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Son of Beast for several years. One side of the turnpike cars for many years.... Tower Gardens current state? Son of Beast's station still? The Crypt's building? The new building beside Beast's brake run? Club Blood's building? I'm sorry, but to someone that doesn't frequent Kings Island often, these things are, at best, tacky. What's one more?

If they were to leave Kill Mart set up like that all year, it would be by far the most egregious one yet. Right in the middle of Coney Mall, one of the most iconic sections of the park... I would be shocked to see that happen. Hopefully the good people at Kings Island will see that too.

They will be like these.. but with, from the rendering, yellow cars that look somewhat space-like. That is, hands down, the most awkward video I've ever seen. I don't know what makes it awkward, the music, the fact that it looks like they set it up in the middle of a field or the fact that there is literally nothing but the ride carriage showing. Interesting.

Probably a better place for families than Fright Fest at Six Flags America....

I've got one thing to say.... They should of called the new scooters "Flying Beagles" That is all

Seems excessive to keep that arcade shut down, all the arcades always seem very busy and are good alternatives during pop up rain showers. I would think the arcade brought in more money than Kill Mart, plus the scary façade would be way off theme wise for Coney Mall. Of course that hasn't stopped them in the past...

Just as the old Batman: The Ride queues made those parks look junky....

I probably despise the look of Club Blood's building the most during the regular season. I wish they would at least just cover up the graffiti with a curtain or something during the summer.

​Warning: This will probably be a high bandwidth page(s)! Page(s) may take long to load and my consume large amounts of data. If your wifi or mobile data is capped, this might be something to think about... This will be a thread about amusement/theme parks, that were soon to be opened but never did or did open and didn't stay open any longer than 1 year, and were shut down for good. Please do post picture(s) (not required but cool/spooky to see.), and a brief or long reason on why it was never to be, of said abandon amusement/theme park! I was watching a documentary on Netflix (Forgotten Planet) about towns/cities that have been abandoned for different reasons around the world , the very first episode talks about the nuclear Chernobyl accident and the town that was made for the workers Pripyat. the town was only 2 miles away from the nuclear power plant (sorry if I am wrong on that number, but it was quite close!) and 5 days after the nuclear incident happened a local amusement park was set to open. Well it never did because of dangerously high radiation levels and a the fact the people were evacuated from the town. The name of the amusement park is beyond me and it also wasn't a very big one, but it could of had great potential! Here is a picture of the amusement park: It is really quite chilling to see something like this or to see an entire abandon town at that rate! Note: I do highly recommend the documentary! It is cool, sad and spooky all in one!

Same as the past umpteen years. 1) Paint Racer 2) Paint Racer 3) See #1 and/or #2

I think a holiday version of Charlie Brown's Christmas would be an excellent idea for the dinner theatre in the Festhaus. I still like the idea of inviting high school and church choirs to perform in the regular indoor theatre when you first enter the park. This could be offered earlier in the afternoon to attract large crowds to the park ($$$) wanting to see their choir group perform. Maybe local guy Nick Lachey could be the host like he has been on the television show, I think it was called Clash of the Choirs. Remember we were a host city recently for the Choir Games which was an international event for choirs and was so popular they want to bring it back to Cincinnati. Cirque Imagine then could have a few night shows in the same theatre possibly. It would be neat if the La Rosas on International Street could move above the main entrance to the restaurant that use to be open when I was a kid. They could offer some other dishes besides pizza like spaghetti dinners and it would offer a great view of the lights on International Street. Having Winterfest open in limited areas of the park with a good balance of indoor and outdoor activities, while attracting large groups to come to the park should make it a very profitable event for the park. Plus the new larger Starbucks is an added bonus that would make big amounts of $$$ on winter days and evenings.

They will be like these.. but with, from the rendering, yellow cars that look somewhat space-like. That is, hands down, the most awkward video I've ever seen.

My 3 best new credits of the year: 1. Banshee 2. Mystery Mine 3. Lightning Run

Often times there is plenty of business for two, when perhaps not so much for one. Potter may actually have ADDED to Disney business.

