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Six Flags Great America had always been a park that was on my bucket list, especially with the addition of Goliath in 2014. I heard great things about it, plus it seemed as if they had a pretty solid coaster line up. Now, since I'm living in the Fox Valley region in Wisconsin, getting to Great America is easier than ever! The park opened at 10:30am and closed at 5pm, and since it was a Tuesday, I wasn't expecting the whole city of Chicago to be there. Well, the whole city wasn't there, but every school district within a 20 mile radius might have been.... Anyway, it was a quick two 2 hours and 15 minute drive from the Fox Valley, and a very easy drive it was. Highway 41 to I-94, I-94 to Great America's doorstep. Great America has one of the more aesthetically pleasing entrances of any Six Flags park I had been to. I noticed right away it was a clean and well kept park. I decided to go with a Gold Membership for my time in Wisconsin. $12 and some change pretty much gets you everything that a platinum pass would at a Cedar Fair park, only with a membership, you can cancel anytime after 12 months and you're not limited to just 12 months (It's a pretty sweet deal if you ask me). Once I processed my pass, it was time to go into the park. As soon as you walk through the gate (and even in the parking lot) Columbia Carousel is immediately visible. For a carousel, IT'S HUGE. One of (if not) the largest carousels in the world. It is also very beautiful and well keep. As the centerpiece of the park, it does a great job of saying "Welcome to Six Flags Great America. Enjoy your day!" It is also one of the first tastes you get of the parks Americana theme. When I visit parks, I like to skip the the potatoes and get straight to Filet Mignon. Goliath being the Filet Mignon of this park in my opinion. It was my most anticipated ride, and also my first coaster from RMC! To get to it, you walk through the very well themed Mardi Gras/Orleans Place area of the park. The whole idea was basically to make you feel like you were walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans. There are a few rides located in this section, the big ones being Superman Ultimate Flight and The Dark Knight, but we'll save those for later. Like I said, I want Filet Mignon. Continuing on, you walk through Yankee Harbor, Yukon Territory, and eventually in the County Fair area where Goliath dominates the skyline. Boy does this ride stand out or what.... At first, what catches my eye about this ride is not how tall it is, but how steep the first drop is. I have seen wooden coasters taller than it (El Toro, Son of Beast), but WOW it's steep! It is a very pleasing ride to look at. If I had a full day, I would have brought my new DSLR into the park to take pictures, but sadly I didn't have enough time. The entrance of the ride is pretty cool as well, even though Six Flags loves to reuse the Roman theme. But I realize most people don't visit many other Six Flags parks (if any other ones at all) so that's fine. We queued up with about a 45 min wait ahead of us in the old Iron Wolf queues. The guy in the blue jacket in the bottom middle part of the picture handed us a ticket with a number on it ( you probably heard about this last year). Before heading up the stairs to the rides's platform, you handed you ticket in. If your ticket was not within 5-10 numbers of the ticket in front of you, you were asked to leave the line (suspected line jumping) unless your group was that large. I like this method. I keeps patrons honest, and it doesn't affect the pace of the ride, or the line. Just don't be a busy body in line and lose your ticket. Going up the stairs to the platform, I got my first close up look at an RMC train... Man they are gorgeous! The Chariot look really fits the ride's theme and looks really good on RMC's trains! The station was a poo show. People everywhere with no sense of organization. However, with a drop like that, there was only one place to sit. In the back... About 5 mins later we boarded the train. Seatbelt first, lap bar second. Literally. Ride ops would check the entire train for seat belts first tel you to pull down your lap bar, head back to the front of the train, then check lap bars. As annoying as it sounds, I kind of liked it. I like not being rushed. However, they will STAPLE you to the seat, and with RMC trains having the very uncomfortable shin guard, it can be a problem. Whatever, I didn't care. We were finally ride the World's "tallest" fastest and steepest "wooden" roller coaster!! It's a short climb to the top of the hill. It was over cast, but from the top you can see both Chicago's and Milwaukee's skyline. In the last row you better look quick because by the time you see them you're plunging down a 180ft drop at an 85 degree angle at 72mph! Probably the most intense drop I have ever experience.... It feels as is the track will never plain out, but next thing you know you're at the bottom of the drop in a fog filled tunnel. In the back seat, there's airtime