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So, I recently moved to Columbus for a new job (my first post-college, big boy job. *takes a bow*) and have had a chance to really get to explore COSI, the absolutely incredible world-class science center here in downtown. Brief history: COSI was originally a small, local, family / children's museum in Columbus. In 1999, it re-opened in a brand new, state-of-the-art facility on the bend in the Scioto River along downtown Columbus. The purpose of the move was to create in COSI a world-class science center. And I mean, world class. The idea was to be on par with Tokyo's Miraikan, Medizintechnick Berlin, etc. Designed by famous artist / architect Arata Isozaki, the building is just unbelievably incredible. From downtown, it's disguised with the remains of the city's old Central High School as a tribute to the history of the city. If you can believe it, the other side of the building is a 320,000 sq. foot futuristic structure (which I compare to a blimp hangar) made of 159 curved concrete panels. Architecture and math fans will get a kick out of the odd statistics of the West facade. So, from the city, the museum is a testament to the past. Approaching from the neighborhood of Franklinton, it's a statement of the future. A really, really cool juxtaposition right off The Bat (and you all know how I love that kind of thing / stories / details). Most science centers I've been to are simply large levels filled with fun experiments (green screens, bubble walls, piano floors, tornado machines, etc). COSI is different. It has this crazy Epcot-like mentality of having pavilions themed to different topics. You enter under the gold cylinder in the photo above into a three-story atrium with two levels crossing overhead on bridges. Two very long, high hallways split off from that atrium and flow down the length of the "blimp hangar." Just long, white walls with white vertical lights. Along those long hallways, you suddenly see... oh, I don't know, a shipwreck bursting halfway through the wall. That is the entrance to the Ocean exhibit. Like a freakin' theme park, COSI has massive themed atrium themed to seven topics that, when combined, make up "science." Ocean Entering through that shipwreck, guests step into an underwater cavern. The path branches. To the right is an exploratory submarine called the DMS Poseidon, full of hands-on exhibits that discuss the factual exploration of the ocean - how submarines work, how diving suits work, watersheds, piloting remote subs, pressure readings, and ecosystems (above). Back in the underwater cavern, the path to the left branches into the underwater Temple of Poseidon (presided over by a massive statue of the god and a shining gold halo behind him) where hands-on experiments deal with the fantasy of water - the incredible things it can do, how it feels, how it looks, etc. You'll find water bells, laminar flow cannons, waterfalls, erosion, and whirlpool activities as well as ancient fish statues (you can see one in the bottom left in the photo above) that spit laminar flow streams into the ceiling, where they disappear without a single drop falling back down). If you have an Instagram, you'll Instagram this room. You just have to. Progress How obvious and simple and yet brilliant is it to consider "Progress" an element of science? It really is. Here, you enter into the small town of Progress, USA in 1898 (so, set a few years before Disney's Main Street, where electricity and gas lamps still co-mingle). The town of progress has shops you can step into, a post office, a telegram office, grocery stores, etc. The town itself is on the crossroads of Hope Street and Fear Street as you explore the hopes and fears of the era, which are inseparable elements of progress and change. Then, you turn the corner and enter into the SAME town in 1962, which is 64 years later. Now there's a diner, and the department store has certainly changed its offerings. The telegram office has become a television news studio, etc. But along with a new era come new hopes and fears. The exhibit ends by asking "What would the streets of Progress look like today? What would be YOUR hopes and fears? What would your grandchildren think of the town of Progress in 2014?" Life Life is divided into sections dedicated to Mind, Body, and Spirit. Mind is full of brain teasers and hands-on exhibits that show that you can't overpower your brain's reflexes. Spirit discusses life and death, our conception of both, and the way we memorialize. Body contains fitness tests that allow you to compare your statistics (resting and active heart rates, flexibility, and strength) to national averages. The exhibit also contains Labs rented out by OSU faculty who partner with COSI and visiting programs right in front of guests. Space The final frontier, right? Space has been relocated a few times as COSI went through some difficult financial issues in the 2000s. Today it's the only exhibit that doesn't have its own giant themed atrium. When it DID, it was a crazy cool retro spaceport under the stars with one of those dizzying, spinning tubes as its entry. Today it's just a collection of exhibits along the mezzanine. This fall, COSI is re-opening its Planetarium (which is actually located in the big external gold cylinder... it closed during those tough years, and is now ready to re-open with your help) that should revitalize the exhibit or at least earn it its own official atrium again. Gadgets Gadgets contains probably the most "typical" science center stuff. This is where guests can play with lasers, floating foam balls, plasma-globes, chaotic pendulums, cogs, pulleys, pistons, transmission, circuits, light bulbs, etc. There's also a tiny little theatre that plays "how it's made" videos for things like automobiles, ice cream, etc that are really fun to watch and just a few minutes long. There's also the wonderful Gadget Cafe where you're given a menu of experiments (like invisible ink, mini-volcanoes, etc) and choose an appetizer, entree, and dessert to build or work on. A lot of fun. If you're a tech person, they also have old computers, phones, and household accessories to take apart and try to put back together. Energy The Energy exhibit is new. When walking in, you select an avatar and carry the card with you as you travel to the Home Zone, Product Zone, and Transportation Zone. At each, you place your avatar card into kiosks and answer questions about how to save energy given your character's back story. In the Home Zone, you walk around the home and look for "Energy Vampires" – household items that use power even when not in use. In the Transportation Zone, you can fuel up four cars with gasoline, natural gas, ethanol, electricity, and hydrogen and see which goes the farthest on $25 worth of fuel. You can also have two people "race" to the store - one by running in place on a sensor, and one by riding a stationary bike. Energy is totally interactive and a lot of fun to explore. Adventure I could (and may) go on and on about how unbelievably brilliant it is that COSI has deemed "adventure" an element of science, right alongside study of the oceans or space or life. Instead, I'll just tell you briefly what this is all about. Adventure is an add-on experience ($3.00, I believe, on top of general admission) where guests "live out" the scientific method. One group at a time is brought into an Indiana-Jones style outpost in the mysterious and ancient Valley of the Unknown. Set in 1937, the Adventure exhibit centers on a most peculiar element of the Valley of the Unknown recently discovered by the intrepid members of the Explorer's Society: the towering two-story stone Observatory at the island's center. Supposedly, the Treasure of Knowledge is contained within. No one knows, because the Observatory is sealed shut. The only way into the observatory is to awaken four stone statues hidden on the island, each of whom has one piece of a four-part code. P'lunk is the Spirit of Questions, who starts you on your quest. Then you - at your own pace - explore the island (in perpetual nighttime) and awaken Ba'ra'zoa in the Maze of Reason (where you must use reason to unlock his secrets), L'lala in the Temple of Inspiration (where you must think outside the box to bring her to life), and T'em-poa in the Caverns of Perseverence (where you must endure three physical challenges, each of which you may lose and need to try again... Get it?). Only once you've collected all four pieces of the code can you unlock the Observatory. It takes about an hour to unlock the Observatory in Adventure. What I've just recently learned is that there is a 'level 2' of the exhibit that takes 15 - 20 hours of work to complete. You end up plugging different codes into keypads where the island Spirits send you to new places. I won't say more in case anyone here is interested, but suffice it to say that once you unlock the Observatory, one of the island's guardians tells you that the code you used to unlock the tower has other meanings... Believe it, and check the ancient stone outside the Observatory's bridge. Conclusion The point is, if you've never considered a trip up to Columbus to visit COSI, think about it. It's very sincerely like a theme park for nerds (and I mean that lovingly, of course). If you're into science, it's the place to be. If you're into themed environments, architecture, museums, science centers, or storytelling, it's unbelievable. I'm blown away by Adventure. You will be, too, if you like that sort of thing. It's just sort of incomprehensible that all of this is at a science center. It's so unlike any other in the world. http://cosi.org/

