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Back to Kings Island for one last time for the year. Used my free Fast Lane pass for renewing, and had a great time. Photos taken with my iPhone 5S. Arrived very early, allowing me to snap a quick picture of the entrance. As the time crept closer to 10:30, they all began to come out and prepare the ticket booths. First stop was Banshee, with the ERT. I rode it twice, but stopped before I had the chance to feel sick. Don't tell anyone I took this from Drop Tower. Speaking of Drop Tower, I had never ridden it so it was next: Very fun, forceful and exciting ride. It was quite a bit more fun than I expected. At that point, ERT was over and I made it over to The Bat. I think this photo encompasses how busy most of the rides were today. Decided to switch over to Coney Maul and check out some of the shops. There were a few good hauls to be had. Skipping The Racer and FOF, I decided it was time to have my second ever ride on Firehawk. I did not like it as much as the first. Huh. One that did not disappoint however: Vortex seems to get better every time I give it a ride. I gave it and WindSeeker a whirl and was rather impressed by both today. Backlot Stunt was next, and it had maybe the longest line of the day. Looked to be around 15 minutes or so. I got right on with my FLP and enjoyed it. The fire effects were working today, when they weren't the last time I rode it. The Beast taunted me to ride, but I was hungry so we stopped and had a small bite to eat at La Rosa's. It was fine. Not fine, was The Beast. It was great! I swear it's been faster this year. That first helix after the second lift hill is outstanding. I waited maybe 5 minutes for the front row, and it may have been the best ride I had on it all season. A trip to Rivertown just can't happen without Diamondback, and it was running just fine. I rode near the back and it seemed to float more than normal. Good stuff. BLUE ICE CREAM and Boo Blasters was next. Ice Cream was good, but the blasters were still not working great on the Boo Blasters. Oh well. Made our way back to Coney Maul, adding a ride on The Racer to the list. It appeared the red train was being held up by angry guests who lost an item on the ride. I jammed the lap bar down too hard and had an uncomfortable ride this time. Whoops. I made up for it with another ride on Vortex. Something is missing here. Let's investigate from the other side. Hmmm. Well. I don't know. Hopefully SR&R is back next year. Making our way back to the entrance, I realized I had never actually stopped to look at the Grand Carousel: It was beautiful to say the least. And I bet it's better at night. I found a great spot to get a photo of the Eiffel Tower: But then I realized the REAL reason they tore down Son of Beast: and I realized it was time to go home.

And some of those reckless are driving cars, texting and using smartphones. One hopes they stay wreckless.

