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The long-term solution has been found: As a Halloween Haunt attraction.

Reading this topic makes me feel like playing RCT..... Add Shrub, Add Burger Bar, Add Footpath.

If I had the power to make it happen, I'd somehow make the train ride a competition between landscaping companies to make the most awesome displays along the track. Imagine huge areas of unique, lush floral arrangements, plants and trees, waterfalls, etc.... like an arboritum. They can then advertise as being "part of that world-famous Kings Island Miami Valley Railroad." The guests would only see it as marvelous scenery, and be soothed by the experience. Throw in a few durable, detailed old-country facades, and an all-weather animatronic or two and voila! A happy KIMVRR 2.0.

Not sure this is the right place, so please forgive me if that's the case, but vote now! There's no denying that for coasters, CP is ahead of us. But we're sooooo spoiled with the short wait times almost any day we attend, as well as the compact layout of the park that allows us to change our minds without killing our legs! http://behindthethrills.com/2012/12/thrill-weekly-poll-park-of-the-year-2012-region-three/

there are some people in Aurora, Ohio that would like to throw more than that at him.

SOB's land is what I was thinking was a big waste of land before the announcement of it's removal. Touching back on the DA area, as much as the enthusiast in me would love to see the land DA is on used for a coaster, my 2 year old totally disagrees with you and me. When going to KI that is all she wants to do, and all she talks about going over there. There was over a month gap from the first time she went thought DA till her next visit, and she brought it up getting into the car before leaving Indy. I was so surprised that she remembered it at all. I ended up waking through there with her on that visit while my wife took my son on Vortex. Well worth the money to have daddy/daughter time. When I take my solo and enthusiast trips I am not going to spend the money going through DA. When we go as a family I know DA is something that the rest of the family is going to enjoy doing and don't mind spending the extra money. There is where Tepy's point in case is confirmed.

Wrong. Try reading my return on investment posts in Other Parks in the Ouimet thread. You could not possibly be more incorrect from a park strategy standpoint. As just one example, the dinosaurs bring educational, incremental guests to the park.

^ The acts could be themed to the tomb as well. I vote for the Grateful Dead.

Almost as mysterious as the level of patience that the Koch Family... especially the LAWYER in the Family.... with the entire situation. Someone is very fortunate that the same problems were not encountered at a park that does not have the "Forgive and forget" Values that said Koch Family maintains.

I'm sitting back watching with amazement that anyone cares what the result of this very unscientific Internet poll is. Beats the Golden Ticket, I suppose....

No you are right. They mentioned Timberliners were originally intended for the Voyage. I think there is obviously something wrong with either A. the design of the trains or B. how they run on the Voyage. If there wasn't a problem with the trains or how they run on the Voyage they would've been on the track 4 years ago. I am in the same boat with you about the situation. I'm not taking your comment as a dig because you didn't twist my words or put words in my mouth. You actually added to the conversation instead of changing my words. Either way the Voyage will still be a fun ride no matter what trains they put on it.

At the risk of sounding like a fanboy or like I'm trying to overthrow your effort (I'm not), I voted for Holiday World. HW keeps growing into this bigger park but still manages to maintain this very personal and warm "small park" feeling. I do love KI (and, to a somewhat lesser extent, CP), but if you're asking me to pick between KI and HW, I'm probably going to pick Holiday World, despite how much I love Adventure Express and the childhood memories I have of KI. Edited after a couple likes to say: Now, if Dollywood were in the running...

So, in other words, The Intepreter dislikes/detests Browntggr's criticism of his grammar, but he doesn't dislike Browntggr.

Things to remember, keep photos current and your own. (and no KIExtreme photos!) Hard: Beast Mine Shaft Easy: Beast Water Mill (Penny Mill) Post both and I give you a point (there's really no points)

Kings Island, main gate: the orchestral sounds that played 1972-1992. I'd even settle for 1993-2006.

In some peoples opinion Kings Islands most wasted space sat in Action Zone un-used for 3 years........

Soak City... The Rippingtons and Spyra Gyra. They have some killer tropical sounding instrumentals!

I think part of the reason the way Soak City is because there are some massive power lines over head. I would be willing to bet that code prohibit the park from building a water attraction underneath them.

Moving a ride with a foundation like that one would neither be simple nor cheap. It is extremely unlikely to happen.

True, but you are not the target market.

So was the reason you asked Holiday World about the Timberliners because you want to hear that they will not be used?

The parking lot.

He has spoken...again!

Not to mention unitholders he tried to force out at $11.50 per unit while retaining an internal position and/or parting gifts...