Current wait time for all rides: 4 days and 15 hours, give or take a few minutes. Where has this season gone?

All these games are rigged in favor of the operator. The only way to win is not play.

Thinking the box of cell phones needs to be replaced with this sign. Enjoy. Sent from my iPhone using Taptalk

Oh they should do like Walmart on Black Friday. Just wheel out the pizza and hot dogs out on pallets say once an hour and let people fight for them. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Must see:

The only problem I see with this ride is the fact that you will have to deal with the staff and clientele at Carowinds in order to ride it!

I'll take advantage of the $1 deals... I mean... why not? But yeah, Dollar Days is prime people watchin' season.

Never utter those words here again!

Rome, Ohio. Paris and Athens? Kentucky. Or Ohio. Georgia... You've been Terped.

Ugh, as if I needed a reminder that jerks are jerks and idiots are idiots. I was waiting for Diamondback, in my favorite row. I got in line behind a couple pairs waiting in that row. When I got to the front of the gate to wait for next train (with a couple other sets behind me), two girls who had gotten into the next row toward the front of the train asked if I would "switch with those boys back there." I wasn't even able to tell who they meant at first, because the boys didn't seem to give a crap if they rode together with the girls or not. I could tell the girls were really annoyed I told them no, which apparently isn't a response they're used to getting. Seriously, as a single rider I try to be loose about making things easier for others, and will comply with most requests that make things easier for groups, but these girls' plan was going to shuffle around five pairs of riders (the boys, two pairs behind them, two pairs behind me) and me, all just before our train was ready to load. It made very little sense except being the outrageous late request posited by these girls. It's not as though it was a power hour, there was plenty of time to organize an arrangement (one that didn't inconvenience anyone else) before that moment. So anyway, we get on and they're radiating hate at me, and the boys are paying little attention to them. Halfway up the lift hill, surprise, surprise, out comes the phone to take selfies, and it stays out until the last brake run. Fortunately I didn't get it in the face, although I was hoping she'd drop it in a non-injuring fashion. A police officer (black uniform security) came up the exit ramp when we were still sitting there behind the station, and I had an insane hope he was coming for her because they had seen it on the cameras and actually take it seriously. No such luck, he left again before we even got in the station, and I couldn't find any security after I got off. I checked the photos, but she had concealed it behind her other arm during the shots, so I had no proof other than my word anyway. Sometimes people really steam me.

For me personally, my in-park spending dropped to basically zero, but not because of the dining plan. Before that, I would pack a lunch and eat in the car or leave for Taco Bell. Banshee's requiring a locker for loose articles is what brought my spending to zero. I used to bring my souvenir cup and drink lots of soda. Now, when faced with the option of stow the cup in a locker at $2 (or more) per use, walk back to my car and put it there, or just get free water, I elected for water. Not having soda on the meal plan has also more or less eliminated my desire to drink soda at the park period. So, uh, thanks for not having bins on Banshee, Kings Island. You make the line move faster, make me spend less money, and keep me somewhat healthier

Spaceship Earth is often overlooked. Not as "retro cool" as Epcot's lost dark rides (World of Motion, Journey into Imagination, Horizons, etc) and too dated to be a headliner. Wrong wrong wrong. Put simply, Spaceship Earth is one of the best dark rides on the planet. It's still around for a reason. It's the thesis statement for Epcot (especially as it was originally envisioned) and just wonder-ful.

Some pics I took through the windows of the arcade haunt. There's some sort of dummy on a table you can see from one end of the arcade, and a vehicle on the other end.

08.28.2014

Lots of great photos in here. Amazing attention to detail. I love Disney... http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2014/07/behind-scenes-at-epcots-spaceship-earth.html

I'm confused, primarily because of the use of a capital "o" instead of a zero in the topic's title. Intentional, no doubt.

