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On this date in 2009, track work was completed on the Diamondback roller coaster. Track piece #129 was the final piece of track installed by the Adena Corporation. Celebrating its fifth anniversary season this year, Diamondback will give its 10-millionth ride this summer. Perhaps the 10-millionth rider will be you!

Photo #26 - Water Works 1989

A date hasn't been determined for when testing will begin. POV of the ride will not be made available until Media Day.

Note the old people ain't complaining.

To expand on what shark6495 said there, you (sccard01) need to understand that wanting KK to succeed and believing that they will succeed are two completely different things. I want KK to succeed. Most of us probably do. But just because we want the park to succeed does not mean that they will. We're being realists here. We want them to succeed, but the evidence says otherwise. Realistically, the severe undercapitalization of future years, lack of marketing, and other factors suggest, when not viewed through rose-colored glasses, that KK is likely to fail after a few years unless drastic changes occur. Being an optimist is great, but even optimism needs to be grounded in realism.

The floral landscaping in the park was great back then. I especially love the bushes along the Royal Fountains in that one picture.

Especially when it's lasted nearly half a decade for some.

(I'll look for more trail photos) Photo #25 - Front gate entrance (I think it looks better with no trees)

If Roller Coaster Tycoon taught me anything, it's that a pay-per ride shuttle loop named "Steel Money Printer" is the best idea in the world.

Who? Your close friend Ed Hart? Or Chuck and Dale? I haven't seen ANYTHING, Many stories on my local news stations? Your full of BS man No. My friends who happen to be broadcasters there. No BS here.You see, I, unlike you, don't pretend to have encyclopaedic knowledge of what's on all Louisville media. I believe Mr. Helbig and his staff do have records of such coverage. If I'm wrong, which I am not, I'm sure he will let us know.

It's the fifth anniversary? Wow, time is flying!

My personal quest is to be BOTH the 10-millionth rider on Diamondback AND the 1-millionth rider on Banshee! Hey, a guy can dream, right?

Wow this topic has gotten...aggressive. Instead of updates only arguments...

Dude we get it. You want KK to make it. You believe the rest of us dont. When you get older you will see that discussions dont have to be confrontational. At the age of 20 you have not seen much of the world out side of your bubble. There are those of us who have seen more and know a bit more, or at least understand things a bit better. On this board you have former and current experts in a multitude of fields, some of those include: park employees, PR guys, marketing, park investors, media members, medical, auto, etc etc etc....

Chester Park- 1927

I remember my mom trying to get me on the speed slides for the first time. I was probably 5 years old. The tallest one was only around 70 feet, but to me as a 5 year old it could have been Mount Everest. We got to the top and I cried my eyes out. Two minutes later, I was right back in line.

You'll worry about feeling old until you get there, and then you won't care about it anymore.

Five years already? I was 10 when I first rode it, and now I'll be 15 in roughly a month. Wow.

You would probably be better than Mr. Twisty Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk

I have to admit, going to Water Works prior to the Boomerang Bay change made me a big fan of the Beach Boys (especially that awesome sax solo in the middle of Kokomo). I miss how simple it used to be in the path layout as well as more natural shading. I hate walking on all that hot concrete making my way out to the wave pools.

"Fiery Fist of Pain," from one of the last of the semi-decent Spongebob episodes (before the show jumped the shark completely and became utter garbage).

@KingsIslandPR when testing does begin, will there be an official/real life pov of the ride?

I was twelve when this ride opened up. Now I'll be 17 in March. Roller coasters make me feel old. But hey! Time flies by when you're having fun. Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

I think the park looks better in the old pictures too. All the people are dressed in modest apparel.

I keep coming back to look at that Coney Mall shot with The Bat in the background, original Dodgem building and a the few remaining finely trimmed ginko trees. That's a fantastic shot and I really dig the angle! Definitely one I've never seen before

That is the most on topic thing that I have read on this thread in a while.