Although it is still labeled as the "Killmart Web Cam," it appears to have been moved to Planet Snoopy to showcase the construction project for 2015. https://www.visitkingsisland.com/online-fun/webcams

^ Especially at Six Flags St. Louis. I like Haunt, but leaving the arcade set up for Haunt is excessive. Unfortunately, I think they're going to leave it that way, as I'm pretty sure they repainted the actual front of the building. Better add the Action Theater to that list, too. I don't think it shows anything during the regular season anymore. I used to look down on Kings Island in 2008 for not being the same as it was during the Paramount years, but at least Action Theater showed Spongebob 3D, The Crypt existed, Son of Beast's station served an actual purpose, the arcade was an arcade, etc. I realize that there are reasons that those things aren't around anymore, but there are now more and more buildings in plain sight that are empty and not accessible by guests for all but the last five or six weeks of the season. I agree--it looks tacky at best. It didn't bother me as much at first, but I don't think I like the level it's at now.

That seems kinda creepy...

When I was at Carowinds a couple years ago, a ride operator instructed me, and everyone on the ride, to "Enjoy your ride on the Southern Star". I thought that was pretty crazy considering what an impossible task they were asking of us.

A really good very high high capacity 5 or 6 minutes long dark ride!

Well, you have to understand that for people in the greater Cincinnati area, even a snow dusting means the end of the world and people stock up on bread and milk. I wish I were kidding.

I was just at WDW Resort this week. I can tell you firsthand the parks were VERY crowded. On Tuesday Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was maintaining a 2+ hour wait. And it's not even peak season. Shaggy

As a youngster on a rainy night, I marathoned Outer Limits: Flight of Fear. At the time I thought I was so lucky, now I wonder how much smarter I could have been.

Constant dollars are each stated in the same reference year. A nominative dollar is stated as the same in any year. But....a nominative dollar from 1972, for instance would be worth far more in 2014 dollars. Example: Nominative: 1972: $1 2014: $1 Constant, a 1972 dollar would take $5.69 to purchase the same now. Or a 2014 dollar has the same purchasing power on average that 18 cents had then. http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

If I recall correctly the guy that gave us the lights on tours of the 3 haunts on KIC day stated that the arcade/Killmart building was given to the entertainment group for a new haunt. So I think that means the arcade is to be no more. With that said---- A non disguised haunt building will be kind of strange most of the time. Later, Mark

At least at NJFTP, it's an entire section of the park shuttered off--where Batman and Robin: The Chiller, the bumper cars and Frisbee were...

Ohh... CoasterMania ERT, '12 or '13. A TTD ride op kept referring to the ride as Jr. Gemini. Soon after, he started referring to it as Woodstock Express. My response? "Woodstock Express sucks! Bring back Jr. Gemini." Sorry, I don't have any from KI yet..

Should have given him the specs for Kingda Bizarro.

Absolutely acceptable. Each person poops, probably vomits at least once or twice in their life, urinates, this park just chooses to portray that. I have no issue with it. However, parents have to decide what is acceptable for their family and what is not acceptable.

I have had the (dis)pleasure of a rollback on Maverick. She doesn't usually go backwards but on rare occasions, it happens. It was on the launch hill where we had a failure to launch, came to a stop, rolled back most of the way, just enough to hit the drive wheels. The LSM's were still acting as brakes as the wheels struggled to pull us back. Not fun, and time-consuming. Sigh. Nowhere near as awesome as a TTD rollback. On closing day, I had a Maverick spieler give us the specs of Top Thrill Dragster. Passing by him, I exclaimed my excitement for Top Thrill Maverick, which he repeated back at me. I thought it was funny...

Columbus Zoo's event had fires in barrels. It was not an open fire. Either way, it's a dumb risk. Not that this is ever going to happen anyways.

Open fires throughout an amusement park? Please, no.

Uh, no, the original Winterfest started well before Paramount took over, and ended at about the same time Paramount bought the park. CBS (not Paramount) brought it back for a single year to showcase the park for sale.

I'm not pretending to know better when it comes to operating an amusement park, but isn't the weather a risk every park takes when operating a Christmas event? It just doesn't seem like a realistic reason not to when places like Kennywood and Hersheypark operate in December every year.

