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Cedar Fair is to be applauded for all of the nods it's making to the past in the former KECO/Paramount Parks. We are seeing a flurry of terrific things, especially out of Kings Dominion, Much loved attractions and theming elements are being restored to the parks. The return of the name "The Bat", The Singing Mushrooms etc. I can't tell you how much these fantastic decisions mean to the fans of these parks. That having been said, I decided to start this official request to Cedar Fair: Please bring the Flying Eagles home. For many, the Eagles were a staple of Kings Island. They were an original attraction that made their debut at the Cincinnati Coney Island in the early 1940s, and then were re-located to Kings Island for it's grand opening in 1972. The Eagles thrilled and entertained guests at KI for 33 years (in two different locations in the park) until the shocking decision was made to remove and relocate them to Carowinds. According to the park (at the time) they were removed because the installation of Italian Job Stunt Track necessitated it. However, the truth is, a formal KD General Manager that had been transferred to Carowinds specifically pushed for the relocation. Bottom line, my wish is for those that are currently spearheading the Cedar Fair leadership to recognize the value this attraction had at KI and to bring them back to their home in Cincinnati - KI. This thread is meant for other fellow KI and Flying Eagle fans to chime in with their support. It's also meant for those that enjoyed the attraction to reminisce about experiences they may have had. Perhaps Cedar Fair may take note and recognize the opportunity to restore yet another piece of 70 year-old history to it's rightful place. Thanks! John K - aka Shaggy

Maybe the whole construction of Banshee is just a big diversion for the unannounced epicness that is going to go in the circle in the middle of Action Zone. Maybe what they have planned for the circle is so mindblowing that it will change the landscape of amusement parks as we know it forever, and they just built the world's longest inverted coaster to keep our focus away from the magnificence that will go in the new Action Zone circle area... Then again, maybe not.

They're changing the circle to a square guys

I say that Carowinds can get a new set of Eagles. Bring ours back home! The history with them is so rich. I loved riding them at KI. I have many great memories of them. It is a simple yet fun ride. I have been hoping since Cedar Fair started installing these rides that KI would either get the original Coney Island model back, or one of the newer versions. Obviously, I would love to get the Coney one back to KI. There are lots of locations in the park where the ride would be a good addition. Tucked next to the Flight of Fear exit in what is currently a grassy area between Adventure Express, Flight of Fear and The Racer. Or they could go in the pad of the former Salt Water Circus, now that Snoopy`s Starlight Spectacular has been retired. Or, they could take out the Dinosaur party pavilion, and give the Eagles a nice new perch ontop of the former Flight Commander pad, which would fit in nicely since they would be in Coney Mall, an homage to their beginning at the park that I have spent. And I agree that Cedar Fair, has been making some incredible moves towards nostalgic items at the parks. But more importantly they are really paying homage to the history of the parks and making them places that all generations can enjoy together and make memories (thus developing their future customers when the current children will take their kids to the park).

Woohoo check this out! KIPRs twitter just posted this picture of one of the newly painted Bat trains!

There are people in Louisville who are unskilled and BADLY need jobs. Each person-season of volunteer labor at Kentucky Kingdom is depriving one of them of a JOB, dignity and perhaps food, shelter and life essentials. This when the organization operates on Government land on a Government lease and is essentially propped up by Government subsidies and Government credit. There is a moral argument that in these circumstances, the park should, if it can, employ those that need to work and pay for their labor, not give affluent enthusiasts token swag to do that which could be done by those who desperately need work.

^No, I spent plenty of time in line waiting for them! As much as I would love to see the original set return to KI, I think that would be highly unlikely. They are the best set of scooters I've ever ridden. Try and try as I might, no other set that I've been on comes close (although Idlewild's was pretty good, but they don't let you snap them so they lose major points for that!). I'll always remember the summer of '89, my first year working in the park. A girl that I kind of had a flirtation-thing going on with in my stand wanted to go on some rides after our shift, so of course I said yes. We got on the Flying Eagles and she asked me if I knew how to snap them. I told her that I had no idea what she was talking about. She sure showed me! I have her to thank for making me love flying scooters as much as I do. That day opened up a whole new aspect to the ride I had never known about.