No. Dislike/detest a person's management actions and style. Not the person himself. There is a huge difference. There are also opposite instances. There are some people in this industry who are fantastic managers that I can't imagine liking as a person. Mr. Kinzel is a very likable guy, doubtless a great father, etc. But his last years as a manager I, and others, do not see as his best years. To be kind. No tomatoes thrown at Mr. Kinzel as a person. Not even nickels. As for TTD, my point is also a different one. Mr. Kinzel greenlighted TTD's theming even after Disaster Transport.

I also can't wait to check out the restrooms to see if the toilets really do spin the water backwards when flushed!

After the Tomb Raider installation (and Son of Besst, for that matter), Paramount Parks took a turn toward installing much smaller, less expensive rides and attractions. Those rides, both of which were very expensive, did not deliver the anticipated return on investment. That's one thing to watch as Cedar Fair apparently goes down the road, at least for a while, of fewer but larger and more spectacular (but not too aggressive) rides and attractions. Both Mr. Ouimet and Mr. Witherow have referred to this strategy lately. A well rounded park is a balance of rides, attractions, food, etc. Some wild, some mild. Some for kids, some tweens, some teens, some for adults. Many love small flats. Others dark rides. Will there be room for all this in the future? Management needs to take care to maintain a balanced strategy over time. Paramount Parks' latter day strategy of cheap and cheerful installations was already starting to have deleterious effects on the parks. Maintenance of appearance and theme, as you have noted, is also very important. As for Brown's comment, posted while I was still writing this, if Disaster Transport was such a mistake, note the theming on Top Thrill Dragster. The Disaster Transport mistake I see was allowing it to deteriorate...benign neglect or disdain. It was a fine ride when it first opened. It wasn't maintained thematically. Also, I do not dislike Mr. Kinzel, but I detest many of his management actions his last decade at FUN. There is a huge difference.

Why not put a show in there? They could theme it to a tomb.

Bumping... No offense to the KI & MV Railroad, it's cool, but not really what it could be. It's not technically wasted land, but there's a good number of people who only use the train to get to Soak City. I believe if that if the Old Western theming was spruced up a little bit, the whole experience could be so much better.

The old Six Flags saw it that way! Coasters! Now, it's a major profit center, what with $26 (and more) parking.

Perhaps the refuse receptacles dance while the rides and ground hogs hibernate?

^^ To be fair, if 2011 is any indication, they also use the building for storage. On closing day 2011, they'd already started to collect trash cans in the preshow room. So really, it's not that dormant at all.

More than 60 life sized dinosaurs occupy the space that should have been a X-Base Expansion. WASTED!

Ever been to Marineland? It is the only park that I can think of where the park map scale showing the distance between rides is spot on.

It's not that TTD's theming was not kept up, it literally had to be removed due to safety before it removed itself. But again, CP does not market itself as a theme park. A true comparison of seasonal theme parks would be BGW & the former PKI. Dislike? Detest? Tomato? Tomato? Gotcha.

Comparing the themed rides, and thus the theming failures, between the two parks is apples and oranges (i.e. DT vs. AE, TR:TR, SDatHC, IJ:ST, Action Theatre, BB etc.) KI marketed the park as a theme park ("Where the magic of the movies meet the thrills of a lifetime"), CP never has, to the point Mr. Kinzel was quoted on several occaisions that CP is not a theme park. AR was lacking on thrills, erecting the building was a lame attempt re-invent the ride. Mr. Kinzel has also been quoted on several occaisions that DT was one of his worst decisions. I understand you have a deep dislike for Mr. Kinzel, jumping on him for this one can be defined as grasping for straws as the head of any company is still human and does make mistakes. The theme here should be that the head of the company actually admitted a mistake.

Cedar Fair adopted new ticketing and mobile interfaces last season outsourcing much to Accesso Ticketing of Lake Mary Florida. Now Accesso has been purchase for $22+ million in stock and cash by British industry player Lo-Q. Most large amusement park operators now will find themselves dealing with a common supplier. For more details on the deal and product offerings please see: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-lake-mary-ticketing-firm-sold-20121206,0,7885126.story

Actually the people with working turntables is increasing, as records are making a small comeback. You may possibly be right, I know there is still that vinyl niche out there...but my theory is that the number of people over the age of 40 who decide on a daily basis that it is time to finally pack up their old turntable outweighs the younger generation who are out there buying them. (I see them at rummage sales and auctions fairly often.) They are actually correct on this point. To my knowledge there are only 3 remaining vinyl record press companies in the United States, all of which have seen increased sales over the last 5 to 7 years - if you can believe that. And at least one of those companies had plans to retire until this spike in new recordings emerged! An old but relevant article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1702369,00.html In any case, in regard to the Kings Island album make sure you also get volume 2 to complete the set http://www.ebay.com/itm/QUEEN-OF-KINGS-ISLAND-Volume-2-LP-Wurlitzer-Duplex-Orchestral-Organ-Style-157-NJ-/290807065763?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item43b573aca3&nma=true&si=OFDgtJ8XlAKNRFRYZ%2FL8v7oOWFE%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 ~Josh

I still maintain that is remarkable how much of Flight of Fear`s theming is still there. Yes, there have been some things that have come and gone with its theming over the years, but the ride will be 17 years old this upcoming season.

