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Took me a week or so to find the right words to post. Here goes... I had seen Don around the park prior to meeting him. Specifically. he'd come ride Beast when I was on crew and people would "whisper" about him being "The Racer Guy." I first officially met Don at the Son of Beast announcement media day waaaay back in spring of 1999. I was introduced to him, and Jeff Siebert at the exact same time. I still have the pic in my files. After I met him, I'd often see him at KI - specifically on media days - and I always marveled at his KI knowledge and stories. He always has had a reserved, quiet demeanor. But once I got to know him I realized what an really outgoing guy he is. I was ecstatic to find out that he was hired to oversee Marketing at KI and would carry the torch. (He was mentored by the great Ruth Voss - and always speaks endearingly of those lessons she taught.) Don obviously brought with him a vast amount of ability, knowledge and know-how, but also he had the key ingredient - a passion. Its getting more and more rare these days for a person in an executive level at any theme park to have the profound history, and love, that he has with/for KI. Don is the epitome of someone that completely understood the effect that a place like KI has on peoples lives. In 2017, it was Don who single-handedly got behind the idea of what was to become "Kings Island: A Photographic Journey." He was the project's biggest supporter and cheerleader, and without him it would have never happened. He made a dream come true, just by saying "Yes." For that I will be forever grateful. Although its very sad to know I wont see him in an official capacity at Kings Island, I also marvel at his tenure. He is to be congratulated on a very long-term, successful run. In an industry that tends to blow through marketing folks like water, its a testament to his ability and tenacity that he maintained the career at KI for so long. I am super excited to find out what his next chapter will be. Helbig 2.0. But I mostly look forward to taking many more spins around the park with my friend, "The Racer Guy." Fly birdie fly - thank you for carrying that torch bud.

As the time rolls by this summer season, we are inching closer to Halloween Haunt for this year. Since this is apparent, I have decided to create this thread for any speculation before the season, discussion during the season, reviews of mazes and scare zones, or any other thing pertaining to Haunt. As far as we know, we are rumored to be receiving one new maze and two new scare zones for the 2023 season (I would link the SOB station thread where this was disclosed but I do not know how to link quotes from a thread ). Returning mazes so far as of 7/10 will be C.H.A.O.S., Cornered, Hotel St. Michelle, KillMart, Madame Fatale's Cavern of Terror, and Slaughterhouse. Returning scare zones so far as of 7/10 will be Alien X, Coney Maul, Pumpkin Eater, and International Street Fear.