all over the place on this thing. One airtime bunny hop, then up into the dive loop which leaves you weightless for a quick second or two. Then you're forcefully pulled downward through a heap of wood and into the graceful zero-g stall. Ahhhhhhh the feeling of being weightless and upside down. It's a wonderful feeling. Most people down like the feeling of hanging upside down, but this is more of a floating sensation. It's almost as if life is in slow motion during the zero-g stall. A dive back into the mist filled tunnel, a quick over banked turn, smile for the camera, and one last pop of airtime heading into the final break run. Pedal to the metal from start to finish, a forceful yet very smooth ride, and the weightless goodness is having me give this ride a 9/10. One point deducted because it's a very short ride. Long way up! Nerd shot of the lift motor. Somewhere in that heap of wood, there are 24 upside down passengers. Zero-G stall from the ride's exit. And again. Since riding Gatekeeper at Cedar Point, I was always interested to see how X-Flight compared so it was time to head there. X-Flight is also in the County Fair section of the park so it was a relatively short walk. X-Flight is a very pleasing coaster to look at. It is almost as photogenic as Banshee is . Great views of every part of the ride from the midway. The was only about a 20 minute wait for X-Flight which was really nice. I love waiting in lines where you can see the coaster in action. It makes the line go by faster, and you also get a kick out of hearing really nervous people talk about how scared they are of the ride . Pick your side under the station just like Gatekeeper, and up the stairs you go. We chose the right side. The station of the ride is pretty decent. You get the feeling of being inside an airplane hangar, although I'm not sure how good it is at keeping rain out. Especially if it's rainy and a little windy. You wouldn't want to stay in this station if the ride was shut down for weather reasons that's for sure. And so we headed for the front row which was about a 3 train wait. Since Six Flags isn't particularly concerned with rider capacity, you didn't encounter a stampede as the gate opened to take your seat. Nor did you get a gut check (or a manhood check depending on how tall you are and obviously your sex) on your way to the exit. Soon enough, we boarded, and off we were. It's a relatively short lift. The ride is 120ft tall, and the station already sits approximately 20ft off the round. Also, the lift chain is pretty fast. The wing over drop is still excellent, as is the rest of the ride. Very smooth transitions, nothing too intense, but X-Flight still delivers a forceful ride. In the front right you even get some nice doses of weightlessness! The control tower fly-though is pretty freaking sweet combined with the slow roll. X-Flight gets a 7.5/10. A perfect coaster for all coaster fans to enjoy! The wing-over drop. Watch your head! Through the hangar facade I loved how close the queue takes you to the ride! Onward to the Southwest Territory! 10 months ago, I visited several parts of the Southwestern U.S., so the vision of what it looked like was fresh in my mind.This area hit the scenery right on the head! Raging Bull hadn't been open all morning, but it was testing. So we headed that way, and as soon as we got in front of it, it opened. Walking through the queues, I looked around an noticed how many switchbacks there were and thought to myself, "It would really suck to wait in this line on 4th of July or during Fright Fest." But since the ride had just opened for the day, we literally walked all the way to the station and waited 4 trains for front row. Now, if there was one coaster in the park that they should use three trains on, this is it! Most of the time, when a train left the station, the preceding train was just hitting the MCBR, so there was about 50 seconds of downtime between trains (finishing the course and the final break run). 10 mins later, we boarded. I felt like I was on Nitro again with the similar drop out of the station. It's a long, slow climb up the lift hill, but you'll get that with older B&M hyper coasters. I believe the lift chain is slower and they also ascend at a more shallow angle. Sitting in the front row, the pre-drop on the ride really provides some momentum going down the first drop. You get a nice dose of airtime thanks to the pre-drop! Personally i love rides with underground tunnels at the bottom of the first drop (SFGAm has two!!). After the drop, you float around a high over-banked turn and then HOLY TRIM BREAK going up the "airtime" hill. You can literally hear, and feel the trim break sucking the life out of Raging Bull. Much worse than Diamondback. Until you get to the MCBR, the ride's pacing seems rather slow. Coming down from the MCBR in the front seat, you get a great and surprising pop of airtime. There are airtime moments in the second half of this ride where you wouldn't expect them! One bunny hop, some twist, turns, and a few airtime moments later you are