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Check towards the top left of the picture.

While I understand this event was a great perk to get people to renew their passes early and has been advertised as such from the beginning, I unfortunately see the potential for a lot of confusion by making the event for such a particular subgroup. Unfortunately, I did not renew my pass until later in the off-season and had actually for a while been under the impression that the preview night was for all passholders, however after a quick search for the forums I found the original post from Don and the part that mentioned it was only for early renewers. I'm not making this post to complain because I cannot attend, but out of concern for the confusion that could be caused. Too often we've seen angry reviews on the park's Facebook page complaining about how a family drove hours to the park only to find that it was not open that day. Even though you'd think if a family were driving several hours to an amusement park they might think to do some research into park hours, etc. they still go on to social media and blame the park. And in an era where news organizations increasingly use social media posts as "sources" instead of doing real research, I'd just hate to see what should be a positive event turn into some PR nightmare where the park is forced to respond to some news story about how season passholders were turned away from the passholder preview night because they had not renewed by a certain deadline. All that and I've also wondered about the same question that TheBeastUnchained posed... I hope the event goes off without a hitch, since we've all been hoping for a preview day to return for a few years now. But in a time when news organizations will apparently run with a story about how riders were stuck on the lifthill of roller coaster for 30 minutes because some kid posted on Twitter about it, I hope that this doesn't turn into some annoyance for the park.

We now have test footage.

As stated many times a bathroom in X-Base would be amazing, since I desperately need to use the bathroom after waiting in Firehawk or Flight of Fear's dreadful long lines.

I'd rather have the plastic card, paper+water= big nope.

I have a story about how inconvenient the Universal passes are. They are currently holding their annual Mardi Gras event on the weekends. If you own an annual pass you can reserve a spot on one of the parade floats and throw beads at guests and then have preferred access to whatever concert is going on that night. Well, to reserve your spot, you have to enter the ID number on the back of your annual pass. Of course when my girlfriend and I tried to reserve our spot, we found out the number had rubbed off of the crappy paper pass. Of course we could call Universal and get our ID numbers, but on our Magic Kingdom schedule we don't have time during normal call center hours to call them. So we didn't end up going to Mardi.

Kinda a loaded question there. Personally, I understand that Cedar Fair needed to strictly enforce its agreements with vendors that presumably amount to non-disclosure. After Funtime leaked that Cedar Fair was planning to install its rides, that shows that the company was not willing to treat its client with due respect. At the same time, that does not mean that Kinzel should have run to the first manufacturer of a competing product in order to show them up or what not. Personally, I would have postponed the project until I could put in due effort to vet the competition. But hey, I didn't have an ego to prove with a "last hurrah".

I'll take a Pepsi season pass. Or even a Coke season pass, if I can get Mello Yello with it.

For those wondering about the preview night, the passholder portal on visitkingsisland.com has been updated with details. For information on all season passholder promotions as they become available, make sure to register on the site with your season pass number: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/passholder/passholder-exclusives.cfm To attend, note that you must have renewed a 2014 pass for the 2015 season by Thursday, November 6. Access to this event was one of the benefits offered for renewing early. Who plans to be there? Since the event is only 5 hours long, do any of the other Columbus-area members want to share a ride that evening?

The new colors definitely Scream! at you..

Usually the reservations open at 6 AM ET, but I know that oftentimes, one can get into the system just past midnight. I already have a lunch reservation while I'm there, but would consider getting one for breakfast if the rest of my party is on board. The menu def has a French theme and at $19.99/$11.99 has a price to match. Breakfast includes a pastry basket, entrée and beverage, so prob not such a bad deal (but if you're going to pay $20 for waffles or French toast sticks there are places in the MK to get those for half the price.)

Year two... If you had all kinds of problems with prototype rides in year one, for year two you buy more? Terp, who likes to ask questions.

Y2J, Chris Jericho? Banshee, being silly.

And whatever money you would have spent there didn't get spent. Sometimes companies forget you can cut and save your way to lost revenues and lost profits. Even bad customer reception of such savings can lead to future problems. See SeaWorld this season. Or...Kentucky Kingdom. Staffing anyone? Or staffing anyone?

I'd love to see a water based landscaping similar to the area Knott's did when they added their wild mouse coaster.

A park in Indiana might sell you one of those. One in Alabama, too.

