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Photo #28 - Flight of Fear construction

While going through some photos of Diamondbacks opening day, I stumbled across this one that may be relevant to Banshees opening day.

Promotional image for Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle, which made its debut at the park in 2003. A look inside Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle.

#guilty

Now, the article states 1,424 feet...7 inversions and 68 MPH would be one hell of a way to travel 1,424 feet.

Photo #27 - Rivertown 1977

@KingsIslandPR on Twitter: "Making progress on painting The Bat" Photo : Don Helbig / Kings Island via Twitter

Woof. I feel bad for the people working with guests at Walt Disney World. You've probably heard about the coolly received MyMagic+, a massive $1.5 billion (the cost of Disney California Adventure's 7-year redo and then some) technological upgrade to Walt Disney World in Florida. It's all about the MagicBand, a plastic wristband that functions as room key, park ticket, debit card, and Fastpass with no barcodes required. The big push was Fastpass+, the element of the much larger program that allows Walt Disney World visitors to pre-book their Fastpass selections days, weeks, even months in advance with no paper tickets. Disney fans immediately poo-pooed Fastpass+ as a way to suck spontaneity out of trips, forcing visitors to choose the days they'd visit each park and the rides they'd visit each day far in advance or else see the big rides get booked up completely. The project is apparently over budget and admittedly far over-schedule, but just last week, Fastpass+ ended its first limited test runs and became available to everyone at Walt Disney World. As a result, legacy Fastpass is gone. There are no more paper tickets with hour long return windows at Walt Disney World, period. Along the way, a number of limits and measures have been added to Fastpass+, limiting who's allowed to pre-book and who must wait in lines at electronic kiosks the day of (guess who gets the perks?), limited the number of Fastpasses you're allowed to have every day (currently, 3), and basically restricting the system big time for people who visit the most often: annual passholders, locals, and folks who choose not to stay at Walt Disney World resort hotels. The biggest step (and perhaps blunder) came yesterday when word got out that Walt Disney World annual passholders are severely, severely limited in their use of Fastpass+. They may use it any 7 days per 60 day period. So those locals who paid between $600 and $950 for the tiered annual passes no longer have the open access to Fastpass that they had. And indeed, those are the people who had mastered the system and used it with skill and precision, now limited to one week of use per two months. Every step Disney takes to make Fastpass+ "happen," guests cringe and revolt. Basically the question that was asked as each of these restrictions was added was, "Okay, maybe that rule is a necessary evil... But then, was the old Fastpass system really broken enough that we had to replace it with this?" It should come as no surprise that the new system benefits and incentivizes staying in Walt Disney World hotels. Terrifying rumors also hint that we may soon see a tweak where guests at Disney's Deluxe hotels get 5 picks a day... Value hotels get 2 or 3. What was it we were all saying about how great Disney's Fastpass was and how we wanted it at Kings Island? I wrote up a guide to the 7 Fastpass+ restrictions here if you have an upcoming Walt Disney World vacation or want to know more about this system that has replaced Fastpass. By the way, the chances of this system coming to Disneyland Resort and incredibly slim at this point. The massively local population would revolt after seeing what the implementation of this system has been like at Walt Disney World. What's more, Disneyland hotels are already at capacity, so there's little need to incentivize them with a billion dollar investment to the resort. Even then, a massive, massive chunk of Disneyland visitors are annual passholders, and a very, very small chunk of visitors stay at Disneyland hotels, so the system would be very lopsided in its benefits and 90% of visitors would have to line up every morning to get to a kiosk while only 10% from the hotels would have the benefit of pre-booking. To also put it into a very sad perspective, the $1.5 billion (or more) Walt Disney World has used on MyMagic+ is the same amount spent on Disney California Adventure, adding all of Buena Vista Street, all of Cars Land (Radiator Springs Racers, Luigi's Flying Tires, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree), The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure, Toy Story Midway Mania, World of Color, rebuilding all of Paradise Pier's flat rides, Paradise Garden, Mickey's Fun Wheel renovation, and the place-making of all eight of the park's lands.

Weather is a huge factor. If it is raining cats and dogs, there will be fewer people (and more cats and dogs! )

In December 2011 they were stored in the Picnic Grove: I just think I saw From an Trip Report that they were stored in the Entrance area. Still not sure. Trying to find it. EDIT: Found it!

^The park opened in 1972 and The Beast opened in 1979. Actually, when The Beast was opened the map looked a bit different:

In December 2011 they were stored in the Picnic Grove:

Image5 by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr

And a non-denial denial. As has been said again and again, KingsIslandPR fully discloses when he posts here. But then again, he reflects great credit on Kings Island and Cedar Fair with his actions, words, marketing and photos.

I feel like I saw a picture from last offseason that they were storing a boatload of trashcans under International Restaurant... You may have. Here's a shot of them from two offseasons ago (taken the same day as the one of the Congo Falls boat above): Also in the Rivertown train station: There's much more from that day here.

