CoastersRZ

As far as I know, I think it was just the KI 5 band. Not quite the same thing. The energy that having a roving band brings in the summer season is wonderful. That is one of the things that I love about Winterfest, is the amount of roving live entertainment. It creates memories worth repeating. Wait, that is the motto from a different chain. ;).

Can we finally get the Clown Band back? Kings Dominion has had their clown band back for years now.

Of course, Avalanche at Kings Dominion is being renamed for this season. The ride is now known as Reptilian. https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2022/1.24reptilian_updates

I don`t think we will ever see another Huss Top Spin in the Cedar Fair chain. From my understanding, even the smaller ones were maintenance intensive. It would be cool to have a wild mouse in the big show building, and utilizing the queue line and preshow. As it is, that building is vastly under utilized. I hope one day they add some kind of flat ride there. Whether it is in the existing building or not.

Well I stand corrected. The way the article was written, from a brief reading of it made it sound like it was not directly affiliated with Kalahari. Could be Kalahari`s way of trying to distance themselves from this incident.

It should be noted that the property where this incident took place is not the actual Kalahari in Sandusky, but is an Extended Stay, where some of the employees that work at Kalahari live.. Tragic news. Thoughts are with the victim`s family.

Yep, I remember the temporary set up for that Haunt. They need to do something in that area to liven it up a bit. It would be nice to see a small flat ride there. And put a solid roof on the International Showplace. I cam fine with keeping the open sides, but a solid roof over it would allow them to utilize it for a Winterfest show.

I have loved the Screamin Swings that I have been on (Skyhwak and Barnstormer). They are fun rides, One put on the former Salt Water Circus site would be a nice added addition on a midway that has seemed under utilized for far too long.

I think that the lights may have been removed when the ride was refurbished in the year 2000, when the ride was standing but not operating for that season. When it reopened in 2001, I believe that those lights were gone. Not positive on that, but I know they have been gone for a while.

My wife has consistently stated that she wished the dining plan had a snack option, for things like an Auntie Ann`s Pretzel, or when she just wants fries from Rivertown Potato Works but doesn`t want a whole mean. Weren`t they testing that at one of the other Cedar Fair parks back in 2019?

I agree, that they should reconfigure the queue so that is utilizes the full queue instead of just half. They didn`t really modify the queue after they added Fast Lane to it, which is when they stopped using the right side. I still miss the shaded structure that extended from the main queue to the ramp. It was nice on sunny days to provide some shade in that area.

Cedar Point has several large metro areas to pull from. And keep in mind at Cedar Point, there is more to do than just the amusement park. There is the water park, the beach, they have a large marina, Castaway Bay, the Sports Force Park for tournaments, the Saw Mill Creek resort, the beauty of Lake Erie. One could easily spend an entire day at Cedar Point/surrounding hotels, without even setting foot in the amusement park. It is more of a destination park compared to KI, in part because it has the hotel infrastructure (owned by Cedar Fair) to support that kind of activity. KI has surrounding hotels, and can be a multi-day park for non-Cincinnatians. However the surrounding hotels are not owned by Cedar Fair, so it does not generate additional revenue by guests staying in the hotels, like it does at Cedar Point, Knott`s, and the Carowinds hotel.

And keep in mind that Banshee is the longest inverted coaster in the world. It beats out Raptor at Cedar Point. I would hardly say that it is scaled down. I will admit that Cedar Point`s water park is better than KI`s. Part of that is because Cedar Point has all the hotel rooms to fill, and they are more of a vacation destination, when compared to KI.

Except, Firehawk was a low capacity ride which required lots of operators to run. Vortex from what I had heard was going to need some major money to keep it running. If you read Evan`s KI history book, we should be fortunate that KI got Orion, since it was originally slated for another park. On your subject of Knott`s, yes they are landlocked. But look at the market that they are operating in. Disneyland and Universal are not far, so competition is more prominent there. Also, look at what Knott`s has added since 2010 in terms of coasters. Coast Rider in 2013 (Mack wild mouse) and Hang Time in 2018 (Gerstlauer Infinity coaster). Kings Island in that same span has added Banshee (2014), Mystic Timbers (2017) and Orion (2020). Clearly Cedar Fair is investing money in KI. Also, Knott`s is open year round, so if they get a major new coaster, it can draw crowds over more days compared to KI. Knott`s is a terrific park. Is it sad that KI lost Vortex? Yes. I think that the park needs to add something in that spot soon, as it makes the back end of Coney Mall seem very barren. I still don`t like that you can see The Beast`s station from the three point challenge.

I kind of suspected this might be happening when the front of the organ was missing when I rode the Carouse at Winterfest earlier this year. Hopefully the restoration will allow it to play continuously. It adds a certain nostalgic fee to the carousel. Thanks KI for taking the time and money to restore this historical item!

I wonder how much of the parking lot they are actually going to repave. It has needed some work lately, as the pot holes were quite treacherous and sometimes difficult to avoid.

They may not actually be repaving the lot right now, just preparing to repave. Most asphalt plants shut down in the area for the winter and reopen in early spring.

Or we may not find out anything until the park opens for the 2022 season...

I am excited that they announced opening day already. April 16th is the day before Easter. I am glad that they are opening at their usual opening time in mid-April instead of the beginning of May like they did this year. This looks to be a more "normal" operating calendar. Ie, 10am openings, and daily operations beginning in mid-late May.

I assume that he was referring to the new coaster track that Gravity Group installed on The Racer this past off season. It would seem like a logical place to expand the use of that track. By all accounts, Racer was moving great with this new track from GG. Only would make sense KI would use more of it. Unless there were cost/schedule reasons for not using it.

I think the real issue is current ownership. They are the ones that prompted the decision to remove the rides. Still a silly move in my opinion. I wish someone would purchase it and reinvest in the dry side and add a couple of things to the pool as well.

One thing I noticed, which was not directly Winterfest related, was that the band organ front on the Carousel had been removed. Hopefully it is getting a refurbishment for the 50th. In its place they had some panels that had graphics on them to emulate the surrounding panels. The middle graphic said “Grand Carousel. Eat. 1923”. Opps! Somebody didn’t double check that graphic! It should say 1926. I liked the trees in Planet Snoopy. They did away with the dimly lit “giant light bulbs” hanging in the trees they used to have and had the canopies of the trees done in lots of different colored lights. I also like the white and blue in the trees on the back side of the Festhaus by Delirium and the Kings Island Theater!

Well, the Racer at Kings Island is visible from most of the Coney Mall midway. Racer 75 is not as visible from their main midway. It is located by their water park, Water Works. And the far turnaround is located by Lake Charles and Anaconda, so it is not as visible as what Racer is. Wood coaster track is not normally painted these days because the wood is treated wood, and the need to often retrack/replace pieces, especially the top few layers of wood. I would love to see the original red and blue return. Or at least paint the handrails.

I saw that Premier Rides would be assisting in the refurbishment of the ride. It sure would be nice if they could start marketing this as a new classic ride for other parks to add to their line up. Kings Island could use a classic flat ride or two.

If I had to guess, Scene 75 gets their annual inspection done in December, for the following year. So they are re-certified a few days/weeks before the certification were to expire. Much the same way people renew their driver`s license shortly before they expire.