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2014 marked a landmark year for Kings Island. Several fun and interesting things happened to shake things up throughout the season. Here is my top 10 ways Kings Island shook things up in 2014 10 – Skeleton Key When Kings Island began offering an augmented experience in the Haunt mazes for an extra charge many of us quickly blew it off. The mazes were historically not bad, but not good. A solid mediocre. Why would you pay extra for an extra room or two? Those who dared to brave the Skeleton Key experience were in for a real surprise. Not only were the mazes ramped up for the 2014 Haunt season, but the Skeleton Key experience was definitely one to write home about. People who had the Skeleton Key seemed to all have agreed to a pact that they would not spoil the secrets to those who hadn’t experienced it. The Skeleton Key rooms grossed you out, took you out of your element, surprised you, and harped on your worst phobias – all of which are a recipe for an amazing Haunted experience. 9 – Dog Days By 2014 we were used to one – and only one – dog ruling the midways of Kings Island. For the past several years, Snoopy has been unleashing his family-friendly mischief on Kings Island’s Planet Snoopy,but now he’s not alone. In 2014 we saw the debut of the inaugural Dog Days at Kings Island. Every Saturday in October featured special activities for both man and man’s best friend. I imagine that we haven’t seen the end of this super popular event . 8 - Dinos After Dark It has always been widely accepted that Dinosaurs Alive closed at dusk and the Audio Animatronic dinosaurs simply went to bed. That was, of course, until Kings Island invited guests to check out what it would be like to see the dinos under the cloak of the night. Armed with only a flashlight, kids and adults alike traversed through the woods full of growls, suspicious movements, and eerie silence to see Dinosaurs Alive in a way that has never been done before. Those who braved Dinos After Dark got an experience that they’ll never forget. 7 – Kings Island Kicks Cancer After parting ways with the controversial Susan G. Komen foundation, Kings Island repackaged their August charitable event into Kings Island Kicks Cancer. Guests were invited to kick mini soccer balls into the fountain for a chance to win a car. The proceeds from this event supported the Cincinnati Dragonfly Foundation, Pink Ribbon Girls, and Melanoma Know More. A total of $186,000 was raised for these three organizations. 6 – World Records A-Plenty photo credit: wlwt.com As part of the Kings Island Kicks Cancer campaign, three world records were set in three subsequent weeks, all of which to create awareness for their respective charities. First, roughly 200 heads were shaved – symbolic to the hair loss that is often associated with Chemotherapy cancer treatments – to create awareness for the Dragonfly Foundation. The following week a total of 2,148 patrons participated in a record breaking attempt to host the most people apply sunscreen simultaneously to create awareness for Melanoma Know More. Finally, 1,821 people simultaneously applied lipstick to break the record for the most people to do so. This was done to create awareness for the Pink Ribbon Girls, a local organization that supports women fighting breast cancer. Since then, all three records have been verified by the Guinness Book of World Records. 5 – The All Season Dining Plan The one thing that is rough about being a season pass holder is the cumulative cost of food at Kings Island over a season. We’ve all spent well into the 3 figures or more on food. I don’t even like to think about it. Rumors started circulating that Kings Island would be adding an all season plan shortly before its announcement. This rumor seems to come up every few years, and the prices guessed were otherworldly. At a price of below $100, people were shocked at the good value. Good form, Kings Island. Good form. 4 – Milestone Rides The Beast – 50 million riders, The Racer – 100 million riders, Diamondback -10 million riders, Banshee – 2 million riders (in an 11th hour push). These numbers come up at times, but they sure did fall into place quite a bit for the 2014 season. News outlets all around the world reported on these milestones (good job, Don) and Kings Island became the focus of attention in countries across the globe for a brief second each time. 3 – Announcement – New Flying Scooters!! The year 2004 left a gap in both our souls and Kings Island’s ride lineup as the classic Flying Eagles were unexpectedly packed up and shipped to Carowinds. It took ten years, but at least part of that gap will be filled in 2015. Typical Kings Island announcements come in August. August came and went and most were convinced that the park simply wouldn’t see a new ride next year. It wasn’t until the second last day of the season that both members of the media and everyday guests were invited to the Festhaus to be the first to hear what was in store for 2015. Not only did we hear about a new set of Flying Scooters (Woodstock’s Gliders) but also another new ride called Snoopy’s Space Buggies. It didn’t stop there. International Street Candy will be completely gutted and rebranded as The Sweet Spot, the largest Starbucks in the TriState will call home to Kings Island, and more! Oh yeah, and there will be a full-season petting zoo! Half the fun of being a Kings Island fan is always looking forward to what’s next! 2 – Exit Stage Left – Ed Alonzo / Enter Cirque Imagine photo credit: fansofkientertainment.com We all loved Ed. He made it clear that, although he loved Kings Island, 2013 would be his last season there. The only information we would get from the park was that “something big” would be replacing him in 2014. In the early spring, Kings Island announcement on their Facebook that Cirque Imagine would debut for the 2014 season in the Kings Island Theatre. No one knew what to expect: would this be our own version of Cirque du Solei or would it be a cheesy carnival sideshow? Those lucky enough to happen to be at the park on May 23rd to attend the impromptu preview show were left speechless. It was one of those shows that you couldn’t explain to someone else; just encourage them to go see it for themselves. Cirque Imagine became a staple for the 2014 season and many of Kings Island’s most loyal guests saw it a dozen times or more. 1 – Banshee’s Debut This one’s not surprising. When Kings Island announced Banshee in August of 2013, they knew they would have a hit on their hands… and boy did they! Guests lined up for hours to be some of the first to experience the world’s longest inverted roller coaster. Banshee proved to be what everyone had hoped – a smooth, thrilling ride that easily fits into any coaster enthusiast’s top 10 lineup. So many awesome things happened at Kings Island in 2014 that it’s hard to rank them in a manner that makes everyone happy. Do you agree with my list? Would you add or remove anything? Your thoughts and input are appreciated. We’ll see you in 2015!!