Better check the park calendar...

I'll be there that evening, barring something else coming up that has to take priority. Off-topic, but I hate it when a login screen asks for your "username" when it really wants your email address.

Just was checking out the season passholder portal part of KI's site, and noticed one of the offers is for a free day of care at the Red Dog Pet Resort and Spa. Boarding was never free for gold or platinum passholders at the Kings Island kennel, was it? Makes it hurt a little less for those who used it that it's been removed.

Yep. The river crested this morning and has begun its slow retreat to the normal banks. I can shed some light on how things are done at Coney. Some rides, like the Carousel, are taken apart. The horses are actually moved to the second level of Moonlight Gardens, so it would take a really big flood to affect them. (In the flood of 1937, some of the carousel horses on the PTC Carousel that is now at KI wound up down river as far as Paducah, KY). Some of the electrical boxes on the rides are removed at the end of the season, in case of flooding such as this. Or if there are buildings, Coney will typically cut the electrical supply to those buildings before the water can get into the electric system. Over at the pool, most of the lounger chairs are actually loaded onto semi trailers at the end of the season. Normally these trailers will sit in the parking lot, or are moved in the Coney owned lot across the street from Kellogg. Since these are already loaded onto the trailers, it makes them easy to move in the event of a flood. Once the waters go down, then the cleanup can begin. The later in the spring a flood happens, the harder it is for Coney. Back in 2011, the last time that the rider got up to 55'. it actually crested in mid to late April. We start hiring and doing ride trainings in late April. We got our first training in,and the mechanics had started to set up the rides for the season. Due to the flood, they had to undo some of their work, and we had to cancel some trainings, and that year they had to cancel the Appalachian Festival in May because the park wasn`t cleaned up and ready for visitors yet.

A Mangel's Whip would be awesome! Buy Bushkill Park's if they still have it and it's serviceable.

As the Anderson High School alma mater starts out "By the fair Ohio`s waters, Stong and staunch and bold." The Ohio River is above flood stage. Coney just posted some pictures of the flood to their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/coneyislandpark Lake Como has grown by several feet, with the island in the center of the lake under water. (It would be hard to launch any pedal boats off of the pedal boat dock, since it is under a few feet of water. The river is forecasted to crest at 56.3 feet. Flood stage is 52'. The last observed river level was 52.84 at 2pm. http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=iln&gage=ccno1 Remember, this is one of the reasons that Taft Broadcasting decided to "close" Coney down and build Kings Island. Hopefully the water goes down quickly, so that we can start to get ready for the 2015 season. There are two new rides on the way to Coney this year.

That looks gaudy, now it looks new! Just a coat of paint could do wonders to a coaster's appearance and satisfactory rating, except for a certain Vekoma SLC that is now a certain hue of red which may or may not be one of the most rickety rides that I will ever have on a coaster.

To answer my question, no. For reasons that escape me (other than not getting "credit" for the pass purchase), Kings Island is very specifically limiting their passholder preview night to 1) passes purchased/renewed by the last day of the 2014 season, and 2) only purchased at Kings Island. Not that I expected any different, of course.. Meanwhile, Cedar Point and Carowinds have no such stipulations, welcoming all current Cedar Fair Platinum Passholders. *sigh*

Scream! at SFMM got new colors in the off-season.

Going to try to go, but most of my friends just got passes this year so can't go to the preview night. Got one that renewed so hopefully he will be free.

I'd rather have a mine theme to fit in with the area of Rivertown. Always liked TR:TR and Crypt was ok but never felt like it belonged there. Think something like Mystery Mine at Dollywood would be perfect. Highly themed interior portions but also go out if the building for some fun outdoor parts. Give them more room to work with too

I have a really detailed idea for an epic themed wild mouse coaster in that building. However I HIGHLY doubt Kings Island is going to come to some random person with no experience for ride ideas. I'd love to see a wild mouse in that building though, with a few good drops, a helix, and a more in-depth version of the crypt theming.

one Premier pass is that price. Includes lots of benefits, if they are worth it, it is up to you... Also would you put them to use is another thing to think about. There cheapest pass is roughly the same price as a Platinum CF pass... You can also use Flexpay to pay installments on your Universal pass but must put half down first.

I plan to be there as well. Can't wait to see how awesome this event will be.

