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Here's a pic of the lights on the lift hill! Link for webcam pic: https://www.visitkingsisland.com/online-fun/webcams-7315_34349

There are now lights on the lift hill and leaving the station! (Can't post a picture from the webcam currently, but go check it out!)

Heres to hoping that this is all of the lights. I am hoping that MT is another awesome night ride and that DB stays fairly unlit.

It probably won`t be much longer before the State ride inspectors from the Department of Agriculture start certifying rides at KI for the 2017 season. Another sign that spring is right around the corner.

That's great; that means the park is starting to open up again! Also, those lights on MT are nice. Now, if only we could know when Bat will be getting its trains put back on...

That's so awesome!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You really have to give it to the construction team they have been putting in the hard work. This thing is definitely going to be ready for Preview+Opening Day. 46 more days guys, we're almost there guys.

I'm assuming lights such as these will be only on the lift and brake run, just like The Beast.. If any lights are elsewhere, I'm thinking along the feel of Banshee.. meaning, colored and meant to go with the theme... Though I really like the idea from.. I apologize for not remembering.. but of having the turquoise lights in the trees very sporadic almost ominous like.. Though, I wouldn't want that if you could see wires running everywhere during the day

I actually think all three trains are on BLSC right now.

Red train on BLSC as well.

^ I think so and you can also spot the front fo one of DB trains on the storage track for the past week or so. Just thought I'd point it out.

Cool lights. Looks like the DB splashdown is starting to be filled?

The area has been 3 themed areas through the years - Wild Animal Habitat, Adventure Village, and then Action Zone. It was re-named Adventure Village long about the time the monorail station was removed (this is the same location as the Skyflyer is now.) The area in front of it, which when converted to Action Zone housed the Water Tower, was not home to an attraction - rather it was just landscaping/entrance plaza to the attraction. The building I think you are referring to was the Congo Cooler stand. It was a food/beverage location that serviced Adventure Village and Timberwolf (when there was an event taking place.) On Location was built for the expansion of Action Zone. Prior to it being built, that land was vacant as part of Adventure Village. It was basically a big empty plaza.

Development plans aside, this area is too stinking hot to draw huge summer tourist crowds. Families travel in the Summer and Summer temperatures in Casa Grande average well over 100 degrees starting at the end of May through September. Mmmm yes I would like to take my family vacation to the Desert in August when its 108 degrees and go walk around a theme park. There is a reason this market remains untapped and underdeveloped when it comes to large Amusement/Theme Parks - it is too stinking hot during prime Summer travel months.

Another note, I noticed that the Lock-out fence on the bottom of the first-drop there. That means we're also getting closer to having the ride opened up.

Another pic posted today.

It would be awesome if we had a Town Hall like CP does but less random items from a certain time frame but more KI history.

I hope The Vortex never goes. Sometimes old is good! There is just something about sitting down on an old arrow looper. Long live The Vortex! On a side note its hard to believe that Flight of Fear is only 6 years younger than The Vortex.

This is a thread where people can share and discuss old or current KI advertisements from commercials to posters and everything in between. I miss old advertisements like these. I honestly think park marketing was way better years ago.

So back in July of 2016 I decided to go to Kentucky Kingdom for the first time. well here's what i thought: Good things about my visit: - Park looks really clean and tidy and really upkept - The two newest coasters where running GREAT, and T3 and Thunder Run where running good to, but T3 was a little painful. Bad things: -Poor quality of service overall throughout the park, especially to keep lines moving as quick as possible -Every coaster (except Thunder Run) was one train operation...... -STORM CHASER DID NOT OPEN TILL 3/4 INTO TE DAY :cry: My thoughts on the coasters -Storm Chaser: HOLY POOP this ride is insane! (insane is an UNDERSTATEMENT), Love the ejector airtime and everything. Although I have only rode one RMC, im falling in love with them Even though the ride didn't open till 3/4 into the day, and was one train operation, I'm pretty sure i waited for the front seat for 2 cycles. LOVED IT. -Lightning Run: Basically the same thing i said about Storm Chaser can be said here, although i waited 30 minutes for a ride on this.................. BUT loved the ejector airtime and outer banked turns. -Thunder Run: GREAT woodie for this park, I felt it was running really smooth and fast paced. -T3: Great layout but not a fun ride as i felt alot of rattle and jerkiness, but then again, this was my first SLC ever. -Roller Skater: Amazing coaster to start little kids off on. My time was limited, and i was going to go around and take more pictures and shoot some more offride footage of Storm chaser and Thudner run, but while in the waterpark, some @$$ hole decided " hey this green bag looks nice" and walked off with it, and we spent a good two hours looking for it. Thankfully and would like to praise the park's security staff, our bag was found with nothing missing out of it, and I retrieved my phone and camera. ALSO, i did tackle the Tallest body slide in north america and it was NERVE RACKING. Anyways enough blabbing heres some offride footage and pictures! (Camera has okay quality for videos)