Kings Island has TONS of room. Nothing needs to be removed for anything else, despite us losing a few classics with that as the cited reason. If Cedar Point isn't landlocked, then Kings Island DEFINITELY isn't.

More "do" than say... An Infiniti fought a no parking sign. Similar to one of these, with the concrete base Aftermath:

The sounds of the game ops heckling me to play these games are etched into my brain. Yeah, heckle me to win a prize for my daughter only for me to lose because you have to be "in the know" of where to hit the hammer on the platform and make my daughter feel disappointed. Doesn't seem like the best way to promote the #KIBestDay.

If anyone is trying to decide about the all you can eat picnic, the food is pretty good. I especially like the chicken. Everything tastes better than what they served at the Coaster Crew Banshee Bash earlier this year. And they have the same yummy chocolate chip cookies they served us during the fireworks at that event. BBoBH was less than 5 min wait at 2:30 or so.

Ah, Dollar Days on Labor Day weekend. It sounds like that will be a great weekend for a visit to Kennywood!

Check your geography. Paris, Athens, and Rome can all be found within the borders of the state of Ohio. EDIT: Beaten.

http://www.vice.com/read/the-worst-part-of-the-ice-bucket-challenge-is-the-people-criticizing-it-822 Previously, I agreed with Devan on this. Now, I think I've changed my mind. Whether you support or criticize the Ice Bucket Challenge, give this article a read. It discusses the disease itself a little, including how it progresses, what it takes to diagnose it, and why there's so little research into it, as well as talking about the critics of the challenge and why they're wrong (and why those that dump ice water on themselves without donating aren't completely wrong). Make sure to read all the way to the last sentence, then re-read the article with that last sentence in mind. Then think about it for a bit.

or they dropped someone off and was driving and texting - in my unscientific study one day when I had to park out near the entrance and make that long walk, 3 out of 4 cars passed me in the lot driving and texting. Really!!! Drives me nuts.

I always love your excitement for architecture and themed experiences, goodyellowkorn. You usually make me want to visit places that aren't even on my radar, and this one is no different. I haven't been to COSI since likely before 1999, so I'm obviously due for a visit. I'll have to get back soon! On a related note: have you visited the Columbus Zoo recently? Maybe it's my lack of visits to a Busch Gardens, Universal, or Disney park speaking, but I think the zoo's Heart of Africa and Islands of Southeast Asia areas are absolutely breathtaking. Family with whom I visited Africa agree with me when I say that Heart of Africa is surprisingly close to visiting a real nature park like Kruger Park. The best way I can describe Islands of Southeast Asia is to say that I would entirely expect Tomb Raider: The Ride to be tucked away around some corner, and it would not feel out-of-place at all (which is and isn't why I love it, haha. ) I could seriously spend hours in those areas. I think you might like them. EDIT: I totally don't mean to derail the topic with talk of the Columbus Zoo, haha. I think your trip report was awesome--I just don't have any questions or anything to add to it! It's that good!

I loved COSI as it existed when I was in middle/high school (I graduated in '94). I had no idea what it had become. I seriously need to plan a trip!

Awesome report! I honestly had no idea this place even existed.

It seems to have sped up a bit for me. I don't know about you guys but it was taking about 45 seconds to load a page but now it is down to 25. (note that I have bad internet connection where I am right now) EDIT: The slowness has stopped for me. Now down to less than 5 seconds with full bars of Wi-Fi.

We are all different people. I'm also the type that, when engrossed in deep thought in my cube, a mere spoken word can make me jump nearly through my skin. I was the same way at 2, 22 and 42. Thanks, but no thanks. I've been known to go to Williamsburg's Boo Fest wearing a suit and tie. That made me quite scare-immune. Hmmmm.

I'm sorry. Terp, who won't be ravin' about voyages, legend or not.

We went on dollar days last year. They were charging $1 a slice, yet a full pizza was still, $27. ? Of course the slices were a third the normal size. This year they are throwing BAF in the mix, no thanks. We will be taking a voyage instead.