screaming into the final break run. No stacking on this ride, you just roll straight into the station because the train in front is already more than half way up the lift hill. For being 17 years old, Raging Bull still delivers quite the punch. Smooth, very airtimey in the second half, and TWISTYYYYYYY (forgive me), I give raging bull an 8/10. It was only 50 degrees that day. The Bull had to turn around because Hurricane Harbor was closed The "airtime" hill. HOLY TRIM BREAK!! On the way back around the park, we ran into one of the parks original rides, Demon. I liked Demon. It was one of the more comfortable Arrow Loopers I've ever been on. Really 70s lighting effects in the tunnels, typical Arrow positive Gs and not too rough. Also it was one of the only coasters I've ever seen without a roof over the station. Full Throttle at SFMM being the other I can think of right now. Demon gets a 6.5/10. Pretty good for an Arrow Looper in my world lol. Time to go back in time! The Whizzer is one of the parks original coasters and still runs great to this day! It's had it's fair share of issues in the past, and the park even announced it's removal in 2002, but instead removed a different coaster to make way for Superman Ultimate Flight. I'm only 22 years old, but back in the 70s, this ride must have been the S%&t! I love the fact that SFGAm operates many of the rides original to the park! The Whizzer is fast, and pretty darn cool if you ask me. Its a great family ride and a great first coaster for anyone! I won't rate this one because it is a family ride. The rest of the ride is kind of hard to see from the Midway . Who says adult can't ride the carousel?!?! Especially when it's one of the world's largest carousels! Columbia Carousel just looks freaking cool! A double decker which lots of character. Waiting to board, I noticed the art on the side of the carousel told the story of our great country. I won't post all of these, but if you want to see more just let me know. One that is very familiar to us Ohioans! Tatsu at SFMM saved my personal opinion of B&M flyers, so I was willing to give Superman Ultimate Flight a try for the third time. What was cool about this SUF, is the entrance. The entrance to the one at Great Adventure is thought a big bubble looking thing, but this is the entrance to the one at Great America... I has a little bit of the Mardi Gras theme to it! This time we chose to sit in the back. Slightly different ride lol. The pretzel loop in the back was pretty sweet! Getting pulled down towards Earth head first at 50+mph is pretty cool, and it's a different sensation in the back (as with any coaster). I'll move my rating up to a 7/10 on all SUF clones . Onto Batman The Ride clone #4. Same story, same scenery, different paint job. Except for the one at Great Adventure. Fast, intense, forceful, OOO LOOK A BATMOBILE. 8/10. Still not better than Banshee . P.S. One of these days I'm gonna catch one of the clones running backwards..... IMHO, inverted impulse coasters are some of the most underrated coasters a park. Wicked Twister, Vertical Velocity, Possessed, even Steel Venom (Superman Ultimate Escape), are all underrated IMO. My only thing is that the ones with the straight spike going backwards no long have the brief pause at the top anymore (nostalgia). None-the-less they are still great rides that never have lines. 7.5/10 for Vertical Velocity (or V2). The view from V2's station. How many coasters can you spot? Onto an old Intamin friend, American Eagle. Before riding it, i thought "RMC could have a field day with this thing" seeing what they just did to Colossus combined with Six Flags current RMC obsession. After riding i thought, it's fine just the way it is. It looks like an old fart, but for a wooden coaster, it rides like a dream! But MAN the queue walk up is LOOOOONG. It took us about 5 mins to get all the way to the station lol. The ride itself is fast and full of airtime! It's a little jackhammerish, but what do you expect from a woodie? The ride was a walk on, so sadly it was not racing. 7/10 for American Eagle. Now back to Goliath to finish the day, but first let me take a selfie.... Even though i hate Daffy Duck lol. Where's Yosemite Sam? He's my favorite! Front row on Goliath? Sure why not! Still a great ride, but the back is where it's at. I think I'll stick to the back on my next visit! After 3 more rides on Goliath (all of which were 15 min waits). That concluded our day! Great American is a great park with a great theme. It's clean, the coaster and flat ride line up is excellent! Hopefully on my next visit i get to ride some more flat rides instead of just Columbia Carousel. Here are some more pictures from throughout the day! Zero-G goodness! It was overcast to start, but it eventually cleared up! X-Flight finishing it's slow in-line twist. Nerd shot of the underside of Goliath's kicker wheels. Every time you entered a different section, you went through a covered bridge with the area name on top. Thanks for reading folks! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! -GP-

