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So back in 1988, Amazon Falls made its debut at KI. An Intamin "chute the chutes" ride, it's giant splash has been an iconic view in the park. A few years after the initial Paramount acquisition, the area surrounding Congo Falls was re themed, remodeled and became the "Paramount Action Zone." AZ was intended to come off as an area that was like a Hollywood backlot featuring rides themed to Paramount's films. Of course you had "Top Gun," the company's 1986 Blockbuster that came to life as a roller coaster in 1993, but you also had two new attractions that took on Paramount themes. "Face/Off" and "Drop Zone" debuted. Aside from sharing names with lackluster action movies, the "themes" pretty much ended there (Drop Tower did have an automated spiel from a "director" for awhile who gave you safety instructions under the pretense that you were filming the climactic ending to a forgettable Wesley Snipes film). Amazon Falls, whether you knew it or not, also joined the movie lineup by becoming "Congo Falls," named after Paramount's commercially successful, but critically panned film "Congo." At the time, and as a 10 year old, I saw Action Zone as Paramount (technically Viacom) really making an effort to tie in their movie properties into a true theme park ala Universal Studios. Looking back the "theming" really just came off as lazy and cheap, although the ride additions were great. I've never bothered to watch Face/Off or Drop Zone, but last night I noticed Congo was on Netflix. "What the hell?" I thought and queued it up. Maybe it would bring back some late 90s, Action Zone, ten year old nostalgia. Maybe the movie had a climactic ending on a waterfall which is why the ride was themed that way? So, I watched it and here's a review. Warning: Spoilers Ahead, but really I'm saving you time, trust me. The movie starts out with some cinematic music and these great, beautiful shots of a safari heading through Africa. The safari begins an expedition, finds some diamonds, uses techno babble to video link with a communications headquarters back in the USA and report on the expedition's progress. The whole scene takes a lot of time to convey what seems like primitive technology now, essentially they're using old school "FaceTime." Then the expedition is mysteriously killed. Ok, cheesy 90's action, let's keep watching. Yeah, so, then there's this elaborate plot revealed with a communications company wanting to steal diamonds and some professor teaching a gorilla to use sign language to talk. This whole part makes no sense and takes about 30 minutes for everyone to get to "The Congo," but they have to bribe a guard and parachute out of a plane for some reason. Also, the one black guy from Ghostbusters shows up and is in this movie. I fell asleep after that, woke up and read the rest of the plot on Wikipedia. Apparently I slept through the climactic laser fight with the super gorillas at the end. TL:DR - Don't watch Congo, it's bad, and not a cheesy but loveable 90s action flick bad. It's like one of the crappier of the crappy Sci-Fi channel original movies. ...and Paramount "themed" a ride to it. All in all, I think the true theme if Action Zine wasn't movies. Like Congo, the theme was, how poorly can Viacom make something and expect people to buy into it? Congo cost a lot of money and people paid to see it. It wasn't good, but it made money. Much like how Action Zone had cost money and people came to the park to ride some good rides, not "experience" the movies like at other theme parks. The lesson to be learned: Congo Falls theme wasn't "Congo," it was actually "Viacom Corporate Strategy." Edit: This isn't to say Paramount/Viacom didn't do great things for the park, they certainly did and Cedar Fair follows a lot of their "themes" to this day.

Kudos to Don for having to deal with the media this last month with the two smoke related incidents and the power outage. I'm not counting the Banshee incident because that should never been a news story. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Always good to hear about people having a great time at Holiday World!

Maybe a new fence? IndyGuy, running for the door!

