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I know...enough webcam pictures, but this one was a must-post.... Banshee...Sticking her way up through the fog!....

Thank you for posting that! The feels, man, the feels. I went to Kings Island for the first time in 1995, two years after the ride had opened. I didn't ride it, but most of the group I was with did. I have a very distinct memory of watching it from the overlook and seeing the fog pour out and the lights under the station. It looked amazing in the mind of a six year old who was absolutely in love with that movie. When I finally did ride it, sadly, a lot of that theming was gone/deteriorated. I still get nostalgic thinking about it though. The select songs form the movie soundtrack that would play in the line, the fighter squadron flags hanging up etc. SOME HISTORY: When you think about it, Paramount actually did a pretty good job theming that ride to the movie. Keep in mind, the ride had been ordered from Arrow under former management, was supposed to follow the area's "Adventure Village" theme ("Swoop" and "Thunder Road" are the intended names often mentioned). According to RCDB, Paramount had brought in John DeCuir, a famed Hollywood set designer who had worked on a lot of the sets for the film. However, I'm not sure if this is true since DeCuir died in 1991 and (I'm assuming) Paramount didn't begin plans to alter the ride's intended them until 1992 after DeCuir was passed. Nevertheless, they made the ride's queue and station feel like an aircraft carrier. I'm curious to know if/how had the ride been labeled as "Swoop" or "Thunder Road" would've utilized the under station queue if at all. From my understanding the ride's station design was completely altered by Paramount. Exline Design performed the design of the station for Paramount Parks and actually designed the queues for all three Top Gun attractions. Original concept art for Kings Island's "Top Gun" station: - Notice how much more it looks like an aircraft carrier than what was actually built? Exline actually spent three days aboard the USS America researching the carrier (The movie actually filmed aboard the USS Enterprise and USS Rangers, different classes of aircraft carriers). Exline also did a large format photo shoot during those three days which produced the photographs seen on the massive "billboards" in the ride's queue. A mural under construction: That above particular mural, I'm not sure which park that went to. I think it was the one that you saw when waiting at the loading gates looking across the station. You can see more of Exline's concept work here: http://exlinedesign.com/entertainment/portfolio/ride/topgun.htm At some point, when the ride became sponsored by "Gillette Mach 3," the murals were changed to this: - Photo from Don Flint's KIExtreme.com (another great Kings Island site that's worth a look!) The other mural not seen in that photograph depicted an F-4 Phantom fighter jet waiting on a carrier deck. The F-4 was no longer in service when Top Gun was filmed and is not the jet featured in the movie. Another mistake is that on the image above it shows to F-15 Eagles photoshopped in to a scene where they're flying over an aircraft carrier (again, it's the USS America, not the "Enterprise" from the film). The carrier shows F-14 Tomcats sitting on the deck. The F-15 Eagle was never used by the navy and never used in carrier service. Anyone remember the old spiel from the early 2000's of Jeff Seibert's voice saying: "Gillette Mach 3 Hopes You Enjoy you Ride on Top Gun!" That debuted the same year that the backs of the ride's cars had the Gillette logo painted on them. Somewhere around here I have old concept art from the ride that depicted a full scale F-14 jet that was to be placed atop the ride station. Clearly, that never made it to the actual ride, but it would've been visible from the tower and looked pretty cool. The F-14 was an amazing fighter jet, the backbone of the U.S. Navy for years. It's no longer in service. Back in 2011, when I worked for the park, my boss was really into sprucing up the theming along the ride. We used industrial tape to create the "fake" runway on the ride's brake run early one morning before the park opened. When trying to decide what number to put on the ground (aircraft carriers are marked with a two digit number on their flight decks), I suggested "93" for when the ride opened, we ended up going with "41," the last two digit's of the ride's phone number. SOME SPECULATION: I always loved the Top Gun theme and loved the movie. I miss hearing that awesome 80's soundtrack in the line. However, IF they are re-theming or changing anything I think "The Bat" would be a nice nod to KI history and to the fake website pulled earlier this year. They could turn the under queue into a "bat cave," but personally I think that they're just going to keep the line as is. There's an extra set of stairs that attaches the ride's exit down to the lower queue. In the past, this featured a handicap electric ramp where guests in a wheel chair could experience the queue then ride up to the accessible part of the station. I bet you that becomes a "Fast Lane" entrance. I.E. Fast Lane riders enter through the exit, then go down those stairs and join up with the regular queue.

