Leaderboard

They should revive that one clock in Oktoberfest.

How many times have it been said that seasonal employees, especially ride ops, are not in the decision making process nor are they informed of plans such as it is being rumored here. Something like this would only be made at the very top of Cedar Fair and the park's GM/VP and through consultations with the ride manufacturer. Future plans, rides being torn down and future expansion are only made by top management and all seasonal employees and full time employees that are not in the upper levels of the chain's management team are not part of the decision making plans. Unless you hear of any plans like this or other plans are only released by the park's public relation department, it is not true.

Cedar Fair planned Diamondback the year before they purchased Paramount Parks? Really? I learn the darnest things here.

On Saturday, Oct 20th IBEW_Sparky and I left Indy around 4AM to head up to Cedar Point. We were attending the GOCC/ACE event Shocktoberfest. On Saturday we were going to be filming an episode of Insane Coaster Wars on Magnum XL200. It was a very cold and dreary day, but we had a good time fiilming. At 3:45 we checked in to walk through Eden Musee's haunted house. (Like Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror at KI) Here are some pics of the house with the lights on. I got some good pics of Mean Streak while we were waiting to go into Eden Musee. At this point in the day it was around 5:00 P.M and the park was getting very busy. So we tooks some pics in the park. A stream that we had not ever seen before. Mllie pics! At 5:30 this is what the queue looked like while we tooks a relaxing ride on the train. Full queue! Haunt props! Corkscrew from the bumper cars queue! We ended up heading to the hotel about 9 PM to get some rest for day 2, which was the actual event day. Day 2: On Sunday we got up about 7:30am to be at the park by 9am to film another Insane Coaster Wars on Maverick. At 10:00 AM we had ERT on Millie for the event. After our ride on Maverick we headed towards Millie for the ERT. We got about 6 or 7 rides in during our Ert and about 1/2 hr of normal ERT. At 10:30 we headed back to Maverick to get a ride in before the park opened. After another great ride on Maverick we headed towards Mean Streak and got a few rides on it before the GP made it to the back of the park. We then headed to Dragster to get a ride in before lunch. We got on in about 1/2 hr. This was my best ride on it, since this was my third ride. I now knew what to expect and was able to relax and enjoy the ride. We then had lunch provided at the Coral Courtyard. After a good lunch we have a behind the scenes tour of Cut Throat Cove, an outside maze. Here are some pictures of the maze.... A few fellow coaster enthusiasts Annie from Marketing who was leading the tour. More pics to come!

At least you have a sleeping schedule!

IMO, they still need restrooms somewhere in or near the X-Base area. If they did nothing else but this in the offseason I'd be happy.

At least you didn't start twenty new topics in a three hour span like some noobs. Welcome to the wonderful world of KIC!

So you may have noticed that we were under Maverick for the walk through of Cut Throat Cove, so we also got some great pics of Maverick as well. Track Traveling through the roll First Drop: First turn after the second launch. This was a hard picture to get with the speeds of the train and using a cell phone camera! Up next was the construction tour of Gatekeeper! Pics from tour! Crane ready for putting in track! All that remains of Disaster Transport, the transformers. These are still needed for service so they will not be removed until after the season ends by the power company! Annie explaining plans for the new ride. Footers ready for pouring! Electrician Larry explains about the power coming into the park. He also states the main entrance will be leveled and rebuilt about 10 ft closer to the parking lot than where it is today. Station location! The footer behind the crane in where the first drop will be. Parking lot construction: At this point it was about 5:30 and we had a 5 hr drive ahead of us. So we headed out to make our drive to Indy! I just found one more pic I got of a Wildcat car! Hope you enjoyed the PTR!

I'll probably still be up writing a paper that I haven't started yet.

That is the hour before I get off of work! Third Shift Blues! haha

Sometimes more can be learned by observing what is not being said, who is not talking and what is not happening that otherwise would. Terp, the ever careful one.

TAER it down!

Who is to say it would be a B&M if they got a steel coaster? There are lots of other steel coaster manufacturers out there.

http://kiextreme.com/wallpaper.php Hey...9 of those wallpapers are my photos..... It's like I was a major contributor to that site... And ahank your awesome!

