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Banshee should give its 2 millionth ride the last weekend of the season. It has been a great year for ride milestones and anniversaries.

The park really just needs to keep their mouths shut (as is their policy, or so we're told) and be a little more professional about this. Mr. Hart's comments came off as abrasive and unprofessional to me, definitely not how the top park official should be speaking in my opinion. I'm guessing his attorney would rather he not be saying all this either. Kentucky Kingdom: "We don't comment on pending litigation... That being said, these two are lying. Their friend came forward and told us they planned the whole thing. We have safety signs and warnings posted all over our water park. The inner tubes were safe and the guests in question were over the weight limit. But like we said, we don't comment on pending litigation."

Ugh..., 1. If you are right, don't talk. 2. You win nothing by trying to make one of your guests look bad 3. Just because no one has been injured before doesn't me you can't get injured in the future. 4. Now we have heard the two individual sides, who has the "proof"

I most likely will not be able to attend since the new little one will arrive mid April.

Ill trayd u a piggy 4 a donkee! -Sam

Shirtless photo update?

Wow...50 million riders. Hey wait...in 2014... Banshee opens and reaches the 1,000,000 rider milestone and might even hit 2M. Diamondback hits the 10,000,000 rider mark. Racer finallyhits the 100,000,000 rider mark. And now Beast is looking to hit 50,000,000. Wow. What a year for coaster milestones at Kings Island, eh?

If the lady got her season pass revoked for climbing a fence into a restricted area, that looks pretty suspect and surely the park kept written record of this happening. That certainly puts her story about the water slide in doubt. Plus one of her friends testifying that it is all a extortion ploy should put this to rest. If someone is legitimately hurt due to negligence that is one thing, but this sounds way fishy.

Kentucky Kingdom Files Countersuit On Injury Claim: http://m.wlky.com/news/Kentucky-Kingdom-files-counter-suit-against-couple-after-injury-claim/29282306 Well worth reading...

That's an excused absence, if there ever was one.

If any of you have this issue, or are wanting to purchase a Coaster Crew membership, hold off for the moment. There will be an option to upgrade and the tiers are going to be streamlined. That, however, is their announcement to make.

There isn't much that looks better for a park than a lawsuit against their guests.

I honestly didn't see any advertising in Indianapolis or the surrounding area. I can tell you I live on 67 in Indianapolis (South west side) and for the entire season we had two billboards touting Holiday World within 5 miles heading north to 465. They also were heavy with radio, tv, and restaurant deals (The typical: ask your server for discount tickets to HW, etc). The way KK ran their advertising this year I would've never known they were open, if I weren't an enthusiast. They dropped the ball with flooding the market within 6 hours of the "Grand Opening/Brand New Amusement Park" advertising campaign.

A little more information has been added. Approved clubs: American Coaster Enthusiasts Club Theme Park Review CoasterBuzz Club Coaster Crew Platinum Great Ohio Coaster Club European Coaster Club Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain Club de Fans de Montanas (Mexico) The only thing to note is that for Coaster Crew members, you'll have to be a Platinum member or above. This was done to make the pricing more similar among the clubs, with the exception of ACE. For those who joined for media day, you'll be up for renewal before this event so just remember to choose the Platinum option when you renew. Tickets to CoasterStock are going on sale in January. https://www.visitkingsisland.com/events/things-to-do/events-and-promotions/Coasterstock-at-Kings-Island

Diamondback is in the neighborhood of where it was last year in the number of rides given through the same number of operating dates.

After reading this quote and thinking deeply, (deeply meaning more than just the words shown above in the quote) I feel as though it was the right decision. Kentucky Kingdom is no where near it's potential right now. It is going to take time for the park to get to its FULL capability again. As it gets closer to its potential, the park should advertise the park more to other metropolitan areas. You should know your park, you should know if it is good enough for outside consumers to want to come back year after year. Kentucky Kingdom was NOT that this year. That is simply why I believe it was the right decision. Once the park starts reopening attractions and bringing in marquee attractions, that is when you should start to advertise the park to outside markets.

Like many others, it appears the Kentucky Kingdom marketing team wrongly believes a social media presence makes traditional advertising less necessary or even not necessary.

If they didn't it was very dumb. Then again not viewing Kings Island and Holiday World as competition is very misguided as well.

