CoastersRZ

I think $5 is a pretty fair price. Remember, that the last few season of the wild animal habitat they were charging $1 or two per person. It certainly is better than what they could have charged for it. They could have made it $15 or so per person. While, it would have been nice to have been included, with say a Platinum pass which is the premium pass option, and comes at a pretty significant uptick in price versus a KI only pass, I think it is wise to not have this be part of the general admission to KI. Why? Think about it from an operations standpoint. Kings Island has a LOT of pass holders. If they were to make it free, the attraction would undoubtedly have huge lines. By charging some money, they help regulate the crowds going through the attraction, while also offsetting some of the cost involved with the attraction. In time, hopefully the revenue from this new attraction will allow Cedar Fair to invest in more rides like WindSeeker and Diamondback. (And yes, I am anxiously looking forward to riding WindSeeker! And I will likely pay the $5 a couple of times this season to see the dinosaurs. It depends on what the rest of the group I`m hanging out with wants to do though.

By the way, the caption in that second link has been corrected to reflect that it is in fact an image of Don, and not Greg Scheid.

With that one piece, it is already out of the original webcam shot!

I was not talking about maximum height requirements on the kiddy rides. He was referring to kids being too short for the rides. In fact, once the kids outgrow most of the kiddy rides, they are then tall enough to ride the rest of the rides. I am well aware that most of the kiddy rides have MAXIMUM height requirements.

The outdoor park will sprawl over 12 acres of Kings Island. More than 60 life size dinosaurs, many of them animatronic, will be spread over the 4,000 foot long trail. Included in the park is an animatronic of the Ruyang Yellow River dinosaur, which measures an incredible 72 feet long, 12 feet wide and 30 feet high! The dinosaurs were created by the Canadian-based company "Dinosaurs Unearthed." Dinosaurs Alive! will be open daily beginning May 26 from 10am until dusk. The dinosaur park is not included with general park admission or a 2011 season pass. A separate admission ticket of just $5.00 is required for this major attraction. For more information, visit www.visitkingsisland.com -Robbie

Who is to say this thread will die after tomorrow? And, the Dyson dryers fault lies in the fact that because of their design, they do NOT effectively dry your hands quickly. And in restrooms that are as high capacity as Kings Islands, you need hand dryers that are going to effectively dry your hands in a quick manner. And for the record, even Coney Island uses Xcelerators...

Exactly. It would be, in my opinion, best if the park started with a clean slate for a new ride in the area currently occupied by Son of Beast, than to try and put a band aid, or even transplant a new concept onto the ride. It could work, but would be a huge gamble, and I`d much rather see a ride built from a clean slate without all the baggage that Son of Beast has.

Agreed. But maybe that is part of their strategy. They want to install the Dysons in Rivertown, so that those who get drenched on the water rides cannot dry their head with the Xcelerators, but instead are forced to pay $5 for the haystack dryer.

So why does Q keep insisting on suing Cedar Fair and holding these special meetings? By now, aren`t they costing Cedar Fair quite a bit of money? And it is a little puzzling that Q keeps buying more units in Cedar Fair, yet they seem to have be such an adversary to everything that Cedar Fair does. It will be interesting to see what comes of this lawsuit. More interesting will be to see who is selected as the CEO elect.

Yes, I agree. Xcelerator dryers all the way. Please remove the Dyson hand dryers. They are not as efficient as the Xcelerators, not to mention, how many kids I`ve seen wiping their hands ALL over the Dyson`s.

I agree. All the hype for this new attraction has been very reminiscent of the Jeff Siebert days. And it definitely gets people talking about the park and the new attractions.

Hmmm. $9 million seems like a lot of money to rehab a ride. How much are medium sized GCI rides going for these days? I'm sure a certain ride at a local park will surely be tossed out as a possibility for this...

Kind of disappointing in away. But I think they likely reached the point of no return. They had to make a decision, in order to have the ride ready for guests when they open for the season. And come 2012, they will have the latest Timberliner trains, instead of a prototype set. So all the bugs will have been worked out.

That article certainly paints a grave picture for Son of Beast. It makes me truly wonder if the ride will ever operate again.

How can they? They open for the season on Sunday, May 8th. Cedar Point opens on Saturday, May 14th. Kings Island is the first of the seasonal parks building WindSeekers to open for the season. And for those curious, there is also now a crane on site up at Cedar Point. Notice, the difference in concrete pouring for the ride area between Kings Island`s and Cedar Point`s version of WindSeeker. http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/fun/webcams/index.cfm

Well, for most cranes like the one that will likely be used for WindSeeker, smaller cranes and/or forklifts will lift the crane pieces into place. Once assembled the crane is on its own and needs no outside help. Tower cranes, can actually add pieces and lift them in place without any additional help from other cranes.

Because in 1986, The Bat was gone and The Vortex was not yet built. In short, it is very likely that picture was taken in 1986. An interesting thing to note with that Eiffel Tower diagram is that it lists the upper deck platform at 264' and the lower one at 252'. If I`m not mistaken, the elevator operators generally refer to the two platform levels as 275' and 265'.

So I wonder what the difference is between Western Row Properties, Inc. and Kings Island Company.

Yep. Certainly looks like a crane to me! Once the crane is assembled, it likely won`t be long before vertical construction begins. Especially with the nice weather we are supposed to have later in the week. High temperatures near 70! Bring on amusement park season!

For the lay person, what are we looking at at that link?

Actually, I`d say that control building is more like 7'-5" by 7'-5". And with sequencing of things, just because they have the parts in, does not mean that they are ready to start building the ride. Sometimes, they need to do other things first, before they can install the ride, due to certain logistical restrictions.

As always, it is not a black and white issue. It is more a degree of shades of gray and open to interpretation.

And technically, the KI drop off is part of KI property... I`m just stating a fact. Interpret it how you see fit...

That is certainly the way it reads. But some rides simply cannot be brought up to the new, or even the old compliance. Take for the instance the Flying Eagles ride, or any other ride with tubs that can rotate when guests are boarding. And technically, there should be handrails of some sort to assist people in transferring from a wheel chair to a ride vehicle. I think this will end up being decided by the courts. And the actual implementation date may end up being delayed while the courts decide.

Yes. But then there is the whole subject of water slides. How many water slides do you know that have wheel chair lifts or elevators up to the top of their slide towers? Or, how many water slides (with an obvious exception at Holiday World), have loading stations at ground level, for those with mobility issues? Then of course there are rides like the Giant Slide at Coney that utilize a very narrow set of stairs to get to the top, or rides like Round Up, that require guests to stand for the duration of the ride. (I once had someone in a wheelchair roll up to Round Up`s exit and ask if they could ride. I asked them if they could stand, and they said yes, so I let them on.) It certainly is a very intriguing issue as it relates to amusement parks. Even car and vehicle design needs to conform to ADA guidelines...