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I threw together this GIF real quick, showing the area opening day 1972 versus opening day 2009. I'm actually super impressed by this... it lines up really well and you can even identify several of the same trees. There's also a couple buildings that have remained - Rivertown Junction Dining Hall, ICEE Mix-It Up, and the Kings Island and Miami Valley Railroad station.

https://instagram.com/p/ziS5GeuOGN/?modal=true Looks like it's getting a new lighting package, AND new LED lights! Can't wait to see how this changes Coney Mall at night, especially with WindSeeker's lights nearby.

Particularly at Universal Studios Florida, simulators are overused. However, each is very different. Despicable Me has nothing in common with Transformers, which in turn feels, acts, looks, and is much different from The Simpsons Ride. There are screens in Forbidden Journey, but the ride has nothing in common with Gringotts, which also uses screens. So one simulator does not equal another. And honestly, in terms of bringing those worlds to life, Harry Potter probably does call for screens as those environments could never be fully realized in physical form in a theme park. You'll see the same thing in Pandora - The World of Avatar. Even Disney recognizes this. What was their big coup last year? Ratatouille. Entirely screens and physical sets. Not a single Audio Animatronics figure. Cheaper, easier to maintain, and more realistic. Supposedly Kong would more closely resemble Spider-Man / Transformers with digital screens embedded seamlessly into physical sets, but with a much healthier balance between the two, and some great Animatronics figures as well. Supposedly even EMV type troop transport vehicles, like DINOSAUR or Indiana Jones Adventure. And again, the King Kong animatronic featured at Universal in the 1990s was astonishingly large, but even an advanced 21st century version today would not compare to the digital version that leaps over your vehicle aboard Hollywood's Studio Tram Tour. When it works, it works. Universal's challenge is to keep it real as often as they can, and as their work evolves, I see evidence that it's happening. Gringotts is a better balance than Transformers is a better balance than Spider-Man is a better balance than......

Planning on being there as time off is approved. Taking a half day Thursday and will be up there on Friday. Unsure on when we are leaving. Lets hope Top Thrill Dragster is open and there are no unforeseen water main breaks in the parking lot come Saturday morning...

Wow that looks great! I can't wait! Thank you Kings Island mantaince crew for all you do, we know it's not easy to be out in the cold weather plus working in it.

Now give some LED's to Vortex and put better chaser lights on Racer and we'll have one mighty fine looking area in the back of Coney Mall.

Cool! Now if there's still some way to identify which ring starts spinning first, that would be a bonus. Because the spinning while still inches from the ground is one of the best parts of the ride.

How do the agreements with the companies that bring in the rides work? Who pays who for them to be there? How do the profits get divided up? Every agreement is different. Speaking for Indiana, those contracts are public documents, so you may make a request to the Indiana State Fair Commission here in Indy and ask to have a copy of the contract between the fair and midway operator sent or emailed to you if you're curious.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm kind of grateful for the off season. If you spend as much time as I do at KI, you really need some time to recharge the batteries. Don't get me wrong, I'm as bummed as everybody else on closing day, but I like to take the off season to try new things since so much of my time is wrapped up in the park while it's open.

Indeed. Well worth it. Terp, who has been in every kitchen (at the time) at Universal, accompanied by Disney's then head chef. "It's A Small World...". (Always tell the truth, people will never believe you). Also under the then Medusa's operating floor at NJFTP, in the tunnels at Disney before paid tours were offered, atop the...(no...I think I'll stop there). ALL with park permission, without exception.

Yes, they are. Carnivals are both a huge draw and a huge revenue source for fairs and festivals. Even sites with permanent rides bring in midway operator(s). Those that do not have seen precipitous drops in revenue and attendance. Why come to the fair to ride what's there all season long?

I wonder what the new "observation area" should be like.

