don't go. Also keep in mind that it is not your fault if your friends do not fit on a ride. You have nothing to do with his size. I have a friend that used to be able to ride but can't fit on most coasters now and that is his fault and life choices that he doesn't fit. It was a very frustrating discovery for him that one season he could no longer fit. But I still invite him because he still enjoys hanging out with his friends.

I am really curious to see what the ride sign and entrance plaza will look like. Given that Diamondback and Banshee both exit into gift shops I would say that the MT exit gift shop is a safe bet.

I just purchased it last night and played one mission. They seemed to had adapted it really well for a touch device. Pretty intuitive controls. Well I know what ill be doing during my time off around the Holidays!!

Dollywood is also kind of a different park I think, with a handful of coasters and then most of their other rides concentrated in the Country Fair section (I think it is called). It seems to be just as much about the shows, crafts and food as anything else. I was just there a few months ago to check out Lighting Rod and noticed a few interesting things. 1. Wild Eagle never didn't open until the evening hours due to bees on the lift hill. 2. It was the opposite of Disney in that Disney has so many strollers running around the park that you are constantly dodging them, while Dollywood had so many wheel chairs and ecvs for elderly guests I had a similar problem. Now having ridden 3 of the 4 wing coasters in the US I have to say that Thunder Bird stands far and above as the best followed by Gate Keeper and then Wild Eagle in my opinion. Still waiting to get an opportunity to ride X-Flight.

I agree it must be really frustrating to be a KD fan as of late. I assume they aren't getting as much investment since their attendance puts them as a mid tier Cedar Fair park. KI is a top tier park and we have been very fortunate under the Cedar Fair ownership. I would think that KD would get more investment than they do simply because of the competition from Busch Gardens an hour up the road.

After riding Gatekeeper and Valravn (neither of which made a strong impression on me) I'm not really anxious for KI to get a version of either. Thunderbird is far superior to Gatekeeper and Shiekra is far superior to Valravn in my opinion. I want some more uniqueness at KI that isn't up the road at CP. Mystic Timbers is a perfect example of this. Each park needs to have its own identity. CF upper management has said this. I was at Six Flags St. Louis for the opening of Justice League and while waiting to ride American Thunder overheard a group of young girls who's home park was Six Flags Chicago and they were identifying the rides that were the same between the two parks either based off of the design of the ride or simply the reuse of names. I thought that was just the worst situation that Six Flags had put themselves into with clones galore. Even the GP understands this.

I remember getting that survey. It also had the concept for Italian Job Stunt Coaster on it.

I would be surprised if KI got a dive coaster. We don't have a space problem and CP just built one 4 hrs away. I think a dive coaster could be in the cards for a Great America, Carowinds or Canada's Wonderland. But most likely Great America.

Last summer I took a trip up to Cedar Point and purchased and all you can drink plan that did not require a souvenir cup, it used wrist bands and I thought it was a fantastic idea. I hate the idea of buying your refillable cup and then some rides but force you to put them in a locker or leave them with a non rider. Seems like such a scam. We have been allowed to leave cups, bags etc in the ride station for forever but in the last couple of years it is suddenly a problem.... I do really like the idea of still getting a cup with your season drink purchase also.

I love the idea of renaming Drop Tower (what a truly awful name). I think it is a safe bet that a Triotech dark ride will appear sooner than later. Whether that is a redo of Boo Blasters or something new I have no idea but could see either. Triotech also showed off a flying theator ride at IAAPA just a few weeks ago. How about a Triotech shooter to replace Boo Blasters and the flying theator in the Crypy building?

Top Gun was purchased by Taft's group and was originally going to be called Thunder Run or something along those lines. Paramount took the opportunity and changed it to be Top Gun, which was on one of their properties. Paramount bought a lot of cheaper rides that mostly panned out, however, most of them had pretty poor reliability and/or capacity. Let's be honest, Flight of Fear was a disaster and got a second life when they removed the OTSR. Your right. Top Gun was purchased before Paramount took over. At the time Arrow Dynamics was the premier steel coaster manufacturer. Also around this time say around 1991 / 1994 B&M de-throned Arrow and Intamin began making a big name for themselves sometime later. But again Paramount never spent the capital to buy rides for KI from the notable coaster manufacturers (Arrow in the early 90s, then B&M then Intamin). As a kid I remember being soooo jealous of Cedar Point, the Busch Parks and Six Flags getting these awesome new Beemers and then KI builds an inverted boomerang.... or a ill fated wooden coaster that spent more time during its first season closed rather than open. I do understand that there may have been some "non compete" agreements that might have prevented KI from getting a B&M as well. Again I agree with you about FOF. In 1996 Flight of Fear was the talk of the theme park world. After the newness of the magnetic launch wore off we were left with the worlds most technologically advanced concussion machine. That is until the OTSR were replaced with lap bars.

This is an interesting topic. You have a good list started. I would agree with most of what you have. The biggest things Paramount got wrong in my opinion are: - Installing new rides with themes that did not fit into the established theme of the area. some examples are Top Gun in Adventure Village, Flight of Fear in Coney Mall and Tomb Raider in River Town. - Adding themed attractions without the budget to maintain theme elements in future years. - I feel like they primarily tried to go with more inexpensive coaster manufacturers such as Premier and Vecoma instead of investing in B&M or Intamin. As a result I can say that all of the coasters Paramount installed are pretty mediocre with the exception of Flight of Fear. The most notable coasters were either added before or after Paramount's ownership. Between the years of 1992 and 2006 KI built Top Gun, Flight of Fear, Face Off, Son of Beast, Italian Job, Rugrats Runaway Reptar and Scoobys Ghoster Coaster. Just to compare, during the same time period Cedar Point built Raptor, Mantis, Millennium Force, Wicked Twister, Woodstock Express and Top Thrill Dragster.

That portion of the building was used by the Enchanted Voyage and Smurfs boat rides before the re-did the ride system to Phantom Theater (Boo Blasters and Phantom Theater share the same ride system and track layout). When that happened the portion of the building that Carn-Evil is in became a kids theater. Also there are some back of the house spaces in that building for the sanitation employees.

I voted Banshee but I think Diamondback is right up there with it, a toss up really. After those two I would say Raptor and then Rougarou, Gatekeeper and then Valravn. I dunno I just felt like Gatekeeper and Valravn were huge let downs. Neither being notably good overall (had moments of goodness) and both being the 7th or 8th best coaster at Cedar Point.