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Just a random observation but we were at KI on Friday and I don't know if someone finally fixed the guns or if we were just weirdly lucky, but we rode Boo Blasters 4 times in a row in different cars each time and every one of the guns worked. We usually just figure out which is the least crappy gun and I let my daughter use it and I watch, but we were both able to get really high scores which is why she made me ride it 4 times. It was the first time all season it didn't feel lame.

If any park is going to make a game non-winnable (Im not saying any are or arent, but everyone knows my thoughts on money grabs, which is why you wont ever see me playing said games), PLEASE let it be any of the ones that give those infernal basketballs as prizes.

Never mind, I should have grabbed a screenshot. At the bottom of that page, was a link to the rides, the picture for that section was of Diamondback. Edit: Still had the page opened

Like shark said, it's important to note that Blackfish is put together very well, and is a captivating documentary. However, especially with news outlets with as much clout as the New York Times, you would think the reviewer would take the time to investigate the other side of the story as well. SeaWorld does need to take some of the blame though, or at least the PR team. While the facts in the documentary may not be accurate, SeaWorld and 42West (the PR agency SeaWorld hired) did a terrible job of presenting their information, and made it far too easy for the film makers to respond. What does SeaWorld do in response? They haven't completely accepted the fact that their awful financial situation is due in part to Blackfish. What do they need to do? I believe SeaWorld is stepping in the right direction with expanding its tanks, but a 2018 completion date may be too little too late. I think that, if possible, SeaWorld needs to move up that completion date. I also believe that SeaWorld needs to take responsibility for Blackfish, and show their publics what they are doing in order to make the orcas lives better. While the larger environments are a good step, a news release is not going to be picked up by the mainstream media (and more importantly, read by Blackfish supporters) unless Blackfish is brought up. Essentially SeaWorld needs to say "We've heard your voices, now here's how we're trying to help." I also believe SeaWorld needs to center its focus on the many many things the park does for marine life, including its animal rescues, efforts in the BP oil spill, etc. I could go on and on... Also, this Rick Munarriz article is a great read from a PR standpoint of what SeaWorld should do http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/04/08/4-things-that-seaworld-can-do-to-turn-things-around/ And another interesting article from the Washington Post, but this is a different conversation for a different time http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2014/08/19/after-blackfish-seaworld-hurt-financially-but-keeps-up-political-spending/