Looking forward to the new Woodstock Gliders. WE have needed a new flat ride. Kind of glad it's in Planet Snoopy as well. Help keep their status as a great kids area and help keep lines shorter from people viewing it as a kids ride and staying away. Ive often walked onto Surf Dog or just had to wait one cycle, where i'll see Disk-o rides with longer lines at other parks when they're on a general midway.

Repairing the water elements in Tower Gardens would be fantastic. That area, in it's former glory, was beautiful and a great place to just relax. Being a smoker myself, even I see that wonderful space as a waste. And in this era of this OR that, there really is no reason the back corner couldn't be both. Not going back to quote, but someone mentioned the Festhaus clock being removed. Is it possible it was removed to be repaired? I for one hope this is the case. Racer, "sigh", I so miss the original paint, that would make my heart soar. AE, while I do think FUNTV was a great addition, it just doesn't fit here ( or BooBlasters for that matter). Refurb the ride elements.

On the other hand, at least one poster here would likely come in from the DC Metro, and attended the last one--snow and ice included, when he lived three hours away....

Don't expect as much action as we were used to on the Banshee cam. Flying Scooters can be installed in just a couple of days, if that. Even still, it's nice to be able to watch in when there is action happening.

"For the third quarter of 2014, operating costs and expenses were $283 million, up $8 million from the prior-year third quarter. The increased costs for the quarter were largely the result of budgeted increases in operating expenses, which included: 1) an increase in both seasonal labor hours and rates; and 2) initiatives focused on enhancing the overall guest experience, including the introduction of more midway entertainment throughout the parks and a new policy offering complimentary admission to the Dinosaurs Alive! attraction for the Company's most loyal season pass customer base." This makes me happy. Maybe I have been too close to Busch Gardens and have read about the old Disney, but there have been too many instances of cutting costs. While it works in the short run, it hurts the company in the long term, and I am very happy to see Cedar Fair continuing to go all out for operations.

They also lost a VERY busy weekend at Cedar Point.

With all the attendance initiatives, attendance was still down? Wow. I really don't understand why...but part of me thinks a good part of it is changing school calendars and their effects on family vacations.

An off-season tour is something we're considering.

With all due respect to Mr.Helbig, he is a PR guy, not maintenance. Unless he has done said maintenance job, there's no way he can honestly answer your questions. Each car is from the rides is stripped down to every last nut and bolt. It's in the neighborhood of 6,500 parts for all of the coasters combined. Diamondback alone has more than 1,600 parts checked annually. Everything that you can imagine is disassembled and looked at and then rebuilt over the winter. A ride like Backlot Stunt Coaster will take 4-1/2 months to do the nine cars on it. Firehawk is up there as one of the hardest trains to work on. A lot of very detailed work with all of the coasters and other ride vehicles.

These changes seem to be taking out the small conveniences that make people think how hot the day is, instead of what a great time they are having. The Funnel Cake stand goes through rushes, and gets backed up easily, it looks like they are trying to resolve this. The line at that stand trails back across a walkway that makes getting through clunky. The Starbuck's as it now discourages me from standing in line. I'm glad they are making more space, and hopefully, it won't be so dark. I've never tried Yogurt Plus, how is it? I'm really excited to return next year.