Given what happened the last time Kentucky Kingdom tried to compete against Kings Island (Can you say $35 million Action Zone expansion, after which SIX moved its money and attention to Six Flags Ohio/Worlds of Adventure?)....

What about Ohioans? $15 a day is just about the price point where I start considering a trip down there just to rubberneck at the train wreck.

Story covers recently rehab coasters due to new innovations in the design of coaster tracks and trains. http://news.yahoo.com/theme-parks-turning-aging-coasters-thrill-rides-170033615.html

Beast was just done right. In every way. Son of Beast would be a great case study of how nickel and diming cost cuts, in design, construction, operation and maintenance, can pyramid into a devastating product.

A tribute to "The Beast". http://www.polygon.com/2015/5/19/8625239/the-beast-kings-island-ride-it

It was also a heck of a lot nicer to look at. And that makes for a different experience. I seriously think Coney Mall has more potential than just about any other Kings Island area. The whole thing deserves the '60s / '70s vibe Gemini Midway makeover, with retro patterns, streamlined facades, popcorn lights, groovy music... and it all begins with Racer.

Part of me is sort of thinking (though its a big stretch) that KK is just really cutting it close on testing T3 in their hopes of opening it on 5/30, but another part of me believes we're going to see the park in a bind that day when (in all likelihood) it won't open despite their boasts. Have some popcorn ready people.

Double decker bus. Saw and rode my very first at Kings Island. Helicopter ride. Rode my first at Kings Island. Also got yelled at by pilot: "Sir, please don't hang so far out the copter. It's our first day. We don't want to lose you!"

Very cool! Seems like no matter what Kings Island does, the legend of The Beast lives on.

T3......Iconic?

Proof of Indiana residency required? Yep, the intent is to boost out-of-state attendance while throwing revenue out the window. After all, there's an attendance ratio to meet. Funny that a Michigander / Michiganian is not made the same offer, however. Guess our attendance is not desired.

Don't assume obvious hints are actually such. Toying with the curious is great sport; one that most park management loves to engage in. Ride, Sally, Ride!