That guy in the Banshee picture, He sure looks like one cool guy.

And I liked X-Flight better than Gatekeeper (which is the only other wing coaster I've currently ridden). Or at least, I would, if it were to receive the same modifications to its restraints that Gatekeeper did. And I definitely agree, don't judge all rides by a given manufacturer unless you've ridden them all. Millennium Force I find about as thrilling as mowing the lawn, but Ride of Steel is a rush beyond compare. I find Diamondback insultingly lackluster, but Raging Bull is in my top 10 steel coasters. Iron Dragon is the only coaster I've ridden that I can think of absolutely nothing good to say about, but I adore The Bat. You get the idea. I will say that I have yet to ride a Dinn that I didn't think was an absolute blast, but I'm most definitely in a minority there. I can be a bit of a maverick at times. Heck, my favorite launched coaster is a blue Sky (Rocket). - Homestar92, surprised that the capitalization filter allowed him to type that last sentence the way he did.

That new front gate is gonna be sharp. Can't wait to see the finished product.

I vote underground passageway, RCT style

I think goodyellowkorn was probably spot on regarding the fact Canada's Wonderland essentially needs the bridge to avoid forcing guest to walk all the way around the fountains or the mountain. Comparing Kings Island's fountains and International Street to Canada's Wonderland's is like apples and oranges to me. I'd first start by saying that I don't consider Canada's Wonderland's bridge to actually go over the fountains. It goes over water, sure, but the fountains end before the bridge. The reason they have a bridge instead of the walkway we have is because instead of capping their International Street with an Eiffel Tower as Kings Island and Kings Dominion do, they have a Mountain with a waterfall, which goes into a pool connected to their fountains. So the part of the water (if you want to call it part of their fountain, go ahead) Canada's Wonderland goes over, does not exist at Kings Island. Our fountains end essentially where their bridge is. Kings Island is a very well laid-out park, I don't think our fountains are that hard to get around and of course I don't mind walking by them because they are one of my favorite things at the park. While I think the idea being able to walk across and have the fountains on both sides is neat to imagine, I think it would end up making the fountain seem smaller and less grand, especially when seen from the entrance.

As has been said here, Canada's Wonderland's bridge is at the far, far end of their fountains - about equivalent to where our little temporary stage is set up. Also realize the function of their bridge. Without it, folks who began walking along the south side of the fountains and then decided that they wanted to go to Leviathan would need to physically walk all the way around the back of the mountain. It's the equivalent of all of the space under the Eiffel Tower and all the way up to the fountains being closed off for some reason, so that folks who walked along the Action Zone / Oktoberfest side of the fountain would need to walk all the way around the Eiffel Tower's base along BLSC to get to Diamondback. In other words, Wonderland has a bridge, but it's not halfway through the fountains, and they have to have it to make guest flow work. Sure I think it would aesthetically work fine. But we don't need one like they do.

