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BRILLIANT! Give this man a job for his design skills!

Nobody is playing anything with you and I don't have to "share" anything with you. Like he said, I was probably better offnot tellling you guys and letting you find out when the announcement is made. Thanks for the un-needed rude comments.

Natalie Koch, now with video: http://www.wdrb.com/story/18805963/koch-family-responds-to-bluegrass-boardwalk-decision

I think the consensus among those of us who don't know (and I'm sure there are people who do, but would never say) is that Kings Island's Tomb Raider ride was highly protected legally. A legal patent was filed in March 2003 that accounted for nearly all of the thematic things within the ride. I'm not a legal expert or anything like that, but that may be part of it. Kings Dominion's was certainly not protected in such a way, as it is an off-the-shelf suspended top spin (of which there are dozens) that just so happened to have a few props around it. Props that were apparently sold off with the park and continue to be used today. I think, in general, Kings Dominion does value theming and always has. As I mentioned, their Congo area summons great images in my mind, and that part of the park really is that beautiful. Their main competitor is Busch Gardens, so a level of theming is required to compete in that arena. Kings Island's competitors are / were Cedar Point and Kentucky Kingdom, primarily. With that in mind, there was never a dire need to make "theme" or "detail" a part of the experience, because they didn't have any competitors who pursued it, either. Busch Gardens Williamsburg I am always impressed with Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It is very much quality over quantity. I'd rather ride any one of their five adult coasters over all seventeen of Cedar Point's. That continued to be true this year. I'll give a quick run-down of the rides and return later tonight with a few more details and photos. Thanks for reading! Apollo's Chariot is one of B&M's more infamously subtle hypercoasters. Its first drop is taller than its lift hill thanks to a carefully placed ravine, and the course is very terrain-centered. Instead of Diamondback's almost-hammerhead turn, Chariot's turnaround is a banked dive to the ground followed by a rising helix. It's actually a fantastic element and one of my favorite roller coaster moments. The best part to me, though, is the last few seconds of the ride. Like Diamondback, the return trip is bunny hill after bunny hill, but towards the end, the track unexpectedly banks and tosses you under the lift hill. That's a great moment in and of itself, but a "trick" comes next: a very small, insignificant little downhill slope as if heading into the brake run is followed by one final, large dive into an unexpected slope in terrain. The result is moment that catches many people off guard, and of course, that's when they take the picture. If you're looking for B&M's more aggressive hypercoasters (which, I'm told, do exist!) Apollo's Chariot doesn't fit the bill. Apollo's Chariot is also a fantastic example of how a little theme can go a long way. In ancient myth, Apollo (or Helios) was charged with pulling the sun across the sky each day in his golden chariot. One day, his foolhardy son decided to make the job his own, but was unable to control the flaming steeds that led the chariot, so he flew too close to earth, then too far from it, alternatively scorching and freezing the planet all along his journey. Simple, but the perfect explanation for a B&M hyper coaster, right? Loch Ness Monster is a trusty Arrow looping coaster that's beginning to show its age, but still miles above Cedar Point's Corkscrew. It's a little simple and has some of those infamous track transitions and moments where you think "What were they thinking?" but these are the rides to ride while you can - the feeling of going through a steel loop whose dimensions were not calculated by computers is becoming a little too rare, and it's worth savoring while you can! The quasi-new Europe in the Air is a very clear take-off (no pun intended) on Disney California Adventure's Soarin' Over California. The problem here is that the old whole-theater-on-hydraulic-arms simulator from the park's Corkscrew Hill was reused, translating to a ride that's more awkward than graceful. There are beautiful sights to be seen, for sure, but the ride lacks the emotional depths of California's ride. Plus, the former ride was themed to Irish folklore (fairies, unicorns, witches, etc) and the building was repurposed without much care. It's still a dark, dank tunnel with Celtic inscriptions that leads to the pre-shows (now with a few vaguely "airport"-like lights drilled into the tunnel walls) and two pre-show rooms are used to prep you for the experience that could really speak for itself. It's a nice way to escape the heat and a fun attraction, but hardly a headliner. The largest land by far is Germany (divided into the customary Rhinefeld land of shops, beer steins, Glockenspiels, and wrought iron, and the separate Oktoberfest). Alpengeist is on the outskirts of Rhinefeld in a Bavarian ski-lodge. The story, a few props and signs quickly establish, is that the ski lift to the height of the Alps has been closed due to odd disappearances blamed on the yeti (or Alpengeist - Ghost of the Alps). The ski-lift story perfectly fits the B&M inverted coaster that follows. They supposedly engineered a new support system just for this ride so as to make it look like a real ski-lift. I believe Alpengeist is the tallest, fastest inverted roller coaster in the world, and I rank it very, very highly. At the beginning, it's all about giant inversions. By the end, you're slaloming through canyons of concrete snow with an occasional wing-over to set-up the next visual near-miss with more canyon wall. Totally a winner. Oktoberfest has been the park's focus of the last few years, with all of the land's