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ACE shared the following link on Facebook. At the risk of spoiling your experience in reading it, I'm not going to describe it beforehand. Don't go any further in this post than the link until you've read it. http://jaymitlo.com/an-open-letter-to-kennywood/ This article is so touching, and it's such a strong reminder that life is fleeting. For me, it also perfectly outlines why I love the amusement industry so much. Because if you get past dining plans and downtime and revenues, the amusement industry exists to create lifelong memories and escapes from daily life. I hope you enjoyed it. Now go hug a loved one.

Some pictures of Fury 325 (and other stuff):

Holy crap! An elevator!

A simple "Like" isn't enough here. Thank you to Kennywood on behalf of this family, and thank you to all employees who go out of their way to make a customer's day better. I have always said that whatever job I end up after school, as long as I can make people smile, that is what I want to do. Things like this are the reason why.

Wow! I wonder if the new chef is looking to put the space to good use. Thanks for the update.

A wonderful read. Amusement parks are where a lot of good times and good memories are created. Perhaps a small sample of heaven here on earth. Every time I descend into the helix on The Beast I am reminded of my then 15 year old brother drilling me in the temple with his elbow. I saw stars. It left a bruise. He's been gone 12 years now and what I wouldn't give to see those stars again.

Wow! I just read that and it was an amazing read. Definitely brought a tear to my eye! Thanks for sharing!

Current wait times for me are about 14+ hours for everything .

Still waiting on the Speed Slides option, this would have been a great way to start off my days at the Bay, or City? Or Works? BB1, one of the few who do

If only they had some sort of 5k inside the park. "I experienced The Runs at Kentucky Kingdom" could have a double meaning. Double the t-shirt sales.

Note that the above is only when you have saved your password in the browser to auto-fill the login form, not just when you leave your account always signed in.

Registration for the event has ended now. I hope everyone who wanted to go got registered in time!

The height restrictions in regards to flight paths and such are almost certainly federal restrictions, just like the flashing beacons. Beyond that, it's largely up to local governments what goes. As far as KI is concerned, I'd imagine they only have to deal with the Warren County and Butler County airports. Warren County's is 7 miles away in Lebanon and Butler County's is 14 miles away in Fairfield Township (east of Hamilton), given that both of the closest international airports are 30+ miles away.

In addition the previous post's 4K POV, Coasterforce has also posted a POV of each side of the ride...in 60 Frames Per Second! So if your browser supports it (Firefox apparently just now does for me), here you go: Thunderbird at double the usual POV refresh rate! Left Side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2awPsI_2F4c Right Side Thunderbird Off-Ride (also 60FPS)

The pretzel is just angry that it wasn't "accidentally" added to the dining plans.

Thank you for posting that TombRaiderFTW! It is a good reminder that we have the opportunity to make a positive moment in someone's day. It can be as simple a smile or just taking a moment to give someone your total focus and attention. It's big. Without getting too personal, I read this - http://sparkspace.com/whenyouredead/ and it hit me hard. Our lives are never as long as we want. We have say about our interactions with others and can leave happy memories behind...even with strangers. I'm glad that this family has these memories as that is what will help pull them through the hardest moments.

xoamber: Welcome to KIC!

Last year, I was asked if I wanted a new pass (with slightly different graphics) when I renewed. At the time , my pass was 8 years old and had seen better days. There was no cost to replace it. Given the age of your pass and its condition, I would expect the park to issue you a free replacement, after which the $15 would be charged.

Since most CF parks, including KI, are mainly visited by day trippers, seasonal attendance has as much to do with the economy and oil/gas prices as it does with a shiny new 1 yr old coaster which screams at you on the lift hill. Several years ago, when gas prices were at or above $4 a gallon, people didn't come as much, or only came once a year and, if they did, spent very little or nothing inside the park. Those prices also coincided with the recession-people were being laid off, and disposable income was low. Flash forward to this year and, with the recession over, season pass sales up, upgraded food options and gas prices expected to remain stable in the $2.25-$2.50 range all summer and fall, Cedar Fair is right to expect big numbers. As for buying the old KI Inn, I'm certain the asking price for the land was well above what CF wanted to pay. They are in the amusement park business, not hotel business. The availability of sub $100 a night rooms within a 10-15 drive to the park likely figured into the discussion as well. It's much easier and cost effective to "partner" with several area hotels (offering park ticket packages along with a lower room rate) than it is to build a full-blown resort or even hotel.

