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Location is once again a factor here as Holiday World was able to start work on the site earlier and not disrupt park operations. Combined with the very cold winter we had, there wasn't much that could be done for Adventure Port until WinterFest was over due to being within an open area of the park.

Not entirely surprising as Good Gravy is clearly further along in construction.

According to Mike Koontz, the park always knew it would be impossible for Adventure Port to be ready for opening day. When the rides were ordered, the planned delivery date for the ride hardware was always after opening day. The construction was planned due to the estimated delivery of the rides, which were delivered late but not by much. Soapbox Racers is a small coaster, it’s not even 80 feet tall, and has less than 700 feet of track. The single train operation means a lot less wiring and controls. It’s a simple ride that will be able to be rapidly constructed. Vekoma has publicly stated Good Gravy will be the first family boomerang in North America, so they need to have a good reason and construction does not make any sense to me. Either it’s built into the contract or the order was placed so late that it’s already known there is no way it could be ready by opening day. The park cannot build a ride it does not have.

Yeah. At Holiday World, we started to see land clearing around the former Pilgrim's Plunge area back in May/June, whereas it's just started with SSBR at Kings Island. I would say Good Gravy will probably get a month or two head-start over SSBR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDSijBVK7ik&pp=ygUpVGhlIG9uZSB3aGVyZSBpdHMgYWxsIGdyYXZ5IGhvbGRpYXkgd29ybGQ%3D (23:40 for more details) I’ve just heard something on the Holiday World podcast that I thought would be worth sharing. Take this with a grain of salt. I decided to listen to the HW podcast on Good Gravy to see what was new with the project and I heard something that caught my attention. They started talking about SSBR and how they like the theme but then they mentioned that Vekoma was quiet about where the other Vekoma boomerangs were going during project development but could confirm them that Holiday world’s would be the first to open next year. Now this isn’t 100% confirmed but I would not be surprised to see SSBR open in the summer like Adventure Port did last year. Holiday World has stated that Good Gravy is scheduled to open with opening day May 4th. What are your guys thoughts on this?

I always thought it should have went where Wildcat used to sit instead. It seems it was done backwards to me.

I'd like to point out that it is in fact called, The Addams Family. Insert joke about ...

We are at the park right now for my first ever trip. Waiting in line for Stranger Things. Wife has been a pass holder for the last couple years. She agrees 100% about how much of a let down the Chucky house is.

No difference under Ouimet. The investment is reactionary in many ways. Going into a questionable economy and knowing that a $1B note is coming due while facing the increasing likelihood of having to revolve it at a high interest rate is all stuff they have in mind. Fortunately they aren't making the same mistake that Six Flags made and simply refusing to invest. My concern is not the structure, but rather if anything major will be cut from the project. That conversation will, and always will, come up as late as the 11th hour with every project. Given the climate, it may be more likely this time. They're not going to cut the coaster or anything like that, but things like repainting, thematic elements, and the scope of the play structures would be an easy target. The concept art looks really good, so I hope I'm wrong. Whomever the CEO is won't carry a ton of weight unless you get some sort of wack job. Much of this is on the park level. You need people that will push for projects, not "yes men." Without naming names, there was a guy who worked in entertainment that was very good about asking for what he needed, selling corporate (and his colleagues) on his vision, and executing the plan. A lot of things peaked under his watch. When he (rightfully) moved into a higher role in corporate, a lot of that stopped. I'd bet you dollars to donuts that if he were in his old role at KI we wouldn't have had the... version... of Grand Carnival that we had this year. He would have sold them on giving guests the whole experience. Same is true for capital. When corporate comes down saying they want something downsized, unless there is someone there to stand up for the integrity of the project then it's going to happen every time.