To expand on what shark6495 said there, you (sccard01) need to understand that wanting KK to succeed and believing that they will succeed are two completely different things. I want KK to succeed. Most of us probably do. But just because we want the park to succeed does not mean that they will. We're being realists here. We want them to succeed, but the evidence says otherwise. Realistically, the severe undercapitalization of future years, lack of marketing, and other factors suggest, when not viewed through rose-colored glasses, that KK is likely to fail after a few years unless drastic changes occur. Being an optimist is great, but even optimism needs to be grounded in realism. Well put jcgoble3. Everyone wants KK to succeed but not at the risk of taxpayers. If private companies (with all their data and spreadsheets that we don't have access to) don't believe KK to be a viable location for a theme park then why should we?

Heck, I am pretty sure many in this thread who dont think the park has a great future, have even said that they will be going to the park!

Honestly.. I'd see him looking over with those awesome sunglasses at him, facing forward and shaking his head I will say that's one thing I'm ganna miss with you guys. Riding rides together was so much fun

Some one is a Mr. Grumpy Gills today. Kinda nervy to call Terpy a liar too.

Oh boy, finally a topic that gives me an excuse to talk about Fairy-Magic Funland. Several years ago whilst exceedingly bored, I wrote up the fictional history of a fictional amusement park named Fairy-Magic Funland. The gist of it was that Fairy-Magic Funland was the most ludicrously unsafe amusement park in existence, and I mean so ludicrously unsafe the park must have been cursed. Anyway, the singular roller coaster in Fairy-Magic Funland was a (fictional) kiddie coaster named Rolling Coaster (or Fairy's Flight; the park couldn't seem to decide) that had previously been located at two other parks, the first of which completely burned to the ground after the coaster was installed, and the second of which saw the coaster derail and hit two patrons and a costumed character. Dark? Absolutely, but it sure was hilarious at the time. So yeah. Rolling Coaster is quite the interesting name.

I think I'll slow down in 2014, and try to take in the experiences of life (the good ones) with a little less 'taking of things for granted.' Apropos of the topic, I'm listening to one of my favorite songs right now: "Time Stand Still," by "Rush," which has been there throughout many, many seasons, and can bring up memories from any one of them. It was released when Vortex was "born." The math: ~27 years ago. At the young age that I was, I didn't really care about the words of songs. Being at an age now -- where time seems to go by very quickly -- some words make a little more sense: "Summers going fast, nights growing colder; Children growing up, old friends growing older; Freeze this moment a little bit longer, Make each sensation a little bit stronger... experience slips away." Holy cow, they're right! So, stop, breathe, enjoy the good days. Each is so precious!

My favorites: -The Beast -Behemoth -Leviathan -Poltergeist -Millennium Force -Comet -Silver Bullet -Oblivion -Verbolten -Gwazi -Gemini -American Thunder I'm absolutely the worst at coming up with my own ride names out of the blue. If I have a theme or something to go off of, it's much easier.

I personally love the names of Chinese coasters when translated. Like: Fairly Yum Yum Gumdrop Coaster of the Forest. Or other such yarns.

I think anything Justin Bieber should go on BLSC as it is the closest thing to drag racing.

If I'm not mistaken, CP (with its already complete lineup of coasters) had a record opening day with the addition of Gatekeeper so I fail to see why KI won't be as successful since Banshee, according to Don, will create a more complete coaster lineup. Also why would CF invest so heavily in a single attraction if they weren't expecting an increase in revenue??

I had a really interesting opening day 2014 dream last night. It started off that I actually got to make it to the park on opening day and Kings Island was completely dead. Of course, I wanted my first ride of the 2014 season to be on Banshee and it only had a 5 minute wait! The line was amazing though, it was all indoors and resembled the interior of an abandoned stone cottage. The best part of all was that it doubled as a Halloween Haunt maze. Although, one part of the line that threw me off was that the initial staircase of Vortex's que had been incorporated into Banshee's. Unfortunately, I didn't even make it through the line when I woke up... a sad, sad day. Haha

That is alot of stairs to climb. A good way to get American into shape.

