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Here's a fantastic gallery of additional color photos from that day. You can see the wet pavement in a lot of the shots, a sign of the rain. http://holzsc.com/PKI72/index.htm

Great Ohio CC posted the following: That's a decent size clearing over by the former Good Times Theatre.

Word on the street is that it was announced Maverick will be getting the soft OSTR straps (like I305 has). Can anyone that was there confirm that?

I think my favorite part of the map is the almost 2 week spread in May and the last two weekends where they may or may not be open, check back and see... oh and the random day in June where there are bought out for half the day. Everyone go home early, someone else purchased the park from here on out...

In retrospect, the park looks so small compared to today, but when I first went, it was huge! I'm certainly glad I wore out the soles of my feet back then, because I didn't know most of those Coney rides would be gone so soon.

What RCCA designed and what Paramount Parks, as its own general contractor, constructed were not one and the same. Think cost containment, for one thing...

I just don't understand the hate for the current Maverick restraints. I've done that thing eleven times in a row with no issues. I love that ride.

And that entire calendar is subject to change. Drastic change. There is a report a comin' Then there's an election. Want to visit Kentucky Kingdom? Go THIS season. 2015. For far more than seven reasons... THIS season.

Really? Who was Bill Cobb? Terp, who learns the darnest things here!

I still try to wrap my head around what it must have been like to witness a project on that scale pop up in a field in southwestern Ohio.

Just imagine if Mean Streak went from this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPQ4AusAgqU ...To this: My enthusiast friend (rcoaster10) made this on NL2 and it's really awesome. With a little RMC love, mean Streak could seriously be one of the best coasters out there.

That "accidental" picture of Outlaw Run sounds exactly like Tony playing with enthusiasts' imaginations, which he has been known to do before on many occasions.

I absolutely love Maverick as is but these new restraints will make it that much better. I am so glad they are making this change.

Maverick is getting new restraints? Good news indeed! For me, the current setup made a great coaster unbearable by the second ride.

That calender is a mess

And the oddities continue. http://www.kentuckykingdom.com/park-info/calendar/ Kentucky State Fair, waterpark is closed EXCEPT the Big Wave Wave pool, uh what? Not to mention that the technical opening day for KK, the 16th, is bought out for a private event. The divide continues ladies and gents, KK should be a plus 1 to the State Fair, to have both the waterpark and the theme park open for all guests to the State Fair. That way, both entities could make more dough, and to alleviate the already strained relationship between the state-Fair-and Kentucky Kingdom boards. Then there are dates to when you have to check with KK's website to see if they are open, that just doesn't make sense; it's either you're open, or you're not, choose one and act professional. That calendar just does not look like a good move in PR/Professional standings as it just doesn't look like KK is confident in their holdings. The Kingdom 7 campaign looks promising, to a certain extent, I only hope that it is an expansion out into the local lots.

Every time somebody disses on Mean Streak, I die a little on the inside. People make such a Dinn over that ride...

The jobs open house scheduled for Saturday, February 21 at Kings Island has been cancelled due to the weather. It has been rescheduled for Saturday, February 28, from 5-9 p.m. at the park. Entertainment auditions have been rescheduled for Sunday, February 22, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Dr. FReud said there are no accidents.

With the moving of these rides, they have opened a large area of land for future development. They also continue to populate rides by Gatekeeper and the Wicked Twister midway. Although it is sad to see a classic turnpike car ride leaving. At least they still have the Antique Cars back by Cedar Creek Mine Ride still operating.

Outlaw Run is a Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) product. There are rumors and enthusiast desires of Cedar Point (or Cedar Fair in general) getting an RMC coaster for a while now. There are even people who have made NoLimits simulations of Mean Streak in the style of RMC. Tony Clark, Director of Communications for Cedar Point, has a history of teasing enthusiasts. What does all this mean? Well, it strongly implies that Tony was messing with y'all with that picture. It was all in good fun.

That is some interesting shifting and removing of rides. I think it depends on the rider's height. I like Maverick but can only do two rides a day because of how much my head bangs. I've tried different rows/seats, leaning forward, pushing backward...it just doesn't not hurt. I'm 5'2" so I struggle with OTS harnesses. I'm too short to push my shoulders against the top like my taller friends. I'm happy with the harness system on Gatekeeper and Banshee as I can ride with no pain. I'm looking forward to the new Maverick restraints!