It depends on the company. From what I've heard at the large conference I attend, some midway companies charge a nominal fee and then have an contract about how much they will pay the fair based on the percentage or flat rate of ride tickets, food and games. Many non-county fairs and festivals have applications and charge food vendors to set-up at their event. For those situations, the money made by the vendor is kept by the vendor. Entertainers are a different story. Most have a flat fee to come to the fair and a percentage of any concert ticket sales. Others have a sliding fee payable by the fair based on hours and size of the activity/experience. Some will then require tickets of the fair attendee, and others won't. There are lots of different pricing structure models. And just because fair A paid one price, doesn't necessary mean that fair B paid the same price. There are lots of negotiations as nearly all fairs have tight budgets and are trying to make their money go as far as possible. Fairs and festivals typically have non-profit status. The folks that I've worked with have been friendly and very outgoing. It is clear to me that they take their job on the fair board seriously and want to make it a great experience. If you are interested in seeing the variety of vendors available to fairs, this is a great starting point - http://www.ohiofairs.org/index.php/ohio-fairs-associates

When you let amusement park ambiance sound loops "rock" you to sleep.

Hola, amigos. It may seem like a ways away but it's closer than you think it is! We are down to 51 days until Opening Day! This is my own photo just made some edits.

what's wrong with that? haha My knees might not always like it too much, but I ALWAYS try to make it a goal to stop in at Woodstock Express when I'm at the park! It is definitely a spectacular wooden roller coaster, in my opinion.

I've talked with and worked with more than my share of fair and festival managers and board members. From that experience, they spend quite a bit of money each year to create an event that does the following: create a great experience for their community, cover costs of the budgeted fair for the next year, and gain additional revenue to assist in capital improvements. Everything you see at a fair costs money...things as simple as a stage for the band to sing on, the bleachers you sit on, the tractor pull, 4-H award ribbons, tents, golf carts, port-a-potties, and even the petting zoo. Those vendors have to cover their costs and fairs have budgets to cover that after all the negotiations are handled. The fair and festival circuit is fascinating. Generally, when attendance is down, revenue typically doesn't meet expectations. Typically then changes are made to meet attendance and revenue expectations.

That's incredible. Thank you!

When you can't even come up with something clever because you're about to lose your mind from the offseason...

I always thought SR&R should have music played with it. Especially due to this.

When I was younger I got a huge thrill when Woodstock Express was The Beastie. I also remember that I used to close my eyes in the tunnel after the first drop, man those were the days.

You are probably not the target market for the carnival.

I love going on backstage tours. Definitely puts a different perspective on things. Having worked at Coney for 13 seasons, entering my 14th, I have a good appreciation what goes on in an amusement park to make a guests day fun. Few people realize all the work that goes on behind the scenes to make their day of fun happen.

Never done that particular one, but I have done several tours similar to that. It's always interesting to see these things from a different perspective and to learn new things. If you have the opportunity to do so, go for it! YOLO!

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 In your link above it is interesting to see where Swan Lake used to be and thinking about the DB splashdown, where it is at now. Such cool pics!

So for those of you who are saying "OMG WHERE DID IT GO", here ya go.

Wait...clearly I'm slow and have never heard this before...but, seriously? What were they thinking? I understand that in certain industries there may be acceptable levels of life safety risks. However, I can't imagine that most amusement parks would forgo their reputation and guest safety for a ride. That's a dangerous game to play, in more ways than one. http://articles.courant.com/2004-05-04/news/0405040040_1_roller-coaster-lap-bars-or-seat-superman-roller That in the article that states from 1999-2004, 5 people were ejected from an Intamin ride.... I just tried to look up deaths/serious injuries on Intamin rides since 1991: 1991: Flight Commander at KI (fell from ride, death) 1999: 2- Ride of Steel at Darien Lake (ejection, death) and Drop Tower at Great America (fell from ride, death) 2001: Perilous Plunge, Knotts (fell from ride, death) 2004: 2- Hydro at Oakwood (fell from ride, death) and Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England (Ejection, death) 2007: Tower of Power at Kentucky Kingdom (feet cut off) 2011: Ride of Steel at Six Flags Maryland (Ejection, death) 2012: Drop Tower ride in Brazil (fell from ride, death) 2014: Inferno in Spain (fell from ride, death) So I guess the answer is 8 deaths in 15 years is acceptable....