As many of you know, I finally made my first visit out to Holiday World this past Saturday and Sunday both to enjoy all the park has to offer and because of their annual Holiday World Rocks The World Christian Music Festival on Saturday. Since I was already staying overnight on Saturday, I took the advice of others here and made a trip to the park on Sunday as well. (Note: I'm writing this TR at work. Pictures will follow when I get home later tonight). I left here Saturday morning around 8:30 and arrived at Holiday World a few hours later. The drive itself was rather uneventful, save for some heavy fog around the Verona area in Kentucky and the construction in Louisville, which wasn't any worse than what's going on here on I-75 right now. Following the signs, I parked in the Legend lot and was surprised to see how packed the park was despite it being just over an hour since they officially opened. I was also surprised at the sheer size of the lot, but relieved to see they have trams. After catching the tram and walking through the tunnel under the highway to the main entrance, I was greeted by a huge mob of people. 30 minutes or so later and I finally made it into the park (yes, it was that busy). Although others had told me to hit the back of the park first, I was just in the mood for coasters and hit Raven first. The line for Raven was about 30 minutes. Fun but rough. After Raven, I hit Hallowswings since there wasn't much of a line. Fun ride, but nothing much more than a typical swing ride. After that, I wandered off to Legend, which had the longest line of the day, in part because the 2nd-last row was blocked off. I believe I ended up waiting a little over an hour for it, and got to see maintenance replace the seat in the back row while I was waiting, at which point the row re-opened. Legend could really use a second train. Following Voyage it was off to the biggest and baddest coaster in the park. As I got close to Voyage, I saw that the main stage for the night's concert was near there, so I decided to trek back to the car to get my chair. After returning with my chair, I was informed that my event ticket had to be scanned at the front entrance so I could get a wristband (I had purchased a two-day ticket and the season pass/"already have admission" event ticket), so I left the chair and once more made the hike back to the front gate. 20-30 minutes later, I returned yet again, completely exhausted from the long walks, and went to set up my chair before hitting Voyage. Finally I got in line for Voyage. Surprisingly, this coaster had the shortest wait of the three. I'm not sure if it's because of its location at the back of the park, or because of its roughness. It's a fun ride, but a bit too rough for me to want to ride it more than once a day. Quite a nice coaster, and I can see how they have the station set up for the Timberliner trains they decided not to use. There are two more rows for the line than available rows on the car. These two were blocked off for obvious reasons. Following Voyage, I hit the other two rides in Thanksgiving - Turkey Whirl (a Tilt-a-Whirl with custom Turkey-shaped tubs) and, my favorite, Gobbler Getaway, a well-themed Sally dark ride in which you use a turkey caller to help find Farmer Van Snootle's escaped turkeys. KI could really learn from Holiday World here about what a "family friendly" dark ride is and how to properly maintain said ride. Only one target was broken and the turkey callers seemed to work just fine. The pre-show was also very well done. After this, I wandered around the park some more and went for a quick ride on Howler simply to get another coaster credit. Since the line was so short they sent us around a 2nd time without having to get off. Fun little ride. Surprisingly, nobody seemed to find it odd that I was riding it (since I was the only one there without a kid). By this time it was mid-afternoon and quite hot/humid. I wandered around Fourth of July some and made good use of the freely-available drinks. Seeing Eagles Flight, I immediately got in line, and was quite happy to see a kid going wild with the snapping. Nothing better than parks that don't seem to care at all about you snapping the scooters. I waited about 5 minutes for this and had a lot of fun. I still wish KI would bring them back (either the originals or a new set). The next ride was Rough Riders, an old-west themed bumper cars ride with cars shaped like horses and bison. This reminded me a lot of the bumper cars at Coney Island - highly maneuverable and quite fast. Shortly after I got off Rough Riders, they announced that storms were moving towards the area, so I skipped Liberty Launch and Sparkler, thinking storms would be on the way soon. In the mean time I went to Plymouth Rock Cafe to cool off and get some food. The food was delicious, and $15 for turkey, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and a slice of pumpkin pie is a great deal. I hung around the cafe for a while to cool off before making a return to Gobbler Getaway (did I mention how much I like that ride? ). The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful. The heat and humidity made things quite miserable and I wasn't in the mood to walk all the way back to the car to get my swimsuit out of my suitcase, so I mostly just hung around Thanksgiving. I rode Mayflower and took some pictures of what's left of Giraffica/Pilgrims Plunge as well as construction of Thunderbird. There is a lot of track on site and the station is taking shape quite nicely. Mayflower is a fun ride, but the cycle is too short. You only get a couple of full swings before the ride starts slowing down again. Around 6:30, the storm clouds were starting to roll in and I went to go retrieve my chair, only to find that they weren't letting people back to the event (they deflated the portable entrance gate thing as well for obvious reasons). Most of my time the next couple of hours was spent crammed into Plymouth Rock Cafe with hundreds of others, watching the storm. It brought in an impressive lightning show and quite a bit of rain. Some groups started singing worship songs during this time, and many others joined in. One video even made it to the event's Facebook page. Finally around 8 the rain was starting to let up and they began letting people back into the event. I hung around the merch tent for a while waiting for the rain to finish (I had brought an umbrella but left it in the car). The field was a mess and my chair was soaked, but at least the temperature was much more reasonable at that point. Shortly before things started up again around 9, they announced that they were going to try to get everyone on stage and they'd probably be done around midnight local time. I wasn't entirely thrilled by this announcement because I'd already been up for 14 hours at that point and was exhausted from wandering around in the heat. After watching One Girl Nation and Sanctus Real perform, I ended up leaving the concert for my hotel room around 10pm local time (ironically around the same time the concert was supposed to end). My shoes were soaked and muddy and my chair was soaked, but I'd had a lot of fun and was looking forward to the next day. Sunday morning I got woken up to the sound of a hot rod roaring to life outside my window around 7:30 local time. I had noticed the cars the night before but didn't want to go out and take a picture of them since it was already late anyway. Feeling refreshed from a good night's sleep, I decided to get up early (I had set my phone alarm for 8) and drove down the road a short distance to Denny's for breakfast. When I came back, I packed everything up, checked out of the motel and drove 15 minutes to Holiday World through downtown Dale and the heart of Santa Claus. I arrived at the park around 9:15 local time and parked in the main lot this time. The park was busier than I expected it to be at that time, but not nearly as busy as it had been the day before. Once inside, I paid for a locker rental wristband and wandered off to ride things that I hadn't gotten to ride the day before. I was originally planning to ride Lewis & Clark Trail (antique cars) first, but then saw the signs saying "Minimum two riders per car", so I got out of line and headed for Sparkler. Fun ride, but I do have to wonder why they need two different swing rides. Following Sparkler, I hit Liberty Launch (an S&S Power Tower) and Revolution (a round-up). At that point I was ready for water rides, so I headed down to Splashin' Safari, got my locker and walked back to Frightful Falls. Pretty typical log flume ride. I then hit Raging Rapids, which is similar to White Water Canyon. After that, most of my day was spent wandering around Splashin' Safari, enjoying the many rides they have to offer. Once again I realized that the park is much larger than I thought it was. I stopped riding to re-apply sunscreen occasionally, and took a break for lunch around 3 (chicken bacon ranch warp at Wildebeestro). I finished up the day with two re-rides on Wildebeest before the water park closed. After retrieving my items from the locker, I went back to Thanksgiving for rides on Voyage, Gobbler Getaway and Turkey Twirl again before walking down to Hallowswings. I had also planned to catch another ride on Rough Riders before I left, but was starting to get tired again and wanted to get home before it got to be too late, so I ended up leaving around 6:30 Central time. Total ride tally for the weekend: Saturday: Eagles Flight - 1, Gobbler Getaway - 3, Hallowsings - 1, Howler - 2, Legend - 1, Mayflower - 1, Raven - 1, Rough Riders - 1, Voyage - 1 Sunday: Eagles Flight - 1, Frightful Falls - 1, Hallowsings - 1, Liberty Launch - 1, Mayflower - 1, Raging Rapids - 1, Raven - 1, Revolution - 1, Sparkler - 1, Star Spangled Carousel - 1, Turkey Whirl - 1, Voyage - 1; Bakuli - 1, Hyena Falls - 1 each on all four slides, Mammoth - 1, Otorongo - 1 each on all three slides, Wildebeest - 3, ZOOMbabwe - 1 Overall I was quite impressed with Holiday World. Great park, lots of things to do, well-themed and quite clean. I'm looking forward to visiting again, hopefully next year. Also, KI and CF really need to take a good look at Gobbler Getway. That is how you do a family-friendly dark ride. Well-themed, well-maintained... KI should also consider investing in the locker system that HW uses (Locker Link from Smarte Carte). This would all but eliminate the problems people have reported with locker theft since you need to scan your wristband at the appropriate set of lockers to open it. And, contrary to what someone said in another topic, I still think KI needs a good water coaster at Soak City. Mammoth and Wildebeest were a ton of fun. That's all for now. Pics will be added when I get home.