The crowds on Dollar Days will be at Walmart on Black Friday. (Princess Sparkles and I are at Walmart on Black Friday.) I think there is a connection there that explains a whole lot. However, Walmart on Black Friday brings people watching to new heights, at times frightening ones.

We were there Friday and last night and the crowds were very light on the dry side. Crowds picked up after Soak City closed last night. This obviously does not mean today will be light, with the heat that is in the forecast I will hope the crowds will be on the wet side during the bulk of the day. There is a thread for current wait times. I will try to post there today during the open hours, not a final update 8 minutes after the park closes. [emoji3]

Technically all but one were still in the park waiting on The Beast. He could have met us at the gate. I will hope he has more to do with his life than that.. (Unlike us. OhioColts was in the town I live yesterday with his dad, we showed up just to say hello. He was 6 blocks away and didn't think we would really show up.) I know we will be there again today. Nochicken and MrsNoChicken will be there. The drawing for the car is at 7:00 tonight for anyone who wants to see that.

I'm glad you said that. Given my deserved reputation as no fan of Boo Fests*, I didn't want to be the one who did. I totally agree. (*Particularly since 11 September 2001...there''s enough fright from unexpected events in life...the strangest\saddest\oddest weekend of my park life was spent the following weekend at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, where several close friends\employees had lost family members but bravely were trying to soldier on...I had considered passing...I'm glad I didn't. The black bunting which had been planned to be used for Fright Fest was quickly largely replaced by American flags....)

It's okay. Kinzel Jr's gone.