I did the Verbolten Insider tour, which maybe is now folded into the Roller Coaster Insider. It was incredible, and with pass-holder discount, something like $12? All that they did is walk you into the ride's pitch black show-building and allow you to watch trains launch by and then show you the facilities behind. But it was so worth the money and great fun. Hopefully that's now an element of the Roller Coaster Insider Tour, which I see includes "behind the scenes look at the mechanical areas of ... Verbolten." Because it's so neat to see the different light programs that correlate to the three dark ride scenarios. EDIT: From the video, I looks like they take you behind the building, but not inside. Ah well. I hear the rest of the tour is phenomenal.

Love this new look, the ride will look brand new. I really missed riding Shake Rattle and Roll last season. Can't wait to see the refurbished ride back in the park, and give it a spin or two or three lol!

Looks great.....one of my favorite at the park. So glad she's coming back looking like new.

Nice! Can't wait to see and experience the newness!

That new color scheme is downright sexy.

2015 is going to be a great year at Kings Island, I can already feel it!

It would be interesting to see if gif form the original, then a 90s, then today. Well done though. Thank you for making it. Even if it does make me sad about the removal of green things.

I think Stricker's is a different animal though. Yeah, it's a permanent installation, but it's still not a place that just anyone can go to at any time, so the "exclusive" aspect of it still kind of applies.

Wait...clearly I'm slow and have never heard this before...but, seriously? What were they thinking? I understand that in certain industries there may be acceptable levels of life safety risks. However, I can't imagine that most amusement parks would forgo their reputation and guest safety for a ride. That's a dangerous game to play, in more ways than one.

True as the park does center on one Dolly Parton. It also just so happens that Dollywood is my favorite park I've been to, one aspect which made it that way to me being its shows, but it does have other focuses as well. I think Dollywood scratches the surface in calling it a 'music theme park'. I would still like to see park with the concepts that HRP had done right at some point. Like have a coaster with a soundtrack which accentuates all of its maneuvers (not random music, a piece specifically composed for it), have themes based off all the different genres, etc. Heck, you could do a lot within each genre alone. I just hope that HRP's failure hasn't killed the concept (if the time comes that new parks are built again of course). And now, back to your previously discussed Kings Island 2015 topic.

The green looks amazing! Can't wait to get back down there! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

2015 at Kings Island will make history with the epic return of Shake, Rattle, and Roll, I'm so excited!

what's wrong with that? haha

When you're half asleep and NASA TV is on, and you wake up early in the morning and they're interviewing astronaut Scott Kelly, and you're rubbing your eyes because you think you're seeing two Dons! National Aeronautics and Space Administration

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-xp/help/setup/take-a-screen-shot

I've done it twice and I would say it is worth the money (even though I was paid to do it both times). It's very cool to see Lochness Monster's old blueprints and computer room, as well as walking around the top of Griffon for a few minutes. Let me know who does your tour!

