DeLorean Rider

Today I have been confronted with just how much of a theme park snob I actually am. I didn't realize how much of a negative bias I have against Six Flags until the words "Six Flags Kings Island" started bouncing around in my head. It has been quite the rude awakening.

Nice article! Wow, I posted that travel channel video on youtube over 9 years ago, not too long after youtube was first launched. Awesome that people are still linking and viewing it today. Also cool that it hasn't been taken down since I clearly do not own the video, haha. Still cool to see it with all of the effects actually working; so many of them were lost so quickly. The boiler shut off at the end of 2005 and the ride never saw steam effects again. The sparker didn't even last that long. The ultraviolet paint, the shiva's eyes, the foggers at the ice fields, all lost one by one. We used to go into the control panel for the show and we'd see effects listed that we didn't even know what they were, they'd been lost so quickly. So sad.

I think just about any of the hybrid wooden coasters would fit well with King's Islands history with wooden coasters. I modern version of the wooden coasters that KI has always loved.

EDIT: Nevermind, I can't safely continue this debate. I'll just concede this one. Score one for marketing.

I can promise you that their "involvement" is little more than PR for both Disney and GM. GM/Chevrolet did certainly cut a check, but not as much for the refurb, but rather just to keep their name on the ride. Do you really think that GM has experience in designing amusement park rides? Give me a break. Yea, the concept for test track was for a ride to be design that used all off the shelf parts. It was quickly realized that that was not possible, because no vehicle GM ever designs is EVER subjected to the wear and running time that Test Track is. GM's "working together for 18 months" means that WDW D&E and WDI toured GM test facilities and said, "oh yea, we should make it feel like you're doing that." GM engineer's didn't sit at the table telling Disney how to create their rides. At the end of design, Disney presents the design to GM and says, "you still cool with paying us to have your name on this?" GM says yes, and Buena Vista Construction gets to work. Also, I am very familiar with the recent refurb of both Space Mountain and this Test Track refurb because I was a part of them. What do you feel happened to negatively affect Space Mountain?

If only. I really do love the queue and entry doors to the attraction. It fits in really well and some what resembles the Mission:Space queue. But that canopy is just awful and cookie cutter. I'd expect it from Cedar Fair, but not Disney. Other than that and the untouched 'power' circle, Well done Disney General Motors. Well Done. Fixed that for you. Seriously, though (and I'm one of GM's biggest critics), they get the credit here. They provided the concept, design guidance, and even fabricated most of the set pieces in Warren, MI, before shipping them down to Lake Buena Vista. Even the WDI show producer who was over this project is an outside contractor. Imagineers handled things like ride programming and effects, GM handled the rest. You are mistaken. I can assure you that GM had absolutely nothing to do with this Test Track refurb, and had very little to do with the original design. All they did was write a check so that their name was on it and so that they could have a show room in the exit. Also just FYI it's no longer GM Test Track, its "Test Track presented by Chevrolet"

Personally, I can complete Universal in a day. The only time I think you would need 2 to complete both parks, is if they have their weird hours when they close at 5, 6, 7 ish. Disney on the other hand is definitely a multi-day event. I'd say at least 4 days for the Disney experience, more if possible.

Star Trek: The Next Generation for the win!!! Ryan, when are we doing STTNG trivia night?!?!

I would have liked to ask when we can expect to see a third wavepool.

Vortex, hands down.

It would certainly be possible to quantify "death's per day on roller coasters" just as we quantify "member posts per day" on a forum. The result however would not even be close to being an integer.

I'm pretty sure DeloreanRider was being sarcastic. He and I measure time in Kings Island Wave Pools. "Hey Delorean Rider, how long ago did you join KICentral?" - "Oh, about one wavepool ago." "And when were you born?" - "Two wavepools ago." Indeed; doesn't everyone tell time like that? Where was greed involved? These people lost their business and in turn made a lot of other people unhappy. Where are the bags of money they supposedly made off with? +1 Agreed. It's impossible to understand exactly what took place to cause this decision to be made. Between the recession and gas prices, it's honestly pretty impressive to me that they've been able to hold on so long. I believe they just couldn't hold on any longer and had to make the difficult decision to pull the plug. If the vibe was that the Beach was intentionally cutting and running with people's money, I doubt so many other local attractions would be so willing to compensate those that purchased passes to the beach. Sure they're looking to stimulate their own business, but still, it would appear as though they are also hoping to diffuse some of the irate beach customers.