Last Monday, August 18th, my mom and I decided to head to the park one last time before school started. We arrived around 9:15 and went for Maverick to get in a little early entry riding. We got 2 early entry rides in (first in the back, then in the front), and there still wasn’t a line so we rode again in the back. It was 10:15 and it still only had a station wait, whereas on a previous trip, the line was already halfway in the queue house by this time. We hoped this would be a sign that the day wouldn’t be too busy…it ended up not being too bad, but still fairly crowded. We took our time up to Dragster and in total waited about an hour/hour and 15 minutes including waiting for the front row. I love the convenience Platinum Passes give you, since it allows you not to be rushed. I love being able to wait for specific rows like the front or back, since it doesn’t matter if I have to wait an extra 20 minutes. I will always go Platinum. Next was Millennium, and we ended up waiting about as long as Dragster, again for the front row. I just love the view you get from the front on this coaster. The smell of Panda Express while waiting in line was making us hungry, so we decided to get some lunch there next. I got my usual, the bowl with half-and-half fried rice/noodles, and the orange chicken. I really do love this place, considering it’s fast food. Good quality and tasty. It was nice and relaxing sitting down, people watching, and enjoying the park’s atmosphere. Plus it’s fun watching all the little birds fly around and even come right up to you looking for crumbs. After this, we ran into a good problem. We didn’t know what we wanted to do. Not a big coaster or ride yet after just eating, so we decided to take our time and walked through Frontier Trail. We stopped for a while at the Barnyard and enjoyed the animals. One of the little goats escaped twice, so that was pretty funny. We decided to go on Skyhawk next, after watching Snake River Falls for a little bit. At the time, still only the 1 arm was running and we waited about 15 minutes. Had a great ride as usual, although I still wish the ride cycle was longer. Since we couldn’t remember the last time we stopped into the Town Hall Museum, we decided to pop in for a little bit. We didn’t plan on staying long, maybe just a couple minutes, but this turned out to be my favorite part of the day. We started off just exploring through everything set up. I honestly think I’ve only ever been in there once, and it was a long time ago so it fun seeing all the memorabilia. After about 15 minutes, an employee named Kenneth came over just to see how we were doing and asked if we had any questions. We ended up talking with him for the next half hour! He was really nice and I could tell he took great pride in his job and Cedar Point. Basically, he said that he’s the “curator” for the museum. He knows everything about the park’s history and loves sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm. He also said he’s had that job for the past 14 years. We got to talking how much I also love the park and coasters and how I one day hope to get into the industry. I think since he could tell my mom and I were pretty much coaster geeks, he spent a lot of time with us talking about the park and the museum. Eventually we got on the topic of the museum itself. This is where things got really cool and interesting. He said that when Ouimet first went through the museum when he came to Cedar Fair, he was thoroughly disappointed. Not with the concept of the museum itself, but just what it was like, such as appeal and what is displayed. So Kenneth started working with the Planning and Design team to help come up with a plan to renovate and revamp the museum. He told us that it is by no means definitely going to happen, but there are some plans for it—and Ouimet realizes that the museum needs some TLC. First off, the museum would get all new floors and ceilings. No more “school cafeteria” (as he called them) drop tiles and old, mismatched floor tiles. Also, he said that there is so much more park memorabilia in storage that isn’t even out in the museum, and he feels like there is a lot potential for new displays. He also said that many current items in the museum aren’t even related to the park. For example, the entire general store shelves/display at the front of the museum has nothing to do with Cedar Point. Mixed in might be a few park items, but most of it has no relation. Also, the fire engine and Sandusky Clock don’t relate to the park. They may be cool, but again…the museum is supposed to be a Cedar Point museum, not a Sandusky museum. So all of these unrelated items would be removed, and replaced with a plethora of new Cedar Point related items that are currently away in storage. He also explained to us that along the right wall as you enter the museum, there would be a series of U shaped alcoves. Each alcove would represent a time period. For example, the first one when you enter would be the history of Sandusky and the park’s property before it even existed, and it would make references to the War of 1812, in which battles were fought near the peninsula. Then as you progress through the alcoves, they would take you all the way up to the present day. This is another issue Kenneth has with the current museum, everything