Oh® forGetTM it! No more brand names; I'm Stick, Inc. with plain English descriptives from NOWSM ON®! Will it make posts easier? We LLC. Oh, and the new coaster at Mason's big amusement park looks awesome! So, um, ...trains? Heh heh heh

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2014/01/20/worlds-tallest-waterslide-is-higher-than-niagara-falls/?intcmp=obinsite

I find it funny. I did not see where people say they want to have the park fail. What I see is people wanting the park to succeed and questioning why things are not done to boost up the excitement to help with success of the park. I personally want KK to succeed. I have many years of wonderful memories. Truth be told, I had a season pass many years. I did not get a season pass for KI until Cedar Fair bought the park. While I loved the rides at KI and would go many times each season (I have friends who would buy me tickets for my birthday or the kids birthdays or because they knew I could show them around the park when others could not.) Kings Island always seemed dirty, staff was unhelpful. Cedar Fair has consistently improved on all fronts from cleanliness to staff being much more customer focused and management is very visible. I cannot say how much more I love Kings Island now. My thoughts regarding KK stem from seeing it go through ups and downs for the years it was open. I've waited patiently and hoping the park would reopen for years. I really hoped the Koch family would have opened the park. I think it would have done amazing had they took ownership. That is just my own opinion from my experience at Holiday World. I've been to that park only a few times, but each time, they delivered great customer service. I saw owners walking around picking up trash and starting conversations with people. While I know that family has experienced a lot of family turmoil, I really see them backing out as a sign that the forecasting to have a successful park would not be worth the gamble or investment. Looking at the taxpayers having to help fund the park is a huge negative in my opinion. It's less of a gamble on a company or individual since the Commonwealth is backing it up. I truly think if this was a viable long term park grand reopening, banks or investors would be readily available to throw in financial support. I love amusement parks, but see where tax payer dollars given to the government could be put to better use. The difference now than ever before is the huge abundance of free media there is to roll out announcements. Announcements in the middle of the night seem odd at best. Again, there is not an individual or company to have that drive to go the extra mile to pump this up more. Even if they felt social media is cheesy or just a fad, it's peculiar to not use it. If it were my park, I would do things so very different. The one negative I had then and still do is paying for parking. I understand both now and then it is on property owned by the State Fair. I see having any drop ride in the park as a bad move. People don't pay attention to it being the same or different ride, just that it's a drop ride at this park. I struggle with believing Banshee was not being mentioned in the Louisville area. Indianapolis is about the same distance and we don't have a competing park in the area and it's been on the news here. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Opening day was fun that season. The wife and I made it to the park around 5am. We were on the third train out to pass holders. By the time we got off and rode Beast the line had wrapped around the entire area.

You know it's the off season when you go through all your old park pictures pretending it's warm and sunny instead of snowy and freezing wind chills.

I am getting a bit tired of the Colossus, Behemoth etc. Can't they find a better name than a synonym for large??

These United States Gotham City Gauntlet Escape From Arkham Asylum Beaver Land Mine Ride Fairly Odd Coaster

That lazy river actually looks... well... lazy!

This is a family photo from (I think it was called) Shawnee Landing(?) Was the hiking trail in this area?

Here's a closer look

I'm not sure that after 2 months of posting you're able to critically assert this as a "Fanboy-Site." For what its worth I've never mentioned anything about taxpayers being at risk, I know I've never taken the time to dig up proof, therefore never mentioned. (If I have, though... i selectively have short-term memory) Your posts do seem to scream "D-Fense" more often than not in your 18 posts... just seems to me that you are more than the average Louisville-ite awaiting the park to open.

I'm guessing that it looks bigger because the surrounding trees would have grown in the 30 years since the photo was taken, leaving less of The Beast visible above the trees now than was visible in 1984. Plus Vortex being nearly 150-feet high and directly in front probably "hurts" too. Hmm...actually here are some comparison pictures: 1980's: 2000's (Modern) Actually, comparing Beast to the trees, while they may have grown, they seem to be about the same size vs. The Beast's first chain lift...yeah, IMO, it's Vortex being a huge ride that makes Beast look small in comparison...