KIExtreme is the reason I became friends with certain enthusiasts and still talk to them today. When it was in its prime, as standbyme said, the community was fantastic, even though it was so small. Even though the community was much more minuscule than KIC, I remember being much more active and constantly talking to many of the active members (some of which I still do). The website was also constantly updated with new features like KITunes (PKI Unlimited, anyone?), a great photo gallery, desktop wallpapers, and history section (sigh). The fact it was ad-free was pretty nice as well. Such a shame what a waste of potential KIE had. There were some really fantastic things that were in the works and it had potential to be such a great resource for information for both enthusiasts and curious common-goers alike.

I was on google earth today and noticed it was updated to our newest stuff (DA, new Soak City, blue Invertigo, wind seeker) I was looking around and noticed back behind DA there's a bunch of stuff I never saw before (I may of just missed it) what are they? They look like cars to some ride but can't think of which one, I also see what looks to be Patrick and sponge bob

I went to Sea World Ohio when I was younger but never made it to the theme park side but it makes me truly sad to know that in Aurora and the area around there is filled with families who have lost the park that have been parts of their lives for years. Similar to KK. Imagine if KI were to close one day. Many people would lose family traditions. Sure you can travel to other regional parks but its just not the same. I have memories of my gpa linked to KI. By going to another park, it wouldnt be the same. Samething with Geauga Lake. Someone has a memory of their grandma sitting at a bench outside of a ride and will never get to see that bench/ride area and smile with memories...

I would, in shorts, and have done so on Griffon and Lil' Phantom.

^^ What, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" doesn't scream beer gardens and lederhosen to you?

Well, I've ridden The Georgia Cyclone at night during a sleet storm. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy! (And it was STILL more fun than Ninja!).

The registers for food and merchandise show that prompt at the beginning of the transaction. And yet I am never, and I mean never, asked about it until the total is given, if I am asked about it at all.

Kind of like how our German area doesn't play German music, how our action-centered area doesn't play action-y music, or how our western town plays no western music. Instead we get sad songs by Adele and songs about ex boyfriends by Taylor Swift.

I have ridden Beast in the snow... But that was many years ago.