Read the book it's 100x better Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi, I don't know if this is the place, but I just wanted to post a bit about my visit on 6/20. I thought the crowds were rather light. I haven't been in a couple of years, but the lines seemed very manageable. We were able to get through pretty much everything we wanted to do with ease and without waiting in any long lines. The only exceptions being Firehawk and FoF which was still closed. Banshee was amazing. I think I have a new favorite. I used to go to KI several times each year, but I've grown up and have responsibilities now and don't live close enough for a quick stop by the park. So I get there maybe once every couple of years. The last couple of times I went Vortex was down. I was excited to ride it on Friday, but I've got one question for everyone... Is it that much rougher now than it used to be or am I just getting old???? I mean, I know I'm older than I used to be, but I rode Vortex and The Beast back to back and The Beast felt like I was riding on a cushion of air after that! The LaRosa's pizza in the Festhaus did not taste like LaRosa's pizza. I think that might have been the worst pizza I've ever had. I realize it is amusement park food, but when I'm looking forward to some LaRosa's and paying that much money, I expect it to at least be better than a doughy, flavorless piece of cardboard. When we ate dinner at the Reds Grille later in the day and got a much better meal for the same price, that really made me upset about my lunch. Lunch for 4 at Festhaus = $40. Dinner for 4 at Reds Grille = $46, including a beer. I'm proud to say that my 4 year old son looks like he's going to be my coaster buddy soon. He was only tall enough to ride Woodstock Express, but he loved it. It was a walk on and I think we probably rode it 8 or 10 times. We rode front row, back row and everywhere in between. He's still talking about getting to ride a "big" roller coaster. All in all, it was a great day, despite the rain shower. It seemed to help cool things down and maybe kept some of the crowds away. We'll definitely make an effort to get back for a day again next year, especially if the kids are tall enough to do more.

If RCDB is to be believed, Intamin has had no major coaster installations in North America over the last 2 seasons. While they have seemingly been busy in Europe and China, I'm sure that is a sore point for the company, and as APE mentioned above, it wouldn't surprise me if they offered a discount to someone to get their product back in the market, so to speak. It would however surprise me if that place was Holiday World given past history. With Kentucky Kingdom having opened back up, the last thing I would think HW would want is a risk that a major coaster would open with delay (which seems to be the norm these days for Intamins).

Okay, for the history lesson required to understand the above two comments... On a quarterly conference call, Dick Kinzel (former CEO of Cedar Fair) essentially played down quality and justified raising food prices throughout the chain on the basis of "people gotta eat." It was probably something that was shared behind closed doors with other former board members and wasn't intended to be said publicly... but was. From the article: Not to put words into Chef Nathan's mouth, but it seems like what he's trying to stress is the importance of quality and value in the food offerings since it's a product that people are most certainly going to purchase.

I was moseying around different amusement park websites and planning imaginary road trips in my head via google maps one slow January afternoon in my communications class. I realized that I had often overlooked Holiday World as a road trip destination, and that I had always wanted to go. I texted my mom right then and told her that the whole family should consider Holiday World for a mini-road trip since they had a big water park and were reasonably priced. My mom feeds my theme park enthusiasm and often tells me my pointless knowledge of coasters and parks "entertains us all," so she agreed to consider a trip out to Santa Claus, Indiana. Fast forward to 6/22 and we are departing for Louisville and then Santa Claus. We wanted to stop at the zoo on the way there, and our whole family even made matching tie-dye shirts for the occasion (my family is a goofy bunch). And hey, look how up close and personal I got with these lorikeets! Holiday World: We arrived at 8:15. Yes, all of us had forgotten that we were in a different time zone and thought it was actually 9:15. But hey, we were first in line to get in. When the gates opened, we headed straight for The Voyage, a coaster that I had been told many times by many enthusiasts that I just NEEDED to ride. However, upon arriving at TV, we were informed that the ride wouldn't be opening until later that day. Slightly crestfallen, we headed to The Legend, or as my younger brother called it, "The One That Only Runs One Train And Takes Forever." We rode front seat. See, I like woodies, so I liked The Legend. Noah wasn't a fan. After checking TV again and finding out it was still closed, we headed to Splashin' Safari. After getting a locker (I LOVE how they handle lockers! The wristband with the barcode on it was very convenient!), we decided to start with Mammoth. I'm not a big fan of water parks and slides, but I must say, Mammoth was great. It was my favorite of all the slides we rode. We went from Mammoth straight to Wildebeest. Wildebeest was fun, too, but the raft made me a little nervous. I liked the big six seater on Mammoth better. We made our way to Zoombabwe until I noticed that The Voyage was running test trains. I excitedly urged a few of my family members to join me. The line was only barely outside the station so the wait was about ten minutes. I noticed Voyage only runs two trains, which makes the wait a little longer than I'm used to with KI's coasters. I waited for the front seat. Voyage was without a doubt the roughest woodie I've ever ridden! Those trains flying past the station aren't an illusion; you truly are flying on this ride. With all the sudden changes in direction and those infamous 90 degree banked turns, Voyage was wild from start to finish. My back, neck, and hip bones are still suffering from those three rides I took, but it was worth it. It was great to finally experience that airtime everyone's been talking about! We were always laughing when we pulled back into the station because of the sheer roughness and intensity of it. I would find myself, a hands up rider, gripping the lapbar for just a tiny bit of stability when the track banked and twisted suddenly. Every time I'd get off, I'd always say, "That was so painful and stressful. I LOVE it." I rode front, toward the back, and toward the front. Front seat was my favorite, and towards the back was impossibly rougher than my rides toward the front. We also rode The Raven, or The Other Ride That Only Runs One Train. Though the ride itself was barely over a minute long, I was pleasantly surprised at how unique and dynamic the track's layout was. Going over the edge of the water was neat, and the woods added to the Poe-esque theme of the coaster. Sometime during our hours at the waterpark, a nasty storm rolled through. I liked how clear the PA announcements were regarding severe weather. The rides closed a total of three times today, all for less than thirty minutes, which was good. During one of these times, my stepsister and I went on the Gobbler, which is essentially Boo Blasters except it's Thanksgiving themed and the cars sit four people. Also, BBOBH doesn't have this creepy old lady in the queue. I should also add that I must be slacking in my HW knowledge. I kept looking around looking for Pilgrim's Plunge. I had to look it up and find out that it was removed. I cringed at how tourist-y that was of me Overall, I loved Holiday World! It was so clean and picturesque. Having only woodies gave it a traditional theme park feel. Free drinks all day was a nice perk as well. Anyway, that's my lengthy spiel about my first trip to Holiday World. I'm writing this on my way home so it definitely could have been more elaborate but I'll spare you all any more of my overflowing enthusiasm.Thanks for reading of you read it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A couple women in my row after riding Banshee: Woman 1: That was even better than the first time we rode it! Woman 2: Yes, and longer! Woman 1: Much longer! Um... it's a coaster, it is the same length as it was the first time you rode it. Glad you enjoyed your ride though!