Here it is in color, which makes the lights around the ride kinda look like fire:

today's update. Link to gallery

That was an awesome day at work and ended up being the only day I left early. After spray painting all morning, my finger got really sore and I couldn't move it. I was allowed to leave work, made a doctor's appoiintment for that evening and then came home and fell asleep. Never ended up going to the doctor and that finger never hurt again. We also did a lot of work fixing up the FOF queue that season. Ha. Sorry for the random side story. Also, here's that concept art I was talking about. This isn't the image I had, but a newspaper article featuring the same art. Shout out to TG93 for this one:

I remember standing in line for almost two hours the year Top Gun opened, my family and I spent a good amount of time standing in front of the 3D sign, and I thought it was the coolest thing since a pocket on a t-shirt. It's the only roller coaster I have ridden during its opening season (unfortunately) and it will forever hold a very special place in my heart. I really hope it gets spruced up, at least with a paint job but a re-theme (of all AZ really) would make me very happy.

Do what? You do realize the two coasters peacefully co-existed for quite some time, right? Terp, who likes to ask questions.

^^A lot?

Well the way its's looking, the last day is going to be cold, This weekend we are in for a chance of flurries. Yes the horrible 4 letter word that start with "S"! So unless we get a warm-up next week, I would suggest bundling up and enjoy the lite crowds. Nothing like riding DB when it 50-55 degrees out. I've done that. lol

^Thank you for taking the time to post all of that.

Extra-Short Part 4 :-) It was a great morning/early afternoon! +Vortex: 9 YTD: 83 Total: 218 +WindSeeker: 3 YTD: 33 Total: 51 +Monster: 1 YTD: 6 Total: 6 +Dodgem: 1 YTD: 4 Total: 4 Thanks for reading!

If Beastly Kingdom were announced, I think fans would've been in utter shock and euphoria. Up until the concept art was released last week, fans were practically begging Disney to cancel Avatar and bring back Beastly Kingdom. To be fair, the Avatar concept art has quelled many, many fears, but most still agree that it's not the best Disney could do, and that Avatar does not deserve a permanent land in a Disney Park, even with three sequels in the pipeline. For those who don't know, Beastly Kingdom was set to be Animal Kingdom's sixth land, with Camp Minnie-Mickey never being intended to stay more than a few years (hence why it contains nothing but one show). Beastly Kingdom would've been divided into a dark, fiery area of ancient ruins with a headlining Dragon's Tower inverted roller coaster, and a beautiful harmonious garden of hedge mazes, a "Quest for the Unicorn," and a boat ride through the scene from Fantasia with dancing hippos and alligators. That's why there's a dragon on the park's logo despite the lack of mythological creatures (until the Yeti). The most famous in-park reference to Beastly Kingdom was the now-defunct Discovery River Cruise that circled around the Tree of Life, previewing the attractions each land offered on its respective shore. Dinoland had an animatronic stegosaur and her pups drinking from the river; a lion and family in Africa; and in front of Camp Minnie-Mickey, a cave. When the boat passed the cave, you'd hear roaring and a blast of fire would shoot out, signaling that this land was reserved for dragons. Otherwise there's a dragon head over the park's entry gates, a "Unicorn" parking lot section, and the dragon in the logo. Quest for the Unicorn would be an interactive walk-through where you'd navigate a hedge maze intending to awaken five gold statues who would give you parts of a code to unlock the Unicorn's castle at the end of the maze. The story goes that as Disney began to cut back on the project that the Imagineers had worked so hard on (the real beginning of the major, major cost-cutting strategies across the parks that would last for a decade), they revolted and went a few miles north to Universal Orlando, who was building their Islands of Adventure park with a blank check. Islands of Adventure was supposedly designed almost entirely by former Imagineers, and Beastly Kingdom became that park's Lost Continent (specifically, Dueling Dragons and the surrounding Merlinwood area). But to answer the question, I think if Disney announced Beastly Kingdom, myself and most fans would be in a joyous uproar, booking plane tickets the second we were able. My naive belief would be that the general public would like the idea of it also, and that it would be very simple to market. As for Avatar, I now feel confident it'll be well carried out and beautiful, but I won't go out of my way to get back to Orlando to see it. I don't expect many people will, but we'll see. Next time I'm in the area (doubtlessly for Universal) I'll check it out, and I'm sure I'll be amazed by the scope, but otherwise it's not something I'd make a trip for. Maybe some Avatar fan club will?