restaurants, games, stages, and planters being unified under renewed, bright colors, the same festive flags, barrels of beer, and bright signage. This is where their Das Festhaus is. Believe it or not, it serves German food and has a German fairytale show called Entwined! Crazy, right? I was expecting a Good Ole' Country Stampede show and a hot spring roll with a slice of pizza, but maybe I'll find that somewhere else... Mäch Tower opened last year after a massive delay that almost lasted as long as the WindSeekers'. It's 230 feet (so a bit shorter than Kings Dominion's Drop Tower) but revolves on the way up (which theirs doesn't) and plays European music through on-board audio (which, I imagine, might be one of the only instances of that on a Drop Tower?). At the top, the bustling German music ends in a dramatic note. Last year, the carriage vibrated from top to bottom before dropping, but that seems to not be the case this year. It might just be temporary - the ride was down quite a bit during the days I was there, with signs indicating that it would be closed all day without anyone even attempting to fix it. The ride was ridiculed last year as not being "Busch Gardens" enough when theme had always been the name of the game, but it's a nice thrill ride and absorbs quite a bit of crowd. Curse of DarKastle is the incredible 4-D simulator (a la Spider-Man or Transformers) in Oktoberfest. Instead of the non-stop explosion-style action of its two sisters, Curse of DarKastle basically puts the fantastic technology to use by combining it with a traditional haunted house... at least for the first half of the ride. The first half is knives flying at you, being sucked into a smoking fireplace, etc. In the second half, the story finally picks up: we know from the pre-show that the evil King Ludwig killed his parents to take their throne and that he's granted eternal life so long as he never steps outside the caste walls. In the second half of the ride, the "simulator" part really kicks in as his mother leads the sleigh on a flying tour through the castle grounds as it collapses, holds us high above on a tower while she confronts her son, and then sends the sleigh crashing onto a glass dome below. It's a fantastic ride and a dramatic story, but the ride has always been just a little too tame. During the off-season between 2011-2012, Busch Gardens hinted that a refurbishment would restore the ride just in time to re-open Oktoberfest. I was excited at the idea that the motion might finally be amped up to take full advantage of the technology, what with Universal opening Transformers and re-debuting Spider-Man with its enhancements. They reprogrammed it, alright... The motion is reduced to a few bumps and knocks. All of the "spins" to transition between screens were noticeably slowed, and the one instance of the ride that was really aggressive (a set of four or five tight spins in the darkness of the castle's fireplace) were replaced with one slow, gentle turn. The only noticeable improvement I noticed was the smoke in the fireplace (through which the sleigh is pulled) was finally restored after being absent for a few years. It's still a FANTASTIC ride and I'd kill for Kings Island or any Cedar Fair park to have a clone, but the newfound hope of catering to the whole family was really unnecessary - its previous incarnation was wilder, but still mild and I think that by doing anything except turning it into the aggressive, thrilling dark ride it can be, Busch Gardens made a mistake. Still, if you've never been on it, you likely wouldn't notice. Especially if you've never been on Spider-Man or Transformers, you'll be blown away. , but use it sparingly! If you plan to ride it ever, don't watch the video. It's best to be surprised by the capabilities of the attraction.The new roller coaster this year is VERBOLTEN. Do not read on if you don't wish to read spoilers about the ride! Verbolten takes the place of the Big Bad Wolf, the famed Arrow Suspended coaster that used to run through the woods of Oktoberfest. Its old station is now converted into a Visitor's Center for Gerta and Gunter's Tours & Rental. The pair, we learn, are twins with a great passion for Germany! In the first queue house, we meet Gerta, still in her Oktoberfest best, who welcomes us to the tour center and teaches us the German word for travel (fahrt, pronounced exactly as you imagine) and invites us to do so all over the countryside; to the castles; along the Autobahn! But, Gerta warns sternly,do not go near ze Black Forest. It ist verboten With a cheery giggle, she returns to the festival and we proceed into a second office, this one a little smaller - it's Gunter's. It turns out that Gerta's twin brother (who we never see) has an odd fascination with the forbidden Black Forest. His office is stacked to the rafters with old luggage and gnarled, twisted plants that are almost literally trying to burst through his glass display cases. A few video monitors amid a shelf of books show some misty, foggy views of the forest where every once and a while, we see a car's headlights flash or a person running. An answering machine picks up a few off-putting messages by tourists of varying nationalities explaining that their car has stalled in the forest and that they hear something. Most messages cut off there. The ones that don't end with a scream in the distance. Still, the line proceeds up a ramp into the automobile repair bay where Gunter obviously does much of his work. Luggage on moving conveyer belts overhead pass by huge empty plastic barrels labeled "Weed Control." They seem to be empty. The trains themselves are sleek sports cars with authentic German tires (likely found quite cheap by German ride manufacturer Zierer, whose previous, extensive work is mostly in family coasters, including the park's own Grover coaster and SeaWorlds' Shamu Expresses). They only seat 16, so a double-loading station helps whisk things along. The first train takes off down a slow