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Storage?? I know a park in Mason that could use a turnpike....

Seasonal employers shouldn't have to ensure the safety of their employees? I'm sure that the matters in the OSHA report will receive more attention industry-wide. The fine amount is trivial for the park. From a PR standpoint, they certainly don't want to get fined again.

Here's an awesome aerial video showing off how truly beautiful this coaster is. Absolutely stunning. I'm also in love with how the underside of the track pops out with the contrasting bright green color. I hope many other coasters in the future will have this unique feature. I love how the track color changes depending on your angle and the twists of the track. https://www.carowinds.com/online-fun/webcams

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. Labor meaning Work. Therefore it does not matter if one is working a seasonal job or a permanent job, they are under their guidelines and rules. If those rules are not followed, you, as employer, best be prepared to pay the piper.

There are also many sanitary reasons why not to build a bridge. It would make it easier to throw garbage into the pool, causing a clean up nightmare for the park.

And that is your privilege. Kentucky taxpayers should not have to further subsidize what are tax exempt religious organizations when those organizations attempt to circumvent legal restrictions requiring employment without regard to religious belief or religious loyalty tests. You CHOOSE to donate. Mr. Hamm would require Kentucky taxpayers to subsidize what certainly now appears to be a church, but one engaging in a secular business.

^ In many cases, more than one party shares fault in an incident. In the examples you mentioned, OSHA would be going after any responsibility on the employer's part. An employee might make an error, but the work environment - as well as the employee's training and supervision - are generally responsibilities of the employer.

I have never viewed having to walk around the fountains as a problem.

When we were at the 2015 improvements announcement, and he started to say "you won't even recognize International Street" I immediately thought "yes, they'll be doing fountain improvements," but then he went on about the new Starbucks, etc. I'll still dream of a day with a bridge or walkway halfway through the fountains.

^ And I think it's safe to assume that the PlayStation 3 supporting Blu-Ray playback didn't hurt either.

FUN's aggressive reinvestment strategy of late is refreshing. The Good Time Theatre needed a lot of work. A large portion of it - the outdoor amphitheater - has been vacant in recent seasons. From the outside, it isn't obvious that an indoor theater exists at all. The fact that Cedar Point needs a large entertainment venue isn't necessarily a good reason to keep this venue, just as needing an indoor ride wasn't a good enough reason to keep Disaster Transport. I'm sure that the major hole this leaves in the park's lineup will get filled in the years to come.

I vote underground passageway, RCT style

I saw a billboard for the Ark Encounter earlier today saying something like, "Thank God this ship can't be sunk." I thought that was creative.

I personally wouldn't want to see a bridge while I sit and eat my Skyline, besides it would be a traffic jam with everyone standing on it hanging around with people bumping into each other trying to get by. Anyways, I just want to ice skate on the fountain again, other than that I could care some. JR... who is excited for new action in Planet Snoopy!

And how are you going to keep the public from throwing garbage (and perhaps other people) into the fountain? Not just aesthetics is a problem here.... EDIT: Second, at least as to garbage.

Whatever is in the works for CP, it's really exciting me. This could be the start of that Blue Streak midway expansion/renovation project I've been dreaming about for the past several years. Time will only tell but I have a feeling that the 2015 season will be home to lots of speculation in that area...

They're making the fountains deeper and wider!?

But KI would need to move its backlot. At least, if they want it in a good location.

I took a look at the area on Google Maps, and it's right in the way of a potential path from Blue Streak to the Iron Dragon/Luminosity midway. Remove the Cedars dorms and Turnpike Cars (I don't think CP needs 3 car rides, so the turnpike cars could just move to the Cadillac Cars track and the Cadillac cars could be put in storage as backup for the Antique Cars) and reroute Perimeter Road and you have a nice bit of space for expansion, possibly with some room for a new coaster.