My wife and I headed to the park at 5:30 am Saturday to get to Coasterstock. We arrived at the park at 7:50 to a line of cars. At first I was really worried about how many people were showing up but then I realized the line was being held up by security guards clearing the line for the color run that was going on that morning. We were lucky because we were able to pass because there was a gap long enough to let us through. I honestly feel bad for people who came maybe 5 to 10 minutes later as they might have had to wait even longer for the walkers of the race to pass. After we parked we headed to the ticket booth to get our packages. We waited in line for what I thought was a long time. But we received our packages and headed back to the car. I checked my bag and of course it didn’t have the event tag so I had to go back and get a tag so I could even enter the event. After getting my lanyard and taking everything back to the car we finally entered the park at 8:30. The lines for ERT were surprisingly short. We immediately took 5 rides on Banshee. Then we ended up riding Drop Tower and Delirium for a cycle. We then went back to The Bat which again had no wait we went for 2 cycles. Firehawk and Flight of Fear were next. After that we decided to take a little bit of a break. We found out that the souvenir cups were free refills for the event so we got a refill. We went on the behind the scenes tour for Banshee but were kind of disappointed that we didn’t get to go back on any of the service roads. But we did get some cool shots of the ride and we enjoyed the tour. Since we have been going since 530 am we decided to head out of the park and eat lunch. After lunch we headed to the hotel to take a nap. We ended up coming back into the park and rode Adventure Express once and headed back to ride WindSeeker and Vortex to eat dinner at the picnic grove. Sadly the food was barely edible. I mean we sort of knew this coming in because it was Cedar Fair providing the food but we were hoping something simple like chicken tenders or something super easy to make in mass. It ended up being some really tough ribs and the only thing that I ended up eating was half of the baked chicken and some of the cake which actually was decent. After dinner we went to ride Banshee again for a couple of laps. Then we went to Dinosaur’s Alive. We were actually surprised at how well the trail was. After hearing about the animatronics and how people have lost interest in it I was worried. But the trail was really fun and informative as well. There were plenty of photo ops and the wife and I would most definitely go back when we go to the park again. Night ERT was a blast. We ended up riding Backlot Stunt Coaster for a couple of laps, Vortex for a couple of laps (One which was a zen ride for me!), then one The Beast in the dark. Lastly we finished up taking multiple laps on Diamondback. The first nights ride count was as follows: Banshee 10, The Bat 4, Vortex 3, Diamondback 3, Backlot Stunt Coaster 2, Drop Tower 1, Flight of Fear 1, Firehawk 1, WindSeeker 1, Delirium 1, The Beast 1, Adventure Express 1. The second day began with us skipping the behind the scenes train tour but heading and heading back to ride Flight of Fear and Firehawk. After that we went to Diamondback to ride for a while because we didn’t ride it much during the first day. We ended up riding Backlot Stunt Coaster and WindSeeker before heading to lunch. Once again when we got to lunch we were disappointed by the food provided. The burger was cold and the buns for both the hot dogs and burgers were stale and hard. Our hot dog buns actually split in half when we tried to open them to put the hot dog in. Again the only thing remotely good was the blue ice cream they provided. After lunch we ended up riding The Bat for a lap and Banshee for a couple of laps. The behind the scenes tour was pretty cool. We headed to Diamondback for the first portion of the tour. This was a pretty cool view as it was a great place to take videos and pictures. Then our time was done and we were to switch with the group that headed towards The Beast. We waited…. And waited… and waited… we finished the Diamondback tour at 315 and we waited for over 25 minutes and still couldn’t start the tour. The original Beast tour group didn’t come back and we could not go on the tour until they came back so we decided to leave the park and grab a late lunch and nap before the rest of the day. Once back in the park we rode Adventure Express and Delirium before the park closed for ERT. After the park closed we went to ride The Beast and rode in the front row for a lap. Then we headed to Woodstock Gliders and rode that a couple of times. The ride is actually really fun. I cannot snap a glider but I got pretty high off the ground and turned myself almost all the way around. A couple of guys on the cycles actually got a snap. I thought that was pretty cool. We soon headed to Diamondback and got a good amount of laps in before heading to Banshee for the last 25 minutes of the event. We ended up with 4 rides and we wanted to use our last Banshee on ride photo coupon but the cameras shut off before the last ride. So the camera guy in the shop ended up turning the cameras back on, talked with the ride ops, and they let us back on for one more cycle. It was really nice of them to do that because they definitely didn’t have to do that for us. After we were done we ended up seeing Don at the front gate. I thanked him for the great event and we left tired but glad we were able to attend the event. Second day ride count: Diamondback 10, Banshee 7, Flight of Fear 3, Woodstock Gliders 3, Backlot Stunt Coaster 2, Delirium 2, WindSeeker 1, Firehawk 1, The Bat 1, Adventure Express 1, The Beast 1. Positives of Coasterstock: ERT! ERT! ERT!- The lines were extremely short most being complete walk-ons. Price- $25 for passholders was a great deal. I hope they keep this price point! “Swag”- The gifts we received were awesome. The T-shirt, souvenir cup, on ride photo coupons, and lanyard were all a nice touch. The free refills on the souvenir cup were a huge plus! Customer Service- Although the food wasn’t what we were expecting the food crew that kept the lines supplied with food were fantastic! They were busting their tails to keep everything flowing. They were great! Also I was seriously surprised about how great all the employees were. Everyone was polite and either greeted us or wished us a great day (even the employees that didn’t know we were part of an event were polite). This change was a very pleasant surprise and we really hope that continues. Sunday morning Diamondback crew- These guys were hitting a dispatch that I haven’t seen on Diamondback in years… I can’t remember the last time I could watch the train go through the splashdown while halfway up the lift hill. It was amazing. I don’t understand how it can’t be like this every day of operation. This all happened while the park was open to the general public. Needs improvement on Coasterstock: (Most of these are small things but everything helps to improve the event) Backstage tours: I know it might be a liability issue but the Banshee behind the scenes tour was disappointing. I figured we would be allowed on the service road and get some better shots. But I was happy they let us get a different angle no matter how short and limited it was. Also the timing of The Beast tour was not good. We were told 15-20 minutes per tour yet we did our DB tour in 15 minutes then waited for another 20-25 minutes before leaving because we didn’t want to wait any longer to start The Beast tour. I feel like the waiting part could’ve been straightened out by either staying on schedule or mentioning the length of the tour beforehand. Event badges: The badges were a bit large compared to previous events (Coastermania) so it made it hard to tuck into your t-shirt collar. Also the badges not being laminated allowed a lot of the badges to rip off of the lanyard. Looking at a lot of the people of the event it looked like this was a common occurrence. Laminating the passes would definitely prevent the badge ripping from happening as often as it did. The food: The food was about as bad as it could get. I know its Cedar Fair and most of the time food for large groups is subpar but man it was bad. The ribs were a wreck and outside of the desserts of each meal there wasn’t much to eat at all. I think the next time you guys have this event we may just skip the meals unless some adjustments are made. Entrance Saturday morning: I know that KI wanted everyone to come in the employee entrance to not let anyone from the public sneak in. But to have us cross the course of and ACTIVE RACE was about the silliest thing I could think of. We had to wait for a big enough gap between runners to be waived through the line. I had to wait just about 5 minutes but I could only imagine how long of a wait for the people who showed up 20 minutes after me. Especially if they made it when there was a large group of walkers crossing the street. Check in: The check in process was slow at best. There were only 3 windows opened for a group of over 500 people. From the time I turned off of the road to the time I actually entered the park for ERT 35-40 minutes had passed. I think that is way too long to check in. Outside of those minor setbacks I think that the event was a blast! Both my wife and I would most definitely come back whenever KI has the event again. I consider this event a must do if you are close and like Kings Island. Enjoy some (a lot) of photos that I took at the park. (Sorry mobile users!