How about "Diversions with Don" ?

I love so many of them, but nothing was as epic as Days of Thunder. Specifically because it was fairly new technology for theme parks (at least ones I had been too) and I remember after riding it I spent days telling friends and family about Days of Thunder and how awesome it was.

Photos Taken: 153 Part 1 We arrived at about 10:45-50. Once we had gone through the turnstiles and to the ERT entrance, we noticed some tents scattered around the park; I wonder if they had anything to do with the Blazin 5K that had just happened earlier. They even had a Bobblehead Days sign ready to go! (can’t wait for the 20th!) Once we passed through the ERT entrance, I headed straight to Coney Mall since it was already 10:52. We arrived at the rope drop with 4 minutes to spare. At 11:00, the rest of the park opened, and we were off. I decided to start the day at Vortex. I was on the first train of the day. Since I had let some people go ahead of me in the queue, the front-most rows were already taken, so I headed back to 7-1. As I boarded, one of the attendants closed bins 1 and 3 on both sets – which meant I was standing on Train #2! Turns out, this first ride of the day was also the first of 7 consecutive cycles I stayed on for. The order of the 7-ride marathon: 7-1, 7-1, 7-1, 5-1, 7-1, 2-2, 2-2. Between cycles, I grabbed a few more pics. After the 7th ride the line was too long to continue the marathon, so I crossed the midway and went to WindSeeker. I was assigned to Seat 31 for the first of 3 WindSeeker flights I would take. I don’t know the name of the soundtrack that played, but I later learned that it was the one that played on the cycle before the Superman Theme. I had a great (and chilly!) flight, 301 feet in the air. After arriving safely back on solid ground, I rode Vortex again. The line had grown, but not too much. The wait was only about 5-7 minutes at most. Part 2 in next post

If existential and beast forever were on Price is right, existential would've won both showcases.

Existential was closer and didn't go over.

Great eye, nice find!

Agreed. Also this post got me inspired to write a feature on Beastly Kingdom for the Theme Park Tourist website I write for. Check it out if you're interested in more!

I miss the soundtrack playing in the que and sttaion and the fog effect when you came back in from the ride. Im sure thre ride ops got sick of hearing 'Danger Zone' 500x a day! I think a refresh and rename as The Bat would be welcome! Now if only the park could address the filthiness of The Racer tunnel as you reenter the staton..heck, I'd donate the paint!

So even once the land opens in Florida, a question remains - what then? Disney paid [no doubt handsomely] to very purposefully secure the global, worldwide rights to incorporate Avatar into its theme parks. Perhaps they could've argued for the exclusive rights in Florida (as Universal had done with Marvel) or even the U.S., but they went the full distance and secured GLOBAL rights. We know Disneyland Paris won't add any major new attractions until at least 2020 as they try to balance the budget and recoup some money from the in-construction Ratatouille ride, so Avatar won't go there. Hong Kong Disneyland announced an elaborate expansion based on Marvel, which it seems would be the trend going forward for any resorts. If they even tried to bring this to the intensely-local, annual-passholder-driven Disneyland in California, they'd be tarred and feathered. No Avatar element has yet been revealed or hinted at for the under-construction Shanghai Disneyland. That just leaves Tokyo. Rumor has it that Disney is practically BEGGING the owner / operators of Tokyo Disney Resort to build something Avatar - specifically, a "Pandora" island at DisneySea park. They paid for these global rights only to have mediocre-at-best reception and practically zero press coverage, so now none of their own resorts want it, and at Tokyo, any financial pitfalls from the addition of a second Pandora (under James Cameron's infamously argumentative, aggressive, and bossy eye) falls on the Oriental Land Company and NOT the Walt Disney Company. Rumor has it that James Cameron is just about the worst person to work with - bossy, self-centered, and ego-maniacal. Those may be assets except that more than once, he's threatened to cut losses and abandon the project altogether in what insiders call insanely childlike tantrums, one after the other. Just to show they meant business, Disney actually brought in the owners of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies and gave them personal tours of Cars Land, supposedly just to send the message to Cameron that they, too, had other options. Their thinking now is that if they hand him over to the Oriental Land Company, he's out of their hair and they actually get to milk another property out of their deal with him.