That only proves what they Bible says. The Bible doesn't say anything about hating homosexuals. The article also says nothing about how Ken Hamm or Christians hate homosexuals. And I noticed that you stopped the quote there instead of going on with the rest of what was written. Nice job of cherry picking. Moving along since this is turning into a religious debate, I'm going to contribute some money to the Ark Park because I would like to see it built.

Demolition has started. A picture from Jason McClure has been posted to Twitter: Source: Tony Clark via Twitter: https://twitter.com/TonyClarkCP/status/549971015540162561

lol...See SeaWorld. OSHA didn't really give a flip until the 2010 incident (of course one of the people doing the investigations stupidly got herself involved with the Blackfish crowd)

OSHA and Food and Safety have different requirements and probably don't know each other's unless it's a major problem (working on top of a coaster without rigging or handling food without gloves). Maybe OSHA doesn't inspect until a report or and incident occurs? The violation (speculation) could come from improper ventilation due to the heat source, improper mandatory breaks for hydration with heat source, the shaded break area away from the heat source, or any other thing that could cause problems. The thing is this could have been much more serious. He could have collapsed into the fryer etc. many say they understand the hazards but not many actually due. This could be a case of "take a heat break when needed" to "take a heat break for 10 mins every hour due to heat, etc".

I'm on board 100%! If you ask me, it was a terrible idea to remove it in the first place and its high time for Oktoberfest to make a comeback and what better way than with Bavarian Beetle making a comeback!

So here's my thoughts as of today: 1. Black bottom would hide the wires, and plus to me would make it a deeper, more natural lake kind of look. The wires hidden also, but looking at the videos from CW, the color of the water with the dark bottom looks to keep the illumination on the streams of water, etc. not flood the entire pool. If we kept it clear and blue, ok, but I do dig the dark look here. I think it'd also get rid of alot of bright glare in the front of the park too when looking across the fountains, just making it a bit more peaceful. But to each their own. 2. Music with the fountains needs to be a plus. It's a cool show, and honestly is a nifty little thing to add. I hate to be that guy, but the nostalgia "bring International music back" deal is dead in the water (no pun intended). If you haven't seen Oktoberfest with the Orange Chicken & Pizza Festhaus, or Cinnabon Chili restaurants, it's gone. The parks dropped it, it's over, it's done with. It's the same as the old Beast being fantastic like we all discussed a month or so ago. It's just nostalgia kicking in making you believe it to be great. I'd love the old atmosphere back too, but honesty, it doesn't matter to me, nor does it change my mood when I walk past the fountains to Tower. I'd also rather hear some neat current music or music timed to a show like CW's Starlight in the area, I know the words, the beats, etc. If you or I want to listen to German music down the German side of IS, pop out your Mp3 player and listen to some Du Hast or something. But seriously check out these shows and tell me you wouldn't love to sit back late at night on a midnight close and watch this and relax or something. The CW & KD shows are awesome. For HAUNT??? Common guys you'd rather have just plain shoot up in the air fountains in red? Now here for this too..I know y'all are somewhat anti Luminosity at the park, and trust me I get it and I don't think KI is the perfect demographic for it completely. However, a bit of upbeat, dance ish music at night I think with the fountains would be cool to watch this kind of show, plus it's neat music, and just..awesome. I'd like to see some night time experiences in the park versus, hey it's 2200, fireworks, "All rides and attractions are now closed, have a safe trip home, good night" spiel and walk out and go home. With CP's Luminosity, you get a show, and a dance if you want, and a fun way to end the night so your 1000-2200 or later is to enjoy everything in the park, after that, it's unwind, have fun, and make memories. After seeing all that, I'd take an upgrade, it looks awesome, and I think KI would be awesome with new fountains after the bit of new paint on International Street. Plus a cool nighttime show at the fountains on the way out or at dusk, maybe a few times during the day too? Sweet. I'll take a Bellagio deal in Ohio with no problems.

