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Saw this on Facebook.

Two new mazes this year. Same name, different maze/experience with Slaughter House.

So my wife, who needed peace and quiet to concentrate on her chocolate-making hobby, drops me off, in a driving rain, and tells me to have a good time for the next six hours... alone (Kings Island makes an awesome 'dog house,' if you know what I mean ...) You know, you can really gauge a day's crowd when it rains, and you happen to be in Action Zone. I bet the (awesome!) cast of the amazing 'The Boyz are Back' really loves a good, soaking rain to really pack 'em in! (...and with $1 pizza slices, it was the, eh, um, perfect storm?) Labor Day, 2014. So I walked around, dodging raindrops, looking for something to eat amid humongous crowds of hungry guests, all shaking fistfuls of crisp $1.00 bills in their raised fists as the tidal swell of thrifty diners thronged their way along International Street towards LaRosa's. Okay, that's an embellishment. From here on out, I'll try to keep it only mildly poetic; hopefully entertaining, too. There were long lines at the Dollar Days participating outlets, so I ducked into Skyline Chili, which had no trays, so I juggled. I didn't know I had that talent in me! (Somebody get Howie Mandel on the phone...) I went to Action Zone (is it still called that?) and observed the beautiful view of Delirium against the backdrop of Banshee. There were a lot of puddles, and I skipped around like a Lipizzan Stallion trying to avoid getting my expensive shoes soaked. I also discovered how wind-resistant the outdoor furniture is under the new canopy atop the old water tower plaza. Those things weigh more than my American bulldog! Anyway, the sky cleared (eventually) and I was able to walk freely about the park (puddles notwithstanding). The line for The Beast was only slightly shorter than those of the Dollar vendors, and I really wasn't in the mood for waiting in line. I did catch a nice shot of my favorite looper in action, though. I think The Vortex is taken somewhat for granted. It really is a gem of a coaster. I'd have done the water trick with this photo, but the "Vortex is sinking" schtick is nearing a tipping point, and I wanted to keep it friendly. I hung around to catch "Playlist Live," which is one of the best, tightest bands I've ever seen live. Holy cow does that bass player know how to roll through the riff of "Wild Night" by Van Morrison. The brass section is a wow, too. Talented performers all around in that ensemble; they could go on "America's Got Talent!" I ran into a famous staff member, who was in a hurry. I tried to banter with him, but I found out the hard way that it's better to let folks go about their business when they're on the clock. He was cool, but I felt awkward. Oh well, nothing that a little Chocolate Gelato at Greater's couldn't cure. I managed to get in rides on Adventure Express and the Eiffel Tower, whose elevator was showering me with air-conditioner condensation on the way down, so I joked about moving the Eiffel Tower over to the water park. Got good laughs (elevators make great captive audiences). I then went over to Duane's shop (Glass Blower) to pick up a glass turtle for my wife (she loves glass turtles). I felt very emotional, so I wanted to take another walk around to River Town, to see if I wanted to ride anything else. I stopped at the Diamondback Splashdown, which struck me as quite beautiful. It was worth the ten minutes to just stand there and observe the visual splendor these crazy guys dream up and build here. I pondered whether I would want to set up a giant canvas and paint it with that now-iconic imagery. We have such a nice park here! I went home. Gina loved the turtle. I loved her chocolates. All was well.

Like many, I am not expecting much next season (though I do expect a set of Flying Scooters based upon recent upgrades at CF parks), so what I am hoping for and so far this still plays out as a possibility is something similar to Kings Dominion's 12 days of Christmas (or whatever it was called exactly) of last offseason. For those that did not follow along, basically each day they announced another new addition to the park, often they brought back old fan favorites like the Singing Mushrooms or their Clown Band; nothing extravagant, but things that people who have attended the park for years loved. So for KI, I'm thinking something along the lines of: The Vine Tunnel, I'd personally be most excited for the return of this, could even be in a different spot of the park, but that was always fun to walk thru as a kid. Flying Eagles, even if its a brand new set that is not as snapable as those that were stolen moved by Carowinds A new lighting package in Coney Mall to help spruce up the area. The Talking Tree in Planet Snoopy Improved Parking lot (with trams) Some TLC for Tower Gardens etc.... Basically find 12 things, some that really get people excited (like the Eagles), some that bring back a strong sense of nostalgia, and some that may otherwise go unnoticed except for the careful eyes of people that post here (for instance the back patio area of the Festhaus that was added last season, was rarely mentioned but looks awesome) A bunch of small steps this offseason could go a long way. In addition to Banshee, they've taken a lot of "small" steps the past few off seasons that I think have really improved the look and feel of the park. Keep 'em coming.