If Kentucky Kingdom wins this, it could end up being an interesting case to study.

Thank you for understanding. We looked forward to this as well as the Holiday World event they put on. Some things are more important though. Sounds like we are taking the year off from parks next year.

Kentucky Kingdom on Facebook: Photo 1 and Photo 2 : Kentucky Kingdom via Facebook

Tony just posted a new blog update, as well at the first "Rougarou Files" video. https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog-article/online-fun/The-Rougarou-Files?mobile=0

Would you prefer Gold Star?

Yes, that would be the one. I only remember riding this huge ferris wheel, which terrifies me still. I can handle 400ft coasters, but get me on a dropping ride, ferris wheel, or skyline and I freeze up.

^ Which once again begs the question, is the park advertising in out of state markets next year because it is ready or because it must? I hope KK has an understanding of who they are competing against in these other markets once they start advertising in them. Kings Island, Holiday World, Dollywood and other local attractions are very much their competition.

Not to mention the tax incentives have required percentages for out of state visitors that begin, if memory serves, next year. If those percentage goals are not met, the park does not get the tax incentives.

The park says it was only caught smoking in a non-smoking area...

As I said in the last line of my debated post. The forums are a great jumping off point. Now if you want to let the biased opinions on these forums sway your opinion that is on you, but there is typically some well thought out interpreting by many on various park related topics.

And if that is your point, it isn't much of one. By your definition and world view: The Courier-Journal isn't biased? Ed Hart himself isn't? Governor Beshear? Me, in an in person interview? You? ALL sources have a bias, often more than one. We can't know what we don't know, nor often when we aren't being fair. In your point of view, only unbiased sources could be used. And yet you have said that all sources are biased. A paradox? Unbiased sources? There is NO such thing.

It's there by Planet Snoopy. It is only running after Haunt starts. A few weeks ago it got me. I knew it was going to go off and I still screamed and plowed into one of my friends.

I tried the wing deal last night. It was, contrary to what I had heard from customers in previous weeks, a buffet-style setup. As advertised, they had wedge fries, salad, and an assortment of wings. A nice surprise was that they had fried pickles. I don't remember that being advertised, but I might have missed it. The only problem I saw was that when we ordered the deal around 11:00 or so the waitress had to check to see if it was still available (it was) because allegedly they start to break down the buffet earlier than the restaurant's midnight closing time. If you are going to participate in this deal I'd recommend doing it before 9:00 or 10:00 - just in case. You are given a plastic serving tray and replacement paper inserts for multiple buffet trips. If I had to review the food, I'd have to say that the fries and fried pickles were a little mushy - as they would be from sitting on a buffet line. They used the same bottom-heated catering trays as they do for group picnics. It's not that they weren't good - just not as good as they would be if you ordered them fresh. The chicken wings were very good. I'm a boneless wing guy. I particularly enjoyed the barbeque and sweet and spicy variety. If wings are your thing then this is definitely a good deal for $14.99. Don't forget that if you have a Gold or Platinum Pass you get an additional 10% off. The servers there were, as always, very polite and efficient. They were a good representation of how food service employees should behave at work. This deal is available Fridays only at the Reds Hall of Fame Grille.

Summer, okay. Winter weather?! In theory, a harsh winter can create excessive snow days, which can require schools to make up a lot of days, which requires students to stay in school longer, which reduces leisure time for those same students in the early part of the summer, and reduced leisure time means fewer chances to go out and do things like go to amusement parks. On the flip side, what hot summer? It seemed rather cool to me, and given that southwest Ohio isn't that far from Louisville, I wouldn't think there would be that drastic of a temperature difference between here and there for a whole summer. This statement just baffles me.

From the park's Facebook page: Anybody here going to try to claim the title of 50,000,000th rider?

Didn't Cypress Gardens pretty much replace all the wood anyway? I always thought it was a shame Lego Land did not keep the ride.

Now, I'm thinking about it.

Ok makes sense. I was walking around New Fantasyland today and was like "How the heck did they spend a billion+ on this?"

I wouldn't hold your breath quite yet.

That is why I always laughed at Auction Wars and all the value of the items that those junk hunters gave. Yea, you say it is worth that much, but how long did it take for you to sell those items and what was the dollar amount you received for them. But I once paid $200 for a 67 Mustang that was a piece of junk but I put 10,000 miles on it to and from work and leisure. But to me, it was worth what I paid.