I'm a big fan of Halloween and haunted attractions and especially Halloween Haunt. I haven't missed it any year. Although they have added some of their best mazes over the past few years (Cavern of Terror, Slaughter House, etc.), I have continuously felt a little disappointed with the whole Haunt experience overall as the years have gone by. At this point I don't expect to actually get scared at Haunt but I still enjoy going and love the atmosphere. I don't buy a pass yearly like I used to so it's also nice to ride some of my favorite rides in some nice, cool weather and during the nighttime which is my favorite time to ride. I always prefer to visit earlier in the season to avoid larger crowds so we planned to go on Friday, the 26th. I was happy to read that the park now opens at 6pm on Fridays but with the temperature above 80 still and knowing they stayed open until 11, we ended up showing up a little after 7pm and was happy to see a low crowd and had no problem entering the park. The weather ended up being pretty great all night. It cooled down but was still warm at times being surrounded by larger groups of people. Instead of a long, drawn-out story about my night, I'll just write a little about each attraction that we went through. Kill Mart: This was the first maze we went through. Luckily, the line was short and we only had to wait about 10 minutes. The theming in this one seemed pretty nice. You feel like you're in a department store as you go through the different departments throughout the maze. The lights are kept low and there's a lot of blood and gore with a decent amount of actors inside. We were at the very end of the group and none of the actors waited to get the people at the back so we didn't get scared once in this one. The people in the front and middle let out some screams and jumps, so I'm not saying it's not good as far as scares go, but none of the actors in there tried to get either of us unfortunately and she is someone who gets scared easily but didn't jump once. It's a nice addition though and great to have a completely new attraction that doesn't have a lame theme. The zombie theme also fits nicely with Urgent Scare being right around the corner. It would be cool if there were a lot of zombie roamers around this area. CarnEvil: If there wasn't a short line and a whole night ahead of us, we would have had no problems skipping this one. I can understand why this one is kept around from a business standpoint, but as a long time Haunt fan, I wouldn't be sad to see it go. Outside of the fact that it's been around for so long, my other main concern is the lack of 3D glasses. I find it ridiculous that Kings Island continues to recycle the same exact maze that was built originally to be viewed with 3D glasses and now expect people to pay an upcharge to experience a 10-year-old maze the way it was originally intended to be experienced. I don't even know how much they are charging for them but I didn't see anyone walking in wearing them. I didn't buy any last year either so I already knew the experience wouldn't even live up to the typical expectations I had for nearly 10 years prior of going through the same exact maze. For me personally, the lack of glasses ruins the experience. I will always refuse to pay for the glasses out of principle and also because I know exactly what to expect from this one since it's been pretty much the same since it started in the Festhaus years ago. It did seem like a step up from last year however. There were a decent amount of actors in here and the props all still looked nice. I don't hate or even dislike this maze. I would certainly rather have it here than have nothing replace it. I just think the lack of 3D glasses is ridiculous and would love to see some sort of major revamp or something new altogether next year. Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror: This is one of the better mazes they have to offer. Having the cave entrance really goes a long way setting up the amazing themeing in this attraction. The decorations throughout the actual maze are really great. I don't know what all was different from last year because it's a decently long maze with plenty of things to look at. There's a lot of actors in this one and scared people in our group a decent number of times. I wouldn't mind seeing this one stick around for quite a few years and hope they continue to roll out mazes like this. Kill Mart is a nice addition as well but I wouldn't say it meets the expectations that Cavern of Terror set when it comes to new attractions. Board to Death: This one is stupid. In my opinion, if Kings Island wants to recycle some of the same mazes for so many years, then they should have kept The Asylum/Maze of Madness around. That maze was almost always the same aside from a slight variation of theming (Psych ward / Prison) but it always felt fresh because they set it up so you could actually get lost inside of it. To me, it always stood out from all of the other mazes because of the this unique aspect. It added a whole new level of fear and actually made the maze scary when you're surrounded by psychopaths and you really can't find your way out and keep meeting dead ends while they mock your inability to escape. When they changed it to Mysteria, it was a complete turn around and by far the worst maze they have ever had. Board to Death is slightly better than Mysteria but nowhere near as good as the variations of mazes in this building that came before them both. I add this in with Holiday Horrible and Mysteria as some of the worst additions to Haunt and find it disappointing to see them all come within the past few years that we also got great ones like Cavern of Terror and Slaughterhouse. Much like CarnEvil, I noticed an improvement in the maze compared to last year as far as the number of actors inside but not enough to make much of a difference. Bored to death. CornStalkers: There is a major improvement in the themeing of CornStalkers this year. No longer do you feel like you're walking strictly on a big wide open path, but now you feel as if you're walking through tall rows of corn and have to genuinely worry about what might be right next to you opposed