Yay, it's almost time to play! I can't wait to see what they have in store for us in the new Slaughter House! Sam's getting impatient wanting to know. He doesn't handle anticipation very well.

Sweet! We were going to make other plans for Halloween, but, I think we are going to spend it at KI, for the whole weekend. I can't imagine missing closing weekend. Thanks Don, for everything you do, and for dealing with everything you deal with!!! <3

The value of ones character is not defined by ones sexuality.

Kings Island posted this on their twitter today and said its going to be a new experience so it is apparently going to be different and new and not just relocated. https://twitter.com/KingsIslandPR/status/507202533665026048/photo/1

Why? Because I'm a believer that every discussion has two sides. And am hoping that the park sees my fog complaint and fixes it. That's the biggest thing that ruins Haunt for me.

Just speculation on my part...but I can see a scenario where B&M has developed a new and improved "sit-down" train with the vest-style restraints found on Banshee and their Wing Coasters. Perhaps they want to sell these to parks with existing B&Ms (stand up and sit down) and retrofitting Mantis is a perfect way to showcase their new product. With new trains, fresh paint, and name change, the parks get to market a "new" coaster for a fraction of the cost, and the guest experience is better because of increased comfort. And B&M has another product to offer their existing customers, some of whom might not be in the market for a new coaster. is there really market potential for new trains with vest restraints? I don't know, but somebody thought it worthwhile to put them on the Wing Coasters and Banshee, when the standard over-the-shoulder restraints would have been likely cheaper and perfectly functional. That said, last month my family rode Mantis for the first time since 2001. I expected the worst and made sure restraints etc. were all adjusted properly, and kept my legs "shock-absorber" throughout. Result? We all loved it. A bit rough, but not enough to detract from a great ride. I'm glad my last ride on Mantis was a good one. If they do switch to sit-down trains, I selfishly hope they have floors because my wife won't ride "feet danglers" (even Diamondback).