I too am a smoker and I am one of those who follow the rules as well. Anyone who's been to a park with me recently knows I don't smoke outside of the designated areas. And to the person who said you can just go to your car whenever you need to smoke. What about the times during Haunt when you're not aloud to leave and then return? I do think Kings Island should rethink their current setup for smoking areas but I do not believe an outright ban on smoking in the park would do them any good. I also agree they should enforce the designated smoking areas a little bit better as well. Maybe they could advertise them a bit more for the people who don't know exactly where they are located. The two parks I've visited that have the best smoking areas are Six Flags Great Adventure and Holiday World. Most if not all of them are off the beaten path and the one closest to El Toro is just a nice area to sit and enjoy the view.

It would be nice if they just completely banned smoking within the park. At least two of the smoking areas are terribly placed to where others have to smell it. People should be able to go a few hours without smoking and if you're there all day go to your car.

I have ridden Flying Scooters in nearly every American park. In my opinion, Kings Island had and Carowinds has the best set in the land. The modern editions are not a comparable substitute. To be able to snap a set like the Flying Eagles was and is one of the true joys of my life. I'd love to see them back. And now, I bet even Tim Fisher would approve.

I'm on board. I would give up the Backlot Coaster for the Eagles any day of the week.

I would be all in but their is only one moral problem for me. An entire generation of kids who go to Carowinds now know of our Flying Eagles as their ride from their childhood. Although It's a shame that it left Kings Island it would be just as much of a shame for it to leave Carowinds. Financially I don't see any issue. These rides, old or new are relatively cheap compared to rides like Banshee and Diamondback and need very little land clearing along with standard utilities. A way that both issues can be resolved is if the one currently at Carowinds moves back to KI and Carowinds also gets a brand new one but that seems a little ridiculous.

Today, we march forward to Kings Island's 2013 Opening Day, which was also the day the Reds Hall of Fame Grille opened. Here, I have a link to my Opening Day 2013 PTR. http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php/topic/27273-ki-4-27-13-opening-day-2013-ptr/ Just 48 more days until Banshee Media Day and Scream for A Kid Again, and 49 more days until Opening Day 2014! Have a good weekend everyone!

You wouldn't be able to see any lightning over in that circle while riding the ride unless you looked to the side and twisted your neck or if your in the front and only for a split second. Textured lightning and all lights will be somewhere within the confines of the actual ride where they enhance the ride experience. I wasn't talking about the circle at all. I was referring to projecting textured lighting on the station. That is becoming a popular thing to do (see Disney's castle shows). It could be used to "bring the Banshee legend to life" and help in making an "ultimate night ride experience". Check this out for examples: http://themeparkuniversity.com/backstage-access/moment-factory-revitalizes-atlantic-city/

I'm a smoker and I only smoke in the designated areas. If someone is smoking outside these areas then they should be told and warned then if caught again be thrown out of the park. I appreciate them giving me an area to smoke. I respect non smokers. But it is all outside its not like were in a cramped up building.

Ride? What ride? Who's got time for a ride? There's a concrete circle to watch!

And on the issue of under age kids smoking. Kings Island is not a babysitter despite the amount of parents who seem to think it is. They are also not law enforcement. I do not in anyway approve of underage smoking. Whenever someone asks to bum a cigarette off of me I always ask to see their ID. =]

Pretty sure I lost a couple years of my life waiting for my wife and nephew to get off of the Scambler last year.

Me too. How about we give Carowinds the Back Lot Stunt Coaster in exchange for the Flying Eagles...then we'd have free land for Les Taxis and the Ohio Overland Livery (the Antique Cars, for those not familiar with the real names) to return...along with all of the beautiful landscaping that was decimated by Paramount.

I concur Shaggy! That ride was, and will always be one my most memorable childhood experiences at Kings Island. I still cherish the times my dad would take me on them, more so now that he has suffered a brain aneurysm. It's amazing that even today, some 12 years later, we still talk about it!

I will be doing that. I plan on creating the final videos the Monday following opening weekend.