I was also there on the last day. I remember the cake, the t-shirts, everything. Even now, I hang my head a bit when I walk past the Eagles' former spot. I went to Cedar Point for the first time this year. It was a cold and rainy morning in May. You know the very first ride I ran to? The Lake Erie Eagles. They weren't my flyers. They sat next to Gemini instead of Vortex. I couldn't move them as easily as I could ours. The moment I felt that satisfying snap, though, I felt like I was home. If this rumor turns out to be true, then I welcome this new ride. The world can always use more flyers... so long as they can snap.

So much speculation back then. Nearly all of it wrong. And not a post one from one frequent poster, until now. CBS not have an effect? Paramount Parks not changing? Boy was that ever 100 percent not right.

Ten years. Wow. It's been ten years... Terp...who can't believe it's been 10 years.

http://www.limaohio.com/news/business-home_top-news/50527102/Eastern-Shawnee-may-open-resort-near-Indian-Lake

Rampage completed its first successful test run on Saturday, according to Dan Koch. Will post the photo update soon!

Joker's Jinx at Six Flags America, not to be outdone, stranded riders for hours. The park spokesperson claimed a safety system shut down the ride (between blocks--really?) Then, a parking lot brawl during Fright Fest involved approximately 200. Three guests were injured, one critically. It turned out that last had reportedly been banned from all Six Flags parks.

Off-topic but: I spy a Pontiac GTO "Judge" in this picture. Awesome old muscle car. Sadly in 1972 they were starting to go "out of style" as the Muscle Car Era was dying...also nice photos of the resort, though to be 100% fair I have never stayed at ANY hotel near KI (we are close enough to drive there and back within a reasonable time fame) much less this one. Edit: Wow, it really is a small world after all. Seeing this picture, I decided to look up "Pontiac GTO Judge commercial" on Youtube for some reason, and guess who did the music for the 1969 GTO Judge ad? Paul Revere and the Raiders, who's lead singer would go on to get married at Kings Island (and then he recently died). So the car has a link to Kings Island History to boot! Here is said commercial:

I wouldnt say SF ruined that park. That park was destined to close when CF bought it. SF invested into the park. DId they over expand? Yes, but I wouldnt say they ruined it. CF could have scaled operations back some, move some rides, etc. CF razed the entire dry side. Imagine if CF would have acquired it under current management. You would have seen a scaled down GL not a complete razing.....

That annual Capex amount is for all projects for that year at all parks. The article is identifying the major project for that year where the majority of the money went, but it is not saying that each of those projects cost that much. Capex is comprised of all park improvements, refurbishments, additions, repaintings and such.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2014/10/21/indianapolis-zoo-expects-skyline-ride-stay-closed/17651655/

The way I've been interpreting that $1.5M-to-$2M figure is that the lease requires that they invest that much, but there's nothing prohibiting them from investing more. The plan may be to invest far more each year, say $6M one year, then $18M another year on a brand new coaster, etc. Likely (and this is just my speculation), the Fair Board demanded that Hart guarantee a minimum investment every year, and Hart went with a low figure so he could have freedom to have a year with low capex (e.g. 2013 at KI, when we got the Reds Grille and not much else) to allow saving money for a large capex the following year (e.g. 2014 at KI with Banshee). What I'm getting at here is that if the lease specified, let's pick a number out of thin air here, $8 million per year, then he would have to spend $8 million EVERY single year, hurting the ability to save for larger capital expenditures in future years. Thus, a low minimum figure enables more freedom to have large capexes more frequently, which is a good thing. Correct me if there's hard evidence to the contrary, but the word "minimum" doesn't have to be present in the lease proposal or contract here. If the contract says one figure, and Hart and company spend a higher figure, I seriously don't think the Fair Board would complain in the least. And for a preemptive rebuttal to those who would respond by asking where this extra money will come from, yes, Hart risked very little of his own money at the outset and had trouble getting loans, but I think once a couple of years pass and the park shows that it seems to be succeeding, all parties will see less risk than there was during the initial financing stage last year, resulting in banks being more willing to lend money, and Hart maybe being more willing to dig into his own pocket.

^^ Tell you what....you can have the Eagles and we'll take Fury 325....Deal?