Heavens to Betsy I hope we get something jolly fun in the likes of a ferris wheel or tunnel of love. Something high falutin like those scallions at Six. Perhaps a soda jerk or a penny arcade even...one with those flip action view scopes with the purdy ladies. I'm gonna start saving my coppers.

I'd not trust it until I see it raining.

We noticed the same thing with Boo Blasters.

I worked a booth on on both weekends, both days and can tell you the place was PACKED the whole time. The last day is normally dead, not so this year. Was told that the crowd on Sat night was insane. Because of the weather the riff raff was forced inside to steal. Thankfully Security was on top of things. That said, I will be shocked if the numbers are low.

Funny thing SeaWorld will (or they did once upon a time) show wild orcas snatching up on sea lions on some of their educational videos however they never went into excruciating detail beyond that. I think SeaWorld always could go into more detail when they talk about orcas, I felt (still do) the Shamu Story shows were a positive route with the whales as it was a nice break from in water ballet performance that Believe was, and One Ocean is only slightly better than Believe. Believe was when SeaWorld really began to do more entertainment than education with the whales, personally I was never a fan for that show actually... shows before that were more educational. Heck, I remember Cedar Point's dolphin shows being fairly educational compared to KI. So yeah, Shamu Story, Beluga Story and Sea Lion Story are all welcome presentations. Irritating for me that people now act like they want educational when for the longest time they probably would have snored at such shows. Shows themselves continue on the whales own schedules, not the trainers if they don't want to do a show then oh well lol... trainers just give speeches. You can not force an animal that weighs over a ton what to do. I seen it happen at least once every time I go to their parks, orcas themselves run the show, the trainers do not and they the trainers know this very well. But yeah, I never disagreed with the fact SeaWorld needs to push harder in the educational aspect, they are after all considered the experts of not only orca care in the zoological community but when it comes to just about marine mammal. It's SeaWorld facilities like Marineland France, Loro Parque and even Kamogawa SeaWorld in Japan as well as the many zoos up along the east and west coast of our country turn to in case of emergencies and/or dealing with rescues/strandings.