Maybe KI can get the Beach's wavepool. KI could use a third wavepool.

There is no expiration date for the contract. Universal will never need to renegotiate. At the time the contract was signed, Marvel was in dire need of money. So the contract great favors Universal. Disney would never have agreed to the terms of Marvel's contract. But since it was a done deal by the time Disney came along, Disney's stuck with it. Universal is never going to opt out because they know they won't be able to get a similar franchise so cheap. The only way the deal gets ammended is if Disney decides to pay through the nose to end the contract. And I don't see that happening. Disney can use Marvel at other parks. Although I have heard they are reluctant to use them in CA due to brand confusion. A Spider-man ride is planned for Shanghai. My undestanding is that this is being used as a testing ground for Marvel properties at overseas parks. If it's popular enough, I could see it making it's way out west. But that's pure speculation. There is some wiggle room in the contract that may allow some Marvel characters to appear in Orlando. But it would have to be characters who do not appear in any "significant" way at Universal. That's open to interpretation. But you can bet Universal sees every character who appears in their murals as significant. And every character who is even remotely recognizable appears somewhere. Also, the contract stipulates that Universal has exclusive rights according to "families of characters". So if Marvel introduces a new X-Men, Avengers or Spider-man character, Universal still owns the rights based on that family. Disney could try to fight this interpretation, but why would they bother? It would be expensive and create a lot of bad press. They have plenty of properties they can turn to without using Marvel in FL. And they can use Marvel just about anywhere else in the world they want to (although I believe Tokyo is also off limits). Long story short, if you want to see Marvel at a Disney park you will likely have to leave the country or wait a very long time. In FL, I'd be very surprised to see it happen in the next decade. Where do you read that Universal's contract says that only they can use the characters? This is really confusing me. Disney OWNS the characters and can use whatever they want wherever they want whenever they want. Universal's contract only specify's Universal's ability to use the characters, no one elses. Also Universal only owns rights to use the animated characters, not the live action characters. Just you wait mr lebeau... you may be surprised how soon you're able to... oh I dont know... say... meet and greet your favorite avenger? If I had to say when, I'd probably say... sooner than the next decade... oh and you wont need to leave the country...

I was always told the same thing; maintenance nightmare and 3 major failures of the lifting arm. After the third, the ride was done. Interestingly enough Skylab was not just a Huss Enterprise Wheel, but it was a Huss Giant Enterprise wheel, that was a maintenance nightmare, due in part to its excessive size. I think someone said something like: if you dont learn from the past, history will repeat itself. Yup. The only Giant ones left are at Canada's Wonderland, one in Japan, and one in Israel. http://en.wikipedia....terprise_(ride)

Dont have kids.

All they ever do is ****ing mow...

The manufacture of rides do not say anything about shoes. The reason the park requires you to wear shoes on rides like Diamondback, Beast, Vortex, etc. is because in the event that there is a downtime and you get stuck in the midcourse break and subsequently need to be evacuated, you will be expected to walk down the stairs, then walk back to the ride via the access roads. Same goes with The Beast. How would you like to walk down The Beast's old, splintery lift steps barefoot, then walk the gravel road back to the station? The ONLY rides that shoes are not required, are those in which there is a significant danger of their falling off during the ride; pretty much anything which dangles your feet.

Could not agree more. King Cobra is still my favorite steel coaster from KI. I just loved going down the drop into that loop, catching crazy airtime over that first hill, the near 90 degree helix, airtime again and trick track. The only somewhat painful part was the last 2 tiny hills prior to the brake run. Still like Gordon said, I haven't ridden either a B&M, Intamin, or Giovanola stand up coaster that wasn't terrible. Personally, I think stand up coasters are past their prime. I think it's a waste when there are so many other coaster options out there.

OMG it's TheSnapper! How did you get past security?! haha Welcome back man! Also +1 on the advice.

There are a lot of ways you could do so. I'm sure you could figure it out.

Is he the one who pretended to be the representative from Harvard to help get Jessie into Stanford? Or was that just one of his waiters?

Awesome article my friend. I have to say, it makes me cringe to think of the work that will have to go into each ride to bring them up to standard, to operate again. Its amazing the damage that the open weather can do to these structures without any kind of preventative or active maintenance. For instance, I cannot believe that the trains were left on Thunder Road. To pass a state inspection, each attraction is going to need very thorough attention.

Just FYI^ Per the maintenance record, each vehicle of each ride must be test ridden every day by an employee. Still you don't have to be the test rider.

Wavepool number one for sure.