Happy Halloween Weekends Saturday, October 13, 2012 Useless stats: this was my 6th visit to Holiday World (2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2011). Saturday morning I packed up my wife, my 10 year old son, and my 7 year old son and we left Cincinnati bound for Santa Claus. This trip was originally set for last weekend, to coincide the Coasterbuzz fall affair. That was ultimately cancelled, and the weather was looking nasty, so we waited a week and were rewarded with a forecast of 70-80 degree temps all day. Fantastic for October in the Midwest. Around 10:30 local time the Holiday World skyline came into view. We promptly drove past and stopped at Santa's Lodge to pick up our park tickets. The Santa Claus attractions are really pushing tourism this month, and we paid $175 for a double queen room plus 4 park tickets (3 adult, 1 under 54"). A few minutes later and we arrived to a mostly empty parking lot, right near Ravens second hill. I like to walk near the Raven fence, comparing the "short" lift hill to the tunnel way down in a deep ditch. It's very deceiving. The hills visible from the parking lot look so gentle... As we approached the front gate, I saw a spunky little "witch" smiling and welcoming guests. She was doing her best to deal with a guest who was disgruntled about something, and who walked away in a huff. The witch, otherwise know as Pat Koch, sincerely and desperately called out... "Sir, this is a business. Have a great day". I don't know what the issue was, but I'm betting the witch was in the right. I shook her hand and then strolled with my family into Holiday World. It was nearly noon "our time", and we grabbed some pizza at Kringle's cafe. The pizza was decent, the breadsticks surprisingly warm and delicious. With the necessities taken care of, it was time for the real fun: a spin on The Raven. The line was just out of the Poe house. While in line my older son asked where the dive show was. "You can actually see it from this line, it's right over"...As a matter of fact it isn't. Totally gone. No concrete, no sign of the dive tank, nothing but a big hole. We did spot the bench lined up neatly near the woods, and a bulldozer nearby. Are they building a 400' tall WindSeeker there for 2013? Or perhaps a new dive theater? We'll have to wait and see. 20 minutes later we climbed aboard the middle of Raven's single operating train. I love the way the entire station shakes and rumbles as the train hits the breaks. It was a middle of the road ride by Raven's standards, which means it was still fantastic. Not rough, not as smooth as it can be, but just fine for an October morning. Raven strikes me as a normalish sized coaster taken at 3x speed. Drop, tunn... Did we just skim the lake..plunge.....leftrighthopleft...brakes. Slam, bamm, over just like that. We all loved it as usual. When I ride the Raven, I like to imagine riding along with Will Koch in 1995 on his first flight. What was he thinking? 1. That was an awesome awesome coaster ride! 2. This huge, risky investment of my family's money and reputation turned out better than I could have dreamed. 3. This changes everything for the future of my park! 4. I've got an incredible coaster in my own park! I believe he was thinking all of these and more, beaming from ear to ear, giddy as a child on Christmas morning, anxious to share the joy of his creation with the world. We all skipped down Raven's exit, jolted by the adrenaline rush and bad hair only a coaster can give. Next stop:Legend. Legend may be my favorite coaster of all. Unfortunately today, I could not have been more disappointed. On the bright side, there was no line. But it performed badly. Dispatch intervals were eternal, there was no grease on the track, and it was horribly understaffed. Instead of the typical crazy lateral filled out of control ride, today it was forceless and boring, a shadow of itself. My worst Legend experience in 12 years. Oh well, I'll have to wait until next year to get a decent Legend ride. Since KI removed their antique cars, at other parks we hop on them every chance we get. Holiday Worlds version, called "Lewis and Clark" is unremarkable but still fun, especially if you are 7 or riding with someone who is. 10 minute wait. Like KI's, these are set in a nicely landscaped area. Come to think of it, this is a big prime piece of real estate in the front of Holiday World. They could squeeze a great little Wooden Warrior style family coaster in there, and link it to 4th of July, Halloween, or Christmas. On the other hand, this is a nice quiet area, and it would be shame to tear it up. Graveyard Smash time. Somehow I'd never gotten around to seeing a show at the Hoosier Celebration Theater. We arrived just in time, finding a crowded theater, yet a few open seats in the front center row. We all loved it. My 10 year old son is getting dangerously close to being too cool for this sort of thing though, but even he got into the fun. You have about 10 monsters ranging from Dracula, Wicked Witch of the West, zombie bride, zombie punk rocker, zombie Jack Sparrow, and so on. All singing and dancing to Halloween parodies of everything from Dynamite to Thunderstruck. Hilarious and fun. Warning, the performers get in your face if you are up close or on the aisles. Next it was Sparkler time, or Spookler time to be precise. A great little ride, it fits this side of the park well. One cycle wait. It goes up, it goes around, and it doesn't give me the goosebumps that WindSeeker does. It also provides some new views, including a maintenance shed with all of Legend's trains neatly lined up outside. That dashed any hopes that Legend might just reopen today after all. To be fair, I'd read on Facebook and even on the map that Legend was closed for the year, apparently getting its winter spa treatment now instead of waiting for Happy Halloween Weekends to conclude. Still a bummer. Later that night we saw "Spookler" lit up in a monochrome yet neat white lighting display. My boys jaws dropped as I told them somewhere in Texas they were building a 400' version of this. I wonder if the entire tower spins on that one like here...I doubt it. We walked up the impossibly narrow ramp to the bumper cars. These are always a hoot despite the smart alecs who decide to drive the wrong way. 2 cycle wait. It was now the moment of destiny: The Voyage. Last year, both of my boys just didn't have the nerve to tackle this monster, the clincher being my