Since we both had the day off work, my wife and I decided that we'd ride out to KI Monday evening for a few hours to grab some $1 pizza for dinner and to enjoy a few rides. We arrived at the park around 4:30 and proceeded to find ourselves a parking space. After driving up and down a few rows, we found a really great spot in Invertigo row 45. We parked the car and were getting everything ready to head into the park. When I arrived at KI, I usually take my main car key off my key ring, hook it to my lanyard, and wrap that around my belt loop. This makes it easier for me so I don't have to carry all my keys around the park with me. So while I'm doing this, I hear a "thump" and my wife starts making some comments in frustration. My attention immediately goes to her and I ask, "What's wrong?" It seems as if, since it was windy the day, the wind caught the door and blew it open rather quickly causing her door to slam into the car we were parked next to. Great. So I get out of the car, shut my door, and walk around to her door to check out the damage. She gets out and shuts her door as well. We inspect the damage and decide that it was bad enough that we needed to leave our contact info. So we go to get back into the car and realize the doors had been locked. Both of them. That's ok, I had my key right here hooked to my lanyard. Oh wait. This isn't the right key. Yep. I had taken my car key off my key ring and just now realized we're not in my car, we're in my wife's car. In all the commotion I had grabbed the wrong key. Great. So now we just dented someone's door AND we're locked out of our car. Two crappy things happened within 5 minutes of arriving at the park. And what's worse, we left our cell phones in the car too. I wasn't sure if KI had anything set up to help you with keys locked in your car, so I figured we'd walk over to guest relations and see what kind of assistance we could get. When we arrived there, I explained what happened and the girl was super nice and informed us that security could help us get into our car. She asked us what row we were in and what kind of car we had and then radioed security to meet us. Once back at our car, we waited just a few minutes until security came. The security guy was very nice and extremely helpful and within about 10 minutes had our car door opened. So, we grabbed the correct key and wrote a note explaining what happened with the door situation and left our name and number. We left the note under the windshield wiper of the car in hopes that the people would see it. Just a note - If you're reading this and it was your car we hit, we're super sorry!!! Ok, so now it's a little after 5 and we're finally heading into the park. We're determined to salvage our evening! We were both hungry and decided to go straight for the pizza. We thought we would head over to the LaRosa's by The Beast since they had tables and places to sit. While walking through the park we noticed how long the lines were to get food and we also noticed people who had stacks and stacks of plates piled high on multiple trays. How much pizza can one person eat? Hmmm. So we get to LaRosa's and that line wasn't too long. We waited about 10 minutes which wasn't too bad. After eating, we decided to take a ride on The Beast. The line wasn't too bad at all for the crowd that was there. It only took about 15-20 minutes to get on and was an awesome ride as usual. Next, we walked over to Coney Mall and walked around for a bit. The crowds were extremely light over in this area. Not sure why. We got down by Adventure Express and decided to take a ride. It was pretty much a walk on, which is always nice. This is where something interesting happened. So we loaded the train, got buckled and we're waiting to get everything checked. In front of us was a woman with, what looked to be, a very young child. Too young to be on this ride it seemed. So as the workers are coming back checking harnesses and such, they noticed the young boy and asked him to step out of the train to be measured. The woman starts semi-arguing with the workers explaining that he rides this ride "everyday." They proceed to measure the young boy and he stands about 3-4 inches below the bar. They explain to the woman that he was way too short to be on this ride. The woman continues to argue with them explaining that he rides this ride everyday and they said he could ride as long as he was with an adult, etc, etc. You could tell that she was not happy. The workers kept explaining that he was too short and could not let him ride. In frustration, the woman gets up out of the train and proceeds to the exit with the boy, still convinced that he should've been able to ride and still claiming that he rides the ride everyday. So that was over and now we were able to enjoy our ride. Great ride as usual - that's about all I have to say about that! After Adventure Express we headed over to Action Zone for a $1 Banshee Twist cone and some Cotton Candy. The line for the ice cream was rather long, but we gladly waited. This year it seemed that they were making the $1 cones slightly bigger than other years. Maybe it was just the people working this day. Regardless, we were happy. Unfortunately though, this location was sold out of cotton candy, so we decided to take a walk over to Planet Snoopy and get our cotton candy over there. As we were standing in line waiting for the cotton candy, it started to rain. Now, this is the third Dollar Days we've come to and the third year in a row that it started raining while we were waiting in line for cotton candy. Not sure what that means exactly, but it's becoming a rather annoying tradition! After buying the cotton candy, we walked into the Peanuts store (not sure what the actual name is) and looked around for a bit. It was now about 7:45 so we decided we should probably head on out since the park closed at 8. While walking out to our car the rain picked up again and got us pretty good. I guess it's not Dollar Days without a little bit of rain. Oh well. Even though the evening got off to a rough start, things turned out pretty good. We got some pizza, ice cream, and grabbed some cotton candy for the trip home. All in all a pretty good day. We didn't ride a whole lot, but it's always nice to get out to the park for a bit, even if it's just to take in the atmosphere.

I'm hoping we can go! If NoChickens doesn't have to work, we will be there.