I have to agree. The Beast is amazing. Many might say it lacks "theming", but I would totally disagree. It has a very strong theme, and I think it's a large part of what has made it be so popular for so long.

To be the devil's advocate, I submit that the Coney Island Cyclone is not today the ride it was 20 years ago, much less 50. I daresay the same is at least equally true of Racer--in that the 2015 ride is not the 1972 experience. In 1972, the trains had no individually ratcheting restraints, no seat dividers, no headrests, no hard polyurethane foam, no seat belts...the coaster had manually controlled skid brakes, the track was oiled...

Terp, we must be getting a mustang ride by your comments. However, I would like to see a new ride go into the old Phantom Theatre building and take out Boo Blasters.

Don't expect enforcement to be any different on those paper coupons. They very may well have inadvertently omitted that line but attempt to verify proof of residency anyway. Given some stories we've heard this year, that would hardly surprise me.

To further muddy the waters, the print coupon in the IndyStar does not require proof of Indiana residency. Plus, today's paper featured a bigger color ad (1/4 page) than yesterday's did. So, if you get your coupon off the website, you must show an Indiana drivers license; if you use the print coupon, the sky's the limit. Oh, and the free second day must be used the day after the paid day. This is turning into the Krusty the Clown show.

#MonsterWatch2015 The arms are off. This shot gives a good view of the current "bug lights" too

I was on a trip from Michigan to Columbus on 5/19/15. I had around 5 hours to spare so that I decided to make a detour to visit Cedar Point. Since the park has a "new" ride in Rougarou, I wanted to take a spin on this floorless coaster. Also, Maverick has a new restraint system! The new system is identical to the ones on Intimidator 305. Knowing that I-305 restraint system improved the ride experience greatly, I wanted to ride this coaster again. Of course, Millennium Force and Magnum are always good rides. Rougarou - Well, it is a great improvement from Mantis. I am not sure if that is saying much. To me, Cedar Fair has 2 better floorless coasters in the chain: Dominator and Hydra. Millennium Force - OK. I know this is a highly rated coaster and still one of my top 20 favorite coaster. However, this coaster ride today felt really tame. I hope, sincerely hope that it was due to the day being rather cold. I rode on the last seat as usual. I loved the first drop as always. Also, the speed and tracking was decent. The coaster is getting somewhat shaky, however. The 3 air time hills did not feel much. I rode Intimidator and Fury 325 on Friday. I rode Diamondback 4 times this weekend. I rode Intimidator 305 6 times in April. They all have much better air time than MF. Being an air time and lateral fan, MF will not ever compare to these coasters for me. I will still ride MF every time I visit CP, but I still prefer Magnum and Maverick over MF. Maverick - YES!!!!!!!!!!!! The change of the restraint system made this coaster that much better. It was identical to I-305 restraint system and was soooooooooooooo much more comfortable. The air time, lateral, and great tracking make this coaster one of its kind. Magnum - Good old Magnum. This has been my favorite coaster at CP for over 25 years. I got on 6-2. This is by far the best seat on the coaster. The speed, airtime, and lateral make this coaster great. This is still my favorite coaster view over looking lake Erie beaches. It is so satisfying coaster. I stopped counting a long time ago, but I know this is my second most ridden coaster (Diamondback). Overall, good little visit. It was in the mid 50's but the park was somewhat busy for May weekday. I want to comeback to ride all them when the weather turns warm and have little more time. 11. Maverick 12. Banshee 13. Nitro 14. Volcano 15. Millennium Force 16. Goliath (SFMM) 17. Apollo's Chariot 18. Talon 19. Apengeist 20. Tatsu