report of nasty washboard roughness. It just wasn't that fun last year, for me anyway. Even the first three drops beat me up. Even though the new Gravity Group trains were delayed again, the track improvements were encouraging. One bummer was the one train operation today. There are few quieter, less exciting places than the Voyage station during single train operation. That train is gone Forever, and you begin to wonder if it will ever cone back. When you estimate a good 5 trains until you board, multiplied by the eternal dispatch interval, you get discouraged. But hey, this is one of the most amazing coasters in the world, so shame on me for complaining. It is kind of a miracle that the Voyage even exists. Think about all the stars that aligned: 1. A park (not called Kings Island) willing to build a 6000' long wooden coaster 2. A park with a large enough piece of sloping, wooded, available land 3. A park who really cares about the extras, like tunnels, tunnels, tunnels, station flyby's, tunnels, ridiculously excessive turnarounds and finales, tunnels... 4. A design firm competent enough to engineer the thing 5. A park willing to do whatever it takes to keep it running in top form If those weren't enough, add these improbabilities: 6. This behemoth is actually themed to pilgrims on a boat, in a section called Thanksgiving. Not a snake or something huge and intimidating 7. The fact that all of this happened just 3 hours from my house I got off track there, but my point is that Voyage might be the most unlikely coaster ever, built in a park that really didn't need it. But they built it and I'm so glad. So back to the ride. We were all pumped...my boys have been looking forward to this ever since they chickened out last year. The four of us took our seats in the third car, and off we sailed. In short, we were thunderstruck. What a ride. The only rough spots I detected were on the last sidewinding stretch under the lift hill, and part of the finale, but even these were not bad. Though I forgot to heed my own advice from 2006: don't try to brace yourself too much, instead just go with it and let the coaster have its way with you. It sounds counterintuitive for such a crazy ride, but it works for us. While we loved it, my boys and my wife debated if a second ride would happen, or if one was more than enough. They all leaned towards "one and done". They were stuffed, so why eat a second Thanksgiving dinner on the same night? Time for a breather. We lined up near Pilgrims Plunge, and 20 minutes later we were on a tram headed to the corn maze. There were two actual hayrides, but we got the vanilla tram both ways. The maze itself was interesting in that it was on uneven hilly land, and in some areas the stalks were barely 5' high. So in some spots you were deep in it with zero visibility, in others you have a commanding view of most of the maze. There were panic flags at various checkpoints, which also helped you navigate since many were visible from afar. Overall a nice diversion from the noise and activity of the park. We skipped the kiddie maze. Gobbler Getaway. A hoot as usual, though I never know if my low scoring is caused by my aim or a faulty gun...errr turkey caller. I also wonder if I am too distracted by the shooting/calling deal to miss the fun details of the ride itself. With the exception of Toy Story Mania, I'd rather just take in the view on my dark rides. What else...oh yes, we checked out the Halloween activities in the picnic grove. Face painting, pumping decorating, trick or treating, the usual activities aimed at families with little ones. Worth a stop if you if that fit that group, and very similar to what you'd find at your local fall festival. We did enjoy the many Halloween dioramas throughout the park. These were set up by park employees, using skeleton mannequins and a wide variety of props. Each won an award of some type, like "best use of theming", or "best use of bobble head Pat". All were tasteful of course, and added a humorous personal touch to the park. Another Halloween exclusive was the lone "haunted house", in glorious 3D, in the Holiday Theater. Again , no big scares here, save for a few surprise characters who come to life and startle the little ones. And even me. The 3d effects were outstanding. I am not usually impressed with 3d at the cinema. A great family haunted house, made better by the 5 minute wait. This is getting long winded so I'll try and cut to the chase. My boys are fans of night rides, so we scored another Raven ride (4 train wait), and my family "Thank"fully regained Voyage fever. Two more Voyage rides (front seat at dusk, third seat in total darkness). 20 minute waits for each. Breathtaking. The 2006 Voyage is back, for now anyway. Now it was for perhaps the best attraction of the day: pumpkin spice funnel cakes at Funnel Cake Factory, covered with some sort of cream cheese frosting. These are not as nutritious as you might think. But they are delicious. I will try to clone those for the scout campout next weekend. It's a good sign when you ask the workers in the food stand if these are any good, and they all light up with an emphatic, sincere, "they are sooooo good!!!!". They were right, and we got fat and happy. While munching we walked around the"back stretch" of Holiday World, near the Indian river ride and the "eagle's fright". I like these quiet, mature (tree-wise) paths in parks. This was made all the better by the glorious fall colors and the leaves literally falling by the hundreds and blowing in the breeze. Quiet and peaceful. Speaking of Eagles Fright, it was begging for riders, so we hopped on for a quick spin. We each got our own bird and enjoyed the peaceful flight in the cool, autumn night. We arrived at the Christmas plaza at 8, just in time for the laser show. It was a mishmash of funny laser animations projected on a big movie screen, fog effects, and the big cool real lasers that pierce the night and wiggle around, all set to Monster Mash, Thriller, Ghostbusters, and other Halloween staples. Fun show and a great way to end the day. So that was our day at Holiday Work. It was quite different without the waterpark and the Legend, but I think they did a fine job considering their family market, and taking their first stab at a "Halloween"event. It made for a nice 30 hour fall getaway from Cincinnati. Thanks to HW and the Kochs for a good time! PS: don't get a room at Santa's lodge near the banquet hall. Loud!