Holy **** that's a lot of information. Sad about Turnpike Cars leaving, but I'm very happy Dodgems is staying, since those are so rare in this country.

Sorry about the length of my list: The Racer- "Beautiful Sunday" by Daniel Boone, "Into Something Good" by Hermans Hermits, "Save the last dance for me" by The Drifters, "The Stroll" by The Diamonds, "Mr. Moonlight" by The Beatles, "Why do fools fall in love " by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, "Hair" by The Cowsills, "Everyday" by Buddy Holly, "Unchain my Heart" by Ray Charles, "Jive Talkin' " by The Bee Gees, "Love Roller Coaster " by The Ohio Players, any Elvis song. Adventure Express- "Raiders March" by John Williams. The Beast - "The Exorcist Theme " by Mike Oldfield, "The Shark Approaches" and "The Empty Raft" by John Williams from "Jaws," Night on Bald Mountain" by Mussorgsky. Banshee- "Threatened" by Michael Jackson, "Quints Tale " by John Williams from "Jaws," "The Murder " by Bernard Hermann from Hitchcock's "Psycho." Viking Fury- "Beer Barrel Polka" by Will Ghalé. Grand Carousel- WurliTzer 157 band organ. Eiffel Tower/International Street- "Gabriel's Oboe" from "The Mission" by Ennio Morricone, "Romantic Flight" from "How to train your Dragon" by John Powell, "Main Title/ The Winton Flyer" from "The Reivers" by John Williams, "Hoedown" from "Rodeo" by Aaron Copland, "Sabre Dance" by Aram Khachaturian, "Pirates" from "The Pagemaster" by James Horner.

I was also reading that they had a "slip up" in a slide show presentation where Outlaw Run was shown and they clicked past it real quick saying they didn't know how that got in there.

The problems were mostly claimed injuries. The Cobb rides, particularly before first drops were raised, brakes installed, and speeds reduced, were frantic wild ones. The Traver rides? Oh, how I wish.

It's hard to overstate how much GCI and CCI revolutionized wood coasters. Ride a Dinn Corporation, and then a GCI or CCI. It is night and day. GCI and CCI were the first to challenge John Allen's "out and back"/ no fast, high curves paradigm.

Word is BGW will be closing an hour earlier most nights. Also that the Entertainment Department has sustained major, dramatic budget cuts, along with landscaping, marketing, general maintenance and even human resources. It certainly looks like intensive belt tightening, perhaps in preparation for an off-loading, is underway.

Holy Cow that's one epic RMC. If Cedar Point ever did this, they would likely have the best RMC to date (long, lots of airtime and drops, and numerous inversions). Which would also likely have a great shot at topping the Mitch Hawker steel coaster poll (since this looks far more epic than NTG which ranked #3 already) and would also end Intamin's winning streak at having the #1 ride in said poll every year. The need for a new wooden coaster would increase though since this would reduce the park to just Blue Streak in that category, so they'd probably also want to build a GCI a few years later or something as well. I'd personally call that ride Cyclone...for nostalgia reasons... Also- I noticed several other CP coasters in the background. Millennium Force, TTD, Magnum, Maverick, etc. I have to ask- were those scenery, or actual working rides themselves? Because if the latter, then NL2 just got even more awesome than it already is... Edit: Re-watching said video, I saw a Maverick train go by, so at least it appears to be an actual working coaster...

There's probably a list of things that prevented RMC from doing a Son of Beast refurbishment. One of the primary ones is, as you mentioned, the structure, not so much from sitting there, but rather by bad structure design. The heavy trains it used during its looping days didn't help much either. I did a paper on SOB a while back, and the forensic investigator who covered the 2006 accident even mentioned that the ride shouldn't have been opened...at all with the way Paramount and RCCA handled the project. There's a lot more, but I'd be writing a very long post.

Six Flags is awesome to work with and they have kept us busy. They gave us our first break with the New Texas Giant and they continue to believe in RMC and our coasters. We will continue to work with them and other Non-Six Flags parks. They do not have an exclusive. From RMCs facebook https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=792867780750344&id=154373424599786

What special contract? Terp, who learns the darnest things here.

And I am unaware of any problems Cedar Fair has had with GCI. They used them as recently as 2013 for a new wooden coaster. By all accounts, they are delighted with it.