Ed Hart said he wouldn't be advertising in Cincinnati in one of the articles Terpy posted, reasoning that he didn't feel great tip toeing into KI's primary market. I doubt you'll see ads in the greater Cincinnati area (possibly including northern KY and SE Indiana).

The scale. Growing up in a small town, and not going to places like Kings Island, the size of things like The Eiffel Tower, etc. It still blows my mind even though I'm in my 40's and have visited regularly for 20+ years. Things are just HUGE at Kings Island.

Someone better tell Ed Hart that.

Different they. And Thank God and Greyhound They're Gone!

You'd think they'd want to capitalize on that, and maybe even build a follow-up...oh, wait. Sorry, just couldn't resist.

2014 was a "smashing success"? Really? Less than 700,000 visitors isn't what I would call a "smashing success" - especially when you have parks like KI drawing millions each season. And only 2 hours from Indy - so is another park that The Kingdom isn't even trying to compete with (because they can't?). Hart is going to have to reach much further than Indy if he expects to meet out-of-state-visitor attendance goals. I may very well stop by there on the way back from Holiwood Nights next weekend just to get whatever coaster credits I can before the park shuts down again.

I think it was a fantastic idea for Mantis/Rougarou. The ride can have a whole new life and become popular again now. And then there's some things that would be better left as is. Beast & Racer being two of them. Really depends on the ride.

It's interesting to note that this is not the first time that Monster has been "removed" during a season. From 1981... I reverse image searched the picture to give credit, but it appears the original site is now gone. But this picture was also posted a couple years back in this thread, where there were then arguments on whether our current Monster is the original Monster. I've heard it was replaced by a different one around this time, but I've never been able to prove/disprove that claim.

Ultimately, what was said toward the beginning is true. Unless you're carrying something for medical reasons or have a child with you, you should be able to reasonably fit everything you need in pockets. A wallet (really only needing cash / card, ID, and ticket) and a phone if you need one. A carabiner with keys or a single key in your pockets. In other words, if you bring a book bag, you're going to pay. Literally and figuratively. Nothing's more frustrating than watching crowds of people rush into a queue while you fiddle with a locker. Carefully examine what's in that book bag and ask yourself if it has to come with you into the park. If not, then you probably don't need it at all. Just a thought!

I'd be ever-so-much happier with lockers if they a) used biometrics ala Universal and Disney rather than a code, and they were free for a short time while you rode the ride ala Universal and Disney but available for longer rental if you wished. I know it's gravy money, but the system is very insecure as we already know, and for all the 'souvenir cups are the best value' statements it's a PIA to carry them and have to deal with them to ride your favorite rides. It just really hurts the park experience for me.

As demonstrated, a very slight modification to the quote you heard applies to me as well. And going back to the Mantis discussion... I consider Rougarou to be the same coaster... Because the coaster itself is, physically speaking, the same track and structure, just with new trains (which, as it happens, make the experience different.). There are TOGO coasters in other countries that operate one sit-down and one standup train on the same track, it doesn't become a new coaster every time they dispatch a train. Steel Phantom, The (old) Texas Giant, Rattler, etc, are no longer around because they received substantial changes to the ride structure and layout. AND to the trains, actually (still sit-down trains, but I don't think anyone will argue that a relatively loose lapbar makes for a totally different ride than an Arrow OTSR). That said, it's just enthusiast squabbling at this point. No matter how you slice it, the changes that were made to Mantis make for a totally new EXPERIENCE whether you consider it to be the same coaster or not. And the experience is, in this writer's opinion, a dramatic improvement.