Working in a food stand or even in a kitchen can become very hot and the employees should have direct access to ice cold water to keep themselves hydrated. Were they allowed to keep a bottle filled with ice cold water at their workstation or could they freely leave their workstation for a moment to quench their thirst? There might be times they would be so busy that they might not be able to leave their station to get water or heaven forbid, they were told having a water bottle at their station was unsightly, especially if they were in constant interaction with their guests. But not allegedly not having access to water reminds me of the time I was taking basic training in the Army at Fort Jackson, SC, in the middle of summer in 1974. Our drill sergeant forbid us to drink from our canteen that we carried on our web belt on our long march to our next drill. We were dying of thirst by the time we reached it.

I get that. As I said in my original post, in my speculation, the incident seems to be caused by the employee, not the park in my opinion. Again, to me it seems like the employee didn't take the initiative to take a drink of water, step out from the area with the heat source, step into a shaded area, even for a minute. Seasonal employers shouldn't have to ensure the safety of their employees? I'm sure that the matters in the OSHA report will receive more attention industry-wide. The fine amount is trivial for the park. From a PR standpoint, they certainly don't want to get fined again. Now I did not say that. I said they seem silly. As far as OSHA, I know for a fact, they look for the tiniest things, to try to prove an employer is at fault. My father who has worked for a company that has had numerous visits from OSHA on violations, has been there when they are visiting. He has seen them, try to fine the company for using the wrong type of screws in a door frame, that may cause an employee to scratch themselves. Their citing is silly often times. They don't account for an error on the account of the one who was injured. In the example from my dad's job, they tried to fine the company for someone who walked through the doorway and was too close to the frame and scraped themselves. They examine everything with a fine tooth, to find fault at the companies expense, hardly the one injured. Remember when Disneyland came into the spotlight at Disneyland, because an employee did not properly shackle himself to the outside of Space Mountain, he shackled himself to an unapproved anchor point. He ended up falling off of the ride exterior into a wall. Again, I'm not saying that safety standards are not important for employers to follow. I'm just saying that citing an employer such as Dorney Park/Cedar Fair with violations that are most likely caused by the employee is silly. But, who really knows....none of us were actually there when the incident happened. Anything at this point is pure speculation until the final report comes out.

Blu-ray also had stronger copy protection than HD-DVD, attracting movie studios to the format.

Cost was a part of it for sure, but there were other major factors too. There is a very specific subset of the home video industry that played a relatively big part in the VHS-Betamax battle. It wasn't the sole factor that won the battle as many will try to claim, but there was certainly some major influence. This same subset of the industry was substantially less influential in the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD battle, largely because of the internet.

Maybe they're taking lessons from the "being first is better than being accurate" news media of today?

Why? Cost. VHS was much, much cheaper. WalMart has built a fantastic business on the proposition that Americans largely value cheap over quality.

Ina former life we would edit commercials then we would look it over, our two bosses would check then the guy uploading them to the system would watch them and then lastly the guy at Syracuse would check them as well. Sometimes typos made it all the way till we saw it air the first time....

That's all very nice, but blaming the printer? Does no one proof anything anymore?

I'm not certain the "we've been informed we might get sued for false advertisement, so here's your durned discount" method is really an effective "something different." Really, they couldn't have spun the extension as something magnanimous, they actually went with blaming the billboard company for forcing them to do it? Yes, it's better PR than a lot of what they've done so far, but it's not exactly good.

Millennium Force. It is smooth, fun, and is re-rideable because it is not incredibly intense.

I want King Cobra.

Don't you mean prophets? And talk about overreaction. No one said that Mr. Ham was Hitler. You rushed to that conclusion. All that was said was that Hitler was an engaging speaker, which he most certainly was, as was Stalin and, for that matter, both Roosevelts. That doesn't make Ken Ham Joseph, Theodore or Teddy. Sheesh.

I don't think the point is to make it an amusement park, but rather a life-like encounter with the days of old. Never say never, but I don't see Moses bumper cars any time soon.