Taken 2009 IMG_1861 by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr *shudders* Spongebob always kind of creeped me out.

Looks like they're doing something up front...

I'm all about strength in numbers. While attending Media Day is a nice perk of joining CC, my main reason for joining was to take advantage of more meetups offered by the club. My favorite days at KI were always KIC days, so I'm certain the event(s) offered by CC this summer will be great as well. Plus, having a membership might entice me to finally make the trip up north to Sandusky! Besides my AMC Stubs membership, this is the best value I've ever paid for a membership . I look forward to meeting many more of you this summer (and on April 17 as well!)

The park has my permission to record my scream of "Here we go again!" if they want to. It is going to sound like a Banshee.

^ If Reliability all of a sudden means Advertising Money, then yes.

If I didn't already prefer the Disneyland Resort by a factor of about 1000...

1. We're being doubtful? Yes we are, and for good reason. I will not repeat those reasons again, for they have been stated in this thread numerous times in the past several months. 2. We're being pessimistic? No. We're being realists. 3. On what evidence do you base this "faith"? Or are you simply ignoring the evidence? 4. If you "could care less", then you do care some.

I'll quote Van Halen too. Why don't you try Banshee "Right Now"? Van Halen regularly tells me that on a beloved ride in Action Zone.

Please stop making new topics without using the search.

^ Still planning to seek out http://rcdb.com/1530.htm ?

4th time ever on Vortex - on 8/17/2010 by KIC-Vortex_BFF, on Flickr This was from August 17, 2010. It's a picture of me about to take my 4th ride ever (yes, 4th) on Vortex! I was 11 years old at the time. Had I not uploaded it to my Google+ account as a profile photo along with 2 other photos from 10/23/2010, it would have been lost forever when my laptop's hard drive had failed in 2012. In order for me to be able to share them on here, I just downloaded them and re-uploaded them to Flickr. I'm very thankful they were on Google+ already, or else I would not be able to eventually share them with my fellow KICentral members right now.

Egg zactly. Does that count as two words?

Vortex camera is right next to the midway But it's also below and hidden from the midway, which means that people on the midway generally don't notice it during the day. Even at night, when the flash lights up the track, it doesn't get annoying because you're only seeing what gets lit up, not the light itself. Banshee doesn't have the benefit of being below the midway like that.

There's no explaining this, and I'll make only one more attempt to. I think you have an incorrect view of what Fastpass does. "One more person for the queue to handle?" What? I'm going to get one Fastpass for Splash Mountain, period. What the hell difference does it make if I get it on the way to Space Mountain (return time 10:00 - 11:00) or trek all the way back after Space Mountain (return time 10:30 - 11:30). That's why the hour long window slides through the day. Let's say for every 100 Fastpass tickets it gives out, it slides the window forward by ten minutes. So, I'm going to be 1 of those 100 whether I pick one up on the way or if I wait until after. To put it another way, what if my return time for Space Mountain was 9:00 - 10:00. In situation A, I start walking toward Space Mountain at 9:30, and on the way I pick up a Peter Pan's Flight fastpass at 9:35. In situation B, I ride Space Mountain right when my window starts at 9:00, then afterwards walk to Peter Pans' Flight and pick up a Fastpass for it at... 9:35... What in the world difference in there, according to the computer, in those two situations? Explain again how I've added "one more person for the queue to handle?" I have used one at a time. I got a Fastpass for Peter Pan's Flight at 9:35. What in the world difference does it make if I chose to use my Space Mountain Fastpass before or after I get my Peter Pan's Flight Fastpass so long as it falls within my 9:00 - 10:00 window? My goodness... I understand and have always understood the Fast Pass systems, new and old. What upsets me is that I'm paying big bucks to try and have a good time at a given park, and someone with even more bucks gets to cut in front of me. If those people and myself were having a shrimp dinner at Red Lobster, and they had a Red Lobster Fast Pass, would they be seated before me? (I don't believe Red Lobster takes reservations). Having a reservation at a restaurant is fine - but I didn't have to pay to get into the establishment, nor did I pay for parking. But it really seems like you don't, because no one with more bucks is cutting in front of you... You can get exactly as many Fastpass reservations as anyone else, period. I mean, you said not to argue with you and I guess I won't waste my time if you've taken strongly to the idea that Fastpass is inherently unfair and that the middle class is getting trampled on... But this is the only equitable theme park virtual queueing system I know of, and the only one that's included with park admission for every single visitor. I don't know what else to say. Sounds like you've spent a lot of time mulling over how terribly you're treated and how unfair everything is, so there's not much convincing I can do.

Here is an opinion from someone I would consider an expert on touring Disney. Josh over at easywdw.com Interesting insight to say the least.

EasyWDW sums up the new system with this picture perfectly.