Siiiiiiiick From Kings Island Twitter page https://twitter.com/KingsIslandPR

Likely Stunt Crew Grill. It's already set up to make fried food and it's not a popular dining option amongst guests. Ice Scream Zone, on the other hand, probably doesn't have the necessary equipment or space and seems to be popular with guests. Plus, it's named Ice Scream Zone and is right next to Banshee. How perfect is that?

Some even work years after they could retire and sashay half way across the country to keep working...more than once even. And there is certainly no shame in needing work. Some retire on the couch, then post some more on the journey to the bed. And some have sporadic slowdowns on this site (and ONLY this site) when accessed by phone, with virtually no regard to the hour.

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forums and I just wanted to say that I love Kings Island! P.S. Can't wait till Banshee opens!

On this date in 2009, Diamondback slithered its way through its second day of testing.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say this is what our circle will look like. This is from this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/insidethemagic

Go to Camden Park. Ride their Flying Scooters. Tell me they compare to Carowinds. And watch me collapse into fits of uncontrollable peals of laughter, wave after wave. I'd actually rather not have ANY Flying Scooters than to have a set like Camden's, or Holiday World's, or Indiana Beach's...and on and on and on.

Who says we're not thankful and what's so wrong with thinking about the future?

Anybody remember being rick rolled on here way to often? Those were the days. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk

I just hope it is not a crop circle. That would be a bad sign. * Signs is a 2002 film and was made by Touchstone Pictures, Blinding Edge Pictures, and the Kennedy/Marshall Company. It was commercially distributed by Buena Vista Pictures

AAAHH! Godzilla! Run for your life! Welcome to KIC! Grab a Snickers and enjoy your stay! MrSaturdayNite - running out of inside jokes.

You know it's the off-season when you build Slingshot (the ball/cage and the operator's platform) with little building blocks and then imitate the ride cycle with said blocks For the record, this happened on Tuesday afternoon.

makes me think of the olympics... It's too bad they only last a couple weeks.

I remember when I used to sleep... those were the glory days!

Yea but..... This isnt a church or an old folks home or really anything similar. This is a park that is attempting to show that its a new park and will be around for years to come. When you ask for volunteers you are either trying to get community service opportunities (usually helping someone else) or you are saying hey we cant afford this and need help. Imagine the difference this would have had had they offered something of more value for the help they are asking for. Imagine they offered a free "Front of the Line Pass" for Lightning Run or a day long "Fast Pass" for one day at the park, maybe they could have offered a 1 day free admission to the park, or offered up a free behind the scenes tour of the revamped park. All of a sudden the volunteer work now has a perceived higher value. Now you can turn people away (only the first 20 volunteers or something). PR is all about perceived value. If I walked around and offered free Speech therapy people would think that something is wrong with me and my ability. If I go around and state my normal fee is $60/hour but am offering it for $30/hour, I would get more business at the "discount rate." This park does not feel that there is a huge perceived value.

^I assure you, there have been FAR worse thread hijacks than this one. As for KIC, most everything here is said in jest. If there's ever a question about a post's mood, you can always ask or just dismiss it as sarcasm. Sarcasm is very hard to pick up on a forum board anyways, so I can understand how messages can be misconstrued.