The past does not predict the future. Especially when you're trying to look at the Kinzel era and use it to predict the Ouimet era.

I think I'll add some input to this thread. Adventure Express- Raider's March (Indiana Jones' theme)...you know what? Any music associated with those movies. Backlot- music from The Italian Job and the Ocean's movies, Rhapsody in Blue, some of the action music from Bond films Banshee- any songs associated with Halloween or macabre themes Bat- Danger Zone (yeah I know its off the old theme, but I well remember the days of Top Gun well), some of Banshee's related music as well as Danny Elfman's Batman (sharing with Beast) Beast- Theme from Jaws (on the lifts), Danny Elfman's Batman theme, Night on Bald Mountain Delirium- Crazy by Seal Diamondback- Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi Drop Tower- Right Now- Van Halen, Thunderstruck- AC/DC Eiffel Tower, Antique Cars and Grand Carousel (or even I-Street in general)- Percy Faith and His Orchestra- Theme from A Summer Place Firehawk- Kickstart My Heart- Motley Crue, Smoke on the Water- Deep Purple Flight of Fear- a few specific Star Wars pieces- Asteroid Field, Hyperspace, and the music as they go into the 2nd Death Star in ROTJ, themes to Twilight Zone and X-Files Invertigo- Living After Midnight- Judas Priest Racer- We Got the Beat- Go Gos, Gimme Some Lovin'- Spencer Davis Group Son of Beast- about any song done by Joan Jett or about anything off of Sgt Pepper, The White Album, or Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles Viking Fury- The Tempest section of the William Tell Overture Vortex- You Spin Me Round- Dead or Alive WindSeeker- any song about flight, or heck, anything on its current playlist

Meanstreak does not need RMC treatment, there is a lack of wooden coasters at Cedar Point If anything they should replace it with another woodie.

I think SoB would have been perfect for the RMC treatment but it's gone. Not familiar with all the other Cedar Fair parks outside Cedar Point but think Mean Streak would be great too. None of the ones at KI should be touched though.

There are big differences between The Beast and any GCI. The Beast focuses on maintaining speed with big stretches of track, making for several big moments. GCI's are much more fast paced and erratic. They are always doing something sudden from the time they leave the lift hill. They design their woodies to have elements within elements. Even on what looks like a simple curve, there may be a sudden drop or changing of the banking angle during the curve which comes a surprise, making them a haven for air time. They're a much, much different animal than The Beast. Also, Millennium Flyers are, in my opinion, the best modern wooden coaster train running right now.

Cedar Fair did a coaster conversion with mantis a B&M standup that will be a floorless coaster here in a couple months.

This just in from KI's Facebook page-

And how would you explain Dollywood adding Thunderhead? Have you ever ridden a GCI coaster? I have been on a few, and they are incredible rides with non stop fun all the way until the brakes at the end of the ride. And the trains are amazing!

If you say so....

Wow, it would be great to go back in time and take part in the Kings Island Opening Day! Have that experience and riding some of the rides that we don't have a chance to ride now.

Hey, you. Yes, you! Guess what? We are down to 57 days until Opening Day! In honor of Throwback Thursday, here's a pic from Opening Day in 1972. via KingsIslandPR on Instagram: http://instagram.com/p/yf9h1AuODz/

Counting down every second on my laptop. (Yes, that is Iron Dragon in the snow back there).

I hope there is a Saint Bernard. Terp, cross threadin'

59 days seems like such a long time away...especially with all of this snow getting in the way. At least I can still see KI from my house to remind me it's awaiting me this summer...(unashamed brag).

Oh hey there! There may be snow on the ground right now and bitter cold but just think warm and happy thoughts of Kings Island's Opening Day on April 18th! We're down in the 50's (no not 50 Shades of Grey) but 59 days away until Opening Day! Here's a little something... I edited this a little but here's where I got it from: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/2014/04/17/kings-island-roller-coaster-Banshee/7813679/

Prior to starting my classes at the Mount St. Joseph (College of Mount St. Joseph) in 1987, Computer information systems and computer science department head, gave all of the Business Administration/Information Systems majors a logic test. She wanted to see how we were able to think logically and solve logic problems, ranging from simple problems to more difficult ones. I found it easy to see the what the pattern of numbers was on problems and had no problems on this test, as did others. That was not required to pass before entering the degree program, but was given just for fun and challenge of it. I like forward to going there and giving it a try,