Profit doesn't mater this year, but continued commonwealth funding does.

"SPONSOR STORY" http://www.indystar.com/story/sponsor-story/kentucky-kingdom/2015/05/18/kentuckykingdom/27389591/ "SPONSOR STORY" Paid placement. Written by the park. Sigh. Ethics? Hart, Hart, Hart. The "story" is much more about deifying Hart than about the park. I'm sure he personally approved it. Note the link to the two day offer. Masquerading as "news." This has to be a new low.

Like I said in the other thread, the few hours that I was there was a blast. It was well-organized and ran very well, so props to the park on that. I can't wait for similar events in the future years!

They say the park is set to open May 23. Um, that's THIS SATURDAY. Really? Can they really get even a reasonable number of rides (never mind all of them) ready for the season by then, having only JUST gotten the financing? Financing that is contingent on opening by Memorial Day, which is next Monday? I'm trying to be optimistic here, I really hope they can succeed, but IMO this has failure written all over it.

When I remember my very first visit to Kings Island a few decades ago, I honestly can't remember very much. At all. Seriously. But there is one thing I remember, and I remember quite vividly. The Beast. It's 2015, and I suppose times have changed a bit. Today...I prefer Diamondback, as does my daughter. But for so long The Beast was the most frightening and amazing thing I could ever have imagined or experienced. An incredibly special ride.

I like and hate the idea. What is wrong with the historical? Oh yeah...crap, people that don't care or see the necessity of such.

Very excited for the SeaWorld announcement.

Yea, I agree with that, a good paint job goes along way. I once seen a guy paint his pickup, with a 3 cans of spraypaint, in an hours time. He thought it was it was the best looking thing on the road. He was the only one...... Some time and good old-fashioned elbow grease makes all the differance in the world.

http://behindthethrills.com/2015/05/big-projects-at-busch-gardens-tampa-and-seaworld-orlando-get-announcement-dates/ May 28th, they'll be announcing the new ride!

Saw my first Kentucky Kingdom billboard on the northside of Indy today, as well as the first TV spot on Hulu of all places.

I love the Monster- Ii's hard to get men to ride it, though. I'm not saying that this is the reason the carts are off, but the way it's built, all that molded fiberglass, there's a piece of hardware within the monster car that's very difficult to get to, and hard to inspect. If that piece of hardware breaks due to age, it wouldn't be a mere stall, it would be truly disastrous. All the cars off all at once looks like they may be tending to things before it goes bad. Also; they just might be redoing the lights to be more update and easier to maintain.

I just wish said CD player would play recordings of that particular Wurlitzer... Such recordings exist... I have one on an LP...

I marathoned the Grand Carousel on Sunday evening to relax for a bit before ERT, and it was not working at that time. Also, the ride-ops did seem a bit puzzled about a 21 year old sitting on the ride for a half hour.

The ERT and the talk on Saturday afternoon were my favorites. Dennis Speigel is quite a character I do wish they'd done a train tour on Saturday morning instead of Sunday though because I wasn't able to make it Sunday morning and I haven't gotten to do a train tour yet (I never got around to doing it when it was something we could pay for and missed out on the KIC one because I thought

I remember it having green and yellow fluorescent lights on it at one point.

I'm kind of tapped out on writing about the weekend after spending the whole time Tweeting about it. I definitely want to give helpful feedback, but I need some more processing time before I can.

I love Monster. This is without a doubt one of my alltime favorite classic flat rides. There is just something about the idea of riding a piece of history that makes the park feel more like home. A familiar old friend. Not to mention, I enjoy all the little quirky things about this old guy. All the sounds it makes, the insanely intricate looking mechanics that go into it ( and considering how old tihs ride is just makes it that much more impressive to me ), and oddly enough-the smell. The ride experience is always fun with nice little pops of airtime and not to mention a great way to cool off on a hot day with a nice breeze ( also a good way to get a little sun when you're stuck at the top while the other arms are unloading ) So moral of the story is, I hope whatever they are doing ultimately leads to the rides return to service. A trip to the park isn't fullfilled for me without a spin on Monster.

Hopefully so upstop. The Monster is one of those classics that I hope will never change for historical nostalgia for the park. Hopefully it will be back in the coming weeks.