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You get free admission to any Cedar Fair park. Cons...it's still a job. But other than that, there are no cons. I just got a new job at KI as a ride operator at Adventure Express.

@KingsIslandPR on Twitter : "Vehicles for the new Snoopy's Space Buggies have arrived. Will be fun for kids, parents and grandparents." Photo : Don Helbig / Kings Island via Twitter

Hey. It's California...I'm surprised that the greenies haven't stopped the fireworks because of the fireworks potential to cause global warming.

I heard about this on the news.. <a href="http://s362.photobucket.com/user/x241/media/image.jpg1_2.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo63/x241/image.jpg1_2.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo image.jpg1_2.jpg"/></a>

You would think that in this day and age it would be a reasonable accommodation.

Anyone else see this coming? Headline, Local politician calls for the end of fireworks at Disneyland, due to fire hazards.

Some blame aliens on the occupant in DC. Especially right now. They say our homeland security depends on it. See 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Others blame The Hill in this same town. Your view apparently depends on where you stand. Or sit. Terp, who will be here all week, and, since he signed another lease renewal yesterday, probably for another year.

Skyline and even Gold Star are seriously the only things on that list are what I'd miss if/when I finally move out of the Midwest. I am not much a sport person (outside hockey) so the whole thing about the Reds, Buckeyes, and what not never really affected me. I personally always found the Ohio chant thing sort of corny...almost as corny and awkward as the "tail wave" SeaWorld trainers gets the audience to do at Shamu before the splash portions of the shows. I guess I lack pride in the sports teams. *shrug* Only good thing I liked the about sport pep rallies in school was that it meant class ended early for the day, lol. I always tried to hide during the pep rally itself.

I was talking to a guy at work the other day (another season pass holder with kids) about the petting zoo. I as a 42 year old big kid enjoyed it in Oct. for Haunt (as well as the trick or treating) But here is my concern---How bad will it smell in the summer with 90 degree heat and most of the park downwind of it? Thoughts? Later, Mark

I'm for all forms of saving the environment except banning fireworks.

I think Towne Properties is trying to build apartments there. My understanding is that the property has to be rezoned first.

When introducing myself to people (especially those from other countries) and I'm asked where I'm from, I say "Ohio" and then they get that look. "I live close to Wright Patterson- yaknow.... Hangar 18." "Ah...." Yah, they know where the aliens are, at least.

Disney fireworks are launched by a pneumatic air-powered system rather than gunpowder cylinders. Much less smoke and much better for the environment. In other news, folks who chose to live around the second busiest theme park destination in the world are not impressed, in fact, highly bothered. http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jul/12/local/me-fireworks12

Hrrm, maybe a tram would help?

Some buildings are designed with fire doors at their stairwells. They are held open with strong magnets that release when a fire alarm goes off. This way, if someone can't travel down the stairs, they can go into the stairwell and be safe until emergency personnel can rescue them. I love the view from the International Restaurant. It would be great to see the building updated to allow its use for more than a few events each year. But, would it be a good ROI? edit for spelling: live...love?

In my completely non-expert opinion (which should be taken with a grain of salt) it seems to me that FUN would have more to gain from buying the two Busch parks than SIX would. First off, it would expand their market area geographically.Their southernmost property outside of California is Carowinds. Get BGT in the portfolio, and now you can market to Florida residents. Plus, you get another year-round park out of it to offset the winter months where most of their parks would bring in very little revenue. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that FUN has only one year-round park (KBF) currently. Another could help that revenue stream. Second, if they get their hands on BGW, then it stands to reason that sales of Platinum Passes in the Virginia market would skyrocket. If you lived in, say, Richmond, and loved amusement parks, it would be a no-brainer to buy the platinum. Of course, that increased marketability might lead to a price increase, which (if current trends continued) would lead to a price increase on Platinum Passes at every park in the chain. That said, SIX Gold Passes (more or less equivalent to a FUN Platinum) are not always priced the same at every park, so that could always change. The other question is, if a hypothetical sale happened, who's to say the parks stay together? The Great America parks didn't.

Or iPhone mishap! Terp, who despises how AutoCorrect does what it wants, when it wants, only if it wants, yet can't get himself to turn it off. Why he bothers to keep it turned on....