Tweet by @KingsIslandPR last night: That Tweet / post can be found here.

I agree if I enjoy the ride what else matters?

The only poll that means anything to me has only one voter: me.

Or when you pass on the way home from Columbus, expecting to see the rides moving, but all you see is the Eiffel Tower lighting up different colors. Sent from my VS840 4G using Tapatalk

There will be days it will definitely be shorter by at least one. You see, I now have additional incentive to go where I'd rather go anyway--"I'm going to Disneyland!"

I will not run. Not because I can't but I saw a few people get pulled of to the side by the guards. I for one dont care how long the line is. Hang out with some friends talk to some new people and just take in the sounds and smells of the new coaster. The line will move faster than you think.

Lots of gifs... because thats what I have to say about that

Does anyone have a close up picture of the current state of Banshees station? Curious to see what it look like.

The purpose of the Fastpass was never to speed up lines. Because guests were spending their time in line, they were not buying merchandise or food. The concept was supposed to free up your time to shop or eat. Most people saw it as a chance to get in more rides for their dollar...hence it has evolved...and will continue to evolve until Disney gets the top dollar they can get, otherwise why spend billions of dollars implementing this program. It certainly is not to enhance your ride experience. Again you can put your debit card information on your wristband...this has nothing to do with anything but convenience of sales. There is a video somewhere with an Imagineer explaining the Fastpass at its conception. When I find it I will post it. It mentions the spending time in line and not buying anything.

I believe that this was leaked at some point as the reason for FP+. They wanted to avoid having to install new attractions by "encouraging" people to ride unpopular or high capacity ones (i.e. Journey Into Imagination or Ellen's Energy Adventure) and lock them into their plans sooner. Personally, I'm more bothered that the new official map for Epcot is upside down for some reason. I actually don't hate FP+ all that much, it seems more convenient, but it doesn't seem well thought out, especially on the IT side of things. I really like the idea of the MagicBands, though. A combo admission ticket/payment system/FP system in one band seems like a good idea. Gotta love the people making tin foil shields for their MBs. (and, yes, I've heard of people doing this)

Keep in mind that the system isn't all about rides--something we enthusiasts get caught up in all too often. If I'm with my kids at their present ages, the big rides aren't for them anyway. While my daughter wants to meet the princesses, my son is more interested in meeting Mickey or Goofy. That to me, is more valuable to reserve ahead of time than a ride. If done right, most of the rides at the parks can be done in one day anyway, with or without FP+. The parades/fireworks/shows are important as well. Who here hasn't been standing on MSUSA 3-4 deep with little ones on their shoulders craning for a decent view of the parade? The system will adjust to the needs and park feedback, so I say give it time to work out all the kinks. Perhaps the feature I will miss most was the little-known ability to use your paper FP ticket at any point past the end of the return window. I used to love going to the big rides hours after the end of the window and not having the CM bat an eye. Not eveyone likes change. Some here were outraged that KI drained a certain lake in order to build a giant coaster a few years back. That turned out nicely enough.

Oh boy. I can't wait for my operations management course on Friday with a planned discussion titled: "Capacity- Queuing At Disney."

This is something Disney has been very (necessarily) transparent about because you can't TRACK TRACK TRACK someone under 18 without explicitly explaining your procedure and getting an okay from parents or guardians. MagicBands contain a technology called RFID - radio frequency identification. Each band contains a tiny chip about the size of a grain of rice. It has no power source or battery. It can't be turned "on" or "off." It operates off of very short distance radio waves. Its only ability is to transmit a series of digits that are specifically assigned to each guest (affiliated, then, with a park ticket barcode, a debit account, a room key barcode, etc all consolidated into one digit code). The RFID chip operates off of radio frequency, so it automatically transmits the numbers when it comes within short (centimeters) distance of an RFID receptor that can receive such radio signals and unscramble them. It would be impractical for Disney to build large radio receivers that could collect huge amounts of data and customers simply walk along pathways. What's more, that's not built into the agreement guests participate in through their use of the Band. Can they assemble information about which Fastpass+ rides guests entered, what time they entered the parks, which restaurants they ate at, etc? Sure. The same way they could with meals being charged to room keys and room keys doubling as park tickets. But there is no giant GPS map of Magic Kingdom tracking a person's move like a blipping dot on a radar.

Making sure other people like the ride might matter. Otherwise, the relationship between you and your favorite ride may end similar to the Rolling Thunder-Terpy relationship.

In certain lines of work, work rules must be obeyed... For instance I have a few friends who work at NASIC..basically AF Intelligence agency.. You can't even take a cell phone past a certain point in the building.. If you do, oh the trouble you're in

Being of a certain age, there is only one: Carly Simon. Of course.

Here you go Kat:

That is one ride that should be updated and built into the woods. I loved that ride so much!! Great Picture!!