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I'm not sure if anyone's posted this pic yet or not I don't remember seeing it anywhere.

They told YoungStud it wasn't an Intamin Giga, and that was the outcome.

Send in the cranes! There ought to be cranes! And then it's next year!

I have always had a philosphy in life that applies to many things... including coasters. The more you push someone forward... the more they pull back. I think suggestions such as "make them ride Diamondback first" are ridiculous. I say let the person you are going with call the shots. Work from smaller to larger. As you come up to rides, be honest with them about how intense it is, and if they don't want to ride... don't keep pushing. Move on and make it THEIR day, not your's. When I was a ride op (back in the day) I would occasionally come across parents "forcing" their kids on the ride. I'd often step in, whisper to the parent "If you want them to enjoy coasters with you in the future, don't force them on this one, let them decide on their own terms." I'd then hold the child in the corrall, while the parent rode. As the parent rode, I'd talk honestly to the kid about the ride. Sometimes they rode after I talked to them, other times they still were adverse. Bottom line, it ultimately didn't ruin their, or their parent's day. I was lucky that I had a Dad that didn't push me. He let me grow into rides. Eventually, he became one of my best riding partners. I've always kept that in mind when visiting parks with less experienced, coaster-intimidated friends.

Take him straight to Diamondback's exit, stand there and watch the smiles coming off the ride, nobody crying or screaming, everybody is happy they rode it. Then get him on the ride ASAP. The rest will be history. I don't believe in the starting small ride talk, just get right at it and then everything else will be cupcakes.

Mass Effect 3...the Banshees from that game (if you haven't played, try fighting them on insanity mode, it's a fail, and they suck, and actually kinda spook you (had one in my sniper scope and it teleported right in front of me and impaled me, that sucked, and scared the heck out of me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ6ab5X7nnY

Reading some of these ideas just downright kill me. Some have no consideration for budget and others go many years in a row with nothing but maintenance, which, I'm pretty sure results in attendance drops. I never knew "enthusiasts" could have such horrid plans. Also, most give nothing to the water park until 2019! 15 years after the last new slide! I'm hoping 2015's addition is some new slides. We are well overdue for some.

Seems like a good thread for my first post. 2015: Complete re-theme/rename of Action Zone to match Banshee, and re-theme/repaint/rename of all rides there besides Banshee, obviously. 2016: A new flat ride or two. New coat of paint on Vortex and racer (returning racer to it's original color scheme). If the budget allows it, tearing up more blacktop to be replaced with more of those nice brick pavers in coney mall. 2017: General park improvements. Lot's of new paint all around (anywhere it could be used), and even more blacktop replacement with those brick pavers (what can I say, they look nice, and much better than blacktop). If budget allows, a revamp of the fountains to include a nice night show to tie in with the nightly fireworks. 2018: More general park improvement, possibly another flat ride added. Maybe modify Drop Tower to have seats that fold so you face the ground like on BGT's new Falcon Fury. 2019 coaster construction begins behind Banshee, building hype for it like Banshee. 2019: New Intamin Giga behind Banshee, utilizing SOB's station. If not an Intamin Giga, maybe a huge Mack Launcher, like Blue Fire. 2020: General Park Improvements, and step back to look at all of the addtions/revamps of the park and decide on future park additions/investments. Not saying the park looks bad, it looks great, but new paint never hurts to brighten things up haha.

If I owned Kings Island, I'd sell the park immediately and use the proceeds to retire. ...what? Can't blame me for thinking outside the box.

Ride with his gf and flirt with her in front of him. He will start riding with her then.