OMG MCSALSA LIVEZ!!! Hello everyone, yes I am not dead. I haven't posted anything here in a while but I have been lurking. I also finally managed to visit Kings Island for the first time since June 2021- yes I missed the entire 50th sadly- this past Wednesday. It was not a full day, so this trip report hopefully will not be too long. We didn't get to the park until 2pm, and I was shocked to see parking is now $30. Eek. Luckily, the ticket I had purchased included it. Our group consisted of me, my sister, her boyfriend, and two children- a young boy who was boyfriend's son from his first girlfriend, and my baby nephew who is 1 year old. (The baby is the main reason we didn't visit KI in 2022- he was born that year) For the most part I was allowed to fly solo, though we did group up a few times. They headed for the waterpark as soon as they arrived, and since I forgot my waterpark gear in the car (I really wanted to spend more time on the KI side anyhow) I headed for Orion. Orion had a 10 minute wait, in part thanks to its huge capacity, and the fact at this point the waterpark was slammed due to the 90+ degree temps. I got a great ride on Orion to start my day- there was some actual airtime on both the "wave turn" and turnaround, which kinda caught me off guard because I wasn't expecting much in those elements. I do wish the ride was a bit longer, but what it has is all great. After Orion, I headed to Rivertown to ride Diamondback for a comparison while Orion was fresh in mind, but saw The Beast had a short line and could not deny the legendary woodie- especially since it just got major track work done last year via Gravity Group. Was it still crazy rough like in 2021, or did Gravity Group overdo it and make it TOO smooth? Would it still even feel like The Beast? Turns out...Gravity Group nailed it. The coaster still feels like the same good ol' Beast, but now instead of being painfully rough, it is just bumpy fun rough. The tiny GCI-style bump before the 2nd tunnel don't have any airtime but it is a nice little quirky moment, and the double helix still packs a wallop and is still insane. Gravity Group did an amazing job here, and with quality upkeep like this, The Beast should keep thrilling guests for years to come. After The Beast, I made my way to Diamondback to find it apparently "broken down", so I got in line for Mystic Timbers. Right before I was about to get on Mystic, it too shut down as a huge thunderstorm was approaching. I guess Diamondback was not broken, and had just shut down sooner because it is so tall versus Mystic Timbers. I got this pic while waiting. After waiting a while, I gave up on the storm passing soon and went to get some food at Brewhouse. Brewhouse was slammed, but the lady running the left side of the line was moving people quick, so I got in and ordered a burger and tater tots. Given how packed the place was, I was expecting a huge wait for my burger, but it came out right as I found a open table. The Burger looked a bit black, and the tater tots were not golden brown, but everything ended up tasting pretty solid- especially the veggies on the burger which seemed super fresh- so I guess you cannot always judge food by how it looks. I was pretty hungry and the burger actually kept me full the rest of the day. After my meal, I bought a drink wristband, and as I drank a Coke a familiar voice came over the intercoms. It was...MAESTRO!!! Phantom Theater encore was going to begin soon, and since no rides were open, I speed-walked from Rivertown to the Kings Island Theater just as the show began. I caught a quick glimpse at the props before going in, they seemed pretty cool, but I had a show to catch. As I entered I got a message from my sister that they were at the same show. It seemed like a packed show- with the rides down for the storm, I could see why. Phantom Theater Encore was awesome. The songs were catchy as heck ("I would die for my life on the stage" is stuck in my head STILL!), and the jokes were funny. Sadly my sister had to drop out- my baby nephew decided to slam his head into her mouth for no reason, and broke one of her teeth (he was unharmed). It didn't hurt at all, and we stayed in the park, but she needs to see a dentist now. Ouch. After a quick bathroom break in Festhaus, we saw Viking Fury had re-opened, so me, boyfriend, and boyfriend's 1st kid went and rode it together. The kid went from bored to happy as heck as soon as the ship began to swing. That alone put a smile on my face. Afterwards, I saw Banshee and Drop Tower both re-open, so we split up again and I went to ride Banshee. It did have a decent looking line, but due to the ride's epic capacity, it only took about 15 minutes to get on. Banshee was running ROUGH. Great speed, great forces, but felt like square wheels. Oof. The constant shaking of the train really took away from the ride. I got off Banshee, and decided to go see how The Bat's wait looked. It was a walk-on, so I went ahead and rode that too. Bat was running MUCH smoother than Banshee, which I found a bit funny given it is 20 years older basically. Looking at the terrain under The Bat while in the line, I imagined it being built over a pool of Lava. That would be a epic coaster but it would also probably melt. The Bat was fun as usual. I next headed to Adventure Express to check out all its new bells and whistles, and it was...BROKEN DOWN. NOOOOO!!! So I went to The Racer instead, siding with the red train. The new paint on this coaster looks glorious, and thanks to the Gravity Group, it feels like its riding like 1972 again! Super smooth, and the airtime was actually on par with the big steel B&Ms in spots. I saw someone on a app that measures ride forces say this, and I didn't believe it- looked like maybe it was a glitch. Nope, no glitch- Racer is actually pulling -0.8 G's in spots now! Oh, and Red won our race...by ONE INCH. Closest race I have ever had! As I exited The Racer, I saw Adventure Express doing test runs. I ran over to find it had just reopened! I boarded the Adventure Express, enjoying all the signs and easter eggs I could find while heading towards the train. I smiled at the Son of Beast one, because in a way, that was a nod back to the fact Son of Beast's whole "Outpost 5" theme was a nod to Adventure Express, so this was AE nodding back. That is the only new theming I will spoil, but I will say, I loved all the new tidbits all over the ride. I likely missed a bunch too, so I'm sure I'll notice even more next time I ride the Adventure Express. Hopefully we go down Track 1 next time. After Adventure Express, I had time for 1 more larger ride before I had to regroup with my party, and because I skipped it last time in favor of Mystic Timbers, I picked Diamondback. I still vividly remembered how Orion was earlier and wanted the head-to-head on the same day as well. The new paint job looks nice, though I almost forgot it got one until I was in line for Mystic Timbers earlier. I like the dark red track and brown supports, it's more subtle than the old red and yellow scheme. After a 25 minute wait, I got on Diamondback and rode it, and thus finally now have my direct comparison with it and the new blue B&M across the park. I think I like Orion a tiny bit more, but dang, is it close. Diamondback does have more total airtime and is longer, but it also has a worse turnaround (Orion's whoops the hammerhead IMO), the MCBR kills the pace a bit where Orion hauls from start to finish, and it is a bit more repetitive with almost nothing but camelback hills. Based on this, Orion has a slight edge, but on a tier chart they are still easily close enough I'd group them in the same group, and both are awesome, reliable, high capacity coasters that the GP love. Me too, GP, me too. After riding Diamondback, we regrouped and went up the Eiffel Tower. It has been a while since I was up there, and it was nice to go up again. It is nice to see Orion from high up, even if you technically are not as high (we were on the 265 foot deck and Orion is 287 feet tall). Behold, the blurry version of a famous view! Afterwards, I "babysat" the two kids while my group did some adult rides- The Racer, Adventure Express, and Banshee. When they did Banshee it was nearly the end of the night, so I asked if I could grab a quick night ride since it was right there and there was no wait. I was approved. I hoped it would be smoother than the day ride. It was, and it made a huge difference in the enjoyability of the ride. But that was not all. It was also a night ride...and we departed the station at 9:59pm. As we turned to begin the climb up the lift hill, the fireworks began to go off and the drone show began. I got a Banshee Fireworks/Drones Night Ride! And it was insane. Banshee was pulling some great forces, and with the roughness mostly gone from earlier, I could enjoy them this time! It was pretty crazy to watch fireworks from upside down, too. I love my Beast night rides, but because it shuts down for the fireworks, Banshee did something that was impossible for Beast. This particular ride would probably make my Top 10 best rides ever on any coaster list. It was a great way to end the night, and redemption for the crummy ride Banshee gave earlier. After this, we headed home. The kids had fun and got to ride lots of stuff, I had a blast, it was a good family trip. I hope you all enjoyed this trip report. Sorry it was delayed a little versus when I went- I have been a bit busy recently. Anyhow, questions and comments welcome as always. MCSALSA AWAY!!! (Crashes into Drones) OUCH WHERE DID THOSE COME FROM!?!?