You know, I usually keep my mouth shut on these matters, but in this case I simply cannot. I read far too many comments like the ones posted above and I just need to say something. There is no "gay" life style. I do not drink "gay" coffee. I do not eat "gay" food. I do not take a "gay" shower. I do not go to "gay" work. Etc Etc I just wish people would stop saying "gay lifestyle". I don't do anything differently than anyone else when it comes to living my life. I do everything like anyone else as far as trying to live my life and survive in this world, which isn't done in some special "gay" manner as many like to think. Life is life, save "style" for clothes and hair please. Also, even though you may not hate anyone, you going out of your way to say you don't hate the LGBT community makes you come off sounding entitled. My love is not a sin. I am in a committed relationship of almost four years now and have been faithful to her and I truly LOVE her. I didn't wake up and decide to be a lesbian. Just like you didn't wake up and decide to be straight. I just made the choice to be happy and be myself...because you're right...life is too short to hate anyone or give them grief for who they love. It's this exact mentality of saying "love the sinner, hate the sin"...that perpetuates the religious community as better than anyone who so happens to seem different than themselves. And the only time one ever seems to hear that overused quote is toward the LGBT community. Anyways, that is all. No one has to agree with me and I'm not asking for pats on the back.

More details to come, but an exclusive opportunity for KIC members to enjoy a lights on tour of three of the park's Halloween Haunt mazes will be available Saturday, November 1.

I'm just going to go ahead and post the written portion now, since waiting an hour or more for 100+ photos to upload always puts it off for too long and I end up not writing it at all. For that matter, I'll also get to work writing about August 17 and 29, which were amazing trips as well. But first, let me tell you about Labor Day! We arrived at the park just after 6:00, which gave us 2 hours to make the most out of this Labor Day. Unlike the last few trips where I've started out in Action Zone, I chose to skip it entirely this time since I spent nearly all of my August 29 trip there. The first ride we rode was the Grand Carousel. I have no idea when the organ will be playing its merry tunes again, but I didn't mind hearing the recorded music, especially after not hearing any carousel music for over a month! After that nice ride we went up in the Eiffel Tower. I spent a good 5-10 minutes up there enjoying the view (and the wind!). To put things into perspective, it was windy enough for WindSeeker and Drop Tower to be closed at the time of our visit. That being said, I had a slightly different hairdo by the time I entered the elevator to go down. Next, I thought long and hard about riding Diamondback. The line looked to be a 20-30 minute wait. As much as I wanted to ride, I chose to use the remaining hour and 15 minutes for other things. So I got in the 10-minute line for Race For Your Life Charlie Brown instead. It was a good choice, since it was a bit humid out and I was starting to feel hot. I rode in Boat 15 with a nice lady and a young boy who was riding for the very first time. We had a nice conversation during the ride. The young boy was a little scared at first, but at the end of the ride after the big drop he was all smiles! It was fun! I love times like this; it illustrates "Thrills Connect" pretty well, because a lot of times thrills really do connect. By this time it was about 7:20. We headed to the Rivertown LaRosa's which had a line but it only went just outside the door. Good thing too, because I was hungry. We each got a slice of pizza, a cup of water, and a cup of Sprite. I especially loved enjoying my pizza with a Vortex train flying by overhead every few minutes! Speaking of Vortex, that is where we headed next (no surprise here ). I played some $1 games first. I tried High Striker and I got 49. Not bad for a girl my age! I had also played it last year. My best High Striker score so far is 56. I also played some Goblet Toss. I came super close to rolling onto a colored goblet but fell short. Oh well. It was still fun though! Finally, I got to Vortex at 7:40 only to find it had just closed because of inclement weather nearby, according to what they told me. It wasn't raining too much here, though, and I knew they were doing this for safety especially since the weather had been pretty iffy today. Even though it was starting to get close to closing time, I was so determined that I would get my 250th ride tonight (I was at 249 - 1 ride short!) that I stayed put at the entrance and did not leave the side of my favorite ride. Even though it rained for a minute or two, I still didn't move. Now it was 7:50. It was at about this time that I heard the start-up siren on Vortex's lift hill! I was so excited. Even though it was close to closing time, it appeared I was going to get my 250th ride tonight after all!! After cycling trains for about 10 minutes, Vortex reopened at 7:59 - ONE MINUTE to spare!! I was the first one in line. I got some nice twilight shots before heading into the station, where Train #2 was waiting with the gates open. I stepped into the front row for my 250th ride on Vortex! The cycle I rode was the first of the two cycles that went before the ride closed again, this time for the night. There was this absolutely beautiful sunset on the western horizon as my train climbed the lift hill. If picture-taking was allowed, I would have LOVED to get a picture of it! The ride was awesome. Everyone on board was happy and having fun, as I could tell by their happy cheers that they were enjoying the ride a lot! And of course, the inversions were amazing, especially since Vortex was the only inverting ride I rode this evening. This was definitely a 250th ride to remember! But this trip didn't end there. As we were making our way to the Front Gate, we noticed Tower Drinks was still open and they had extra hot dogs. So we each got a hot dog to enjoy with the traditional ketchup and mustard. They were tasty! Last but not least was more LaRosa's! We found a line that was out the door, but not by far. After waiting about 5 minutes, we got 3 slices of pizza to share, along with more water and Sprite. We ate right by the Royal Fountains, close to where we ate when we had LaRosa's on our very first trip to Kings Island. We left the park at about 8:45. Needless to say it was probably the best 2.5 hours of my life I've had in a while! +Grand Carousel: 1 Total: 24 +Eiffel Tower: 1 Total: 6 +Race for Your Life Charlie Brown: 1 YTD: 4 Total: 5 +Vortex: 1 YTD: 23 Total: 250