I understand the planning around ADR's. Disney Dinning is one of our favorite things about the vacation. Also one of the reasons we do the Deluxe Plan because we eat at so many signature restaurants the added cost more than makes up for itself. I will cover some of our dinning later on in the PTR. Not surprising they no longer offer that option. On with the update. Tis the Season. Having experienced Disney at Flower and Garden and Halloween we had always said our next trip would be for Christmas. Disney offers so many amazing Christmas and Holiday related activities and experiences we were a bit overwhelmed. We planned on hitting every parks major Christmas attractions: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights and the Candlelight Processional. One of the neat things I always like to do with our trips is start a countdown and have various reminders of our upcoming trip. Typically I use our kitchen chalkboard to keep track of days just to create excitement. This trip being at Christmas I wanted to incorporate something new. While doing the countdown our 2 Mr. Elfs got involved, plus Little Miss RailRider being 7 might be growing a bit skeptical. I thought what better way to create more magic than for our Elves to magically appear in our room at Bay Lake. Our elves with goodbye messages on the morning we left for Disney Our elves magically showed up in our room the next morning with their own Mickey hats. On to the festivities. The event that gets the majority of the attention during Christmas is Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. This is a special ticket event just like the Halloween party and while crowded it provides some neat opportunities to meet unique characters (7 Dwarfs, Princesses with Princess see earlier pictures) special Christmas parade, Fireworks, Dance Parties and free snacks. The party was a great night and really neat to experience snow on Main Street as well as the unique characters and such. The prettiest I have ever seen the castle. Yes we bought Glow with the Show Ears and they are worth it. Very cool technology Awesome Parade, Olaf and the Toy Soldiers were a huge hit. And Holiday Wishes lights up the sky from all around you. See my first post The Osborne Family Lights at Disney Studios is truly amazing. Pictures do not do justice to the amount of lights, the dancing and the snow. How magical it really is. Disney is not ashamed of the reason for the season. More on that later One of the neat things about the Osborne Family Lights is the numerous hidden Mickey's but the biggest challenge is finding the Purple Cat. Legend has it that it was accidentally put out one year and now the techs make a game of moving it around during the lights as a challenge to see who can find it. Little Miss RR was the first to spot it in a very obscure location and absolutely lost her mind. Awesome! The last Christmas activity we did was the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT. The Candlelight Processional is the retelling of the birth of Christ with 50 piece orchestra and mass choir with a celebratory narrator. This is honestly the one thing I was most excited to see and it started in Disneyland in 1958. Originally our Narrator was to be Sharon Stone, which I could care less to see, but schedules changed and Broadway Legend Chita Rivera took her spot. She was absolutely amazing and the overall show itself was amazing. Honestly I didn't take a single picture of this event because I was in awe the entire time. The fact that Disney tells the Birth of Christ by reading scripture direct from the Bible and the music is traditional Christmas Carols and such is very amazing especially in todays world on trying not to impose your beliefs on anyone. Happy Holidays this is not, but a full fledged Merry CHRISTmas. I included a picture directly from DisneyParks below because one needed to be included. Stay tuned for everything else, but the kitchen sink...

Dollywood? (as opposed to Opryland USA) Terp, who likes to ask questions.

Sigh...now I wish Hard Rock Park would have worked out. A music centered theme park (done right) would be amazing.

It told him he'd already made a purchase earlier that day, and the cashier promptly escorted him from the premises.

Or tell customers their getting one thing and then change it to another thing. *coughcough* diningplan*cough* Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I still think that "leaked" dive coaster rumor from the Sandusky Register could be true. Whenever they've released unannounced park info before, it pretty much turns out to be accurate. But as whole, I'm going to say that it's for that midway expansion idea I've had for a few years. Cedars Dorms will also come down, Perimeter Rd will be rerouted, and a new midway will connect the Blue Streak midway from Calypso's current location to near the bleachers in Celebration Plaza. This is just one rough possible idea of what it could be. As you can see, having a whole multi year expansion in addition to the dive coaster is possible...I'm not the best at Photoshop and stuff like that but I inserted an image of Sheikra and it fits perfectly and still allows for plenty of room. The blue indicates the Perimeter Road reroute, the red indicates the new midway, you can obviously see the image of Sheikra and how it does not even interfere with Cadillac Cars and Raptor, and then the green areas indicate free space for future attractions. In the area formerly occupied by the dorms, I could see some type of out-and-back GCI or GG wooden coaster. Its station would be near the new midway merge by the bleachers, its lift hill would run parallel to the new midway, it would turn around in the strip of land between the midway and Perimeter Road (near Calypso's former location) and then will come back into the dorms area for a twister finale. I could see the new dive coaster's entrance plaza along with a few new shops/eating areas and seating in the small space by Raptor, to the right of where the new midway would connect to the Blue Streak midway.Then the other free space where the Goodtime Theatre used to be would be used for several new flat rides and another landscaped seating area.

Well, not surprising considering that the management is a mess