This won’t happen in 2023 but I would like to see a few changes in the future: I wish Haunts could be incorporated into the rides. For example, bring the train back somehow, bring back the monster that you see while riding The Beast, put spooky colored lights in the tunnel for BLSC, add haunt props to Adventure Express and Mystic, etc. Also have a transition between the kids event and Haunt. If I recall correctly, last season Planet Snoopy closed right around the time Haunt began which overlaps the events. Finally, and this might be the comment that gets me tarred and feathered, but I’d put the roaming monsters in the mazes and scare zones. There are so many people who attend haunt that I feel like the roaming actors and actresses get lost in the shuffle. If they could pull them and possibly open up even more mazes, that would ideal in my opinion. Again a controversial opinion.

I don’t think Brad’s words were meant to give you any implication or details. Don’t worry about Don. He’ll land on his feet. Unfortunately, I feel that Don being gone is sad news but in the end it is you, the park lovers, who will be the ones who will end up missing out.

I was thinking basically make a 4D Phantom Theater show. Actually it would be shows as I thought it would be cool to have alternate viewings similar to how you get alternate endings to Mystic Timbers. Imagine walking into the 4D actual theater to take your seats and looking around and seeing different animatronic characters talking to one another before the show begins. If they didn’t want to do animatronics, they could simply do voices which could further push the phantom effect.