to 50 ft away around a randomly placed stack of wood crates. I've always liked this one because it's a fun maze and they've changed up the location a few times as well as going from a Scare Zone to a full maze attraction. They've nailed it this year and it's the best it has ever been. It's nice to see this one gradually get better because some of the other ones continue to get worse. Tombstone Terror-Tory: And here's where it continues to get worse. Along with CarnEvil, if there wasn't a short line for this one as we were passing by, we would have been fine skipping it. The idea with the train / trail continues to set it apart from the other mazes but it's always the worst one. The combination of waiting in line for the train to arrive and then waiting in another line ends up being a lot worse once you finish the walkthrough and realize it's the worst attraction in the park. I assume because of excessive lines in the past, they have decide to now send groups in packs of 50 opposed to 5-10. They've been doing this for a few years but it ruins the experience. If you get stuck at the back then you're pretty much screwed because you see all of the scares happen before you encounter them. This one is also extremely lame because you're walking on a giant platform with random crates stacked up on the sides. Outside of two covered areas that you walk through, the crates are the only place for any actors to hide so it's never surprising when someone pops out from behind one. It would be amazing to see some sort of actual trail make its way back into the lineup. This one just doesn't compare to how good their haunted trail used to be. Even when Tombstone Terror-Tory was slightly better than it is now, it still didn't even compare to the Trail of Terror. Slaughter House: This was the last attraction we went through and the line had died down majorly from hours earlier. I love the new location and the whole maze seems a whole lot better to me. The props are really great in this one and the actors were all pretty good. This is one of the only mazes that actually gives me a creepy vibe and it feels a whole lot creepier than it did in years prior. We didn't do any of the other mazes because we were also riding rides and didn't stay until 1. We knew exactly what to expect with Delta Delta Die. Someone in another thread summed it up perfectly as "Massacre Manor with cheerleaders and beer cans on the ground" or something to that extent. That one has been around for forever and is always the same. I wanted to do Urgent Scare but didn't get to. I always enjoy Club Blood but skipped out on it and Wolf Pack is one that I've always thought was just ok but not bad. If I visit another time this year, I'll make it a point to go ahead and give them all a shot but I doubt I'm missiing anything that I haven't already seen but hopefully I'll be surprised. As for the Scare Zones: Nightmare Alley: Last year I recall this zone being barely decorated with just a few inflatable eyeballs and no actors. This time around there are a whole lot more eyeballs and a few more decorations scattered around but we didn't see a single roamer in this zone any of the multiple times we walked through it throughout the night. Cemetery Drive: We went from seeing no actors to seeing at least 5 or more in this zone. The theming is really cool and I think it works better as a smaller scare zone than taking the place of CornStalkers in its current location. I can't say there were many screams or people running during any of the times we went through but the atmosphere was still very cool and there were multiple actors. Freak Street: I thought it was creepier last year when they had it in the wide open space leading into Holiday Horrible but there seems to be a lot more actors in this zone this year. There's someone speaking on a microphone and an evil circus theme which is fitting near CarnEvil. Backwoods Bayou: Again, plenty of actors but not many scares at all. I loved the theme and actors all looked cool but I don't remember hearing many screams during the many walkthroughs we had. I just remember a lot of standing around and maybe some hissing or growling in someone's ears. The roamers were really disappointing. Although I saw a decent amount roaming compared to the past few years, I didn't hear too many screams or see people running like I usually do. Outside of the overplayed droog sliders, I can't think of any other significant times I saw someone so scared that they screamed super loudly or went running from the roamers. It seemed like most of them were freely walking out amongst everyone and making some people jump slightly but no major scares really. It would be nice to see a lot more hiding and blending into the environment opposed to seeing every single one of them walking right out in the middle of the open pathways the whole night. The sliders are the only ones who seem to "come out of nowhere" and genuienly surprise you... most of the other ones you could see coming from a mile away unless they happened to be walking behind you. Overall, we had a very fun night as we always do each year. In addition to the haunts, we rode Banshee (my first time on it and I loved it), Adventure Express twice, The Bat, The Vortex and Backlot Stunt Coaster. The experience was a lot better than last years but I continue to hope for them to really step it up and deliver an amazing Haunt experience. I think they're on the right track with some of the newest mazes they've added over the past 5 or so years like Slaughter House and Cavern of Terror. But it gets set back when you see a decline in all of the other attractions such switching out great mazes like The Asylum for horrible ones like Mysteria/Board to Death but continue to recylce other mazes from 10 years ago that aren't even good (Delta Delta Die) and even adding upcharges to some (CarnEvil) while there's also a noticible decline in the quality of the roamers. I hope to see them continue to add quality haunts likes Cavern of Terror and Kill Mart opposed to the silly cheap ones that aren't remotely scary like Board to Death as well as adding in more scare zones or roamers. But seriously, please bring back The Asylum! lol.

