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After the '37 Flood:

When you find yourself reading the back of your season pass....

It's not like the current 1 and 2 are full of laterals, hills and curves...

You guys, look what was on the Flight Deck page! (disclaimer: it should be obvious, but this is a joke.)

In Ed Hart's defense (please don't faint), parking is totally out of his control. The Fair Board, and the Fair Board alone, controls the parking situation.

D Confessions 2 reminded me of a true story... I took my nieces to Disneyworld in 1998. We decided to take a bus from MGM to the Contemporary Resort and to take a short ride on the monorail....from the Contemporary Resort to the Magic Kingdom....well, (for those not familiar, we unfortunately were not and found out the hard way.....) the monorail leaves the Contemporary Resort and goes the opposite way. LOL We took the journey to from the Contemporary Resort to Ticketing and Transportation to the Polynesian Resort to the Grand Floridian to the Magic Kingdom...each time the door opened we heard..." Please stand clear of the doors...por favor, manténgase alejado de la puerta" We heard this at least 5 times on our journey. After we departed the monorail and we were skipping down the ramp to the Magic Kingdom...my 7 year old niece blurted out at the top of her voice...." Please stand clear of the doors...por favor, manténgase alejado de la puerta" Who needs Rosetta Stone when they have Disneyworld....LMAO!!!

I'll have a lot of fun saying that one! DB96, running for the exi- Hey! There's a gift shop here!

... when the construction thread just can't seem to get off the topic of toilets.

Flight Deck is no joke. Have you gone batty?

...when you pretend your swiveling, rolling, and height adjustable desk chair is a roller coaster car and you pretend to be on a ride.

It is. I'm wishing it would come back, even though I know it will not.

Some places have donkeys. Some places have serendipitous linguistic romps, discussions about marching bands, growing up, cookies, commas, trains, cranes, towers, medicine, CEO sons, Boomerang Bay, arks, Ed Hart, clubs and stores and so much more. Oh, yeah...world's tallest coaster. Florida. I'd still rather go to Disneyland and Magic Mountain. And, with a recent purported policy change, I'm even knott interested.

Uh, no. Pinnacle owns the casino and River Downs--the horse track. Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra owns Riverbend--the concert venue. The two places shark6495 was referring to are the casino in Indiana and the casino/race track beside Coney Island of Ohio. Riverbend is not River Downs.

Having bought merchandise from Cedar Fair parks during the off-season, I can vouch that they arrive in the off-season. There are warehouse employees who assist in shipping orders made online. If they couldn't ship orders, why would they post? Also, I assume that at most it'd take 2 weeks to receive orders...not for sure though. I'm honestly wondering if there will be a "black friday" or "cyber monday" sale.

I actually find this really stupid. I won't even consider it a coaster. It's just a big spiral. I'm disappointed that this will be the new tallest...

Premature now this WHAT? Earlier in this thread Don (and others before that) debunked our once new (and probably never to be heard from again) poster. It was faked. Fear Zone? Nope.

Pilgrim's Plunge is also not located in Ohio.

I'm just happy the water park comes free with admission. It spreads out the crowds, shortening the coaster lines on a hot summers day.

When even the idea of riding Woodstock Express excites you.

I prefer to think of it as a coaster around a pole...

Exactly what Interpreter said. Riverdowns (the racecino) is owned by Pinnacle Entertainment, which also owns Belterra Casino in Indiana, and that is the reason why they chose to rename Riverdowns to Belterra Park. Riverbend Music Center, as the Interpreter mentioned is owned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. They operate it through a wholly owned subsidiary, Music and Event Managment, Inc. (MEMI). Coney Island is owned by members of the Walker family. Ronald Walker purchased the park in 1991. Although he died unexpectedly in 1997, his wife and son continues to own the park to this day. The president and general manager for Coney has been working in that role at Coney since 1984, so they have a very steady management team in place. I doubt Pinnacle is interested in owning Riverbend or Coney. They have said that in the future they may add a hotel to their property, based on how well the Belterra Park property does. It will be interesting to see if that happens. I would have to imagine that a hotel could prove to be beneficial to Coney as well, as currently there are no hotels in close proximity to Coney.