Eiffel Tower is always capitalized here as it is the name of a Kings Island attraction. Ironically, a restaurant at the 50 foot level poses many of the same problems that the International Restaurant has/had. Lack of ADA access being a major one. Add impracticable. Not enough space, a logistical nightmare and where do you put the kitchen? And there were enough problems with people tossing things over the side in the relatively more genteel Seventies. I can just see cheeseburgers, and worse, landing on unsuspecting patrons.

Unusual lights around the Banshee site right now...........? (Image captured from Kings Island's Banshee Cam) Definitely not the normal lights turned on around Banshee....? The lights have moved around the site for the last 10 minutes or so, almost as if some type of cold, late night site evaluation is underway.....

aka Familiarity breeds contempt. Sometimes one has to leave what one has to totally appreciate it.

A tree near the "It's a Small World" ride caught fire, possibly ignited by fireworks. The ride was not damaged. http://ktla.com/2015/02/28/firefighters-extinguish-fire-near-disneylands-its-a-small-world-attraction/

About the same as any other petting zoo in the summer? This isn't a new thing.

When riding the nearest Go-Go Gator coaster starts becoming a thrill ride

Pricing does indeed vary throughout the year. My aim was simply to point out that it is currently not that way. What it was in the past and what it will be in the future do not necessarily agree with what it is in the present.

When I move west next year, I will actually only MISS two on that list enough to give more than a casual passing thought... Cedar Point and Skyline.

It depends on how much they invest. Imagine they invest a good chunk of money, bring in a world renowned Chef to make it one of Cincinnati's top restaurants. You can eat there 365 days a year. Then maybe. But there is a longer than usual walk from the parking lot to the restaurant. But then again, the Montgomery Inn Boathouse fixed the long parking lot problems with a valet. If the food is good and the atmosphere is nice people will come.

What is your experience like with said company? Would you call them "luxury"? Is it a company you'd be willing to post openly about? Curious NoChickens.

^ The last time I looked, it was cheaper to buy gold passes to both Carowinds and Kings Dominion than to buy a single platinum pass. Adding BGW would certainly be one way to increase the value of a platinum pass such that the price makes sense there. Perhaps more significantly, they could be completely sure that another buyer wouldn't, for example, install a giga coaster at BGW. As for BGT, one factor in favor of a Cedar Fair acquisition might be the expansion in Charlotte. A second park in the southeast would help balance the regional revenue picture. If the Busch Gardens parks are acquired by another US park chain, I still think that SIX is more likely than FUN. As Terp mentioned, they have a more favorable debt load (thanks to bankruptcy), and they have a national footprint which the Busch Gardens parks would compliment. FUN would certainly want to make sure that SIX didn't get the parks cheaply. One thing I still do wonder: what would Cedar Fair call the parks if they bought them?

I miss T9. For some unknown reason, the predictive text on my old LG enV² was far better at guessing what I meant to say than any touch-based device I've ever used. And I've, at various points in my life, owned an iPhone, an Android phone, and a Windows tablet. So as the stock keyboards go, I've used all of the prominent ones. Smartphones are awesome. But I really do miss my dumbphone at times. It did very few things, but it did them very, very well and I could go nearly a week without charging it. I've never had a smartphone that could make it more than a day and a half. And yes, the LG enV² had a full keyboard and I ignored it and used T9. That's how good its predictive text engine was. And I was fully aware how good I had it. It wasn't until that phone gave up the ghost and I realized how difficult it was to find a feature phone that was half as good as it was that I moved to a smartphone.

Because deep down inside, you know your posts would be twice as bad without it.

The room I stayed in last year, was not bad. Although it wasn't a part of the main hotel. It was in one of the buildings by the road. Sad to see it's fate.

To better days for the great parks they are.

That might be preferable for the park to the proposed multi-family housing.

Trust me, for about a month I used a third-party keyboard on my phone that had no autocorrect other than capitalization/punctuation (e.g. changing "im" to "I'm"). I grew so frustrated with it that I gave up and switched back to the Android default keyboard. (I still have that keyboard, though, because it's useful for coding.) I now use the SwiftKey keyboard, which has a much smarter and more useful autocorrect feature than the Android default.