Crowds were light everywhere but Planet Snoopy. Sundays this time of year suck for PS. By noon Peantus 500 had a 20 minute wait. Also the "new" event at the water park has helped bring in more under 54" peeps. The last 2 years this same attraction wasn't very crowded because of the lack of a "new" in front of the attraction.

I also love how the coaster-net "article" claims many had plans to redevelop Kentucky Kingdom. First, there was the Koch family with Bluegrass Boardwalk. Then there was this latest RFP. Total number of bids received: 1. Total number of responsive bids: 0. Only after long negotiations, and the Commonwealth allowing its real property to be used as surety was the Hart & Co. proposal accepted. Many?

I don't find the haunts to be scary. I'm the type that likes to stroll around, take my time & look around. With that being said, & after last night, I have to give props to Slaughterhouse. The maze was great (as always), and the workers always sink their teeth into their roles. Enjoyed the new layout/location. For me, Slaughterhouses' Skeleton Key room was the stand out scene of the whole night, and probably the past few years of haunt . It was eerie, in your face uncomfortable, ,with a twist of humor. The tall dude was casted perfectly. I would give his performance a 10. His maniac sidekicks were excellent supporting cast members. For me, you can't compare this maze, and esp the bonus room, with that of a bunch of teenagers running around shouting boo and screaming in your ear. Slaughterhouse was definitely a "cut" above the rest.

Trip Report- 9/26 and 9/27- Cincinnati Bearcats vs Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus This is a trip we've been preparing for all year, since we knew about this trip in February/March. For veteran band members, it was an exciting thing to see come closer and closer on the calender. For rookies, most of which come from out lying towns, it was a bit of a culture shock, much like I had during my first year when we made a trip to Columbus in similar fashion. We left at 2:30 Friday. Most of that day was much easier than what would happen Saturday. All we had to do is drive up, play at our host's football game, and stay the night with them. We home-stayed with parents of the Olentangy Liberty High School Band's parents, which is about 30 minutes north of Columbus. It was a smaller band, couldn't have been more than 80 members. A couple of our members stayed with relatives in the area, but the rest stayed with the band parents, sometimes as much as 6 or 8 to a room. I got lucky and only had to share with 4 other people, but we also got a big house which helped. Had a GREAT breakfast Saturday morning. Saturday morning started kind of rough. I think the pressure of playing at such a large, high profile venue got to a couple people and rehearsal that morning started in a rather unpleasant way. We settled down by the time we set out for Ohio State though. We also got pizza before we left as well, since we didn't have to be there until 3:15 to set up for the Skull Session.. For those who don't know what that is, the Ohio State Marching Band has a concert session before their games, which they invite their football team to come and help rile up fans for the game. And they pack St John's Arena as well for that, which is about as big as Cincinnati's Shoemaker Center. The pride and support for their band is just phenomenal, which I'll get into more in the marching band thread. Overall, it was just great hearing them live and sharing a stage with them. The Olentangy Orange High School band was also there, so we got to see 2 out of the 3 Olentangy High School bands (the Olentangy district has 3 high schools). They were much bigger than the one we stayed with, and they got a nice standing ovation from the crowd. They were having fun there, that's for sure. We were treated very well there and throughout the day as well. OSU, both the fans and the school in general, really get marching bands. I wish every school would take notes from them. After Skull Session, we just went right to Ohio Stadium and set up for our pregame. Again, the fans along the route treated us very well, we got some cheers and lots of welcomes. This was one of those trips where the rest of the trip surpassed the reason we were actually there, much like the Spokane trip. OSU game days are an incredible experience. Walking into that stadium was neat. You can see it from anywhere on campus, and it just loomed over us as we steadily got closer to having to go in. Now, I have experience in other big stadiums, the closest one probably being the New Orleans' Superdome, but I felt OSU's stadium felt bigger with the entire stadium packed. In fact, OSU had an attendance record from our game, which really surprised me as I thought that honor would have gone to an OSU/Michigan game. Pre-game was intense to say the least. Being on the field, the crowd noise is just this big wall of sound, especially in the student section at the open end of the horseshoe. We had to focus on the percussion and the drum majors for any semblance of pulse and tempo. From what I glanced at on the video board, we held together pretty well. Then OSU's band took the field. Unfortunately, we were placed in end zone seats so we didn't have the best view of the field. But even from the side, the band sounded great. I know they have a small repertoire, but the sound quality is just perfect. I do wish I could have seen Script Ohio from a better angle though. That just gave me goosebumps. Oh right, there was a game... I'll save this speech for the NCAA football thread, but to put it in a nutshell, I really thought we could have pulled this one out in the first half. Then I was aware of the overwhelming time of possession OSU had for various reasons, so our defense was gassed all game. I didn't feel all too bad though. Sitting through the Sugar Bowl loss was much tougher in retrospect. The Bearcats have a lot of work to do. We performed post-game as well, which was only for about 15-20 thousand or so. It was nice to be able to perform for a quieter stadium. We got a lot of cheers and compliments from OSU fans after that. It was a lot better than I thought it could have been. I will have to say I have a great deal more respect for OSU after that game. The arrogant fans are really a minority of the fan-base as most of them were very courteous and good spirited. Sure, they've had their problems, but a lot of other universities do as well. I did take pictures which I'll post soon.