I agree with the floral tunnel. It seemed like a terrible idea to remove the original one.

Speaking of fog and how thick it is, last year I was walking past the Planet Snoopy Grill through a patch of very thick fog. A group of teenage girls was walking the opposite direction toward me through the same patch of fog. As soon as I started to become visible to them (about five feet away), the girls screamed and started freaking out until I was fully visible. They thought I was a monster when they first saw my shape.

I'm not trying to start anything...but your avatar pic is of a ghost from a former haunted attraction...

John Lennon' Imagine fits this discussion.

Everybody love everybody.

Im saving the date and definitely coming to this!! Thanks everyone who is making this possible! I can't wait to experience my first lights on tour i've always wanted to do one before.

Oh boy... Halloween Haunt. I, for one, can't wait until I get to enjoy another great season at Kings Island in April! - homestar92, who is no fan of Halloween Haunt, and will miss the part of the season when the park doesn't look tacky and stupid. And not having absurdly thick fog that reduces visibility to dangerous levels.

The following post is my opinion only: Honestly, I think they just chose the wrong style and stuck with it. I'll blame much of it on B&M. First, because all remaining stand-up coasters today are B&M, so I think it's fair to make them central in the discussion. Secondly, since historically they're the ones who invent (or in this case, invest in) a gimmick and run with it to make it their own and mass produce it to a high-quality degree, I think the direction stand-up coasters went (or would've gone) is thanks to B&M. I bet part of B&M's reliability is thanks to their repetition. That's not a slight. Basically, their inverts all have a common ancestor, you know? Different layouts, different statistics, but most B&M inverts have a certain look, a certain feel, a certain style, and a certain roster of elements that you expect to appear... A cobra roll, a wing-over, a helix, a first drop into a loop into a barrel roll, etc. They didn't reinvent the wheel with each one, and that's good! Same can be said of their Dive Machines, all sharing a common ancestor (vertical drop, dive loop, drop, splash, etc. shuffled around and played with, but with a more or less consistent style and feel). Same of hyper-coasters. They developed a style and of course it's evolved and grown and shifted, but in general you know what to expect when B&M is opening a 200-ish-foot roller coaster in terms of what it'll feel like, what elements it'll feature, what it'll look like, etc. They did the same for stand-up coasters. They developed a style that they more or less kept. It just so happens that the list of elements and the style and the feel they invented for stand-ups is... chaos. Stand-ups probably shouldn't have been built with each taller and faster and steeper than the one before. One gimmick at a time, please. And the style they developed and then expanded on for each subsequent addition was just of jumbled, tilted inversions, odd turnarounds, slanted loops, knotted track, etc. Again, like inverts, they kept it consistent and you more or less have a picture in your mind when you think of a B&M stand-up. But this... Why why why?! They look like bad doodles more than super-smooth, perfectly-paced, well-laid-out B&M masterpieces. It was just an odd decision that they said, "For our stand-up coaster line, let's build super-huge vertical loop that leads into an inclined helix which itself goes into a giant inclined loop that lead into really small tight corkscrews then helix around for a bit then slam side to side as they roll into a dive loop and then twist back through themselves and then leap into a big corkscrew and then a hammerhead turnaround that tilts the wrong way... Or some variation thereof." If B&M had build their stand-ups like they build their floorless coasters, I think they'd still be more happily received. But even then, I think the awful truth is - whether it's a gimmick or not aside - standing on roller coasters doesn't make them any more fun. Diamondback standing would probably not be as good as Diamondback sitting. Now, on a small one-trick pony like King Cobra or Shockwave? Sure. If the point of the ride is to stand, then have that be the point, not that it's also tall and fast and goes upside down 6 times. If B&M had made little, 80 foot tall standing coasters that looped once, had a few airtime hills, helixed, then came back home, I think they'd make for fun family coasters and probably still be around. Ah well. [/opinion]