The same way Diamondback looks this year.... 5 years old and looks 25.

Interesting the point brought up about stuffiness in the Midwest. I lived my entire life in Michigan until last year when I moved to Texas and now I'm in Kentucky. I was in culture shock when I left MI and found people saying hello on the streets and generally being friendly, it's just not something that happens where I'm from. I love my home state but I have to say I love the people here in Kentucky so much more, I don't ever feel like I'm alone and am not afraid to ask someone a question if needed. As for the high fives, I'm not really sure how I feel about it as I am a very shy person but I also love to have a good time, I am pretty claustrophobic so that is usually where I have problems. I see nothing wrong with people/teens being excited about being at the park as long as they aren't trying to start trouble.

Kings Island has some stuff from the movie in the old cinema 360 during one season. It was not to much just some movie props.

One can only hope. Trail of Terror was consistantly one of the best Haunt attractions the park ever had. I like the Dinos, but don't like that it displaced the trail.

Yeah. I doubt this means anything at all. On a side note, I don't really understand why everybody seems to want their home park to install one of these new RMC doohickeys. To me, it just seems blasphemous to modify wooden roller coasters into these weird hybrids. I sincerely hope the whole thing is just a fad. And don't get me started on how apparently the classification of these coasters is based not on the obvious fact that they're hybrids but instead on a certain chain's desire to have record breaking "wooden" coasters. EDIT: Upon further research, there is in fact a difference between RMC's Topper Track and I-Box Track, which I thought were synonymous terms. That being said, I still think Topper Tracked coasters should be considered some degree of hybrids.

Simple metal-sided prefab buildings can be erected in a very short time--see Club Blood.

Posting it along with the caption "What does it mean??!" is clearly meant to egg on enthusiasts and get them brainstorming. *shrug* I certainly don't think it means that, but you can't expect that the purpose of his posting that was for fans to say "Oh, a nice new patio in Frontier Town."

The seat belt could fit three of me and I'm a big boy. 250 pounds. The lap bar is what to make sure you fit with.

Yeah, not a good movie. Novel (which is pretty good) was written by the fella behind Jurassic Park and Lost World, though, so I'm sure that was the intention... A Jurassic Park-sized triumph. Whoops. Even with Drop Zone and Face/Off, Congo might be the most "in name only" moment in Action Zone haha.