Still don't change the fact they rip 5 year old (or older) footage off saying it is "new and ground breaking evidence". The one person I know who granted the OK to use her footage (footage of Kohana at Loro Parque interacting at the glass with some patrons) said they could only as long as she was credited. What happened? No credit and they manipulated it by dubbing orca vocals on top of the footage saying she was making distress calls. (they weren't even Kohana's own calls to begin with but then again she was portrayed as Tilli in the film as well)

High Roller is amazing Pictures don't do that thing justice. Last time I rode Manhattan Express was 2013 and it was 11 bucks, a friend of mine from LA had a coupon for double rides so we were stuck riding the stupid thing twice. I wouldn't touch it even if it were free.

By the way, don't forget to check out the incredibly huge observation wheel! If you ride it at night, you're in for a real treat! P.S. Why does the world need a 550ft observation wheel again.....? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We were discussing the midway games at Kings Island and it inspired me to look up stuff on old carnival games. One news report shows how carnies at traveling carnivals can win, but you can't. That's how they getcha.

What you need to do is locate your email address on the order, and confirmation/order number from the email receipt. Go to this website www.visitkingsisland.com/accesso and enter the information from above and choose edit credit card on the order. Make sure the billing address on file with the bank matches the information on the screen or it will decline once they issue the charge. Hope this helps. Sent from my iPhone using Taptalk

This is part of the reason why I plaster a watermark on all my cetacean photos. This and plus my photos were also victim to the media plastering them all over TV right after the 2010 incident in Orlando. I love the documentary about the orcas and great white sharks. Jaws was inaccurate in that sense, sharks don't typically go out of their way to mess with a pod of orcas (unless it is a sick/old individual all alone that is about to die anyway), orcas on the other hand....will go after great whites.

Interesting feature article and comments at the New York Times about Dollywood: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/travel/dollywood-a-little-bit-country-a-little-bit-gay.html?_r=2 Appeared in the print edition Sunday, August 24th, on the front page of the Travel section.

(emphasis added) As I understand it, per the word I emphasized, yes, YouTube can sub-license all of those rights to anyone they want to. That may make it legal, but it doesn't make it ethical. There's a difference between copyright infringement (a legal issue) and plagiarism (an ethical issue).

Yay! Maintenance! Hopefully this is a sign of things to come....

I think that has a lot to do with the medium you are using. People who go to the shows probably enjoy the entertainment more than the information. But when it comes to a movie, I think the education can happen. Could you imagine a week long event like Orca week? Here is a 45 minute documentary about the Killer Whale vs The Great White Shark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS53yy_2R0Q

^ Dollar Days don't begin until Saturday, so there won't be $1 pizza slices on Friday. There will be ERT at 11:30am.

See: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TAeUhNpXI4YJ:https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/special/twisted-colossus/classic-colossus+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

I had difficulty appreciating the quality of the film due to the many clips that came from outlets like You Tube. If you look, it's clip-interview-clip-interview, etc.. As a documentary, it's not truly informative, and it's not even up to par with Discovery channel. It's just inflammatory and appeals to head nodders. Why would I look further into the matter if it were truly informative? It would have answered all my questions if it were. So much clipping that a dark haired girl being interviewed about riding a whale was overlaid by a video willowy blonde riding the whale. So many clips straight from the park, it mesmerized me into looking into going to the park. I do agree that the PR department should have looked sharp as soon as the film hit. I think they should hit back with a positive film. Yes, it would look like a Public Relations stunt. They should relate to the public what's going on with their programs that are helping animals. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Seaworld the reason we cut up our six pack rings, so animals don't get hurt and trapped? If I recall correctly, they are the organization that brought this to our attention.

Gary Story would be proud. Stories are already being released, lowering expectations and pre-emptively blaming the weather: http://m.wlky.com/weather/weather-record-tied-at-the-kentucky-state-fair/27713050 Hmmmm.

Kentucky State Fair attendance figures expected today. Surely with fine weather (mostly), spectacular entertainment, a great carnival, and, most of all, Kentucky Kingdom finally open again at and at fantastic pricing, the 2014 Kentucky State Fair will post memorable, record breaking attendance!

I agree. And having companies sponsor stuff is an easy nonintrusive way to bring in ad revenue. I wouldn't even mind some signs around the park. Might get a bit irked if we had ad wrapped trains on rides or huge banners on the sides of coasters like certain parks do as I think those are total eyesores. But letting companies sponsor stuff or buy some ad space for a few signs on buildings or even some ads over the park pa system when they are doing announcements about showtimes is fine if it means more revenue for the park to do more improvements and aditions in the future.