Is "polar" the new term coined to classify a complete-circuit roller coaster between 500 and 599 feet? (Hyper<Giga<Strata<Polar?)

I'm still waiting for this to happen.

...except for when it does.

Just like what happened with the Creation Museum "Nah, it won't work out, it's too biblical and boring." Have you even seen the Creation Museum? That place rakes in the money from guests and STILL has free days. To be honest, it bypasses the Art Museum, even the Union Terminal! If anything, this place will exceed the Museum! It has the support of Christians (most), which if I do remember is a good chunk of the USA, and isn't there a Bible belt somewhere 'round there? BB1, a devout Christian, who will frequent the park, besides, it is (one of)my favorite time periods in HIStory!

.....High Roller.....

Here we go again - just watch.....there will be coasters popping up that will be out-doing each other by 10 foot increments (height or length) and by 1 or 2 mph just to claim the record for a short period of time. Maybe now we'll see some green Intamin track?

OK, you guys have me actually laughing out loud! My cubicle mates think I'm crazy! As far as the trailer tower goes, that was a structure that existed during the construction of Diamondback. Many KICers lived there during the off-season, watching the new, glorious B&M take shape. It eventually gained sponsorship from a yellow Coca-Cola competitor, and some would argue that this sponsorship is what led to the trailer tower's ultimate demise. I did not live in the trailer tower, but instead had a boat docked on the Little Miami River directly behind the park. Here is a picture of said boat: This is not the famed S.S. Gator, but was instead called the S.S. Governor due to a mix-up with the painters. It was a nice place for those who did live in the trailer tower the chance to get away for some R&R, as people needed to get away from the cramped quarters of the tower from time to time. Eventually, all traces to the trailer tower disappeared from both the park and this site, but every once in a while the legend rears its head. (And yes, the trailer tower was a fictional community. However, to the casual reader, it did take on the appearance that we actually lived in the park during the off-season, which is more than likely what really killed the thread. It was fun while it lasted.) And now children, gather round as we once again relive the tale that is The Sinking of the S.S. Gator.* Once upon a time, in a winter wonderland not so far away... http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/15880-holiday-fest-at-the-beach-tr-122708/?p=261306 *movie rights pending

...if you call adding one new attraction, tweaking the lazy river, and slapping some new paint on here and there redoing the whole water park.

Judging from the animation these things looks very dull in terms of thrill.

If it sways at the top and it has a restaurant it could be interesting.

KIC's donkeys are FAR more superior, for my battle donkeys are supreme! BB1, going to the donkey convergence soon.

Didn't even see it. Nice call out. I actually had to look more than once.

Indeed you do misspell everything. (Don't worry, it's one of the 100 most commonly misspelled words! )

Toboggan: You forgot the part about hitting your head on the very low roof and the close quarters for those with claustrophobia. Chance ride. The vertical lift was interesting, too. Not necessarily in a good way.

Pardon me, but I'm still far more excited about Banshee and a little drop ride going in at New Jersey's Finest Theme Park.

Holidays? So, I can buy someone a Banshee shirt for Thanksgiving , and a Banshee cup for Christmas? BB1, who will only buy his gift for the reason for the season, CHRISTmas.

I do like that story. Makes me laugh every time.I also find it really funny that the posting of The Sinking of the S.S. Gator is becoming an annual holiday tradition around here. Like, normal forum communities probably just post wishes of safe travels for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We do that, and then it's like "Gather around, children, for it is time to tell that timeless tale of December past when Gator took a swim in The Beach's lazy river."

When you are still awake at 5 A.M. watching videos from IAAPA.

When you see a silver comb on the ground and look for long grey hair stuck on it.