Ok, I'll bite. It's good that we aren't in charge of the park's 5-year plan. 2014: With the addition of Banshee, rename and refresh Action Zone. Rename Drop Tower and Flight Deck with more marketable names. 2015: Get rid of franchised food in the Festhaus; revamp all menus. Add a high-capacity, signature attraction to the waterpark. (Modern slide complex or water coaster) 2016: Add a second full-service restaurant. Introduce 3 classic flat rides. Completely re-theme the dark ride. (After 13 years, it's overdue.) 2017: Add a music/light show involving the Royal Fountains at 9:30pm, preceding fireworks. Cosmetic improvements to IS, fountains and Coney Mall. Introduce a large, thrilling flat ride. (Top Spin?) 2018: Replace 2-3 rides in the kids' area with new ones offering better capacity. Add a heavily-themed log flume to Rivertown. Cosmetic improvements in Rivertown. 2019: Add another large, thrilling roller coaster with a unique experience and excellent placement. (Let someone else figure out the manufacturer and model. But not YoungStud.) 2020: Move Backlot to a smaller park, replacing it with 1-3 family flat rides and an indoor/outdoor dining area near the tower. 2021: Install a heavily-themed, family-friendly roller coaster or dark ride to compliment Adventure Express and replace Backlot. Start work on cosmetic improvements for next season. 2022: For the anniversary season, add nothing new but make major refurbishments throughout the park. Paint jobs on major rides should be finished by this season. 2023: Either Invertigo or Firehawk should be near the end of its functional life by now, so remove it. Install another large, thrilling coaster to complement the park's lineup. (If 2019's was not made out of wood, this one should be.) By the way, everyone tearing down Vortex and/or Flight Deck should prepare for the combined verbal wrath of thedevariouseffect and homestar92 at the next KIC meet-up.

Resurrection? Redemption? AND Banshee? I can just imagine the protests and the church group cancellations.

I'm going to guess that the name will be the Double D Express....

Don't start on a coaster. Start on Drop Tower, and tell him, "If you can get up here and free-fall, everything else will be cake." Go big or go home!

You pick up paper and trash in parks, even though that hasn't been your job in more than 35 years.

During the last conference call, Mr. Ouimet noted in passing that season pass attendance is now 40 percent of attendance. That's one thing Cedar Fair learned from Paramount Parks. The first year under Cedar Fair, they greatly de-emphasized season pass sales. Kinzel even called what he called seasons pass holders "freeloaders." Attendance suffered, revenue suffered, profits suffered. They quickly dropped Mr. Kinzel's mantra of pricing integrity and brought back the pass perks Dick Kinzel had so cavalierly dismissed (just as he dismissed food quality and pricing--"People gotta eat." They are still trying to regain the food sales lost to the parking lot and surrounding restaurants.

Not only would you fail to add anything to the waterpark for ten years, but you'd shrink it? Coming from you, I'm shocked!