Yeah, I like the color scheme too.

I've been on Gwazi...once during two days at the park with my oldest nieces. I don't remember much about it other than it not being a ride that we went on a second time and we did ride everything else at least twice. In the last nine years, I've spent 1-2 weeks in Florida each year. They live in the Bradenton area (north of Sarasota, south of Tampa). In all that time, I've only visited Orlando once. It was not to go to Disney but to Universal Studios (before Harry Potter). I have never been to Disney and I'm not in a rush to go there anytime soon. Edited to fix my grammar.

Orlando-Tampa area? Puh-leeze. That's like saying the Cincinnati-Portsmouth area... Even in Orlando the Disney draw is not universal, Harry.

Interesting..... I've experienced the exact opposite, increasingly more so in the last decade. The vast majority of all the machinery/tooling received stateside purchased by me or my customers has had very little, if any at all, pre-production testing. Poorly translated documentation. No prints and certainly no support besides what you can get from the distributor if arranged prior to purchase. We've developed a division within our company that is soley dedicated to testing, debugging, documenting and reverse engineering such equipment for smooth operation by the end user either on site or at our plant. This has turned out to be a very wise decision as it has been the highest grossing division in the company the last few years. I'm sure this varies depending on the supplier but based off the profits and sales figures I've seen it must be somewhat common.

It is my understanding that both KI and KD explored the idea of a bridge but didn't because of how it would affect the classicly accepted view of the fountains.

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

I would have added in the awesome Coasting For Kids raising all the money that it did for those who need a little bit of fun after illness. This year changed many lives, some we may have met, others we have not, but it all makes a big difference.

Don't forget giant flying cockroaches (aka palmetto bugs), seasalt and sand rubbed into sunburn, and soul-crushing humidity. Yeah, I'm not a fan of Florida. I'm still aching to get down there to the parks tho.

The Busch Gardens Africa name was short-lived; many would consider it forgotten.

I don't even think it would be 5 minutes. They could add a bridge and just make it have a similar design to the fountains with the white and blue. Something classy. It would, however, be unnecessary in my opinion. I could see it being done if the fountains were added last year, but after 40 years of having a fountain without a bridge then why now? If I could do one thing with the fountains to change them it would have them look EXACTLY the same, but still pull off a water show at night. That way you get the nostalgic feeling as well as a modernized end-of-night experience.

Good riddance. Had a feeling it was going bye bye finally.

That's how many Japanese companies perform business. In my line of work we sometimes get new machines to replace old ones during a machining retooling, production capacity expansion, or as part of a new contact with companies we supply parts to. However our "new" machines are usually many months old and have been through run offs, testing, debugging, and qualification prior to being broken into smaller pieces for shipment across the Pacific Ocean.

I also think the current color resembles weathered copper, and actually recently wondered if the tower would ever be painted darker (as part of a possible International Street/Royal Fountain updating). My perception is that Kings Island goes above and beyond the minimum when adding attractions, so I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility.

They have dropped the Season Pass Preview Night from the marketing materials since the end of the season. All things are possible, but I'd be comfortable guessing that they don't intend to let all season pass holders into the event.

^^ Admission to the preview night was included as one of the perks for renewing in the fall. Other details, including the exact date and who else can get in, have yet to be announced. If they end up allowing all passholders in that night, I would fear very heavy crowds assuming halfway decent weather. Last season's passholder events were well-attended.

No Canyon Blaster/El Loco or Desperado? High Roller is an amazing sight at night...we had a gorgeous view of it from our room at the Flamingo last year.

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.

A bridge works for Canada's Wonderland over the fountain. Now, it isn't located in the middle (which would be nice to connect two sections) but it's located closer to the mountain. Still helpful with traffic flow, instead of making guests walk all the way around he mountain to get to the other side.

One will probably be sufficient. Get thee to Kumba, Montu...

A bridge definitely wouldn't shave five minutes off for me. I discovered this summer that at a brisk walking pace, I can get from The Beast to Kings Island Theater (or pretty much any two locations in the dry park, if not hampered by other foot traffic) in five minutes. I didn't really start feeling the need for a bridge/walkway/tunnel until I attended Haunt. There were the tombstones and scareactors impeding traffic along Int'l St. and at times Blood Drums and their crowd on one end and all the front gate activity at the other.

Florida to me is heat, thunderstorms and them biting bugs you can't see. *shrug*.....guess I'm weird.