^ True. I tend to get a lot more fun out of a ride when somebody near me is screaming their head off.

Some black sand with some glass nuggets, and an animatronic ape would have completed the theming. I saw it in Auburn Maine, early in the afternoon about a month after it was released. (Interesting note (maybe?): I was already a little depressed after someone in the row behind us announced the death of painter Bob Ross (one of my heroes), which happened that week, so I was a bit distracted anyway; however, by about the time the ultra-fake-looking lava started chasing the antagonists... to ... wherever, people literally started getting up out of their seats to go watch something else. My friend and I stayed, and just MST3K'd the remainder of the film, to the delight of a couple of old ladies who found our running commentary (esp. my friends') more entertaining than the film. One example: "Who dares disturb the temple of crystal paperweights?!" Ah, good times.

Just to report, I am down to 246 and loving my night rides on The Beast. Been to the park four times this season and have rode everything. I might have to start singing the happy song.

How scary a ride is changes dramatically whether you are next to a silent pre-teen girl or a grown man screaming in terror. Even if you're in the same seat each ride. Thanks for the added thrill, guy

After that were The Cadets. I love this corp's strong, crisp sound. Last year I got to watch them rehearse at a nearby high school but this was the first time I've seen them actually perform. Their show, "Promise: An American Portrait," had a mix or narratives and song, which sort of reminded me of my band's competition show 2 years ago. It was very well done and I enjoyed it. More to come!

I agree about the LaRosa's pizza in the park, the quality is not even close to the restaurants. I used to love it when I was a kid at the park, but I'm thinking that might of been because I was young and it was grouped with the excitement of being at Kings Island. And saying that LaRosa's pizza isn't good is subjective, some people think some foods taste good, others don't, all a matter of personal opinion on taste. But the LaRosa's in the park is definitely not same as the outside, but it is at least better than the LaRosa's at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Woodwinds. Drum Corps are typically only percussion and brass.

Delirium is my favorite! But I never knew that MaXair had more spins per cycle, cool. I remember the year it opened I went with my friend. As we were headed to the park, she told me how much she wanted to ride Delirium, and I said "No, thank you!" however, once we got there and stood before it, she became the hesitant one, and I became the eager one. anyway, we got on, and ended up both loving it. It can LOOK menacing, but it's bark is worse than it's bite. I find myself agreeing with the swingset comments. I love that tickle feeling from either facing the sky during the highest peak, or facing down to the ground. Have you tried the Skyflier ride by chance? When i tried that one, I found myself comparing it to a horizontal Delirium, lol. Anyway, if you're feeling up to it, maybe you can give it a try. If you don't like it, the ride cycle isn't too long, and you can get off and never do it again if you don't want to.

People gatta eat.

WHIOtv was the first to break the news "on the scene" which means one of their employees happened to be there with their iPhone 4s.

Trees help the environment. They also give The Beast new places to hide. ThatGuy, a treehugger.

Really? Midwest stuffy? Try Atlanta or the Northeast. Or even Los Angeles. That's stuffy.Try open social interaction with random strangers in New England. Let me know how THAT goes. I was going to say something like this, too. I've found the Midwest to be one of the friendlier areas in the country that I've been to, with the South being the only friendlier area I can think of right now. (Of course, I'm from the Midwest, so perhaps I'm a little biased.) The only exception to this that I've experienced is the western Pennsylvania area, and especially Erie. (No offense, Browntggr!) The times I've visited Erie recently, I think just about everyone I've met has been really unfriendly.On the subject of high fives in line: one of my friends is a germaphobe, so I understand the aversion to high fiving random strangers. Like others have said, you're going to experience other people's germs at an amusement park whether you want to or not; people touch EVERYTHING there. Think about it. For me, it brightens my day a little to high five people, so I'm always down for a high five if someone offers. Pennsylvania isn't in the Midwest.BB7, who knows his geography. I'm not really saying all of Pennsylvania is in the Midwest--just the western part of it, including Pittsburgh and Erie. In my opinion, that area has more in common with the Midwest than it does the East.

Interesting, the Bluecoats always practice at Denison University, the college in the town that I live in. (Granville, OH). In fact, they just left on Friday, most likely to go to this! Anyways, great trip report, enjoyed reading it and looking at the pictures.