I had the pleasure of flying into CLT on 11/1 for a day trip. I knew things would be ugly when I saw the weather: 700' Overcast with 5 miles visibility due to rain. 40 degrees. At 7000' we accumulated a fair amount of rime ice, but nothing the anti ice system couldn't deal with. I hand flew the instrument landing system approach to runway 36R (right overtop Carowinds). Several times we were advised to keep our speed up. We had a 45mph headwind at 3000' ! After landing and putting the airplane to bed I had 7 hours in Charlotte with nothing to do but wait..... Carowinds here I come!! They seem to be building something big on the north side of the park....Hmmmmm.... Upon entering the parking lot I realized I was the only car there. The entrance has been moved to the picnic area right behind the Intimidator. (The front gate should be awesome!!) I parked in the first spot in front of the temporary ticket booths. It was a 15 step walk. (I counted!) I expected to be turned away at the gate because of the weather.... but no. I passed through security as they asked if I was here for early ride time (9:40ish) I then officially entered the park. Both Intimidator and Nighthawk were supposed to be open for ERT but due to cold neither were. Security invited me into a gift shop to get warm and out of the rain. They informed me that I was officially the ONLY guest in the park. At 10:00 the National Anthem played and I heard the distant roar of a B & M coaster.... AFTERBURN!! I walked up the steps and saw 6 ride ops absolutely astonished someone was there to ride. I took the front seat and off I went. Two observations, rain hurts at 50+ miles an hour and the underground elements would be really cool on an undead themed coaster. I rode it twice and then had to buy the on ride photo. I wandered over to our Flying Eagles and had to convince the ride op, yes I really wanted to ride since it had been about 20 years since I had last ridden them. I tried very hard to snap the cables but with only me on the ride I didn't have enough momentum or angular velocity. The ride was as good as I remembered, just a little more wet. As I walked back to the front of the park I met up again with my security friend from the gift shop who told me that a group of people had come into the park and there were now FIVE guests in the park, including me! Off to The Vortex. I'm not a fan of stand ups (they should be all converted in my book) but I wanted to see what other rides were open from the top of the lift hill. An additional uncomfortable item was that bike seat was soaked so now my crotch was soaked now too! And its still a head banger. Ouch. I then wandered over to the Hurler which I liked. It seemed less rough ( perhaps the rain??) I rode twice in the front seat. The ride afforded a great view of the station for the Fury 325 which is almost complete. The rain still hurt, but the temperature seemed to be rising slowly. I then rode the Carolina Cyclone twice, with the ride op letting me hop off, snap a picture, then hop right back on. (He said, "Its not like anyone is waiting.") The Carolina Cobra actually had additional rider waiting. He took the front, and I took the back. Two people total in the train. I hadn't remembered the restraints but they are different from a standard Vekoma Boomerang. The overhead shoulder restraint is wider and has a vest similar to the Banshee/Gatekeeper. The vest material is lighter weight however. As the train started up the hill all the water in the back of the train poured down the back of the seat. Now I was completely soaked! Most of the other rides were closed as were the majority of the games and restaurants. The Intimidator's trains never left the storage shed while I was there. The Nighthawk was locked up tight. I think I rode all the non kiddy rides that were open. I ended up in the shop where I waited in the beginning. The two guys manning the store were wondering if they would sell anything that day. I bought three shirts from the bargin rack. While I was in there a guy came in looking to purchase a Fast Pass. Seriously. I left before I saw how that worked out. I have never been in a deserted, yet open amusement park. It was so quiet. In the distance you could hear rides running but no screams/laughter/talking. Weird. At one point I did hear those sounds but then I realized it was the soundtrack for the Fury 325 promo video. I was completely miserable by this time so it was time to go. One final weird issue was when I walked out the ride camera for the Intimidator would flash (as if taking a picture) about every 30 seconds. It was like it was mocking me. Luckily it was a really short walk back to the car, so it was back to the airport for a shower and a change of (dry) clothes!

Yeah, Universal isn't hurting.

Flying Ea..... oh wait, never mind. But in all seriousness I'd love to see something like Sledge Hammer at Canada's Wonderland. It would really give the park something that no other park in the U.S. has.

Until recently, I never even considered credits. I just rode coasters, because I like to ride coasters. This season, in many ways changed that. I found myself on a few amazing trips I wouldn't have even considered. This site is largely responsible. Thanks to this site, I've encountered some truly amazing people, some I'm sure are life long friends. I (we) made trips to, Cedar Point, Michigans Adventure, Indiana Beach, Six Flags Great Adventure(NJFTP), Dorney Park, Kings Dominion, and of course our Kings Island.

^Well, in this case, yes, if you view it from a certain context. KICentral gets loads of hits from people looking up Kings Island news. Linking to the original source ensures that the information isn't being made up by KICentral members. Other people could come on here and mistake news from being originated from here instead of the park. Just because news has an obvious source doesn't mean you shouldn't post the link. Trust me, I get your sarcastic remark. I thought a lot like that at first. But this site has certain obligations to the park, therefore, KICentral and its members benefit a lot from it, and so does the park.

I'd like to see as much of the pavement in the park replaced with other alternatives that don't draw as much heat. Also I'd like to see Vortex get a renovation so I can ride it without regretting it.

Washington Metro....