"Space Spiral style"

Winter Fest with all roller coasters open.

That is the hour before I get off of work! Third Shift Blues! haha And here I thought I had an odd sleeping schedule! You two make my schedule look normal!

That's about an hour before I normally get up for work!

I am a Platinum member, and the program worked for me this year. Also, I'd like to add that I think all my instant rewards came when I bought blue ice cream

Kings Island Platinum Passes do work. I have a KI Platinum Pass and never had any problem with it and FUN Perks.

And if you are the FIRST person at the gate on a Sunday morning at Carowinds and your season pass claims you have already been in the park that day, you also are not getting in. Never mind what you paid for. Terp, who has NEVER had any similar issue with any other park chain.

I'm not appreciating that as much as I should. The Funperk option shows up after the sale, so the option to purchase items that would add to our funperk bundle is taken out of our hands, and also, the decision of using the funperk option lay in the hands of a sales clerk, who might be off work in five minutes, and may not want to deal with the hassle. Sales clerks are in their teens, have active lives, and sometimes don't feel that swiping a card is that important. I am at the park to have fun. I'm not some rapid coupon cutter, I'm not going to waste my precious KI time fiddling with going over receipts as the fun passes me by. I'm going to be honest about my time at the park- I have an issue in which I become exhausted easily. I have a pass so I can go to the park for a few hours at at time before I wipe out. I want my adrenaline, I want it now, I paid for it. I'm there for a short time, and I'm going to utilize that time. Paperwork is for a dull night at home after work. CF set up the funperks program. If Cf wants to implement this program, and truly make it what they deem it to be, they are going to have to work at it, not me. My going over my receipts in the park just means more paper for their crews to clean up, because I would have to do it on the lift hill of The Beast. At the crest of the hill, I assure you, the wind will take the receipts and flutter them down into the trees below. edited to add: Husband suggested a swipe of the pass in purchases whether or not the shop is participating in FP. If CF is interested in the spending habits of pass holders, then every expenditure leads to a better understanding.

Is it this song? If it is the song is called "Dashboard" by Modest Mouse. Not gonna lie I love this band and this song in particular. But we all have our own tastes in music. I'm assuming the videos are on a loop so this is just part of the loop that is played.

I see what you did there!!!

Wish Coney Island would get a little train ride like it used to have. You see very long lines at the zoo.

I don't think "tiny people" is the politically correct term.

A better question is who cares?

As of right now in the Cedar Fair era poll: "I know everything there is to know about no questions asked (11 votes [47.83%])" To these eleven, I would like to know: -Which seat on The Racer has given the most rides? (and by an exact number, how large of an interval is the quantity between most and least ridden seat) -What is the average station wait for every roller coaster, taking into consideration only time that the ride has officially been open? -Which color Zephyr seat has given the most rides? -Exactly how many leaves were removed from all the trees when Dinosaurs Alive! was constructed? Oh, wait, no questions are to be asked?

Thanks guys! I know I keep saying it,but I mean it.

Welcome to KIC Diamondback27! We hope to see you here often! I try to give new members a welcome photo. All taken by yours truly. Pictures 075 by KIC-Original, on Flickr

Sorry guys! Didn't know there was already a topic on it. I'll be sure to look next time.

