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GOCC 2011 Holiday Party @ KI - PTR


jcgoble3
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Well, I made it to the Great Ohio Coaster Club's 2011 Holiday Party and Winter Tour at KI today. This was the first time I'd ever been in a closed park, other than the walk back to The Racer the morning of Coasting for Kids. The tour entered through security post 3, turned to the right, went through backstage areas, into the Picnic Grove where most of the ride cars were stored, then down the train tracks to Rivertown. From there, we went through the gate next to The Beast's entrance and were able to walk around in the area back behind the Crypt around Diamondback. I believe I heard that this was the first time KI has ever taken a tour back there since DB was built because of the potential hazard of stuff (cell phones, etc.) flying out of riders' pockets. After that, we walked past BLSC and down through Coney Mall before going up International Street to the International Restaurant for the party.

I think the best way to do this is to get straight to the photos. I snapped nearly a hundred photos, all of which can be found in this Flickr set. I'll post some of the more interesting ones below.

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So that's where Action Theater's old motion seats went! On the other side of the fence is the parking lot.

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Two classic cars parked backstage.

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One of the Haunt hearses.

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White Water Canyon's not as deep as I thought it was.

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Wonder why this light was on?

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"Oncoming riders, please secure all loose articles or place them in the green bins."

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Demonstration of how to make more water dummies.

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Interesting. The protective film or whatever in front of the laser maze area has "Coney Squirt" painted on it several times. I wonder if that means anything? Just from my observation, it didn't seem to me like the laser maze was very busy at all this year (the operator was usually standing there doing nothing almost every time I walked by), so maybe they're replacing it with something else?

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Look what I won! A Diamondback media invite! B)

Again, the rest of the photos can be found here. Let me know what you think!

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Awesome pictures! I'm still insanely jealous I couldn't make it to this event, especially since you apparently saw just about everything I'd have wanted to see. (Therefore, here comes an avalanche of questions... :lol:)

How was the party? I heard Mike Graham was going to be there, but were there any other parks/companies that presented? What were some of the other prizes?

And finally, the million dollar question: any news on Son of Beast?

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The speakers included Mike from the Gravity Group, Chris Peters from Indiana Beach, Toby Garcia from S&S Worldwide, and of course the one and only Don Helbig. If I remember what I heard correctly (and that's a big "if"), Toby Garcia revealed that S&S has been contracted to build the structure for the Olympic torch for the 2014 Winter Games in Russia, and IIRC I believe he said that the structure would actually be a rideable drop ride.

SOB: "No decision has been made." --Don Helbig. Paraphrasing here, he added that everybody wants a decision to be made, and the park would like a resolution, but they just don't know at this time.

Prizes: They had a whole table filled with prizes, sorted into small stuff (lanyards, pins, etc.) on one end and better stuff (the media invite, etc.) on the other end. When your name was called, you got to go back and pick out one item from each end of the table. Don Helbig was the first name called, followed by what I think were two club officials, so at that point several people, myself included, were jokingly yelling "rigged". Then my name was next, which was good because they only had one DB media invite. The only other "big" prize I remember seeing was a game titled "Paramount's Kings Island–opoly". I didn't pay attention to any of the others because I spotted the media invite and went straight for it. Everyone's name was called, so everybody got something, which was good.

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Add me to the list of jealous! I would have killed to walk the tracks and see the buildings at a nice slow pace where you could/did get great photos. This event slipped past me...and by the time I found out about it I was already scheduled to work. :(

Thank you SO much for at least letting me feel like I was there. :)

P.S. Congrats on winning the media kit!

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This is something I hope to participate in in the future. i really wish I could have went. iv'e always wanted to go "behind the scenes". Does GOCC have events like this a lot at Kings Island? What about in this spring?

They had two events at KI this year (this party and the Spring Fling in May), but both of those rotate parks and will be headed elsewhere next year. They're still finalizing plans for next year's events, but at this time it doesn't look like there's likely to be one at KI next year. :(

Great report and pics! Thanks for posting!

And thank you for reading!

Add me to the list of jealous! I would have killed to walk the tracks and see the buildings at a nice slow pace where you could/did get great photos. This event slipped past me...and by the time I found out about it I was already scheduled to work. :(

Thank you SO much for at least letting me feel like I was there. :)

P.S. Congrats on winning the media kit!

Yeah, I didn't know we were going to walk the tracks until we turned onto them. At first, when we turned out of the Picnic Grove and headed toward the tracks, I thought we were going to get a look at Soak City construction, but that wasn't the case. As for letting you feel like you were there, you're welcome! And thanks for the congrats. :)

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Incredible pictures! Thanks for the trip report!

Terp, who until very recently, would certainly have been there.

And thank you for the compliment! I had to be told to keep moving a couple of times because I was spending too much time trying to get a shot just right.

Thanks for sharing - I was unfortunately unable to attend, despite living 10 min away :( but am glad you took photos and shared your experience.

No problem. Wish you could have been there; the whole experience was great, especially the walk down the train tracks.

Looks like you had fun, and, do you know if they said anything about the Crypt besides "Under Review For Further Operations"?

The subject of the Crypt was brought up by Mr. Helbig and discussed for a couple minutes or so. Unfortunately, I don't remember what was said besides that they were reviewing the situation with it. Sorry. :(

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JC nice report and it was nice to see you enjoying your first off season tour of Kings Island.

As far as Dons comments about The Crypt the ride he basically said; In the early years it experienced a lot of downtime and repairs expenses but with a good thrill experience. the continued with; In the past couple years less down time with increased ridership but with a much less thrill experience. So here is were the review part comes in. Don said; it is time to look at the numbers and see if in its present condition if it is best for the park to continue operating The Crypt or to look at other options for that building or the area for some other type of concepts, nothing yet has materialized on what is best.

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As far as Dons comments about The Crypt the ride he basically said; In the early years it experienced a lot of downtime and repairs expenses but with a good thrill experience. the continued with; In the past couple years less down time with increased ridership but with a much less thrill experience. So here is were the review part comes in. Don said; it is time to look at the numbers and see if in its present condition if it is best for the park to continue operating The Crypt or to look at other options for that building or the area for some other type of concepts, nothing yet has materialized on what is best.

I wonder whats next. I'd like it replace it with another Top Spin, an get more thrill and hopefullly less downtime. And I haven't been to KD in forever, so does anyone know how much downtime Crypt gets there? Thanks for the info anyway.

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^ Not saying I don't want another Top Spin, too, but... Given our Crypt's issues with downtime and HUSS's (the manufacturer's) infamously slow parts service, I'd kind of be surprised if the park bought anything from HUSS to replace it. If the park would decide to just replace the ride, I bet they'd go for the Zamperla (or some other manufacturer) equivalent.

Still, I don't think I've heard of KD's Crypt having as many downtime issues as ours, so who knows?

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It'll be interesting to see how Don handles the situation if The Crypt does in fact meet its demise.

If they announce it the headlines may read, "Kings Island Opens April XX without two popular attractions." But if they quietly remove it, it could stir up more questions. I'm guessing that they'll have a decision on what's going to happen with The Crypt quickly. How many rides can be SBNO at KI before, "No decision has been made regarding the future of ______" doesn't quite cut it anymore?

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