Oooh that’s a different direction that I actually like. I was envisioning using the existing building more for queue and load for a traditional dark ride, but your idea is actually very executable. Are you thinking a “ride through” or more “show based” where you add your 3d “opera glasses” the curtain rises and a show begins that goes awry and the motion base takes over? As much as i love animatronics, i would be ok with screen based characters in a fully 3d environment. the fact that they are ghosts means peppers with video could be used for all the more complicated characters, and minimal practical animation for sone props. the existing outdoor vivered area viijd be used for the lobby "preshow". Maybe split the space in two -use the other half as "backstage" that you walk through on the way out.

A nice severance agreement can keep people quiet, especially if someone has vast knowledge of said company.

Snoopy’s Racing Railway has a realistic capacity of 300 something riders an hour. It has to run a single train, since it takes two laps around the track, and only seats 14 riders. It’s a low capacity kids ride, having the child requirement makes sense. Personally I prefer it not get cloned. I would prefer that Kings Island get rides with better capacity.

I hear there's plenty of land opposite GWL, fronting I-71 (the former KIRCC site)... Property records show a portion was sold to Rivers Crossing Church but the majority remains with Warren County Holdings. Though, the mailing address on the other large parcel shows the church's address..? Maybe they'll build the church of Buc-ee's. https://www.wcauditor.org/property_search/summary.aspx?account_nbr=944115

I hope they restore the rest of the track work next off season.

Currently doing Grizzly night ERT to end the day. Yep, it's that good IMO.

I never understood why they don’t do lighting, projection and minimal prop theming to rides. These wouldn’t be that obvious in day or could be uncovered right at 7 and it would be an easy way to increase the marketable “haunt attractions” with little to no additional staffing. Also never understood why they don’t really do any true “world building”-meaning have the pirate treat station and the pirate scare zone by the pirate ship. Let each build on each other to make a greater experience throughout the day. They do it a bit with AlienX and seemed to be heading that way a few years ago with RivertownReaping and PumpkinEater both in Rivertown area with a similar aesthetic and backstory, but then that was abandoned and the “old world village” of pumpkin eater moved to the “modern” concrete wasteland that could actually be s cool urban vampire scare zone. It feel like random stuff here and there outside of a few areas

I hope everything will be good Winterfest wise and especially Haunt wise. After the pandemic, half of our mazes were removed and my guess was to save costs; however I really don't know why. There's times when I miss mazes like Field of Screams and Urgent Scare. Those were really fun.

I’ve been told this isn’t the case when I asked an engineer in passing but that could be inaccurate. From what I gather, it comes down to staffing and audience. The railroad is not part of the rides department in the sense of staffing, a Mystic Timbers ride op couldn’t just hop in the cab of either locomotive- the operators of the railroad are locomotive engineers that work for just the trains if that makes sense. I’m sure operating the train for long hours into the night might be hard to staff. At least with Winterfest, the event opens later so you can get enough staffing as opposed to trying to schedule train crews from 11am-12am for Haunt. On top of that, with the platform gone the train would have to run like it would for Winterfest where it goes throughout the whole course with passengers so you would have to either put scare actors along the route or add a bunch of props that they’d have to tear down for Winterfest. As far as the audience goes, Haunt draws in a different crowd than Winterfest. Winterfest brings with it a family atmosphere where as Haunt does not. I could imagine people trying to hop off the train and go into the woods (I’ve actually seen people go into the woods while waiting in line for Field of Screams years ago.) With all that said, it’s probably for good reasons that it doesn’t operate for Haunt but in a perfect world it would be cool to see it brought back in a way that works.

Made Dominator #150.

Phantom in the old Action Theatre as a Coney Island abandoned Vaudeville Theatre thats recently been "discovered". Thge area could stay appropratly overgrown and "abandned" and not look trashy on the maidway since it's out of the way. Add a big entry marque to get attention to it and rework WindSeeker queu to make it more accessible.