Part 3 I wanted to ride WindSeeker and Vortex again, but I only had time for one. The next picture will tell you where I went first: While waiting in the 7 minute line, I went ahead and snapped away! At this point, my battery was too close to being fully depleted from taking so many pictures…good thing I had my mom’s camera with me as well! You know what happened…the snapping resumed less than a minute later! I was on Train #2 AGAIN! And it was fun; probably one of the best Vortex rides I ever had that day! It was AWESOME! I decided to buy the ride photo from that great experience. I was able to pay for photo #9701 (my photo) with my own money (first time I've ever done that!). I loved my picture, so it was pretty much worth it! The time had come for us to leave, as it was already 2. Now to wait until the 20th…. Part...4?!?!?! in next post

Part 2 Once again, I was on Train #2! I had a nice fun ride in 2-2 (how about that – 2-2 on #2!!) like always. Vortex is always fun for me, no matter where I sit. After hopping off Train #2 with a good-sized smile on my face, I headed back to WindSeeker since I had heard the Harry Potter Hedwigs Theme play on a cycle it had just finished. However, I was too late to catch the next cycle (which, like always, has “Romantic Flight” playing) so I headed to the Juke Box Diner and filled my souvenir cup with ice water. I waited another cycle before heading in line, hoping to catch the “See You Tomorrow” cycle, but since WS was still running at half-capacity (it was breezy) I was instead the first one onto the cycle after “See You Tomorrow,” which had “This Is Berk” playing. I was once again assigned to Seat 31, and I had a nice flight in the chilly breezes, 301 feet above Kings Island. ^If you look closely enough at this picture, you can see WindSeeker. Turns out, I also made it onto the next cycle. This one played “Flying,” one of my all time favorite soundtracks to hear while on WS. (I FINALLY found out what its name is on 9/22, thanks to a fellow rider who knew) I LOVED it like always, especially for my first time riding in Seat 1 on WindSeeker! I had my hands up while uptop; it was fun! During the walk to Monster, I got some pics of the view of Banshee from the Mall: After waiting only a few minutes (the cycle had just finished) I got to go into the ride area. I rode in Car 17. I really enjoyed the ride – I figured out how to use my weight to make the car spin a little more. Afterwards, I decided to ride Dodgem. My mom normally rides it too, but this time she wasn’t in the mood. During the one-cycle wait for Dodgem, I had fun seeing the looks on the guests’ faces as they were bumping each other. That is fun in itself! When I got on, I rode in Car 9, as I always do. Yes, I know that KI’s Dodgems aren’t the best bumper cars around, but they’re still fun!! Part 3 in next post

It was Dracula's Haunted Castle and it was so awful it should never be spoken of again.

uh oh.....someone left the Haunt fog juice running... great picture!!!

I wish that was high res.

One is currently already running the course. It definitely provides a much better experience and is much smoother. Not B&M smooth, but enjoyable. While a lot of enthusiasts find it mediocre, it consistently gets high guest satisfaction scores...so the GP eat it up. Being able to ride it at least once a week usually, I guess I've just grown to enjoy it for what it is and now I really do enjoy riding it. By the way, GYK, great song choice!

One can hope. While Walt certainly envisioned that things should be ever-changing, its sad that TDO has really lost sight of that for the better part of the last decade. It's no secret that both DHS and Animal Kingdom are at the bottom of the ladder as far as the Florida parks are concerned, with most guests spending half day or so at each and then venturing over for an additional visit to Epcot or Magic Kingdom. At the current pace, there is an incredibly high possibility that Universal Studios will surpass Animal Kingdom and DHS in attendance with the opening of Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley next year. These attractions are sorely needed at both parks. I'm certainly not that excited about Avatar. Although I'm sure, like New Fantasyland, it'll turn out to be beautiful...the attraction line up just seems blah. I have to believe there is something innovative behind the "Soarin 2.0" ride, but right now current chatter is no. I'll also be curious to see if Avatar makes the registers ring as much as Potter did for Universal. I don't think it will, but time will tell. I'm far more excited about the extended hours, night time safaris and night show...I think those alone will go along way with keeping guests in park longer. The smartest thing on the horizon is leveraging the Star Wars brand. THAT will be a home run, no doubt about it, and that will affect DHS much like Carsland did for DCA. So yes, potentially a lot of exciting things on the horizon....never fear we have 4-5 years to keep speculating and discussing before anything sees the light of day. Meanwhile, down on the farm, you'll have two completely refreshed parks at Universal to enjoy before any of the above projects open.

Saw this and had to share...

Days of Thunder . I even liked the cheesy intro with Kyle Petty that was shown on monitors before you entered the theater .