A random thing I remember from this ride was that during DOT (it may have changed during other incarnations), the seat cushion was velcrod on to the seat, so after each ride, you could peel it off and find a small pile of loose change. The 16 year old me love "making money" by checking this after each ride.

Personally, I find the lack of a wild mouse a bigger hole in the line up than a giga.

The Bat commercial Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

CP Food Blog has the details on the announcement: http://cpfoodblog.com/2017-cedar-point-season-pass-drink-program/ Notably, there is a 15-minute wait time between scans on the season pass program, as opposed to 5 minutes between scans with the bottle. I suppose this is necessary to limit abuse (one person with the plan getting drinks for the whole family).

I'm also really appreciative of your FB page (as well as this one!). The fact that we have one of the best parks in the country, with such a rich local history and memories for anyone local, is a privilege. I'm surprised at just how much it continues to evolve and change over the years. Looking at pictures and reading about it's history is awesome. This site and contributors like you have really enhanced my knowledge and turned me into a KI junkie! It would be nice if the park embraced its history more and had a "museum" type of attraction some day. Like what the Paramount Theater tried to do with it's films back during the PKI days. A history / walk though of KI, enhanced with pictures, maybe pieces of older attractions, etc. History and local tradition can go a long way, and something like this would be cheap to do.

This was for the year Top Gun was opened..... I've been on the ride several times since....have never experienced a ride like what's portrayed here!

I remember when looking up info of The Beast I saw this old school commercial, I Loved the voice of the dude on the commercial, He made the ride seem more mysterious and creepy. Sometimes for some reason, I act like I'm a voice actor for Kings Island. I do his voice and I'm like "Come and ride The Beast at Kings Island. The video is from fenikowiski.

From the first time I rode it in 1989 (and it drove my earring posts into my head) until a couple seasons ago, I was very much in the "tear it down!" camp. When I was still a young teen it always made me so angry to hear people play it up as the one to ride to show how brave you were. Beast was so much better! Then I had a friend (NoChickens) who I often ran into at the park around Vortex, and he wanted to ride it. I had heard about 5-1 previously, and rode that but wasn't impressed. NoChickens introduced me to 7-1, and I realized I could ride with very few punches to the jaw. As I learned to avoid the restraint in the spots it still hit me, I also learned to really appreciate the ride. I even ride it alone most visits now. I've been told that steel coasters have a lifespan, and have accepted that eventually Vortex will have to go regardless. But I'm hoping it is awhile before that happens. There is something beautiful about that turn before the first drop, when the entire park comes into view. I particularly love to ride at sunset for that reason. And that first drop is among the best moments in the park!

Hello... only been about four years since I last posted... I don't think I ever posted a thread here on AE's design, but I did contact R&R Design years ago and spoke with the company's president, Rick Bastrup. He was kind enough to send me some incredible concept-art of the ride... Here's an incredibly-small picture of the Monorail crossing Adventure Express' track, from R&R's website... And here's an overview, circa 1993, of that... (source unknown)

I'm sure more people were disappointed when the Phantom Theater theming was removed and replaced with "Scooby."

This, unfortunately, has been a long time coming. It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that I am moving on from KICentral effective immediately. Over the past 14 years, I have seen this web site grow from a second place fan site to a media powerhouse. We crashed through the glass ceiling of being just a "fan site" and because a legitimate source of Kings Island and amusement industry news. Although I am grateful for the professional experience that I have gotten from this site, I am more grateful for the friendships that I have forged over the years with many of you. This goes from Dane, my former business partner and one of my best friends of 14 years, all the way to the many of you that I met as recently as this past season. Many times this KICentral Universe that you guys formed felt like family and these forums felt like home. We are a Universe of thousands upon thousands of people. We are all different ages, different races, and of different backgrounds. We are all only united under one unified banner: a love for Kings Island. Through all the ups and downs, I still feel like Kings Island is a great park and is run by even better people. We are fortunate to have such a wonderful place to create memories. Why am I stepping aside? Unfortunately due to a constraint in my personal time the growth of my own personal business I simply can not serve as an asset to the team any longer. Recently we appointed two new staff members: malem and IndyGuy4KI - which is a decision that has worked out fantastically. Their ambition and passion for the site has breathed a new light into the forums and as a result of this it became the perfect opportunity to pass the torch. Thank you for taking to time to read this, and thank you for a wonderful 14 years! Ryan aka BoddaH1994

I think you underestimate enthusiasts. One user on here (mostly inactive these days) has previously referred to Vortex as his girlfriend, and that's just one example.