First impressions make a big difference to first time visitors, and can often influence repeat visits.

When you gotta go, you gotta go?! Rule #1 - don't stand under him Rule # 2 - in the event you stand underneath him, don't look up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I remember hearing about a stunt that Wildman Walker did about the Bengals. He vowed to stay on a billboard until the Bengals won a game. The Bengals went 0-8, and he was getting a bunch of free food and publicity for WEBN. He came down the same day that the Bengals won their first game.

^They might have been using that profit for other projects, such as Banshee. Would you rather have a better parking lot or Banshee?

Have you looked at the site lately? It received a much-needed update early this year... Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 4

If I get in line now...would KI let me...let it go viral...get the publicity...let me have a tent...and a heater. And almost importantly?...let me go first.? But I got to work. Which is important I guess. So they would have to pay me my wages... Alright Don... you twisted my arm. I'm in.

The potential meetups threads are non existent... And trip reports are scarce

...and you are just happy to be near the park.

I'd move Backlot Stunt Coaster to a smaller park. It has a low capacity, the launch into the helix is too intense for a "family" coaster, and it's an eyesore compared to what it replaced. You'd remove the second biggest people eater after Banshee? You must like long lines at Beast and Vortex. Besides, there's more that can make a ride entertaining than just forcefulness. Even if you personally can't enjoy the coaster, perhaps you could catch up on your reading? Have you handed in your Kings Island fan card yet?