Here is Coasterbob's video with Red Track,

A...bat cave? Holy renovations, Batman!

Growing up Cincinnati was all about chili and sports. Since I have moved away from the area Cincinnati now is "ALMOST HOME!" Nothing like passing "Florence Ya'll" knowing that the awesome city skyline will fill your view coming through the cut in the hill. (When I lived in Colorado.. it was exciting to see the Cincinnati/Dayton signs).

Build a giant B&M wing rider stratacoaster that has multiple lifts, goes 100 mph, has 20 train operation, 2 stations, one at Cedar Point and one here at Kings Island and is like a fun light rail system!

What was going through my mind can't be posted but I just remained still until the creature left.luckily it headed towards what is now known as the Reds hall of fame and grill Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk now Free

One haunt night I was dumping rivertown trash into the Diamondback dumpster. As it was dumping I felt something on my shoe. I looked down and a skunk was on my foot. That was fun. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk now Free

We can debate the Avatar as a movie franchise and brand until we are blue in the face. Let us remember that when AK was originally build the original concept called for a phase 2 expansion that was to be a mythical land of dragons and unicorns. For still questionable reasons that never happened. Now Disney is finally doing the phase 2 expansion, yet it is branded, which is great marketing. Now if this new expansion would have been announced with concept artwork as some mythical non branded land, how would you feel? The concept artwork and descriptions that have been released and sound and look amazing. I look at this as a great expansion for the park that is much needed and that will change how folks visit AK

No one will argue that point. Universal will never beat Disney. What they can do, however, is keep people off Disney property for LONGER. With Comcast essentially giving the parks a blank check and openly discussing how much money they intend to invest in UOR, Disney will have a serious competitor at their door steps. Instead of a family spending a full 7 day vacation at Disney, they may only choose to spend 4 or 5...and spend their other 2 or 3 days down the road at Universal.

Yes, the Giant Wheel at Cedar Point is a Schwarzkopf. It dates to 1972 and is 134 feet tall.

Partial thanks to Universal , with there recent and future expansion , the Mouse has some competition ( although WDW will always be the main draw to central FL.)

So much beautiful landscape

Joe Rohde? He's one of the eccentric and creative types out there. He's "the face" of Disney's Animal Kingdom - an avid world traveler and artist first, and an Imagineer second, pulsing elements of his creativity and travel into the park. In other words, he's a free spirit. And yeah, those who initially supported Pandora did so almost entirely on the basis that the film is - unadjusted for inflation - the highest earning film ever. The simple rebuttal is that Avatar was the first modern, wide-release 3D movie to really rely on 3D to sell itself. So yes, lots of people saw the movie (and for the first time ever, MOST paid the extra $4 - 10 for the 3D version) and enjoyed the visuals, but it's not exactly gone down in time as a classic. The fun thing is to ask, "What was the main character's name?" Most don't know. So yes, it was a visual spectacle and an overnight sensation that captivated people into seeing it, but does it deserve a massive, permanent land in a Disney Park? The hope would be that the sequels (officially THREE right now) cause just as much stir and earn just as much... Hmm... But to be fair, Cars wasn't exactly Disney or Pixar's most well-loved film, but the opening of Cars Land certainly silenced the folks who had been appalled by the idea of it.

I'm from Indy so I'm surprised no one has said LaRosa's or Jungle Jim's. Two things I think of when I think of Cincy.

Being a pro football fan who learns not to get too excited when the home team is ahead by more than a touchdown, even during the final 2 minutes; Being a pro baseball, well, watcher who has felt the exhileration of watching the home team win the World Series more than once in his long lifetime; The number 4,192 - Don't care if Pete Rose is banned for life; that's a memory that I choose to cherish; Bob Shreve's Past Prime Playhouse, which remains in the hearts of many a Cincinnatian; The Garfield Suites Hotel, and its world-class amusement park creating general manager, Gary; and... Ah, the Name is Bootsy, Baby!

And sometimes, it's even right....

"I love it when a plan comes together."

Call it 5 @ 5. Kidding. Thank you Don for doing this. Excited to get some answers!

BeastForever, who cracks up whenever spelling errors turn into funny or ironic words...

The answer is in the TOS. And never, ever ask a philosopher like Terp an open ended question like "Why?" I'm told that was my first intelligent word on this orb. It might well also be my last. I could go on for pages with an answer to "Why?" Especially tonight.

In line for flight deck "Enjoy your ride on flight deck. The worlds tallest and longest, Flight Deck."