They haven't did any track work of late. Which clearly is a cause of the holidays.... which they surely they deserve with the pace they have been building this (and it's the holidays). Here a picture I just took off Carowind's webcams where you can't see a thing ( photo taken from https://www.carowinds.com/online-fun/webcams ) .

If you don't want to hear Mr. Hamm speak a simple solution would be to change the channel when he comes on, you don't have to go find a bathroom. They are applying to use tax benefits available under the law for companies that will contribute tax revenue at a later time. Its not uncommon.

The picture on RCDB's Facebook page was a joke, the way that the supports glared made them look like water jets or something to that effect..... Just a joke......No need to get excited folks......

Its one thing to see renderings of a ride. Its another to see a ride as it actually looks. To me, it looks a lot bigger than the renderings could illustrate. I really, really hope I'm able to get down to Charlotte next summer.

Latest Construction Update via Carowinds Webcams ( https://www.carowinds.com/online-fun/webcams ). This picture was taken before the latest track piece was put in place which is currently in place as a type this post.

Leviathan's capacity maxes out around 1600 pph, while Fury 325 will max out around 1470 pph. The difference makes sense given Fury 325's extra track length and ride time. This will likely be the B&M with the lowest theoretical throughput for any mega coaster with a 3-train operation, but it will still be higher capacity than any single Intamin coaster in the US (except for California Screamin). Those individuals who had any doubt about why capacity is important saw that highlighted last year with the installation of Banshee and at Cedar Point with Gatekeeper the year before. One of the things I'm interested in seeing is how the seat belts are installed and how the ride operators will check them on a 4-across train. This is the first time that seat belts will be installed on a 4-across B&M mega, and I'd imagine it's going to be very awkward for the ride ops to try and check those two middle seats if the trains retain their current configuration. The thought of a ride op reaching over the person sitting on the ends of each row to do a seat belt check on the middle seats is, uh, interesting.

I was lucky enough to ride Millenium Force and Leviathan within a week this past August. Both in the morning and at night. To be honest it's hard to pick a favorite. I had an absolute blast on both. The open 2 across trains on Millenium Force feel a little faster than Leviathan's 4 across. Then again, Leviathan had more wicked curves and blends between the different elements to give it this beautiful feeling of flight. I did miss the lack of a proper finale on Leviathan, but like Holiday World's Raven there is no wasted track and it left me breathless nonetheless. Fury 325 looks to have expanded the finale so that shouldn't be an issue. One big advantage to Leviathan (and hopefully Fury 325) was the operations. The line absolutely flew, with dispatches just over 60 seconds and a lift ascent nearly as fast as Millenium Force. I think B&M really nailed the blocking and hourly capacity with Leviathan, as with Banshee. Bottom line: if you like Millenium Force, and if Fury 325 meets/exceeds the quality of Leviathan, start planning your trip to Charlotte. ;^)

If you want to see huge gaps between support beams, might I direct you to Skyrush's or I305's lifts.

Oh, I know, it's B&M. These guys know what they're doing. See also: Leviathan is still standing with no issues to speak of, right? Its lift is similar. Also, they haven't exactly had to delay a ride opening so they could rip out an entire inversion and replace it with an s-curve after the very first test run with riders. It's just the appearance of it messing with my mind. It's insane, in a good way.

^ I agree wholeheartedly. I've never seen a show there I was particularly excited about there (How I wish I'd seen the Midnight Syndicate show there when I had the opportunity!) but loved the appearance of it being partially underground and somewhat engulfed by the surrounding scenery. Another piece of (what I consider) classic Cedar Point is gone. I'll miss it.

Well......This is kinda sad... Mostly because, for some strange reason, I've always loved the look of the outside of it. I'm not sure why but something about the design of the outside of the building really always gets me..... Seriously.

Bad music and crappy video aside, Zamperla Jump Arounds are a fun ride and is something I can ride with my daughter that we both enjoy. Good addition.