The whole leveling system makes no sense to me. I spent over $100 and visited 6 times and finally hit level 2 yesterday. After the transaction in which I hit 2 I made two additional purchases, one that evening for just over four dollars and one this morning for about a dollar. I figured I would check the website and suddenly I am about 50% of the way to 3 already. It did not help that when I purchased a Fast Lane pass the employee never asked for my pass so I got no credit for the purchase (that is not even included in the $100 above). I wish their was a way to get credit for purchases in which the pass was not scanned. A transaction ID on the receipt I can put in on the website would be a great addition for next year. On the subject of instant rewards I got one yesterday (first all season) and then proceeded to loose it before I had a chance to use it. But I am assuming I only actually earned one. At least half of my transactions never produced a receipt, I was very surprised at the number of times I watched the printer jam, or run out of paper, or the employee just balled up the receipt without asking if I wanted it. Having said all of that, I like the idea behind a reward program. I do hope it is expanded to the whole chain. Would have been top tier easily with all the money I spent at Cedar Point and my visits to other parks in the chain.

More money than the Kochs were able to secure prudently, apparently. More than Mr. Hart could get without the taxpayers of Kentucky guaranteeing the loan last time around. Why should the taxpayers in Pike County, Trigg County and the rest of the state be forced to risk their tax dolllars on a twice failed amusement park in Jefferson County when there isn't enough money to pay state employees without using mandatory furloughs, Medicaid is underfunded and on and on? For that matter, why should Mr. Hart or anyone else be allowed to run a state subsidized amusement park while Beech Bend, Holiday World and Kings Island must compete against them? If Kentucky Kingdom were such a wonderful business proposition, it wouldn't be in the situation it is today. Arguably, the smartest and best operators in all the world have had opportunity after opportunity to at least look at the place during the formal viewing process. Other than the Premier organization and Mr. Hart, they didn't even take the time to snoop. The former, whose principals used to run Six Flags, says it did not bid. Mr. Hart may not have made a responsive bid. It speaks volumes that the Fair Board is NOT being allowed to evaluate the proposals or make the decision. The Finance Cabinet will be far more concerned with the economic merits from the state's standpoint. As for $25 million, I highly doubt that would be even a drop in the bucket toward what is needed to properly repair, restore and renovate even a sizeable portion of that park. Again, why did the Fair Board drop Mr. Hart? Why did the Kochs walk? See particularly the last paragraph of this article: http://www.whas11.com/news/local/Ky-kingdom--175004401.html

I think the real problem with the program was that it terminates after four stars. I hit four stars in June and didn't get any online rewards after that. It made it less tempting to make purchases at the park, and today I looked at my Fun Perks account for the first time in months. I think they should have a ten star program with a larger assortment of prizes. That way you would be able to earn prizes all season. It would also be cool to have something like a "Ten Star Club" that offers some sort of exclusive access or perpetual benefits.

http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/25899-new-giga-what/ http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/26286-new-giga-coaster-2014/ http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/26096-the-super-dooper-rumor-thread/

I'll be at KI tomorrow (Sunday) so I'll have the Eiffel Tower on my mental list of rides to ride so I can get some pics of what's left of SoB. edit: I got some pictures! Now all I have to do is import and then upload them... edit #2: The pics are now up!

It didn't exist for me. I shop at KI, but funperk wise, I was personna non grata. Honestly, it wasn't worth the hassle of what the rewards were to be petty over points. I didn't know which restuarants were excluded, what goods were included, and it wasn't worth my time nor an employee's time to find out if I 'won' a free drink. I'm not going to sit and peruse over my reciepts in the park and worry about saving a buck. I'm certainly not going to harangue a cashier in a store about points.

Good program, rewards the folks who visit the park often and spend $$. Just the past weekend, I ended up with $95 in coupons, merchandise vouchers, and Beagle Bucks, all of which will be used tomorrow. Biggest problem I see is that they really do need to get the employees that are in charge of redeeming some of the coupons up to speed. Sheer buffoonery. All in all, nice to get a little return on the money and time spent this summer.

Happy Leif Erikson Day.... Hinga dinga dürgen!