The financial statements and the attendance figures compared to projections for the museum do not support that.

Wasn't this partially done to accommodate for Winterfest's ice rink? The same ice rink that largely destroyed everything they did?

Have whatever opinion you want about AIG, but they sure did build a VERY successful museum and I have no doubt that their Ark Encounter will do the same. When I was in college I worked at the closest Best Buy to the museum and I would see people from all across the country come in daily to pick up memory cards and whatnot for the museum. Just imagine what a life-size ark will do for them. I'm with a lot of you in thinking that Ken Hamm is quite a bit out of touch when it comes to many social issues, but it wouldn't be fair to discount his ability to expand his corporation.

Hands down: Flight of Fear, second place: Tomb Raider. Flight of Fear was thrilling and comfortable until this year. Not sure exactly what happened to it this year or if it was related to the fires. I really wish some of you youngins' got to experience both Outer Limits: Flight of Fear (the hangar experience, not the ride) in 1996 as well as the Tomb Raider experience of 2002-03. Both were absolutely amazing.

Busch Gardens is landlocked and doesn't have much to begin with (without losing its uniqueness). I'd wager that land is developed pretty quickly with another "good" coaster. I'm a huge fan of wooden coasters but Gwazi was hands down (literally holding on because hands up jarred me more and hurt) the worst ride at BGT and possibly my least liked woodie ever. I'd put Son of Beast AND Mean Streak in front of it.

My fondest memories include the Flintstone Boulder Bumpers, the Scooby Doo rollercoaster, the Enchanted Voyage (before the Smurfs), and the KI & MVRR when it had operating characters. And also the memorable vine tunnel.

Maybe they're taking lessons from the "being first is better than being accurate" news media of today? Or ScreamScape..... TheBEASTunchained.... Choosing his words carefully..... Somewhat..... Which makes sense if your post had a veiled hint, reference, or pun. But alas... The big hullabaloo about Screamscape isn't necessarily that he's the first (because often, he posts even verifiable news days after I hear it elsewhere). It's that he's been known to renege on things he's claimed before, or edit the past to suit new information. That's something Kentucky Kingdom has done quite a bit - this included - but at least this time it seemingly benefits the consumer as well.

Maybe they're taking lessons from the "being first is better than being accurate" news media of today? Or ScreamScape..... TheBEASTunchained.... Choosing his words carefully..... Somewhat.....

The bridge over the Wonderland fountain, however, is at the back of the pool, and far enough away from the water. Since it is at the back of the pool, crossing the Wonderland bridge is the equivalent of walking all the way around the Kings Island fountain to get to the other side.

Terrible title for the clip...but you get the idea

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.

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

That same argument cant be made for Blu-Ray v. HD-DVD. Both had similar resolutions and were cheap to produce. In the case of Blu Ray, it was the major studios forming a cartel of sorts to only release their movies on the format they had a financial interest in, which was Blu-Ray. As Terp said, the superior format (which many believe to have been HD-DVD) doesn't always win.

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

Our first VCR was a Betamax as well lol. Around that same time my dad was shopping around for a VCR trying to decide on the VHS or the Beta. After doing much research and consulting people working in the electronics departments, he went with the Betamax. He was informed that the tapes were smaller and had better resolution video (all of which were true) so it would more than likely win out over the VHS which was a bigger tape. As we all know now, VHS won the battle of home video cassette media. Why? To this day I have no idea. You'd think with how things usually go, the more compact tape would win. I loved our Betamax though. The tapes were small and it produced some nice quality recordings. We kept that thing and used it for years, even after video stores stopped renting Betamax copies. Having a VCR in your home in the early 80s was quite exciting!

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!

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

Hitler was also and engaging speaker.

Then there's the poster here dedicated to Nothing But Blue Skys, From Now On. Ceptin' Winters. Sorry for the....diversion.

Ok, I think Firehawk has to go. It is clearly an arsonist.

Nice Find! I for one am not dissapointed in the least. Not only was the current sign in need of being replaced, but the sign looks very cool with the chains and the hands popping out in 3D! Plus, it's not the sign that matters, it's the ACTUAL RIDE!

I highly doubt that. The water used to be pumped up from the pond and then dropped over the gold sleuth near the station and there used to be a waterfall where the mine cart in the turn around is now. The water was removed for a multitude of reasons. Side note: the park did some really nice landscaping work around The Beast this year especially the cave/mine cart. They even added a light that lit up at night.