Apparently tomorrow we will see vertical construction beginning!

Yes. Someone enjoyed it last night. Terp Tradition

Unfortunately it looks like I wont be able to make it out to the Kingdom today..... BUT.....I cannot wait to visit the park on April 11, 2015 and see the newest park improvements! Hopefully it only gets better from here!

I get what you are saying, but I do think there is a market out there. Just not to an extreme degree (probably don't need a t-shirt for Scrambler). Many people have been riding The Racer for 30+ years and are more likely to buy a Racer shirt than a Banshee one. I'm sure there are also season pass holders whose favorite ride might be Delirium or Flight of Fear.

Angry much?

Cedar Point was dead today as well, even though lots of enthusiasts showed up. The longest line I waited in was 20 minutes for Top Thrill Dragster around 4:30pm. Most rides (with the usual exceptions) were station waits all day. In the last hour of operation, I rode Mean Streak in the front row (x2), Magnum, Top Thrill Dragster and Maverick (x6).

GREAT photo-trip-report, Thanks for sharing! Sounds like you had a great time at the park!

Okay so I went on the website and found our picture. the one time I actually got my picture taken.

There's a few props throughout Madame Fatale's as well like the cannon. Your title gave me the idea too that they should do a maze sometime themed around the Phantom Theatre and the maestro.

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip, and I'm especially glad that the respectful majority of the fan-base was able to shine through for you and the band. I was at the Skull Session, so I did get to see/hear some of the UC band. It was different to hear wind instruments and percussion other than the drumline stuff because I am used to the OSU band's style. Your twirlers are very good! And who doesn't love a Billy Joel tribute? I didn't stay after the game to watch the on-field performance though. Also, the attendance record was probably broken because they added about 1500 seats to the stadium this year. I suspect that the record will be broken again on November 29th. Although it is not as big as the Superdome in New Orleans, it does seat about 30,000 more people. (Also, if I botched some of the terminology regarding the band please forgive me- I don't know much about this stuff!)

If this season pass holder went three times and he lives two hours away, think how many times local customers must have gone...

And some of us here never had the luxury of visiting Kings Island as a child. You see, we were adults when Kings Island opened its gates for the first time.

Crowds are a lot lower today than I expected for such a nice day. I got my free FL+ for renewing today, but I've barely needed it. I wasn't the only one with the idea, and it's not been uncommon for both lines to be the same length (short).

If you want a Bat shirt with the original logo you could always buy one from cincyshirts.com

Thanks for letting us know Mer! I'm glad to hear it. Fury325, based on renderings, looks to be a contender for best steel coaster in the world. I hope it lives up to the renderings, or even out-does the renderings!

I remember last year that the drop off and pick up area was so congested that people were parking their cars across the road and walking across Kings Island Dr. many kids just running out into the street, very scary and I am happy Mason police is enforcing the area, too many reckless kids not paying attention.

Yeah, I would buy the heck out of a forest green Adventure Express shirt with this logo and the 1972-1992 Kings Island logo beneath it. Would have made a neat limited edition shirt for the 40th anniversary. Oh well. FTW, not faulting KI... Just pointing out how impressed he was with KD's 40th anniversary this year.

It's a vicious cycle. When you superserve the target market and virtually omit others, you shouldn't complain when your peripheral audiences seek options elsewhere. See also flat rides, midway seating, food selection, ambient music, parking lot trams... Best day ever...for young thrillseekers. The Kings Island or Cedar Point of 40 years ago these parks are not. In some ways, that's good. In others, it's very, very sad.