"Trays! We need more trays!"

I would love them to add a vine tunnel back into the park and I'm sure many others would.

I love this time of year, especially the fog!

Very cool! I did a slight modification to the article to compensate for this. They make it clear that Haunt isn't necessarily for everybody. They daytime stuff is a lot of the pumpkin-patch-style stuff typically, and is more family friendly. I know several adults who prefer this. For me, I'm not offended by the gore or anything like that, but I'm not the biggest 'haunted house guy' ever. They just aren't appealing to me. Probably intended for a younger generation. haha But I see it this way - at least the park's open until 1am, and I'm sure Skeleton Crew will be a big hit.

Holiday Horror would have been the perfect maze to take her through but unfortunately its gone this year. if you were to do a maze i'd suggest Carnevil and Bored to Death they are more on the funny/lighter side, although bored to death is pretty dark at points and you cant see where the scare actors are coming from.

I'm not trying to start anything...but your avatar pic is of a ghost from a former haunted attraction... Yes, and I wouldn't compare Phantom Theater to anything that exists at "Haunt." I quite enjoyed the light-hearted aspects of "Phantom" as it was more a family style ride. Just like I didn't mind taking a ride on Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle. These types of attractions don't bother me really. I absolutely hate blood and gore and feel that most Halloween type events, including KI's Haunt, glorify these things as well as death, murder, and other such things. It's one thing to take a ride on the family friendly Phantom Theater, it's another thing to come out and participate in the attractions at Halloween Haunt. As I mentioned in my post above, I come out and enjoy the festivities of the family event during the day, but leave before Haunt starts.

Yes. Right there in Hanna Barbera Land, where Scooby Doo is at. You can't miss it. It's bright yellow.

Exactly. And you're right about fear of the unknown. Used to be that studios knew to hide the creature / bad guy / violence until the end... if they ever showed it at all. Truth be told, nothing can be as frightening as what your mind can imagine. 2008's Cloverfield was essentially a big-budget found-footage creature film whose viral marketing RELIED on audiences not seeing the creature until the film premiered in theaters. Even then, it's only really seen in tiny increments and snippets, one limb at a time, throughout the film. It WORKED. Cloverfield and the first Paranormal Activity had the same budget ($25 million) and both approached $200 million in box office receipts, faring even better on home release). Just the other day, I watched a movie with one of those scenes where, on a dark and stormy night, a person creeps into a room and toward an armchair with someone - or something - sitting in the armchair facing away from the camera "watching" a static TV. My mind had about a million horrific and nightmare-inducing things that could've been sitting in that chair staring at the static on the TV. What they ended up showing was, of course, a little gross and kind of scary, but it's NOTHING compared to the impression that might've been left if they hadn't shown anything but a horrified character's reaction. It was all about subtlety. That changed with the slasher films of the 80s / 90s, came to a head with the unrated "torture-porn" sub-genre of the 2000s (Saw, Hostel, Devil's Rejects, Hills Have Eyes, I Spit On Your Grave, Human Centipede), followed by a period of remaking old classics but with the gore and mutilation being shown instead of implied (Crazies, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, House of Wax, My Bloody Valentine) and now studios are returning to the low-budget, low-SFX, indie-style horror. Even if it's not for the same reasons, at least we're getting back to it.