Indeed, Cinderella Castle and Tower of Terror are both about 1 foot give or take a couple of millimeters (ground settling) below the threshold required by the State of Florida for a flashing light beacon. In ancient times (early 70s), during the early years of WDW, there was an airfield located relatively nearby to the MK. It was built for early guests to easily fly into/out of Disney. Of course, within a few years, the sheer number of guests made the tiny airport expendable. I have heard rumors that the land may be used during the upcoming reconfiguration of the Northern entrance to WDW.

Diamondback+rain+darkness.... One helluva great ride!

or sell them near the new taco stand

I love angry pretzels, but as a logo......not so much.

10:45 Firehawk and FoF both at least 5 minutes. Everything else I've passed is a walk on. I love when people are in school. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It rained during 2 of our 3 trips to Cedar Point and both times for us the park was great about getting things going. Most impressive to me was the park re-opening Millenium Force three minutes prior to the park closing so those waiting the storm out in line could get final rides in for the night. We were super impressed!

If you're using Chrome or Firefox you can actually go in and view the password that it's saved for that username. Firefox: Go to the menu and click "Preferences", then click "Security" and "Saved Passwords...". Type "kic" in the search box, then click the "Show Passwords" button and confirm that you really want to do that. Chrome: Go to the menu and click "Settings" (or enter "chrome://settings" in the omnibar). Scroll down and click on "Show advanced settings". Look for the "Passwords and forms" section and click "Manage passwords". Type kic in the search box, click on the result, then click "show" next to the password. Similar functionality may also exist in Internet Explorer, but I don't know as I rarely use that browser.

I saw that firsthand on Saturday. A plane was coming in for landing while I was riding Thunder Run, and WOW was it close! It was actually a little bit scary.

They could start with parking lot trams.

Once upon a time, a kid was throwing rocks at me on the playground. He would throw them, while hiding behind something. I eventually got wise, and stopped letting him come to my house to play or come to my birthday party. But then, he began throwing rocks and being mean to others. Eventually, my friends stopped allowing him to come over and play at their house as well. I wonder if he ever realized why. And if so, I wonder if it was worth it. I mean, throwing rocks isn't nice, and will get you uninvited to play.

Yes, someone does, But, what will it cost the park if an apartment complex goes in, and then files complaints about noise and traffic? To me, and I am in no way an expert, it would seem an opportunity to expand an anchor park. Is this Cedar Point? No. Is there an opportunity to make it more of a destination? Yes. The Kings Island Inn, was such a place. Sadly, it's time came and went. IMO largely because it was so, large. When it was built it was one of a very few options. Now there are cheap hotels everywhere around the park. The only upscale choice being GWL, which is great, but priced out of some budgets. An intermediate priced hotel, with a few amenities could have done well. Especially with free transportation to and from the park. A Large pool, with a few slides would make it very attractive to non thrill seekers.

It looks like an angry pretzel with legs. ♥

Cedar Fair has vastly modernized its corporate website from that old Flash-based map from the early Kinzel era. It's now a so-called responsive site. It even comes complete with a new corporate logo. As it turns out, the company assigned the ticker of FUN takes fun seriously. Also, funnel cake consumption is up. Okay, so this site is really clever and playful. That said, could the fake stock ticker be misconstrued as misleading investors into thinking that, for instance, funnel cake sales have increased a certain amount more (or less) than they have? It goes without saying that this poster is not a qualified legal adviser in any capacity, including but not limited as an attorney or lawyer in any United State or the District of Columbia. He is also not an expert in investor relations, although he does hold units in Cedar Fair.

Read the full news release on Facebook for it is not on their website yet. (At least the link I saw went tot the ticket purchase page.) https://www.facebook.com/IndianaBeachAmusementPark/photos/pcb.10152884716897199/10152884715777199/?type=1&theater This area will take up the old parking area behind Steel Hawg! Interesting location. https://www.facebook.com/IndianaBeachAmusementPark/photos/pcb.10152884716897199/10152884716152199/?type=1&theater IB Website: http://indianabeach.com/

I do not believe this already got posted somewhere on KIC. But seems Kings Island and Cedar Fair is expecting records profits this year. Management team is stating a good January-March quarter for reasoning of a strong coming season financially. http://www.journal-news.com/news/news/kings-island-owner-already-expects-another-record-/nk5gG/

bought mine last night, i can't wait to go!