gravity drop into the course while the second idles just outside the station to the sound of an engine trying to turn over. Finally, it revs and the car flies smoothly into a set of S-curves. Pretty quickly, a menacing wall appears ahead - old stone with some nasty looking vines crawling out of it. The car hits the first LSM launch and flies into the "Black Forest," contained entirely within a showbuilding. The layout is surprisingly simple, but you wouldn't know it from riding. A few black light cutouts of vines flash while a strobe light with lightning-patterns blinds you just before the car is thrown sideways into a downward helix. It races through the forest, passing more vines and leaves (very much like Revenge of the Mummy at this point) before rising up a hill into the mid-course brakes. This is where I was stunned. The final helix before those brakes travels around a giant glowing moon globe built into the floor. Vines appear to be suffocating the light coming from it just as you pass, and it turns from white to blue. The car then rises up a small hill and into the MCBR. Here, lights turn up to reveal the forest before you - full, floor-to-ceiling scenes that surround you with incredible beauty. You can see the set, dozens of feet tall, and it's lighting is clearly theatrically controlled. When you stop on the brakes, it's pitch black. Only after a moment do the lights rise to reveal the forest as you dive down into the roots of a particularly nasty tree. It's just a quick banked turn to get you into the real prize: the not-so-secret secret element of the ride. The car advances forward through an almost-dark-ride like moment of leaves and branches around you as you're propelled slowly into the apparent treetops. At this point, one of three scenarios is discernable, with different lighting, effects, sounds, music, and props visible in each. In the first ("wolves") you hear howling in the distance and the branches burn red. You can hear the crackling of the unsturdy tree you're apparently stuck in, and a few pairs of red, malevolent eyes appear all around. In the second ("storm") branches are revealed only during lightning strikes, rain sounds and lights come from above, and a deep, rumbling bass seems to shake the whole building. The third ("spirit") occurs when you hear the gentle calling of a spirit, speaking softly and inviting you closer and closer. Here, the leaves and branches glow in blue, as if the train is being supported by magic. In each, there's a moment of silence as the brakes engage and you either see all the red eyes illuminate at once, feel one final, massive strike of lighting, or see the face of the spirit cast before you on the wall. The entire track then drops about 15 feet in complete freefall, leaving the entire train screaming in surprise. Even those who re-ride are caught off-guard by the indescribable moment, but the real fun is only telling your friends that there's "a secret" in the Black Forest. A friend of mine was convinced beyond a doubt that the train would suddenly reverse and be propelled backwards. Incidentally, it caught her so by surprise that she got off calling the ride "her favorite roller coaster ever" has not let up on it since. That's not the end, though - as rumbling sound effects come back up, the train is propelled down a small hill before hitting one of the more intense and surprising launches I've ever felt - it truly feels like 0 - 60. Just an instantaneous acceleration without the "gradual" climb of Backlot Stunt Coaster or even Flight of Fear. The train races through a few rising banked turns and reaches a shuddering, creaking covered bridge 90 feet over the river below. From there on, the ride might as well be a bolt-for-bolt recreation of Big Bad Wolf, falling to the river's surface, slamming onto it's side, blasting through banked turns as it makes its way back up the hill to the station, and hitting the brakes with enough speed to coast for another quarter-mile. People come back cheering every time. It's that kind of ride. Verbolten is easily my favorite ride at Busch Gardens, and even now that the adrenaline has worn off, I, too, would call it my #1 roller coaster ride. That said, it's a bit of a sticky wicket for the park. After relying almost exclusively on ultra-reliable B&M and simple Arrow creations for years, Busch Gardens now has a ride with two launches and that complex drop mechanism (can we just take a minute to appreciate how many computer systems must be aligned to make that work? If the sensor reads even a centimeter of train being off from where it's "supposed" to be, the whole system must shut down...). The yellow train was damaged during testing and is still in the shed, leaving only 4 of the 5 trains operable. The dual-loading station is not utilized on "slow" days (which in turn doubles the wait time, thus not making it a very "slow" day at all). I don't think the ride has gone a single day without at least an hour of downtime, and the first three days of passholder ERT were cancelled because the ride couldn't seem to wake up in a good mood. One of my days arriving at the park, the parking attendant handed out a slip of paper announcing that Verbolten wouldn't open at all that day, and the park later tweeted that it wouldn't open the day after, either. It shut down for four hours on my last day at the park, and on one evening, it shut down two hours before closing time and they made the announcement that it wouldn't re-open. BGWfans.com speculated that the ride's two-day shut down was because they were "awaiting a part from Germany" (sound familiar?). It's true that the ride has far more uptime than down, but here's hoping they can iron out the problems, get to "know" the ride, and keep this from happening regularly. In other words, go to Busch Gardens as soon as you can. Ride Verbolten over and over again, and appreciate the differences each time. But plan more than one day, because you may not get your chance the first time you try...