Last month I made the comment: After this past Saturday, I more than stand by the bolded statement... and regret the last sentence in that post. We used to be Beach season pass holders for 2 or 3 years, in the early 2000's before our daughter GatorGirl was born. We always enjoyed it and never had a problem. We even liked their winter event, which was on a much smaller scale than KI's Winterfest and Cincinnati Zoo's Festival of Lights. The weather that day was great; the high had been close to 70°. We left our house around 5:00, and it only takes 10-15 minutes to get to The Beach. In those 10-15 minutes, GatorGirl fell asleep, so we sat in our car in The Beach's parking lot until 5:45 so she could get a good little nap in. We head to the gate and buy 2 adult admissions (kids 48" and under are free) and 1 pony/carriage ride combo ticket. We couldn't buy the carriage ride only tickets at the gate, only the combos, which was a minor inconvenience. But I was understanding because, believe me, I know all about ticketing issues. We first go to The Pearl area, which has been made into Santa's Village (or Santa's Vilage, with one L, as the map on their website calls it). We see the deer they have up there, and then head down towards the main part of the park. Along the way, GatorGirl hugs a reindeer character that's walking around. Mrs. Gator sees that they've converted their lazy river into a pedal boat course, and she wants to do them, so we get in line. They have several different pedal boats: 4 seaters, 2 seaters, and a 2 seater with a small seat in the middle which looks like it's for a small child. We get one of the latter boats. The foot well of the closest seat has some water in it, and Mrs. Gator makes the comment "I didn't even think about possibly getting wet on this ride". I let her get into the farther seat with less water in its foot well. About halfway through we stop pedaling to take a break. At this time, I hear something that sounds like water trickling on my side of the boat. We start pedaling again, and I notice my shoes and bottom of my jeans getting wet. I look down and there's more water in my foot well than there was when we began. We both stop pedaling, and at this time Mrs. Gator and I hear the sound of water trickling on her side of the boat. She sees water coming into her foot well from around where the pedals come into the boat. Mrs. Gator proceeds to pedal as fast as she can on her own, since my pedals are completely underwater when they’re at the bottom of their cycle. That's when I notice just a little bit of water coming over the boat's front edge the faster we go. I try putting as much of my weight towards the back of the boat while Mrs. Gator stops pedaling and uses her hand to pull us along the wall of the lazy river course. This is good for about 30 seconds, until water starts pouring over the front of the boat and then the nose goes under. Now, I'm usually very careful about what I say in front of GatorGirl, but at this time my mind let that go out the window. As our boat starts to sink, I yell "OH SH!%!", which gets the attention of some teens nearby on dry land who rush over to the edge of the lazy river. I jump off the boat into the water and turn to take GatorGirl out of Mrs. Gator's arms. I didn't realize at the time, but Mrs. Gator was using the boat to step on while she tried to pull herself onto the high wall along the side of the course. The teens say to me "Don't worry about the boat", but I have one thing on my mind: getting back to the dock and showing the associates exactly what happened. So with GatorGirl in my right arm and pulling the still submerged boat with my left, I wade back to the dock in the cold water where the associates are standing with shocked expressions on their faces. A female associate is standing at the dock holding a boat that people had just gotten out of. My mind's profanity filter is still not back in place, as I push that boat away and say "Get that f#%@ing boat out of my way!" I put GatorGirl on the dock and pull myself out of the water. The female associate asks "Do you want me to get my supervisor?" and I reply "D@#m right I do!" She leaves, and I stand there in my wet jeans with a whole queue line of people looking at me. I see one mother who says to her daughters, “We’re going to skip this one” and promptly leave the line. After a few minutes the associate returns, with no supervisor. Across the lazy river is a bearded man pulling our boat out of the water to dump it out. Another guest asks me, “Are you going to talk to one of them?” I tell him that the girl was supposed to get her supervisor for me. She turns around and tells me that her supervisor is across the way. I say “Tell him to wade across. I did.” Mrs. Gator decides to let GatorGirl get her pony ride in while I deal with park management. About that time, a blonde guy wearing a Beach sweatshirt approaches me, sticks out his hand to shake mine, and says something like he understands that my boat sank. I refuse to shake his hand (I’m still LIVID at this point) and I ask “Are you a supervisor?” He tells me no, and I say “Then I’m not talking to you. I’m only going to speak with a supervisor”. He then says “I can act on behalf of a supervisor”, to which I reply “You just told me you’re not a supervisor, so I’m not talking to you”. He asks me to come with him, and he takes me to their Festhaus (a tent that has been set up next to the wavepool, in which they sell food and drinks). Along the way, he asks “Do you mind telling me what happened?” I stay silent, and I notice a little attitude in his voice when he next says “You’re not even going to talk to me?” I say, “I’m only going to talk to a supervisor, and the less I have to repeat myself the better.” We get to the Festhaus, and the associate talks to the girl on register, who’s name is Bethany. She swaps places with him and comes up to me. I ask if she’s a supervisor, she says yes, so I tell her everything that happened. As I was finishing, another male associate approaches me and asks, “Are you the one who’s boat sank?” I say “What gave that away?” and I am able to crack a little smile, but at the same time I also refuse to shake his hand because of my state of mind. He takes me to Guest Relations, and along the way he promises to make