They're still plastic. No changes other than new designs on the front. Depends on the pass type. $434 is the price of a single Premier Pass, which is the highest level pass. It could also just barely cover the cost of two Power Passes, which is the lowest level pass with blackout dates.

Yeah, it annoys me more than it probably should that the calendar in the app is so out of date. They seem to want me to download and use the app since they continue to link to their apps on their web site, however they apparently don't REALLY want me to use it since it's never updated. Maybe I expect too much...

https://twitter.com/KingsIslandPR/with_replies @KingsIslandPR any chance we could see an update to the KI mobile app? @marth555 There will be some updates before the season begins April 18. @treywiley007 when will the mobile app display the new map? @KingsIslandPR When the season opens April 18. Hopefully its chain wide as all of the park apps seem to be last updated in 2013

SeaWorld's passes been (least for the FunCards) paper for several years making me partially used to paper passes already. Personally not a fan for paper passes cause I am always worried about it getting wet or ripped. I prefer plastic....has CF's passes changed at all in the last few years? I kept renewing my Platinum so my actual pass been around since I think 2012 or 2011. Thank goodness my Mirage Annual Pass for the animal exhibits is fairly sturdy plastic, lol.

I'm quite sure you will be able to check in later in the day...

Boy, I really do love announcements.

^^ Sorry, what is Y2?

How will the park know that we renewed by this time? Is it in the system?.... A curious and admittedly unknowing, TheBEASTunchained, asks yet another question.....

I think may have been a pride issue. Mondial could have very well been brought in out of spite. Another possibility is that they regretted signing with Funtime and looked for a way out. The Wind Seeker model was supposed to be more wind friendly in all. However, you've got to ask yourself, "Has Mondial lived up to their end of the contract?." A certain level of performance can be expressed or implied in contracts.

You know things are bad when the announcement for Tempesto happens during an earnings call.

I'm not familiar with that. Can you post a picture or two to enlighten me?

^ Existing biometric systems used at parks (with systems from Disney, Universal and Accesso) don't produce a unique fingerprint for each guest; they're used to check identity rather than establish it. I don't foresee this as primary identification in the near future, as even the best biometric systems tend to be error-prone.

Some things happen behind closed doors, without anyone knowing. Not even a mouse.

@KingsIslandPR on Twitter : "The 2015 Park Guide & Maps are here! #NewFormat #MoreUserFriendly" Photo : Don Helbig / Kings Island via Twitter

You are not overthinking. Some things can be built to be relatively floodproof--but at much greater initial expense. See, for instance, Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags Over Georgia. Backwaters are one thing...the floodway--with its high velocity currents and dangers associated with them--is another. Flooding and lack of space at Coney Island of Ohio were two major factors why that park first closed and why Kings Island exists today.

I don't know how I managed to miss this, but wow, am I sad to see Tower Gardens go. I really did like that area and would have been so happy to see it get repaired. Hopefully there's a good reason (meaning something not related to Haunt) that it's gone.

A boat was upside down at the bottom of the hill, with riders submerged in the water. If not for the quick response of bystanders, people may very well have died. Your "response" therefore shows a complete and total lack of understanding of the subject you are trying to argue about. What COULD have happened can be just as important as what actually DID happen... ...which is apparently a lesson that Intamin also needs to learn. jcgoble3, who had a snarky comment here but decided to be polite and remove it before he posted

I'm not real surprised to see Kings Island in the list. I think we have a great line up. Many with a great history or records. Racer is basically credited for starting the next golden age of coasters. Beast is ranked one of the best wooden coasters and still the longest. Banshee is a world class, record breaking coaster. We also have a suspended coaster (The Bat), a shuttle/boomerang (Invertigo), launched and indoor coaster (Flight of Fear) with decent theming, a great mine train coaster (Adventure Express), big multi-inversion coaster (Vortex), airtime and hyper coaster (Diamondback), flying coaster (Firehawk), multi-launch family/midlevel coaster that is also a bit of a terrain coaster (BLSC), plus a wide selection of family coasters in Planet Snoopy with 3/4 (depending on if you count Surf Dog as one or not). With these we have a fantastic lineup already. Yes there is room for new additions to give more selections, like wing-riders or giga coaster). But plenty to choose from already.

I can't wait to go back to Banshee. Last season was awesome, and this year is going to be even better.