I know there are other topics like this, but I don't think I've participated in one in several years. Actually, if I remember right, I really haven't done one since shortly after I joined (September 2008). So... why not? (I'm not going to add Halloween Haunt additions to this since I really don't know how much it costs the park to add new haunts.) 2015: No new rides. Use provided capital to further update fountains into a nighttime light show to compliment the fireworks. Show starts at 9:30, and the music increases in pacing, energy, and excitement until the fireworks, which have a custom orchestral score written specifically for the park that the fireworks are timed with. Keeping with the "best day of the year" theme of current management, special guests are picked from the crowd to "start" the fireworks. As the score starts a few minutes prior to the fireworks, the guests are introduced to the crowd, with the score hushed and feeling like it's barely holding back from something far bigger and celebratory. After the guests are introduced, the music builds, then pauses--and with the staff member's cue, a button is pressed to start the show. The music bursts into this grand overture that's both exciting and elegant at once. Immediately following the fireworks, the staff member wishes the crowd an iconic goodbye that KI could be known for (see Kennywood's creepy "good night" song, and the "good night Mom, good night Will" speech from pre-Dan-and-Lori Holiday World). The rest of the evening on International Street would feature an impressive light show that incorporates both the fountains and the lights lining the International Street buildings. (The IS shop lights would need updated from their current configuration.) The evening's festivities would be marketed as the whole-family equivalent of Six Flags' igNite or CP's Luminosity--though not in those words, of course. All rides receive retracking and maintenance in accordance with past precedent. 2016: Rebuild TR:TR. Remove the fast pitch game and ICEE stand adjacent to the Flight Commander queue in Coney Mall. Install a Cedar Point Giant Wheel-size Ferris wheel (Zamperla Giant Wheel?) parallel to Racer in that spot. Alternatively, build a Deno's Wonder Wheel/California Adventure-style Ferris wheel to a similar scale as Giant Wheel. It's got a view not unlike WindSeeker, but it's more family friendly. The Wonder Wheel/CA-style wheel would have the added marketable thrill aspect of the moving seats. This is assuming that either of those models have decent people capacity, which is something I'm not totally sure of. Planet Snoopy would receive a daily mid-afternoon parade show not unlike the 2005 Nickelodeon Parade (except with Peanuts characters, of course.) It would run from July 4th weekend through Labor Day. Very high-energy with recognizable, popular songs for kids and families to enjoy. I won't say how long the parade would be, because I don't know how much it costs to retrack portions of Beast/Racer in the off-season, and I don't want to neglect them for the sake of other attractions. New song list for nighttime fireworks/fountains show. Keep the custom music, of course. That stuff's probably not cheap. 2017: Replace some of the relatively higher-force portions of The Beast with Rocky Mountain Construction's Topper Track and observe maintenance cost effect, if applicable. Add a Chance Rides Aviator or Larson Flying Scooters to Planet Snoopy, to be tied into the adventures of the Red Baron. Replace airbrush shop in Oktoberfest with Chance Rides Wipeout named Der Spinnin Kegger (with appropriate theming to match, and set back a bit farther into the foliage so it doesn't stick out into the midway as much as the airbrush shop, if possible.) New song list for nighttime fireworks/fountains show. Keep the custom music! 2018: If the Topper Track proves economically promising without harming the ride experience, add more of it to The Beast and purchase new three-bench PTC trains that articulate. Remove the trim brakes (except where the structure actually requires the train be slower, if necessary.) Reprofile the second drop and turn before the second lift so that they are comfortable at the higher speeds.* Modify the banking of the second helix as closely as possible to the original 1979 configuration to re-introduce stronger laterals (as long as the structure is capable of bearing them.) The idea is to reinvent the ride without drastically changing it from what people know and love--think of the Voyage rebuild in 2012. Market the ride as The Beast being "angered" or "unleashed"... Something to indicate that there is a new reason to ride, but not indicating that the ride itself has been changed. Beast has earned its status as the ride at Kings Island, and I'd imagine it wouldn't go over well if it got a drastic remodeling. * I say this because, as I understand it, those who rode The Beast before it had trims said that the ride was not comfortable. I'm merely speculating that these would be the most uncomfortable points during the ride at higher speeds. The new articulating trains would be able to accommodate the required banking transitions that extending the second drop pullout would require. If the Topper Track didn't prove itself last year, return wooden track to the ride. If I weren't so tired and hadn't accidentally spent the last hour and a half typing this post, I'd plan out some kind of new, major attraction along the lines of Cedar Fair's recent additions. As it stands, you can use your imagination. Beyond 2018: I'd observe the finance- and public relations-related effects of the past four years and adjust my strategy from there. Edited after likes by The Interpreter, Thrill_Biscuit, Fire-Beast-OF FEAR, zombieninja, VortexBFForever, Diamondback96, BlondyRidesOn, Jr for Birdy, Sonofbeast2.0, and rcwizard13 to correct grammar and to remove a couple iterations of "of course". I really shouldn't post while drowsy, people.

The dentist tilts your chair back and you think you're on Firehawk.

Back in 2010 or 2011, I went to the park by myself on a weeknight. Unaware of the fireworks policy, I got in line for a night ride on The Beast. I didn't make it onto the ride before the temporary shutdown. Once that was announced, I decided I would bide my time and try to get on the last train. It was then announced that the delay would be extended. After which, the miked ride op and an area supervisor began a game of KI trivia with the crowd that stuck around. Because of my naturally quiet voice, I gave the kids around me the answers rather than try to yell them out myself. Eventually it was announced that The Beast would not reopen that night, but Diamondback would remain open for those of us who had stayed in line throughout the delay. While everyone else fled the station to get to DB ASAP, I calmly meandered my way down the Fast Lane stairwell and out the exit path, stopping to let the guy at the photo booth know that his ride would not reopen. I was still intent on riding the last train of the night on something. In the Diamondback station, I let anyone who got behind me in line for the back row cut ahead of me until it was announced that there would only be 2 more trains. At which point, I was exactly 2 trains away from riding. But then a couple got behind me, assuming that I was the person ahead of me's riding buddy. Wanting to be a good fellow park guest, and only caring about getting on the last train, I gave up my spot and moved a row up. I got to talk with them for a little bit while we waited, boarded and ascended 230 ft into the air and found out they were ACE members from out-of-town. I got to help improve the experience for some fellow enthusiasts while having a memorable experience myself. This is possibly my favorite KI memory, even though my original plan fell through.