Conveniently located in Mason Ohio

Shout out to Banshee's crew today who dispatched 49 trains during their Power Hour! Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

One thing I've learned all too well since moving into a management position at my work: no matter how important somebody is to your future vision, employees are, at the end of the day, people. People with their own life goals and motivations. A successful business can move forward from losing any employee, and I have no doubt that both Don and KI will be just fine going forward. One of my best employees left because they inherited a bunch of money and didn't need to work anymore. Another left because he simply didn't want to live in the Midwest, so he moved to Boston. No matter how well you treat your employees or how good of a manager you try to be, people have their own lives and motivations which have nothing to do with work and sometimes your company just isn't a fit anymore. It's a bummer, but it's life.

Corporate world does weird things sometimes. Sometimes you end up becoming a replaceable number to a bean counter in the HQ that doesn't know you from the next person. Sometimes they put up barriers preventing you from being able to do your job and they let you go when you can't do your job. Sometimes the corporate BS starts making your job miserable and you quit. And sometimes it is a combination of above.

Facebook parent company, Meta opens a new platform called Threads. It is another Twitter competitor that seems to have blown up with accounts. KIC is now on there as well. https://www.threads.net/@kicentral Don't forget to follow us on FB, IG, and Twitter as well.

I honestly don't feel like any of the Fun Spot parks make sense within any major seasonal operator's portfolio. They're closer to roadside tourist attractions (like miniature golf, Ripley's Believe It or Not, etc.) than traditional amusement parks, in my opinion. That being said, if I had to choose, Fun Spot Orlando has the closest aesthetics to a Cedar Fair or Six Flags park, so probably them. If Disney or (especially) Universal were to buy it, I think it'd be to shut it down and sell the assets. But I also think it hardly dents the attendance at either, so it's a moot point on that front. Fun Spot Kissimmee is closer to that roadside attraction aesthetic than the Orlando park. Honestly, if I were to pick someone to buy it, I'd probably choose the family that owns ZDT's Amusement Park in Seguin, Texas. The Kissimmee park feels like a moderately bigger version of that park. I haven't been to Fun Spot Atlanta, but based off what I understand secondhand of it, it seems pretty similar in size and aesthetics to the Kissimmee park.

On Diamondback, there is an additional footing at the base of the first drop connecting two existing footings, and an additional one added near the bottom of the second drop. Orion: there is one footing that has been enlarged at the helix, appears to be #C102L (or in that area… hard to see) Another at the lowest point before the helix has been extended outward toward Racer, looks like #C85. Last one I saw extended was #C54, the lowest point exiting the turnaround. Support numbers are taken from:

Off topic from the main talking points but I'm hopefully planning on picking up a position as a scare actor this season. Any tips or recommendations? I do want to return for the next few seasons or more as well.

No thank you, I enjoy my freedom.

How about their Drop Tower, Eiffel Tower, Delirium, and show in the theater

It will be interesting to how (or if) the entertainment budget cuts across the chain will show up for Haunt and WinterFest. Kings Island managed to hold onto a good number of productions and performers for the main summer season, so hopefully that means Haunt will be as close to "normal" as possible.

So most everything is walk on except Apple Zapple, Backlot and Dominator. The woodies are only running 1 train per track. Most people at the water park. Of the weather I've had in Virginia so far, today had been the most pleasant. Grizzly and Racer 75 are running really good.

From what I've heard, the trains can only alledgedly run so many hours a year (not sure why, something to do with regulations or such) which makes some sense; but I do believe that is why Tombstone Terror-tory was removed besides the construction of Mystic/rerouting of WWC's entrance. If the restrictions are true, I believe KI would've rather run the trains during Winterfest instead of Haunt, given the 12 Days of Christmas attraction. This, as the events just abruptly shift with no warning; except for some announcements before Haunt begins. Usually Planet Snoopy closes I believe at 6 PM, which is when Haunt begins. I would personally like to see an event where everything can be slowly "fazed" out the last hour before haunt, such as having a wrap up and getting last riders in at Planet Snoopy before Haunt starts. It's hard to explain, but I just don't prefer the sudden transition it has, as @SonofBaconator stated. Lastly, I'd love to see some of the monsters be put into the mazes, such as the wendigo-like monster last year that was tall and looked infernal. It would add so much value to the mazes and provide a unique scare, as it would be hard to tell if it is a scare actor in stilts/a tall costume, or an animatronic. However, there should still be a balance of monsters in scare zones, lest a repeat of Rivertown Reaping/Zombie Mall occurs.