Parks are businesses. They are in business to make a profit. Never forget that.

DJSkyFoxx You took the words out of my mouth. What bothers me is that the Screaming_Chicken had underlined two words: Have and Hate. Whether intentional or not, it sends the wrong message. This whole thing brings me to a weird point because I'm a practicing Christian and I'm gay. No where in the Bible has God said "you HAVE to love the person and HATE the sin." This phrase has been used numerous times and it's just not biblical. It's a man made phrase that people use to feel better about how they treat those who may not go through life like some Christians believe they should. The Huffington Post in 2013 published an entry that summed the whole phrase up: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/micah-j-murray/why-i-cant-say-love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin-anymore_b_4521519.html The fact of the matter is, those of us in the LGBTQ community don't really need anyone's approval to be who we are, we don't need anyone to say hey I love you but I hate your lifestyle, etc. We just need to be treated like we're just as Human as everyone else. /Rant I am so upset that I can't attend this event. I unfortunately have to work very early the next morning. To those going, have a ton of fun, take pictures and please ride Banshee for me

Interpreter has gone on an endless loop

A little nostalgia for Mantis.

This is all news to me. And yes - I'm as excited as you are!

Awesome! Thanks Don and Boddah and Dane (and whoever else) for putting this together!

Thanks for the info Don! We appreciate all these benefits that the park has given us this year!

There was this one time when a fairly new member started a topic using a picture of the on-ride photo monitors when taking such a picture is against park rules...

Looks like I'm driving to Tampa next week.

I voted NO since each coaster type has a lifespan. People thought inverts were dead but Banshee came in, people thought flying coasters were dead but Japan is getting on, people thought floorless were dead but India got one last year. Stand ups will come back one day.

It's all cycles. The big monster films of the silent age, the creature features in the 50s and 60s, the unknown real life horror movies of the 70s, the slasher films of the 80s, the torture porn and found footage of the last 20 years. Each era had small pockets of other things. A fun thing is to watch the George Romero zombie movies. Each movie is made with a certain fear built in. Over commercializations, isolations, etc

Don't forget found footage movies are cheaper as well. Not as many rigs needed, not as many cameras needed. Don't need to pay as many make up or cg people. Plus the fear of the unknown. That's why people like them. That's why studios like them because it makes a bunch of money. If movie A costs 95million to make because of make up etc, and makes 135 the studio would be happy. If movie B costs 35 million but only makes 95 million, the studio would be very excited.

I think Mantis is going bye bye, but the track isn't. If you watch the video. It states "take your last stand" and Mantis gets "squashed". Those 2 phrases make me believe that it will under go a transformation of some sort, but not be completely taken out. Sent from a signal coming out of the Vega system.

That's what I was kind of saying. Not that they wouldn't add anything, but sometimes capexes are done in areas that are less marketable. 2008 was my favorite year ever for KI, but there was no new ride. They had to do other things to draw attention to themselves... and boy did they. 2013 saw the addition of the Reds HOF Grille. You never really saw TV placements for it or anything like that, but it added a much-needed element to the park.

But this does make sense. The stand up thing as an ironic twist for a while, but it was just a gimmick. Nobody's favorite type of a coaster is a stand up. Yeah, I get that floorless is kind of gimmicky too, but at least it'll breath new life into the ride. I, for one, am in favor. Of course, that's still assuming that the floorless thing is true....

It was running again later in the day. I was on the Eiffel Tower when I and many guests were looking over at Drop Tower, talking about how long it had been 'stuck' up there. It was very windy up there, which made me appreciate what they must've been going through. I wondered if they'd get stuck in a rain storm. Then I wondered, "If they do get stuck in a rain storm, and then the ride drops, how cool would it be to see rain falling while you're falling, too?" Then I wondered, "Do they get a courtesy countdown before the drop, given that they'd been up there for so long?" Then I smelled Funnel Cake and had to go.

Sounds great; thanks! Looks like I'll be there for the weekend.

And the teasing continues... https://twitter.com/TonyClarkCP/status/506467064803254272/photo/1