Top Thrill Dragster does have a light beacon atop the tower. It is clearly visible flashing in this video: https://youtu.be/_hRp3RzvHZU

Lights are required by the FAA on EVERY structure taller than a certain height. (Side note: Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom was deliberately tweaked and reduced from its originally planned height to avoid being forced to put a flashing red light on top of the structure.) The issue with height restrictions, or at least one issue (I don't know if there are others), is that structures too tall can potentially interfere with the ability of airplanes to take off and land safely at nearby airports. An extreme example of this is Kentucky Kingdom, which is not only directly across the highway from the Louisville International Airport, but also directly on the flight line of a major runway at said airport. KK cannot build above a certain height in order to ensure that the ability for planes to land and take off at the airport safely is not jeopardized. (Insert "I am not a lawyer" statement and disclaimer here)

Nice to see them making a significant investment in the park. I can't help but think that putting this money into general upkeep, new restrooms, etc. may have been a better use. Hopefully that will be coming soon.

Please note: BB1 is not an enthusiast of Beach Bay, but of Boomerang Bay at KI and other properties. Cool stuff to say the least, maybe a reason to trek to IB.

I can't remember how old I was maybe 5 or 6 when we went to Kings Island for a trip and I was riding Beastie. It was pretty fun but I remember having a headache afterwards that got worse and worse so I decided that I would never get on another coaster again. I would literally go to parks with friends and not ride anything because I was afraid of getting headaches and not feeling well the rest of the trip. That was until I met my wife (girlfriend at the time) it was about 6 years ago. I was 22. She would go to HW every year for her birthday. She basically told me I was wuss and went on the rides and I would wait for her to get off. She said it wasn't fun without me riding and begged me to ride with her. So I summoned up the courage to hop on a ride and my first big coaster was Legend... I loved it! After we got off we rode it 2 more times then went back to Voyage to really test my courage. I was blown away with Voyage and its been my #1 coaster since then and I have been a coaster junkie ever since that day!

My vote goes to The Flying Eagles. I still have a hard time walking by that basketball game knowing what a fantastic ride once existed there. Luckily, my parents moved out close to Charlotte this past year, so a trip to Carowinds is coming up soon with a free place to stay! Absolutely cannot wait to marathon my favorite non coaster ride ever! Second place is for The Bat. I was fortunate to ride that many times before it was dismantled. At the time, as an impressionable kid, it felt like a completely out of control ride through the trees, especially going down the 2nd lift hill. Ahhh Memories! Not a ride, but I also sincerely miss the covered walkway that used to extend from Hanna Barabara Land/Planet Snoopy. It had a great ambience, espcially walking through there in the evenings with all the soft lighting effects.

I would buy that shirt as well.

Of course, silly me, Cedar Fair could have bought up the property without having immediate plans to build on it. That does happen quite often. Oakland Community College, for instance, bought a building and its land just to implode the building and figure out a use for the property later.

Most of it was still standing opening day, but demolition is also obvious.

Yeah, yeah.. Oh, I totally agree. It would have been great to see Cedar Fair buy out the property. They could've even built a pedestrian bridge or motorized walkway to carry guests over into the parking lot (in lieu of buses/trams). Sadly, you're probably right regarding the potential for noise and traffic complaints from the "luxury apartment" tenants. Knowing how things like that tend to go these days, there will be legal action granted against Kings Island, despite the apartments being between a freeway and amusement park from day one. Have plans been finalized for the apartments yet or is there still potential for a last-minute pickup of the property? Last I heard, the Inn was still standing.

Hmm, does anyone know what that property would have gone for? A complete demo and rebuild would be costly, though. Management and the board may have considered but scoffed at the idea of spending $30-60 million or so to build a new resort at KI when still finishing the $60 million renovations at Cedar Point's Hotel Breakers. Hotels aren't cheap to build. Or am I way off, and it would cost nowhere near that much to build a new structure? There would be no historic preservation to deal with, which surely drove up the cost at Breakers. Edit: That is, unless they have any other water parks to sell off to fund this hotel project.

“We have seen early-season strength across all aspects of our business, including season pass sales, hotel accommodations and group bookings.” Makes one wonder why they didn't pounce on a certain property across the street.

Remove the hyperlink and it should embed automatically. You have to use the full link, though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSgMAIXuyJw

I had to drive down to Henderson ky to pick a friend up. Drove by the park without going in to get a ride on Thunderbird and Voyage. Made me sad. I was also within ten minutes of being involved in a tornado as it went through my friends back yard.

Thunderbird is awesome! The launch is outstanding, and I see this used by B&M more in the future. Another cool thing is I made the news. http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/playlist/16890/5730901 Time 1:14 and 1:10 . Also The Weeeeeman is a douche. My opinion! That is all. ** Also I hold the title of first lost article on Thunderbird. LOL My skull cap peeled off my head in the front seat.