I hated Vortex from the very beginning. Back then, it was the "cool" one to ride (over Beast), because it was taller, newer, and steel. All it did for me was make me feel like I'd been in a prize fight, bouncing my head back and forth between the restraints. I only ever rode it if I was at the park with someone who really wanted to. Until this year. I read about 5-1 here on the forums and gave it a try. I've ridden it a few times this summer, having surprisingly fun rides. I'm taller now, so the restraints don't obscure my view and bash my head like when I was younger. Then, when I was at the park Sunday, it finally happened. As I was in the station waiting for The Bat to take off I had an actual craving to ride Vortex. So I did. And had fun.

Yeah, I'm bored so I made this have a silly title... Last night I went to Haunt - I took off Friday nights from work so I could do so - and I am so excited to go again! First of all: I say this every year, but since it was the first night, nothing scared me...at all. I rarely flinched. But, the mazes have a lot of potential this year. Within an hour, we knocked off Delta Delta Die, KillMart, Urgent Scare, and Slaughterhouse. The longest we waited was five minutes. Delta Delta Die really didn't impress me too much. The last time I did it was when it was Massacre Manor, and they changed nothing except for the theme, which was meh. KillMart has a LOT of potential. There are so many good hiding spots for scare actors (except none of them utilized it very well). My favorite part is the giant pillow pet...watch out for what's under there! This is that one maze that is just really funny and interesting, not scary. Urgent Scare is the same old same old. Slaughterhouse disappointed me greatly. Being the "biggest" maze, it sure didn't feel like it. There were no attempts at scares and in the infamous black tarp thingy, there was nobody! After a few rides on Banshee and Diamondback, we knocked out Club Blood (stupid like usual). As it got darker, we did Tombstone Terror-Tory, Board to Death, CarnEVIL and Madame Fatale's to close out the night. So, all in all, we did every maze except CornStalkers and Wolf Pack, along with a night ride on The Beast. Highs of the night: KillMart's awesome theme. A lot of detail put into it. Definitely the best at KI and on par with Dent Schoolhouse props and setting. Madame Fatale's is really cool. I love looking up to see the large space that once was used for The Crypt. That's it. No joke, that's it. Lows of the night: Lack of scare actors. Yes, I know, first night. It will get much better as the season goes on. I feel like most of the mazes were somewhat cheap and badly done. I didn't notice it last year, but CarnEVIL is just not good anymore. It's too bright, the clowns didn't blend in at all, and even the whole mirror maze part was not used to scare. Boo! Board to Death consists mostly of large curtains with domino patterns, a deck of cards, etc. Not many big sets. Delta Delta Die is just Massacre Manor but with drunk college girls and beer cans laying around all over the place. You get the point. Roaming actors; very nonexistent. Instead of trying to scare people, most of them just menacingly walked around and blowing on people's necks. Whoa, that's just downright evil. "Nightmare Alley" had no actors at all. But I have to give props to the amazing detail; wow, eyeballs hanging from trees?! No fog or Haunt surprises on The Beast. The guy at the front by the fountains usually does such a good job but he didn't talk too much last night. Overall decorations. There are not many and there's mostly just hay and scarecrows. I'm not being a Debbie Downer. Haunt is still an awesome part of Kings Island and last night was still fun. But it just seems poorly set up and very cheap. I think they spent the most time doing KillMart and didn't even worry about anything else! Still, I see plenty of potential for later this year. I will be back, of course...and working tonight for it!

did anyone enjoy this last night? wan't to know if worth the cost and food was good?

$12.99 for season pass holders. Thats actually not a bad price for the food and one free trip to the front. Very cool addition for no more than the price of a combo....

I also miss the 80s when there was still the Animal Safari that you paid an extra $1 to ride and Timberwolf that had well known performers. Season pass holders could buy concerts tickets for $6. I remember standing outside the main gate in long lines where season pass orders are taken now and buying tickets to several concerts such as Men at Work, Huey Lewis and the News, Thompson Twins, and Weird Al. Then came Riverbend and we all know what happened shortly after that. International Street was truly international and has shops inspired by different countries including a Paris inspired bakery across from the Eiffel Tower. There was also two levels to the Eiffel Tower including lower level that you could walk up stairs to. I think the show your family might have liked to watch was Celebration. It was almost a hour long and had songs like "Singing in the Rain" and Flashdance." The last song was "Celebrate Good Times" by Kool and the Gang. It lasted several seasons because it was very popular and of very high quality. It played in the theatre that had Cirque this summer.

have any of y'all noticed anything from Phantom Theater this haunt

To Tell The Truth, What's My Line? I've Got A Secret. You Bet Your Life! Concentration. Password: Truth or Consequences!