I wear my glasses on all rides WITH a strap. Don't buy the ones in the park they are crap. Walmart, Target, Dicks Sporting Goods all have good straps. As Terp said Croakies are best. They are like $12 and SO worth it! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I closed the other topic so you can have your questions and answers consolidated. I think I'm understanding what you're asking. As others have stated, asking us what rides will be down is like asking us what the weather will be like. Anyone can make a prediction, but no one knows for sure. Some parks (in the past) closed rides one day per week for rehab, that's actually true. Kings Island does not. June 30th is about a week away, so we really don't know what the situation will be with Shake Rattle & Roll, Viking Fury, Flight of Fear, etc. Hopefully they'll be back in action. A week is like a lifetime to a theme park this time of year, so I'm sure they're doing everything they can to get them open. Will they be open in a week? One can hope, but not guarantee. As far as weather is concerned, never in my many years of visiting Kings Island have I seen the rides closed for more than a few hours during rain. They open them as soon as it is safe. Again, it's in the park's best interest to do so. They're not making money off you if you get fed up and leave in the early afternoon, right? As I'm sure you're aware, rain storms are very common in the Cincinnati area during this time of year. It's almost daily. Today at the park, the sky opened up and we had the heaviest rain I'd seen in a while... people were taking cover, rides were stopped. Less than a half hour later the sun was back out and everyone was back to having the best day ever. Days where it's predicted to rain are sometimes the best ones to visit. It can sometimes keep the crowds away, so you can get more rides in during your visit. You asked which rides close during rain: the answer is "it depends" but that's a flexible statement. The reality is pretty much all of them close. They do open in stages, as it seems, as the storm passes. It seems like flat rides (non-coasters) open, followed by wood, then steel coasters. Don't take that to heart, because I don't know what their actual procedure is, but that's just what I've observed. With that said, have an awesome visit! Make sure you write a Trip Report under that heading and tell us all about it!

Last I heard, earlier today, FoF was down. I'm going to the park tomorrow, and I will post about its status once I know it, probably in the "current wait times" thread.

I only keep a count of roller coasters that I didn't have any fun on at all. (Other than keeping a spreadsheet of coasters I've ridden, which by default, gives me a count of that too) So far there is one. Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland. Combine headbanging that makes Vortex and Invertigo seem as tame as Boo Blasters with an entry path longer than Kings Island's former Flight Deck and a completely dime-a-dozen, lackluster layout, and you have a coaster that I just didn't enjoy at all. I want to Erase my Mind of that entire experience, in fact. It's odd, too, because there are other coasters of the same make, model, and even track layout that I have found to be quite enjoyable. But that one is especially bad for some unknown reason.. I would sooner marathon Time Warp for an entire day than give that horrible instrument of torture another go, even once... And Time Warp is easily my second least favorite coaster of all time.

Mr. Dick Kinzel would be so very proud.

Amen. That show probably begat the dismissal of a gentleman which begat the Apollo proposal which begat Mr. Geoffrey Raynor and Q who begat the hiring of Mr. Matt Ouimet and the eventual retirement of His Excellency Lord CEO and Chairman and President and Ruler of All He Surveyed Who Must Not Be Questioned. Thank goodness for that inane, horrid show that Mr. K loved so much. Thanks to it, KI's fun again.

The Sheriff twirls 'em, holsters 'em, gets back on his horse, and rides!

Or 1716 UTC or GMT ...for us old folk.

Yesterday with the power outage and staying open late then today is being a friend cheap day... What a weekend for all of the employees...

With how people drive on 675, every successful drive down that thing is a reason to celebrate. I HATE 675.

As I often say, KI was there first. People who bought a house around the park knew it was there when purchasing their home; and have no room to complain about noise.

Flight of Fear really misses Son of Beast huh?

What if they are just figuring out where they will plant trees? ThatGuy, who just had to go be that guy.

I can only say it seems to be a permanent structure being built. But I think a wooded haunt would be cool. Who knows what will happen here. Well someone knows. Lol. Maybe we can get a better look during The Beast tour at the Big Bang Banshee event? Sent from a signal coming out of the Vega system.

From KI Twitter page Kings Island @KingsIslandPR Hmmm. https://twitter.com/KingsIslandPR/status/480407440232419328

I'm glad to hear you liked Paramount Parks. Terp, who just HAD to (and did, at several levels).

I'll take the "nuisance" of extra security over not enough security 10 times out of 10.