pretty much ends with the 1970s. He said that’s when the museum was opened, so pretty much everything from the 70s on is not included in it. The main desk area would be moved to the middle of the museum, so it wouldn’t be cornered off and secluded like it currently is. It would be circular and would be spacious enough for several employees to be working there at the same time. He pretty much told us all of the plans he and the P&D department have been working on, including what types of displays there would be as well as where everything would be located. He really has an incredible vision for the museum, and hopefully it will come to fruition in the near future. Hopefully the museum could also be advertised more. He said he does take a head count of people who enter, and roughly 10% of an average day’s park visitors will stop inside the museum. When you think about it, that’s a decent amount, but not nearly as many as there should be. However, Kenneth did say that a big reason why so much non-related CP is still in the museum and why the renovation is still not confirmed is due to ownership issues. For example, a lot of the memorabilia has been donated by people…some of them can still be traced back to and returned…but there are no records for many items. And with the fire engine, it is only 1 of I believe 3 left in the world. Would the park just try to sell it to some random person? Try to track down where they received it from? Give it somewhere else? There are so many issues and problems with many of these items, so this is what’s holding them back. But hopefully everything can be worked out, so the renovation plans can move forward. At this point, I’d much rather have TLC put into this museum rather than a new ride. Big, brand new thrills are great, but it is little park details like this museum that really creates the world’s best amusement park. I’d highly recommend checking out the Town Hall Museum the next time you go to the Point (it’s near Skyhawk, in case you’re wondering.) Cool off in the AC, enjoy some really cool park memorabilia, and say hi to Kenneth. I’m sure he’d be happy talking to more people about his love of the park and his job. Next we wanted to get back on some more rides, but first stopped by SlingShot. We watched for about 20 minutes before riding Gemini , which had a 15 minute wait. We rode the red train and unfortunately lost, but only barely. We sat in the 2nd to back, as to not sit on a wheel seat, and we had a smooth, airtime filled ride. I forget how much fun the back is on this coaster. Add in the headchoppers, and this is a classic coaster that I will always love. We decided to ride it again, this time on separate trains. I rode the blue and my mom rode the red. This time we sat in the 2nd to front seat. Had another fun ride, but I definitely like riding near the back better. As for who won, neither of us were sure. Both trains pulled into the brake run and stopped at the same time, so it was a tie. Following this was a 10 minute wait for the ejector seat on Magnum, and it was as crazy as always. I never get bruises from this ride, which is a good thing (although you shouldn’t even have to be saying things like that). Overall I still love this coaster. We started walking toward the front of the park and stopped by Power Tower on our way. Only 1 side of both launch and drop were running, my guess is due to staffing. Kids are going back to college, so they probably didn’t have enough employees to run all towers. The park was plenty busy enough to run all 4, since we waited almost a half hour. It was fun though, and we rode the drop side. We faced the beach and had a great view. Next was Gatekeeper in the back right after a 20/30 minute wait. Then after a 45 minute wait, we were in the back row on Dragster. It was time to get a snack, so we took advantage of the Platinum Pass deal at Happy Friar. Chili cheese fries, regular fries (with vinegar!), and 2 drinks all for under $8. We walked over and sat on the planters near SlingShot and watched it some more. Then we went out to our car to get the Coastermania jackets we brought, since it was starting to get a little cool. It was about 9:15 and I wanted to go on WindSeeker. It’s an incredible night ride, and I really need to ride it more often. It’s the only spinny ride I can go on without making me feel bad, and I really love it. Then after this, we headed over to Millennium to get our last ride. We waited about 45 minutes, and in line we saw a family we knew so we said hi. Once in the station, we got in the front row line even though we knew we wouldn’t get on the front since there weren’t too many people in line behind us. We just wanted to wait it out to try to get on the last train of the night. Sure enough, we ended up getting to ride near the back on the last train. It’s such an awesome way to end a great day at the park. There were definitely lots of bugs, and on our evening Dragster ride, people in the front seat were coming off completely covered with bugs. One guy’s entire face was covered. It was gross but hilarious. In total we got in 14 rides for what we called our “last days of summer” trip. Both my mom and I had a blast. Goat selfie! I love Skyhawk. I had a great "ride" on Gemini in the Town Hall Museum! Giant Wheel at night is so cool.