As promised, here are some pictures. I only took 34 pictures as I was mostly too busy riding things... Maintenance getting ready to install a new seat on Legend: IMG_3019 by oldiesmann, on Flickr The awesome entrance part of Gobbler Getaway: IMG_3022 by oldiesmann, on Flickr The roof of Voyage's photo/gift shop seems to be the Holiday World equivalent of Beast's train shed roof: IMG_3024 by oldiesmann, on Flickr Scooters IMG_3027 by oldiesmann, on Flickr Thunderbird teaser sign: IMG_3031 by oldiesmann, on Flickr Thunderbird station: IMG_3035 by oldiesmann, on Flickr Coaster track, a backhoe and corn all in one spot. What's not to love? IMG_3042 by oldiesmann, on Flickr Full album at https://flic.kr/s/aHsk2u73TX

I don't see what your seeing.

Stepping back from the one sidedness of the documentary it is well done. It is out together nicely, uses music to effect mood, gets it's point across, and gets people talking. Just because you don't agree with the message doesn't make it bad. They presented one side of the story. Right or wrong Sea World chose not to be part of it. Every story has 3 parts, my side your side and the truth. Blackfish tells one of those parts. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's pretty sad really. Apparently people just don't do their own research these days.

Yesterday, I again ended up in the front seat with a talkative person, while waiting for Drop Tower's drop. And he mentioned the same thing to me, about King Cobra's trains being stored in the building. Thanks to asking you guys, I was able to tell him they had been moved. He was a pretty charming kid, excited about coasters. Still a little young for the boards, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him here in a few years.

"Man I love The Bat, it's so much better than that (crappy) flight deck" I think it was mentioned, but it's still very entertaining.

This summer has flown, hard to believe that one week from today is Labor Day Monday. Doesn't seem right.

I was paying close attention at Cedar Point yesterday. Ops watch the ride in motion very well. Esp the flats. It makes me angry when I see KI's ops not paying attention. It only takes a second for something to go wrong.

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

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

Yep, rising floors: https://www.google.com/search?q=seaworld+raising+floors&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=0XX8U4H3ApD5yQSK6oKwAQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=903&bih=515 Not in the show pools, but trainers don't swim with whales in the shows now.

The way some of you describe that coaster, you make it sound as if it makes SOB feel like a B&M. I rode it in January of this year for the first time, in the back car of the train, and I found only two less-than-desirable transitions... coming out of the turn before the loop, and then coming out of the loop itself. I dont know who has and has not ridden it with the Premier Taxi trains, but I wouldn't have hesitated one bit to ride it multiple times had I not gotten busy with other things. WMAJrKY, give it a shot and judge for yourself, I may be "painfully" wrong, or you may enjoy it.

As Dr. Phil puts it: "No matter how flat you make a pancake, it's got two sides." SeaWorld just allowed the public to believe that this particular pancake was one-sided.

Worse - people count watching a documentary as doing their research!

The problem with cash, is that anyone can claim they lost it. You hand it over to someone who claims to have lost it, then you lost out on the cash you just found, and it still didn't end up in the hands of the person who lost it. Finders keepers for me . Now i have absolutely no problem with turning in a wallet full of cash, credit/debit cards, ID, etc, but cash by itself is a different story. EDIT: I'd expect a person to do the same thing if I lost some cash seeing as how it would be my fault that i lost it in the first place.

Thanks for the info about Voyage. Either I'm misunderstanding snapping or you've heard wrong. Neither I nor several other guests I saw had any trouble making them swing wildly out of control and nearly hit the ride op station. My service at Denny's was great. I wasn't aware of the breakfast option at HW. I'll have to keep that in mind next time.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/things-to-do/halloweekends All the info, including Skeleton Key. Also, there may be a phantomtheater in one of those photos, who most likely will look different this season as I move to the Bayou.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/images/rides/bayou23.jpg Awesome photobomb by the lighting guy!

Thanks for the tips! I well do FOF first thing in the morning.

You know how Flight of Fear is currently blocking off the last car of each train? One lady mentioned that this was because the back car had a tendency to separate from the rest of the train.

Maybe my pass will work there now! Terp...only 1/3 kidding (Mr. B. Kinzel liked me nearly as much as Mr. E. Hart does these days!).

They need signs like they have at Dollywood. They tell you what direction and how far is some of the big rides. A directional sign at different locations, like one by Delrium would be perfect.

The roller coastery type ride at the top of Stratosphere that gives you the false sensation that you are about to plunge down off the tower is the most thrilling ride I've experienced by a pretty wide margin. You are WAY up there.

Thanks for the tips. I'll be coming from San Diego, so hoping to hit Desperado as I pass through.