I just listed three more lots of KI merchandise for sale on eBay. One lot is of rare vintage cups from their concession stands The lot also includes a few very rare buttons. The second lot is of some souvenir bottles and Zippo lighters. The last lot is of some Peanuts bobble heads. Please check them out and keep an eye out for some more awesome and rare Kings Island collectibles!!!

Welcome Shadow

The shame of it is that it's still a really neat/unique facility. Just sitting there, barely used, above the entrance to one of the world's largest amusement parks. Kind of amazing when you think about it.

Roll em out the window to safety. All jokes aside if the fire is that intense I'm probably jumping out of a window to get away from it myself.

I still remember, not sure of the year, when I realized the IR was just closed. This was long before finding out information on the Internet. After seeing it closed a few times, it dawned on me it must be closed for good. I don't think it was announced or anything, they just kind of quit opening it, if I remember correctly. It was a real bummer because it was close to the time when I was finally able to visit the park on a regular basis, after just hearing about it for decades. Glad I got to eat there once, though.

If that rumor is true, you can probably forget about any major front gate renovation that would include demolishing that building. New commercial elevators in buildings without an existing shaft can cost a million dollars or more. Unless that elevator comes installed in a new edifice.

It's the stairs behind a glass door to the right just before you leave or get your hand stamped, and to the left of the shop that is often closed. This past year, there was a big sign and TV advertising Cirque Imagine blocking most of the view of the stairs. That whole glass enclosure on the right between the open gates area and the little shop was the original entrance. It also opened to the outside of the gates at one time. It's the opposite wall of the wide open gates area from where guest services are. So, the left as you come in, right as you go out. Being only accessible by stairs may be the reason they closed off general access to the restaurant and reserve it for private events. I guess they didn't want to add an elevator to bring it up to current disability codes.

I can't believe anyone would believe in or listen to anything PETA supports.

Wait...clearly I'm slow and have never heard this before...but, seriously? What were they thinking? I understand that in certain industries there may be acceptable levels of life safety risks. However, I can't imagine that most amusement parks would forgo their reputation and guest safety for a ride. That's a dangerous game to play, in more ways than one. http://articles.courant.com/2004-05-04/news/0405040040_1_roller-coaster-lap-bars-or-seat-superman-roller That in the article that states from 1999-2004, 5 people were ejected from an Intamin ride.... I just tried to look up deaths/serious injuries on Intamin rides since 1991: 1991: Flight Commander at KI (fell from ride, death) 1999: 2- Ride of Steel at Darien Lake (ejection, death) and Drop Tower at Great America (fell from ride, death) 2001: Perilous Plunge, Knotts (fell from ride, death) 2004: 2- Hydro at Oakwood (fell from ride, death) and Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England (Ejection, death) 2007: Tower of Power at Kentucky Kingdom (feet cut off) 2011: Ride of Steel at Six Flags Maryland (Ejection, death) 2012: Drop Tower ride in Brazil (fell from ride, death) 2014: Inferno in Spain (fell from ride, death) So I guess the answer is 8 deaths in 15 years is acceptable....

When you let amusement park ambiance sound loops "rock" you to sleep.

When you can't even come up with something clever because you're about to lose your mind from the offseason...

When you're half asleep and NASA TV is on, and you wake up early in the morning and they're interviewing astronaut Scott Kelly, and you're rubbing your eyes because you think you're seeing two Dons! National Aeronautics and Space Administration

That is indeed pretty bad. Sorry for your tragic case of the Offseason Blues.

I voted B&M, because looking at a list of my favorite coasters, B&M made nearly all of them... Then looking at a list of Intamin coasters, I just now realized I've only ever been on 2 of them! Disaster Transport and Wilderness Run when I was a kid (at the time called Jr. Gemini.) It's not for lack of going to the parks, just bad timing and super long lines. Clearly, I have some work to do in order to have a fully formed opinion. Also, hi! I've been lurking on this site for a couple years now and I've learned SO MUCH about coasters from you guys and just general research. Since I tend to visit it several times a week now, I figured it was time to make an account.

If he couldn't care less, he doesn't care at all.

Too bad B&M didn't break any records recently... Oh wait. Shark just pointing out facts to the hype balloons.