Kings Dominion is a better park than I remember. The abundance of trees is a help, especially on International Street. I actually wound up liking I305, only a slight gray out and it's pretty solid from start to finish. Twisted Timbers is definitely my favorite steel coaster in the park and my 2nd favorite RMC.

I’ve had that thought a while ago. They could incorporate animatronics in with a 4-D feel. The best example I could come up with would be animatronics talking to one another before the ride sequence begins, and then you go through your 4-D ride. The closest example I can come up with would be how the Chuck E. Cheese animatronics would talk to one another in between show sets.

I love The Bat pin. It makes me happy to see it get some merch in this iteration of it's life. I also saw they had a 30th Anniversary mug for it in the Coasters gift shop that I intend to get for the home collection.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg Review So today was very dependent on weather. I got discounted tickets for a July 4th sale that I only saw apply to day specific tickets. At the time, the days I had planned for BGW and KD were the same forecast, so it was a coinflip. It happened to land on the day I chose for BGW, today, to be the higher chance of rain. The forecast called for rain around 3-4 pm, park opened at 10. The rain only was a short drizzle as most of it just blew over, but the park did close for about 30 minutes for lightning, though it kept Griffon down from that point on. Parking was weird. Got pretty far towards the gates before they opened at 9:30, and it took me nearly the whole time until the park opened to get parked, the parking tolls were weird. I found out quick that routing Loch Ness Monster to be my 100th coaster was a chore. A lot of the coasters are pretty spread out. There is the train and a pair of sky lifts to get you across the park, but boy howdy on foot, if you want to ride a specific ride you're not near, you got a hike ahead of you. I chose Griffon first as I wanted to save Apollo's Chariot for last. Went for a counter clockwise route overall. Some rides were a bit hard to find (Le Scoots and Invadr in particular). The park essentially is a giant oval. The major coasters seemed to have their own little nook as kinds of ride plazas. The queues were weird on some rides that zigzagged and circled all over the place (looking at you Alpengeist and Invadr). Its very scenic as well. Trees, foliage, and garden work everywhere. It definitely lives up to being one of the most beautiful parks out there. Its difficult seeing coasters not named Griffon from across the park. The theming was top notch with each country. I particularly liked the England entrance and France, Italy being not far behind. I also appreciated some gaps where there was theming, but it left room for the park's natural beauty to shine as well, it was a good blend. Most coasters had pretty decked out stations and queues. Loved the music on the midways. I've come to realize that French and Italian make good vocals for music. France always had music that made it feel so chill. Food and entertainment were pretty good, albeit the food was a little on the pricey side. I did say previously that BGW was one of the parks that would have a shot at topping Dollywood as my favorite. Busch Gardens Williamsburg is a fantastic park through and through, and this isn't a knock on the park in any way, but I have Dollywood by a literal hair. Dollywood, to me, has slightly better staff in that I see a more humanistic approach, especially with ride operations, the food pricing is better, and there's a charm that Dolly's presence brings that isn't at BGW. BGW, however, gets props for being a little better looking, especially because I think some theming at Dollywood does seem cluttered at times. There's a more natural flow to BGW aesthetically IMO, especially impressive given the different countries represented. BGW definitely has the better entrance, too. Ride Counts- BGRR, Finnigan's, Le Scoots, Escape From Pompeii, Invadr, Griffon, DarKoaster, Tempesto, Pantheon- 1 Verbolten- 2 Loch Ness Monster- 4 Alpengeist- 5 Apollo's Chariot- 8 Ride Reviews- Busch Gardens Railroad- I think they're using a green engine and cars from BGT, as I saw the 2 more European engines and rolling stock on storage tracks. Has a lot of great views of the park and pretty good placements of stations. Le Scoots- The interaction with Invadr and Alpengeist was pretty cool, and the drops, especially the last one, are pretty steep. Escape from Pompeii- I really liked the theming in the building, getting to feel the heat of the fire and falling statues and the like were great in relation to the event it represents. For a shoot the chutes, it really doesn't get you that wet. The building from the outside looks good and the water is very clear and blue. Coaster Reviews in order ridden Griffon- I like the look of it over Valravn. Blue and silver look great against the surrounding France area and the sky. Its even bigger in person than Valravn with 10 across trains to accommodate. I definitely prefer the older B&M restraints on a dive coaster than the vest as it gives you room to get weightless. The little hop after the 2nd Immelman was a bit jarring into the splash. I