I bought a Racer t-shirt this year. It was at the clearance store, but they've apparently made them recently enough to have had any to put there. There are currently a whole bunch of Vortex shirts at that store. I would like Adventure Express gear. I think some sort of miniatures of the drum guys would be super-cool.

I agree. It surprises me some that a shirt wasn't sold this year. I wish they would sell more apparel (shirts specifically) for older rides. Not everything, but having a shirt for Racer and Adventure Express sounds cool. Only 4-5 rides tend to get all the apparel, and it's usually overkill...like 5 different shirts for each. Cedar Point suffers from the same problem. You can't find a Mantis shirt, but they have 25 Gatekeeper shirts.

I'd love a shirt with just the logo on it and nothing else. Make it in orange, charcoal, black, or white. I'd buy it in any of those.

Any ideas as to what these items may be? The area is behind Dinosaurs Alive, headed down the hill. Sorry about the focus.

^The car was also used for Urgent Scare for a few year.

^Wait, so I'm assuming you fly helicopters right? You should be KIC's designated "reconnaissance man"!

What are they? For I must purchase them.Both are at Thrill Seekers on I-Street. One is a snow globe of the KI skyline, featuring the Crypt and Flight Deck's logos, and the likeness of SoB, plus Delirium with its pre-2014 color scheme.The other, at the same shop, is a T-Shirt for the little ones with the text "The Beast future rider" and an impeccable likeness of not The Beast, but his beloved son.

The "$10 and Under" shop at the entrance to Coney Mall is a good place to find merch for retired/renamed attractions. I bought a t-shirt (for $5!) earlier this summer that lists Firehawk, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Crypt, Son of Beast, Flight of Fear, Flight Deck, Beast, Vortex, and Racer. I got it specifically to commemorate the two in that list that only existed during the 15 years or so I wasn't going to KI.

Amusement park "junk yards" are typically called "bone yards."

From what I'm seeing I can pick out cars from SOB's Premier and Gerstlauer trains, as well as an old tram, a golf cart, a police car, another car, Blue's Clues dogs, some Patrick Stars, and a Spongebob... I wonder what those black things next to SOB cars are. And are those giant blue ducks off to the left?

Maybe it was that noise a coaster makes when it's sinking?

No way Vortex is the roughest ride in the park. That honor goes to the parking lot. Seriously, there are potholes that could swallow my car! But that's a different conversation for a different place and time.

As I discovered last season, there's actually a seat even better than the Toomer seat. - homestar92, recent 7-1 convert (seriously, on the first drop, you get a pop of airtime that may just be the best in Ohio!)

I didn't count Flight Deck and The Bat as two separate credits. It's the same ride experience, just a different color and a new name. My personal opinion...if it drastically changes the ride experience as the Mantis to Rougarou conversion will, I count each as a different credit. If the ride is retracked like The Beast and The Racer I don't think it should count as a new credit, same as when Son of Beast switched from the Premier Trains to the Gerstlauer ones. I would like to see Don chime in on this with his thoughts...

It's steel. It's not Volcano: The Blast Coaster. Nor is it The Matterhorn. Not a hyper or giga either. Therefore, Terp doesn't count the old Mantis and won't count G-it's-new.

I do track my credits (because any excuse to make a spreadsheet is A-OK in my book!) but I tend to be very conservative in my counting. Racer is 1. Gemini is 1. Kennywood Racer is 1 (though in this case, it truly is ONE roller coaster no matter how you try to slice it). Surf Dog/Pipe Scream do not count. Heck, I don't even count Thunder Run (of the Canadian variety. The one in the Hartland does count, of course). As such, you can imagine why I would say that no, it is not a new credit. If you rode The Beast in 1979, the trains had four rows per car and the helix wasn't enclosed. Does that count as an additional credit, too?

What is, is. The past isn't coming back. It was fun. But today we can pine for the past or we can savor what we have. These are the good old days....