To answer your question for myself, the entire design of the water park,way to much walking involved.Poorly designed from the start. I like water parks that use the lazy river to deliver you to different slides and such.I find myself sitting at the new wavepool wanting to go ride some slides but really dont wanna walk a mile to do so.

So did Mr. Kinzel's company. See Disaster Transport.

Hint for those who don't know the answer to Terpy's question: Not well.

I realize the fate of the building isn't about to change, but I keep daydreaming of a renovation where the building is shrouded in evergreen trees. The theme would shift from Tomb Raider (which, really, was all The Crypt's "theme" was, anyway) to some sort of "spirit of the woods" theme (a la Verbolten, only less Germany and more Ohio.) The queue would be modified to resemble walking deeper and deeper into the woods, and the preshow chamber would instead have what appears to be a wolf statue atop some rockwork in the center of the room (with the rest of the room changed to a "heart of the forest" theme, with faux sunlight shining into the room before and after the preshow.) Via a projection system (much like the one used at the front gate at Haunt a season or two ago), the wolf statue would appear to come to life and tell some foreboding tale about how humans have been a curse on the forest and how the riders may leave in peace or else press on and face the consequences. Not that I've been thinking about it a whole lot or anything, but I bet the Hunger Games score would blend really well with the theme, too. I mean... not that I've thought about it much, but I think an edited form of James Newton Howard's "Healing Katniss" would make a neat queue theme. And they could maybe play "The Hunger Games" in the outdoor queue. And then they could... I dunno, use an edited form of "Rue's Farewell" for the preshow ambiance. And then I guess they could use "Katniss Afoot" for the loading music, and maybe they could use an edited "Muttations" for the ride, which would then contain an encounter with the "spirit of the forest" in the form of a giant wolf carving that comes to life and engages the riders in a battle of the elements. ...Not that I've thought about it or anything. (Old habits die hard, I guess.)

Highly unlikely. 130 days a year vs. 365. Highly variable weather in all but one park vs. glorious weather nearly every day. Deep pockets at Disney vs deep debt at Cedar Fair. And so it goes.

They most certainly played a major role in this and also footed the bill for a large portion of it. Recent WDW "refurbishments" have seen the projects value engineered to death (please see Space Mountain), however Test Track went the opposite direction. This was not a cheap re-do. Quite honestly, I was very surprised when I rode Test Track last night for the first time. I purposely avoided watching videos so I would be surprised and boy was I. Gone is the tacky and loud queue with the annoying sound track, crashing sounds, etc. It's now very sleek and modern, it's beautiful really. The design aspect was something that didn't appeal to me at first, but it is actually kinda cool and it is neat to see your design sync up to the ride itself as you experience the attraction. Also gone are the three pre-show rooms and the god awful bottle neck in the queue when they dumped out. Such an improvement. Instead the 3 design rooms are now at ground level and dump out onto the ramp that the former stand by line utilized as it lead up to the old pre-show loading. Fast Pass skips the design studios but has a small modified section near the end of its queue where people have a few minutes to design a car. Single Rider skips the design phase all together. As far as the ride itself, it is visually stunning now on the inside. In some places theme elements and screens extend from floor to ceiling. The way that it is lit and the placement of all the new elements give it a more intimate feeling on the inside, as opposed to the old Test Track where you could clearly see the wasted space left over in the building from World of Motion. The testing chambers, I'll admit, I missed what two of them even were. The former "cold room" is now the aerodynamics testing room. It utilizes the same mirror trick used in Radiator Springs Racers (which was an amazing attraction, btw) where you see an air current appear to flow over the shape of your car as it moves through the chamber. I think the biggest piece for me, as others have mentioned, is that this new theme better aligns with what EPCOT truly is. I couldn't be happier with how this project turned out and I'm happy to have Track open again...EPCOT has certainly been quiet the past 7 months with out it - Todd

At least it makes a great visual scale enhancer for Diamondback's first drop!

The park has said, again and again, that it will be used for a haunt for the foreseeable future.

Chrome or Firefox are almost always better options for browsing than Internet Explorer. I work in IT at my University and IE 6, 7, 8, and 9 are my worst enemies.

wow! check all this out! http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?f...le=kings+island