will say though, Valravn has the edge with the amount of elements and its slightly more forceful in other areas than Griffon. Griffon blows it away in looks though. Loch Ness Monster- By default, I usually don't have high expectations of Arrow looping coasters, but Loch Ness Monster turned out to be really fun. By far, the smoothest Arrow I've been on that's not a suspended coaster, which, given its a year older than Beast, that's very impressive. I definitely picked a good coaster to be my 100th steel coaster. The air is comparable to Vortex in the back, the helix is surprisingly good, especially in the tunnel. Helices in tunnels just work so well. And of course, you can't talk about it without mentioning the loops. It is weird it has 2 lifts to accommodate the interlocking loops, but it just looks so good. LNM gets a pass there as in the late 70s, they were still working up to the bigger sizes and its one of the rides that kind of lit the torch that gave us the booms of the 80s and 90s. Probably the biggest surprise for me. Alpengeist- This is the most intense B&M inverted coaster I've ridden so far and 2nd in the overall B&M intensity list after Mantis. The drop is actually pretty gradual, has a good steady increase in speed, but as soon as you start climbing the Immelman, the positive G's turn on and the first half is just element after element of intensity. The cobra roll is taken a tad too fast as the half corkscrews really throw your head against the restraint if you're not bracing for it. The last part that straightens before the MCBR is a bit abrupt as well. The brakes on the MCBR are a bit hard, it looses a lot of speed for the 2nd half, though, that has to do with the fact its the tallest B&M invert at nearly hyper coaster status. B&M built it tall, but the elements get pretty small after the cobra roll. You enter the MCBR pretty quick and taking the later 0g roll and corkscrew that fast would be bad. The 2nd half was pretty graceful with a semi-snappy 0g roll and corkscrew. The upward helix isn't quite at Raptor or Talon status. I do like Afterburn, Banshee and Raptor better. Alpengeist has a little too much intensity. Invadr- This is actually the GCI I like the least. Part of it is the fact that it and Pantheon aren't themed along the ride or hidden in trees as well as the earlier made rides. They just sit in big clearings and Invadr just has a lot of gravel and service roads as scenery. The layout isn't that intuitive. It has decent pops of air, but there isn't a good big 2nd hill anywhere and it feels like a few spread out figure 8s. The first drop has a lot of head chopping effects with the tunnel over the upper part and diving under a low service road. DarKoaster- First off, the capacity of this was bad. I forgot to mention waits- everything but this and Tempesto were near walk on all day. Tempesto had about a 15-20 minute wait, but this thing had anywhere between 45 minutes to 2 hours waiting. This was the only ride I actually needed Quick Queue for. I really don't get the point of the train style, like maybe for an outdoor coaster, but not for an indoor coaster. The queue theming was pretty good, but the ride theming amounted to a few lightning bolts and a screen at the end, not that great. The launches and layout were fine for a family ride, but didn't really do much for me. Verbolten- This was pretty intense for what it was. Most of it comes from the building, there's a lot of high g curves in there and the banking is pretty tight. The drop track, while it can be gimmicky granted, I actually liked it. Its a subtle scare that's pretty well executed. A lot of it felt like it was running on highway rumble strips, a lot of vibration. The launch up to the bridge was pretty punchy and the last bit was a nice way to end it. Pantheon- I think its a little overrated, but still really good. The first launch is pretty powerful being its not the main launch. I had expectations of it being a little more forceful and turned out toward the graceful end. On the launched Intamin front, I give the nod to Storm Runner, though, I preferred Pantheon to Maverick. Tempesto- I've seen a lot of these Premier coasters pop up and they definitely give you a lot of bang for a smaller coaster. Its short, but pretty wild with the twists, especially the non-inverted loop at the tail end. Its surprisingly efficient if in the hands of a park with good operations. Apollo's Chariot- this is one of the coasters I had the highest anticipation for and it delivered in spades. Very smooth, air time was between floater and ejector depending on the seat. The first drop has the old school B&M pre-drop which works really well on a hyper to build the anticipation. The back in particular it just yanks you down the drop. The drops after it had a unique shaping which kind of made the airtime more forceful. Drop 3 with the slight curve was really good. I liked that the helix was spread out and didn't have too many positive g's, kind of allowed you to appreciate the speed. The s-curve drop below the first drop was a really cool combination of airtime and lateral movement which it just floats through. I like this better than Diamonback and Orion, but Nitro is a little bit better and Fury is god tier. This is in my top 10 steels for sure.