I have said it before and it just keeps being reinforced, but wow. I truly do not get their marketing strategy. I don't understand it at all. I would not have put a drop ride in the first several seasons. I just see that casting a huge dark shadow over the park from the get go. I truly would not push that as the new attraction when you gave a new coaster being built. I am not a marketing professional, but I would drum up everything I could to talk about the new Lightening Run. I would take as much attention off of Banshee and put it on Lightening Run. I would focus on the upgrades to the water park. I would talk about the wonderful old charm upgraded with a modern twist. I would post on social media, have contests and drum up all attention as possible. If a contest is done properly it could mean minimal cost to the park beyond a handful of season passes or T-shirts. Do a video competition to show why you are excited about the New Kentucky Kingdom. People watch the spots and vote, it's almost free or very low cost to pay someone to watch them and any type of fees to run an Internet site for it. Plus others do the work for you (everyone could submit, top 5-10 will be available to vote on). Blogs , Vlogs, Vine, so many ways to advertise. Food competitions for a new food item to be featured in the park. New theme song competition to go with the commercials we maybe seeing. Of course they don't have to do all of that, but so many options that are low cost, while having others do the work for you for free (well, for a prize of not a lot if cash maybe $100, season pass, T-shirt and park memorabilia). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have many pics of PT, most of the of the characters up close and personal. I was fortunate enough to see the attraction a number of times with the lights on, walk through it etc. I even went through the workshop that was housed inside where the characters were repaired and replacement masks and costumes were kept. Here's a picture of me (a looooong time ago....) playing around in one of the "scenes" from Phantom Theater. (It's the "Who's out there? No one's allowed backstage" scene.) Again, the pic is not great - it was nearly impossible to get good pics when walking through the attraction with just work lights on. I also have many memories of riding it. I rode it every visit of every year it was in operation. There were minor changes through the years, and many original effects bit the dust after just a season or two. In it's first year of operation, the attraction was insanely amazing. By the final years, the maintenance of it was laughable. One time, while riding, I witnessed one of the character's arm fall off. No joke... in the final boiler room scene.. one of the "How 'bout some heat!" fellas arm fell out of socket and was dangling by his sleeve.

When BBOBH (actually Scooby's Haunted Castle) took over Phantom Theater, the set upon which the Pepper's Ghost effect took place was "platformed up." Meaning 2x4 lumber was used to build risers and level the floor with the omnimover track. The base of the Phantom Theater Peppers Ghost set was probably about 6-8 feet below the track so there was probably no real room for a "basement." For those that don't know... the Peppers Ghost scene in PT involved a pass in front of the Theater's "Stage" where the various characters appeared and dissapeared from view. The scene was a direct copy of the one used in Disney's Haunted mansion. The trick is achieved by having the physical animatronic characters located above an below the ride vehicles. Riders were actually staring at reflections of them on a well hidden, enormous pane of glass. This gave people the illusion that you could see through them, and they were appearing at random. It was, by far, the best feature of PT. Here are two pictures I took many moons ago while walking through the Pepper's Ghost scene in PT. It's an empty set, because the remaining characters were behind me in a darkened, unlit space (the ride was not operating and was slated for demolition at this point.)

Wanna go truly old school?

I added my two cents in..I don't expect that topic to last long, and I do think this is a troll being honest, we've had issues over there for a few weeks..

Sadly girls my age, and even some slightly younger are having sex with a guy because he winked, and said "I love you." In the end they normally end up with a broken heart, offering to do whatever they have to, in order for him to stay for another month, week, or even day. I'm lucky because my boyfriend and I have decided to wait until we're married. That's something that just doesn't happen much these days. Sent from my VS840 4G using Tapatalk

Perhaps it's the mom in me, first thing I see is he does not respect the girl to post such a thing. With my mom mindset, I am skeptical that she "likes it" more than she's willing to go along with that to just keep him. You can't post anything for a response that would help the situation. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't miss that website at all.

Volunteers may work for free but the government values the work I do at around $20 per hour and states use the number of volunteer hours to calculate funding sometimes. KK is using it as a marketing ploy, their focus on the waterpark is for a reason. Furthermore, ask Nathan Handworker how selling Frankfurter at half price went. They werent always World Famous.

When someone creates a topic on PointBuzz titled "Fun at Cedar Point" and says, "My girlfriend like to "do it" in public places. She would like to "do it" at an amusement park this summer. Not in a hotel room, but somewhere in the park. Is there anywhere we could sneak off and be discreet about it?" The sad part is that I'm not making this up. I really don't know how to respond to this...Some people... http://pointbuzz.com/Forums/Thread/30436.aspx

Not a single mention or image of Lightning Run or its construction site during the video or article. Which is to be the signature attraction/coaster this year. Instead the focus is on FearFall. A new drop ride at a park that had a very tragic accident with its previous drop ride. Good work Kentucky Kingdom, your PR and Marketing department are doing a stellar job. Lets focus on this new drop ride that the majority of the general public will think is the one that maimed a young girl only 6 or 7 years ago. I find this all very sad, I wish the park success, but the decisions they continue to make are very questionable.