Announcement? I wonder what her send? (Sorry) Uh, the Dollywood Company? Who would? Dolly would! Terp...it's nearly bedtime for Bonzo!

^Reported.

Thank you, Terpy, for bringing a sense of nostalgia back to the site!

My brother use to be afraid of anything that took him off of the ground.. And I mean everything... He wanted to like them since I go a lot and his girlfriend loves coasters. So we went on an empty Tuesday cause we planned a double date the following Saturday. I didn't want to rush him on anything, so I asked him what he wanted to try first. He said we should try the water park. Despite his fear of off ground things, he loves waterslides. So we spent 2 hours there, I figured it was a good warm-up so why not? We went back to the dry side and walked around for a few. He finally looked over, pointed to it, and said "That..." "Vortex?!" I basically screamed. I gave him the chance in hopes this wouldn't ruin it since it was my first rolly coaster as well... It was a walk on, we sat in our seats, the ride ops checked and cleared us. All I remember on that ride was looking over and him smiling. Now he loves coasters. Vortex should be #1!

There isn't enough aspirin in the world.

Take it from someone who used to be terrified of coasters and now loves them. Have his girlfriend go with. For me, at least, the need to look Macho overpowered the phobia, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Oceans of Fun just went the other way. Reason? To increase revenue. Two parks for one low price brings in more revenue in non-resort areas, especially when nearby waterparks compete. Mr. Ouimet discussed this during the last conference call.

If that was the case, I think we'd be saying "bye bye" to the park all together.

Haha thanks man. Long time reader. I was told I should sign up on Thursday when I was at the park with Diamondbacker for the announcement when we met up with some KICers. Nice people haha.

Welcome to KIC!

If you've ever tried to do impressions of classic ride voice recordings, you might be a Kings Island addict. Don't even try to tell me you haven't tried "now youuu will paaaay".

Some of us here have ridden almost all the rides at the park without seat belts at some point, ah yes those were the days.

If you read this topic backwards and suddenly take notice your reading comments from 2005, you might be an addict.

So in other words, you would do the same thing The Crypt would do!

I don't know how many can relate to this, but you drive a truck ball joint out with one blow and think the bell should have rung.

Talked to Don yesterday and he said Adventure Express isn't going anywhere. He just said the trees covered most of the ride up in the video or something... But the ride is staying. Didn't ask about Sling Shot.

I'd be perfectly happy with a brand new water coaster in Soak City in a few years.

The only thing Holiday World may be announcing is who has control of it.

Season passes.....

Great Pumpkin Coaster, first ride with both my daughters. 2 year old next to me and 4 year old sitting behind us. I can see the picture I bought from where I sit, my 2 year old is gripping tight smiling while the 4 year old has her hands in the air laughing. My favorite KI memory to date.

If you arrive at the park at 6:30 A.M. to get a good parking spot.

I would call up Cedar Fair and sell it to them immediately. That way, I know it would be in good hands, and I'm sure I could work a deal to maintain a small portion of ownership. I trust them

^^ It is utterly unreasonable to expect Cedar Fair to invest that much capex in KI. Lord Skippy: Dick Kinzel tried. He didn't get by with it. Thanks to Mr. Raynor, Q and the Knott family.

I have been following the decoding thread for quite some time now this is my first time posting. I will admit I am not a huge fan of inverts. And while I am somewhat disappointed we are not getting a giga or a blitz coaster, I am still very much excited of this ride. Can't wait to see this thing start going vertical.

^Or a bowl of spaghetti?

If you see a ball of string and you think of Flight of Fear.

If you are in Mason for your wife's birthday dinner and all you can think about is how close you are to KI. Me right now :/

I want flight deck to be flight deck. It's grey lack of theming, bland self just points to one thing that I always think about arrows. They may not he flashy to the general public or most enthusiasts..but they do deliver in terms or ride experiencence and that's all that matters. To bring a new name and theming for a ride just to compliment another ride is just lame and kinda distracting to do just to help another ride. Iron dragon didn't get changed to something else because top thrill dragster opened next door, and corkscrew didn't change for that matter either. Each ride has their own personality. Keep it as such, and enjoy each rides individuality.

My dad was lucky and was hit in the head with the shirts they were throwing out. It literally fell right into his arms, lol.

No, it's a GREEN Intamin giga.