I think that Don is professional enough that it's not like him to disclose any negativity or reason for the departure. I hope that maybe he'll start a new Hockey Franchise and I can be his Organist & DJ during the games. I'll sure miss him.

Has anyone here ridden SRR at CW to give us a review?

For those that want to learn more about Don. https://kicentral.com/the-racers-record-setting-don-helbig/

He was great at his job, and thanks to him for all he did for KI! I’m sure doing any job as long as he has sometimes makes you want to move on to something else, that’s normal. I’m sure he had a lot of good times, this leaves open his spot for someone else, and good luck to whoever gets the job.

For those thinking that this could of been a park decision, I am 90% confident this is not the case. No singular person is forced to stay in any job position. Even how amazing a job may be, it's still a job at the end of the day. Don is completely in control of his life and how he may choose to live it! I'd rather him be happy and do what he feels called to do than feel obligated to work in a position. I wish him the best for his future endeavors! Life is a limited time, one chapter starts when another ends, life will never be satisfying if a chapter is 80% of the book. Thank you Don for all the work you have done for the park with your years of service, you did a phenomenal job and I'm sure you will continue to be an influential figure for the park for years to come!

Don was always a good person to encounter at the park and will be missed as a park representative. (Hopefully we will still see him around the park in the future.) I like to tell my people where I work ----It sucks to lose good people but go be happy.--- Hopefully Don finds something that makes him as happy as KI did. (with less stress and less chaos.) Later, Mark

This breaks my heart Don is such a fantastic person, I always loved running into him at the park!!! Such a great person!! Ki lost a legend!!! I wish him the best in whatever he does, he will truly be missed by my family!

I can't imagine any reason why Kings Island or Cedar Fair would let Don go. Then again, I don't think it's really in our place to speculate as to why he left.

I wonder what happened. I know the article says that he's pursuing something else in life, but that could be a cover up too. I hope Kings Island didn't let him go.

This is the second person I know who's suddenly left KI with little explanation in the past couple of weeks (the other was a ride supervisor whom many of you probably know). KI won't be the same without Don.

Don will be missed at the park. But hopefully he will still be a familiar face at the park as a guest. I hope Coasterstock continues. I haven`t had a chance to attend it the last several years, due to having small kids. My son just recently (Monday July 3rd), crossed the 48" threshold and took his first ride on The Beast. So we may be attending in future years (hopefully?), Good luck Don in your future endeavors. Ride on!

Don was very passionate about what he did for the park and its fans. I hope him leaving doesn’t put the park at a disadvantage down the road- there are some people who do such good work that it truly makes a difference when they’re no longer there.

I lucked out, Tempesto is open. Getting to 150 tomorrow at King Dominion.

Certainly the end of an era. Bummer. Wishing him all the best!

You guys need to leave Congo Falls alone.