everything right for me, saying that he suspects I want a refund (darn right), and offering tickets to come back another time (I’ll have to think about that). When we get to GR, I write my statement of what happened. While I’m writing, Mrs. Gator calls my cell, which fortunately escaped any damage even though it was in my jeans pocket. She had to use a stranger’s cell since she didn’t have hers, and she meets me up at GR. The associate asks me if I mind telling him what happened, or if he should read my statement. I tell him the whole story, and I conclude by saying that I know I’m a bigger guy, so if there’s a weight limit I would have no problem abiding by it. And he says “But they put you in the boat and you should have been fine,” and I say “Exactly. If there’s a weight limit, you should post it”. But then again, I did see people my size who had no problems with the boats while I was standing in line, so I don’t think it was a weight thing. We got tickets to come back next summer (I think I’m done with their winter festivities for quite a while), and a refund will be sent to me for what we paid that night once my written statement goes through the General Manager and the Accounting Department. Mrs. Gator decided to take GatorGirl back into the park so the night wasn’t a total waste (and so GatorGirl doesn’t throw a fit by leaving so soon after we got there). Mrs. Gator’s pants were of a lighter material than my denim jeans, so it was a little more tolerable for her. She asks if I want to go back in, but I tell her that with the mood I’m in, I don’t want to be in the park, she wouldn’t want me in the park, and the park wouldn’t want me in the park. So we agree that she’ll call me when they’re done. I go out to the car, take off my shoes, socks and jeans (it’s now about 6:45, an hour after we entered the park), and sit there for about 15 minutes. I decide to drive out to Burger King to get some dinner, and when I get to the toll plaza I ask the guy working there “There’s no re-entry into the parking lot is there?” and he tells me I can get a parking re-entry pass at season pass processing. Forget that… I go to BK, get some food, and park at Bob Evans, in the back where the busses park. And this whole time, remember, I’m sitting there in my boxers, barefoot, and hoping no one reports a suspicious vehicle to the police, who would arrest me for indecent exposure. About this time my mom calls, I tell her the whole thing, and she busts out laughing. I’m calmed down by this point, and I’m able to laugh a little too. It isn’t until about 8:30 that Mrs. Gator calls me from GR, and I pick her and GatorGirl up at the passenger pickup area. Mrs. Gator then tells me about the rest of their night. When she had borrowed the cell phone while I was at GR, she explained to that person what had happened to us. They told her that their friend had fallen out of the boat there, and that they were able to get a free pair of pants from the store in the park. So that was the first place she went when she re-entered the park. She explained to the store associate what had happened, and a manager happened to be in there. The manager asked her “Are you the one who’s boat sank? That’s the second one to sink tonight!” Now whether this was actually true or not, we’re not sure. Mrs. Gator did point out to me that some time had passed between us sinking and her getting to the store, so the manager may have confused the situation and thought that we were in two separate boats. But we did find it interesting that comment was made. The manager took Mrs. Gator and GatorGirl upstairs to the offices, and was able to get her a pair of pants which had been part of their old lifeguard uniforms. They even found a pair that would have fit me, but I was long gone. Mrs. Gator told me that there was a big difference in the appearance of The Beach’s administrative offices and KI’s. And those of you that have been in the offices at KI, particularly the Admin and Operations buildings, you know that they are pretty nice. The Beach’s, she said, were very untidy, with boxes, cash registers and sand everywhere. They next went to get some food. While there, the guy that had been assisting me at GR was behind the counter. He saw Mrs. Gator and GatorGirl, and told the cashier to give them his employee discount on the food, which was a very nice gesture. After eating, they did the carriage ride, which Mrs. Gator said was nicely done with actors telling a story of trying to get to Rapid City for New Year’s. They rode the carrousel, watched the skaters on the wet ice, and visited the nativity scene, which Mrs. Gator said consisted of old department store mannequins as Mary, Joseph and the three wise men. She noticed that one of the three wise men was actually a female mannequin, which would change everything I had ever learned about that night in Bethlehem. They also watched the toboggan slide for a while, trying to decide whether they should do it or not. They eventually decided against it because Mrs. Gator noticed that some of the toboggans were cracked in the seat area, and she felt that with her luck that night it would crack all the way through and they would get injured. So to make up for not doing the toboggan, GatorGirl did a second pony ride. After that is when they called me to pick them up. After telling the story to the rest of the family the next day, my sister’s boyfriend (a former KI rides associate) said that the Ohio Department of Agriculture may be interested in hearing about the incident, since the boat would be considered a ride, and it sinking would be a ride accident. I may contact them about it yet. I will say this for the people that helped us out after the sinking of the USS Gator, they treated us very kindly and professionally, even though I was not the most pleasant person to deal with. I was understandably upset (and after getting out of the water the profanity filter in my mind was back in place so that was no longer an issue), but by getting Mrs. Gator a pair of pants and a discount on food, they went out of their way to try to make the night better. One thing that helped a little was how warm it was that day, but that water was still pretty cold. We’ll be back to The Beach when it’s warm and sunny again, but as for Holiday Fest…I’m done.