Having to have its reputation tarnished by being involved with Tombstone Terror-Tory is a very unfortunate disservice that has been done to our lovely train. Normally I have no real qualms with the mazes. They're not my cup of tea, but people like them, so live and let live. Tombstone Terror-Tory robs me of two of my favorite rides in the park and in exchange we get one of the sorriest attempts at a "maze" I've ever seen. A linear path with fog so thick you can't see two inches in front of your face isn't even remotely a maze. The only thing it is, is annoying.

Longer train rides means longer naps for me. I'm all for it!

I love people watching on Dollar Days. It has a tendency to bring out families that do not get out too often. Princess Sparkles is thrilled she gets pizza at the park. Yay! It isn't Taco Bell.

So, 8 minutes AFTER the park closes... I see how that works.

I remember when u used to get a Coke cup smaller than what a regular size is.

$19.99 Bring A Friend for Gold/Platinum Pass Holders was included in the handout they gave me at the South Tolls.

Just step on the cable coming out of the back of where the hammer is supposed to land.

The High Striker game actually has very little to do with strength. There is a technique to it, just like all of the games at an amusement park. Though I have never seen a winner at Kings Island on that game in particular, I have seen a winner on the version at Cedar Point (which as far as I can tell is the same as ours).

Say what you want about me but I feel that it brings less mannered, more rude patrons who normally would skip the park; AKA cheap skates and those looking for the next best thing to a hand out who splurge because they can. With that said I'm sure there are some good people who cannot otherwise afford to spend much money at all in the park and may come rarely if ever. It could be their family's biggest event of the year. Because of that, it's a great idea but the mob mentality around the deals makes it a no go for me.

We and all things are composed of atoms, so essentially everything is everything... *shuts door on way out...

And Woodstock Express just a smaller Racer or Beast (Beastie?)

Two words: Canada's Wonderland. -30-