Yes. Most of this that's already been posted on TPR i've just copied over........sorry bout that

I honestly would like to see another launch coaster by either Intamin or Mack at KI rather than a giga, we need a more unique launch and it would fill a gap in the lineup with unique, fast inversions like Maverick, Blue Fire, or a new Extreme Spinning coaster like what Silver Dollar City is getting in 2018, or a new Big Dipper would be great like what Walibi Holland received for 2016. https://rcdb.com/12315.htm https://rcdb.com/4074.htm https://rcdb.com/11048.htm

Horribly designed parking lot? The entrance is right in the middle of the lot of the regular park. Or do you mean the directions you have to drive to get in? I can think of many worse parking lots than KIs lol

I turned Thumbor on, which proxies external forum images through the KICentral.com server. If anyone has problems with images in posts, let me know. The benefit is that all images load over HTTPS and are automatically resized if necessary. We're also caching images, so threads don't lose their photos if an image host goes down.

If I had to guess, they are doing checks and maintenance on that part to make sure it is ready for the ride to be put back together. Pretty soon we will start seeing things moving around in the park!

Winter Chill-Out attendees at Cedar Point are reporting that a drink plan without the cups was officially announced today. The cost is reportedly the same as the current all-season souvenir cup price ($26.99), though I'd expect increases as the season progresses. Note that there's no official word yet on KI's 2017 drink offers. I personally don't like soft drinks, but I'm half considering it for large cups of water, including from locations that don't stock complimentary (Kinzel) cups.

Um.... Going to soak for "photography purposes" doesn't sound like a weird feeling that anyone should "get over"... Now I have a weird feeling. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

51 days and counting. I just purchased 5 Gold Passes for my gf's sis and her kids. Now I have excuses to get on the kiddie rides!

Probably, but I doubt it'll make a huge difference to the guest experience, mainly some people are just a little more covered than others, right?

I'm not saying that I didn't love the ride, in fact, I was so blown away by it when I first rode it, that I kept wanting to ride it over and over again. I was just saying that this concept art made it look like the ride was completely indoors. In fact, it kind of reminds me of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. I do wish, though, that they'd revamp AE a little and bring it back to it's original glory. It's such a shell of what it used to be, that it's sorta sad.

Wow, I really love that picture. That's some really neat concept art. ^^ To be fair, we did kiiiiiiiinda get all the stuff in that picture--just not all in the same tunnel. The snakes and spiders are supposed to be in the first tunnel (although it's been years since the lights in there were actually functional), the lantern (I think) is right at the end of the tunnel before the lift, beside, the speared skeleton, the third tunnel is supposed to be lava with the red lights... Somewhere around here, there is a thread (I think by TombraiderTy?) that goes into detail about how Adventure Express was designed. I'll do some looking later to see if I can find it. EDIT: What Shaggy said.

It does and it doesn't... I rode Adventure Express in it's first season and it was actually extremely well done. It was the 2nd half of a 2-part deal KI had made with R&R Creative (the folks that came up with Phantom Theater's theming.) They first designed Phantom Theater, and then moved on to the theming of Kings Islands new "Runaway mine train coaster" the park had in the works with Arrow Dynamics. Obviously the picture dramatizes some elements, but when it opened the theming was pretty over-the top. All the tunnels had fog, lighting effects, water splashes, animatronics etc. What exists now is, well, about 20% of it's original effects. *Side note* Did you know in Adventure Express' first couple of seasons of operation, the Wild Animal Safari Monorail actually passed through the ride area?

^Yep, that's it! I remember staring at this image and imagining what the ride would be like once I finally got to ride it. Gosh, this picture doesn't at all represent the ride we actually ended up with lol.

I think this is what you're talking about.

King Cobra was removed, what 1 year after it was freshly painted. Anything can happen.

I wonder what they having planned for out by the KI Drive sign?

Well, that would make KD the only park with two of the exact same ride.

Just take some acreage and push it up north Credit: https://memegenerator.net/Patrick-Star-Move/caption