I have to go to Pride Night this year! I worked the event on Vortex and Monster back in 2005, and I have to say it was the most fun night I had there. I've always wanted to go again but struggled with how to explain it to my conservative family. Last year I came out as trans, but didn't have the extra money to attend (lots of car trouble) on top of having an unreliable car. But this year, I'm going for sure! Can't wait!

I think that KK is doomed now. Time for KI to get the Flying Dutchman back.....perhaps a Ferris Wheel.

I saw the show when I went to the park on Thursday. I thought it was very entertaining and fun. I really like watching the shows at the park, but the musical revues all start to blend together and aren't really worth seeing multiple times. I did really enjoy British Invasion, which I also saw for the first time on Thursday, but I'm pretty sure that's because I'm a big Beatles fan... Anyways, I think the park needs more shows like this- not necessarily magic, but something other than the 60s 70s 80 etc music revues....

I'm not hating. I'd pay NOT to be on stage with Ms. Spears. I have a reputation to protect. Not all of us are celebrity giddy.

If I could change one thing, I would make Diamondback less boring and unimaginative... (Flame away everyone) Sorry if I insulted your favorite ride, but I just don't think B&M Hypers or Gigas have anything unique to offer.

IDK if this is really the right topic for this, but IDK where else to put it. I was at Carowinds this week, sporting my classy Beast T-shirt, and one of the locals asked me in line for Hurler, "Hey, isn't The Beast the one that had a loop, but they had to take it out when it got stuck at the top and someone fell out?" I chose to tell them the truth, that no coaster fitting that description has ever existed at Kings Island, but that the Son of Beast was a wooden coaster, which did have a loop that was later removed after retrofitting the ride with new trains. I also informed them that nobody has ever died on a roller coaster at Kings Island (unless you count the guy who had an aneurism on Firehawk, but even he died after getting off, and the ride likely had nothing to do with it - article here http://www.daytondai...=rss_local-news ). In short, I think it's time to accept that we will likely need to say our goodbyes to Son of Beast. When it's hurting the daddy's reputation, that's when it is becoming a serious issue to the park. Beast is one of the most special things about Kings Island, and ol' Sonny is scaring people away from it.

I just like this one because of the cool angle! I love all the autumn colors and sunlight Drop Tower looks so eerie Its rare, so of course I love it! I love Drop Tower and this view

I especially wish Holiday World was owned by Cedar Fair but run by the Kochs still, so I could go there all I want with a Platinum Pass!

I'm waiting on Don to read that comment, go up SOB's lift hill with a scrap from a 2-by-4, a few nails, and a hammer, and nail the board to the railing on the lift hill. I can only imagine how this thread will explode if he does that.

I was checking everyone's page before the event so I would know what to expect. And thanks for the photos and the compliment, yes that kid truly is me! And lots of other KICers were shocked too!

And it's not even August 16 yet. This is a good day for Holiday World, though. The future of that park now looks much, much brighter than it did yesterday.

Taken during Haunt 2010 P1014011 by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr

Nice photos! And that's as much a compliment to you as it is to The Racer crew. As for ohiocolts' age, I wasn't surprised; his profile page clearly lists his age. Apparently nobody else thought to check that.

Hey, at least with all this "drama", we aren't just talking about the same things over and over again. It brings some life to this topic!

I do believe it proved my point. And your jumping in and flaming people only strengthens my point. I will be the bigger person here and end this bickering. I was just giving some advise to the guy.

I rest my case.

No, that's being saved for Soak City, since he's both all wet and likes to beach.

If you've ever stood in front of the antenna on a microwave radio when someone keys the mic, you won't want to stand in front of it again. [ I think he thought it was an alarm bell; but well said of the ill effects of direct, near-transmitter microwave exposure. Fries, anyone? (Kidding. Something called a rectenna is supposed to remedy such danger). I'm not sure a rectenna make things any better - it sounds too much like a pain in the butt.

Giant Ferris Wheel, Table Service Restaurant / Improved quality in food service.

From that article: As I said, after the election. This legislature is not going to authorize that bond issue. The one that is installed in January is even less likely to do so. And Mr. Hart is not even ready with his plan, needing until March 31... I wouldn't be counting on this ever happening. And then Mr. Hart tells this lu-lu! This is about the most preposterous statement I have ever read on the Internets. Interest rates are at low rates not seen since the Eisenhower administration. I wonder if his nose grew as he said that...I am beginning to think that he, too, is an operations guy, not a finance guy.